03 // Awareness

There is a saying that you will always find what you are looking for, and that was something that came too easily in the mother city.

Being a tourist had its own benefits, you got to be in places where no one expected you to be. It was easy to blend in and speak to everyone without looking suspicious; the people here were easygoing and kind, and they were interactive. A person could easily ask them anything, and they would answer without hesitation or holding back.

The streets held answers to questions that nobody ever thought of asking, it held way to the secrets of the city. Logan thought he owned the city, and what better way to get to know him if not by knowing his city, his people.

One thing that caught Samantha's attention were the street kids. They seemed to be aware of everything, they were vigilant and extra cautious.

She was at the marketplace and it was packed but it seemed as though someone was watching her. She looked around and everything seemed normal, it seemed as though everyone was minding their own business, but she could not help feeling that someone was watching her.

She moved to the nearest stand where they were selling fruits. Now she was forced to go against her better judgment and buy fruits for Carmen.

"How much is your fruit basket?" She asked the lady while searching her purse for bank notes.

"We have one for R50 and R60," the lady said, but Samantha was distracted.

A highly suspicious man came and stood next to her, he had tattoos on his face and had an aura of a gangster. He started communicating to the lady in Afrikaans, and Samantha put away her purse and walked away slowly. She caught a glimpse of the man following her and she hastened her steps towards where her cab was parked.

She noticed another man following from the other side of the road, moving in the same direction as her.

There was a traffic light ahead, and Samantha had to cross to the other side, but before she could cross, she spotted a man talking to the cab driver, and he paid him to drive off without her.

There was no doubt about what was happening, someone sent these people after her.

Where was she supposed to run to? If anyone saw what was happening, they just did not care. She was all alone in a strange city, she had nowhere to run to and no one to call for help. What was she supposed to do now?

To her dread, the man from the market caught up with her. The traffic light opened for the pedestrians, but before Samantha could take a step forward, a blue van with tinted windows pulled up at the intersection. "You have two options, cross the road and die, or do as I say. Who knows? Maybe you will live to see another day," the man spoke leisurely in a calm manner, it made him a lot scarier.

Samantha clutched her bag tightly, her heart beating like a drum. She gulped, watching the man from the peripheral vision while her eyes were trained on the van as it turned right and drove in their direction. "Who sent you?" She dared to ask, she knew they were not going to tell her.

She messed with the lives of many people since the first day she arrived in Cape Town, she knew that whoever was behind this had to be one of the victims. This was payback. She knew that this was going to happen even though she did not expect it to happen so soon; it was part of life, it was part of the game, the wheel was forever turning, and it was her turn to kiss the ground.

She just wondered how far they were willing to go to get back at her, because if they wanted to do this, they would have to do a perfect job at it because if she lived to see another day, there would be hell to pay, they were all going to suffer, and she was going to see to it that they regret the day they messed with her.

The van screeched in front of them, and the man shoved her inside, causing her to land on the floor. He got in and slammed the door shut.

"We have been keeping an eye on you, you've been a naughty girl, and now we are going to show you what happens when you snoop around places you shouldn't be in."

Samantha feigned a yawn, covering her mouth. "Am I supposed to be scared?"

They all exchanged looks and laughed.

"You should be. You messed with the wrong person."

"Please, if your boss was man enough as you say he is, he wouldn't have sent you. He would have done this job himself."

"You are so full of yourself, no wonder the boss took such an interest in you, you are a feisty one," one of the guys joked.

She did not move a muscle, she stared blankly at the leader. "So, what exactly did your boss send you to do, kill me? No, I don't think so, he will never kill me, not by your hands anyway. He likes to look his enemy in the eye before he kills them. You are all just puppets; he is only using you to send a message." Her eyes trailed over all of them before they landed on the leader once more. "So, will you tell me or will I have to find out the hard way?"

"You think you have it all figured out, don't you? You think you're better than us, wait until you see your life flash before your eyes, then you will know that we mean business," he slurred.

"Business?" She scoffed. "Do you know who I am?"

"We don't care who you are, it's a pity you won't live long enough to tell your story. "

"Oh!" She mused, "But I will, and when I do, you will know exactly who I am, and it really is a pity that you won't live to tell the tale."

The road became bumpy and the car increased speed, and she had to hold onto the floor for her life. The men laughed, they did not have to worry about falling or hitting the ground or walls of the car hard; they had something to hold onto while she was being thrown around the car like a bull in the field, it felt like she was chasing her own soul, begging it not to escape from her.

"You walk around the city pretending to be a tourist and acting like you're interested in our history when all you are doing is snooping around looking into other people's business," the leader said bitterly, and yet with so much pride. "So, let's play a game: you are the tourist, and I'm your tour guide. I'll give you a little history about our country and our government. I don't know why you and your people like our country, there's nothing interesting about this place, there's more going on behind the scenes; our government is corrupt, they make empty promises and start projects they never finish. Like this messy road, they used cheap material and then they spent the money on their personal lives." There was anger in his voice, and it was well-expressed in his accent. If he was not a threat to her life, she would have enjoyed listening to him speak all day. "Everything, everywhere, there are always two sides – the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, and this this is the bad and ugly part of our hood, and I hope you enjoy the ride."

Samantha turned her head as one of the other guys spoke. "You asked us what message our boss asked us to deliver. Well, he said you got off a rocky start and we should give you something to better remember him by."

Just as he said that, the door slid wide open, a gust of wind hitting her body. Samantha gulped, she had seen this coming, but it did not mean she was not scared nor prepared for it. She looked at them one last time. "I never forget faces, I'm going to find you all, and then I'll save your boss for last. I will kill you, one by one."

Their leader grabbed her by her hair and jean, and she closed her eyes as he flung her body out of the moving vehicle. Nothing could have prepared her for the excruciating pain that followed when her body came into contact with the hard, pointy tar of the damaged road.

A ringing noise sounded in her ears, and the last thing she saw before her eyes went out was the van blurring into the distance, and all she could think about was the pleasure she would gain from their pain when she killed them slowly, one by one.