Growing up, I always looked up to my mom. She was my idol, my deal breaker and my superwoman. She was a single parent, and she depended on washing the neighbours’ clothes for a living. As a result of this she earned peanuts, but there was never a day where I went to school or bed hungry. She made sure she provided me with anything I wanted.

But things started changing after a school expo on a Friday. During the expo, parents were asked to come to school wearing their work uniforms. My mom came to school wearing an apron and takkies, and, because of this, everyone laughed at her while she was standing up and some even said nasty words to her. I could see the pain in her eyes, but she tried remaining strong for me, and I could see that she was breaking into pieces, but she smiled at me, trying to stop me from crying. But I couldn’t stop my tears from running down my cheeks like waterfalls.

While people were laughing at my mother, she didn’t have the courage to continue speaking, so she stepped down from the stage. School became annoying for me after that, and I hated going there because the children mocked me every day. Some even threw dirty socks, used tissues and papers at me, telling me that I should give them to my mom so she could wash them.

My heart broke into pieces when this happened. I wanted to leave school, but I couldn’t because my mom kept forcing me to go. I started hating her because she was the reason behind everything that was happening to me. I didn’t want her to attend my school meetings anymore because she made me a laughing stock. It even got so bad that when she asked me to accompany her to the shop, I would wait until it was late so that nobody could recognise me.

So on this other day, when it was nearly Christmas, I wanted a new pair of sneakers and, as a result, my mother and I had to go together for fitting them. I didn’t want to go with her to the shops, so I always found a reason to postpone the day and tell her we would go later. She eventually got tired of this and went to the shops alone.

Unfortunately, my mother got into a car accident on her way to the shops and died on the spot. Oww! I could see her body swimming in that pool of blood, but she couldn’t hear me nor respond to the things I asked her.

Indeed, later can easily become never.

Tell us: How does this story make you feel?