Franklin Mertens University
“Murderer’s deserve no mercy...”
‘Crap. Crap.’
“Z, what are you doing in there? We’re going to be late. You know how Prof. Mndai is when you’re late...we’ll literally never hear the end of it,” said a young lady stressing outside the bathroom stall that her friend was in.
“Okay, I’ll be out in a minute, Khanya,” answered the young lady squatting on the toilet seat.
“Oh okay. Do you need anything?” asked Khanya with a dash of sympathy in her voice as soon as she caught on to what she thought her friend was alluding to.
“No, I’ll be fine thanks, I’m just gonna need like two minutes or so, you can leave without me if you want...”
“Nah it’s no problem, wena girl. I’ll be right outside,” said Khanya as she reluctantly vacated the ladies’ bathroom.
“Will do,” answered the vicenarian girl who was fighting back her tears with a pregnancy test clutched tightly in her hand.
‘You’re an idiot, Zanele! How am I going to tell my parents? This can’t be happening,’ she thought ruefully.
After glancing at the two lines on the pregnancy stick for the umpteenth time, she wiped her tears and began composing herself before she left the bathroom stall she had camped in for the past fifteen minutes.
‘Should probably keep this with me, I can’t let anyone see me throwing it away,’ Zanele thought instinctively as she slipped the pregnancy test into her backpack.
For some strange reason, she felt her heart beating faster as she got ready to leave her hiding place and face the world.
“Just breathe,” she whispered to herself as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked out of the bathroom stall.
“Oh my goodness, Z, you’re here!” exclaimed an overly excited first-year.
“Yeah...I needed to use the bathroom...” said Zanele, not quite sure of what to make of the young girl that had overzealously said her name.
“How do you feel about your interview this Friday!”
“Well, okay I guess,” said Zanele as she cautiously approached the sink to wash her hands, still unsure on how to appropriately react to her doting fan.
“Sorry. I’m Amanda,” said the girl as she extended her arm out to shake Zanele’s hand.
“Sorry,” said Zanele with an awkward smile as she showed Amanda her wet hands before waddling over to the dryer.
“Oh, my bad,” said Amanda with a quiet shout and a picture of embarrassment painted over her face, as her voice competed with the hand dryer Z was using.
“Nice talking to you, Amanda,” said Zanele before she left Amanda speechless in the ladies’ lavatory.
“Okay, Z! And you definitely have my vote!” she shouted behind Zanele.
“You okay?” asked Khanya as Zanele walked out of the restroom looking a bit puzzled.
“Ye—yeah...I’m fine.”
“And that?” asked Khanya as she raised one of her eyebrows in disapproval as Amanda walked out of the restroom.
“No clue. Let’s get going,” said Zanele with an obvious sense of hastiness.
“How far are you with your critique of the judiciary system?” asked Khanya.
“Not far enough, there's just so much going on with my campaign at the moment, I just haven't had time to sit down and focus on anything school-related,” said Zanele, sounding overwhelmed as the words fell out of her mouth.
“Just don’t forget that you’re a student as well,” said Khanya.
“Right. Like I need to be reminded of that,” stated Zanele as they neared the lecture hall they were headed to.
“Woah, what’s gotten into you? I’m just trying to help.”
“I know, I’m sorry, I’m just under a lot of pressure right now,” said Zanele in an attempt to explain herself as they walked into their lecture venue.
“It’s okay, I was just saying...” said Khanya.
Then right before Zanele was about to respond to her, a deep husky voice interrupted her would-be statement.
“The one and only Z!”
Khanya winked at Zanele and gently rubbed her arm.
“I’ll see you at the chambers after class,” she said before she left her to go and join another group of girls within the lecture hall.
“Z, didn't you hear me call you?” asked the tall, darkskinned man as he opened his arms and gestured for a hug.
The smell of his light cologne brought some of Z’s more anxious thoughts to rest as she found herself comforted by his soothing and seductive touch.
“Unjani?” asked Ajax.
“Hey, I’m fine. I’ve just been feeling a little lightheaded lately,” lied Zanele.
