*My Gift*
21
“So the rumors are true she is fu-cking siblings uyaloya wena” Ntokozo says and I look at her.
She looks happy that she spreading rumors that are true. I don’t want these rumors to reach my mother because I know that she can be closed minded at times.
“Asambe wena” Nandipha says.
I wait for her to get her water bucket and I follow her and I finally catch up to her.
“Can you please walk slow I’m tired mina” I say and she looks at me.
She puts her bucket and holds her hips with her hands.
“I just hate how people like talking about things they don’t know” she says in an angry voice
I laugh at how angry she is like Ntokozo was talking about her.
“I get that you are angry friend Kodwa it was bound to happen when people find out” I say to her and she nods.
“I just hate it mina a lot futhi” she says.
I take her water bucket and we continue walking. We don’t talk that much on our way back home but it’s not awkward.
“I will see you later then” I say as we are standing outside her home.
I’m not sure what time later I will see her but I wanted to spend sometime with her before I go and see Lwandle.
“Okay then don’t forget” she says.
I nod my head and she starts walking away. I walk back inside the house and I find my mother cleaning.
“You should have taken one of our buckets yazi sisi” she says wiping her hands since she was mopping the floor.
“I will go tomorrow I didn’t know we needed water.”
I say.
I’m standing outside since the floor is still we-t.
“We don’t need it that much we can use them till tomorrow”
She says and I nod my head. She takes the bucket she was mopping with and goes away with it. I’m still standing by the door when I hear someone call me. When I look up its Mandla.
He is walking towards me and I don’t know what he wants from me now.
“Mandla how are you doing” I ask him when he reaches me.
He takes a de-eper breath and puts his hands in his jean pockets.
“I’m fine…well I’m not” he says and I look at him so that he can tell me what the problem is.
“I heard from someone around the village that you are dating the princess” he says and I still look at him.
I didn’t know that me dating the princess has anything to do with him or anyone around the village.
“Yebo I am is there a problem?” I ask him.
He does not say anything and after a while he shakes his head no.
“Okay then thank you” I say.
I enter inside the house not waiting for the floor to dry. I don’t even want to hear what else he had to say because it does not concern him. I sit on the bed and think if the villagers are going to give Lwandle a ha-rd time or not. Maybe they might say that I bewitched her which is not the case.
“Ebezothini uMandla?
I hear someone say and it’s my mother. I don’t want to tell her that Mandla wanted to know if I was dating the princess because she might say this is what I get for doing what I’m doing.
“Nothing he wanted to k or how I am” I say and she nods her head not saying anything.
…………..
It’s now night time and it’s time for me to go out and see my girlfriend. My mother is sleeping and I wish she does not wake up anytime soon. I open the door slowly and look back to see if my mother is awake but she is still sleeping so I get out and close the door. I can sp-ot her from a distance so I ran to her and hug her from behind.
“I missed you Lwandle lami” I say to her.
She turns around and hugs me back. This is the best feeling ever. Being in her arms after sometime if not seeing her. If it was up to me I would sit in bed with her the whole day and not mind about what is happening around me.
“I missed you too Malinda. Asambe” she says and holds my hand as we start walking.
“How was your week babe?” She asks me and I sigh because I had one hell of a week.
“It was stressful at first because even though my mom had accepted our relationship it still felt weird then today the girls by the river were saying I’m dating you and your brother” I say and she laughs.
I feel like I’m surrounded by people who like laughing in serious situations.
“Don’t laugh I mean why would they even think of that” I say and stop walking.
She also stops and looks at me waiting for me to say what I want to say.
“You not taking this whole thing seriously that’s why you are laughing” I say and she tries to stop herself from laughing.
“Fine I won’t laugh it’s just that people like saying things they know nothing about and you should not mind what they say babe that way you will look more beautiful” she says making me blus-h.
She can be sweet when she want’s to and that’s what I like about her that she makes me blus-h.
“Fine I will try not to listen to what they say” I say and hold her hand.
We continue walking to our usual sp-ot and when we get there we sit on the rock and chat away.
It’s a little bit cold now and I want to go home because of the weather.
“We should go it’s starting to he cold”
I say to her and she does not answer me. I turn to look at her and she is just staring at the river and I don’t know what is wrong to do. I hope she is not having one of her episodes.
“Lwandle!”
I call her name a little louder and she turns to look at me. She looks at me for a few seconds before she smiles at me.
“Sorry baby I was thinking about something” she says and gets off the rock.
She helps me off the rock and we start walking me back home. My mind is still on what happened by the rock. I know that she is not telling me the truth when she says that she was thinking because for the shop period of time that I have known Lwandle I can tell that she is lying.
“Ubucabangani?” I ask her because this is eating me inside.
She turns to look at me for a brief second and turns to look the direction we walking.
“My gift does not involve me seeing visions like I just had by the river” she says and I’m confused to what she is saying.
“I only see things throu-ghdreams but by the river I could see a vision throu-ghthe water like I saw everything play out in the river” she says and she is confusing me more.
“I’m confused mina babe” I tell her and she pulls me closer to her.
“I will go talk the seer tomorrow morning and find out what’s wrong” she says and I nod my head
We walk all the to my hugs and she hugs me ti-ght when we reach the gate.
“I love you yazi” she says and I nod my head
“I love you too.” I tell her and she hugs me ti-ghter
………
It’s now in the morning and I’m sitting with Nandipha outside her house.
We are talking about everything and I sometimes wonder how we never ran out of things to talk about. I mean we see each other almost everydaya and in those days we always talking.
“Yazi I think that man is cheating on me” Nandipha says to me and I look at her shocked.
