Unveiling Worlds: Short Story Chronicles

A story unfolds, a truth takes flight

A tale of love, of murder, of deceit

A web of lies, a heart that beats

The darkness hides, the truth reveals

A story of love, that forever conceals

The shadows dance, the heart beats fast

“Did you hear about those kids?” Samuel heard the old lady next to him talking to the pregnant woman next to her.

“I saw it on social media, it was tragic what those kids did.”

“Everyone is talking about what happened to those kids.” his inside voice was working. Everyone was on edge about the incident that happened yesterday, it was all over social media. Influencers were having a field day with it, using the video to get attention.

“What is happening to this world?” the pregnant lady stared at the woman shaking her head shocked by what she saw in the video. They were all waiting for the last bus, Samuel just decided to stay late at work, and that made him catch the midnight bus.

“During my time something like this wouldn’t have happened, kids nowadays don’t have any conscience.” she shook her head disappointed with what the world was turning into today.

“How could those kids do something like that? It’s hard to even think about it.” he could see the pregnant lady getting emotional. She had every right to be emotional especially when she was about to bring life to this cruel world.

“I don’t know what is to become of the world now, good thing my time is already over.” She stared patiently at the pregnant lady with a smile on her face.

“But they met their end pretty quickly too.” she nodded.

“Yes.” she looked up into the night sky as the rain started to come down, the smell of rain hitting tar was all around them. The kids met their end pretty quickly, the video that was circling around social media, a group of young drunk teenagers were driving and managed to hit a lady crossing the road. After hitting her they just fled the scene, and it was clear that they were the ones at fault, the camera caught the cry of a baby in the stroller which turned out to be the woman’s daughter. She managed to push the stroller out of danger in time, and the kid managed to survive but the mother didn’t make it, leaving her little girl without a mother because of some drunk stupid kids.

In the video, the car was seen fleeing the scene but they immediately got what they deserved when they ran straight into a truck, they all died.

Hearing the baby in the stroller crying made everyone who watched the video cry, and everyone who was at the scene just got their phones out to take pictures only a homeless lady helped the child and got it to stop crying. The incident was stunning, the police and other authorities were shocked by all of this. They promised to enforce the law even harder to prevent what happened to the lady from happening to anyone.

The smell of rain was all over them, it started small but he could tell that it was brewing up a storm. It was almost time for the bus to arrive. The lights started to flicker all around them, he turned to look around, and every light was flickering around the bus stop. After a few seconds it stopped and he could see the bus coming from a distance, he was getting a little bit shaken but to see the bus put his heart at ease.

It slowly approached with it lights shining bright on the road, he could feel his body getting chills by seeing the bus. He looked around and the old lady that was standing beside him was gone, it was only him and the pregnant lady. He was shocked and confused by this.

“Where did the old lady go?” he asked the pregnant lady, she turned and stared at him, and as soon as she realized that she was gone shock was all over her face.

“What? She was right here.” she looked around and couldn’t find any sign of her, the bus stopped right in front of them, and they got in still shocked about where the old lady vanished to. They got on the bus and the bus was full, it was unusual for the bus to be full at night.

“I’ve seen that guy before.” they guy at the front of the bus looked familiar, he couldn’t see his full face but he looked familiar to him. The driver’s face was covered by a black cloth, he didn’t take much into it but the smell of the bus troubled him, it smelled like death.

There was only one seat left, he gave it up to the pregnant lady.

After a couple of minutes of driving he was already sweating, he didn’t realize how hot it was in the bus until it started moving. He unbuttoned his shirt from the heat, and the guy who he recognized slowly turned and was staring right at him. He tried looking away but he could feel his eyes drilling holes into his skull.

They were both staring at each other now and finally, he realized who he was, he was shocked to see him on the bus.

“That’s one of the guys who killed that woman,” he whispered to himself, the guy’s picture was all over the news. The bus came to a stop a moment after saying that, the driver got up and looked back, he looked around the bus.

He stood at the front as his clothes started to change, he was wearing a black robe with a scythe in his hand. Samuel was shocked to see this, he thought it was some kind of prank.

He walked slowly towards Samuel, he looked around and all the other passengers seemed like they couldn’t see what was happening, only he and the lady next to him could see this. His eyes burning red, piercing deep within his soul, he looked around as a cloud of fire surrounded him with each step he took it became hotter and hotter in the bus, he could tell that this heat was from hell, it felt like they were right in the bowels of hell.

