THE LIGHT

No destination

They say when it rains it pours, that when days are dark friends are few, well even family in my case. Leaving the forest i started walking alongside the road leaving Pietermaritzburg behind. A place i called home, a place i grew up in and in my 13 years of life i have never left home like this. My father Alex Jackson is a well known businessman around Pietermaritzburg, Durban and Cape Town. His in construction and makes the big bucks, that is why our house looks 5 times better than the others in our area. I once asked my father why we lived there and not the suburbs because he can afford it, he said he wanted to move but my mother argued and said she loved her house where it is and no amount of money would make her live her home, so we never moved. So daddy dearest is loaded which is why i don't understand why he didnt save my mother. Was he already tired of her? was he cheating or was my mother not good enough? What was it that made Alex Jackson sacrifice my mother? I may not know now but i will find out, doesn't matter when but i will avenge my mother and it doesn't matter what she did to him he had no right to have her killed like that. The man was even leading the mob, the same man who would ask me if his deals will go well every time he had a big contract to pitch for. He used to call me his lucky charm, sometimes when i didn't give him the answer he wants for his meeting he would take me with and truth be to God when i get there and see the people with my naked eye i would know whether the deal will be fruitful or not. Mother used to say that my father got his first big contract the day i was born, then from then each time he did something nice for me and made me happy as a child he would lend himself a big contract. I never questioned why i just went with what my father said ' his lucky charm' I have been walking for a while now and i no longer see my town behind, only farms in front and along the tarred road that stretched out so far that i don't see where it ends. My feet are starting to get sore and am hungry, thirsty and most of all its getting really dark out. The road is quite empty besides the occasional cars that would pass by once in a while. I remember i left after dinner time, i may not know what time it is now but i do know that if i was home i would be asleep now. Oh dear! there is a cabbage farm and am hoping the street light wont expose me as i go through the wire by the side of the road getting  into the farm. I stay as low as i can while i go towards the cabbage, when i got to it i remove the top part which is what i need not the roots. Making my way back to getting out of the farm is done in a hurry and i end up getting cut by the wires when i cross through. I bleed a little but i ignore the bleeding until i get to the other side of the road. I check my wound and its not bad so i wipe the little blood with my finger and wipe it off on my jeans, then wet my fingers with saliva and rub the small wound. I walk a little further from the road and start walking on the dry grass trying to find a place to lay my head for the night. I walk some more and come across a concrete pipe and go inside it and start peeling my cabbage and nibbling on it. It's actually sweet and am enjoying it, i might be a goat tonight eating cabbage but i swear this won't be my life. I wonder if Alex is even looking for me or is he just happy his finally gotten rid of my mother and i? 

Tina 

I look down from the top balcony of my club/brothel and am impressed with what i have accomplished for myself. From a small village girl who was shamed, raped and disowned to Tina a lady, a boss and most of all feared and respected at the same time. i went through a lot to get here, i stole and got beaten to a pulp by the owner of the drugs that i spent 3 months in a coma and another recovering. Then killed a diamond smuggler well i didn't kill him, i was his maid and he was a drunkard. So this one day he got drunk and as usual he passed out in the living room where i left him, i don't know when he woke up and stumbled up the stairs and end up falling to his death. I got arrested for that because there must always be someone to be blamed when a rich man dies. I was arrested at the age of 23 and stayed 5 years in prison before i was released for good behaviour. Then from there i told myself that never again will i be arrested for a crime i didn't commit, I told myself that i will do the crime and get arrested for something i actually did this time. So i started befriending the kinds of men everyone was afraid of, i stole from them little by little until i got enough to do my own thing. But now the issue was starting a business but i wanted nothing to do with drugs, so one day after seeing a sister giving her service on the dark alley i thought why not give the sisters a safe place to do their business while they pay rent to me? so i went into property got 3 rundown apartments renovated them and business started. I got someone to create a website for the sisters and now there was no need for them to be standing on street corners waiting for clients no! This time around clients booked them and not just any clients but people with money and business grew. Today i own 4 clubs/brothels and am a self made millionaire. I have no child, no boyfriend and no friends, nothing but my businesses. I have been hurt and am not about to let people in and give them a chance to hurt me again. " penny for your thought?" Sammy brought me back to reality, i had gone far there for a moment. Sammy is my financial adviser and wanna be friend but i don't do friends because people will stab you in the back and leave you with nothing but "she was a friend" " oh nothing much just admiring what's mine and thinking about how far i have come" i answered Sammy " i still can't believe you did all this on your own" i looked at her " it is true that you don't have a family or children?" she trails off " very true" i say " so when you die who are you going to leave all this to?" mmm " now that's a thought"  to be honest i never thought of that, i was busy making money to care who inherits it when i die, not that i plan on dying soon but really who will be more deserving of my hard work? i wonder. My name is Tina Martins and i have no one. I used to have a family but the day i refused to marry an old chief my father was friends with, the villagers shamed me, my parents disowned me and my brother and his friends raped me. I still seek my revenge and i will get it, now that i have money it's time to go after those who made me this way.