A week later
Jacob stands over his five year old daughter and watches her
sleep for a while before kissing her on the forehead. He walks toward his wife,
Petunia, and tries to kiss her on the cheek before leaving, but she pulls away.
"Why now, Petunia?" he asks, shaking his head. "You know
why!" she replies, in a raised voice. "Please be quiet, you'll wake
Miracle. I know we're struggling, but I can't. It goes against everything I
believe in. My parents always taught me that it's not the answer. And look at
that girl, what would happen to her if something were to happen to me?" he
asks, walking towards her, "God will provide" She crosses her arms
and shakes her head, "God? That child will starve before God
provides!" she says. He hears in her voice the same thing he feels inside:
fear. "I've got to go. Please, just have faith. God will provide" he
kisses her on the cheek and walks towards the door of the shack and opens it.
"Just do it, please. Just tell him you're in" she says. He turns
around and looks at her and then leaves. When he gets to his spot outside WITS University,
William is already there. William walks up to him, but Jacob shakes his head.
"Look. I can do it alone. But I know you have a daughter, and you're
struggling. Let me help you out. It's an easy job, it'll take less than fifteen
minutes" William says. Jacob shakes his head and starts to walk away.
"Think about it! It's happening at 5" William shouts, before running
to his side of the road. Jacob sighs and struggles to put on his fake smile.
The rumbling in his stomach makes it hard to ignore Williams plan.
Mathew White wakes up to the sound and buzzing of the alarm
he set on his iPhone. He grabs his phone and taps the "turn off"
button almost furiously. Once the sound is off his head falls back onto his
pillow and he closes his eyes, intending to lay there for only a minute. He
opens his eyes again to the sound of his father, Phil, knocking on his door.
Phil White was born and educated in America, he moved to South Africa to
complete his PhD in Astronomy at the University Of Cape Town, even though he
loved astronomy he decided to follow his true passion: teaching. He taught math
and physics at a high school in the area where they now lived. "Ok, ok,
I'm up!" Mathew yells, sitting up in his bed and rubbing his eyes. He
looks at the time on his phone, 6:20 am, ten minutes had passed. "Jesus,
this must be what hell is like" he whispers to himself as he gets out of
bed. He walks to his light switch and turns it on, squinting as his eyes
struggled to adjust to the light. He opens his cupboard door and grabs the
first things he gets his hands on; a blue and white checkered shirt and a red
chino shorts. He slips on his navy blue all stars and styles his hair. In ten
minutes he's dressed and walks down the passage to the bathroom, to brush his
teeth. When he gets to the kitchen his mother, Lucy, is sitting alone drinking
coffee and reading the morning paper. Lucy White was an English teacher, at the
same school as her husband. They met while doing an education course at WITS University,
where their son now studied towards a degree in computational and applied
mathematics. "Do you need money for lunch?" Phil asks as he walks
into the kitchen. "No, it's ok. I still have some" replies Mathew,
taking a bite of his slice of toast. "And for your bus card?" Phil
asks, taking a sip of his coffee. Mathew shakes head. After everyone has eaten
they all get into Phils black Toyota Auris. They drop Mathew off at the Rea
Vaya bus stop in their town and then drive to the high school where they teach.
Mathew walks towards the area where he waits for a bus and spots the girl he
met in his math class, Carly Wilson. She doesn't see him at first, but as he
gets closer she spots him and smiles. He returns the smile and walks up to her,
admiring her beauty as he walks. She was slightly shorter than him, her skin
was a golden-brown, her hair stopped at her shoulders and she had the most
beautiful smile he had ever seen, but what he liked most about her were light
brown eyes. She was wearing a sleeveless floral dress which stopped just above
her knees, with black sneakers. She also had a white fedora hat on. "You
look like spring day" he said, smiling as he hugged her. "Speak for
yourself" she replied. They held each other for a few seconds before
letting go. "So how was your weekend? Get much studying done?" she
asked. "Don't make me laugh" he replied, smiling. "Oh of course.
Mr Social. Never at home longer than he has to be" she replies, rolling her
eyes, "you're lucky that you're really smart" she smiles and pokes
him. "I should be so lucky. I would ask, but I know you spent most of your
weekend studying" he replies, looking at her. "Oh come on. I've told
you a thousand times, some of us have to study a lot harder than others, just
to get above average marks" she replies. "Oh please, you're probably
the smartest person I know" he says, putting his arm around her shoulder.