“Then sit down, babe. You shouldn’t be standing then. Do you need me to get you some water or something?” asked Ajax as he gestured his girlfriend to the nearest seat, before taking the seat next to her.
“No, I’m fine. Really,” responded Zanele as she placed her bag close to her leg.
“Z, this is not the time to act tough. Say the word and I’ll snap my fingers and cancel this lecture for you,” said Ajax as he raised his hand and pressed his thumb against his middle finger, his soft smile exposing his deep dimples.
Zanele let out a giggle in response.
“To be honest, the best thing you could do for me is help me finish this stupid critique, are you done already?”
“Well yeah, but I pay a man to do all my assignments...” said Ajax with a straight look on his face.
“Right,” laughed Zanele, assuming his statement was a joke. “Babe, you know I try to finish my assignments same day, I was finished weeks ago. Which is why I don’t mind helping you finish yours this afternoon,” said Ajax, reuniting himself with his charming smile.
“You’re the best, you know that? I still don’t know how you find the energy or the time to do the work of a spokesman and a master student. It’s like there’s two of you,” said Zanele with a sense of unbelief.
“You’re dating a genius kaloku. These are things you should be accustomed to," said Ajax, humorously adopting a plummy accent towards the second half of his sentence.
Zanele let out another giggle as Ajax leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
“Plus, I’m not running for SRC President, so there’s that too...” sympathised Ajax as he placed one of Zanele’s braids behind her ear.
‘At least,’ she thought. ‘I feel a little peace of mind now that I’ve spoken to him...I just don’t know how I’m going to break the news to him...’ she thought regretfully as she looked around the open-spaced lecture hall and distracted herself in the small chatter of student conversation.
Overall, there were probably around thirty students in the two hundred seater, (twenty-six of which were women) making up what was ultimately one of the largest master classes in the university.
“Where’s the Prof?” asked Zanele.
“You mean Thor?” responded Ajax with an uncharacteristic cackle.
“No, I mean Professor Mndai,” corrected Zanele with a sly smile she was trying to restrict to the corner of her mouth.
“I don’t know, running around being the god of thunder I guess,” said Ajax, repeating his mockery.
“Stop! You know she doesn’t like that name,” said Zanele, struggling to conceal her laughter.
“You know how she got that name, right?” asked Ajax as his eyes lit up at the prospect of retelling the story.
“Of course I know, you tell me every time—” began Zanele before Ajax cut her off.
“She hit one of her lecturers with a hammer when she was still a student!” howled Ajax.
“Wasn't that because he tried to make a move on her? And where did she even get the hammer, Ayanda? Don't you think the story's a bit far-fetched?” asked Z as her humour replaced itself with a newfound sense of scepticism.
“Well, there she is, why don’t you go ask her?” whispered Ajax as the Professor walked into the lecture hall and hurried down one of the aisles leading to the front of the venue.
The murmurs of conversation going on around the large room quickly settled as soon as the Professor took off her heels and threw them under the front desk, next to the podium.
“Don’t even ask me WHY I wear those bloody things. It’s the torture I go through to make my calves pop,” said the Professor with an emphatic sigh, drawing laughs from the small crowd of students gathered before her.
“They always pop no matter what you wear ma’am, you’ve got legs for days!” shouted Khanya from the middle row.
“Thanks, Khanya but you still can't get an extension on your upcoming test. But I appreciate the compliment and the email you sent last night,” exposed the Professor.
“Prof! That was supposed to be private,” said Khanya embarrassedly.
“Oops. Well, I'm sure you can trust your classmates not to tell anyone, Khanya. Now! Let's get started with the lecture. Glad to see you could make it on time today, Mr Ayanda.”
“I always make it on time, ma’am,” said Ajax with a flash of arrogance.
“Yeah...but usually on your time, not mine,” said the Professor with a hint of resentment towards the goodlooking young man.
“It’s not like you were early...” Ajax mumbled inaudibly.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” asked the Professor.
“Nothing,” responded Ajax as he awkwardly cleared his throat, surprised at how the Professor could hear his rumblings from what was essentially the back seats of the lecture hall.
