Chapter 1
“The storm seems to be coming this way,” Jane shouted above the howling wind.
Sly, Nathan and Musa looked up at murky clouds.
Lightning erupted across the sky, and a clap of thunder followed, rocking the earth to its core. They were fear-stricken.
In no time, droplets of rain drenched the black ribbon of road beneath their bicycle tyres.
“There is an old bungalow at the foot of Kgwakgwe Hill. Let’s go there,” Musa shouted above the hissing wind.
They turned right onto the paved road. Reaching the end of the pavement, they jolted onto a slippery gravel road. Right behind Morula Junior Secondary School, an abandoned house emerged. A weather-beaten metal gate appeared; they braked hard and skidded against it. They dismounted their bikes. Nathan gave it a push and budged. They rushed inside and leaned their bicycles against the wall. They dashed under the verandah to escape the raging storm.
Since there was no light, they assumed that there was nobody inside.
“Hello,” they said in unison and got no answer.
As the rain hit the roof madly, dust erupted. Swirled into their nostrils, they sneezed and coughed.
“Let’s go inside,” Sly suggested as he gave the door a push, but it did not budge.
A few seconds later, much to their disappointment, the roof of the verandah could not keep the water out anymore. Rainwater poured inside.
Desperate, Sly took a few steps backwards and launched forward like a rocket. He crashed into the door, shoulder first, and it creaked open. Splinters flew in the air.He staggered on the inside, but he regained his balance.
“Good boy,” others cheered.
“I am your messiah,” Sly proudly replied.After a while, his sight adjusted to the dimness in the living room.
A streak of lightning cut across the sky outside, temporarily revealing the interior of the house. Broken glass from the windows littered the floor.
Sly fumbled through the pocket of his trouser beneath the raincoat and take out the flashlight. He flipped it on, and its beam revealed the interior of the room further. Up in the corner, spider webs hugged the dilapidated ceiling.
“Musa, how did you know this house?” Nathan asked.
“I have been staying in Kanye for over ten years, hard to miss” Musa responded faintly.
Jane moved towards Musa, with softened gaze and empathetic voice and asked him “Are you okay, Musy?”
“I am starving,” Musa responded in a whisper.
They sneaked through the hallway and entered a room full of dirty blankets. It seemed as if nobody lived there. They searched the first room, and found nothing. They retraced their tracks. Reaching the living room, they waited in silence for the rain to ease, but it intensified its attacks.
Sly struck a conversation, but Musa seemed lost in thoughts.
“Why are you so silent?” Nathan asked.
“I am thinking of my uncle. He stays around here as a beggar,” Musa said, and to the other children’s surprise, his eyes glittered with tears.
“Why did he leave your home?” Jane asked him.
“I really do not know,” Musa responded with sadness in his voice.
“Who is he?” Sly inquired.
” It is Fulani,” he replied. “I do not know where he is in this raging storm.” Musa said, wiping a tear with the back of his hand.
“Fulani,” they chorused.
“It can’t be,” said Nathan.
“He is my mother’s twin. According to my mother, one day a rift occurred at our home.He packed his things, and left the house.”
“Oh, he is affectionately known as the Watcher around here. I had no idea he is related to you,” Sly replied.
Nathan looked on the floor and picked up something, which he brought to the other children’s attention.
“Used matchsticks,” Sly noted.
“Maybe someone is staying in this house,” Nathan responded.
“In a dilapidated house?” Jane gasped
“The question is what is happening here? It seems like they were used recently,” Nathan replied as he investigated the used matchstick under the beam of the flashlight.
After fifteen minutes outside the bungalow, the rain diminished.
They stormed out of the house. They closed the door behind them and the sliding gate.
“We’d better go home. We will also be late for lunch,” Musa Khan, their newfound friend, responded. They rejected Musa’s suggestion.
Musa, a Motswana of Indian origin hopped onto his bicycle, and other children did the same.
Chains pranged. Cyclists grunted as they tackled the slope. Bicycle tires whined as they fought against the incline. They stood up on the pedals as they anxiously pedaled up the long slope from Kanye to Motlhatseng.Sweat dripped down their spines even though a chilling wind blew across the area.
“Let’s take a break, guys. I am running out of breath,” Musa, a chubby boy of seventeen years, stopped his bicycle midway up the slope, panting. His clothes were soaked and stuck to his skin under the yellow raincoat. The other children stopped as well.
A few minutes later, they rode their bicycles again up the slope. Jane Jackson, a black-skinned girl of fifteen years, was in the lead. Her oily, long hair danced in the wind. Sly Jackson, a short boy of sixteen years, pedaled behind her. His twin brother Nathan Jackson, tall with a clean-shaven head, followed him. Musa paddled behind them, moving at a snail’s pace.
Reaching the top of the slope, the Sly, Nathan and Jane waited for Musa. Beads of sweat gleamed on their foreheads. In no time, Musa stopped his bicycle beside them. Panting, he hopped off the bicycle and collapsed on the ground. Musa wished to sit on the ground forever. Its coldness eased the heaviness from his body.
Even though it was almost lunchtime, darkness hugged the nearby hills.
“Let’s go, Musa,” Sly pleaded.
“Wait a minute,” Musa grumbled, tugging at his yellow raincoat.
Musa sat on the ground, defiantly. The sweet air felt refreshing and damp.
“Sly, can you please give my father a call? I cannot pedal this bicycle anymore. My feet are killing me,” Musa, lamented.
“We do not have phones. Sly left his at home. Get up, Musa” Jane, answered. She offered him her hand, but he gave her a dismissive stare.
“I’m tired. I can’t....’”A flash of lightning illuminated the hills nearby. The thunder that followed made him jerk to his feet.
Fear-stricken, he hopped onto his bicycle, and the other children did the same. They abandoned their journey to Motlhatseng. The four in yellow raincoats rolled down the slope heading to Kanye. In no time, droplets of rain drenched the black ribbon beneath their bicycles’ tyres.It rained heavily. Riding in the storm was dangerous, but they had no choice.
. They approached a smooth curve and leaned into it, riding it smoothly.As they emerged from it, a white sheet of rain slashed across the place, making it hard to see what lay ahead of them. They bore down to the handlebars. They tore through the rain. They wished they hadn’t plan to go to Motlhatseng to kill time this morning, a place which supply Kanye with portable water.As Jane’s bicycle gripped onto the pave road, it threw droplets of water onto the other children behind her, reducing their views.
The rain poured in buckets, reduced their speed, a curve emerged ahead. Reaching it, instead of Kanye Village coming into view, only a white sheet of rain emerged ahead of them. A streak of lightning flashed across the sky, blinded them. Seconds later, as their eyes adjusted, Sly yelled.
“Watch out.”
