Her Soldier

Chapter 3

School, the only other place I go. It's either home, Henrietta's office or school. These are the only environments I'm familiar with and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I hear so many students talk about how much they hate school but I love this place.

I love the work that teachers give us, the more work, the better: and I love the intensity of the subject maths even though I only get 50's for the subject. I love seeing my one and only friend, even though I don't speak to her out of school. She is still near and dear to my heart because she's the only one who has tried to get to know me. 

She's the one who asked me about the rumours head on and I'd told her that I had issues and just from that, she understood, took my hand and we have been friends ever since. 

She visits me from time to time but other than that we're as close as DD boobs in school and never leave each other’s side. 

She's the typical rebellious rich girl that can get away with anything because her great grandmother is one of the founding members of this school. She smokes when she shouldn't, never hands in assignments, doesn't show up for class, talks back to everyone and so on and so forth.  

Liesl is my opposite in everything. I'm introverted, and she's extroverted. She's outgoing, and I sleep all day. She laughs loud and I giggle. She skips class and I make notes for her. She makes out with boys and I just wait for my mum to pick me up from school.

"Hey, beautiful," Liesl cooed in my ear as I was making my way to the doors, to go outside because the bell had just rang and it was time to go home. 

I jumped in surprise and laughed, "you scared me," I told her and she laughed, wrapping her arm around my waist and pulled me to her. 

I threw my arm over her shoulder as we walked step by step, "how was maths lit?" I asked her, teasing as I usually did and she just laughed. 

"Stop teasing me! You know damn well, you're going to join me in maths literacy any time soon," she laughed, "unlike with pure maths, I struggled, a lot, this is really a much needed breath of fresh air. I don't regret ever dropping maths." 

Mathematical Literacy is for those unable to do Mathematics, so it's made easier for them so that more children can pass school and get distinctions. I hate maths lit, but truth is, with the rate I'm moving at, I might be joining that class very soon. 

"Hey, I want to have a birthday party," she began looking at me and I sighed, "and I really want you to come. Please, it's for me." 

I don't ever go for parties, but as I said, Liesl is my only friend and I will go but knowing me, I'll probably be there for an hour and then call it a night. 

"Will you play Afrikaans music?" I asked her, knowing her love for Afrikaans music and my hate for it. It just doesn't move well with my blood honestly, the only Afrikaner musician I do like is Jack Parow. 

The man is original and his style is different. I love it. 

She groaned, "yes," I tried to take my hand away from hers, "but for just like an hour. And then I'll play Sister Bettina and all of that, just for you, babe please come," she begged and I laughed. She won me over when she said 'Sister Bettina'. 

"You got a theme?" I asked her, knowing that with the people in our school, there was always a need to go extra. 

"Yeah," she smirked, "camouflage...inspired by you..." 

I'd told Liesl about my letter and sending it to a soldier and she found it adorable. Talking about "a possible romance with a cute soldier", I mean, let's be honest, here. Not all soldiers look like they do in the movies. The soldier I sent my letter to is probably just a grown man with ugly scars, maybe half deaf and half blind or having a wife waiting for them back home, or even a whole ass family. That's the reality of it, and I know it. Unlike Liesl who is hell bent on it becoming so much more with her wild imagination. 

I rolled my eyes, "you've got to be kidding," I said to her and she nodded, her face teasing but I knew she was serious, "why? You know what, don't answer that. Just wait a second, I want to see if my mum sent me a message to tell me if she's coming or not." 

My mum wasn't always able to pick me up from school, so she would send me an SMS telling me if she'd be able to come or not. And if she couldn't I would catch a ride with Liesl or get an Uber. 

"She's not coming," I announced and Liesl nodded, as she began to lead me in the direction of where I suppose she parked. 

"Fricky is the one who brought me to school," she said to me as she still had her arm around my waist as though she were my lover. 

