*Trigger warning*

Juri's fingers had long since felt the pinch of the latex balloons against her skin. She was so used to tying them that it came to her as naturally as breathing. It was an odd skill to have- tying balloons faster than blinking but she supposed it added to her eccentricities. She abhorred her boss. She was a conniving old hag who needed to be screwed into the next fucking century to loosen up.

Juri herself needed to get laid. She calculated how long it had been since she had last had sex and she was almost astonished at the time. She had barely slept with her husband during the last few months of their marriage- he refused saying he didn't want her fucking him thinking he was someone else... prude.

And afterwards- getting her life in order and moving out and... basically, her vagina had dried up like an old raisin and she was just a little sad about it.

Her poor Ouma tried drilling abstinence into her head but it had never seemed to stick and she had far too much fun having sex to just give it up and wait for someone to marry. Her grandmother had almost keeled over when she found out about it... at least she had married one of them. But she was either too busy or too tired to go out to meet anyone anymore.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and any thought of ignoring it was promptly pushed out of her head when it kept on buzzing. She knew who it was and she knew why it was they were messaging her too.

Babygirl, don't you want to help me and your dad?

Babygirl?

Juri? Come on baby. Just a hundred bucks? Please?

Just a hundred.

Your daddy needs it to pay back Uncle Paul.

Remember Uncle Paul? Remember what he did to us last time we couldn't pay him back?

Please baby? Just a hundred?

Do you want Uncle Paul to have sex with me again? You remember the last time? He only slept with me because of you.

I might just tell him where you live.

Come on baby? It's just a hundred bucks. Please.

Please.

You know he'll rape you if he comes over there.

Please baby.

She shivered in disgust. It wasn't the first time her mother had threatened to 'tell Uncle Paul where she lived' but she couldn't put it past her either. Her mother was unpredictable when she was high, and she didn't want to risk a visit from him.

Shut up. Stop fucking whining. I'll send you the money. Go to Checkers in two hours- pin number 9999.

Juri walked out of Checkers visibly deflated. She needed that money to pay back Is'haaq but between him and Uncle Paul, he was the lesser of the two evils. She was sixteen the first time he had come to their house. Her parents were still living with them and he had come to collect payment. His eyes had undressed her slowly, lecherously as she completed her homework on the couch.

Her parents begged for an extension, yet he was unyielding. It was a big amount- bigger than they had ever taken- and they were unable to even scratch for the money. They moved into the dining room, shouting and screaming. It quietened down then to whispers before her mother came back into the lounge. "Baby come with me into the room for a second."

"For what?" Juri closed her book and stood up, following her mother.

"I can't reach the tin in the top cupboard."

"Okay..." She shrugged it off, but her gut told her to turn around and run out. But why would she need to run away from her mum? She ignored the shakes and the scratches. She ignored the way her mother kept looking around and scratching at her collar because it was her mother- fucked up as she was. "So-"

Her mother pushed her in, slamming the door before Juri could even turn around.

"Hi." He was sitting on the bed, his shirt half buttoned and his sleeves rolled up. "What's your name, pretty girl?"

"Juri." She licked her lips nervously, wishing she had listened to her gut.

"Do you know who I am?" He smiled at her. it was a nice smile. He had nice, white, even teeth and he didn't smell like her parents' other friends.

She nodded her head.

"And what's my name?"

"Uncle Paul." She choked out the word, fear getting the best of her.

"Right," he chuckled at the term, "Your parents told me you were a smartie-pants. What grade are you in?"

"Eleven." She took a step back as he stood up, standing tall over her.

"Can I have a look at you?"

Her stomach tightened and her throat closed up as he inched closer to her. He cast a large shadow against the yellowed wall as the sun struggled to shine through the closed beige curtains. He was far taller than her and far more imposing than any other man she had ever seen.

She couldn't answer, frozen to her place.

He stepped forward, brushing his hands over her waist as he turned her around to face the door.

"Do you know what this is?" He pressed into her. Bile rose up her throat, into her mouth as she felt his hardness press against her back. "Do you?"

She nodded once more.

"Your parents told me something very interesting." His breath brushed against her ear as his hands trailed lower, beneath her school skirt and into her cotton panties. "They told me that if I cancelled their debt, you'd allow me to put this," he pushed against her once more," into you." He cupped her, bruising her skin as his fingers pushed into her.

She shook her head, begging him to stop but he was too powerful and too strong. His finger pushed deep- too deep into her and she cried out in pain.

Her yells went unheard as he kept probing and prodding her, kissing her neck as he did so.

And her parents did nothing. She could hear them talking on the other side of the door as he defiled her. They ignored her tears and her pain as he hurt her, adding another finger. "Just getting you nice and wet and ready for me, baby."

He squeezed her bum with his left hand, forcing another cry from her.

She was scared, disgusted, horrified...

She wanted it to end. She wanted the humiliation to end...

And then she heard his zip...

"You're all ready for Uncle Paul." He whispered into her ear, lowering her panties to her knees. "It might hurt-"

"Get your fucking hands off my grandchild!"

He stopped at the click of the gun being cocked on the other side of the door. Keys jangled in the lock before the handle was lowered and her grandmother walked in.

"Get the fuck out of my house." She shoved a Shoprite bag at him, wrenching Juri behind her. "Take your money and fuck off."

He shrugged, happy either way.

"Thanks, Ouma." He grinned at her, snorting as she pressed her gun to his chest. "Message received; I'm gone." He looked around her, catching Juri's eye as he sucked off his fingers. "You taste good, little girl. Really, really good."

And he was gone...

Juri could barely remember what had happened after that. Her grandmother pressed charges against her parents and had a restraining order taken out against them but it would never truly erase what they had done.

They had betrayed her in the worst way possible and they barely even cared. They were so lost in their fucking shit that they couldn't care anymore.

And they still didn't care. After her grandmother and her brother died, they had wormed their filthy way into her life. They had stayed in King William's Town but they would still leech off her at any chance they got.

And try as she might, she didn't know how to escape them.

Not on her own...

***

"Hi." Is'haaq looked up from his ledger, surprised to see Juri before him.

"Hey."

"I need to ask you something." She could barely look him in the eye and it irked him.

"What?"

"I don't think I'm going to be able to pay you this week."

"Already backing out?" he meant to joke but it came out sounding harsher than intended.

"No, I..." she shrugged, unable to carry on the conversation.

He stood up, closing his book before he walked to her. "Want to look at me and tell me what's wrong?"

She shook her head; her shoulders sagging more and more.

"Let's go." He snatched up his keys and his jacket, leading her out the door.

"Where are we going?"

"For a drive." He pinched two milkshakes and a packet of Oreo's on his way out, holding her around her hip as he guided her towards his car.

"I haven't had an Oreo in years." Juri was almost dancing in delight as she reached into the box for her fifth one.

"I can see that." He smiled, tightening his grip around the wheel as he took a sharp turn.

They sat in comfortable silence, enjoying the rush around them as people headed home from work.

"Do you still like driving in traffic?" Juri asked, watching as he turned onto one of the busier main roads.

"If I have nowhere to be," he shrugged, "and if I have company."

He liked her smile. she still had the prettiest smile he had ever seen but time had changed them. They were no longer kids... they were too far apart to truly enjoy each other's company.

"Where are we going though?"

"We can go to my place if you'd like?"

He was unsure of himself. She was most certainly expecting the worst of him, not that he blamed her. He would too, if he were Juri. Awkwardness reigned supreme as she thought about it and he was a second away from turning back around and pretending he had never asked.

"Fuck it. Why not."