"Hmph, you must know really dumb people then" she replies and they
both start laughing. They get on the bus and sit next to each other, engaging
each other in conversation. In just under 15 minutes they arrive at the station
outside WITS University. They start crossing the road when Mathew points at one
of the guys asking for money. "That's the guy I was telling you about! The
one who was asking the lady in the BMW for money. Ahh man, it was really
upsetting to see how pained he was when she didn't even roll down the window or
anything. I mean, I'm sure the least she could have done was roll down the
window..." he was getting really upset, and talking really fast before
Carly interrupted him. "Hey, hey. Calm down. I know it's unfair, but don't
worry, one day you can be a hero and change the world, I promise. For now
though, let's just try and not get run over" she says, wrapping her arm in
his and resting her head on his arm as they walked towards the university. He
lets out a smile. At 7:45am they make it to their first class of the day:
Applied Maths. After their last class, Mathew and Carly walk towards the bus
stop. "Hey, do you wanna come over?" she asks, wrapping her arm
around his, "we can chill" He looks down at her, "Sure. But only
if you promise that you won't force me to study, like last time" he says,
smiling. "Ahh, well I can't promise that. But I have a feeling that you're
going to come anyway" she replies, and they laugh. With his free hand he
takes out his phone to tell his father that he is going to Carlys house. He
checked the time, 16:45pm. Jacob walks over to William, "I'm in. But no
one gets hurt" he says. WIlliam nods and they walk to a quiet spot behind
one of the nearby buildings. William opens the bag he is carrying and takes out
a mask and a gun. Jacob takes the mask but shakes his head at the gun.
"Just in case" William says. Jacob shakes his head and takes the gun,
hiding it under his shirt. Please forgive me mama. They walk into the bus stop
and wait on the seats. Mathew and Carly walk into the bus stop a few minutes
after Jacob and William. Jacob is staring at the ground, shaking his head and
Mathews eyes are focused on Carly, so they don't see each other. When the bus
comes Mathew and Carly get seats at the back while Jacob and William get seats
at the front. As soon as the bus starts moving they put their masks on. Jacob
runs to the front of the bus and points his gun at the driver, yelling at him
to stop while William fires a shot out of one of the windows to get everyones
attention. "Now listen here. Nobody is going to get hurt, just put all
your phones and wallets in this bag, and we'll be gone. If you refuse, I can't guarantee
your safety" he says, as he passes his bag to the lady closest to him.
Mathew turns to Carly and whispers in her ear, "Get down and call the
cops, I'll distract them" and before she could refuse, Mathew was standing
with his hands in the air, walking towards the first masked man. Carly stared
in horror before she remembered what Mathew had told her to do. When the guy
was fully focused on Mathew, she crouched in front of her seat and phoned the
police, telling them what was happening. "Hey boy, sit down before you get
hurt" said William. Jacob recognised the boy, "Mathew!" he
shouted across the bus. Shocked, Mathew looked at the second masked man. The
voice behind the mask sounded vaguely familiar. The man began to take off his
mask when Mathew realised who he was, "No. Don't. They'll see you. Please
stop this, it's not too late" he said, walking forward. Jacob was about to
speak when William started screaming. "Shut up man! Sit down or I'll shoot
you" he said, walking towards Mathew and holding out his gun. Mathew acted
so fast that William didn't see it coming; he lurched forward and grabbed the
gun. There was a short struggle and then the defeaning sound of a gun shot
came. Carly stood up and ran towards Mathew, thinking he had been shot. Mathew
eyes were wide with terror, he took a step back and looked down but after he
realised he wasn't bleeding he looked at the man in front of him, who was
clutching his stomach as he fell to his knees. The gun fell to the floor and
Mathew picked it up and handed it to Carly. He looked at Jacob, "Please
stop this. You can leave now, it's not too late" he said, his voice was
shaking now. Jacob nodded and started lowering his gun when the left windscreen
of the bus seemed to explode. Jacob dropped his gun and Mathew could see a
policeman aiming his gun at Jacob. Mathew began to scream, "No!", as
the policeman fired another bullet. He could see Jacobs eyes go wide. Jacob
began to think of his daughter and this time he didn't smile, he started crying
knowing that he wouldn't be able to just see her one more time, realising now
that he had made a mistake. Then he fell forward and hit the ground with a
thud.
by Mohamed Zayyan Variawa
comments welcomed at zv0344@gmail.com