“Lack of candour is a terrible trait for a lawyer to have, Mr Ayanda.”
Ajax scoffed at her remark with disdain and shook his head. ‘There’s no way she could have heard me...’ he thought.
"Guess what, class? I've just been hit with a stroke of inspiration this Monday morning to add in an extra assignment for you guys, due for the end of the week. A ten thousand word essay based on how important the ethics of honesty are for a practising lawyer," said the Professor with a smile.
The whole lecture room immediately burst into sighs and shuffles of disapproval upon hearing the news.
“Now, now guys. Let’s all take into account that you have Mr Ajax to blame.”
“Sorry ma’am but we’re master students. And this is a Criminal Law class, you can’t just add random things to the curriculum,” protested Ajax.
“Oh, you bet your fade I can! Because I just did! You want to fight me on it, Ayanda?” challenged the Professor in a bout of anger, silencing the lecture room with her resolve as she did so.
Ajax puckered his bottom lip to mask his frustration and silently shook his head.
“Good. Now let me begin my mandatory lecture,” said the Professor before she put some slides up on the interactive board and began teaching.
After an hour of relentlessly pontificating about the subject of criminal law, Thandi glanced at the buzzing alarm on her digital watch. An internal sigh of relief escaped her being as she realised that it was time to dismiss the class.
“Okay, guys time’s up! Now please don’t forget what I said! I want both your critique on the justice system and your written essay on ethical values for lawyers handed in by the end of the week. Let me remind you that failure to do so will result in me keeping you here for another year! You can all leave now,” she said with an unmistakable slice of spite in her voice.
The students silently got up and walked out of the lecture room, looking downtrodden by the fact that the Professor had added to their already unbearable workload.
Thandi immediately took out her phone and began incessantly dialling a number as the last of her students vacated the lecture venue.
“Dammit, Asanda, just respond! It’s me, Thandeka, you know, the sister that gives a shit about you!” shouted Thandeka in a controlled whisper towards her phone’s mic as soon as she heard the call automatically go into voicemail.
“Dammit, it’s like she pisses me off on purpose!” she cursed, grinding her back teeth in frustration as she ended the call.
‘You know what? That’s it,’ she thought as she took out her heels from under the front desk and put them on before rushing out of the lecture room.
“Ma’am!” shouted a first-year from within the university halls. ‘Oh goodness me, not this boy again!’
“What do you want Lonwabo?” she asked in an irritated tone of voice.
“Ma’am, I’m having my book launch in a month and a half and I was wondering—”
“Boy, don’t you understand the concept of rejection! I didn’t respond to your stupid email asking me to keynote, so why would I agree in person?” asked Thandeka, appearing put off by Lonwabo’s approach.
“Because you’re one of the main characters in my short story ma’am...and I thought—”
“Well, you thought wrong! And you better not use my name in anything derogatory...”
“Ma’am, I would never. I have the utmost respect for you...”
“Shut up. Just send me the book and I’ll check for myself. I’m having a bad day so I won’t discuss this now, but best believe I’m reading through every page before you release that thing!” said the Professor as she stormed off towards the parking lot.
“I was counting on that...” smiled Lonwabo, knowing she had taken the bait.
‘Everyone wants to be a bloody author these days...he better not waste my time with this stupid novel of his. Gosh, I’m gonna have to sift through that thing like I’m making bread for The Passover just to make sure he doesn’t say anything dumb about me...stupid writers...we’d be better off without them,’ thought Thandeka as she climbed into her BMW coupe.
Feeling overly stressed and anxious, she put the car in gear and raced out of the parking lot.
“I swear if she lost her phone at some party again...” muttered Thandeka under her breath as she sped up towards the security exit of FMU.
The guards already knew her car so they lifted the lever as soon as they saw her approaching. She raised her hand to show her appreciation and rolled over the speed bump before resuming her normal speed.
Thandeka passed by some of the student residences as she drove further along the stretch of road leading out of the university, ignoring the students and lecturers trying to make eye contact with her as they drove in on the opposite side of the road.
