What Have I Done - Novel

What have I done?

Chapter 1

Sipho was a very strong man, he was a gentlemen with big eyes and big nose with a strong voice which that made everyone be scared of him in the village. He was part of the community leadership. whenever he spoke everyone listened attentively as people were scared to be asked questions which they would later fail to answer. Whenever he spoke he liked to use English with that accent of white people as if he did English as a home language at school. His flow in English was like water in the river. He paid attention to details. He was always on point whenever he rose his hand to speak. He was so fond with leadership activities and politics. His body was covered of big muscles like those people we saw on movies. You would imagine yourself waking up to hospital for his punch. He was lion-hearted.

No one ever wanted to mess with Sipho. He was considered charming by most ladies of his age although he never had an eye for them. Whenever he passed by a group of ladies they would just whisper to each other " oh wow , oh look at him, oh look at his body let alone his eyes my friend". He was dark black yet so charming. He left more ladies frustrated as their feelings for him were all for nothing. He was the one providing for himself and his Sister at the age of 22 while his sister was 15 as they stayed alone in an RDP house that was built by the government after in 1996.

He was never seen with a woman in the village beside his younger sister which he was so protective of her. Zodwa was so beautiful and she was so fond with natural hair. She only wore skirts and dresses. Her strong character one would think she was a Christian but she never knew any door of any church. Zodwa was mostly moody around her peers , that made her friends to keep a distance from her as they couldn't bear her actions towards them. When she was happy she expected everyone to be happy and when she was angry she could just say anything without a consideration to what damage was her words creating around her friendships. At some point we thought her anger was from loosing parents at an early age. So we thought she felt good on unleashing that anger on people. And people kept hiding their feelings over it as they kept feeling pity for her of not having parents at an early age. But she was adamant that everything was well and that she didn't want any help from anyone. 

Zodwa and her brother Sipho had no one but themselves as their parents left them at an early age in a car accident where they both died on the scene. Just like everywhere in black people's families at the funeral. Relatives will promise to keep an eye and a hand on those who lost their love ones. But after the funeral everyone takes his way. So they really had to survive. Lucky enough there were two back rooms which their parents expected rent money from the tenets. So that money kept them going. Zodwa didn't see much of her parents as she was still so young when their parents died. Zodwa and Sipho had everything they wanted when their parents were still alive. Their parents wanted nothing but to see their children successful and happy. The only thing wrong they did was to let Zodwa  and her brother sleep in the same room even when Sipho was old enough to know what was happening in his body. Sipho was 13 when and Zodwa 6 when their parents died. Zodwa didn't have much memories with her parents compare to Sipho. She only remembered going for shopping with her mom and their constant visit to her granny in Dakari Village.

No one in the village ever tried to mess with Zodwa or to propose her as they were very scared of her brother. With the way sipho was respected and feared, his younger sister Zodwa even got high marks that she didn't deserve at school. As teachers were very scared of him and what he could do to them for giving her low marks. That's how sipho loved his younger sister. One would think that their love was beyond.

Sipho was known to be alone in many occasions whenever his younger sister wasn't around. They had a bond which one would be so jealous of. Poor zodwa was never found in any group of ladies , she had no one beside her brother. People from the village started to suspect that something was fishy about their bond and of her brother being so over protective of her. Few months passed where we saw Zodwa being pregnant. To everyone's surprise we never heard of anyone being beaten up or stabbed for impregnating Zodwa.

She was several and curiously asked at school about who is the father of the child. But she never unleashed the truth to anyone. Later that year she gave birth, it was exactly Sipho, everything was pointing to him. The boy was named Olwethu.There were gossips all around the corners of the village. By the time there was no local newspapers I think if there was a local newspaper or a local journalist the story could have  circulated everywhere with the way that gossip was a talk in the village. Some even defended it and say " this is possible they are of the same blood". While others were not really seeing it in that way. By the time I remembered these words when they say " even if you could do things in the dark, they will always have a way of coming out. 

Surprisingly we never saw Zodwa with a man and we never saw Sipho with a woman, a lot of questions were arising everyday but I doubt they ever went to the right ears because Sipho was feared by most of the people in the village. No one would be curious and brave enough to sign their death warrants. Few years passed on without the secret coming out. The little Olwethu as he grew up became exactly like Sipho and at times Sipho acted much of a father to Olwethu than like an uncle. He was mostly grooming the little Olwethu to be like him. At times we would see them walking together with a dog in the dusty streets of Helen Village heading to the mountain. And Zodwa never had a problem with that.

Olwethu was then at the age of 15 and Zodwa started to be sick, it was really serious to such an extent that she didn't want to die with the secret in her chest. She needed someone to talk to. That someone became her aunt Khayekazi who entertained all the gossips in the village. 

When khayekazi found out about the long lasting secret, her chest was burning hot like a cool stove. She never wasted time in spreading the news. By the day she had found out of the news she had already told anyone. Everyone in the village was aware of the story. It even got to Sipho and Olwethu's ears. For the first time sipho wished to never see the sun. He was so scared to face the next day. That night became a sleepless night for Sipho. He was so embarrased to even go out.

To be continued

By Meshack Mathe Bevhula

 

Sipho