6.
The following Wednesday Lex called and asked me out again. He had to leave me a message as I was unable to answer the phone in time. I thought about it for the rest of the afternoon and, in the end, decided to give it another go. Perhaps if we were alone, without the company of his friends, it might be better I reasoned with myself. So Friday night we would be going to Rafiki's for dinner.
The next day it was time to investigate the store at our mall. I was so happy I could get to Readers Rest again and buy some more books. By the time I got there, it was four in the afternoon because my day got delayed by a major accident on the N2. I got out of my car, grabbed my bag and hurriedly walked to the store. Since the bookstore closed earlier than the MaxiS, I quickly dashed in there first. Jayce was as always like a breath of fresh air, and happy to see me. We chatted briefly about new books that got delivered that week and then I went to my favourite shelf to browse. I was turning a book over and over, reading the description and looking at the cover when a tap on my shoulder interrupted my thoughts.
'Not read that so I cannot recommend it, but buy it, in any case, I need the sales.'
'Haha Dax, funny!'
I laughed and put the book back on the shelf. Dax pulled a sad face, and I chuckled then took the book back off the shelf and got rewarded with a happy face. I could not resist the temptation to put the book back on the shelf to see if he would put the sad face on again. He did, and so I took the book off the shelf again, and his happy face returned. We went on and on until I was unable to lift the book from laughing so much. Jayce was lying with her head on the counter crying with laughter. I paid for my book amidst fits of giggles and snorts from the three of us. I should have gotten a discount purely for the entertainment.
Trotting to the MaxiS store much, much later than I had planned and totally occupied by our amusing little episode in the bookstore, a smile stuck to my face, and I was oblivious to everyone around me. I entered the store and wandered down the first aisle that my feet took me to. Suddenly there was a huge commotion. I heard lots of screaming coming from deep male voices and in return many high-pitched female shrieks. The men's voices were barking out orders, and I spun around on my heels to see what horror was before me. The men were running around herding people to the ground, jabbing them with their guns. Men, women and children sank to the supermarket floor. I froze in fear and terror just long enough for one of the gunmen to run up to me and knock me down to the ground. It hurt so badly I started to cry which seemed to infuriate the already enraged man. He yelled at me, hurling all sorts of abuse – about me being a woman and what he would do with me if I did not listen to him. I shook in horror and tried to stifle my crying in case it set him off again. A woman close to me was hysterical, and the man turned on her kicking her with his foot. Some of the gunmen went to the cashiers, yanking them up at their stations and forcing them to open their tills as they filled bags with money. I tried to count how many men there were and I got as far as fifteen before I had to stop for my head was lifting too high off the ground.
A few of the men were forcing the manager to the office, and when he didn't walk quickly enough they hit him over the head with a gun, and he fell to the ground bleeding. They forced him up again, holding a gun to his head. I looked at the store entrance and saw that there were more armed men guarding the entrance. The alarms were shrieking out adding to the deafening chaos, and before long the sirens of the entire police force were heard tearing their way to the mall.
When the men finished with the tills, they made their way to all the people lying on the ground and demanded their personal belongings – cell phones, wallets, jewellery and anything else they deemed theirs to take. The same man that had hit me earlier bent over me and grabbed my bag, ripping at my arm at the same time. I felt excruciating pain as a bone clicked in my shoulder, and I cried out in agony, unable to stop myself. The man yanked at my bag until it was free and I screamed in utter pain and terror as he hit me hard on my back with his gun. It was all that I could bear, and I begged him to stop, which only seemed to encourage him more. He was about to take another swipe at my back when there was another big commotion, this time at the entrance to the store. I lay there crying and praying that God would end this and that He would spare the lives of the innocent people.
I prayed despite the pain searing through my body, Oh please, Lord help us, please.
I begged God to stand between these men and the innocent people. Suddenly the loudest and most horrifying sound I had ever heard echoed through the store. It was a terrifying sound and as soon as one gun went off it seemed as though an explosion of ammunition had gone off when the gunmen fired at the police. More cries for help and screams of fear were let loose from us terrified people at the mercy of these madmen. Mayhem ensued gunfire, shouting, screaming, yelling, more gunfire, glass shattering, things breaking, feet running – all at the same time. Suddenly there was what seemed to be a scramble for cover and a whooshing noise, and then there was smoke everywhere, and my eyes burned insanely. A scurry of footsteps, more shouting and then all at once there was a lot of quiet. I lay dead still firstly because I was so terrified and yet calm and secondly because it hurt too much to move. I waited for the next sound or for the crazed man to come and attack me again. I lay on the cold floor and prayed to God. I groaned as my shoulder throbbed against the floor, the sudden silence was deafening. I tried to lift my head enough to see what was happening but even if I had been able to, my eyes were stinging and watering so intensely I had no vision.
I remained on the cold floor praying, praying that God would protect me and the others that had unwittingly got included in this anarchy. There were different voices drifting between us now. They were gentle and compassionate, and a hand touched me, and I groaned, and immediately the voice yelled for a medic. He was here to help, help had come, help had won over the bad guys. I was so overwhelmed I burst into a spurt of hysterical sobs. The kind voice left me and another voice, a woman's voice, this time, assured me it was all over and that she was going to help me. There was someone with her, a man, and together they turned me over. A burst of pain shot through my body and I shouted out loud pleading with them to stop. The lady injected me with something to help with the pain and at the same time they started to secure my neck into a brace. I could only weep. I got lifted onto a gurney; the painkillers had begun to do their work, and as I got wheeled out of the mall amongst hordes of bystanders I heard my name getting called out repeatedly. There was a bit of a scuffle when the person calling my name prohibited from reaching me, but he got his way and before I was pushed into the ambulance his hand gripped mine.
'Salma, Salma it's me, Dax. You're going to be okay. You have to be okay; you hear me? You have to give me a chance to steal you from my brother! Salma…Salma…'
I floundered in darkness hoping that I had heard him correctly.