I slowly fell to the ground. Everything went blurry around me. Thandi caught me and lay me on the ground. She screamed and sobbed as she lays me down on the ground.

“I told you that one of you was gonna die by my hand, you punk,” Zakes shouted as the car drove off as he laughed at the top of his voice.

There was blood all around me. Tears were running down Thandi’s face when she kneeled next to me.

I felt cold. Sam was with us now. I tried to speak but the words did not want to come out. Seconds passed.

“I’m going to call an ambulance,” Ms Dlamini from across the road said when she came out of her house to see what was going on.

“Shhhh, dont speak,” Thandi said putting her finger on my mouth.

Tears starts to well up in Sams eyes. “I’m sorry, Bongi” he sobbed trying hard not to cry.

I tried hard to smile and grabbed hold of their hands.

“I’m… I’m… go… gonna… mi… miss you two,” I said struggling to get the words out.

“Don’t say that,” Thandi said sobbing.

“You’ll be fine,” Sam said trying hard to hide the tears.

Soon the street was full of people wanting to see what was going on.

“You… guys… were… the… best friends,” I continued to struggle.

“Please, Bongi, don’t die,” Thandi pleaded still sobbing.

I looked at Thandi and stroked her cheek with my free hand. Despite her tear-stained face, she still looked beautiful.

“I will see you again, my love,” I said in a low voice. In the distance I could hear sirens. “I will see you again, my love,” I said in a much lower voice . I blew out my last breath and lost my grip on their hands.

“Bongi! Bongi!” Thandi screamed shaking my body. The shouting kept on and on.

“Bongi! Bongi! Wake up!”

I slowly opened my eyes. The T-shirt I was wearing was soaking wet. Through my blurry vision a girl was standing over me.

“Thandi? Is that you?”

The girl looked at me oddly.

“No, its Thandeka.”

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

“What??” I asked, sitting upright.

“It looks like you were having a bad dream,” Thandeka said.

I looked around.

“Where am I?” I asked, confused.

Thandeka laughed.

“You’re in Bloem, Bongi. For the holidays remember?” Thandeka said still laughing.

“Oh!” I said. “But I died,” I whispered…

“In your dream maybe. Who is Thandi, by the way… never mind. C’mon. I made you breakfast. You must be hungry. You were so tired from the trip here that you didn’t have supper last night,” Thandeka said smiling.

I went into the living room with my breakfast and switched on the TV. The news was being broadcast. I couldn’t remember a single thing from my dream.

“In today’s News Headlines: The unidentified body of a man was found yesterday in the Parkview area in the bushes next to the river…”

I listened.

“…The body was discovered by some kids who was swimming in the river. According to the police the man had been shot three times in the back.”

I froze. It sounded fimiliar. Then it all came back to me… The dream… Everything!

“Uhm, Thandeka… I gotta go,” I shout out as she is clearing dishes in the kitchen.

“Go where?” Thandeka ask from the doorway.

“Home,” I say.

“Home? But you only got here yesterday.”

“I know… I have something to do at home. Something came to my attention,” I say rushing to pack my bag.

Then I hurried off to the taxi rank and was lucky enough to get a taxi. As the taxi took me home, I dialled Thandi’s number. I waited, then it rang.

“Hello,” I heard her say.

“Thandi? Is that you?” I ask, excited to hear her voice.

“Yes, this is Thandi. Who’re you?”

“It’s Bongi…”

“Oh, Bongi, wassup?” I could hear from the tone of her voice that she was happy to hear from me.

“Nah, everything’s cool. Have you seen the news?”

“Yeah,” Thandi responds. “It’s just terrible.”

“Yeah,” I respond.

“You know, I just called to tell you that I miss you…” I pause.

“I miss you too, Bongi,” she says.

“Listen, I’m on a taxi coming home right now,” I say.

“Why? You only left yesterday…”

“I know. I have to see you… I want to tell you…”

“Yes?”

I remember that in my dream I had been interrupted so many times – just when I wanted to tell her how I felt about her. So, now I just have to say it.

“It’s something that I’ve been meaning to tell you,” I pause.

“Yes? What is it?”

Silence.

“I love you, OK?”

Silence on the other end of the phone. “And, I don’t want to lose you,” I continue. “Say something, please,” I add softly.

“Me too,” Thandi says. “I have always loved you and I can’t wait to see you and hold you in my arms…

It’s three weeks later:

“…The police of Parkview, with the help of a young boy and his two friends arrested a group of people for the murder of a young man. The arrest was made at the old farm outside Parkview where they were caught red-handed trying to dispose of the body…” the TV News announcer said.

The End

***

FunDza is working to develop young South African writers and provide them with a platform to publish their work.

Message from the author: Fredd is planning on writing a sequel to this story at the end of the year. So keep an eye out for “The Revenge” that he plans to release at the beginning of 2013.