The only part of his face he could see were the eyes. He walked towards him and stood in front of him, he could see his face clear now, one half of his face was a skull and the other half was made of decomposing skin.

“You two don’t belong here.” he could see the fire in every word that came out of his mouth, the smell of death surrounded him.

He looked at the woman he came in with and she was scared seeing this, she couldn’t even speak.

“Time to send you back.” he grabbed his scythe and stared at him, Samuel just grabbed the lady and retreated to the back of the bus. He understood that the monster standing in front of them was death itself, he could see his life flashing right in front of his eyes.

Death slowly walked towards them with the woman behind him, he didn’t know how to fight and even if he did this wasn’t a fight he could win.

He raised his scythe ready to attack, Samuel didn’t take his eyes off the scythe for a single second, he could see it coming and he dodged. He was happy he dodged it but when he looked back at the woman she was caught right in the scythe.

He didn’t know what to do, the woman was staring at him with blood coming out of her throat, and after a couple of seconds, she vanished leaving the scythe dripping with blood.

“Your turn.” he walked slowly towards him. He raised it high and before he could blink the scythe had already cut him down, he could feel the pain of the scythe cutting right into him like butter.

Death looked right at him and smiled.

“It’s not your time, now that I’ve marked you I’ll come for you one day.” he disappeared the same way the woman did.

He was shocked to open his eyes with the woman shaking him, he looked around and they were both at the bus stop. He looked at the woman and the look on her face told her everything, she was also confused by all of this. He could see a scar on the lady’s neck, it looked like a tattoo of some sort but he knew that they were both marked by death.

“We’re back.” he stood up glad to be back, what just happened to them was something they were gonna remember for the rest of their lives.

They looked at each other and couldn’t believe what they had just gone through.

“I’m never riding on a bus again.” he took out his phone and called an Uber home, and the lady did the same.

A hot summer day, the sun shining bright in the sky, and no cloud could be seen. Jeremy looked down on the swampy lake from the top of the hill, it looked nothing like it was when he grew up. He walked down, sat down on a rock staring at the lake. He looked around wondering how the beautiful lake that he swam in growing up had turned into a dirty swamp. He wondered how that came to be.

Staring at what the beautiful lake has turned into he recalled a conversation he had with his mother when she was still living. She always wanted him to go to church, looking at how the lake had turned out he remembered his mother's words.

“All things must come to an end.” Those are the words she said to him a week after her sister’s funeral. After her funeral he always asked himself why would God do something like that to him, an all-powerful God brought pain to him by taking an innocent girl. That was 30 years ago and nothing has changed in him about the way he feels about God, he still looked at him as the man who took his little sister.

He looked into the sky, all he could see was the vast blue sky looking down on him. Working on a farm was very good for him, it came with benefit that include him not buying meat. Today was one of those days, his bag was filled with meat from the farm but the smell of meat also attracted wild animals.

He stared at the swamp and remembered all the memories he had of this place when he used to swim here before it was like this. He smiled remembering all the trouble he got into whenever he went swimming here. His mother would always warn him that there was a large snake in the lake but every kid does the opposite of what they are told. All the memories he made here were slowly coming back to him, even things he forgot were coming back to him.

Memories of his childhood were all he was left with, most of his friends, parents, and siblings were all gone now. Holding on to his memories was all he could do now, all the good and bad memories they made on the lake growing up.

He placed his bag on the ground then took a rock and stared at it for a couple of seconds, it didn’t come as a huge surprise that things had changed so much on the lake, after all, he was also getting old. It was the first time he stopped here after what happened to her sister Emma.

“This is for you Emma,”he whispered on the stone then cast it deep into the lake, he watched it sink to the bottom of the swamp.

He reached into his pocket to take out his wallet, it was a fine leathery wallet, it was given to him by his wife as a gift. Inside the wallet was a small picture of her dear sister, In the instance, he saw her picture tears ran down his face with regret filling his heart.

He still has nightmares about the day she died, to this day he regrets waking up. The picture he was staring at was taken a week before she passed away, every time he looks at it he wonders what life would be like if she was still here. He was thirteen years old when it happened and his sister was only four years old at that time. He put the picture back into his wallet.

