I was standing in front of her, with her facing towards me, the one appointed and

anointed by the creator standing right next to us, I have never seen her thus beautiful, by just merely looking at her, you’ll deduce her gown was glued into her anatomy, her eyes glittering in tears, her face fabricated, her head dressed in braids, covering her is a veil as white as snow, it was as if the heavens have rescued me from all the pains I have endured by sending an angel for my rescue. Just after the appointed one declares “You may now kiss the bride” my heart shaking like a violent vibration in the earth’s crust, there was a sudden change in sound frequency waves my phone rings. I woke up as my fantasy was obstructed I soliloquy “How wonderful my dream was, definitely! After my graduation I should look for a job so that I could be able to marry her, otherwise somebody else will” My phone rings again, it’s Beverly, Marie’s younger sister.

‘Hi Beverly, I wasn’t expecting your call’ …..I answered the phone.

‘Sbali(brother in law) can I please talk to my sister’ Beverly requested.

‘Beverly, you know I haven’t spoke with your sister in days nor have I seen her

either, we were not in good terms the last time I saw her’ I asked ‘When last did you see her and where did she say she was going to?’

‘She left the house yesterday evening, she never said anything when she left, we were all certain she was just going outside, we also tried calling her, her phone doesn’t go through’…Beverly said.

‘Beverly, just try and check her by her friends or even call them if possible they

might know her whereabouts’ I said.

‘Okay Sbali, as soon as we get hold of her I’ll sure get back to you’ as Beverly

hangs up the phone.

I soliloquy ‘Where might she be?’ ‘Does it mean that Marie is now dating someone

else?’ ‘I don’t think so, in my five good years of knowing her, Marie has never not even a single day left without at least telling her siblings where she might be, I wonder what is going on, Can it be that my one and only girlfriend is now dating someone else I don’t want to live to see that day!’

After a few hours later, I heard a whirring sound, it was a police patrol van entering

our ungated village residence, with the stand number visibly written outside ‘Stand No 5282 Phola Trust’ I knew they would have known if they were in a wrong house.

My grandfather, a former gold miner, retrenched from work after he broke his leg

in a work accident in the mines during the apartheid regime in South Africa, he was already seating outside under a mango tree, as the sun was boiling the earth, he

was cooling down his combustion system by drinking Umgcombothi(a African traditional home brewed beer). About four police men pulled out of the patrol wagon, one of them was Detective Mashego, they approached my grandfather who was seating outside the house, from where I was looking through the window I could barely hear what they were talking about but I knew already that it was about Marie’s disappearance of which I knew none about, a few minutes later I could hear my grandfather calling my name from outside.

I dressed up, took my phone and went outside, my heart palpitating and

immediately hyperhidrosis was triggered, just before they could say something my mind had already concluded that I am getting detained, I saw myself spending 25 years in Robben Island prison charged with murder, the murder of someone I can even die for. ‘You have to come with us to the station young men’ said Detective Mashego as he politely requested me to enter at the back door of the patrol wagon, as entered into the back of the wagon I saw the sun fading away in day time, that’s when I realized Marie was really missing and that I might never get see her again.

Just before we could take of, one of Detective Mashego’s accomplice told my

grandfather, that he should not worry as I will be brought back home after a few questions at the station as I am one of the suspects in Marie’s disappearance case. When we arrived at the police station, I was then told that Marie’s parents had filed charges against me after the disappearance of their daughter saying that I am responsible for their daughters disappearance and that I should tell them their daughter’s where about, as they claimed that she said she was going to my house when she left their house.