Amile The Queen

Chapter Twenty-Two

***Makhosazane Mchunu***


If someone speaks about the most civil and happy co-parents, Makhosazane and David’s name should always come on top of the list. Lovers they are not, friends, that’s what they are. The best of friends and they love each other to the ends of the earth, that’s why they go out and sometimes do sexual favours for each other sometimes.
Siviwe came about when they still thought they had it in them to push a relationship, a love relationship. It didn’t work out. Makhosazane may love him like she states, but a part of her died and is buried with Vumani, a part that allowed herself to fall in love. That’s why none of her relationships work, none of them ever will. That is why she holds on to David and much as she can. He’s the only man who understands her the way she needs to be understood.
She’s moaning at the top of her lungs as she presses him down in the bed by his chest and moves her hips in a circular motion. He’s not in control, she is, she needs it more than he does so he let’s her. When she gets her happy ending, she climbs off him and catches her breath while lying on her back beside him. He has a date with his hand later, that he knows.
“I’m sorry David.” He gets off the bed and rolls of the condom and goes to the bathroom to flush it.
“Don’t fret.” He doesn’t feel used anymore. Before it used to hurt, now its normal, she’s not your normal woman. She’s a single mother who has been through the most. He’s heard it more than once. He knows.
“When are my children coming back. I was hoping to take them out before school opens.” He’s a wonderful man, that’s another thing that she adores about him.
No man would ever care for her daughter like this. Men out here are cruel.
“I’ll talk to mom. Amile still needs to go somewhere before she comes back.” He frowns.
“Where does she need to go? Why don’t you take her?”
“To see someone. I don’t know much about the Zulu culture and dreams so I’m putting it in my mother’s hands. I don’t think it’s anything serious though.” He nods.
She gets off the bed and goes to where he is standing. She stands on her toes and kisses his cheek.
“Are you staying the night?”
“Only if you want me to.” Words fail her, so she uses her lips to say yes.
She tries to be affectionate. It’s not easy for her, especially towards a man. Having had dated an older man who lacked affection in bed, and I lovemaking, all she knew was rough. The only affection she has to give is for her children. The only exception. She can never put her daughter through that, deprive her of love and affection only for her to go searching for outside like she did. Things like that lead to mistakes. A lifetime of unfixable mistakes.
Her phone rings persistently and she gives in to answering. Before she can snap at her mother for calling her at such odd hours, the loud shrill cry in the background pierces her heart and breaks into a million pieces.
“Ma why is Amile crying.” She has no time greet anymore. David taps her and she removes the phone from her ear, his eyes widened when he heard the cry. It is gut wrenching.
“Ma!” she’s panicking.
“Ma, speak! Say something, why is my daughter crying like that. What happened.” Her voice is breaking and she’s starting to lose her mind.
“You have to come home before tomorrow morning.” That’s all she says
“Tell me why she is crying ma!” She shouts.
David squeezes her shoulder to calm her down. She takes a deep breath.
“Come home. She needs you.” She ends the call.
She’s not wasting any time, David is on her tail. She’s trying to crack her brain and figure out what the hell could be wrong.
“Makhosazane you have to calm down.” Her breathing is uncontrollable. She sits on the bed and buries her head in her hands.
“Why is she crying like that. What did she find, what did mom do to her?” she’s also breaking down.
“We won’t find out if we don’t leave. Come, get dressed.” He’s scrambling around to look for some warm clothes for her to put on.
There is no time to wash up, they need to get to Zululand as soon as possible. If they could fly they would. David has to be the sane one, for the sake of their safety. He can’t afford to let it all go to his head. He will deal with it when they get to Zululand.
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She’s been sobbing the whole way. Four hours of travel time was cut to two and a half hours on the road. They probably have a number or tickets to pay for. It’s sombre as they drive into the drive way of her childhood home. The sun is starting this rise. She refused to stop anywhere, that’s why they got here at this time.
If it were up to her, she would have rolled out the car and ran to the house to see what was happening, but she had to wait for it to park, and the irritated her more.
She didn’t wait for him to climb out, she left him in the car twiddling his thumbs and went in. Amile was still crying. Two hours later she’s still crying. That’s no life right there.
She’s curled up on the floor, her mother is sitting on the couch opposite her and there are other faces in the lounge. Faces she didn’t expect to see. That’s not her line of concern right now.
Her loud sobs have turned to low grunts and cries with hiccups in between. And as soon as she sees her, she starts all over again. The only difference now is that the voice is gone. There’s no more voice for her to cry like the world is ending. Only the tears are proof of the pain. The consistent throbbing in her heart is unbearable.
“What have they done to you my love. Talk to mommy.” She shakes her head and hiccups. She can’t formulate a single word..
“Someone say something. What happened!?” the man stands up.
“Makhosazane, we need to take her.”
“You, don’t you dare speak.” She pulled Amile close to her as her voiceless cries got louder and louder.
“Aniyazi nokuthi igqoka usize bani lengane. Niyithatha niyisaphi!?” disgust dances on her face.
“The King. She has been chosen by the king to be his wife.”
“Mother why are these people inside my home! Why are they here talking nonsense, trying to take my child away, making her cry like this. Why would you let them.” Her mother sight and stood up.
“Amile came back from the reed dance with a letter from the king that stated that she had to be at the kingdom by the break of dawn as she is to be wedded to the king.” It’s a nightmare, she thinks to herself.
“Izono zakho ma azingaweli enganeni yami!”
“Akukho zono la Makhosazane.” She’s crying too.
“It was you! You didn’t marry the king like you were supposed to, now my child, from my womb has to suffer the consequences for you, all because you chose love? Does she not deserve love mama? What about my child’s happiness. Do you want to do the same thing you did to me, and feed her to the dogs like you did when you allowed baba to send me to them? Are you that heartless mama.”
She can see the heartbreak written on her face. The truth in her words are enough to bring her guilt and shame.
“The king wants her. It’s not my call. She can’t say no.”
“Over my dead body Caroline.” She said, abhorrence burning in her eyes.
It’s first instincts as a mother, as soon as you hear that cry, and hold your baby in your arms, to protect. She will protect her baby, no matter how hard it gets.