As he stared into the swamp, memories of that day came rushing to him, remembering every detail tot the dot.

The day began like any day but he didn’t know that before the day ends it will end with his sister gone. Everywhere he went his little sister was by his side, he didn’t leave her. It was noon when all the kids decided to go swimming in the lake despite being warned countless times that there was a big snake in the lake, they didn’t listen and went on swimming.

The moment they reached the lake every kid took off their clothes and jumped in, Emma was jumping around in excitement because her big brother was gonna teach her how to swim.

He was teaching her everything she needed to know about swimming, he was holding on to her as she tried to swim. They kept trying until she finally learned how to swim properly, it wasn’t perfect but it was a start. She kept swimming around, she was the only one left in the water, everyone else was busy playing in the trees.

His brother could hear her splashing around in the lake, he lay on the grass staring at the sky until he started feeling sleepy.

After a couple of minutes he finally noticed something, the only noise that he could hear now was the noise of the wind and the other children playing.

“Aaaaaaaaa!” a girl on the tree screamed to the top of her lungs seeing something on the other side of the lake.

He rose to check on his sister but couldn’t see her, all he could see was the girl in the tree pointing at the other side of the lake. He walked straight into the lake and finally, he was able to see it, her sister was being eaten alive by a large snake. He swam towards her as fast as she could, but it was farther than he thought. All the children were casting stones on the snake trying to get it to leave, the snake let go of her and ran. He got to her but it was too late, he carried her back to the other shore.

There were bite marks on her leg as he tried CPR over and over again. Everyone was silence as they finally understood what their parents were always warning them about. People started rushing down to the lake, one of the kids called for help, they found him sitting with his hands between his lap crying his heart out for letting his sister die.

His mother was amongst the people who came down the mountain, as soon as she saw her little girl lying on the ground lifeless, she ran as fast as she could to her. She didn’t even notice Jeremy as she took her daughter into her hands and tried waking her up, tears just came rushing down her cheeks as she realized that her daughter was really gone.They carried the body back and when his father saw him and heard what happened he stared at him with boiling anger in his eyes.

“You killed your sister!”that was the only thing his father said to him, he was heartbroken to hear him say those words.

He sat at the bank of the swamp as memories of that day kept coming back, he was heartbroken as he remembered his little sister. Suddenly there was a musky, earthy smell all around him, he tried looking around to see where the smell was coming from but couldn’t see anything. Before he could blink he felt something latching onto his leg, the pain caused him to just freeze. Something was wrapped around him leaving only one hand, he finally realized what was happening. He could feel the cold wet scale wrapping around him getting tighter and tighter.

He could feel its razor-sharp teeth on his leg, the snake was wrapped around him with no way of escaping, he closed his eyes. Something deep within him was telling him that this snake was exactly the same one that killed his sister. He tried thinking of a way he could escape but nothing came to mind, the snake was busy crushing his body. He did something that never he thought he would do in his entire life.

‘God.’ his inner voice was at play right now, he could feel the snake crushing him to death.

‘I know I’m not your favorite person, I know we don’t talk but if it’s my time then fine but not like this Lord. Please, I know I’ve blamed you for my sister and mother’s death all my life but please Lord help me.’

‘If it’s my day to die that’s fine Lord but let my family bury something.’ he never thought he would be asking God for help.

He opened his eyes and the first thing he laid eyes on was the knife on his backpack, he used his free hand to get the knife. He had the knife on his hand and the only thing he did was just stab the snake with it. After stabbing it countless times it finally released him and the only thing he could think about was to run as fast as he could, he got up and ran as fast as he could. He could feel his wound aching as he ran up the mountain.

With every step, he could still feel it cold body crushing him with it teeth latched on to him with no way of escaping.

‘Hello.’ A doctor walked in the room, Sandy jumped up in fear hearing a man’s voice.

‘Sorry for scaring you, I’m doctor Kramer.’ he could see her trembling in fear.

‘It’s fine doctor how is mother doing?’ she calmed down.

‘It’s not good.’ he stared at her with sad eyes.

‘What do you mean it’s not good?’ she didn’t understand what he was saying.

‘The cancer has already spread all over her stomach and organs.’ he looked at her and saw the light dim in her eyes as the thought of her mother dying crossed her mind.

