Xola was about seventeen years old doing her Grade 11. She lost her sister, Nthabiseng after a terrifying strike. On that day she was so angry at everything. The police were firing and everyone had run for their lives. But she couldn’t run because she kept looking for her sister whom she couldn’t see among the crowd running in school uniform. When the crowd had cleared, Xola went back and among the corpses lying on the ground, there she was.

There was Nthabiseng covered in red. Her blood was all over the place. She sat down beside her and started singing the song Senzeni na? Nthabi was to be buried and Xola had a lot of stress. They were raised by their mother, Xolelwa, and Xola knew that life would be hard for them now. After the funeral Xolelwa had to stay home and mourn for her child. How were they going to survive?

On Monday Xola went back to school like any other student, as if nothing had happened. But deep down she was not herself. Xola had to be accompanied by her mom to the clinic to take her pills from time to time. The embarrassing part was when she was writing her exams and Xolelwa had to be there. She was always outside the exam room, so that if any complications occurred, she would take care of her daughter. It was the school policy. There was nothing they could do. When Xolelwa’s mourning period was over she had to go and collect her child’s report because Xola was tired. It was her time to give birth.
Xola passed her exams. December eleven was a new day for a handsome little man on earth. Healthy Xolani with cute eyes was now there. He had been given that name by his grandma, Xolelwa. Life was now normal again since Xolelwa had gone back to work as Chief Librarian at Chiawelo Community Centre, known as CCC. She earned enough to support Xola and Xolani at home.
When schools reopened Xola was so committed to her school work and worked hard for her son. It was the only way to show her mom how regretful she was about the decisions she made in the past. Life had changed completely afterwards. Xolelwa, Xola and Xolani lived happily together.