The adolescent stage had hit me hard.
I often bunked school to be with him and life felt so good.
But never did I know that on a sunny Wednesday morning 2005 I was to fear my lover.
I was raped by him and abducted.
For the first week life was great without my parents whining and shouting, but I became a prison to my lover.
He moved me to all sorts of places only at night until I landed a stable home in Orlando, Soweto.
He kept me locked up as he went to work; he was a stylist at the time.
With no food all day, television kept me occupied and for supper we always had take-aways.
My parents searched for me for three months to no avail until one lady where we stayed in asked me through a window if I remember my parents’ numbers to call them.
I was rescued and reality hit me that the person who I loved lured me away from my family.
I was forced to open a case but with the love I had for him I couldn’t.
I became the laughing stock in my neighbourhood.
“A girl who ran off to live with her boyfriend”.
Trying to face the humiliation at home and school became hell.
My parents went to Daily Sun newspaper and put my picture in the paper for missing.
Yes people, friends and extended family saw it.
Getting through high school I was known as the missing girl.
However, years passed but reality again struck on June 28.
I bumped into him at the mall, my body shook in disbelief.
Nine years later I never thought I would ever see the man who took my innocence way from me.
He greeted me with a smile and I froze.
All sorts of thoughts ran into my mind but he even asked if I was ok.
I screamed out loudly in my head “How could you?”
“How stupid was I to think you loved me?”
As he leaned forward to hug me I walked off.
I had not forgiven him and I had not forgotten.
All I did was block the pain away and focused on myself and getting my life back.
Yes, I have succeeded in my career path, but will this dark cloud follow me forever?
How do I find comfort in leaving all in the past?
All I know is I have become a better woman throughout this, yet though I’ll never forget, I need to forgive myself and him. KP