‘What?’ she stood next to her mother.

‘I thought you said the treatment would help her.’ she looked him in the eyes waiting for answer.

‘Yes treatment was supposed to help her when it was stage 1 now the cancer has spread all over, I don’t have an idea why it came back.’ he could see the pain in her eyes.

‘Try something else, there must be something we can do to save my mother.’ she held her mother’s hand tight.

‘Please help her, I’ll do anything, I’ll pay whatever you want just save my mother?’ she tried looking for a glimmer of hope but couldn’t find any.

‘I’m sorry there’s nothing we can do to help now, all we can do is prepare.’ he looked at her with a serious face.

‘Prepare for what?’ she walked closer to him to try and make out what he was saying because it was making her mad.

‘What do we need to prepare for?’ she was screaming at him, she knew that there was no cure for cancer but to actually hear that her mother was gonna die is something she wasn’t ready for.

‘Miss, please come down you’ll wake up the patients.’ he tried calming her down, he could understand the situation she was in and how difficult it was for her to be told to prepare for her mother’s death.

‘Baby, calm down.’ her mother’s voice was low, she could hear her speak all the way from the bed.

‘Mom.’ she rushed to her.

‘Are you okay? Do you need anything?’ she held her hand and waited for her to speak.

‘There’s nothing they can do for me now, just let the nice doctor go.’ she smiled at her.

‘Thank you.’ he walked out leaving them to talk and come to terms with the fact that she was gonna die.

‘Mom we need to try everything we can, I can’t accept it.’ she looked deep into her eyes.

‘Honey,’ she took a deep breath preparing to speak, she could see the pain her mother was in.

‘Don’t say anything mom.’

‘No I have to say this.’ she tried sitting up but couldn’t, she could see the serious look her mother had.

‘Let me help you.’ she helped her sit up and adjusted the bed so she could be comfortable.

‘Can you get me some water.’ she pointed to a glass next to her bed as she reached for it.

‘Thank you.’ she was waiting patiently so she can take the glass from her and put it back. Her mother stared at her with regret and pain in her eyes, she looked deep into her mothers eyes waiting for her to say something to her.

‘Baby there’s something I have to tell you.’ she could tell from the tone of her voice that this was serious.

‘What is it?’ she was uneasy about hearing this, but what she was about to hear was something she never thought she was gonna get from her.

‘I know I wasn’t a good mother to you and there’s no excuse or apology that can be enough to make up for what I made you go through, I’m really sorry honey.’ she took a deep breath and stared at her with sad eyes.

‘It’s fine mom there’s no need for you to apologise.’ she leaned in and held her hand with a smile on her face.

‘No, I have to apologise. I put you through a lot of pain and I know that it hurt you a lot and I’m sorry.’ her mother’s words were bringing back memories that she thought she left behind.

‘Mom it’s fine, I forgive you now save your energy.’ She looked at her trying to flitter out all the memories that were coming back.

‘I have to tell you the real reason why I allowed all those things to happen to you and for causing some of them.’ she had shame and regret and she started to remember everything she did to her.

‘Mom it’s fine, it’s all in the past, can we forget about that please.’

‘I haven’t seen you in fifteen years and this may be the only chance I have to say this,’ she was determined to tell her everything.

‘I don’t blame you for running away from home I would have done the same thing after all the things we did to you after your fathers death.’ she took a deep a breath, Zandile was looking at her, mustering up the strength to tell her what was going on inside her head right now.

‘You think I ran away from home because I had a choice, I ran away because I saw that you didn’t love me and there was nothing left for me.’ she looked at her with sadness.

‘Then why did you run away?’ she looked at her confused.

‘The reason I ran away is because of your boyfriend.’ she was shocked to hear her daughter say that.

‘What?’ she stared back at her.

‘Your boyfriend was a human trafficker and after I found out he tried selling me to some foreign guys.’ She had an intense look on her face.

‘He never did something like that.’ she shook her head disagreeing with what she was saying.

‘You always took his side even when I told you that he raped me, you never believed me.’ she smiled realizing that no matter what she says her mother would always take his side. She just looked away from her daughter and stared at the window not saying anything.

‘You knew that he was raping me day in day out and you did nothing, all my life I felt like I didn’t have a mother because of you.’ She was getting angry as the memories she tried to hide all her life came back to her.

