Chosen

--- APHELELE - CHAPTER 1 --- APHELELE'S HOUSE - UMLAZI - 6:00 AM - SATURDAY MORNING [ House clean. White church dress ironed hanging on door. Dishes washed. Aphelele 20 years old, 4th year Law, sitting on bed. Mother's voice from kitchen. ] MOTHER: Aphelele! Have you washed the dishes? APHELELE: [shouting back, still sleepy] Yes, Ma! Last night before I slept! APHELELE [POV THINKING]: _That was law number one in this house. Wash dishes before you sleep. No matter how tired you are. My name is Aphelele. 20 years old. Fourth year, Bachelor of Law. Everyone is doing Law these days. People always ask me why. My reason is different. My uncle - my dad's only brother. He wasn't my biological father, but he raised me more than my own father did. He never had children, so I was his only daughter. He was shot during a*****e robbery. Just like that. The police ignored the case. No investigation. Nothing. I was 12 when it happened. I remember sitting in the police station with my mother, watching them close the file. That day I told myself, when I become a lawyer, even if his killers are old or dead, I will make sure what happened to him never happens to another family again. But right now, I have other laws to follow. In our house, my parents call them rules. I call them laws. Law 1: Monday to Friday, we pray at 5am, 6am, 2pm, 3pm, 8pm and 9pm. Law 2: Wash dishes before you sleep. Law 3: Every Friday, we clean whole house - house, garden, yard. Everything must be clean before Saturday. Law 4: Every Saturday and Sunday, we go to church. For me, there's Law 5: Choir practice. No excuses. And today was that day. Saturday. 9:30 am. I was late. APHELELE'S HOUSE - OUTSIDE ROAD - 9:30 AM - SAME MORNING [ Aphelele running with bag, waiting for taxi. ] APHELELE: Yho, Aphelele, you're going to be late again...[muttering] [ Taxi hoots. ] DRIVER: Bridge City! APHELELE: [hopping in] Bridge City! BRIDGE CITY MALL RANK - 10:15 AM [ Rank full. Noise, shouting, music. Aphelele running to C and D lane. Queue long. ] APHELELE [POV]: _I finally got a taxi. By the time I reached our church gate, I could already hear them practicing inside. Oh God, I'm done for. Ma'am Skhakhane is going to kill me. CHURCH - KWA-MASHU CIRCUIT - 10:40 AM [ Church door heavy. Choir practicing inside. Aphelele pushes door open. Silence. All eyes on her. Ma'am Skhakhane at front, arms folded. ] MA'AM SKHAKHANE: There's nothing new about her! Y'all know her! Stop looking at her! All eyes on me! [ Few people giggle. Aphelele face hot, hurries to Alto chairs. ] CHOMMIEYY: [whispering, squeezing hand under bench] You are late again, girl. APHELELE: [whispering back] I missed the straight taxi. I took the 10am one. Rank was full. CHOMMIEYY: You and these 10am taxis. APHELELE [POV]: _I looked across to Tenor chairs. Victor was there. Victor Dlamini. New in our choir, handsome, always in clean white shirt. Next to him in Bass chairs was his older brother. Micheal Dlamini. 24 years old. Tall, quiet. When our eyes met, Victor smiled. I quickly looked down at hymn book. The sopranos started. "Oh! Nkosi yami..." The altos joined. Then tenors. Victor's voice deep. Strong. The basses held us all together - Micheal's voice low. I tried to focus. I didn't know what a soulmate was back then. I thought love was just... love. Simple. I didn't know that in a few months, my whole life would break into three loves. MA'AM SKHAKHANE: Aphelele! Alto! You are flat! APHELELE: Sorry, Ma'am! [ ChommieyY laughs next to her. Victor still looking. ] CHURCH - OUTSIDE - 1:00 PM - PRACTICE ENDS [ Sun burning. Choir group walking home together - Sopranos, Altos, Tenors, Bass - laughing. Aphelele walking with ChommieyY, arm linked. Behind them Dlamini brothers. ] VICTOR: Micheal, hurry! We're leaving! [ Road downhill steep. Municipal workers left pile of bricks and loose wheelbarrow on side. Micheal pushing wheelbarrow, messing around, showing off. ] VICTOR: Micheal, leave that thing! It's not yours![shouting] MICHEAL: I'm just helping to move it, man![laughing] [ Pushes it too fast downhill. ] SOPRANO GIRL: Micheal, careful! [ Too late. Wheel hits pothole. Wheelbarrow jumps full of bricks, swerves straight towards girls. ] CHOMMIEYY: APHELELE, MOVE! APHELELE [POV]: _I froze. The wheelbarrow hit my legs. I fell backwards. My head hit tar hard. Brick fell out landed on my chest. Metal handle scraped my forehead. Blood. Immediately. EVERYONE: APHELELE! [ Everyone screams and runs to her. Aphelele on ground, white church dress torn, blood running from forehead down face. Micheal standing over her, hands shaking, face white. ] MICHEAL: Aphelele... Aphelele, oh God, I didn't mean... APHELELE: [looking up, tears and blood, exploding] Are you crazy, Micheal? Are you trying to kill me? You saw us walking! You saw us! You're 24, Micheal! 24! And you play with wheelbarrow on downhill like 10-year-old! What if I died? What if I died today? What would you say? That you killed girl from your own choir because you wanted to show off? MICHEAL: I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Aphelele, I swear—[kneeling] APHELELE: Don't touch me! Don't you dare touch me! You almost killed me! [ Victor pushes brother away, kneels, takes off white choir shirt, leaving vest, presses it to bleeding forehead. ] VICTOR: [voice shaking] Aphelele, you're bleeding badly. My uncle's car is at bottom of hill. Let me take you to hospital. Please. Let me take you. APHELELE: [looking at Victor, even in pain] No. VICTOR: Aphelele— APHELELE: I said no, Victor! I don't want you to take me to hospital! I don't want your help! You and your brother - just leave me alone! [ Whole choir group quiet. Victor standing holding bloody shirt, hurt in eyes. ] CHOMMIEYY: Aphelele, stop being stubborn! You need clinic! APHELELE: I said I don't want Victor to take me! CHOMMIEYY: And he won't! I will take you! Me! [turning to girls] Help me! [ Two soprano girls help her up. Aphelele screams from pain. They leave boys there on downhill - Victor holding shirt, Micheal head in hands. ] MAIN ROAD - TAXI - 1:20 PM [ ChommieyY stops taxi, doesn't wait for it to be full. ] CHOMMIEYY: Bridge City Clinic! Emergency! We'll pay! Go! [ Inside taxi, Aphelele leaning on shoulder. ] APHELELE: It hurts, ChommieyY... it hurts... CHOMMIEYY: [pressing bloody shirt to head] I know, Aphe, I know. Don't sleep, okay? Don't sleep. BRIDGE CITY CLINIC - 1:45 PM [ Nurses run with stretcher at gate. ] NURSE: Name? CHOMMIEYY: Aphelele. Hit by wheelbarrow. Head injury and leg. [ Pushed inside. ] NURSE: Call her parents! CHOMMIEYY: [on phone] Ma... Ma, it's ChommieyY... Aphelele is in Bridge City Clinic... No, Ma, accident... choir... Micheal Dlamini... Yes, bleeding... Come fast! CLINIC ROOM - 2:15 PM - 30 MINUTES LATER [ Aphelele on bed, forehead stitched three stitches, leg bandaged. Mother bursts in, father behind her still in church suit. ] MOTHER: APHELELE! My child! My child! What happened? Who? FATHER: [fists clenched, voice deep angry] Where is the boy who did this? Where is Micheal Dlamini? 24 years old playing with bricks like child! I will go to his father! CHOMMIEYY: Baba, it was an accident— FATHER: Accident? My daughter is in clinic with stitches and you call it accident? APHELELE: Ma... Don't. Please.[whispering] MOTHER: Does it hurt?[tears] APHELELE:[nodding][crying] [ From clinic doorway, voice. ] VICTOR: Baba... Ma... [ Everyone turns. Victor wearing different shirt now. Micheal behind him head down eyes red. And their father Baba Dlamini. ] VICTOR: We came to apologize...