Before long, Thandi arrived at the nearby traffic circle and took the first exit when she saw a gap in the moving traffic. Remembering to brave herself for another unnecessary speed bump, she found herself having to consciously remember to breathe during her drive as the tension in her body began boiling over.
‘This better just be my paranoia acting up,’ prayed Thandeka.
As she arrived at her sister's off-campus residence, Thandeka parked in the driveway, climbed out her car and approached the door to her sister's communion.
With a determined appeal she knocked against the door with an impatient demeanour.
She stood and waited for about 2 minutes before deciding to hit the door again.
“Okay! I’m coming!” said a voice from inside the house before the door opened.
“Hi. Where’s Asa? She’s not answering her cell?” asked Thandeka.
“I don’t know...” responded the second-year in disarray.
“Move aside, Phelo...” ordered Thandeka as she walked through the door, pushing her sister’s housemate aside.
“Hey...” contested Phelo in response.
“She’s not here...her room’s locked and she’s been out since last week!” shouted Phelo.
“What?” said Thandi in shock as she ignored Phelo and walked through the passageway leading to her sister’s room and banged on it to no avail.
Phelo shook her head and walked towards Thandi to try and explain things to her in a more calm manner.
“She’s not—”
“Where is she? Where did she go?” asked Thandeka as she came close to Phelo’s face.
“I-I don’t know. Some guys came to pick her up last
Wednesday. Something about some final year’s party.”
“Party?”
Phelo gulped in fear.
“You’re gonna take my number. And when she comes back, or any of your housemates hear anything, you tell me,” said Thandi as she proceeded to exchange contact details with Phelo.
"What's going on here? I heard a whole lot of noise..." said a middle-aged white woman with her hands against her hips.
“Oh shut up, Rebekah. I pay for this place. I can make as much noise as I want,” said Thandi.
Rebekah crossed her arms across her chest and gaped at Thandi with a judgemental look of disapproval.
“Well, you should know that’s not how this works! We own this property and there are rules to be followed!” said Rebekah, who was drowned out by the sound of Thandi’s yawn as she spoke.
“Be in touch,” said Thandi to Phelo before she walked out.
Feeling both equally infuriated and worried, Thandi furrowed her eyebrows and whispered curse words under her breath as she approached her car and opened the door.
“Dammit, Asa,” mumbled Thandi as she hit her steering wheel and buried her head in her hands.
‘She can’t be MIA for five days...something happened,’ decided Thandi as she wiped her eyes and started the car.
She slowly pulled out from in front of her sister’s house and drove towards her home in Humewood (which was a not so lengthy drive from where she currently was).
Thandi drove back down to the traffic circle and took an immediate left, placing her curly hair behind her ear as she came to a stop at the red traffic lights lying in wait for her. She could feel her heart continuing to race with worry as she pulled off.
Becoming tired of being anxious however, she reached down for her phone and chose a playlist.
“Can I really go wrong with Late Registration Kanye right now?”
“Probably not,” she said to herself as she skipped the intro and went straight into the third song.
I gotta testify, come up in the spot looking extra fly...’fore the day I die, I’ma touch the sky... she sang happily as she lost herself within Kanye’s lyrics.
Before long, it was time for the next song.
She take my money, when I'm in need...oh, she's a trifling friend indeed! Oh, she a gold dig—
“What the fuck!” shouted Thandi as she stopped just short of crashing into the person in front of her.
“Hey watch yourself you idiot!” yelled Thandi as she peered her head out of her window.
“That’s why in Saudi, women aren’t allowed to drive!” retorted the stranger.
“Excuse me? You wanna say that up close?” asked Thandi as she got ready to climb out of her car as the man with the ill- gotten manners sped off.
“Bloody asshole doesn’t even have the audacity to come face me after saying that sexist shit. Damn bastard, I’d turn him inside out if he had the balls to get out of his car...fucking,
MEN!” she said as she slowly crept toward the changing traffic lights a couple of metres ahead of her.
