Chapter 7

It was around 3am when I received a call from Nate on the day that he died. His voice sounded brittle and breathy. He said "Bless, something bad happened I love you..." and then the phone hung up.I tried to call back but his line was unavailable. I immediately got out of bed and ran to Nate's house. A part of me regrets why I didn't think to call the police the second after that sketchy call ended,  instead of going to the house. When I got there, the gate was wide open... I slowly sneaked in and hid by the bushes. I thought to myself, "if Nate was lying, imagine his parents finding me here at 2am?" I chuckled to myself, I was not about to explain to both our parents what I was doing there. I heard a loud voice almost growling "Where are the car keys!?'... followed by the sound of keys being tossed around.
Nate's family had two cars, a blue Citi golf and a white Hyundai that are both parked in the garage every evening. They usually put the Citi golf keys next to the TV because they use it more during the day for going to the gym, going up and down the road to buy bread, basically for all the tedious chores. The Hyundai was reserved for longer distances and more serious tasks like going to work and school.
I peaked through the bushes and could only see the living room and half of the foyer where they all seemed to be. There were three men wearing masks and one was holding a gun to Nate's father's head. The other two guys were medium built and fairly tall, they reminded me of pre-season body builders. They were going through the keys looking for the correct car keys. I couldn't see Nate or any additional people at the scene so I decided to go around the house to get a better view. Every time I have this memory- To this day, I regret why I didn't think to call the police, when I saw this. I mean, I was sure something bad was happening. So why didn't I!?...  As I was navigating my way through the bushes I heard a loud Bang! That was definitely a gunshot gunshot, I panicked to myself as I crouched lower into the shrubs. Then there were sounds of fighting and chaos coming from the house. Soon after that, I heard the screeching sound of a car taking off and the entire scene became dead silent.

I waited in the bushes because I thought maybe one had spotted me and they were outside. I waited for what felt like eternity, my heart raced as I knew I had to summon the courage to face whatever awaited me. 15 minutes or so went by and I had to be ready, so I walked up to the house. I slowly opened the door and peaked inside, I saw  no one. I looked and searched each and every room I came across. I remember even looking inside the drawers, under the fridge, inside the microwave... I was frantic, my heart was beating fast and I was too scared to call out for Nate.

I noticed a pool of blood nearly tripping on the floor. At this point my mind raced faster than my heartbeat, I followed the trail. It led me outside into the darkness.

It was so dark I couldn't see properly, the blood started faintly disappearing. I was out of breath and not thinking clearly, I got to the edge of the stoop and sat down to catch a breath and my legs hit something on the floor, I immediate jumped up scared thinking it was one of the guys in masks but realized it was Nate. I jumped and pulled him onto my lap and gave him a big hug. "Nate can you hear me? " I said. He didn't respond so I shook him and screamed "Nate wake up, you can't die on me WAKE UP!!", He let out a cough and I held him close to me, glad that he was still alive. Stuttering he said "Call the police". I looked at him and realized I didn't have my phone with me, so I lay him down and went in the house to look for his phone. My hands were bloody, My clothes were bloody,I had mucus coming out and couldn't stop it-I had no tears at all- But,as soon I went into the house and realized Nate's phone smashed to the ground, my entire body started shaking. I ran back outside to him and said "They are coming, someone will call, hang in there". His temperature had dropped and Nate was hardly speaking let alone able to move his fingers. He said to me " I need you to be okay Bless, I need you to be strong" and I nodded my head and said " We are both going to be okay" part of me always wonders if he knew he was dying,If his life flashed before his eyes like what people usually say on TV. I looked down at him and said  " The season's pass, The smiles always comes back, The blood stains can be washed off. You will be mine forever. The scars will heal, and the battles will be won. But you, you will remain mine till kingdom come. The sun shines and the rains pours but our love will be a magnet pulling us till the end of time." Nate replied," I want you to write it down for me ". I put my hand on his chest trying to feel his heartbeat, trying to give him mine so he was stronger. Sitting there with him felt like hours but at the same time it felt like mere seconds.

The ambulance arrived at the same time as the police, the EMT's pulled out a strecther after the police indicated where me and Nate were. I didn't say a word. The words couldn't form in my mouth, I just stared at everyone, screaming, pointing and running up and down. The police pulled me from Nate's body so the EMT's could take him to the hospital. I caught a glimpse of the name of one of the policemen, Mr Maluleke, in the process. My hand couldn't let go of Nate, but I had to, I had to let go. I lay there silently as I saw them trying to revive Nate, they stuck needles in him, gave him a breathing Mask and all of a sudden the doors to the ambulance closed and it drove off. I looked up to the sky and the sun was peaking out, but I knew very well that the sunny days were behind us. We had just entered a dark era, one where the sun's brightness couldn't reach us