The Fallen

Chapter 1

"Quick, we need to go now!," says Shaka.
I am running up and down the house looking for important items we cannot leave behind. I run for about five minutes and stop in between in order to catch my breath. The realisation of what is happening scares me so much that my heart beats like it will come out of my mouth. I hear the police siren howling as if they are approaching our home. My husband Shaka tells Amanda and I to lie down on the floor and keep quiet. I wrap myself around Amanda and put my hand over her mouth. I sigh and think whoa this is really happening. I am not dreaming nor am I creating this all of this in my head. The police drive past and Shaka tells us to get up and continue with our packing. He has not told me where we are going or how we will get there. He keeps saying that we are going to a place where we will be kept safe. A place where we will not constantly have to run away from the police or anyone that works for President Zulu. We had hidden in the house for the past two weeks until someone tipped off the police and told them about us. I think that it was one of the neighbours who mentioned that my daughter and I are still alive. After being in the house for too long Amanda and I decided to get out for some fresh air and play in the pool. For someone as intelligent as I am, I have to admit that what I did yesterday was dumb. As an adult I should have known better than to risk my daughter's life like that.

Amanda is Shaka's and I only child. We had her after we had spent four years trying to conceive. It was four years of constant heart breaks and depression. None of us had been declared infertile so we did not understand why we could not fall pregnant. Our families started to see how our situation was negatively impacting our relationship. They held several family meetings and then decided that Shaka and I should try surrogacy or adoption. When we were about to take the surrogacy route I found out that I was three months pregnant. I think because I had given up on trying I did notice that I had not received my period for about three months. I was even convinced that my nausea was caused by stress that I felt because of my job. I was so sure that my morning sickness was due to me not liking Jungle Oats anymore. Hence I started skipping breakfast every morning for three months. Even after realising that I was pregnant I kept thinking that God would take her away from us. So I did not invest myself emotionally in my pregnancy. I hardly ever entertained my weird cravings. I did not go on a baby clothes shopping spree. I did not pick out colours and themes months beforehand for her nursery. I made my mom and sister cancel the baby shower that they had planned out for me. However God did not take her away from us. Amanda lived and the doctors said that she was born a very healthy baby. Shaka named her Amanda because he felt like the name would set the tone for how her life should. We envisioned her life as a life filled with love, healing, unrehearsed laughter and prosperity. That is the life that we promised ourselves to give to her. Now it seems like that promise will be broken. South Africa is not safe anymore. We have run and hide. We have to make sure that they don't find her.

I hear tyres screeching outside. That must be the car that we will be using. We have disconnected our alarm system in the house. Shaka has broken all the surveillance cameras that are in and around the house. We have crashed our old phones and laptops. We have to make sure that we never nothing that will lead the police to us. My soul is torn because we built this house through our hard work. We also created beautiful memories as a family. Now we have to give it all up. "Shaka, I cannot believe that I have to leave my house. I love this place. It is our home." He decides to ignore me and take our bags outside. He signals to Amanda that she needs to hurry up and say goodbye to our dog King. We still do not know where we are going but Amanda and I were told not to bring King. Shaka told that dogs are not allowed in that "safe place". King has been a part of our lives for four years now. Having to leave him behind is not easy. Having to burn him along with the house. Now that is something that I have not been able to stomach for the past week now. There is nothing that we can do though. We can not take him with us and there is nobody that can take care of him now. King has to go along with the house and all its memories. Shaka and our driver start to pour petrol all over the house. Amanda and I sit in the car silently watching them. My mind goes into slow motion mode and I start to feel my hands shake. They light the house on fire and the flames suddenly spread all over. I can hear the flames while watching the house burn. I can also hear King cry inside the house. I want to jump out of the car and go save him. Amanda suddenly breaks down hysterically and I take her to sit her on my lap. I can feel the anger and the hurt inside of her as her body burns up. Shaka and the driver rush to the car and then we leave.