Dwelling on her anger had caused the lights to turn orange on her as she continued to meditate on how upset she was. Thandi began furiously scratching her neck as she decided to turn into the beach area.
‘Not here...there’s always shady people by that KFC at this time of the day,’ she pompously decided as she drove ahead and made a turn onto a nearby open space of grass beside the long stretch that was Beach Road, exposing her to the open sea view.
The area looked like the sort of place people would stop by for a braai but instead, was always full of people looking to enjoy a romantic moment with their partners. And of course, the odd person looking to comfort themselves in front of a beautiful view. Luckily today though, it was empty.
The professor lowered her windows without a moment’s hesitation.
She immediately felt her blood pressure drop as the frequency of the waves calmed her into tranquillity.
Thandi took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled herself into deeper relaxation before deciding to play another song.
‘I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with this remix...’ she thought to herself as she logged onto SoundCloud and chose the artist she wanted to listen to.
I’m a brown skin girl... lulled the song as Thandi pulled out her cigarettes from the cubbyhole and climbed out of the car.
Now feeling at ease, she lit up the last thing standing between her and complete serenity and began puffing away in triumph once the tobacco was lit.
In a moment of weakness, she took out her phone and got ready to call her mother.
‘Damn woman is probably drunk,’ she thought regretfully as she began to backtrack out of her decision.
Right before she put her phone back into her pocket, she felt a buzzing sound vibrating through her hand.
It was him.
Thandi struggled to contain her smile as she forced herself to frown at the message he had sent her:
Hey, I know you blew me off the other night but I want you to know I’m pretty persistent and I don’t plan on giving up on you.
Then, just as she was contemplating whether or not to respond, her phone rang.
Startled, she almost dropped it.
‘Oh my goodness, he’s calling...I didn’t expect him to call,’ she thought to herself as she nervously bit her bottom lip.
Desperate to keep it together she threw away her cigarette and cleared her throat.
“Ahem, hello?” she said nervously.
“Hey, I didn’t think I’d hear from you again. This call was actually a long shot...” said the deep, modulated voice on the other line.
"Lance, I'm sorry but this is a really bad time," said Thandi, eager to end the call as soon as possible.
“Thandi, when is it ever a good time...?” joked Lance unwittingly.
Thandi just giggled and gave no response to Lance’s timely comeback.
“But seriously though, would you like to tell me what’s bothering you? I have like an eternity to spare right now.”
Thandi let out a laugh of disbelief. “You’re such a hyperbole...”
“What can I say? You bring out the exaggeration in me...”
Thandi let out an extensive laugh and again, gave no reply.
“You know, that’s the part where you supposed to say I bring out the joy in you...”
“Lance...”
“Okay, okay, I get it. And don’t worry, I was only joking. You know, this is actually quite embarrassing. I’ve been unsuccessfully pursuing you for the better part of a year now, so I should probably just take the hint. I’m so sorry for calling it’s just that I can’t stop thinking about...that night...” Thandi bit her lip as he said the words.
“Neither can I...but my sister hasn’t called me in close to a week and I’m just really worried about her right now.”
“What? Have you tried going to the police station?”
“No, Lance, there’s no need, I’m probably just overreacting. It’s not like she hasn’t gone rogue before. But I can’t help that I’m worried...”
“But seriously, Thandi if there’s anything you need at all, please tell me, no strings attached I swear. You know I care about Asa.”
"Yes, I know, and for the record, I'm sorry I keep blowing you off. I've just been through a lot with some of the men I've dated in the past and..." began Thandi before deciding to bite her tongue.
“Thandi, are you still there?” asked Lance.
“I just don’t want to burden you with all my heavy baggage,” said Thandi as she looked down at her black opentoe red bottom stiletto heels.
“I promise you now, nothing you ever share with me will be considered as baggage, so go ahead,” said Lance.
Thandi could hear his smile through the phone as he spoke with her.
“How about I tell you over dinner sometime?” asked Thandi.
“Is Professor Thandiswa, Intellectual Extraordinaire, seriously asking ME out on a date?” asked Lance in gloating surprise.