Liesl is a very touchy feely person who loves to hold me. She's either spanking my booty with every step I take, randomly gripping my boobs or holding my hand. I'm not complaining, the girl is like my boyfriend and makes me feel good. Well, except those spanks, those spanks hurt and each time she hits me, it's quite obvious she's trying to hit harder each time. Talking about "I love the way they jiggle". 

"Oh, you told your parents about him already?" I asked her. Liesl has been dating Fricky for some time now and she's kept it on the down low because she was afraid to tell her parents she was dating someone. 

Fricky is one of the popular guys from the neighbouring boys school. He's a rugby player and you can only assume how huge he is. And he's also Afrikaner, so he's always wearing these shorts...no not those shorts that are slightly above the knees...the kind of shorts which just cover his ass and leave the rest of his hairy blonde haired legs fully exposed. Fricky is massive and terrifies me, even though he's been nothing but kind to me. 

Well, if you count saying "hi, how are you, and bye" as kind then yeah, he's been pleasant. 

Fricky is absolutely perfect for Liesl because they're both very alike and she seems very serious about him. 

"Yeah, they took it well," she said, "dankie," (Thank you) she said as I opened the door for her and then opened the back door for myself. 

We both got into Fricky's car which happened to be a Polo GTi. 

"Hey," I greeted him as I placed my bag on the seat and then crossed my legs. 

Fricky turned and glanced at me, smiling a bit, "hey, Dudu," he said my name. Making it sound like he was saying doo-doo as in s**t. 

"No," Liesl laughed after he said it, "it's pronounced do-do. Like the word "do" but twice!" She wiped tears from her eyes and I rolled my eyes as I looked outside the window, rolling down the window so I can feel the wind blow. 

Fricky is a fast driver, the boy has no chill on the road and it scares me but excites me. I had tagged along on one of their dates and let me tell you, driving on the N1 at midnight, blasting Distruction Boyz with all the windows rolled down, was exhilarating. 

As exhilarating as it is, he's reckless. Weaving in between cars and over taking, and not to mention, extremely rude to police officials, I mean we all know these cops are corrupt but them accepting bribes does save us from a lot of trouble, but Fricky... Nah, Fricky loses his s**t when the cops pull him over. Once he got a ticket, he squashed it and threw it in the cop's face before speeding off. 

I wasn't laughing and neither was Liesl when he did that but he got away with it. I'm just saying that if a black person had done that...well, even in South Africa, they would have been locked up and all over social media talking about disrespecting officials. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," he responded as he began to drive in the direction of where my estate was. 

I sat silently with my hands on my lap and looked outside of the window, enjoying the view of the outside world. 

We stopped at the gate of my estate and I reached over, pressing the number my house was and the car began to move again as they opened the gates for us and we sped through the narrow roads before reaching my house. 

"Dankie (Thank you), Fricky," I said with a smile as I placed my school bag over my shoulder and then got out of the car, leaning over Liesl's window before leaning in to kiss her on the cheek, "totsiens (Bye), Liesl," I said with a smile.

I walked into my house, locking the door behind me as I walked to the kitchen, taking out a can of Pepsi as I took multiple gulps and grabbed a packet of gummy bears and then walked upstairs to my room. 

I sighed as I sat on my bed, switching on the TV in my bedroom as I took it to MTV to hopefully watch Ridiculousness or some reality dating show where all they do is fight, bang and party. I changed into my casual clothes which was just a joggers and an oversized shirt with no bra. 

It's been two weeks since I've given Henrietta the letter to pass to some soldier and even though I had anticipated no response I couldn't help but feel a bit deflated that I didn't get any response. Maybe I had said too much? I should've just kept quiet and never said so much. Gosh, I'm so silly. The soldier reading it must've been cringing the entire time he read the letter. Then he probably showed it to other soldiers and then they all probably laughed at some silly girl's problems while they were there fighting for their countries. 

