Sleeping With The Enemy

Chapter 1

"Happy, run!"

She couldn't move. Her limbs had gone numb. Her lips couldn't form words, coherent words.

"Can't you hear me???? I said run!!"

This time she looked at him, the guy who was being restrained on the floor. He tried to fight them off but there were too many of them. She adjusted her vision to accommodate the whole scenery. The dark alley, the 4 white boys, her best friend on the ground with blood on his face. She took it all in and it was too much. She looked at them again and now they were just as interested in her as they were in him... That wasn't good.

"Why isn't anyone doing something about her?"- she heard one of them say.

"Happy, please baby girl, run as fast as you can. Don't look back; just run!"- he begged from the ground.

"I'll deal with her."

"No please it's me you want. This has nothing to-" he was kicked the face and it hit the ground with a horrifying sound.

"Jay!!!!!!!!!"- Happy heard herself scream. Then it hit her, she was next...

She turned to run but he'd caught her.

" Where do you think you are going?"- he asked her. His voice was deadly but teasingly so. His lips curled into a slight smirk. She didn't respond; she did what any female would do when a male threatened her, she kicked him in the balls. With that swift motion he was down and screaming.

" You bitch!!!"- he yelled at her. She punched him and ran. She didn't even look back but she new they were behind her. She didn't understand why she'd been so slow to think. But seeing Jay on the floor did something to her, it hurt her. She loved him, he was her friend and like her brother. She ran into what looked like a forest because she was far from where people were. Her best option was to hide.

She was fit and her stamina was in order. She looked for the tallest tree to climb, turned her sweater inside out in order to camouflage with the trees. Her dark skin colour had never been useful to her till now.

"Where's she?"- she heard one on them ask.

"She couldn't have gone far. We were right behind her!"- the frustration was evident in his voice.

"Unless.."- that voice made her shiver. It made one hide even further into the forest. It held some sort of authority and it echoed throughout the forest. "She's not running"

"Shit! Smart ass"-she murmured to herself. He wasn't as dump as he looked. All four of them were rugby players, white rugby players. They had the bodies of gladiators. The thought of them catching her scared the pants off of her.

"Start looking gents, she's hiding."- she was sure he was smirking. They way he'd said it mad her stomach turn. They were looking around and she got to see them. None of them looked into the trees so she was safe... For now. They all had rugby shorts and simple t shirts. She hated to admit but they looked hot, especially Einstein. Is blonde hair was perfectly cut and trimmed into something that resembled a Mohawk. Blue eyes, she guessed.

"Where the fuck is she?? We have looked everywhere."

Einstein, who she guessed was the leader, stopped dead in his tracks. "Maybe, we are looking in the wrong place"

Her face dropped, no, no, no and no!!!!! He couldn't have...

Just then he looked up and almost caught sight of her. She shifted and hide further into the tree.

"Our little lady might be a climber."

" I like the game she's playing! Where are you little monkey?"- another voice said.

"Josh? What are you doing here?"

"To help find the bitch."- Josh answered

"Who stayed with the loser?"- Einstein asked. The was a moment of silence.

"Shit, you left what was supposed to be our hostage alone."- he screamed at the them, yep he was the boss, Happy thought to herself.

"Let's go!"

"What about the girl?"

" I don't care about the girl, Kyle. What I want is Jay at my feet. We had the leader of our enemies in our hands and he slipped."- his voice was deadly. "We better find him or else..."

With that they were gone. She got climbed down from the tree only to have a hand cover her mouth. Her heart started beating fast. Had they caught her? What were they gonna do with her??

She tried to fight him off but he was too strong. She sneaked an elbow in his eye and he winced.

"Happy, it's me, Jay."

"I'm so sorry Jay. I thought..."

"I know, now let's get out of here before they come back here."

The walk home was in silence. He didn't want to talk about it and neither did she. His little games had almost gotten her hurt. She didn't understand why they wanted to play these games. Black VS White. They hated each other and now it had gone out of control.

It all started in grade 8. Most of the rugby players in the under 14's were white and most of the soccer players in the under 14's were black. They were competitive and both teams were good but it was never healthy competition. They'd hurt each other before. They rivalry soon included most of the school. Now it's senior year and segregation was alive and kicking.

We got to my house and I walked into my yard without saying goodbye.

"Happy, wait..."

"What?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to put you in that situation. I'm... I'm sorry."

"Why won't you stop? Why won't you just leave them alone?"-she was pleading with him.

He laughed, a humour less laugh. "'In case you hadn't noticed they ganged up on me." He pointed to his bruise, they were bad.

"You know you have done worse."- she told him truthfully.

" I'm just trying to defend myself, happy. That's all."

"And today that almost cost me who knows what."- she yelled at him. "If they can't get to you physically, they'll find alternative ways." She started to back up.

"No, happy I won't let them-"

"I won't be used as a pawn in this stupid game of yours."- she cut him off. She started to walk towards her house.

"Goodnight, Happy."

She didn't even look back, she couldn't . She hated that he'd become racist. He'd always said he wasn't but she knew the truth. They all were racist. She unlocked the door of her house.

"Keituemste? Is that you?"

"Eya mama(yes mother)"- she'd called her by her indigenous name, her mother always did that. She hated the fact that people called her happy after all it wasn't her name. She was Keitumetse Mafabatho. Her name meant "I am happy"so they called her Happy for short. But other people called her Tumi. Most white people couldn't pronounce her name right so she preferred they call her Happy. "Kay-2-metsey"- they'd say. She laughed because she knew they'd never get it right.

She looked at the clock next to her bed on her desk. 23:00, she had to get some sleep tomorrow was school and she had to face those four hooligans... Again. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of them, actually one in particular...