‘I’m sorry.’ She was staring out the window.

‘You didn’t do anything when your boyfriend raped me, you heard me scream and you did nothing and now you sit here asking me why I ran away from home?’ she just laughed.

‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ she asked her.

‘I’m sorry.’ Her voice was low filled with shame and guilt for all the terrible things she allowed to happen to her.

‘Do you know the kind of trauma I have to live with because of what you and your boyfriend did to me?’ she walked to the other side of the bed so she can have a look at her mother.

‘You made me have nine abortions because you and your boyfriend didn’t want anybody knowing what you did to me. Today I can’t have children because of you and your boyfriend.’ Tears ran down her face.

‘You know I was actually glad to hear that he was dead, it was as if some weight has been lifted from my shoulders.’ She used her back palm to wipe the tears off her face.

‘Honey I’m so sorry for what I put you through, I know that it was hard.’ She looked at her with sad eyes asking for forgiveness.

‘You don’t know anything about what you put me through, do you know that I’ve only slept with your boyfriend nobody else because I’m afraid of men because your boyfriend showed me that men are heartless. He showed me that men don’t care about you and when I ran to you my mother for protection you just sacrificed me to the same monster I was running away from.’ Her mother didn’t know what to say to her, she knew what she did was wrong.

‘I can’t be in a room with a man because I’m afraid he’ll do what your boyfriend did all those years ago,’ she took a deep breath staring at her mother right in the eyes.

‘All I want to know is why, why did you let him do that to me?’ she sat down by the edge of the bed waiting for her to answer.

‘Because,’ she took a deep breath scared to tell her the truth.

‘Because what mom?’ she shouted at her, she wanted to know the truth.

‘Because your not my daughter,’ she paused looking at her filled with shock about all of this.

‘What are you talking about?’ she was on her feet shocked by this.

‘When I met your father he was a widow, your mother died giving birth to you and I married your father took you in as my own when you were just a year old.’ she looked at her.

‘That doesn’t justify what you did to me, it doesn’t matter that I wasn’t your daughter that’s no reason for allowing your boyfriend to rape a 14 year old girl everyday.’ she was shocked hearing this.

‘Yes that’s no reason,’ she took a deep breath.

‘your father abused me in ways no woman should be, she kept comparing me to your mother and so I grew to hate him and after he passed away all that anger and pain was magnified and they were all based on you.’ she tried getting her to understand that she was also a victim.

‘So you saying that my father abused you and you took it out on me, I should also do what you did, take out all my anger and pain that I have towards you on your children?’ she asked her looking her right in the eyes, she could see her fear as she said those words.

‘No that’s not what I’m saying.’ she said lowering her voice.

‘That’s what you meant,’

‘No.’ she had guilt written all over her face.

‘How would you feel if someone did what you did to me to your daughter?’ she asked her.

‘I’ll be angry and I wouldn’t allow that.’

‘But you allowed it to happen to me.’ she looked outside the window again.

‘You did it to me, why wouldn’t you like it when someone did that to your children?’ she asked.

‘Because I’m their mother, I’m supposed to protect them.’ She didn’t want to see the pain in her eyes from what she did all those years.

‘My only flaw was that I didn’t have a mother to protect me.’ She took a deep breath.

‘I understand, if I had a mother to protect me I wouldn’t have been raped, I wouldn’t have been beaten like a dog, I wouldn’t have to run for my life when your boyfriend sold me to save your life.’

‘Save me from what?’ she asked confused.

‘He didn’t tell you?’

‘Tell me what?’

‘He didn’t tell you that he tried to sell me to some foreigners so he can get money to pay for your cancer treatment.’ she looked at her.

‘What?’ she was shocked to hear this.

‘Yes he tried to sell me but I managed to escape and I ran for two days without sleep or drinking anything, my feet were bleeding.’ she got up and looked her in the eyes.

‘Mom I forgive you, I’m tired of holding on to this pain. All it’s doing is breaking me apart, I wanna live my life, and the next guy to ask me out I’ll say yes because not all men are like your boyfriend. Mom I forgive you for what you did to me.’ Tears ran down her eyes, they weren’t tears of sadness but they were tears of joy because she finally dropped all the luggage that was holding her life back.