Chapter 1 — The Man Behind the Window
Chapter 1 — The Man Behind the Window
Senkosi never meant to fall into something serious with Trixie..To him, she was only a distraction from the violence and pressure of his world.Beautiful. Soft-spoken. Easy to laugh with.But Trixie wanted more.She wanted late-night calls, promises, and a future with him.Senkosi gave her distance instead.The moment she started speaking about marriage, he ended things. Coldly.Trixie cried for days after that.Then she told her father everything.A week later, Senkosi was shot twice outside one of his taxi businesses.The shooting changed more than Senkosi’s body.It changed the way he looked at himself.Before, he had been the man everyone depended on.The strong brother.The feared leader.The man who solved problems without asking for help.Now he could not even lift a spoon properly.His brothers tried to help him eat.Help him bathe.Help him move from the bed to the wheelchair.Every second of it felt like humiliation.Senkosi stopped talking after that.The house became quieter. Darker.Even his younger siblings became afraid of approaching him.Some nights he stared at the ceiling for hours, wondering whether the bullet had killed the most important part of him already.Then one night, while everyone was asleep, Senkosi disappeared.No goodbye.No warning.He moved into a small house in a quiet suburb far from the taxi ranks, far from his brothers, and far from the life that once made him feel powerful.Senkosi had stopped keeping track of the days.The curtains stayed half open while he sat silently near the window, staring at the empty street outside.He barely ate anymore.Sometimes he slept for hours. Sometimes he did not sleep at all.His caregiver disappeared three days ago after stealing money from his bedroom drawer.Since then, the house had become cold and quiet.The front gate remained wide open.The door was unlocked.Senkosi no longer cared.That afternoon, a young woman pushed the gate open carefully and stepped inside the yard.“Hello?” she called out.No answer.Her name was Snembally.She had been moving from house to house all morning searching for piece jobs. Cleaning. Cooking. Anything honest that could bring money home.She frowned when nobody answered the door.“Hello?” she called again, louder this time.Still nothing.Snembally walked around the house until she reached a large glass sliding door.Then she froze.Inside the house, a man sat motionless in a wheelchair.His head leaned slightly to one side, and his eyes were closed.For a second, she thought he was dead.Snembally rushed into the house, her heartbeat pounding loudly inside her chest.“Hello? Sir?”The smell hit her immediately.The air inside the house felt heavy and stuffy, as if no window had been opened in days.She hurried toward the man in the wheelchair and dropped to her knees beside him.Up close, he looked even worse.His lips were dry. His face looked pale and tired.“Hey… can you hear me?”No response.Panic rushed through her body as she quickly checked his pulse the way she once saw nurses do at a clinic.Weak.Very weak.Snembally grabbed her phone with shaking hands and called for an ambulance, but the operator said it could take a long time before one became available.“No, no, no…” she whispered anxiously.She immediately ordered an Uber instead.The nearest public hospital was too far away, and only private clinics were nearby. She had no idea whether this man could even afford private care, but right now staying inside this house felt more dangerous than money.While waiting for the Uber, Snembally searched through the house for clean clothes and a bucket.Her heart ached when she realized he had messed himself because he could not move on his own.“It’s okay,” she whispered softly, even though he could not hear her.“I’ll help you.”She cleaned him as quickly and gently as she could before changing his clothes.Her plan was simple now:get him to the nearest clinic first.Once he regained consciousness, the nurses could ask him where he wanted to go next.Less than five minutes later, the Uber arrived outside the gate.Snembally quickly wheeled Senkosi outside before running back into the house to search for the keys.“Please be here…” she whispered nervously.Relief washed over her when she spotted them hanging behind the kitchen door.She locked the house quickly and hurried back outside.The Uber had stopped a short distance away from the gate, so she waved for the driver to come closer.He parked near them and lowered his window.“Please help me,” Snembally said breathlessly. “He’s very sick.”The driver immediately stepped out after seeing the unconscious man in the wheelchair.Together, they carefully lifted Senkosi into the back seat.Even unconscious, his body felt heavy and difficult to move.Once Snembally climbed into the car beside him, the driver sped off toward the nearest clinic.The entire ride felt endless to her, even though it took less than twenty minutes.She kept glancing at Senkosi the whole way, afraid his chest would suddenly stop moving.When they finally arrived, the driver helped place him back into the wheelchair.Snembally rushed through the clinic doors.“Help!” she shouted desperately.“Please help him!”
