The Fall: Mehlo'Amanzi

Chapter Six : The Chosen One.

I had a vision. A couple of men were dressed in black suits. Their skins glowed from Vaseline. Their shoes were well-polished as they walked on a red carpet while carrying a wooden casket. It was a funeral. A dark cloud had fallen upon Shaun's home. Sleep crust covered the corners of my eyes. I was forced to be awake, at the vibration of my phone. This was strange. No private number ever calls me at 3AM.

'Hello?'

'Sweetheart. Can you hear me?'

'Shaun? Yes, yes, I can.'

'You need to come see me first thing in the morning.'

'Okay,' my voice was tense. I was convinced he'd want nothing to do with me after I attacked him. 'Wait, why are you calling me at 3AM?'

He sighed. I added, 'Shaun, what is going on?'

'Something terrible happened,' he answered. 'I need you with me.'

Call it overthinking. Maybe woman intuition? I suddenly had this fear that things were about to go sideways...

'Shaun? Shaun, wake up,' his grandmother cried. She anxiously shook him up, 'someone is trying to break into the house!'

He arose from his warm blankets and his grandmother hurried behind him as they rushed out of his bedroom. As they stood by the hallway, they witnessed the door being banged and loud groaning sounds from outside. Was the family ready for the tragedy that was about to strike? Was Shaun?

He opened the door to his Aunt's bedroom where he let his grandmother in. 'You all need to be silent,' he warned them. The kids were making the most noise with their loud screams, 'Aunt, lock the door and call the police. I will do everything in my power to protect you all.'

'What about your brother? Where is he?'

'Well, good thing he snuck out to the club tonight.'

'They already got your Uncle,' his grandmother sobbed. 'Do not let them harm you too, my child.'

Shaun held her hand as he declared this, 'I will be okay. Don't worry about me, Mama. Just hide, and no matter what you hear, do not come out.'

He put his life on the line to protect his bloodline. I can already imagine him; his tiny back against the wooden door whilst his arms wrapped around his skinny legs so tight for comfort in the midst of the trauma that was happening. Tragedy stroke when a gun fired multiple bullets.

'I saw the bullets fly over my head,' he interpreted the story to me.

Each bullet that ever missed his skull, flew straight into his grandmother's body. It pierced her stomach. Blood was... everywhere.

'Shaun,' she cried in pain, 'they shot me. Help me. I am in pain.'

His eye colour turned to red. I rubbed his dreadlocks and let him rest his head on my lap.

'Did you? Help her?'

'I couldn't. If I so much moved an inch, those criminals would have killed my entire family.'

'What did they want? What did they take?'

'Just my cellphone and my laptop.'

'That's it?'

'Someone ordered a hit, for my aunt's car. It wasn't home last night, she had taken it elsewhere.'

'Wow. Are the police doing anything?'

'The way I see things, this case will turn cold. Chances are the people who did this are hardcore criminals, and you know how the SAPS can be corrupt.'

'I am so sorry, my love. I wish there was something I could d--' My stomach folded. A huge knot tied the air in my stomach. Something was not right in that house...