📖 Chapter 1: The Bell That Broke the Silence
The last bell of the day didn't bring peace. It brought pretending.
Pretending I wasn't hungry. Pretending Mama didn't cry herself to sleep. Pretending my brother Bongani was just late — not missing.
Two weeks. No goodbye. No message. Just silence.
I zipped up my blazer and walked out the school gate, where the noise of Mamelodi swallowed me. Boys were rapping on the corner. Taxi hoots mixed with the dust. Life was loud out here, but somehow, I felt completely alone.
My phone buzzed.
Mama:
> "Lethu. Bread. No polony. R10."
I sighed. Ten rand barely stretched across a craving, let alone a household.
I took the long way home, past the spaza, past the tavern where uncles drank away their regrets, past the alley Bongani always told me not to use. It wasn't fear that pulled me down that road — it was memory. I just wanted to feel close to him again.
That's when I saw it.
A white BMW creeping up the road, its window slightly rolled down. Not fancy — but familiar. My heart kicked in my chest.
The hand on the steering wheel had Bongani's gold ring.
Thick. Engraved. One-of-a-kind.
My mouth dried up. That was his ring. That was his hand.
"Ey wena!" I shouted, stepping forward.
The car sped up. Gone. Lost in the dust.
I yanked out my cracked phone, but it was too late. No photo. No number plate. Just the sound of my heartbeat in my ears and a memory that refused to die.
If that was Bongani's hand…
He's alive.
Or someone has something to hide.
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🕯️ End of Chapter 1
> The streets don't sleep. And neither will I until I find my brother.