THE ORDER OF KORES

Drie

"Sure, sure, we can go there. As long as afterwards, we can go to the club, and get all the way turned up!" she sang, sticking her tongue out and trying to twerk while she sat in the chair.

I rolled my eyes and groaned, "the last time we went clubbing, you know I went out of control and drank too much." I wasn't much of a drinker, but after a lot of persuasion, in a club, in Durban, that Ama had taken me to, I'd gotten very wasted and made a complete fool of myself.

I pride myself in always being well composed and that had been horrific.

I had made a lot of mistakes that evening, that I feel if Ama hadn't had her good-for-nothing boyfriend there, would've never happened. Ama was currently dating a well-known up and coming rapper, who had good-for-nothing friends who all did good-for-nothing things. Personally, I believe that Ama deserves more than the pieces of trash that she always gets attracted to, especially this one, who cheats on her almost on the daily. And to make it worse, she tells me rubbish statements like 'he said he's sorry' when she shows me the flashy things he bought for her.

He once cheated on her, on national TV with some insta-baddie, while he was on Big Brother SA: Celebrity or however the fuck you say it. The dude got eliminated pretty quickly, and when he came out, he bought Ama a convertible Porsche and took her on a shopping spree.

I just need my friend to not be weak in the knees and to step up and love herself enough to go for what she wants.

"What? It'll be fun! Plus, R-P-K, will be there." She tried to argue and I rolled my eyes even harder.

"Oh, please, don't act like him being there will make things better. What happened last time, happened because of him."

"Evelyn that isn't fair to pin the blame on him."

"Then who should I pin it on, Ama?" I argued with her, glaring into her eyes because I couldn't understand what it would take to get her to see through the bullshit and see that if she doesn't wake up now, she's only going to realise once she contracts HIV or something, from the man and realises that he's used her.

Ama rolled her eyes and looked away, falling silent as she reached for my hand and took the joint that I had rolled up and brought it to her own lips. She took a pull while I fell silent and looked back at the people walking by us.

"He's not like that you know, when it's just the two of us..." Ama argued weakly, her voice sounding close to breaking as I played with the rim of the cup, listening to the same thing that she says every time. "When we're alone...away from the cameras and people, he becomes so..."

I couldn't understand why it was so hard for her to leave him, I won't lie to you. But I did know that the heart attached itself to whomever it wanted to, no matter how much of a dog he was.

I've been surrounded by healthy relationships most of my life.

My parents' marriage is a healthy and stable one. I've seen them argue, but never over anything serious. It was usually over whether or not one should've taken the first left or the second. They've always been lovey dovey and all sorts of gross things, but never unstable. Or maybe they went through that behind closed doors...

"There's R-P-K and then there's Gabriel," she continued, and I heard her sniffle. "Gabriel is who I'm in love with and I can't explain it to you, because I don't think you'll ever understand how hard it is for me, Evelyn. He makes me cry so much...but I still love him. He hurts me so much...but I can't help but love him. With every bit of my being, I can't stop loving this boy, no matter what he does. I know that when he comes knocking on my door..." she trailed off, and I turned to look at her, watching the way that she cried softly, "I'll always open it for him."

There wasn't much that I could do about the situation, since this was her life. I could only pray that she somehow gets the strength to leave this bum of a man, especially since she's only a 20 year old girl and she doesn't need to be going through all the shit this guy is putting her through.

I leaned in and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in for a hug. "It's okay, friend, I'm always here for you." She let out a soft laugh and nodded her head, returning the hug.

"You must get so tired of me."

I do, "absolutely not, babe!" I denied and she laughed, pulling away from the hug.

"When are we going to go through boy problems with you, oh my God? Because the attention is always on me."

"Oh please, keep men away from m–" I fell silent as my phone began to ring, the ringtone blaring as I jumped in surprise and reached into my tote bag and started to look for it.

I found it, and pulled it up to my face, looking at the screen that flashed with an unsaved number; but even if I'd only typed them in once, I knew who they belonged to: Kores.

I felt my heart beat quicken and it felt like the world was slowly beginning to fall away as my breath came out thin and short. I blinked to make sure that I was seeing correctly.

I found my finger swiping across the screen before I even knew it, and so then...I slowly placed my phone to my ear, falling silent for a long second.

"...hello," I found myself croaking out.

A voice I'd never heard before spoke back to me, making the entire world fall apart around me, and it felt like I was floating in space. I don't know what I thought he would sound like, but he sounded like a dream, and sounded nothing like the little boy who'd left my broken heart on the front door steps of my primary school. However, when he said that one word, all those broken pieces that I'd left there on the front door steps, were filled, "Evelyn." He simply called, as if he was calling out to me, and bringing me back to him. As if he'd breathed life into the very carcass that had been walking the earth without him.

As he said that, a wide smile slowly spread across my face and my heart began to beat so slowly, I feared I'd drop dead. "Kores." I replied, accepting his calling, letting him know that I was here, that I was back...and that his calling me, had brought me right to where he wanted me.