I Still Wonder Who They Were

This happened to me when I was in grade. 11, I was about 15yrs old. It was 2001.

It was a saturday and I was partaking in our sportsday at school, I played netball and was horrible at it. At the end of the day a group of friends and I decided to go chill at the mall and because it was winter and raining by the time I got home, which was about 7pm, it was already dark. I was scared to knock on our front door and rightfully so, my step-granpa kicked me out, literally, and told me to go back to where I had come from. So I was wandering around at night wearing my school clothes with a huge sportsbag, wet and tired, and because I was one of the 'popular' kids at school I was too embaressed to ask for help from my friends. I didn't want my situation at home to be publicized, it was hard enough dealing with it in private.

After a while of aimlessly walking around I got tired and decided to stand by the pay-phones and pretend to be making a call when this man, who I would say was in his thirties came up to me and asked me if I was alright. I made up some story about my parents being out of town and forgetting to leave me the house keys when I left for school in the morning and that they would be back tomorrow morning so I was trying to get hold of I can't remember if I said my sister or a friend but I don't think he bought my story. Besides the fact that I am a horrible liar I was too tired and stiff to think of anything plausible.

This man told me to come with him and I know it was a reckless thing to do, my being a 15yr old girl following a stranger at night but at that point I didn't care. Now that I think about it, I secretly wished something would happen to me so my family would feel guilty. I was young... So I followed this man to his house and he surprisingly lived on the street behind my granparents. When we got into his house he introduced me to a lady he said was his sister and she took over from there. She offered me food but I kindly declined, don't like eating in stranger's houses, then she showed me a room I could sleep in. I tell you I fell asleep the minute I hit that pillow, and I usually can't sleep in new environments but that's how mentally and physically exhausted I was.

The next morning they were kind enough to let me sleep without waking me up and when I did eventually, I told them I had to go and thanked them for their kindness. I wish I hadn't been so hasty in leaving but my embarressment was increased by the lightness of day. I got home and soon forgot about that night. I begged my stepgranpa to take me back in.

After matric (grade.12) I left my hometown to get away from my family and didn't return for like two and a half years. Something I forgot to mention, the house I stayed a night over was next door to this girl I used to go to pre-primay with, and whilst I was studing away from home me and her got reunited again and that's what made me remember the two siblings.

Last year I finally asked her what ever happened to them because this one time when I was going to her house I saw a woman with kids and some man I later found out was her boyfriend. Figuring they might have moved away I asked my friend about them and she told me that no one by the description I gave her ever lived next door. She said the lady I saw had been her neighbour since we were kids. I din't tell her anything, I guess I am still smarting about a lot of things that happened to me when I was growing up so I just made as if I was mistaken.

But until today I still wonder who those siblings were that helped me and whatever happened to them. They seem to have disappeared into thin air.

Angels? I would like to believe so, that someone was with me looking after me during those troubled teen years I endured alone.