She felt them but did not see them.
The huge pair of hands closed around her throat. The smell of sweat
engulfed her before the terror took over. She tried to fight but he was too
strong. His body against her back felt like a brick wall, hard and unmovable
as her small, delicate frame kicked and flailed. He remained unmoved. His
hands squeezed tighter.
Shilla was a beautiful girl. A gorgeous girl by any standards. Her coffee-
colored skin was the first thing that one saw when you looked at her. Her
body was perfect, firm breasts perched above a perfectly shaped waist, a
flat belly that every Nairobi girl dreams of, and a perfectly rounded bottom.
Many a man had tripped looking back to catch another glance as she
passed by.
When she smiled, men were immediately drawn to her, like a spell that only
she had the antidote to.
It didn’t help that she had an amazing sense of style. She looked fabulous
in anything and everything. Her clothes accentuated her curves and made
all girls look like they were dressed in rags.
She knew she was a beautiful girl. she had always known she was a
beautiful girl.
Her alcoholic mum had run off and left her all alone in the small house
they shared in Mukuru slums. One morning, shortly after she turned 16,
she woke up and her mum was not there. She never came back and Shilla
never bothered to look for her. Never having known her dad, or any other
relatives for that matter, she was all alone in this world, at 16.
She had nothing to call her own. She knew she was beautiful and that was
all she needed to survive. She left the slum and never looked back.
Three years later she was living in Kilimani. Her apartment is tasteful and
fully furnished. She wore designer perfume, and designer clothes (maybe
fake designer), ate from fancy restaurants, and drove a beautiful Honda
CRV. There were the men rich men who could not fight her wiles and gave
in to everything she wanted in exchange for only one thing. She gave it
wholeheartedly.
The thought of being back in Mukuru drove her every action and reaction.
There was the Governor, Mhesh, whose day was Monday. He never came
to her house. He called her to his penthouse in a fancy building in town.
He always gave her a big wad of cash after every ‘meeting’. He paid her
rent and fueled her car. If she wanted to go on a trip out of town, Mhesh
would pay for it. He did not bother her much on any other days of the
week except with a few calls. He assumed she belonged only to him.
There was Kamau, the affluent businessman who may have been a bit
stingy but he wanted her so desperately. She saw him on Wednesday at his
secret apartment. He had never seen a woman so beautiful, he wanted to
own her. When she asked for something, he would say he did not have
money and would find a way to get it for her. She would sulk and say;
‘Okay, babe don’t bother yourself. I will find a way to get it. I have to go
now.’
Kamau would get terrified that she was leaving without giving him that
rosecoco he needed to heal him from all the madness around him and so
he would say,
‘Let me make a few calls baby,’ knowing full well that he had the money all
along. Then baby would get whatever she wanted. He assumed she
belonged only to him.
Then there was Juno, a middle-aged and handsome American expatriate
living in Gigiri. He was married but his family was back in the States. On
days she was not meeting Mhesh or Kamau, she spent her time with Juno
in his fancy expats’ villa. Juno was madly in love with her. He was
enthralled by her beauty, just like the other two. He wanted to divorce his
wife and marry her. She knew that if he went through with it she could
finally be rid of the fear of poverty that had her on a vice-like choke hold.
She could finally get rid of Mhesh and Kamau and any other men she had
to sleep with for a quick buck. She hated giving her body to them in
exchange for the money she needed so badly to maintain her lifestyle. If
she had a choice she would drop that lifestyle faster than you could say,
Juno.
It happened. One fine evening. She was sitting barefoot in Juno’s living
room, sipping a glass of chardonnay and wearing his large t-shirt; reading a
vogue magazine in which she would have suited perfectly. She looked
divine. He came home breathless and wearing a big smile. Before she could
ask anything, he was on one knee in front of her with the most beautiful
ring she had ever seen, the stone binding her in one eye for a few seconds.
‘She signed the papers babe, we are free. Will you marry me mpenzi?
She held her hand over her mouth like the girls in the movies do when
being proposed to. Then she started to cry, real tears because she wanted
this so bad.
‘Yes! Yes! I will.’ He slipped the ring on her finger and then hugged her so
tight. She hugged him back even tighter wondering what she would do
about Mhesh and Kamau. He took out his iPhone and then took his hand
in hers, taking a beautiful photo of their hands. He posted it on his socials
and tagged her with the caption “SHE SAID YES!!”
Her happiness lasted all of 2 minutes.
Mhesh followed her religiously on all her platforms. Kamau had finally
signed up to Instagram because of her. Just so he could look at his
beautiful girl anytime he wanted to. Her mind was racing faster than
Hamilton’s Car in a formula one race. She reached for her phone so she
could block them both before they could see the tag. Too late. Her
WhatsApp beeped first.
‘You Bloody Bitch! You think you can screw me over like that???’ Mhesh
wrote, “You do not know me and what I am capable of.” Her phone rang.
Over and over again. It was Kamau. He kept calling relentlessly. She was
bordering on a full-blown panic attack and needed to leave that house
ASAP!
‘My friends just want to congratulate me mpenzi, too much excitement,’
she explained to Juno as she switched to airplane mode.
‘I need to pick up some clothes from my apartment. I will be back in a
short while, okay?’ she assured Juno with a kiss on his lips, trying to keep
her composure but falling apart inside.
She drove fast, her heart thudding louder than the sound of the moving
engine. She planned to abandon her car at her house. Mhesh had bought it
for her and would probably want it back. He probably had a tracker on it.
She would pick up all her valuables, leave everything behind and hide in
Juno’s house until they could leave.
She got into her apartment and switched on the light, ignoring the weird
feeling that made her shiver as she ran to her bedroom. Then she felt the
hands around her neck.
As the humongous hands kept squeezing. As her life ebbed out of her
body, she thought of Juno. ‘I am so sorry Mpenzi,’ she said wordlessly and
the lights in her world faded out to complete darkness. He flung her
lifeless, small body on the big bed and left as silently as he came in. He
removed the black mask as he walked down the stairs.
‘Mhesh, it’s done,’ he said into his phone before getting into the black van
with tinted windows.
A teary Kamau tried to compose himself as he went up the stairs. He was
going to simp and ask her not to marry the mzungu because he loved her
so much. He was going to tell her how he felt and that he would marry her
if she wanted. He would divorce his wife for her.
The love of his life had been snatched away from him, first by mzungu and
then by the cold hand of death.
Kamau did not know this, yet.