SIMPHIWE: HER LAST

Chapter 30

SIMPHIWE

"I came here as soon as I--" I stop midway as I find both Sihle and Mandla smoking cigarettes in the bedroom.

What the hell is this?
And since when does Sihle smoke?

Simphiwe: "Sihle!" I reprimand.

"Bafo, right after I tell you what I heard, you'll understand why he's smoking like this."

I'm confused and curious right now.
Something in my heart tells me that something is totally wrong. I become less and less mad for seeing Sihle smoke and become a bit anxious over what Mandla had just said.

Simphiwe: "What is it, bafo?" I ask with much anticipation and curiosity.

It's like whatever he just told me is about to make me go mad.

Mandla: "About Thulasizwe, Godfrey and bab'omkhulu killed him."

And in an instant, my heart drops.
I'm about to do the unthinkable.
I know I am.
I cannot hold it anymore now that this room is filled with much tensity.

Mandla: "Bafo, uyaphi?!" He shouts as I leave the room.

I leave the room and walk around the passage and going downstairs to the living room screaming my fathers' names.
Tonight they will be confronted!

"Simphiwe! What's with all this noise?!" The murderer yells as he walks downstairs alongside his wife.

I don't even want to call him my father anymore.
Never in a million years did I think my own father would be a murderer?
Pholoba? A killer?
I can't even look him in the eyes anymore, but I have to.
I have to look at him and his brother in the eyes and call them out for who they really are.

Simphiwe: "MaZwane, did you know that your husband is a murderer?" I ask Nomasonto.

She's confused.
I don't expect her to know.

Nomasonto: "Haibo, Simphiwe." She says softly with much shock as she adjusts her gown.

Baba: "Mfana wam--"

Simphiwe: "SHUT UP, MUZIWAKHE! SHUT UP!" I yell to the highest degree pointing at him.

My heart is bleeding for my brother.
He literally does not have a father because of this man!

"Fuze!" My uncle demands.

I look at him, dead in the eye.

Simphiwe: "Don't you dare say a word, Masoja. You and your brother are murderers, angithi? Admit it! Say that you killed Thulasizwe! Say it!"

"What?" A voice out of nowhere says.

We all turn to see who it is.
It's my aunt.

Aunty: "Simphiwe, you said my brothers did what?" She asks through her shattered breathing.

She also didn't know?
My God, she's trying so hard not to cry.

Masoja: "Sisi--"

Aunty: "SHUT UP!" She screams, shaking terribly. "Shut up!" She says with the tiniest voice, about to break down and cry.

Baba: "You see what you did, Simphiwe?"

Simphiwe: "You're blaming me for what you did?"

He's really not testing my patience today!
Not today satan!

MaZwane swiftly moves away from her husband.

Nomasonto: "Don't touch me, Muziwakhe!" She says before she goes straight to Lydia to comfort her.

They go to Sihle's room, where I was before I lost my mind.
They're looking at me. Dead in the eyes. Filled with rage.
Especially Masoja Godfrey Pholoba.

Simphiwe: "I want nothing to do with you. Ever! You two are dead to me."

I'm leaving this place.
For good.

__________

As I get into my car, I get a call from Kgomotso.
I know she denied sex with me, and honestly, she was right to.
I'm not mad at her.
I quickly got conviction and realised it was totally wrong.

And as I answer my phone--

"Uncle Simps." It's Modiegi.

Simphiwe: "Mo? What's up?"

Modiegi: "Sis'K is not okay. She's crying hysterically." I hear the panic in her voice.

Simphiwe: "What? What happened?" I ask with much anxiety.

Modiegi: "Her father passed away, you have to come by quick. Please."

She suddenly drops the call.
What in the world?

TLHALEFO

Hearing Ma cry like this breaks my heart.
The last time she ever cried like this was on the last day of Papa's Sego's night vigils - the night before his funeral.
Her cries are so painful that I shed a few tears myself.
I know the pain of losing a parent. I know it too well.
Although I never cried like how she's crying, I know that pain like a wound that never healed.

Not caring for the time zone in Japan, I dial Papa Rele's number.

"Seun?" He answers.

Tlhalefo: "Papa, you have to come to South Africa immediately."

Papa Rele: "Why? Is there something wrong?"

Tlhalefo: "Yes. Ma just lost her father."

He's gone quiet.

Papa Rele: "S---. Okay, okay. We're coming seun. Thanks for letting us know."

Tlhalefo: "Shap."

Suddenly, as I'm about to put my phone down, Modiegi comes barging in.

Tlhalefo: "What the hell, Mo?!"

Modiegi: "Go open the gate for Uncle Simps, please."

He came?
Wow, he's a good boyfriend.

I rush downstairs and head my way outside to open the gate for Uncle Simps to drive in.

"Where is she?" He asks once he leaves the car.

Tlhalefo: "In her room."

He rushes all the way to her room.

SIMPHIWE

She looks shattered and defeated with her eyes all swollen from the crying.
My heart breaks seeing her like this.

"kaMashaba." I say making my way to sit next to her.

I place her head on my chest.

"He's gone, Simphiwe! He's gone!" She cries.

Simphiwe: "Ssh. I'm here, baba. I'm here." I say cradling her.

The kids take it as a sign to leave and it's just me and her.
Mo takes Lefika as his mother's cries woke him up.

It suddenly kicks in. Kgomotso's father dies literally on the day before her son's first birthday...

ROBERT MALESELA MASHABA

04/11/1964 - 01/06/2019