***Mandlenkosi Zulu***


He waked up when he feels something rising from the pit of his stomach and he even in his deepest sleep, he find the toilet. He stubbed his toe in the corner, it fine. He hit his elbow on the wall, its alright, he’ll deal with that later, now, he’s dealing with the puke.
This is why he doesn’t drink. Once he starts, he can’t stop, he drinks himself into a stupor and gets sick the whole day afterwards. His chest is burning as he kneels in front of the toilet seat and puke gushes out from the pits of his stomach. Nkululeko and Dumisani are not the best combination, they are not people to go out with.
He sits on the cold floor with his knees up and he tries to catch his breath. His head is pounding and his eyes hurt. Fuck his whole body hurts, and that toe man.
He gets up from the floor and rinses his mouth in the sink before dragging himself back to his bedroom. Today will not be his day. He has the mother of all hangovers.
His phone is in the charger, he takes it out and turns it on. Almost 15 missed calls get reported when he opens it, but none from Amile. Something is up. He needs to talk to his brother about bringing her here.
How they ended up out drinking you ask, peer pressure. He’s quite old to be pressured into anything, he didn’t do it because he didn’t want to, he did it because he wanted to. It was supposed to be one beer, but one beer turned to a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of whisker turned to shots and the aftermath is here, in his bathroom floor.
There’s ululating at the gate. This is Zululand, its not something unusual, people ululate for everything. This though, it’s sounds like there are bands of people here. It’s literally 05:00 in the morning, why are people ululating?
He buries himself under the cover and tries Amile’s number. It rings straight to voice-mail. This is the longest he’s gone without talking to her and it’s killing him. Jama said the king just had a harmless chat with her, there were other maidens he spoke to. It calmed him down. This gives him an upper hand. Maybe they’ll like her even more when she’s introduced as his girlfriend.
He tries her again, several times. By the sixth time, he knows what to expect so he stops and puts his phone down. He’s not giving up, he’ll try again later, but this ululating is getting to his last nerve. It doesn’t help that his room is right by the window that is directly facing the gate.
It goes quiet and he couldn’t be happier to go back to his peaceful sleep. He’ll wake up later.



