ONYIYE THAT GIRL

__________
"Is it me or are those grannies looking at me in a weird way?" She's heartbroken. Maybe they disliked her the minute they laid their eyes on her. Her complexion has always been a problem.
"It's nothing big. Don't let them get to you. I know how stressful my aunt's can be." Sbahle says picking the package of chips in the trolley. "Do you want alcohol?" 
"I've never drank before….well let me not lie. I once drank and I felt pregnant." 
They both laugh. 
"This time around ngeke uhlahle. If you want tlof tlof, your baby daddy is just around the corner." 
"Mxm, I'll have Strongbow." 
After paying for the spices and snacks. They passed by the liquor shop and bought 12 pack each.
"You should learn how to drive." Sbahle suggests. Onyiye smiles….
"I'm doing my learner's next week. Sthembiso had to drag me out of my comfort zone." 
"He is doing a good thing. You should live a little. You still a kid maan. Unangaki? 18,19?" 
"Turning 20 domkop into weeks time."
She laughs popping popcorn in her mouth. 
"What a shame." She laughs and parks outside the gate. Onyiye looks at her briefly not too sure whether to ask her or not. What if she doesn't know and plus she is a cop? She should rather keep this to herself. 
"What is it?" Sbahle asks looking at her intensely.
"Nothing, I'm just afraid of driving." She decides to zip her mouth. Never trust anyone in this world but yourself.
"It's not that bad. You will be good." 
"If you say so." She shrug her shoulders leaning back. 
"Let's go get wasted." 
They step out of the car with Onyiye following behind. "You can leave these in the back room, no one leaves there it's still vacant after you left. Mum had hoped that you might come back and visit." She laughs a bit. 
"And here I am. How I miss my old room." 
It's still as it was. Her belongings are still here. Her big mattress that she bought is still here.
She places the 12 pack in her mini fridge and walks out following Sbahle behind.
She's looking at the family talking and having the time of their lives. Somehow she wished that her mother was this bubbly and warm towards her. But woman hates her with passion. 
The language barrier is killing her. For a moment she almost fainted when Sbahle spoke a foreign language. 
"What are you talking about?" She whispers to Sbahle.
"Nothing much. They are just asking questions about you and saying how much you look like my late sister Adeze." 
She frowns for a second. This Adeze child that they kept on referring to….she once saw the picture but she didn't look nothing like her. Well, she also was a dark skinned girl but nothing like her. And for Sbahle - she took her mother's fair complexion. The next thing they will be saying is her - that she woke up from the dead. She sighs not knowing how to respond. She fakes a smile and excuses herself. Maybe she will be back some other time when these people are gone. She can't be compared with a dead person - that she refuses to believe. She goes to the back room and decides to drink and waits for Sthembiso’s call.

LIMDIWE MAZIBUKO

"Make sure that you provide me with the most researched scoop, something that will be updated on the schools blog. Which ever article has the most votes gets to be published in our very own magazine. Good luck each and everyone of you." The lecture says closing her texts books that were on the table. "Same time, same place tomorrow." 
Lindiwe stands up and rushes outside just to be away from everyone. Some still have the videos and some still make fun of her infront of Sizwe. Gossip never….. It's something that she cannot get used to. 
She spots Mpilo and his thick girlfriend from a distance and sighs. Every failed relationship is painful. It hurts in a way no physical wounds can….
She was emotionally tortured that time, alot was going on. The trending video and her being dumped for abortion. She would cry while in class. And every time she would hear the sound of some familiar love songs, she couldn't help but cry her heart out.
She wanted to move on. She wanted to forget him as soon as she could and that's where Sizwe came to the rescue. That man made her feel special more than anyone could.
Everywhere she looked, she saw him …. there's just too many memories, and she thought she would go crazy trying to avoid them.
Not that she's sad but she just doesn't want to see him anywhere. She walks out of the gate and awaits for a taxi. 
Mpilo and his girlfriend! Did they really had to stand beside her and cuddle infront of her. A car parks infront of her….
"Why didn't you tell me that your lessons are over sdididi?" Sizwe steps out of the car. He gives her a warm hug picking her up a bit. 
"Hau, I thought you were long gone?" She replies stepping back smiling. She is here today because of this man.  
"Gone where? I came back for my Queeny. Guess what I bought for you?" He is beaming in excitement clapping his hands together like a hungry child. 
"Pizza?" She curiously looks at him. 
"Bhamfoqo." He smiles widely. 
Lindiwe looks at him dumbfounded. She will normally laugh out loud and say the weirdest things on earth. But for this....it's just leaving her speechless.
"I pray in Jesus name to provide me with a man of my dreams." 
She walks past him throwing herself in the car. 
"Amen!" Sizwe says following her behind. He enters the car leans over for a kisses and drives off leaving Mpilo burning in anger.
__________
"So this article, what do you want it to be about?" Lindiwe smiles already picturing her story in the front page making headlines. 
"About my friend." 
"Onyiye? Tell me what are you going to write about her? By the look of things you will need two pages to write about her story and her life since its way back. This is something small, with simple events happening." 
"You are right. I'm just clueless." She sighs weighing her shoulders down. 
"Anything that comes from your heart will do. Connect with whatever you want to write and you will see." He cups he chubby cheeks. 
"Maybe I should just write about myself. How will that look?" She bites her nails. 
"What exactly?" 
"Of the recent events. Maybe advise other children who are fresh from high school to not fall on the mistake I once made." He nods his head in agreement. 
"That will be a great story babe. Be busy with it and I'll be busy with my work. Doing a masters degree is no child's play. I have to confess - I hate law!" He groans throwing himself on the bed covering his face with his text book.

