My heart raced and the veins in my neck throbbed, the stitch in my side was overbearing but I dared not stop. What lay in store for me was enough to add wings to my feet and determination to my mind – I couldn’t let them catch me. Most girls would be celebrating on their eighteenth birthday, but not me, there was nothing for me to celebrate. Eighteen years old made me fair game to the clan leaders. That was the rule, eighteen years old meant it was time for the ceremony, a ceremony that drove fear into the very core of my being.