Someday Mpumi was amazed to find Dion not fighting her off. He was calm that day. In fact, he was listening to her. He was trying to connect with her for the first time. “You’re always sitting down and thinking… and hurting,” she was on the couch with him. While he sat formally with his feet on the ground, she had hers crossed on the couch. She cuddled a pillow between her arms.
She sat facing him and starring senselessly at his pretty face. He would’ve likely been uncomfortable if he could see her staring like that, but luckily, he didn’t. His eyes stared blankly into space as he mainly focused on her voice.
“I once read somewhere that the darkest part of the night is when it’s almost dawn. I don’t really know your story, but I actually see hope in your situation. Look at me, I didn’t have a home when I got here. I slept on a train. I slept in public toilets. I slept outside. I got cold. I got attacked. I go
Mpumi had been mad at Dion who shunned her the moment Felicia showed up. The night that Felicia announced that she would not be back for dinner, Mpumi decided to get back at Dion by serving him an uncooked meal. Often, Dion would only end up going to bed but his anxiety over Felicia made him very hungry. He proceeded to the kitchen.He would be making himself a good meal while everyone in the house had already gone to their rooms. The water from the kettle had boiled, Dion lifted the kettle but the handle broke. The water spilled over his arm and he led out a devasting cry that got Mpumi running into the room.“Dion! Are you okay?” she quickly pulled him to the kitchen sink where she ran cold water over his red skin.Dion tried convincing her that he was fine but she carried on with a fuss. She dragged him to the couch where she took a look at his burn. The man was easy to bruise.-**This is what I did to him?! How many people will I hurt? Not
Mpumi was convinced that she wanted to leave but when the children had returned from school, she changed her mind. She had learned to like them. They were genuinely sweet little boys. She worried what would happen to them if she left, seeing as Dion did not want them. Mpumi decided to stay for a little while, and in the meantime, think about solutions for that broken family.Since, there was no money in the house, Mpumi had to relinquish what she had made and saved up to fulfil some of the needs. She had to use her salary from the previous months to buy food. She managed to pay very little for the boys’ transport. Letters of bills started coming in. It was school fees, transport and rent. One day Mpumi received a call from home. The call came with bad news. Mpumi learnt that her mother died. The little woman broke down. She had to go back home to prepare for the funeral.……………………………&hell
“Vince, what are you doing? That’s Dion’s phone. Where’d you get it?” asked the little Dave when he saw Vincent pull it out and fiddle on it.“Where do you think I got it? From his bags, of course. I’m calling someone, anyone on this phone. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll have to sell his stuff,” answered Vincent as he carefully navigated the phone in his hands. “Gee, Dave, I saw really cool stuff in his bag. You know we could get rich.” Vincent, shortly, gazed into sky to show that he was thinking, “I have an idea. A business idea. Ow, the things we could do with that money.” And then he got back to searching through the phone. “Only one number? I wonder who this is.” The numbers were not saved. Vincent saw them on the call page. He put the phone against his ear. “Hello?”Through the phone came a voice, “Dion?”“No, it’s… It&
When morning came Vincent showed into the kitchen very worn out. He found Mpumi and Dave making tea and buttered bread. Mpumi did not expect to see him like that, “Vincent, what is it?” she went and reached for his forehead to check for his temperature.“I’m not sick,” he pulled down her hand. “Dion wouldn’t let me turn off the light the entire night.”Mpumi felt a bit bad about that. She remembered Dion’s fear of the dark. She realised she should not have sent the child to that room.“I can’t sleep with the lights on. Who can, anyway? Even Dion, himself, did not sleep the entire night too.”“Come.” She pulled him into the kitchen. “Sit down there with Dave. We made breakfast.”Sitting down, “Hi, Dave.”“Hi, Vincent.”“Can you pass me my cup, please?”“There.”“Thank you. I
Somewhere across the street was a gang of young men. They loved that corner, Mpumi knew them well. They were the thugs of the town. All the crimes happening in that area, the community knew well to suspect them first. It was a pity that none of the community members had any evidence to pin against them and send them to jail.These troublesome young men sat in a circle and passed around the weed they were smoking. “No, I heard she chased them all out,” one in their crowd had argued. He was addressing the men’s allegations about Mpumi. “Her aunties and uncles left immediately after the funeral. She wouldn’t let them stay any longer.”“I don’t think I’d loved them around either! The grief would never end!”“Actually, she didn’t know them, and they didn’t know her.” He was addressing them again, “She was angered by how big the family actually was, when none of them were seen du
After a long day on campus, Mpumi returned home. She went straight to her room and she started sobbing. Dion could hear her sobs from the other room. He listened carefully. He sat up straight facing towards the light through the curtains. He was drawn to her cries.………………………………………………………………………………………..Bowman was rushed to hospital. When his personal doctor heard news that Bowman had been admitted into the hospital he spread the news across family members, friends and the helps in UK. Daphne made sure to book the same flight with the doctor. They were going to Azania, Johannesburg to be close to Bowman. The news shocked everyone when they found out that he suffered a panic attack. The doctors reported that they would keep him for
Mpumi had left the kids and Dion on the bench. She wanted some privacy. When she finally felt comfortable with the distance she created from her friends, she led out a cry that shook the birds off the trees and rouse concern from the passers nearby. Dion was shocked to have heard the cry. That made him realise that his senses had strengthened. He realised how he had been paying close attention to every detail of noise in his surrounding lately. That must have heightened his auditory senses.The journey continued shortly. “This is where we stop.” She said soon after she saw a piece of open land between houses. She could see a home for them already. She let the bags down. Vincent copied, and Dave did the same. Dion only held against his nose. He was not pleased with the smell of the area—he couldn’t see it but he could smell it. It was horrible. There was dump in the area. The air reeked of the dump, sewage and smoke. Dion felt like he would puke. Mpumi
Vincent had offered Dion some of the bread in the house, he attempted to put it in his hands but Dion only snapped, “Get your hands off me.”Vincent was so shocked that he even pounced back. It was strange to hear Dion speak. Vincent never expected Dion to ever speak again and that was because Dion had been quiet for days now. He only kept to himself. To make things worse, Dion had refused to eat—for many days now. He only accepted water, and that was it.…………………………………………………………………………………………….Bowman was not getting better, emotionally. He felt his heart harden by each day, but still, he would not allow his tears out.I cannot cry, because if I cry it means I give up. I can