Nomathemba "

*DWARSLOOP - PART 3: THE ITCH*

The clinic in Bushbuckridge was closing.

Nomathemba banged on the gate with her bloody hands. The security guard took one look and called the nurse.

The nurse's name was Sister Khosa. She didn't ask questions. She pulled Nomathemba inside, washed her hands, and then froze.

Under Nomathemba's forearm, something moved. A clear ripple, like a mouse running under skin.

"How long?" Sister Khosa whispered.

"It got in when I burned the house. In Dwarsloop."

Sister Khosa locked the door. "We hear stories from Dwarsloop. Old houses. We don't go there after dark. Lie down."

She took a surgical blade. No anesthetic. No time.

"Hold still. It knows we are looking."

She cut. A small, straight line. Blood came out, dark and thick. Then something else.

The flesh inside Nomathemba's arm was not flesh. It was tiny, packed walls. Like a honeycomb made of wet cement and hair. And in each little hole, something was moving. Something with teeth.

Nomathemba didn't scream. The thing inside her screamed for her. A high, thin scream that came out of her mouth without her opening it.

Sister Khosa tried to pull one out with tweezers. The moment she touched it, all of them in the arm bit down at once.

Nomathemba sat up and bit Sister Khosa. Hard. On the wrist. She didn't want to. Her jaw just did it.

Sister Khosa fell back, clutching her arm. On her wrist, the bite was already moving. Already scratching under her skin.

"Oh God," Sister Khosa said. "You brought the street with you."

Nomathemba looked down at her arm. The cut was closing on its own. Plastering over with grey dust. The honeycomb was building again.

Behind her, in the dark clinic window, she could see a reflection. Not the clinic. The street in Dwarsloop. All the houses standing. Waiting. And her mother's house, right in the middle, rebuilt. With the light on.

Her phone buzzed. Unknown number.

She answered.

"Nomathemba. You are late," said her mother's voice. "Come home. We saved you a wall."

She dropped the phone. Under her skin, the scratching stopped being random. It became rhythmic. Like knocking.

Part 4 pending......where she goes back to burn the whole street for real?

Good morning ♥️♥️🙏

it’s officially september. start showing up for yourself again. get serious about your goals again. fix your routine again. take care of your body again. make time for the things you love again. save your money again. spend less time scrolling again. enjoy your own company again. make plans that excite you again. create little moments worth remembering again. give yourself something to look forward to again. there are still four months left to make this year count.❤️🛐✨

There's no shame in surviving, hustlers you know what i mean😱🧑‍🔧

*PART 2: THE BURNING*

Nomathemba stopped hiding.

She went back to the kitchen and took the paraffin, the box of matches, and the big knife her mother used for slaughtering chickens.

Her mother was in the middle of the floor. On all fours. The skin of her back had split wide open. Something underneath was trying to get out, pale and wet, with too many elbows.

"MAMA!" Nomathemba shouted, not to the thing, to her mother inside it somewhere. "If you are still there, hold it!"

The thing screamed. The sound broke two windows.

She did not stab it. She cut the house.

She ripped into the breathing wall with the knife. Plaster, cement, and then flesh. Warm, bleeding flesh behind the wall. Veins the size of hosepipe pumping. The house howled.

The thing wearing her mother shrieked and tore itself in half trying to get back to the wall, to protect the nest.

Nomathemba poured all the paraffin. Into the wall, onto the floor, onto her mother's body.

"You were hungry when I left," she whispered. "Now eat fire."

She struck the match.

The wall lit up like fat. Her mother sat up one last time. For one second, her real eyes came back. She smiled. Not too wide this time. Just a mother's smile.

"Run," she said in her own voice.

Nomathemba ran.

Behind her, the house screamed as it burned. And all down Dwarsloop, every house on that street started screaming too, because they were all one thing. One big, hungry thing that had been pretending to be a street.

She didn't stop until she hit the main road. When she looked back, Dwarsloop was dark. No fire. No smoke. Just empty houses.

But her hands were covered in blood that was not blood, and when she wiped it on her dress, it moved on its own.

And under her skin, on her forearm, something scratched.

Slowly day and night.

Part 3 pending....

With Jay Prakash Mandal – I'm on a streak! I've made it onto their weekly engagement list 4 weeks in a row. 🎉

With Mfanafuthi Ntshoba Mvelase – I just made it onto their weekly engagement list by being one of their top engagers! 🎉

With Ntswaki Pulela – I'm on a streak! I've made it onto their weekly engagement list 4 weeks in a row. 🎉

With Zanele Saneh – I'm on a streak! I've made it onto their weekly engagement list 4 weeks in a row. 🎉

With Thobeka Mkhize – I'm on a streak! I've made it onto their weekly engagement list 4 weeks in a row. 🎉

With Naznin Sumon – I'm on a streak! I've made it onto their weekly engagement list 3 weeks in a row. 🎉