Queen Of The City.

7.| Brown box.

Most people who haven't been or seen an african country tend to have these bizarre imaginations and thoughts that we africans live in safaris and jungle with the lions and cheetahs.

And although we have safaris and game reserves where you practically "live" with the animals for a few days, it's not like that on a day-to-day basis.

People always gush about how big and beautiful New York is. That it can get really hard to get around because it's always so fast-paced.

But that's only because they haven't to Johannesburg. In fact, let me rephrase that. They haven't been to Gauteng Maboneng.

People complain about how the traffic in New York is so horrible especially during rush-hour but that's because they haven't been to Jozi CBD.

And I know that all this I'm meaning is useless but I just want to state a point. New York isn't the only big, busy never asleep city in the world.

And with that, I sit the kitchen staring into outer space as one big question replays in my head like a broken record.
Where am I going to find her in this big city?

There's so many places I could look for my mother and I can't come up with where to start. I could go to Centurion where my aunt is but I know that they don't talk. I could try Midrand where her best friend is but mother cut all ties when she moved to America. I could try Sandton but I wouldn't know exactly where in Sandton to look for her.

And who's to say she isn't in a dodgy place like Hillbrow? What if she's gone there to take to someone I don't about.

But then again, I feel like I'm looking at this whole thing wrong. I feel like I looking in all the obvious places because they're there but she couldn't possibly be there.

Because in her letter she said she'd gone to a place where the rich were covered in blood and the poor were killed for sacrifice.

What'd mean by that?

I'm just so frustrated with the fact that I can't seem to crack this damn letter. Why'd she have to write a riddle? It's really frustrating to have to figure something out like because my mother and I only got close again when Lolo came into this world.

"Don't overthink it," my train of thought is broken by Keegan's voice as he enters the kitchen.

"Can't not," I murmur, "we don't have much time left. We don't even know how much is left until the bomb explodes."

Keegan takes the seat next to me. "And you think rushing to find out what that meant will do you good?" I turned to face him and got caught in his brown eyes. That still had that beautiful golden flecks that I could never seem to get enough of.

"I don't know," I lower my eyes.
"What if she passed by. By this house, I mean and probably left...a clue," I lifted my head to look at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"It's a long shot but..." he trailed off.

I hadn't thought of that yet. Nor do I think I it was ever going to cross my mind. And as long of a shot as it is, Keegan could possible lead us to finding out my mother's whereabouts.

"It's worth a shot, I guess," I shrug and jump off the chair. "Where are you heading?" He furrowed his eyebrows at me.

"To find the possible clue to where my mother currently is," I walked out of the kitchen to my father's study.

The reason why I was heading there was because my father's study was the one place my mother and I used to love hiding things that sweets because my father only came into the study to read and work. He never used to snoop around his office because why would he? He didn't know.

Thinking back to that time of my life I can't help but miss when times where still simple, where I didn't have a psychotic rapist on my ass, a marriage where I feel like we don't know each other enough and where I didn't have to look for my mother in these type of circumstances.

Walking into the study I'm overcome with a wave of nostalgia. It's almost like I could see the memories play out before my eyes.

When I used to hide in here when I was playing hide-and-seek with my cousins. When my mother and I kept a secret of hiding sweets away from my father in here, who happened to have a very sweet-tooth.

I smile at myself in the quiet room like a maniac. This office held some really good times. Good memories that I forever cherish in my heart.

I walk over to the third shelf on the wall. The office was dark but it had a warm feeling to it. The walls were littered with books in the built-in shelves. The office didn't have a window so each wall of the office was a shelve but the shelves weren't from floor to ceiling because my father found it'd be ridiculous to have to climb so many ladder staurs just for a book. So the shelves where mid-way up the wall, and because my father was so tall he could always rea h the top shelf whereas I, on the other hand, had to use the small ladder.

The third shelve is behind the desk and on this shelf lies dozens of science-fiction books. Science-fiction was never me and my father's thing so it was the perfect place to hide things.

I went to the corner of the shelve and swiped the books to open a space by the corner. And to my avail, behind those books there was a small brown box sitting there waiting for me.

I pick up the box and open it only to find a letter inside.

Unfolding the letter, I immediately notice that this is my mother's handwriting.

"Keegan!"

***
Hey, guys. I know it's been over a month since I've updated and I'm sorry. I just want to finish my other book before finishing this one.

I'll to update as much as possible♡