UNEDITED
THE OTHER BROTHER
CHAPTER 57
NGCOBO
As I lay there on the bed with chains surrounding my ankles. I am looking on the roof trying to make the sense of all that has happened. Maybe it's a punishment from my mother. She has the upper hand in ruining my life for the worst. I admit. I wasn't the greatest son but she loved me regardless. Here I am today - as old as I am. Locked up in prison for the crimes I committed. Ny past is haunting me.
"You seem better today. How are you holding up?" The doctor asks. I wish I had a voice. I wish I was able to respond for myself but I just a mash potato. I just blink multiple times. That's how I communicate. He looks at my eyes and tells me that I am coming along just fine. Imagine being told that this was the end of me. The believed that I was never going to wake up.
"You wife has been coming here almost everyday." He smiles. I wish I could smile to but I can do is just stare at him.
"She has been stressing alot about you." He adds. When MaNgcobo stress she has this habit of having wrinkled eyelids. I wish I can tell her that I am fine. There is really nothing to worry about. I survived this attack and I shall still leave. I want to tell her what I feel. Let her go and enjoy life. I feel like I'm holding her back. I know she has a life too. A life to live.
"I'm sure she will be here any minute. I left her signing some papers down." I feel my heart beating. I swear I heard my heartbeat in a far distance. The door door opens. And here she is look pretty, like a wife should look.
"Baba." She rushes towards my side and lifts my head up. She places my head on chest. The warmth I'm feeling. "I'm glad you are awake. You look old when you sleep for that long."
I want to laugh ny lungs out but pain is preventing me to. I reach out for her hand and touch it. She is still wearing her ring. A sense of relief washes over. She still vakue our marriage. A slight pain pings in my heart. This woman was a nobody when I married her. There was no space for her in my heart. She was just there to fill the void if the missing peace. But unfortunately she showed me another side of life that my family failed to show me. She has been there for me from the start till the end.
"Have you eaten?"
I just stare at her. I wish I can interact with her my everything in me is just failing. She brushes my hair and sighs. She lets go and fishes for something in her bag. There comes out a big afro comb.
"Mmm." I try getting her attention but she ignores me and combs my steal wool hair. The pain is unbearable. Warm liquid gushes down my thighs. That's how painful it is!
CYNTHIA
Scrubbing her sink like mad woman - this is a sign of frustration and stress. How can Mkhuseli do this to her. Does he understand that this took her years to get rid of and he is now digging his own grave. Some things are better off left unsaid. Somethings are good as buried without a doubt. This is one of the situations. She buried her pain. People will normally call it 'ihlazo' but to her it's pain no could ever understand. All of this revived when he introduced that bloody girl named Khanyisile to him. A Ngcobo will always be a Ngcobo to her. Related or not! For some reason she believes that this stupid relationship will never last. Incest never last, right? She toss her dishcloth aside and and ait on her chair. This is challenging - raising her high blood pressure. This child is a devils advocate. The door bells rings, her heart skips more than once leaving a throbbing sensation. She paces up and down. This was never meant to happen. He shouldn't have contacted that stupid opd fool! The door bell rings again. She stops pacing an composes herself. Taking a deep breath will surely calm her down. This door bell is beginning to irritate her.
"Okay! I'm coming." She huffs in frustration and opens the door widely. The old man is here. She doesn't greet but steps aside and let's him him. The old man stops when his eyes land on a picture frame of his brother. It's been years but the wound it's still fresh.
"Anything to drink?" She's not comfortable on how this man is looking at her late husband.
"Bafo." He bluntly ignores her and pays respect to his brother. He turns to look at his brothers wife who suddenly looks annoyed by his presence.
"Cynthia. We meet again." Only now he decides to sit down.
"What do you want?" The attitude and making the old man cringe. He shakes his hea in disappointment and leans backwards on the couch comfortably.
"I'm not here for a friendly chat." He takes out a paper folded neatly and gives it to her. She roughly grabs the paper and opens it up. This is Mkhuseli's handwriting. She can never mistaken it with anyone else. She feels he chest closing. He whole world is spinning around. She finally finds the courage to sit down. The ketter drops on the floor.
"But..." Worlds fail to come out of her mouth.
"You know what this means. You have to tell the boy before things get messy. If my brother was still alive, he would have done the right thing. You allow this to happen. Already he is asking for her han in marriage. What if he impregnates the girl? Wjat will happen to the child. I know the boy has been through hell but i think it's time for you to free him from the chains of our ancestors. Let him unit with his ancestors. This is a male child we are talking about."
The topic she avoided having even when her husband is not around. How will she tell her son that the man that killed his is the same man that happens to be his father.
"Where will I even begin to look for him?" She asks. Her eyes burn - trying so hard not to cry. She hasn't cried for a very long time. Mkhuseli has the guts to dig up old wounds. Scares that she thought were hidden and buried. Her lips tremble to the truth. She knows that she should have told her son some time ago but now it's late. He is inlove with someone they share a surname with.
"I'm sure my had information about him. Im know you kept his things safe. Start there to look for him. I'm sure you will find someone or someone that will lead you to him." He adds. Cynthia keeps quite for a bit.
Now she has to wander around South Africa looking for that man who did her bad. Ahe paid the price for her husband - was that not enough? Now she has to go look for that very same man that mde her life upside down. The more she thinks about this, the more ahe shivers to the sense of it.
The man is long gone, she is still seated in the same spot sharpening herself with questions. No use bambering herself with questions she doesn't have answers to. It's pointless. She stands up heads to her late husband's office. Ahe opens the door and closes her eyes. It's smells just the way it use to when he was still alive. She enters and scans her eyes around. Last time she was in here she cleaned this room leaving it spotless. The first stop is the drawers. Nothing much in them other than old documents. She should throw these away. Surely, they are no longer of good use. She goes to the kitchen to grab a black plastic bag. Ahover wll these papers inside that plastic feels like she is throwing the love she has for her husband. She feels like she is throwing another part of him. Her eyes stumble on one picture. She feels her bile rise up. What in God's name is tgis picture doing here? She can still smell him till today. His cum dripping out of her. She closes her eyes sharply. Mkhuseli definitely threw her under the bus. She sniffs herself and his smell is suddenly all there. Her eyes scan around once more - her eyes land on a certain picture on top of the table. She removes the diary and looks at the picture closely. Her heart pounds abnormally. This is him. This is definitely him!
A news paper article underneath the picture. Some words are have faded. The picture has turned brown. Sixakekile Ngcobo and Menzi... She folds the article and shoves it in the plastic bag. This is him - the man that made her life a living hell. She looks at the back of the picture. There is an address there. Who does this address belong to, she also has no clue. This address will be of great use some day. She walks out dragging the plastic bag and closes the door. She will throw this in the trash bin and take a long bath filled with all of her shower gels. She sure wants to get rid of his smell.
