You promised

chapter 1

I my chest heaves as my breathing increases, my thighs are getting painful but i refuse to give up , i continue running , running as far as my feet can take me, running for my life, he is catching up , he just few feets away from me and i know that i cannot allow him to catch up ,i know i have to get away from him far as i can, the fence in front of me is just too familiar, just with no hesitation well am lying, the sharp fence scraps my knees am bleeding yet he jumps like nothing, like he is used to high fencing his suit doesn't even torn apart, this is my normal life but usually they just give up immediately not this guy, the wallet must consist of something valuable, my chest is becoming painful I've never ran this much before , he forgets one thing, this Johannesburg, my home atleast not my home but i know these streets like the back of my hand, i have to when am always roaming them , i know from not a distance away bree street will appear, it's rush hour and if i dissappear there he wouldn't ever find me, finally Bree street comes into view with my eyes, i change from running into walking dissappearing into the people, i know every corner, every street here and Bree is the bussiest, i know he would never find me as i pull up my jacket and zip it up, just like that i move past his confused face , he dusts his suit jacket before turning ,my heart pound onto my chest as he curses and returns to the direction we came from ,i breath a sigh of relief as the sharp pain takes over my knee, i limp to the flat, it's far from here , Hillbrow but this is my way am used to this whole lifestyle, i grasp at the wallet in hand limping home.

"Lee what happened to your knee" Nyoni asks as i open the door finding her in the kitchen , she is cooking, that's pretty much her life, a house wife , why am i saying wife because she isn't married, a house girlfriend or mistress.

"It's nothing much" i throw myself on the couch, it's sad how my life had become, am even ashamed showing my face to my mother instead i choose cutting her out of my life, the girl from Emhlabathini who went to Johannesburg to study and 'wathathwa igoli' (swallowed by Johannesburg) that's what they probably saying back home, the reason i never returned home, to protect the image of my parents, i glance at the wallet i faught so hard for, the guy was keen on making sure he gets the wallet, i open it scanning my eyes it's a worthless USB and his cards , five 200 notes consist on the wallet i grab them because i never get this luck.

"How did you go today" she asks sitting opposite me on the worn out couch , she folds her legs awaiting me to tell her what happened, her eyes fall on the notes at hand.

"Better than any other days" i say knowing it would be another years before this luck, the government system is failing us, one spends months , years job hunting with no luck, as long as you don't have connections or money you'll be level to the ground, even with education you still need expirience, it seems as the years go by the system slowly becames tougher for a nobody's like us, as years go by people are subjected to accepting their lifestyle and leveling themself to hustle for the next meal, yet the government keeps talking about the job opportunities he gives every year, the are tenders handed to people with connections , why aren't poor people given a chance to apply and reedem their talents, the government keeps preaching about the opportunities youth are given to start their businesses yet the NYDA needs a full 8 weeks business short courses that we cannot afford, they need a regustered company that needs thousands of money to register, i can go on and on about the government but for today I'll stop here, my story is one that takes time how i came here is a story for another day , and today here i am crashing on a friends couch hustling for my next meal, a picture my mother wouldn't even be happy seeing.  "How's Joe" i asked she sigh shaking her head looking at her long nails.

"He has been acting up the couple of weeks but am okay with the little he is giving me, he says his wife is getting suspicious so she took the cards so yep, want me to dish up for you" she asks standing up yet again, Inyoni had been a friend anyone can ask for, yeah laugh all you want i don't know what possessed her family to name her that but they did apparently because like a bird she would fly high, unfortunately their dreams never came true as they died while Inyoni was at young age and she had to raise herself up and feed herself, we met while life was for me better. I push the notes at my back pockets, i put a bandage over my bleeding knee. Life can really humble you, not even a day passes by without me missing my siblings, all 5 of them, as much as life back home wasn't pleasing Dad tries by his all to provide for us ,am the first born and the only girl amongst 5 boys, it's been 3 years since i left home , i don't even know what is happening now, i left as a student at TUT well to study actually, i broke all contact with my family a year ago, my heart broke by the minute as i threw the sim card onto my mouth, i chewed it getting rid of anything linking to my past life, i stare at the USB card, was this why he chased me all over Jozi, what did this consist.

"What is that Lee" Nyoni asked , she only called me Lee, Liyana was the full name My father called me Yana,i was the princess since i was the only girl, i glanced at the USB in hand yet again.

"I don't know but i have a feeling whatever this is , is big" i responded holding the USB up above me like it would give me answers, i knew that this was something big ,if it was worth him leaving his car unlocked in streets of Jozi to run half a mile then i knew it wasn't the last time i saw his face, i knew i would see him again it might not be now but someday i will, i had a hunch it wouldn't be great.