ONYIYIE'S HOUSE

"MAMA WAKE UP!" Sisipho screams for the whole world to hear. 
She looks at her mother's wide open eyes, cold body, twisted arm.
A knock on the door….
She leaves her mother and attends to door still in shock. 
"I could hear you from my house. What is it?" A neighbour asks stepping inside of the house. Once upon a time this house was as clean as a castle. 
"Mama, I think she's dead." She's a crying mess. 
"Jesus! God forbid! Take me to her." 
Sisipho takes the neighbour to her mother's bedroom. The neighbour stops on her tracks looking at a scary woman on top of her bed. She pulls her legs towards Ntombi feeling her pulse. "She's barely alive call for an ambulance?" She instructs. Sisipho takes her phone seeking for help….
________
"We found a huge dosage of sleeping tablets into your mother's system and we believe the overdose is the cause of her stroke. Sleep medication use may independently increase the risk of stroke beyond other risk factors in middle-aged to older individuals with no history of stroke."
"Stroke, my mother has stroke?" She's not believing. 
"Unfortunately yes, we will keep her for the time being until she fully recovers."
"Was she trying to kill herself?" She asks swallowing hard. 
"At this point we cannot tell. We will wait for her to fully recover and take her statement." 
Sisipho nods not knowing what to ask further than this. "Excuse me, I will have to attend to my other patients."
She's going back home with a tail in-between her legs. So her mother is really sick? It’s scary and draining in a way only people who’ve been through it understand. Now that she thinks about it, there’s nothing glamorous or energizing about caring for ailing family member.
Sighs!
She sits on the couch looking around the house. Maybe starting by cleaning will do.
___________
The house is sparkling clean. She just neetd some rest but something dawns to her. She didn't get her periods this month. She looks at the calendar and her heart thuds painfully. Could this be....
"No!"
She takes out her phone and dials the numbers.
It rings till she gives up. She tries again and it takes her straight to voicemail. Maybe he is busy and besides he is a business man who has a busy schedule. He will definitely call her back. Maybe he has back to back meetings. But just to be sure she needs to take a pregnancy test first. She takes a quick bath and goes to town.
___________
She's looking at the two lines and her heart sinks. She is indeed truly pregnant.
Deciding what to do about an dealing with unexpected pregnancy is very difficult. There is a lot to think about. She has to make the decision that is right for her and her mother. She cannot disappoint her now that she is the most favourite.
Maybe telling his sister will do. She will talk to Lungisani once he is available since she cannot get hold of him.
She tries typing on her WhatsApp but her phone freezes taking her to every direction and viewing every WhatsApp status. Her eye catches a picture.....
She's shaking and her phone is acting up.
She switches it of and turns it back on. She views the statuses again.
"Lungisani!" Her boyfriend for three years. This cannot be happening to her. Tears veil into her eyes and drop continuously without stop. The pain is too much and unbearable.
So all along she was being made a fool by this family. His mother never lover her the minute she laid her eyes on her and that was the least of her worries. She was close with all of his sisters and they took like a family but they were conniving behind her back!
She takes a deep breath in pain.
She remembers when he told his parents about their relationship and also told them that they want to get married but they totally refused to listen to him. Especially his mother. His father is the quietest of them all. She doesn't know him that well.
She is not able to accept the fact that he is married and living with some other girl instead of her and her alone!
The breaking of a relationship is very much akin to losing someone and the process involves going through your own grieving process which can be rather difficult depending upon the circumstances in which the breakup is happening.
Imagine breaking up with someone and you were not told.
She stops typing and deletes the message with a heavy heart.
He got married a month ago. She was with him last month and everything was just fine. He seemed normal, happy to be with her. He loved her and showed her the best time of here life.
All along it was a lie! And now she is left to carry the consequences alone!