The North

Chapter 8: Senzo

The apartment was empty when KB woke up. It was a Sunday, which meant that Ma and Lulama would be gone all morning, returning only in the late afternoon once the weekly Methodist church service they attended was over. This meant that KB had the house to himself almost every Sunday, and it was for this reason that the day became his favorite of the week.

He reached his hand under the bed and felt around for the small shoe-box that always stayed there.

He had struggled to fall asleep the night before. Not only because of what had happened on Instagram, but also because of the strange call he had received shortly after. Both events had birthed a deep sense of dread in the pit of his stomach that only seemed to grow in intensity with each passing moment.

He placed the shoe-box on his lap and opened it. There was a bottle of whiskey and five rolled joints inside. He removed the thickest joint before returning the box to its hiding place under the bed.

The apartment was spotless, which wasn't a surprise to KB. Ma prided herself in keeping a tidy house no matter its size, and she would often say to KB: "A house is a representation of the people who live in it" whenever he made a mess.

But the truth was that Ma did not think of the apartment as their home, even though they had been living there for a number of years. She instead viewed the place as a temporary dwelling of sorts, a transitory arrangement, and this showed in the way she always distanced herself and her kids from the house, never calling it their home, always calling it this house. "We must always kept this house clean.", KB would often hear her say to Lulama with a tired voice, as if the three of them were house-sitting for the real owner of the place, some faraway person who was due to arrive unannounced at any moment.

KB attributed this to everything that had happened with Baba. They had lost everything when Baba kicked them out of the only home they had ever known, and the scar had never healed completely. Everything Ma had known up until that point had suddenly been tugged from right beneath her feet and she was still falling, four years later, without any sign of any ground beneath her.

***

Senzo arrived at midday, right after KB had eaten lunch and smoked the fat joint, the intercom on the kitchen wall buzzing when the security guard at the main gate called to notify KB of his visitor.

"Yes. Let him in", KB answered after the guard asked him if he was expecting anyone. KB heard the large steel gate creak open through the crackly intercom.

From the outside of their apartment KB had an undisturbed view of the paved road leading all the way from the main gate to their apartment block - block D. Their unit was situated on the top floor of block D, which offered the best view, and KB watched as Senzo walked the distance from the gate to block D, unsure of what transport Senzo had used to arrive there.

Something about Senzo did not appear right as KB watched him arrive at the base of block D, and the silence as Senzo began the upward climb to the unit only made him feel more anxious.

When Senzo finally reached the top floor he was visibly exhausted. His white t-shirt was creased - the same t-shirt he had worn to the Harem nightclub - and his denim jeans were muddied around the knees. He looked like he hadn't showered in a while. And when Senzo took three steps towards KB, almost losing his balance on the second, just when he was within hand reach on the third, he dropped to his knees and began to cry.

The tears started slow, like a light drizzle, before quickly erupting into a full storm, and it was odd, KB thought to himself, how he and Senzo both had experienced emotional breakdowns within a day of each other.