Once upon a time, there was girl called Nelly Cooper, who lived in a village called Klippel in the North West Province. The village of Klippel was known as a respected tribal village. It was full of powerful royals, and it was discovered during slavery.

Nelly’s family poor and they had nothing, but her sister, Ruth, worked in local tuck shop. She worked there because she was trying to gather funds for their meals and save money for Nelly’s education. Nelly was the second born in the family, and they were the only two daughters at home. All in all, they were only three in the house because their father had disappear after Nelly was born, and he never returned. Because of that, Nelly had never called anyone “Father” in her life.

Nelly was doing Grade 12 at the time, and she seemed quite focused in her studies. She made sure to give her best and produce good results for every work from school and any practical she got. Her mother, Jennifer, was very proud of her daughter, and she even promise to buy her a smartphone if she produced good results at end of the academic year. That made Nelly push even harder with her school work, because she wanted to be on the same level as her peers at Klippel Secondary.

One day, Ruth decided to take her younger sister to town in order to show her how it was like to be around people. She even promised her that, when they got to town, they would check out some franchises, bookstores, and supermarkets. On the day, Nelly was very nervous because everything was new to her and she did not know anything about town. All she knew were the dusty streets of the village that were full of sand.

When Nelly and her sister got to town, Nelly’s heart was captured as soon as she saw the building of the North West University, and she even asked her sister a few questions about it.

“Sister Ruth, is that the university that all the learners are talking about it?” Nelly asked.

“Yes it is,” Ruth replied.

On hearing her sister’s response, Nelly felt very shocked, but she also seemed very happy at same time. After that moment, they went to do some shopping, then they travelled back home. When they arrived home, Nelly told her mother everything she had seen, and how ‘cool’ it was being around people and seeing the many buildings. Her mother, on hearing the stories from her daughter, was very glad to see her daughter in the happy mood that she was in.

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At her age, Nelly did not know anything about dating, and many of the guys at school were busy trying their luck on her, but they did not get very far though. She was a very beautiful girl, and she had caramel skin, apple-coloured eyes, and a mouth full of beautifully lined teeth. In fact, she was so beautiful that many girls even claimed that she would steal their boyfriends, but she did not care about any of that, and she only focused on her studies.

At the end of the year, Nelly got a lot of certificates in several subjects, and she was elected and appointed as the best performing learner in school. At the time, preliminary examinations were about to start, so her fellow classmates asked her to assist them to be fully prepared. She did not hesitate to help, and did as they asked.

While Nelly was busy assisting her classmates, words suddenly came from nowhere to her ears like music. “You Only Live Once,” the words said, then they vanished soon after that. After hearing the words, Nelly felt very scared and shocked, more so because her classmates had not hear them too. And, while she was still feeling shaken by the words, her classmates asked her if she was okay, but she just ignored them and continued doing what she was doing.

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Tell us: What do you think the words “you only live once” might mean for Nelly?