Cut

You were from a lecture, deep in thought, wondering what the lecturer, a historian from Russia, with that thick accent you could barely hear had been talking about. You couldn’t drop the class, because the only option would be a language course from a different country, and frankly you weren’t even too sure if you were well vest in English. You didn’t notice him till you bumped into him

“I’m so sorry” you said, looking up to see who it was

“No worries Efiba, you look worried, hope you’re good”

“I’m goo...” You stopped short when you realised he had mentioned your name, ‘how do you know my name”

“I live close to you, my name is Nana Sei”

“Nice meeting you, have to run” you said and hurried off. He hadn’t really told you exactly how he knew your name, but that was the least of your worries. There was just something about him you couldn’t explain. Like the fact that his smile seemed not to reach his eyes, something cold that made you almost shiver, that made you want to get out of his presence.

Since that day, you kept running into him. It was as if he was everywhere you went. You mentioned to your friend, Asantewaa, how you felt there was something about him. She laughed at you, saying you always overthought stuff. You were in your hostel one morning, talking to your roommate and her boyfriend when you saw him passby.You asked her boyfriend if he had ever seen him around

“Why? Has he told you he likes you or something? You should not get involved with him, he’s bad company”

“How so’ you asked curiously

“He hangs with the bad guys, you know, those guys your parents would warn you never to hang with, drugs, women, everything”

“Well, could be just youthful exuberance, Most young guys do these stuff now, it doesn’t make them necessarily dangerous”

“Well I have told you what I know”.

It wasn’t as if you had any intention of being with him, although for some reason you couldn’t understand, he seemed to have an interest in you.

You had gone to the library to do a research on an assignment and had lost track of time. You hurried out to get to the school station, but it was too late, there was no taxi and was left with no option than to walk. It was quite a dark path to your hostel but you weren’t too worried, there were usually students on the road going to their hostel too. Only on this day, you seemed to be alone, you took your phone to check just how late it was when someone held you from the back, covered your mouth and stuck a knife to your side.

“It’s simple, just hand over your stuff and go away quietly”.

On another day you would have wondered how it was humanly possible for a lady’s legs to shake as much as yours were. Tears blinded you, as you prayed silently that he would collect the stuff and leave you safe. You put your hands in your bag and before you could draw it back, you heard a crushing sound, too close to your ears. The hands on your mouth was off and you were almost too afraid to turn to see what would happen next.

‘Are you ok Efiba?” you knew this voice. You turned around slowly, and realized it was Nana Sei, holding a thick piece of wood. The wood he had struck your attacker with.

“You saved me” were the only words you could utter

“No big deal, let me walk you to your room”.

You had no idea how those same legs carried you, but you were only glad it was too dark for him to see that you had wet yourself .The guy everyone described as dangerous had just struck someone unconscious in order to save your life. How were you supposed to reject his friendship? And so friends you became. You weren’t stupid, you noticed the signs of a person who did drugs, you saw the women, and you saw the late hours he left his room, but you had experienced his compassionate side too.

It was a night after quizzes, and Asantewaa, your roommate, and a couple of other friends were off to the club to party. You stayed in your room, because deep down you hadn’t recovered from the attack. You were still afraid of leaving your room at night. You were watching a movie when Asantewaa rang your phone. There was an emergency, she had left her inhaler on the desk and she badly needed it.They were just on the next street, and she wanted you to please run over and bring it. Your fears wasn’t as great as your best friend’s need, so you rushed over to give it to her. They thanked you and sat in a taxi, and you turned to go back to your hostel. The power was cut just when you got to the short path to your hostel, so you decided to use the path besides the park, where people usually held prayer meetings. Even though it was dark, you were sure to see people on that road you reasoned. Nana Sei’s hostel was on that path too, so you decided to say hi to him, and thank him for the cake he had sent over to you the previous day. You were about to mention his name from the back of his window when you heard a piercing scream. The scream was from inside his room, and though the lights were off he had a lamp on in his room. His windows were open, because he couldn’t stand the heat that came when there was no electricity. He knew nobody would see inside the room unless the person came close to the window. He also knew most people were out partying on a Friday night.

You watched him slap the girl that knelt before him, calling her a stupid bitch for screaming out loud .You were about to turn ,not interested in knowing what was possibly a lovers spat when you saw him bring a blade out and hold it to her neck

“Scream one more time and I will kill you right now “he hissed

You could hear the girls muffled sobs, and you wanted to turn away but your legs seemed frozen.

“Lie down, this won’t take a minute, and you would feel more pain if you try to struggle”.

You should probably do something, you told yourself, but your body wouldn’t move.

He tore the skirt the girl was wearing, threw away her panties, lowered himself to his knees, and with precise swiftness that could only have been perfected by practise cut the girls genitalia. The girl blacked out, and you stood rooted in shock, as he stood up, smiled and placed the piece of flesh in a bottle. You threw up at that moment, and he heard the sound, looked at your face outside the window, the girl on the floor, the bottle and with a look that almost resembled pity rushed to the door. He was coming after you, and he looked almost sad that he had to keep you quiet. You started running, but with every step he closed the gap between you. His hands were on the back of your shirt when the light came on, and you realized the group that usually prayed were on the field, having what seemed to be a quiet meeting. He stopped when he saw the people, and you rushed to sit by them, shaking, unable to speak. They knew him, and he threw a nasty look at them, daring any of them to say a word. It would be your word against his. He turned back to the direction of his room. You had been saved. For now.