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for breath, trying to find air beyond the pain.
    Finally, she screamed as loud as she could. She’d always been the loudest at cheering in her netball team. She screamed until her lungs were empty, drew a deep breath and screamed again.
    A heavy body landed on top of her. His hands were rough. He rolled her onto her back. Her metal pencil case stabbed into her side. The sun was a blazing ball in the sky.
    She scratched at him with her right hand. Moving the left one hurt too much so she pressed it against her chest. Her nails came away from his face bloody. Long red trails ran down his cheek.
    “Little bitch!” He sat over her now. The sun was behind him and all she could see was his outline. She twisted, tried to wiggle out from under him. She kneed him in the back and spat in his face.
    “Let me go!” Her voice was hoarse from screaming.
    He shifted his weight, pushed her skirt up her legs and hooked her panties with two fingers. He dragged them off her, keeping his body on her all the time so she couldn’t get away. 
    Where was her mom? She would be able to help. Or Uncle Tommy?
    He jammed her panties into her mouth. They were sweaty and had pieces of dirt in them. He shoved the cotton wad so deep she gagged. She bit his fingers before he got them out of her mouth.
    “You’re fucking lucky he wants you unhurt.” The man took a long rope out of his pocket and tied it around her ankles. She kicked and punched and tried to bite him again but he was too strong.
    Lindsey could feel her arms and legs getting tired. Her left hand didn’t even work properly and it burned as if she’d stuck it into the oven up to the elbow.
    She wanted to go home, to see her mom and Tommy and Granny Besta. She’d even eat Granny’s horrible stew without complaining. If only this man would let her go. 
    He forced her onto her stomach, pressed her face into the ground and ripped her book bag off her back. She watched it fall into the grass, the top zip open, her English book slid out and dug into the dirt. Mr. Kloppers would be mad if it got dirty.
    She tried to scream once more as the man tied the rope around her left wrist, but she knew it didn’t matter. Nobody would come to help her now. When she was tied up so tight she couldn’t move her hands or feet the man stood up.
    She could hear his heavy breathing behind her. And her own breath puffed into the sand. Then she heard beeping, like someone pressing the buttons on a cellphone.
    “ Ek het haar ,” he said. “The veld on Third by the school. Okay, half an hour.”
    The man put his face up close to Lindsey’s. She could smell the stink of his breath and sweat mixing together. It made her want to puke. He smiled at her and this time she could see he was happy.
    “That was fun,” he said. “The car will be here soon.”
    She wanted to scream, but the panties in her mouth went deeper every time she tried and it was getting hard to breathe. Her arm hurt so much she couldn’t think of anything else. Her whole body started to shiver and that only made the pain worse.
    The man stood up and looked towards the road. He waved at someone there.
    Another man arrived pushing a wheelbarrow. They nodded at each other and picked Lindsey up and shoved her into the wheelbarrow.
    “If you move,” the new man said as he looked into her eyes. “I’ll kill you.” His eyes weren’t white like they should be. The white part was all yellow and he smelled like a fire.
    They put a heavy white bag over her, the kind you get at the nursery for carrying mud in. The wheelbarrow jolted and thumped as they pushed it over clumps of grass and onto the path. The wheel squeaked as it turned, faster and faster.
    Lindsey held her body as still as possible. She wanted to get away from these two men, but they would kill her if she tried. Her mom would be really angry with her if she got killed.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    Transcript of Interview
    Inmate Number: 7865649
    Bongani Zulu
    16