Hero

Jacob Khumalo raises his hand to cover his mouth as he yawns, standing in the middle of Empire Road, outside WITS University, at 7 am on Monday morning. Even though he has been doing this since the start of the year, and it's now the beginning of August, he hasn't grown used to it. He closes his eyes and thinks about the job he had in the previous year, before he got "retrenched", a packer at Pick n Pay. He opens his eyes to see the group of cars that now approach him and tries not to think about the cars themselves. He tries not to think about the price of the brand new BMW leading the crowd of cars, or how half of that money could buy his family food and clothes for a whole year. He fakes a smile, as he always does, because it's hard finding something to smile about in this life. Except his daughter, Miracle. When he thinks of her he can't stop himself from smiling. The brand new BMW stops right next to him. He taps gently on the window, trying his best not to get his dirty fingerprints on this divine car, and smiles at the driver. Even though he's been ignored over a thousand times, it still hurts. He has always believed that the least these people in their fancy cars could do is take note of his existence, and return the smile. Disappointed he starts walking to the next car when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns around and faces a boy, who looks to be 18. The boy is roughly his height but has a more muscular build. "Good morning sir. It's not much, but it's something" said the boy, smiling and holding out his hand. Jacob could see a ten rand note and suddenly a real smile replaced the fake one he practiced so hard to keep. He takes the money. "Thank you sir. God bless" he says, bowing his head. "No no. I'm Mathew, not sir. God bless you too, my friend" replies the boy before turning around to walk away. That must be an angel, Jacob thinks to himself as he walks to the next car, still smiling.

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