“Yes, yes she is.”
“Well then, I hope she’s ready to pick me up at 8 and not a minute later. Oh! And I’m picking the best restaurant in the city, so you can show me how serious you are...” laughed Lance.
“Seriously, was I that bad?” asked Thandi as she covered her face.
“Worse.”
“Oh my word,” said Thandi as she placed her hand down over her mouth and tried her best to contain her laughter.
“Just tell me when to pick you up, Prof.”
“Will do...”
“Bye,” said Lance before Thandi cut the call with him.
She stood in silence for quite some time after she ended the call, thinking of the night she had once spent with him.
Him, holding onto her curves and caressing her with his touch. Their mutual desire morphing itself into an unintended sensuality, eventually turning into a passionate embrace.
‘This is how it felt the last time too. Perfect. I was happy until that bastard cheated on me and I’d be damned if I let it happen again. Lance is a good man but I’ve just been through too much in the past. I can’t allow myself to be a man’s fool again,’ thought Thandi painfully as she sighed her way back to her car.
However, right before she started up her luxury automobile, an overwhelming feeling of guilt flooded her mind.
She held her head in regret.
‘I haven’t heard from my sister since God knows when and here I am, thinking about some guy I blew off weeks ago...’ thought Thandi as she started the car and unconsciously went on auto- pilot.
A few moments later she found herself outside the complex to the gated community she stayed in.
Her mind had gone blank the entire trip. For a short while, she had managed to temporarily forget her guilt and lose herself within the mechanics of driving the machine that got her to and fro.
Thandi impatiently revved her engine as she waited for the entrance gate of Kings Terrace to slowly open up for her.
She drove down the slanting driveway and took the second left turn towards where her designated parking space was. Suddenly feeling agitated, she hard pressed the green button on her remote, opening the garage door, before reverse parking inside.
Thandi paused in her car in the lonely darkness of her garage for sometime after switching off the engine, not wanting to get out, wishing she could teleport to where her sister was.
‘She’ll come back...’ Thandi told herself.
After what felt like an hour, saddened and distressed, she climbed out of the car and made her way out of the open garage.
She found herself squinting while her eyes adjusted to the light as she walked out with her keys dangling from her middle finger. Thandi cupped her free hand above her brow, pressing her remote button and closing the garage door without looking. Anything else would have required too much effort, she thought.
“Hi,” she said, forcing a smile towards the man who was cleaning the steps leading up to her apartment as she competed with the sound of her garage door closing shut. “Long day? You look tired,” the man commented.
“You don’t know the half of it,” she said as she navigated her way up to her apartment, holding onto the railing as she did so, making sure she didn’t slip and fall on the wet tiles standing between her and rest.
The man sighed at the sight of her entering her apartment. ‘Dammit, now I have to reclean the whole thing again,’ he thought to himself as he shook his head.
“Jabu!” he heard someone shout.
“Jabu? Ja— oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you for ages,” said an old Zulu woman as she hastily approached the unsuspecting groundsman.
“What’s wrong?”
“One of the kids just peed all over the concrete floor by the pool, please get to it when you’re done here. I’m knocking off early and I’m taking leave for the rest of the week.”
“Haibo, mam’ Cynthia you can’t leave me alone with all the extra workload.”
“They’re going to pay you overtime,” said Cynthia as she scratched in her bag.
“It’s not about that, me and the wife have been patching things up and I thought that...”
“Sorry, Jabu. But my son is ill and I need to stay home and take care of him. I really don’t have time to debate this with you, Sihle’s doctor’s appointment is in an hours time and I have to take three taxis to get home. I told the caretaker you’d get to the mess in the pool area immediately. And besides, when you begged me and told me that you needed this job...I called in every favour I had. So, bye Jabs,” said Cynthia as she handed Jabu the keys to the storage room before rushing off.
“Fucksakes,” cursed Jabu under his breath as he fought the temptation to drop the mop he was holding and just quit right on the spot.
‘Calm down, Jabu fethu. You’re lucky to have this job as it is. No one’s hiri