Finding You.

CHAPTER 38

AYA

When we left grandma's house, we drove in silence until I decided to turn on the radio. She dosed off after a while and it was hours before she awoke again. We were in Bloemfontein - three hours away from home, when I stopped at a garage and bought food and snacks.

She ate the sandwiches and Fruit juice, then ate some biltong. I couldn't believe that she hadn't said anything up until that point, she looked so casual as if nothing was happening between us. I was boiling but I contained myself for the next two hours, until I couldn't stand the silence anymore, it was just too loud!

"Somila..." she was reading on her phone, completely ignoring me. "Somila I'm fucking talking to you!" she looked up at me with uninterested eyes. "What is it Aya?" She said this out with a long sigh. "When did you get it done?" I asked, needing to know more about this tattoo.

She seemed confused and I absolutely couldn't believe that she has already tossed this to the back of her mind. "The tattoo damn it! When did you get it done?"

It was on the day after her birthday, when I went to the Vaal for a day and she spent the day having cocktails with her sister... but it turns out - that's not all they did. They drove all the way to Midrand, to her old "friend" who is now a tattoo artist and that's where Tlhogi got her "Zip" tattoo as she puts it, and Mila got the painting I made her.

I had a strong feeling that she was leaving something out because it's quite random for them to just up and get inked, that's not a decision one takes in a blink of an eye. "So why did you have that lighthouse inked on your skin?" I ask. "Well, when you told me the meaning it seemed quite appealing to me, and when I got shot, I was reminded that I haven't really lived my life as a young person. This tattoo is to cover this scar and to remind me to always look to my guiding light just like you said to me."

Her reason was touching but I suspect that's the emotion she had hoped to evoke in me, so I just stayed silent. We were about ten minutes from home when she started on her phone again, it buzzed and a broad smile crossed her face "Who's that?" I asked and she said "No one." Without even looking at me, this gave me so much rage that I grabbed her phone and saw the name "Thato" on her chat list, there were pictures of her tattooed back, sent to him.

Come back for more soon! A new text entered from this Thato again. She took off her seat belt and grabbed her phone back. "Somila what the fuck! Who the fuck is that?" she rolled her eyes. "No one Aya." I grabbed her phone again, swerving a little on the wet road since the rain had started outside. "I sure will be back." I read out loud so she could hear me.

I was about to take a left turn, when she hastily grabbed her phone again, my hand followed the device in her hand. "Give that back to me!" I shouted at her and she shouted back refusing, and as soon as I turned to face her, there was a huge sounding bang.

Her body shot up and her head hit the windscreen cracking it before the impact shoved her back to her seat, and then the airbag popped up from both our sides, hiding my view from seeing her. I went unconscious for a while, and when I opened my eyes again her eyes were closed and her head was on the dashboard facing my way. Blood trailed from somewhere on her head.

I took off my seatbelt and tried to gently shake her awake. "Mila... baby wake up!" she can't die on me when I'm this mad at her. "Wake up Mila!" she coughed the fumes from the airbag then opened her eyes, slowly lifting her head from the deflated airbag on the dashboard. "Ouch." she said, touching her forehead and looking at the blood in horror.

"Are you okay?" I asked and she looked at me with anger flashing through her eyes. "You did this, you and your stupid jealousy over absolutely nothing!" her teeth were stained with blood meaning she was hurt in the mouth.