THIRD PLACE – SARVDASHA SEWLAL! (SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2020)

Congratulations to Sarvasha on placing third in our first annual short story competition. Sarvdasha uniquely combined poetry and prose to write on the topic “A South African family facing a problem”. She is a 26-year-old civil engineer from Durban. Here is her hauntingly beautiful piece:

“THROUGH DIFFERENT EYES” BY SARVDASHA SEWLAL

Wind dancing against my face, limping carefully to my sleeping place. Not worthy of being called a home, for love is absent when a shelter is as cold as stone. The pregnant clouds speak to me, intense roaring warning me to flee. The calming smell of wet sand lingers in the air, so simple it is to forget and not care. A mouth as dry as leaves in the fall, limbs so weak, my own body I must haul.

My broken leg is a lie, but no one hears my heart’s inner cry. My latest acid burn is for pity, as I try my luck in the Durban city. Half of my skin septic wounds, the rest resembling dried prunes. My image unbearable, I strike fear, my clothes barely wearable. Robot to robot, street to street, not even this heat will be my greatest defeat. Hundreds of faces I see by the day, most don’t acknowledge, they just look the other way. Some faces mirror mine in youth, however brighter and fuller if I fall victim to the truth. No worry on when and how their next meal will arrive, sitting in the back seat, watching someone’s Instagram story live. A cardboard box to them has no value today, to me it could be a blanket to fight the cold when I decide to run away. I feel the looks of judgement as their eyes pierce my back, bother me not as it is far too late for me to crack.

The darkness approaches even though the sun still shines bright, just a few more meters and it is in my sight.

As you sit on your throne I enter quietly, you grab my wrist tightly. She intervenes with tears in her eyes, “go to your room, everything will be fine”, a smile breaks through her lies. My room is nothing but a blanket on a bare floor, do not get me wrong, I could not have asked for more. An empty room, now engulfed with the echoes of an argument, she screams “leave her out of this she is innocent.” I crawl to the door to give vision to the yelling, I watch attentively, pupils welling…

The woman, in her youth dawned strong will, after marriage, all hope lost, sex being her only skill. I hear her leaving every night, a face so beautiful, a short dress so tight. When she returns at the crack of dawn, her eyes pools of water and her spirit so torn. Bruises on her arm, her forehead sweaty and still warm. She struts in and hands him her pay, he grabs it, slaps her and has his way.

The man, abused by his mother, the only love she had was for his brother. Short of completing high school, he ran away so he could live by his own rule. Speaking with his fists in the only language that he knows, by the minute his frustration grows. Unaware that he is trapped in a vicious cycle, when human beats human, the bitter survival. Hope also lost in his eyes, rejected for every job when he tries. No education or experience to back him up, shoulders heavy for 24 hours he drinks potent liquids from a cup. Swallowed by self-pity, his life is nothing near pretty.

He questions my mother as to why she is here, he needs money to buy more cigarettes and beer. She tried to explain the pandemic we face, but he raises his hand, and his teeth grind at a pace. A knock at the door saves her this time, what a relief it was the police to put an end to this crime. My heart pounded with exuberance and relief, please lock this man away in jail and end this grief. A wish that might come true, evaporates and my lips turn blue. The police have come to enforce the lock down, why, oh why must they make us drown.

The virus has come, so many bodies going numb. The older street kids taught me how to read, I practiced every day for knowledge was my greed. A virus that attacks the lungs and breathing, one described it like taking a beating. That didn’t seem too bad I thought, I often got a beating when my parents fought.

Trapped even more than we were before, constantly hearing him cuss and roar. He insists on my mother still sneaking out, when she refused he called her a lazy lout. He said he would take the risk of exposing her, as if it was his to take, words I hated to hear. Fear is the only reason she is bound to that man, I wonder how all of this even began. My mother knew that I was sick, my lungs were on a clock on its last tick. The batteries almost running out, to laugh it hurt, I could barely shout. The virus would be my end, but it would also be my friend. I could not care less if it would kill me, ultimately that would let me be free. Who would not choose death over abuse, emotionally and physically we lose.

She refused to leave and stood her ground, all I heard was an immense slapping sound. Her face now on the floor, trying to push up weakly with her arms, blood dripping from her jaw. He begins kicking her body as she lays there still, I gather my courage and I let out a shrill. I try to stop him with all my strength, one push and my head meeting the wall almost took away my breath. Slowly I breathe, my body is down, my vision blurry, this is the power, the power of fury. That very moment felt like a dream, watching from afar not being able to do anything from this realm.

He unbuckles his pants and pushes her flat, her body so frail and thin, she cries and resists but he chokes her till she gives in. He forces himself onto my mother, this is no sight for any daughter. So violent is his way, can he not see he could kill her today. His task is now done, he goes to get a beer after his fun. She looks at me and cracks a smile, liquid from my head sealing a broken tile.

Her eyes now widen at my blood, her rage now begins to flood. Pulling herself up she grabs her shoe, she now has a different view. She races to him and takes a swing, he grabs her hand and lets the shoe fling. She has now crossed the beast, on her life he will feast. Balls of fire in his eye, the vein on his forehead popping and raised so high. He smashes that beer against her head, her face now painted in a deep dark red. Pinnacles drip down my cheek, I am pathetic I can barely speak. He twists her arm and brings her to her knee, like the culling of a magnificent tree. His fist pounds on her chest, as she tries to fight back at her best. Her efforts are futile as she struggled for a while. He continues to hammer her with his forearms and fists and then grabs a bat and breaks it on her to bits. His anger now consumed him, not realizing he is beating a lifeless body, in blood it swims.

The truth now revealed allows his anger to become sealed. He wets himself in utter shock, emotions now swirling around the clock. ‘Look what you have done’ he says to me, he spits in my face and leaves me to be. I crawl to her just lying there, my palms now meet the pool of blood and I cannot help but stare. Too broken to cry, too shocked to ask why.

Oh body on the floor, you have closed life’s final door, crease for crease upon your face, I will never again feel your embrace. What a harsh and cruel chapter you played, every day for me you prayed. Just for your child you lived through hell, a mother’s love is stronger than any spell. With your last breath you tried, not knowing this would take you away from my side. Your beauty nothing but a memory, your passion is your greatest accessory. You are no longer a person, just a body, that is the power of a beating heart in its glory. I pray that your soul now finds peace and is finally free, that is my deepest and greatest plea. Oh body on the floor, you have closed your life’s final door, soaring to the heaven above, all that you did, you did it for love.

This virus is not man’s greatest threat, science will cure it, that I can bet. Our greatest downfall is simple, look into the mirror or the reflection of a ripple. The answer stares right back at us, we are the ones who make the biggest fuss. We kill with no remorse, we take anything we want with our force. We beat animals and our own kind, how is it that society remains blind. Our greatest murder is not complete, you see we won’t stop till we the Earth defeat. Every last tree will perish, every penny we will cherish. Lifeless will the rivers flow, for mankind will only grow, with this growth will be despair, how much more of this tragedy can one wear.

WELL DONE, SARVDASHA!

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