FADED VIRIDITY

CHAPTER NINE

Ah, what a year 2015 was. I would have skipped it if I had known what this year would be like in advance. It began in the depths of hell and concluded there, much as a book of maps would conclude with maps.An entire month had passed when the new house we secured with an upfront payment was not yet transferred to our name. We spent that month living in my uncle's outhouse in Johannesburg. It was a tiny, two room apartment. The bathroom was as small as a car boot. It had one window, and an unfortunate, permanent smell. The toilet pan, and the shower, that ducked in the corner of the bathroom wall, were both clustered together on the opposite end to the door. Adjacent to the bathroom was the first room, where my sister and I were forced to sleep. Either that, or outside. After one month in that room, I regretted that we chose to sleep in. The painter of the room was obviously old, in terms of age and taste, for the colors used were maroon and cream and fashioned in ways prevalent in former times. The cupboards, walls and tiles were cream, the bed sheets were a dirty floral color and the dresser looked as if it had her mouth open and froze that way on a cold winter's night. A cream body and a maroon tongue. 

The blinds, though, were brown. Of course, the coordination of the blinds didn't matter, so long as it kept the sun away from our eyes in the mornings, we were happy. We were practically prisoners until the officer was kind enough to give us the house that was rightfully ours. The icing on top of the 'bloody' cake was discovering that the light at the end of the tunnel was not sun. Instead, it was the headlights of an oncoming train... Sofia and Amelia ignored my existence when I moved. Some friends hey? It was a lesson well learnt – never trust anyone to stay! (oh, so I thought).As grateful as I was to have a roof over my head, the living conditions became unbearable. It was an uncomfortable hindrance. Having no one to talk to at that time was the worst. With the absence of sounding pitiful or heroic, I felt I was there for my friends when no one else was and now here I was with no one to rescue me. At 18 years your life is a mess, and moving away doesn't help clean up the mess. I was an introvert in school and I guess my biggest fear at that age 41was making new friends. I didn't know to converse with human beings I didn't grow up with! Nonetheless, I was fearful but excited all at once. 

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It was a Monday morning when I got dressed for the first time without my school uniform. My first day of campus! Anxiousness, excitement and fear controlled me as I drank my tea that morning. 'Are you ready for your first day of campus?' my mum asked as she poured juice in my sister's little green bottle. 

'A bit scared,' I said shakily.

'Do you want me to come with you to your lectures?' asked my dad honestly. I could hear much concern in his voice, though I thought he was joking as usual. 

'No thanks, father. That would be a tad bit strange,' I replied in amusement. He spent the entire morning explaining to me which buildings I need to go to and how to take down notes. It was a lengthy process, but I was excited. The very first lecture I attended was Social Anthropology. I applied and got accepted for the Bachelor of Social Science' degree. Getting to that lecture, however, was a mission. The students were friendly, though. I didn't go easy on the questions either – where do I go, how do I get there, what color is the building.... Even though my nerves were shooting through the sky, I mentally prepared myself for feeling like a directionless chicken on that first day. With much fear, I entered the million bricked building that stood before me. Through the door I saw the wall in front fashioned with wallpaper that definitely struck my curiosity. It was an abstract blue painting with unusual drawings. How odd it was to see paint in the shape of objects that looked like cells of your body somehow combined with strange humans. Shaking me out of my distraction, a girl came to me, 'Lecturers are cancelled', she told me.