***Amile Gumede***


Mom took me to Gogo’s room, locked me inside with a sleeping Siviwe and left. The house is quiet, and I can’t think of anything else but to leave this place. My mother is strong, but she’s not strong enough to fight this battle alone. No one is on her side. I hate this place. I regret coming here, I hate everything, I hate gogo for sending me to that reed dance, I hate her for not marrying the king when she had the chance, I hate. I hate Nkosi for not answering his phone when I needed him and I hate Jama for not fighting for me. He saw everything but he stood and stared like a statue.
I don’t know this place. But I’ll learn it today, there is no way I’m staying here. I cracked open the window as quietly as I could and jumped out. A house with no burglar guards is essential in every house.
I’m hungry, I’m exhausted and I have no strength in me, but I will run as far as my legs can carry me because there is no way in hell that I will surrender into marrying the king. I can’t marry a man almost thrice my age, a man grown enough to be my father, the brother of the man I love!? I can’t!  It will never happen.
It looks like I’m in town. I don’t even know what time I is, but people are dressed already and it looks like they are heading to work, some look like they are coming back. It’s probably six.
“HI sisi, how much are taxis to Durban?” she looked at me.
“Please, I need to go home.” She’s looking at me like I’m mad.
Okay, I’m not wearing shoes, my hair is probably a mess, I have the sleeves of my gown tied around my waist because running all the way from home to here, it gets hot.
“Are you a prostitute?” She asked, looking ready to judge me.
“What!? No, I’m not. I really need to get home.” She looked at me.
“How did you get here.”
“I ran away from home.” She laughed in a sarcastic laugh.
“You seem like a spoilt brat. Go back home.” She tapped my shoulder and turned back to her taxi line.
People are brutal out here. Is this going to work? I didn’t think this one through. Maybe she’s right. Maybe I need to go back home. But where is home?
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I don’t know this place, now I’m overwhelmed and scared. I don’t know anyone in this place, and I swear this is far from home, it can’t be near where I was. I don’t know if I’m walking in circles or what but what I know is I’m too old to be lost. Way too old.
I’m so hungry I might just faint and die right here. I wonder if they’ve realized that I’m missing. Who am I kidding? They probably did already. It’s scorching hot outside, the sun is burning through my clothes, on to my skin. The only reason why I’m still alive is I found a tap and drank water as to not get dehydrated. I could probably survive in the wild.
People are looking at me like I’m crazy. I’ve never met people who mind their business like this. No one is pointing at me or coming to ask if I’m okay or what. It’s the craziest thing ever. I sit on the side of the gravel road and drown in my sorrows. My feet are acing from and I probably have cuts and scabs from the rocks and thornes I’ve been stepping on. My stomach is growling and the biggest problem of all, the king wants to marry me.
I was able to say to no to Mandlenkosi, the man I love, what makes him think that I would ever agree to his madness. Nkosi better back me up. Ugh!
I feel eyes piercing my back. I turn around and two men standing next to a tree are looking at me. They see that I see them but they don’t break eye contact. Oh no, not this.
I stand up and walk fast in the opposite direction. I turn briefly to see how far they are from me and they are following me. As painful as my feet are, I pick my pace up and soon enough, I start running and screaming.
“Help, anyone. These men are chasing me.” They are also running.
I might lose my life today. They are faster than I thought, and I’m weak, my feet can’t carry me anymore.
“Help!” I tried to scream but my voice is strained from this mornings crying.
Fine, I admit it, I regret running away. God please, if this is my punishment for running away, please, just forgive me. I’ll marry the king, just make these men go away, or let them no hurt me.
A white bakkie parks in front of my, a man dressed in jeans and a shirt jumps out, carries me like a sack of potatoes and throws me in the back. I scream before he closes the door, but I doubt anyone will hear me. Have I just been kidnapped?
“Please don’t kill me. Please don’t hurt me please.” I begged.
I think I prayed for the wrong miracle. God kanti do you choose how you want to hear our prayers?
There are three men in this car. The one that took me, ones driving and the other is in the driver’s seat. I’m scared.
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked sobbing. Nothing.
“Please say something. Threaten me or something. Do you want money? I can get you that, although I’m just a student and a minor, I can try get it. I was running away from marrying the king but if you want money, I can marry him so he can pay you. Please. Say something. Don’t kill me. Don’t rape me please.” Silence.
I want to scream. I’m making promises I can’t keep, I’m so scared, I start shaking.
The way is looking very familiar. I’ve cried until I stopped, now I don’t have any tears to cry. It’s not working one these men.
“Are you even going to answer me at least?” I have hiccups.
“Fine, kill me. It’s fine. I’d rather die than live a crappy life kill me.” I forcefully pulled the gun that was peaking put of the man’s waist.
I banged my head on the seat in front of me when the driver hit the brakes. The gun fell and slid under the seat. Fuck! Did we just die! I should have died. I don’t want to live! They at least owe me the decency to tell me where they will kill me at. What has become of my life?