My Sisters Keeper

27

People who make phone calls before sunrise should be arrested and prosecuted. They honestly deserve to be in jail. My phone rang from the side table. I  picked it up and looked at the caller ID and it was my early bird daughter. I thought about going back to sleep but I couldn't help thinking maybe something is wrong.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I covered my head with the duvet.
"Nothings wrong mama, I have news." She said sounding a bit giddy, like she was muffling a laugh.
"At this time of the day nana, I'm tired."
"I know mama, but this couldn't wait, its juicy." I sighed and just accepted that my sleep was gone and I would not be getting it back.
"Okay, you got me, what is it?"
"Amanda was arrested last night. Her arrest is all over social media. There are videos and pictures. And the funny part, in some of the videos she is screaming at the police asking them if they know who she is, its hilarious."
"Okay that was a mouthful. First of, who is Amanda and why would she be arrested?" I swear I could feel her rolling her eyes on the other end.
"Really ma, how many Amanda's do you know? I'm talking about your sister." I got up so fast from the bed I almost fell on the floor.
"Bontle dont lie!" She laughed, this was amusing to her.
"I'm not. I promise you she is going to jail. Apparently she had a hand in Paul's shooting and then she framed you for it. Everything is out there. She is fucked."
"Baby I'll call you back."

I hung up and quickly rushed to the lounge to get my laptop. I quickly turned on the mobile wifi router and fired up the laptop, one of the benefits of my new job. I tapped my foot impatiently as the laptop seemed to be taking longer than usual. Finally it opened and I went to my Facebook profile, I scrolled down the timeline but I couldn't find anything. I decided to go on twitter and my heart almost stopped when I saw Amanda trending at number one. The sun wasn't even out yet but people were already having a field day about this on social media.

I saw a tweet from a newspaper stating that Amanda had been arrested as a conspirator in an attempted murder case. They said the state has mounting evidence against her plus a witness. They did it. They really did it. I didnt have much hope when Lungelo said they'll prove my innocence but he was right, now all that's left is for the courts to make a decision.

I took my phone and called Lungelo. I know he is in Joburg with his brother but I needed to hear his voice. He picked up and his raspy, sleepy voice made some nerves in my body tingle.

"Hey, why are you up so early?" He asked.
"I.... Thank you." I wanted to say so much to him but I could only utter just two words. Important as they may be, but it felt like my body had gone into shock. I had prayed and hoped for so long that someone would believe in my innocence beyond my mother and my daughter, and now here is this man who didnt just believe me but went far and beyond just to make sure everyone else believes it too. Is he real or am I just imagining him?

"Now everyone will know the real truth. It might not bring back all those years you lost but it's a start right?" I wiped the tear that had decided to creep down my face. I know its not over yet, but it's close enough.
"Yeah, it's a start."

We spoke for a while before I hung up. I kept scrolling down twitter and reading the tweets and comments. Amanda wasnt just being dragged for filth but she was being annihilated. If the justice system would be left to social media she'd probably be sitting in an electric chair at this very moment.

I sat up for a while just getting lost in all the drama that was happening, what hurt though was seeing her screaming and crying, and even throwing in the occasional "you dont know who I am, I will sue you line". I'm pretty sure everyone knows who she is, and they know her family, but right now she was all alone while being dragged and paraded in front of the press. No Mashile was in sight to offer support or anything, I should know cause I went through the same thing, except with me,  social media wasn't a thing back then so I was afforded a bit of that decency.