iFAIRYTALE KaMAGEZA
𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 46
[NARRATIVE]
Quantum parks the car in the yard and hops off to open the door for his wife. At this point Nobuhle has stopped crying. She's ready for anything. She gets off holding William. Constance follows. The sun is out and hot. Her parents are sitting under the tree with their favourite child, Vuka. MaTembe is already scoffing "Ay ngiyoke ngizwe inkosimpela" she says and continues sawing the the church uniform.
Quantum takes Nobuhle's hand, she pulls away but he's persistent "Ekhaya kwaNdlazi!" He says squatting down. He has already read the situation. No one died here. Nobuhle was lying to him. Now the question is, where the hell was she going?
"Nobuhle, what are you doing here?" MaTembe asks her daughter who remains silent and starres into the distance.
"I'm here to tell you that your daughter and I are married. I am willing to pay lobola if you allow me"
"iheeeh!!! nansi imhlola yami ilanga lishisa, Nobuhle what is this?" MaTembe says standing up. Vuka and Sgidi are quiet but the look in their faces says it all "... you better start talking!"
"We are married" she mumbles.
"Kodwa ungenelwe yini Nobuhle? why are you humiliating your father like this?" MaTembe asks her voice breaking in the process. She's angry and hurting. There's nothing she didn't do for Nobuhle. She raised her right with morals. There was absolutely no reason for her to leave home to go sleep with men in Johannesburg. They might not be rich but they provide for their kids. She sits down and starts crying.
Nobuhle binks back the tears lingering in her eyes. She knows she messed. If she could turn back time and right her wrongs she would. She lost a man who loved her, they could've had a bright future together. She thought she knew better but it's clear now, she knew nothing.
"Ngiyaxolisa Baba, Mama" she says tears finally running down her cheeks "I humiliated you, my life is a mess, I don't even know where to begin fixing it. I don't want this life anymore I- ... I want to come back home. Ngiyak'cela Baba" she kneels down crying.
"You're my wife-"
"Ey fuseg wena!!!" She yells at Quantum "I only married you because I wanted a place to stay. Now fokof! you don't own me! I'd rather sleep with dogs than share a bed with you again!" she says crying. Quantum is silent, he's hurt. He turns and walks back to the car. He throws out Nobuhle's bags and drives off in full speed.
"Do you see what happens when you listen to friends than your parents? Yes we didn't have money to take you to university but I had big hopes and dreams for you. I prayed for you. I prayed that God makes a way. You failed to be patient and gave yourself up to men. There are kids out there who never got a chance to go to university but they are hustling. Look at Mahlathini, Look at what he has become? Look at what he has built in his father's yard? I hope you've learnt your lesson. I chased you away because I was angry. I didn't chase you away because I hated you. You're my child. My only daughter. No matter how bad you're, you're still mine. There's no day where I'll stop caring and loving you" Nobuhle gets up and runs to her mother's arms, they hold each other with tears in their eyes.
"Ngiyabonga Mama"
*
*
*
It's the day before the lobola negotiations. Mahlathini is sitting outside in the porch with his daughter in his arms. They are talking and laughing. It all ends when Nomeva joins them. He's gets up to leave but Nomeva stops him "Please..." she begs. Mahlathini tells Thandolwami to go watch TV. She runs off leaving them alone.
They sit in silence for a while until Nomeva breaks the silence "I know I've hurt you. I've hurt you deeply and I'll live the rest of my life regretting what I did. I thought I knew better, I thought I was protecting you-"
"Protecting me in what way? By chasing my mother away and lying that she left me because she didn't want me? is that how you were protecting me?" Nomeva is silent "Why did you chase Celiwe's mother away? What did she do to you?"
"I'm sorry for everything, please forgive me" she stars crying "I cannot go on like this, it eats me everyday. I can see you hate me. You no longer care-"
"I cannot pretend. I try bringing myself to forgive you but I fail, I can't look past what you did. What pisses me off is that you faked memory loss just to escape your sins. You cannot sit in front of me right now and tell me you're sorry. If what happened at the shelter never happened when were you going to come back for forgiveness?" she doesn't answer "I have a family now. I've chosen to shift my attention to them and stop hoping a devil can turn into a saint. I don't want to keep coming back to this. You did what you did, only you know why. I'm going to live my life and make sure my kids never go through the the things I went through" he says and stands up leaving Nomeva weeping.
There's nothing more she's living for. She cannot live with this misery and regret. What she did eats her everyday. Beyond all of that she's struggling to forget about what happened to her at the shelter. Whenever she goes to bed Sipho comes alive. He's haunting her. She wants to rest now. Maybe there's peace for her beyond the grave, she can only hope there is.
She takes one long deep breath and pulls out the knife that has been in her pocket. She sits comfortably leaning against the wall. She holds out her arm and cuts where the vain is. She puts the knife down next to her and allows death to take her.
When Thandolwami walk out to play an hour later she finds her grandmother still sitting where they left her, thinking she's sleeping she's moves closer to wake her. It's only then that she sees the blood covering her and flowing down the steps, she screams.
