The house was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. The only sounds that you could hear were the quiet sobs of my mother, the painful pants of mines due to the pain that seemed to worsen through each moment and the sound of the soft ringing of the housephone as my father tried to call an ambulance to come pick me up. The only time that we felt free was when we heard the loud roar of the vintage car speeding out of our yard towards the empty road.
''My baby,'' my mother uttered as she stood up from her seat and shakingly walked towards me. Louder sobs escaped me when my mother's arms surrounded me in a comforting hug. ''Get her something to wrap her legs with,'' my mother said to my father when he placed the telephone back onto the phone holder. ''Your father called the ambulance, I'm sure that they will be here soon, baby, so I need you to be strong for me.''
Although my mother tried her best to keep her emotions under wraps and be strong for all of us, I knew that she was completely scared. She was used to the sight of criminals due to my father's profession but she wasn't used to somebody with this much power. When my father came back with dark blue towels, my mother grabbed them away from his arms and tied the towels around the wound so that less blood would gush out of my wounds. ''This will help until the paramedics arrive.''
Exactly ten minutes later, loud sirens of the ambulance as well as the police vans could be heard. I was relieved because I would finally get the help that I surely needed. My mother stormed away from me and towards the police officers who made their way into the house due to my dad's permission. I could hear her painful sobs as she shouted the policemen for their impeccable timing. ''You have the audacity to allow such a man inside of our house and think that you will be welcomed calmly.''
''We were not aware of the murderer being in town, ma'am,'' a tall police officer said as he rung the hat that he wore but took off the second he entered into our home.
''Of course, you were not aware of the murderer because you were busy eating your pap and vleis instead of doing your work, officer Devos,'' my mother scoffed as she walked around the living room, slightly tugging at the end of her weave that was slightly hard due to her not taking care of it due to the case that never seemed to go away. ''You not knowing about that murderer allowed him to get into my home and harm my daughter....''
Her rant was blocked out when the paramedics surrounded me and one paramedic came into my line of vision. ''Miss, can you tell me your name?'' a young female paramedic who looked to be 23 said as she flashed a torch light into my eye and asked me to follow the light.
''My name,'' I huffed when I started seeing the blotches in the room. I shook my head to get rid of the slight disfiguration of my surroundings. ''My name is Lorna Maseko.''
''Well, Lorna, I need you to stay with me , okay?' she asked as two men carried me off of the cold tile floors of the living room onto the stretcher. ''Don't worry, you are going to be okay.'' that was the last thing I heard before I succumbed to the darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
''I'm so worried about her,'' I heard the sound of my mother's voice say to my father who just hummed back. I groaned at the sound of the consistent beeping as well as the bright lights that forced me out of my beauty sleep. ''She is awake,'' my mother said enthusiastically and I soon heard the loud patter of her feet running towards me. ''Baby,'' I accepted the hug that my mother gave me even though there was extreme pain in the lower half of my body.
When my mother let go of me and allowed me to have my space, I turned towards the area that felt the most pain and saw that both of my legs were in casts. I immediately remembered the incident that led me into the hospital. The vintage Rolls Royce, the bodyguards that filled my living room, the murderer who I found out was Mal oë and the two gunshots to my legs in order to prove a point.
''Am I going to be in a wheelchair forever, ma?'' My mother then took a seat beside me on the hospital bed and held my hand tightly; an action she done mostly when she was distressed.
''The doctors said that although he had damaged quite alot, there is a possibility that you could walk again after some surgery.'' I nodded and looked at my legs with a sore heart, it was my stubborn nature as well as my intuition to not follow orders that got me to this point. If I had taken heed to the simple instruction that was given to me when we were in that alley, I wouldn't be in this position that I was in at this moment.
''I can't stay here, ma. He will come after me and inflict more pain.'' Although I loved this town and all of its fun activities and my friends who I have bonded over for the past few years, I needed to move away as soon as possible before more incidents such as these occurs.
''Your father and I made some plans for you to get transferred to another hospital in Mpumalanga so that you can continue with your surgery over there. '' I knew Mpumalanga was a dry place where the hospitals although good weren't as good as these that were in this town. ''We even got in touch with the best hospitals so that you can get transferred today.''
''You didn't tell anyone, did you?''
''We only told the police about our plans because we needed their protection so that there would be less casualties,'' my father said as he sipped onto the bottle water that was placed on the table beside me. There was something wrong about the whole plan but I could not put my finger on it, maybe it was my paranoia or the fact that the plan involved the police who hadn't done much to solve the case.
''Don't worry, baby. Everything will be alright.''
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was only when the sunset did I get removed from my room and was placed into an ambulance. Both parents sat next to me within the ambulance because they had refused to have me out of their sight for more than a few minutes. My father kept talking to me about the different political matters, although it bored me beyond words I still listened because it was the only way he would express his emotions, while my mother held her bible close to her chest and prayed loudly for my safety.
''We're finally leaving this godforsaken place,'' my mother said after she was done with her prayer and stared out of the window that showed the billboard that welcomed people into Pretoria. My mother after some time sat rigidly in her seat and tapped my father roughly on his thigh so that he could wake up and said in panic, ''The car!''. That was the last thing I remembered before I lost consciousness.
