Coin
From an old short story I posted on Facebook in May 2017. I'll finish it ONE day....but I need to be living in Swaziland again.
Chapter One: Coin
In the humid Swazi heat, as the chubby boy flicked the 5-cent coin over and over in the air, he paid little thought to how many people had possessed that coin before him.
As he dwelt underneath the giant yellow billboard of Bholoja, and carelessly wondered about the perks a life of fame could bring him, he did not know that that coin was more famous than he or anyone of his background could ever aspire to be.
It glistened weakly as it spun in the air, like the hair of a wrestler leaping across the ring, deflecting light in all directions.
He stood at a bus stop, not far from a bottle store.
The sounds of house music and pointless arguing floated his way.
"Where is the kombi?" the boy thought, for the dozenth time.
"I feel like I'm melting". He had no money to buy frozen juice. His phone was dead.
He would play Snake if it wasn't.
All he could do to fill the monotony of his wait was play with the coin he found on the road.
The road.
It was one straight line that cut through his area, and went all the way to the horizon on both sides.
It seemed infinite, like those American country roads he'd see on Swazi TV or like...time, almost.
His little mind frowned at that thought, and moved on to something easier to mull over....the coin.
He caught it and looked at it intently.
He rubbed his thumb over the engravings "5 CENTS, 2007" and stopped over the engraving of what he had learnt was the arum lily.
He brought it to his cheek and felt the notches of the coin press into his skin.
It cooled his face down a bit.
He looked at its reverse to see his King Mswati III facing three-quarters to the right (his left?).
Suddenly, a voice spoke:
"Hallo."
Followed by silence.
There was nobody around for miles except the patrons of Lucky's Bottle Store.
The boy turned his entire body numerous times to find the source of the voice.
Nobody was there.
Was that even real? Is he going m-
"Hallo?"
The boy started panicking now.
His heart rate rose so fast he could feel his pulse in his ears.
Was he in the presence of a ghost?
His mind raced..should he run and call for help? Who would believe him?
He decided to run anyway.
He shoved the coin in his pocket, tightened his bag straps and started running up the road.
Maybe this was a sign. A sign that he needed to stop waiting for things to happen, and make them happen himself.
He wasn't going to be eaten by any ghosts, no siree not TODAY, not EVER.
He ran, and ran, and ran, kicking up dirt all the while.
His mother would shout at him for ruining his uniform so early in the week, but he didn't care.
He'd keep running until he fou-
"GET ME OUT OF YOUR POCKET!!!"
The boy froze.
Or rather, he slowed down to a complete stop, but his LIFE froze.
He looked straight up.
His hands were raised.
Sweat was all over his body.
His short-sleeved shirt was stuck to his skin, and the wind was making his arms cold.
Hand shaking uncontrollably, he reached down into his right pocket and extracted the only thing there other than crumpled up pieces of tissue, the 5 cent coin.
"Thank you," it said.
He - very slowly, and out of fear of disrespecting this evil spirit - he looked down at the silver thing glistening in his right hand.
He felt like he was a slave, a hostage to it.
He had never been in this situation before.
What could he do? Could he throw it into a forest? Bury it? Somehow all of those thoughts felt....meaningless.
Like this thing has not just invaded his private space, but his entire life.
A cloud of despair crept over his mind....no matter what course of action he took, his life was ruined, he thought....and thought...and thou-
Music.....wait, wha-
Church music.
Joy flooded his heart.
A quantum was coming.
And not just any quantum....a quantum full of churchgoers was coming his way!
He could make out the faint tune of "Baba Hlala Nathi" by Ncandweni Christ Ambassadors playing in the bus.
It was far away enough that the music was no louder than a whisper, but it was coming!
He was saved!
"What are you thinking, my boy?" said the coin to the boy.
The boy just smiled and said nothing.
"Oh. We'll see," said the coin.
It sounded...calm? No this.....this coin was taunting him.
It thought it would invade his life and his family.
It thought it had won.
No siree, the boy thought.
Not today.
The quantum drew nearer.
"My name is Mswati III. I am your king, and you will do as I say!"
This must be a dream, the boy said. The quantum is coming. Relax, he thought.
"Put down your hands, and be still!"
The boy closed his coin-holding hand, and put both arms at his sides. He could not move a muscle.
Wait, he thought.
Wait wait wait wait wait....what just hap-
"Take off your bag," the voice said between the boy's closed fingers.
The boy shrugged his bag off, and let if fall onto the grass. The boy was now about 100 metres away from the bottle store, and the quantum was 100 metres away from him.
He was now screaming.
"Cease your meaningless noise, and sit down."
The screaming was cut off with a gasp, but his eyes and mouth were still stuck in the twisted expression of a screaming child.
Tears were streaming down his face.
He no longer had control over his actions.
All he could do was cry, and wait for what was yet to come.
The quantum was now close enough that he could make out the faces of the passengers.
The next moments played out very slowly for the young boy.
He tried to say something, say anything but his throat felt like stone.
He made eye contact with the driver, who actually brought the kombi to a stop near the boy.
The boy could now see all of the passengers very clearly.
His salvation was here now, but....somehow he felt more hopeless than ever.
The front passenger window went down slowly.
The music was turned down.
The bus conductor, a young man with a golden tooth peered at him.
"Ulahlekile, mshana?" Are you lost, little boy?
The boy stared back silently with his wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
He had hoped something, anything in his expression would scream "HELP ME! I CAN'T MOVE! SAVE ME!"...
They stared at each other for some time.
The conductor nudged his co-pilot, the driver, who was a very dark, heavily-scarred, overweight man who then also looked at the child curiously.
Half of the passengers did the same.Muttering in the back of the quantum grew.
"Asihambeni!" was shouted, dragged across the air lazily but resting quite heavily on the little boy's shoulders.
This was the final nail in his coffin. The boy closed his mouth and looked down.
The bus conductor sighed and rolled up his window.
"Asihambe," he said quietly and looked straight ahead.
The engine came to life, the volume was turned up as high as it could go, and within seconds the bus was gone.
It took a bit longer for the smoke to dissipate, but after a while, the boy was alone again, in silence.
"Look at me, there's something I want to say to you."
The boy lilfted his clenched right hand and opened it.
There, lay the mysterious magical coin that was capable of paralyzing him.
What was there before - an image of the King staring 3/4 right - was different now.
The king was looking straight at the boy now.
"I am your king, and you will do as I say."
The boy nodded very weakly.
"I want you to stop crying. I know you are scared...but you are going to help me."
The boy did not know what to think.
"You're going to help me. But you're going the wrong way. We need to go to Lozitha. Gather your things, and cross the road."
The boy clenched his right hand, stood up, picked up his bag, put it on and crossed the road.
He turned and faced the opposite direction.
He opened his hand to see that the engraving of the King was now smiling.
"Good. Now, we wait."
THE END