chapter 4

The party had been great, Unami had stayed longer than she had intended but now, at a quarter to midnight, she knew she should be home by now sleeping in her bed, warm and snug otherwise she would be late again tomorrow for the Sunday service. Besides she was tired as hell, she hadn't slept much the night before as she had attended the all night prayer. Thinking about it threatened to ruin her mood, Mick really thought so little of her to expect something like that at church right after a service not to mansion the fact that he thought he could buy her with gifts, with dates or anything for that matter, she wasn't for sale. He had to have a little shame didn't he? He was supposed to take over as pastor for crying out loud.

She wondered why Pastor Jude hadnt noticed his true character, the pastor was said to be a holy prophet of god was he not? At the very least Pastor Jude had to be wise enough to see what kind of a person Mick was, Jude had prophesied on so many people, had it been original members of the church it could be said that he knew them and their problems, but pastor Jude only prophesied on visitors, when asked about it he had wept

"....will you now say unto me, Prophet heal thy self?"

apparently his power was limited by the will of the almighty, and the congregation was like his own family, his own body, it was a part of his being and could therefore not heal himself Unami found it odd, but she didn't question it. But she had never really called him a prophet, she was just used to address him as Pastor Jude by the time he became  a Prophet and she felt no need to change it now.

Thinking about church, she really needed to get back home, if she didn't get to a bed and that too soon, she would oversleep and be late to church tomorrow. And that was the second from last thing she wanted, the last thing she wanted was to miss church altogether.

'Play, prey and pray hard' she thought and started looking for someone to drive her home, her so called friends didn't want to go back yet, the party was way too much fun and they were just getting started, even Nick, who used to be at her service given how much he liked her, had decided to ditch her today, he had met a new model tonight. Unami looked at the two of them dance and shook her head, she had always know Nick was no good as boyfriend material, he had given up on her already and had moved on. She felt jealous, it was ridiculous.  But it was clear to her now, the other models had been right, Nick couldn't help himself when it came to new girls.  She still felt she had lost something though, his affections were much too fun to own. It was mean of her, but although she didn't like him in the sense he wanted, she enjoyed his attention. And now that she needed him he was with another girl. She dragged her feet over there and put on a smile, she simply couldn't afford to show him she was bothered otherwise he would take it the wrong way.

"Hey, could you take me home?" she asked as she got to them

"Oh Im sorry Nami but I can't leave yet, you place is so far, its like an hours drive away" he said already a bit tipsy

"It's not that far Nicky, please" she pleaded

"don't look at me like that, I really can't take you" he complained only for her to widen her eye further with a look of sadness in them

"Please Nicky, I'm really begging you here,  I need to get home "

"Nami, the partys just started, you stay by yourself, I don't get why you always leave early" he complained, it didn't make sense to him. Unami couldn't tell him she wanted to go to church tomorrow, he would plainly refuse, church wasn't that big of a deal to him as it was to her.

To Unami, it provided a sense of belonging, familiarity and love, she had attended the same church ever since she was born, she still had the memories, faded as they way, of her going there with her mother and father, he was alive then. It was a church they had attended as a family and she couldn't miss it, she still held onto those faint memories, he mother was away working for her sake. Soneni was a religious person and would be unhappy if her daughter decided to not go to church. And Unami loved the sense of fulfillment it granted her, she knew there was something greater than life, a god who loved her unconditionally, who had been good to her and had never let her down. She wasn't about to miss the pleasant feeling of being in his presence for anything in this world. Church made her feel closer to her maker. So what if the congregants disapproved of some of her choices, they still loved her in their own way.

"please" she said letting a few tears water her eyes, not that she was going to cry, Unami was just sure that if her career as a model didn't work and she couldn't be a fashion designer then she would make one hell of an actor

"ok" he gave in, she smiled with satisfaction, 'Unami you are just too good' she mused in her head

"I'm not taking you all the way home though" he said to freeze the smile on her face "I'll take you to the taxi rank and you can get yourself a vehicle home" he stated, she could tell he was serious and there was no changing his mind, dammit he was truly over her, she wanted to laugh at the look on his face but she needed that ride

"Okay, thank you" she said without hiding her disappointment, she had hoped hed drive her straight home but this would have to do.

In no time she stood out in the cold waiting for a kombi. The road seemed deserted and she had forgotten there hardly were any kombies at this time of night, but then again, she had hardly ever been this late before, and when she was, she had her friends to drive her home, tonight they were all just too caught up in their own worlds to wanna help.

A white private car packed in front of her

"need a ride?"

"yes, I stay at Cowdrey Park" Unami said her eyes wondering to the backseat to see two other guys and a girl.

"Good get in, were heading in that direction. That will be ten dollars"

"But that's too much, isn't the fare three dollar these days?"

"Yes, that's the fare for Kombies during the day. You're free to wait for another car if you like, at this time I doubt you'll get anything cheaper he said starting the engine. Unami opened the door and jumped inside before he could take off and she saw him smile. She was never, ever trusting her friends ever again.

