The Fall: Mehlo'Amanzi

Chapter One : Hi, Hottie.

A higher force awakened me from my deep sleep. I could feel it in the rush of my blood that something was not right. Whatever it was, it was confirmed in one of the messages left unread on my phone. As my fingers rubbed my eyelids, my right arm stretched out to reach for my phone on the top of the beside drawer. Normally, my phone is as dry as the Kalahari dessert. Well, that is if my mother did not call me to remind me to check if the stove was off, or the school group chat reminding my classmates and I about the completion date of our next assignment.

"Away Vee pass", was all I could read at my blurry vision. Or at least that is what my foggy brain consumed?

I tried again. "Vee passed away," then I paused.

My upper body arose from the warmth of my creamy blanket. My bare foot stepped on the iced tiles as I headed to the bathroom to splash my face with cold water. My hands were shaking as I dried my face with a clean, dry towel. I eventually tossed the towel aside and repeatedly punched the wall. My anger was triggered by Sasa's prank.

'This is not funny.'

'You think I am joking?'

'Why else would you text me such?'

'Phi, it happened.'

'No, it did not.'

'Vee passed away this morning.'

'There is no such thing. She is alive--'

'She committed suicide.'

'We texted 5 days ago, bro. Come on!'

'She was in ICU for the past two days.'

'Stop it, stop it.'

'But she did not make it---'

'Just stop! Sasa--'

'She did not make it.Vuyiswa is gone, Phi,' Sasa's sweeten voice began to crack. She whispered, 'she's gone, okay ?'

Disbelief - my first reaction to grief. Not even the "RIP Vuyiswa Mazabane" trending posts on social media were able to convince me otherwise. In fact, it further made me so anger that I even deactivated all my social media accounts. The thought of it possibly being true... was frightening. However, there was only one way to find out the truth.

'I am telling you, gents. Her curves were like this,' his hands elaborated the shape of an oval and his friends let out loud laughter, 'and I was behind that fat ass, thinking to myself, where to start to eat her out. I had never been with such a thick woman! That experience was--'

The tap on his shoulder interrupted his storytelling. He was quick to look behind him.

'Oh. It is you.'

My big brother was named Lucky at birth. The streets call him Rex. His hustle was driving people around town and selling merchandise to stoners. You may simply find him and his friends at the bricked gate of a local church down the road, smoking big joints stacked with weed if he was ever free.

'Take me to school.'

He checked the time on his watch, 'at 10:06? Are you high?'

I pulled out a R50 from my pocket. It did not linger between my fingers for long before he snatched it.

'Gents, I will be right back,' he added. He pulled the last puff before he drove me to school - two towns away - in just 15 minutes.

For as long as I live, I will not forget, the loud screams and hysterical weeping coming from the main building of the school premises. I knew instantly that I had to brace myself for the worst. I remember pushing my fellow schoolmates out the way so I could get to the front line. My feet stopped right before the burning white candles placed before an A5 image of my close friend. It did not get any clearer than this. I remember, none of it made sense. None of it felt real.
As I dragged my feet away from reality, I bumped into Sasa. Her red eyes were soaked in tears. Her skin was pale and pink. Just a glance of her sight... I was disgusted. I wanted to point a finger at her and tell her how much all of this was her fault.

She had her arms wide open for me to fall into. 'Get away from me,' I rejected her comfort.

February 27th. Vuyiswa was the prettiest girl in my 11th grade English class. Her desk was on the second row from the left side of the class, right in front of the teacher, Mrs. Jonker's desk. Vuyiswa's lighter toned brown skin was a face full of acne. Her lips were soft. Her jawline rounded by her cheeks. The cross of her eyebrows caused intimidation. I shivered at the thought of possibly saying hi to her. I used to think, what if she would not hear me because I speak at such a low tone? Or even worse. I stutter? Besides I turn invisible to potential lovers; until she walked up to my table.

'Hey. Would you like to buy a zeli?' Now "zeli" is a slang term used by rebellious Black youth to define candy that was sold illegal at school. The White cannot know that.

'Ye-es?' I stuttered. I bought two, then offered her one.

'You want me to eat off my own stock?' there was edginess in her voice.

Oh, fuck me. I thought my cringe mixture of words were stupid enough to keep her far away from me. Next thing she followed me to my next class...
No one - not even the president of South Africa before he addresses the nation on TV - makes a teen girl glue the tip of her nose at her screen while waiting for a teen guy (well, in my case, girl) to FINALLY TEXT HER! When I tell you Vuyiswa made me wait for as long as that queue at Home Affairs on a Monday morning? Listen... I even went to the bathroom to take a huge dump--

'Hi hottie.'

Oh-oh! Time to wipe my behind and flush the toilet. Maybe spray the stink away too. My hands had to be squeaky clean so my miscommunication tactics would not cause my fingers to be the reason why I ghosted her.

'I wish,' I replied. 'Hey, gorgeous face.'

'You do not see yourself the way I see you. You are so pretty, Phindi.'

I fell for her charm. A compliment from a prettier girl slaps different. This was not the first she said this; I remember walking past her and Sine when she pointed a finger at me and said out loud, 'ngwanyana ole omontle.'

My fingertips danced around my keyboard. What to say next? 'Thought you forgot all about me. I was lowkey waiting for your text,' I replied.

'I have never met someone who is so excited to speak to me. I always thought people ignore me, despite me, because I am different. But not you. You make me feel like I am worth something.'

Suddenly, our worlds collided .