“Donnel, Donnel! Wake up, we gotta go get your suit,” yelled Collette, excitedly shaking his body by the shoulders.

“Relax baby, I’m up,” asserted Donnel as his blurry sight picked up her excited body language; surprising him, before he squinted his eyes to the bright
sunlight that had now invaded Collette’s pink room.

Last night’s moments turned into thoughts as he rose out of her bed, when tears that had gathered in her eyes began pouring onto his shirt and down his chest, fertilizing his sympathy, as they laid in bed to the sound of her tears. Yet now she had seemingly moved on and was pretty excited for the matric ball, which was just 24 hours away.

“Baby please go shower, my parents are waiting.”

“Gimme 10,” he responded.

That’s when he overlooked her confused gestures, and jogged out her room as he brought his phone to his ear.

“No Lethabo I’ve made up my mind, I’m not going!”

“No you have to, you promised you would,” yelled Lethabo assertively.
He could clearly see how red her eyes were, tissues in her hand as she pulled her nose and dabbed beneath her eyes again; now holding back her tears of fury as that anger shifted to her voice instead.

Katlego then heard his phone’s vibrations before ignoring Donnel’s phone call, assuming his sisters were behind it, attempting to change his mind.
“Babes, we have to go, at least do it for me.”

“I’ve already made up my mind Lethabo.”

“Then change it then,” said she as her sombre mood overtook her beauty.

“I’m sorry but I can’t,” he muttered.

“All because of Zintle!” shouted Lethabo as Katlego walked out of the bedroom. “I see why she chose Karabo over you, you’re clearly pathetic,” she lashed.

“Mxm!” Katlego lashed out.

“I will surely get you, mark my words,” yelled Lethabo as the anger that had built within burst.

“No need for threats Lettie babes… I still love you,” Katlego shouted from the lounge, as he dived onto the couch.

“It’s not a threat baby boy, it’s a promise… and unlike you I don’t break mine,” she said, smiling deviously.

Katlego felt bad that Lethabo’s morose mood had contagiously caught onto him. He looked at his phone, and Zintle’s apologetic messages still coming in.
His anger swelled and consumed and his forehead was soon in his hand, as he listened to the rhythm of Lethabo’s high heels just before she slammed the door. He stood and dawdled towards the door, only to see her get into a white Polo Vivo upon opening it. He was left puzzled, as the car disappeared into the sunset.

Now he was all alone as Karoline, Karabo and Zintle still weren’t back from the last-minute matric ball shopping spree. So he just sat on the door and lifted his gaze towards the clouds, perhaps in search of hope. The overwhelming sense of failure had fallen upon him and even the roaring wind couldn’t blow it away, as the emotions within his chest quickly evolved from shock to disappointment.

The early evening wind drying out the tears that had now formed a lake beneath his eyes, before he looked at a young man at the gate who had a white bag in his hand as he constantly looked sideways.

Katlego walked down to the gate, the rage in his heart suppressed by his sudden excitement. His smile stretching from one ear to the other as he reached the gate that Lethabo had left open.

“Ola mfethu, Katlego neh?” he asked.

“Yah brah, got the package?” Katlego responded.

“Of course. Got my Madibas?”

Katlego fumbled into his pocket for the cash, his eyes becoming wild with a desperate fear as he received the package; wondering what his late mother would have said.

Tell us: What do you think this ‘package’ is?