How stupid can I be? Sending a letter and expecting what? A pen pal. Who even has pen pals at this day and age? Who even writes letters nowadays? I should've sent an email. But then to who? Who the hell would I have sent the email too? And if I did, then they would get all my details from my email address and then what? Next thing you know it's some offense to send emails to strangers and I'm arrested, because I'll seem like a stalker...

Ok so maybe it was better to have written a letter and not an email? But goodness, I felt so naked, I had revealed so much. I couldn't just scratch the surface, I had to go beneath it. I had to explain who I was. That's the problem with me. I'm intense, especially when I do finally open up. I reveal so much in such little time and I'm unable to stop myself. 

I just have to let go and let it out. 

"Duduzile,"(pronounced: do-do-zee-l-eh) there was a knock on my bedroom door and I looked up from my maths book, struggling to figure out a certain sum, "you busy?" She asked me in English and I shrugged. 

"I've got something for you," she said with a smile as she had her hand behind her back. Dressed in a pantsuit and high heels she began to do a crazy dance before revealing a white envelope, "they wrote back!" She squealed excitedly and I jumped from my bed, unable to stop my squeals as well as I ran to her and we began to jump up and down together. 

"He wrote back? He wrote back!" I said excitedly as I looked down at the envelope in my hands, grinning ear to ear, "I can't wait to find out." 

My mother laughed, starting to straighten herself up, "ok, let me give you some privacy. If it's anything you don't like," she paused and I knew what she meant, I nodded, "let me know, ok baby? I will find out either way, because I'll read it when you're asleep." 

I laughed but nodded, "ok, mama, please make chicken curry today," I asked her, "or better yet, steak." 

"Steak!" She said with a nod as she hugged me and then left my room, closing the door behind her. Now if there is an amazing mother out there, it's her- I mean, she closes the door people. 

I couldn't wipe my smile off as I sat on my bed, looking at the white envelope. I breathed loudly, praying silently that whatever was in this letter wouldn't hurt my feelings. 

I carefully opened it and then unfolded the paper within the envelope. I laughed as I looked at the untidy handwriting but I had a smile on my face nonetheless. 

~~~Dear Dudu 

I don't think you'll ever understand or ever realise how receiving your letter made me feel. Of all of my years here, I've never gotten a letter. I've been a soldier for 9 years, ever since I was 19 years old, when I joined the army, to escape from my sad life. 

Your words shook me to my very core where I was left wondering more about the person behind this amazing neatly written letter, which expresses nothing but unfortunate scenes which led to circumstances one prays to never end up. 

I hear stories all the time of the different soldiers, about how they ended up here. Some do it because they're following their families footsteps, others do it because they want to, others do it because they seek an escape, others do it to seek fame and others do it to run away from their lives. I relate to the latter because all I've ever wanted in my life was to be accepted and loved. 

My name is Zack Ryder and I was an orphan who had lived in shelters his entire life. I was constantly changed names according to how foster parents felt. I had the names of Dylan, Tyler, Steve, Henry, Peter, Louis, Sasha and even Beatrice as some sick joke from a crazy foster parent. I gave myself the name Zack when I was forced to write my name on a form when I applied to the army. 

Ryder just flowed right after and I've been Zack Ryder ever since. With this new name I wanted to be a new person. I wanted to start over. Zack Ryder has never been through foster care, Zack Ryder has never tried to commit suicide and Zack Ryder is simply a soldier who is fully dedicated to fighting every waking moment. 

But Dylan, Tyler, Steve, Henry, Peter, Louis, Sasha and Beatrice, had tried to commit suicide a number of times, had tried to drown themselves, had tried to hang themselves and had tried to overdose. They went through a lot, by the time they were 15, they hated people and school. School created monsters and monsters created people. So they ran away and ran as much as they could before they collapsed, woke up and found themselves in a hospital, then they were forced to go to a shelter again. They stayed there until they turned 18 years old, then they lived on the streets and then died a year later when Zack Ryder was born. 

Excuse me if you find this letter rather long, there's a lot I ended up writing. 

Signed off, 

Soldier.~~~