The car pulled over, "this is our final stop"the guy said

"But my home is a little ahead of here, could you just drop me off a little further?" she asked

"little girl you should know better than traveling alone at this time of night. Petrol is expensive these days and I'm not about to do home deliveries. Now it's late I don't have time for this". The man yelled.

Unami got out of the car and slammed the door shut.

"Bloody damn idiot" she said as she watched the car make a u-turn and drive off

These drivers transporting people in their private cars where the worst, she decided, they had no customer care whatsoever and cared little for the customers, he had cheated her off seven dollars and now he had dropped her off this far from where normal Kombies would. She stomped her foot and turned to leave. She felt the shills down a skin as the cold night air hit her body, it had been so warm in that stupid car, now she felt she would freeze. She picked up her pace and walked even faster.

The sounds her foot steps made deceiving her into thinking someone was following, she turned to look behind her but found no one on the deserted road.  She needed to get a grip on herself, she had done this before, went out late at night there was nothing so scary about it. There was no boogeyman here, she joked to loosen up.

Up ahead stood a lone tower light and getting to it, Unami felt a wave of relief wash over her, at least she could have a little bit of light and just further ahead was her house.

"hie there" she jumped at the voice then turned to find Mick sitting by the roadside alone

"Mick, dear god, you scared me" she said holding onto her chest as she tried to catch her breath.

"how was the party?" he asked "I saw you leave this afternoon, I wanted to talk things out between us but you left" he said getting up to approach her

"Ohh, okay" she didn't know what to say to him "it was okay, the party"

"So he didnt drive you back?" he asked, she wasn't sure, but she felt she detected  a hint of jealousy in his voice

"who"

"Your date, kind of cute guy with a bulky frame" Nick had muscles alright, but he was far from bulky and cute was an understatement of the century

"Oh you mean Nick, he wasn't my date, he was just driving me and the girls to the party" she said to hear him chuckle.

"girls" Mick repeated, Unami really took him for a fool, he didn't remember seeing other girls in that car, he had only seen Unami with that silly smile of hers ogling the guy. "Okay I get it

he said "I'll walk you home"

Unami felt really relived at his offer, truth be told she was scared of walking alone at this time.

They walked on silently as Mick played with his phone. They had come to the  a bushy area of the road, her house was just about five minutes away when Micks friend popped out of no where

"What are guys all doing here?" Unami couldn't help but ask

"Mick here told us you were all alone at this time of night and we had to come take you home" Tendex said with a smile

"oh Unami, you just had to go and break my boys heart didn't you" William said with a whistle, "you think you're something special don't you, going around cheating on him with some dumb model"

"Cheating..?" Unami didn't understand what they were going on about

"Relax we don't need you to explain or anything, we just wanna see what's so special about you? he said yanking her forward so she was too close to him for comfort "we wanna see what it is our boy saw in you that he liked you so much but you were just too selfish to care right boys?" he said to his friend

"Mick?" Unami turned to Mick but he just shrugged at her, like he had nothing to do with this. She turned her attention back to William who still gripped painfully at her shoulders

"Let.go of me" she said through clenched teeth

"oooh feisty" they said then laughed

"trying to play tough are we?" William said pushing her to the ground. Unami stood up and dusted her clothes staring at them in disbelief as they laughed, the heels she was wearing weren't making things easier, she was tired, sleepy and now pissed

"what? you think this is funny? You're such idiots you know" she yelled

"Hey don't insult us or you'll regret it" William said "it's not our fault you love being a lady of the night" he said to which his friends laughed. Unami couldnt believe he had just called her a prostitute, all the time she had spent with them, William had never been this mean to anyone, was it that she wasn't dating their friend anymore that they decided to hate her. She looked at Mick and found him laughing as well. She couldn't believe it, she shook her head with a scoff then decided they weren't worth it, she kicked off her heel and picked them up to walk bare foot.

Just as she passed by them, William grabbed hold of her and dragged her to the into the bushes,

"Let go of me you idiot," she yelled fighting to free herself to their amusement, Mick tugged behind them watching the whole thing, a tight slap landed on her face

"I told you to stop insulting us" he said then tossed her down. She landed on an old, dusty mattress and tried to get up again only to be kicked in the ribs 

"William youre taking this too far! What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled

"She's yelling at you Willy" that ticked him off, he absolutely hated being called Willy, it made him feel so small and inferior, like he was just a boy and not a real man. Even Letty had picked up the nickname, but he let it slide because she used it to get him all worked up, he knew how to deal with her and man did he love it. But no one else could use that name, in anyone elses tongue it was a form of ridicule and this was all because of Unami, originally the plan was to just scare the hell out of her, then leave her to her own device, but now, now he would go all the way. He kicked her again

"You still don't get it do you? Were not playing, were not pulling joke, this is real and we will teach you a lesson. After this you will never cheat on anyone again". He said then knelt down to pull at her legs

"No stop it, let go of me" she struggled "Mick stop them" she pleaded

"William what are you doing, we were just supposed to scare her Mick spoke, his voice laced with fear and uncertainty

"Relax Mick, by the time were done shell be plenty scared right guys?" he said the others laughing as he turned his attention back to Unami

"stop!" Unami's screams filled the empty night but never seemed to reach anyones ears