Day 17 - Teresa's side of the story

My mind continued to race. I needed to think very hard. Harder than I'd ever thought in my entire life.

I already knew my fate. My kidnappers had spelt it out very clearly and I knew that it would only a matter of time.

"Can I do you a favor and tell you what's going to happen to you?" the African with a gun had told me the previous day as they brought me food, which was nothing more than a Coke, and some slices of bread. In the first few days I had not touched the stuff. But now I always ate hungrily. It was also the only time that my hands were untied.

He would usually stand at the door, always with his menacing small revolver and wait until I had finished eating. He would then tie up my hands again and leave.

As I ate hungrily ignoring him, he continued. "In our African culture, we believe it is a taboo not to give a person you are about to kill time to make peace with their maker. Do you pray? Or you people in the West have so much money that you don’t have time for God?"

Suddenly I lost appetite and stopped eating and looked in his direction. He was tall and dark and there was a shine in his eyes I couldn't quite explain but was probably from some drugs or alcohol. All Africans looked the same to me, but this guys' most distinguishing feature were his ears. They were big and round. Reminded me of bats.

His white teeth came out in what would have either been a smile or a snarl, I couldn't tell which.

"You're going to die. But before you do we'll have some fun with you. Ever had sex with an African? We're very good at it you know."

I resisted the urge to cry and instead in as brave a voice as I would manage I spoke out. "You're going to be in a lot of trouble young man. You wait until they find me."

He laughed. A ha-ha-ha-laugh that sounded false and contrived but could easily have been his usual genuine laugh.

"Find you? Who will find you here in the bush?"

"The police are searching."

"Which police? The ones we've put into our pockets? Or the American police?" He laughed again at his own joke.

"When am I going to die?" I asked in a very defeated meek voice.

"Soon. We're just waiting for some confirmation."

"From Kevin?"

"Now, now my lady. You people always believe that Africans are stupid. But I'm not that stupid to fall for such a cheap trick. You'll get all the information you need. In good time, just before you die and after having a very good time with me."

He quickly tied my hands again and left. I heard the key turn in the lock.

He was intelligent okay. Or maybe he had been doing this sort of thing for a long time. He was always very careful to tie the knots tightly and higher up the wrists. There was little chance of my working on them to free my hands.

What could I do? Was there any way that I could leave some mark? A signal for somebody, in case they were looking?

I had really thought the whole situation through and there was really very little else that I would do. At least for now. Later I would look for any small opportunity to make a run for it. Let them shoot me in the back or something but I was not going to lie down here and get raped just like that without putting up a fight.

My beautiful pink shoes, lying unworn near my feet would be a good, loud marker for anybody looking. But then how would I get them out there?

Being alone and staring death in the face does wonders to the brain. It helps you think very clearly and it helps you focus on solutions.

There were no toilets in this place so once every day, the bat eared guy would come and lead me out to the bush. He would stand at a distance as I did my thing. Even toilet paper was not available and I would have to make do with some leaves. At first I feared an infection, but by now I had either gotten used to it or getting an infection was such an insignificant problem when compared to rape and death. I was not quite sure which of those two had done it.

I carefully made my plans.

The next time he led me out I was ready.

“Why do you want to go so far out today, want to make a run for it? Don’t even think about it. I was a sharp shooter in the army, you know.” He looked at me suspiciously.

“Is this really far?” I tried to keep my voice as calm as I possibly could.

“I don’t know what you are hiding?”

My heart skipped a beat because I had hidden the pink shoe between my legs. “Hiding?”

“Yes. Why all the privacy when I’m going to get to know you so intimately that they’ll be no part of your body I will not explore?”

Relief flooded through my body, despite the chilling remarks.

“Just do it there, don’t go any further.”

I squatted in the bush, my mind carefully calculating. There was a low fence around the compound where the hut was. The compound consisted of about four huts. There was no sign of life or habitation in the other three huts. I was usually led through the makeshift bamboo gate out of the compound to a thicket about 30 meters out. I decided that the shoe, which was now in my hand should be hurled into the thick bush, right behind me. But to do it I would have to distract the bat-eared guy. I had already carefully made my plans.

I started coughing loudly and with my pants still pulled down, I turned and spat on the ground behind me while still coughing. My whole butt was now fully exposed to him. I knew where the man’s eyes would be when I coughed, and I took that opportunity to hurl the shoes as far into the bush as I could?

It worked better than I had ever hoped it would. He was still staring when I turned and squatted again.

But when I was back in the dimly lit hut, that had been my home for so long now that I had lost track of the days, a feeling of despair engulfed me.

What good would that single shoe do out there in the bush? There was really nobody looking for me. I had been told as much.

I fought the feelings of hopelessness and desperately tried to console myself. There was nothing else that I would do at the moment. The shoe was the only thing that I would think of and I had done it. As useless as it was, it was much better than doing nothing. Who knows, a native might find it and take it to the police and maybe David would be asked to identify it.

I now realized that the only person who could save me was the man I had lied to and cheated. The only man I had ever loved in my life and yet the man I had never made love to. My legally married husband.

If I ever lived through this, I would have quite a story to tell.

A few days later I heard a commotion out in the bush. Some natives were screaming what seemed like a war cry as they ran through the bush chasing something. From where I was I estimated that they were passing around the area where I had thrown my shoes. But they didn’t seem to stop and after a few moments the noise subsided and I knew they were gone.

I sunk into despair again. I was a wishful thinker, I chastised myself. I had always been a daydreamer. Nobody would ever find me in this hellhole. I might as well change tactics or I would die. My only hope was my bat eared captor. I started making a careful plan of how I would seduce him. I had no choice. I had no intention of dying.

EXTRA================================
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