REBEL GRAINED

BLIND

Thulile had left without saying goodbye. The house was absolutely silent. Gone was the laughter or the splashing sounds of Femi diving in the pool. Lars didn't leave his room. His cowardness ate up.

Another type of silence reigned in the taxi that took Thulile and her family home. It masked the anxiety and fear of what awaited them.

Dust and dirt crackled under their shoes as they entered the house that seemed abandoned for a decade.

"Femi, open the windows. This place needs to be aired out," Thulile said as she noticed the basket of shriveled onions and rotten tomatoes.

Thulilie sighed; this was the reality of her existence. How could she let her think she could escape her life and that Lars would be her exit out of the township?

She fell into the trap that made men the heroes of the damsel in distress, and now she cursed her naiveness.

Images of the night came to haunt her. Everything was a mirage. Thulile felt played by her recipe. She was angry and wanted to clear her mind, but her inner theater wished to screen the same scenes on repeat. She had the habit of running to Lars when she desired to flee her issues. What was she to do now the man had become the problem?

"Femi, bring the broom."

The boy sighed at the sentence he thought he would not hear again. In Lars' house, the hoover bot aspirated without anyone's assistance. The dishwasher did the dishes. One could let themselves live without thinking about hard chores.

Femi's dream ended there as well.

Thulile cleaned relentlessly without stopping. She scrubbed the floor as if someone sentenced her to face the floor.

"Thulile, Thulile, my child," she didn't hear her gran. She kept her head facing the ground as the tears fell.

Why was she crying?

It wasn't worth it. Lars wasn't worth it.

Why did it hurt so bad?

Thulile clinched her tee. She was unable to lift her head from the cold floor. Why did her heart explode?

The feeling was unknown. Even Elije didn't cause such havoc within. At the same time, it made sense. Elije cheated while Larsㅡshe imagined he had sincere feelings for her.

Femi shook his head and went outside. The boy was tired of hearing his sister cry. Thulile, like many women of their township, spent a lot of time distributing tears in the wind. Femi bet Lars never shed tears. People like him were happy. They could only be satisfied with their life in their white skin.

Femi couldn't guess that though they didn't have the same issues, Lars had his fair share of bad karma. And that he spent his life facing up to as though it were ransom of a past life.

"Lars, what happened?" Steven asked when the man finally emerged from his room at nightfall.

Lars sighed, went to the fridge, and took out a water bottle. He served himself a huge glass and said, "I lied and hurt her feelings. You know the usual asshole stuff."

Steven pushed up his glasses, "you slept with her."

Lars took three huge gulps of his water and set his glass down on the counter with a bang.

"Okay," Steven said before beginning to assess the situation. He suddenly frowned, "you like her. Why be the asshole?"

Lars took a deep breath and expulsed his response, "because it's a trademark. What can I give her, Steven? I wanted to work with her, make loads of money and go back to rub my richness in my brother's faces like, look at me now. I wasn't supposed toㅡI can't fall in love. ㅡAt least not with her."