We were living with our parents in Millville. At that time I was 16. It was on the 18th of June 2010, it was my mother’s birthday, that our parents decided to go on a holiday just to celebrate my mom’s special day. They decided to leave me at home with my younger sister, Mbali, who was about nine years old.

Mbali was the nicest, sweetest person who loved sweets, so my dad bribed her with money to buy those sweets. We were busy playing with our toys in our living room when mom called. I picked up the phone. Mom was being protective as always, she asked us whether or not we had bought those sweets. We were so busy playing we forgot to go to the shops. While mom was still busy telling us how much she loved us, there was a big crash on the phone and the line went dead. I tried to call again, hoping it was just a bad connection, but no one answered.

30 minutes passed before we received another call. I jumped with excitement, hoping it was mom, but it was the hospital saying we had to come there quickly because our parents had been in a car accident. My heart nearly stopped, I didn’t know how to tell Mbali. We rushed to the hospital. Mbali kept asking questions but I couldn’t answer.

When we arrived at the hospital the doctors told us that our mom didn’t make it. Mbali didn’t understand what the doctor was saying. I was so sad to be the one to tell my little sister that our mom had died. She started crying. I was so sad, tears were running down my chin but I had to be strong for my little sister. One of the doctors led us in to see my mom’s bod. It was so, I don’t know how to put it, her face was filled with blood.

“Mom, please wake up, mom!” Those were Mbali’s words trying to wake our mom up.

The doctors had to take her to the mortuary. After a few minutes they told us that our dad was in the ICU.
Dad was in a critical condition. We went to see him, he was in pain, you could see in his eyes, but he didn’t want us to see him suffering. My only prayer to God was to keep my dad alive. I still remember he was in ward number 117. When I looked at his eyes I could see that he wouldn’t be there for long. Seeing dad in such a condition just broke my heart even more. After some minutes he asked about mom.

Talking about mom made Mbali even worse. “She is gone papa, mom is gone,” she said, in an angry voice, as if she was blaming dad for what had happened.

Dad was horrified to hear the news but he just smiled and said, “Everything is going to be OK, mommy and daddy love you so much, my princesses, always know that. Even if we are not together physically, spiritually, our hearts will always be together. Take this number: 194909,” he said, as he passed on. Those were his last words.

I wanted to ask him about those numbers but he was already gone. He just died in front of us.

Mbali cried even more. Losing both parents at the same time is hard, especially at that young age. Everyone at the hospital was looking at us as if we were stars. Some felt pity, some annoyed by our noise. The doctors and nurses gave their condolences. My heart slipped into pieces seeing Mbali crying out so loudly, and the face of my mom covered in blood as well as my dad’s body was just too much trauma for a 16-year-old girl.

Tell us: Have you ever lost someone close to you at a young age?