Be My Victim and other Strange Tales from the Cape (7 page)

And then we saw
the little house. The house seemed so strange and totally out of
place amongst the giant yellow-white mounds. It didn't fit there at
all. We approached the house and saw that it was even fenced in
with thin wooden poles that must have been taken from the same
forest we just came from. The builder used bigger stones of the
same yellow white material to mark out the footpath that led from
the gate to the door. There was a beautiful type of gravel on the
actual footpath.

We entered the
yard and went onto the stoep. The strange thing was that under
normal circumstances we would never have just approached a strange
house, especially one in an area where we have never been before,
but both of us felt this strange feeling to just explore and enter
the house.

The area was
completely desolated and this house was the only sign of life
around there. Except for the few droopy plants in the little garden
and on the stoep, there wasn't even stuff growing in the area.

There were two
wooden benches and a lot of pot plants on the stoep. The plants,
though, looked worse for wear.

There was the
very nice aromatic smell of a wood burning oven as well as freshly
brewed black coffee coming from the inside of the house.

We knocked on
the door of the cottage.

After several
knocks there was no answer.

Jeffrey tested
the door by turning the handle and the door opened smoothly on
well-oiled hinges. I must admit we were both a bit apprehensive to
enter, but it was as if something was driving us to enter that
desolated house on that strange yellowish-white plain. We had
already comee this far, so we could just as well continue.

And the other
thing is that I didn't felt scared at all. Maybe it was because the
sun was shining brightly on the outside and there was no sign of
any danger. This would become a totally different story once we
were inside the house.

We called out
several times as we entered the house. On the inside the cottage
was rather empty, devoid of furniture, with just a table or a chair
standing here and there. There were not the many decorations and
paraphernalia that these type of cottages are known for. The front
door lead to a small lobby with the entrance to the lounge just
across from the front door. The lounge was big and looked
comfortable.

We first stood
in the doorway of the lounge looking around, with the front door
still wide open where we could still see the sunlight and smell the
fresh air. This would soon be something of the past for us. Then we
entered the lounge. It was also rather empty with some soft
furnishings in the one corner and a desk with some books on the
other. It smelled very nice, but above that nice smell, we could
still smell the wood burning stove and the freshly brewed
coffee.

It think it was
this homely smelled that gave us the courage and the curiosity to
further explore the house.

We made out
mistake when we exited the lounge from the other door which lead to
a passage.

The mistake we
made was to lose sight of the front door.

We would only
learn this later on when it was much too late.

As we went out
from the lounge we suddenly saw two youngish boys entering the one
room that was on the other side of the passage. We immediately
called out to them and ran towards that room. I don't know what
made me turn around, but just before we entered that room I looked
around to the door we just came from. There I saw the same two boys
coming TOWARDS us.

And those two
boys looked exactly like me and Jeffrey, they even had the same
clothes on and the same white powered feet.

AND, the one
who looked like me, was looking around back to the lounge.

This was really
like looking into a mirror, but one that had a time lag sometimes
and at other time moved at a faster time rate. As I tried to tell
Jeffrey this, we were already inside the room.

It was a large
bedroom with only the big queen sized bed, a cupboard a rocking
chair and a little bedside cabinet. On the one end of the room was
a large wall sized mirror.

The only thing
strange about this mirror was the fact that everything in the room
was reflected in it, EXCEPT US. We were standing right in front of
that mirror, but we were not there.

"No!” Jeffrey cried out, as he grabbed me by
the hand. "This is a bewitched house…we must get out…quick." As we
ran down the passage I told him about the two boys - that was
actually us -that I saw leaving the lounge.

As we ran down
the passage in the direction of what we thought was the front door
we heard running footsteps behind us. We looked around and saw the
two boys – who were actually us, or a reflection of us - looking
behind them as they came towards us.

We started
running as panic started setting in. But as we ran at top speed, we
realized that we were always the same distance from the wall as at
the beginning. In short, we were running at top speed, but staying
in one spot. But this wasn't like running on one spot. We were
running at full speed, but the wall just stayed the exact same
distance from us, no matter how hard we ran. Every time we looked
around at the other two boys they were also looking around. I am
sure it was us or a reflection of us, because they were exactly the
same size and wore the exact same clothes we were wearing.

It WAS us, but
just in another dimension. We were the only living beings in that
house. Or at least I hoped so.

We weren't
reflected in the mirror, but something else in this house was
reflecting us in the most weird and scary way.

Jeffrey decided
to change tactics. This time we ran straight to the end of the
passage, past the door where we entered from the lounge. We were
now in the kitchen. It was a huge kitchen. It had a wood burning
stove on the one end and a big table in the middle with some wooden
chairs. The fire was on in the stove and there was actually a pot
of coffee standing on the one hot plate. So the coffee we smelled
before we entered this nightmare was real and this also meant that
there were someone else around there.

So we HAD to
get out, because we definitely didn't want to meet whoever it
was.

The strange
thing about this kitchen was that it looked exactly the same from
all sides. It didn't matter where you stood in the kitchen it
seemed as if you were looking at a reflection of it. The door that
led to the outside was there, but once again we couldn't reach it,
no matter how hard we tried. The more we tried to reach it, the
more it wasn't there when we got to it and we were in the exact
same spot where we started from.

Jeffrey started
praying loudly, but it was to no avail. I told him that we had to
go back and try to reach the front door through the lounge
again.

