Be My Victim and other Strange Tales from the Cape (8 page)

“No, baby,
nobody is following us. We are quite alone.”

But she still
hears the footsteps as it comes behind them through the long grass
like a demon stalking its prey. There is the clear sounds of her
and her mommy’s footsteps and then the booming sounds of the unseen
person behind them. She hears it clearly. And the footsteps are
getting closer.

“Mommy, I hear
footsteps. Someone is behind us.” She is too scared to look behind
her now and she pulls on her mommy’s hand.

“No, baby. You
are imagining things. There is no-one here.” Her mommy stops. “Look
for yourself, baby. There is no one behind us.”

Page clutches
the Barbie doll desperately now.

She cautiously
turns around drawing courage from the closeness of her mother.
There is only the blackness of the field and the far off street
lights in the distance. The dark field is all around them and even
if they run she don’t think they will reach safety before those
footsteps catch up with them. The welcoming street lights look so
far away with her and her mommy standing in a sea of dull darkness.
A darkness that she don’t like at all. A darkness that folds over
her like a cold and cruel hand.

The footsteps
are gone now, but she is still unsure as they start walking again.
The wind makes the leaves rustle.

As they start
walking through soft sand she can’t hear her own footsteps anymore.
The field becomes even darker with thick bushes next to the
footpath like evil trolls ready to jump on them. She is so scared
now that if it wasn’t for the strength of her mommy next to her she
would have run into the night screaming at the top of her voice.
There is nothing except for the soft voice of the wind as it moves
through the branches of the thick bushes.

Then she hears
it again. Much closer now. The strange thing is that the footsteps
seems to be gaining on them, then it disappears for a while and
then it follows them again.

“Mommy, I hear
it again. There IS someone following us. He is coming from behind.
He is hiding in the bushes.” She talks in a scared whisper as she
pulls on her mommy’s dress to emphasise the urgency of the matter.
“We must run, mommy...we must run.” She looks carefully behind them
to see if she can’t see who is behind them. There is nothing but
darkness. She can’t even see the streetlights anymore. It is only
pitch blackness and the spooky wind. She can’t even see her mommy
anymore. The only connection between them is her mommy’s reassuring
hand over her own.

She holds
tightly onto the Barbie doll.

“No, baby. You
are imagining things. I would have known if there was someone
behind us.”

“I’m scared,
Mommy. How far until we reach daddy’s house?”

“You know what
I do when I’m scared, baby?” Her mommy says as she stops and squats
down to look at her.

Why are they
stopping? They must run. They must try to reach the house as
quickly as possible. The footsteps are coming...

“When I’m
scared I sing a hymn. A song will chase all scariness away.” Her
mommy gets up and as they start walking again, they sing: Nearer My
God to Thee.

She feels how
her mommy increases the pace as they sing louder and the bushes get
thicker and the darkness folds around them like an evil hand. With
her own voice making music in her ears the footsteps that follows
them are washed out. The scariness eases off and her heartbeat
returns to normal.

But then she
feels the hair on the back of her neck rising. It is behind her.
Something or someone is right behind her. She hears her mother
singing louder.

There is a
movement in the bushes in front of them. Why is it so dark? Why
can’t she see the lights of the township? The field is not that
big.

The footsteps
are filling her head now overwhelming even the words of her hymn.
She feels the hand coming out of the darkness to grab her and just
as she prepares to scream the loudest scream that she ever screamed
in her life...

...she sees the
streetlights in front of her. The darkness of the field curls away
like a bad dream. People are walking about and children play
noisily under the streetlights. She sees that all the outside
lights are on at her daddy’s house.

As she and her
mommy walks in by the gate, Rex, her daddy’s Rottweiler, is very
glad to see them and he jumps up and down. Her father hears him and
comes out. He hugs her and her mommy.

“And how is my
big girl?” He asks as he twirls her around. “Come see what I bought
you.”

She is very
excited when she sees the big electric dollhouse he bought her. It
look just like a real house with all lights and appliance working
and a roof that can be removed. Perfect for all her dolls.

As she starts
to play with her new toy, her mommy and daddy talk in the
kitchen:

“From now on
you must come fetch us with the car.”

“Why? I thought
you said the monthly train ride is an adventure for you and
Page.”

“Someone
suddenly started following us when we were half way across the
field. I saw him for a fleeting moment when I looked around. Page
also heard him and was very scared. I had to stay calm to keep her
calm.”

“Why didn’t you
run?”

“What I saw
made it clear to me that running was not going to help. And in any
case how could I run while I had Page with me?”

“What did you
see?”

“A huge
man...with his head in his one hand and a big axe in the
other…”

About the Author

Andre Beerwinkel was born and
bred on the Cape Flats in South Africa.
With the Cape Flats being one of the
most exciting places on the planet he has written thousands of
short stories as well as two complete novels about the area. When
he is not behind his computer typing out a new story, he is
probably out on his bike or busy building wooden furniture in the
garage… Check him out at
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AndreBW

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author

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author

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"You must
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The girl will
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