I thought that she had finally found love that she will have someone who she will grow old with.
“Don’t tell him what you thinking until you have proof please” I say to her because I don’t want her causing conflict that she will not be able to handle I’m the end.
My Gift
22
It’s been two weeks since I last saw Lwandle and I don’t know what is wrong with her. I think it has everything to do with that vision she had by the lake which she did not tell me about. I’m stressing about results and I thought Lwandle will be here with me telling me that everything will be okay but I’m sure she will have a valid reason for not making any contact with me.
I have been sitting on this bed since morning and it’s now during the day. I don’t have anything to do and I’m nervous about getting my results tomorrow. If it was up to me I would just not go and get them because this is very stressful for me. Nandipha has not come to fetch me so I think she is hanging out with her boyfriend. Not so long ago they were fighting but now they are inseparable.
My phone has games and I have been playing them now they are starting to bore me. They are starting to frustrate me a lot. I keep losing this level of sugar crush and it’s sad. I hear a knock by the door and feel happy a little bit. I’m happy because the person on the other side might be Nandipha or Lwandle and they can both keep me entertained.
I get off the bed and go to open the door. It’s the royal guards. Two of them to be more precise and I feel worry take over my body.
The first thing that comes to mind is that there is something wrong with Lwandle she might be dead.
“Sanibonani bobaba” I greet them as respectfully as I can be.
“Yebo sisi. The king is requesting you at the palace”
Ome of them says and I just nod my head. I don’t want to ask them why the king wants to see me because I might not like it. I might not be able to walk to the palace if I hear the news now.
“Let me change into something better”
I say to them and they nod their heads. I close the door behind me and rush to the closet to look for something to wear. Long dress head wrap the usual thing you wear when going to the royal house. I throw everything on the bed looking for my mother’s head wrap I don’t own one and I never want to. I finally find it and wrap it around my head and wear the first shoes my eyes land on. I take my phone and lock the door.
“We can go”
I say. I’m the one leading the way because I want to know what the king wants I’m praying to God that it’s not bad news because I won’t be fine if I lose Lwandle.
They drove here so we enter the car and they start driving. I’m looking outside as we pa-ss people and houses till we get to the royal house.
I’m the first to get out of the car and then I wait for them to get out and I feel like they are taking their own time.
“Asambe” one of the guards says and I follow him inside. He is acting like I don’t know the way around this palace but I think it’s protocol.
“They in the living room,” he says when we reach the door.
I nod my head and enter inside and I find everyone sitting by the living room. I move my eyes around and I can not see Lwandle. The seer is sitting on the one sitter couch and Lwandle’s brothers and MaKhumalo are here.
“Sanibonani” I greet them moving forward.
“Yebo sisi. Please sit down” the king says and I nod head sitting next to MaKhumalo. It’s the only seat available so I have no other choice.
“I’m sure you are wondering why we called you here”
The seer says and I nod my head waiting for him to tell me why they called me because I’m starting to be impatient.
“Something is wrong with Lwandle”
He says and I feel like someone has stabbed my heard multiple times I can not breathe anymore. It’s like someone has taken my heart away from me and they expect me to breathe without it.
“What do you mean she is not okay where is she?”
I ask and they are all looking at me like I have all the answers in the world.
“Why did you call me here?”
I ask one sounding a little rude but I’m mad because they are not telling me what is wrong with her and it’s starting to piss me off.
“We found out that she was with you before she became how she is now.”
MaKhumalo says and if looks could kill she would be dead by now. They have the nerve to call me here and accuse me of doing something to my girlfriend. . I mean I love and live for this girl why would I do anything to hurt her.
“So nithi I did something to her?” I ask them and no one answers me. I can tell by the look on their eyes that they think I did something to her.
“Wow”
I say lifting my hands in the air to show that I surrender I wonder what is wrong with these people.
“We just want to know what happened sisi that’s all we are not saying you did anything to her”
The queen says and I nod my head.
“She can to fetch me and we went to the river”
I say and the seer nods his head.
“When was that?”
The seer asks and I’m not sure if he is asking for the date or the time.
“Two weeks back around 11:00 PM…”
I don’t even finish what I want to say when MaKhumalo interrupts me by laughing and I look at her wanting to know what is wrong with her.
“She does not want people seeing you that’s why she sees you at night”
I look at her and I feel hurt by what she is saying but I don’t say anything I just look at her and back to the seer.
“We went to the river.. ”
I’m yet again interrupted now it’s by the seer.
“The river?”
He asks me with a concerned look on his face and I don’t know if we should have not gone to the river.
“Yebo the river. We always go there Kodwa this time she had one of her episodes.”
I say and the queen looks at me with concern on her face.
“The one she normally has?”
She asks me and I shake my head.
“She just went silent while looking inside the river. She said she had a vision while looking at the river like she could see things happening I’m the water.”
I explain as much as I can for them to un-derstand because I did not un-derstand.
“She could what?”
One of the brothers asks shocked and I don’t know why they are shocked really. Maybe it’s one of the things she could do and they did not know.
“Yebo. Kodwa she said it has never happened before so she would talk to the seer.”
I say and the seer nods his head.
“Did you see what she was seeing in the river?”
He asks me and I look at him containing my laughter because if it was Nandipha saying this to me I would be laughing in her face right now.
“No, I did not see anything. I don’t have a gift like her”
I say in the most respectful way I can and the seer looks at me. Everyone is looking at him waiting for him to explain.
“Were you looking in the river?”
He asks me and I shake my head. I was looking at Lwandle.
“That’s why.”
He says standing up and walking towards me.
.
.
.
Tbc