Sipho opened his eyes and he could feel that he was moving. A man was looking into his face, and he could breathe again. When he closed his eyes he saw Pumela’s eyes, looking seriously into his, in that way she had.

“Why?” she was asking. “Why?”

Sipho moved, and an excruciating pain ripped through his body.

“Lie still,” said a man’s voice. “Lie still. You have been shot. You are going to be OK, but you must lie still.”

Sipho had a bad feeling about the last job he did with Mpho and Kazadi, right from the beginning, when he heard that Mihlali would be coming along.

“Do you think that is a good idea?” he asked Mpho, concerned.

“He was part of our original crew Sipho,” said Kazadi, “and he’s cleaned up his act now. He is sorted. Just needs to get back on his feet again.”

Sipho said nothing more. The look in Mpho’s eyes silenced him. Mpho was the unofficial leader of the gang. He organised everything. The details he kept mostly to himself, although Sipho suspected that he shared a lot with Kazadi.

Earlier in the evening, Pumela had phoned him: “Meet you at school at twelve tomorrow?” she had asked him excitedly.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world babe,” he replied.

Pumela was hoping for seven As, and he really hoped that she was going to get them. He himself was hoping for one or two – but his mind was on other things.

Mpho had said it was going to be a big job; that’s why Mihlali had to come along. They were going to clean a place out.

Sipho tried to keep his mind on how he was going to spoil Pumela when she got those seven As. To hell with her failure of a father, he thought to himself. From now on, he was going to be all she would ever need.

Mihlali looked edgy and nervous when he joined them. “You sure you OK?” Sipho could not help asking him.

“Of course Mihlali is OK!” Mpho said sharply. “You just leave him alone.”

But Sipho was right about Mihlali. He was not OK. At first, everything went as planned. Mihlali was posted as a lookout just up the road, and Sipho waited outside the building as usual, ready to help with the goods. Then things went horribly wrong.

The alarm went off; Sipho didn’t know what to do. His instinct was to run, but Mpho and Kazadi were still in the building. Mihlali appeared, and stood near him, swearing and sweating.

“Stay calm Mihlali,” said Sipho, putting his hand on his arm. “Stay calm. The response vehicle will take a while.”

But Mihlali could not stay calm, and he started shouting for Mpho and Kazadi to hurry up. Eventually, the two young men came running, and at the same time, all the lights in the building came on.

Sipho started running, with Mihlali next to him.

“You bloody bastards!”

Sipho heard the shout and looked over his shoulder to see a man, standing in the street under a tree, pointing a gun at them. He paused, the man paused, but Mihlali did not.

Sipho saw the gun in Mihlali’s hand as Mihlali suddenly stopped and turned.

Sipho was now between him and the man, and Mihlali fired first. It was as simple as that. Mihlali fired wildly, and perhaps the man ducked or fired or simply stood still. Sipho did not know.

All Sipho knew was that the bullet from Mihlali’s gun hit him, and then he was falling, clutching his gut, his hands wet and sticky as he toppled backwards onto the tar, and Mihlali ran on. The others ran on too.

*****

At twelve o’clock, Pumela arrived at the school along with a whole lot of other students, but Sipho was not amongst them. She tried his cellphone again, but there was still no answer. There had been no answer all morning.

Sipho’s cellphone had been left behind at Mpho’s house.

At home later, Mpho watched it ring. He decided he would strip it of all Sipho’s details, and sell it. It seemed a pity to waste a good cellphone. Mpho was pretty certain that Sipho was dead. He had looked that way to him, the one time he had paused to look back, and he had seen Sipho lying, completely still, in the middle of the road.

It was with a heavy heart that Pumela scanned the list of names for her own. Around her people were screaming with delight. One or two had burst into tears.

Seven As. She had done it! She found Sipho’s name. Three As.

Pumela took out her phone and sent a text message of her results to both her parents. She sighed, and then sent another message to Sipho, with his results. She ended with:

Congratulations!

A moment later a text arrived from her father.

That’s my girl! I never expected

anything less from u. U r my

daughter after all 🙂

Pumela put her phone in her pocket. The press was there. They wanted photos of the top achievers. She had so looked forward to this day, to sharing this moment with Sipho. And now he was not here. Where was he?

*****

Sipho awoke in ICU with his foot handcuffed to the iron railings of his bed. A doctor stood next to him, still in green robes from the operating theatre. She smiled at him, reassuringly.

“Pumela,” said Sipho softly, still drugged and confused from the anaesthetic. But Pumela was not there at all.

A police officer stepped forward.

“You must not tire him out,” said the gentle voice of the doctor, as she frowned at the policeman. “All your questions will have to wait for later.”

Sipho closed his eyes and sighed heavily as memories of the night before came flooding back to him.

When he opened his eyes again the police officer was nowhere to be seen. A nurse was fussing over the drip attached to his arm.

“There was a girl here earlier,” she said, “but you were not conscious. Your mother was here too. She has just gone out to buy herself something to eat. She never left your side.”

Sipho groaned.

“You are lucky,” continued the nurse. “The bullet missed all your vital organs. You lost a lot of blood, but you’re going to be fine.”

Sipho drifted off once more, and when he awoke again he was looking straight into Pumela’s big, brown eyes.

“You stupid idiot!” she said softly.

“Don’t upset him,” said the nurse, as she left the ward.

“I got all As, and you got some,” said Pumela with a sigh, “but you weren’t there!”

“I’m sorry,” said Sipho, frowning with the pain that speaking caused him.

“They caught Mihlali, Mpho and Kazadi. They said you weren’t with them, weren’t part of their gang. The police already had their fingerprints because of other break-ins. Your mother told me that Mpho said that you were a good student, with a future, and that you were trying to stop them. Trying to be their saviour, or something. Mihlali is in the most trouble, because he was the fool who shot you.”

“What?” said Sipho. His head was spinning. He felt so confused.

“The police are just going to ask you questions I guess, and then they will let you go. They have nothing on you. At least those two idiot friends of yours did something right by you in the end.”

Pumela stopped talking and stood next to his bed in silence. Sipho lay quietly, taking in all the information Pumela had told him. He closed his eyes because he did not want to see the disappointment on Pumela’s face, or the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

“Well my son, I could say ‘I told you so’, and I could say I warned you about those boys a thousand times. But I won’t.”

Sipho opened his eyes to see his mother at his bedside too.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

He watched as his mother slowly shook her head. “We will not talk about this again. You must rest and get better.”

Sipho felt Pumela’s soft hand as she gently took hold of his. He gripped her hand tightly.

“You have been given a second chance Sipho,” he heard Pumela saying softly, and opened his eyes just as she bent her head down towards him. He felt her beautiful lips pressed against his, “And I love you.”

“Please don’t tire out the patient,” said the nurse briskly. “He must rest now.”

Pumela and his mother moved towards to the door of the ward.

“The Dux,” Sipho called after Pumela, and she flashed him a smile that showed how proud she was.

“We will be back soon,” said his mother. “Sleep now. Everything is going to be alright.”

Sipho closed his eyes and slept peacefully.

A deadly bullet had just narrowly missed Sipho’s heart. He felt, nevertheless, as if his heart was bursting in his chest.

Bursting with love, and gratitude.

***

Tell us what you think: Does Sipho deserve the second chance he has been given? What does Pumela’s future hold? What will happen to Mpho, Mihlali and Kazadi?