BANZA April 2016 Issue | Page 87

Diary As she proceeded to the library, she thought of nothing but Basil. She couldn’t help but smile to herself. He was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She sat down at desk closest to the glass wall. She looked out to the school’s crop fields. Her mind raced again. “Nolwazi, how nice to see you again, please come in,” he cooed, showing her inside his office. Her face dropped when she recalled the quarrel she and Basil had before he left. “Thank you Doc,” Nolwazi said tremulously sitting down. “Clearly your past is haunting you and I can’t help you, so why can’t you just talk to someone professional?” “Nolwazi, I just want to let you know that I am here to help in any way I can. Feel free to say everything. This is a safe space. Whatever you say inside here never escaped these walls, it remains between the two of us. Now tell me, how are you feeling?” elaborated Dr Msibi. She never forgot that statement in particular; it was the first time Basil used a raucous tone on her. Now as she sat there alone she thought that maybe he was right. Maybe it was time to face her past instead of running away. Maybe it was time to tell somebody the truth, her version of the truth. Maybe it was time for her to heal and look ahead without thinking of the past. She thought that maybe Dr Msibi was heavenly sent to help her out of her misery. She thought that there was no better day than to do that than today. Part of her was sceptical though. What if she messes things up again? What if the whole process turns out to be useless? Her thoughts contradicted. In due course, she said, “Today is the day!” She took a deep breath, said a little prayer, picked herself up from the chair and headed for the door. He continued in an unrehearsed manner, “I’m happy you changed your mind, eventually. Please relax and sit on the couch. Feel at home.” “I’m okay” she answered promptly without thinking. He moved on and said “That’s good. What is bothering you LaGule?” Silence. He watched her mouth quiver as she struggled to answer the question. She felt the hot wet tears fill up her eyes; her throat closed up tightly and each word pitched higher than the last to speak out the words that were bottled up inside of her. Finally, the tears spilt over and flowed down her face like a river escaping a dam. B LIFESTYLE