Nandi, aged 13
2019
I had come back from school i was wearing my PE kit i decided i wanted Oreos. Tesco on Central Drive was only about an eight minute walk from my house. I’m walking and I pass under the bridge about to turn left on Middle Street, but there’s one boy around 15-17years old and a child, no older than seven years old in school uniform, on top of the bridge. There’s this little place where, instead of using the stairs, you can climb down – which to me is quiet high. They climb down and from there my stomach drops.
The older one shouted “yo”. I have social anxiety so of course i’m not going to interact with these individuals. I turn the corner and, all of a sudden, I look back to see them following me. I continue walking because i still want my Oreos! As I turn right onto Louise Street the older boy charges towards me on a bike, only just brushing me. Now i can see him in front of me. He makes a turn towards me but I assume he is catching up with the little boy he left behind me. I’m thinking, okay, that was weird, but that’s it.
I can hear laughing behind me. The boy charges towards me again, slapping my bum…
Can we also talk about how the little boy in PRIMARY school uniform laughs at me while pointing his fingers at me? It’s just so sad that this child will grow up around these types of people, and find nothing wrong with this, maybe even following in their footsteps and sexually assaulting women in the future.
Anyway, this is where I ran to Tesco, calling my friend to tell her the whole situation and how i’m scared to leave Tesco. I’m still so embarrassed to this day at how loud I was shouting at my friend down the phone. People around me must have thought I was a mad women and I’m Black already so I used to get stares quiet a lot and followed around the shop by security. Not so much now as I guess they know who I am 🤷🏾♀️ or have just stopped following people, idk.
After I collect my thoughts together and buy the Oreos I want, I leave Tesco and of course I have to go down the same way I came up. I get to Louise Street again I see the same person who just assaulted me – not the younger one this time. But this boy is now with about three or four other boys on bikes, and they are chasing me down.
I end up running up the small stair onto the car park behind the Odeon, where there was a police car, which I guess deters the boys from continuing their chase. I see the police are busy with another matter, decide not to go any further and walked home in tears.
Honestly, I still would like to think those boys weren’t out to do anything further to me and were just taunting me but, hey ho, I will never know and I’ve moved on. I was 13 at the time and now I’m 17.