We turned
around and rushed out the door where we entered the kitchen,
planning to find a way back to the lounge and the front door.

With this we
were immediately out in the sunshine standing by the gate where we
entered the property.

Boy, where we
relieved.

The house
looked exactly the same as we first saw it from the outside with
the smell of a wood stove burning and freshly brewed coffee. But we
knew that nothing would ever get us back into that house again.

We ran down the
forest paths and were quickly back with the others. No one believed
us when we told them what happened. They didn't even want to go
check out the place with us.

Jeffrey's
father said that it is only the sulfur mines that are on that side
and he was there many times and there are no houses.

“Why, only the
Devil would want to have a house in a brimstone mine...” he
laughed.

Today I am sure
we wouldn't even have found the house again if we went looking for
it.

What is even
stranger than all that happened that day is that to this day I
still don't know if that incident really happened or if it was just
a dream?

If only I could
get Jeffrey to confirm that this really happened…

After that
incident Jeffrey and I discussed that house many times. Jeffrey
must have thought about it a lot, because later he told me several
times that he will at some stage return to that house and try and
find out what its secret was.

I and my family
left for the city the next year. The years rolled by and Niewedorp
became a sweet, far off memory. My adventures in Niewedorp were
always in the back of my mind. I was always thinking of returning
there and thirty three years later I just took my car and took a
road-trip to Niewedorp.

On entering the
little village I wasn’t surprised at all that everything seemed
almost exactly like we left it thirty three years before. I went
straightaway to Jeffrey's house. Everybody was very glad to see me.
His father, Mr Donson was still alive.

Everybody was
still there, except for Jeffrey.

When I asked
Mister Donson about his son Jeffrey, he looked strangely at me and
said I must be mistaken, he never had a son by the name of
Jeffrey...

Every evening
as the sun sets over the Cape Flats a million demons materialize
out of the shadow world. A million demons come out to feast on
those unwary wanderers of the night. A million demons come out to
haunt the shadowy streets and eat the children. Those are the
people who died in gang-fights, or was murdered while walking in
the street, or wives who has been killed by their drugged up
husbands. They are all still here and just waiting to pounce on the
unwary and get their revenge.

Page holds the
Barbie doll closer to her chest with her one hand, while holding
tightly onto her mother’s dress with the other hand as they get off
the train at Netreg station. They are going to sleep at her daddy’s
house tonight. It is already late and a gloomy dusk is starting to
settle in over the township, but bright lights chase the shadows
away all over the platform of the train station.

Knowing that
she is going to see her daddy again fills the seven year old girl
with excitement. She loves her daddy very much. He always have lots
of presents for her. He also gives her lots of money while they
visit him and when they leave he also gives money to her mommy to
keep for her.

Page loves both
her mommy and daddy very much and it made her sad because they
can’t all live together. She asked this question many times and her
mommy explained that Daddy has to stay in Valhalla Park, because of
his business. If he leaves there he won’t make any money. And they
can’t stay with him, because of all the noisy and mostly drunk
people that hangs around his house every day. She never understood
that and would enjoy having her daddy with her every day.

So once or
twice a month she and her mommy takes the train from Bellville -
where they live with grandma - to Netreg Station. From the station
they would walk to her daddy’s house in Valhalla Park.

She never liked
this area. It feels dangerous. And dirty. The people are always in
a hurry and they swear loudly and many times they fight with each
other. Their screaming and loud talking scares her. And the place
is always dirty with old newspapers and plastic shopping bags
blowing in the wind and all kinds of rubbish lying around. The
smell of burned tyres and rotten fruit and petrol and sour wine is
always hanging over the area like an evil mist. And those strange
men who are always standing on the street corners. They would look
her and mommy all over. They have such weird eyes and those strange
grins. They always look like people who stand there for a purpose,
but she never saw them doing anything. Although she is only seven
years old, the way that they looked at her always makes her feel
dirty and icky... and very scared. At times like these she just
wants to run away, but then she feels the strength of her mommy
next to her and she holds her hand very tight and smiles at
her.

They are still
with the noisy crowd of people who just came from work as they
cross at the traffic light. As they enter Valhalla Park the crowd
starts to thin out as people turn off to their houses. When she and
her mommy arrive at the edge of the field which they must cross to
reach her daddy’s house, they are alone.

The shadows
deepen and seems to come alive as a wind starts to cry like a lost
soul all around them. She holds the Barbie doll closer to her
chest.

The treacherous
township lies all around them with its lighted houses and drunk
people and screaming children and blaring music. The field is like
a totally different world. A world of gloomy silence. It is
supposed to be a sports field, but nobody takes care of it. The
grass is long and thick bushes have sprung up all over. Here and
there are still open patches where the children play in the
afternoons. Little footpaths criss-cross in the green of the grass,
because it is a general thoroughfare for the public.

People have
been murdered and raped on this field. Many believe that those
spirits and anger and hate are still inhabiting this field and
makes itself known in the darkness of the night.

There is no
alternative, though. They will have to cross the field to get to
her daddy’s house. They have always crossed it during the day and
this will be the first time they cross it at night.

Page hold
tightly onto her mother’s hand as they step out of the pool of
light into the shadows of the field. For a while it is only the
dull sounds of their footsteps as they walk over the soft
grass.

Then she starts
hearing it. At first it is very faint and then it becomes louder.
She gives a quick look backwards but sees nothing.

“Mommy,
somebody is following us.” She says when she sees her mommy doesn’t
react.