And that’s how i met Keith Zata. He was so charming in ways i still can’t explain.

On my way back from the conference, i passed by ZBC along Simon Mazorodze; each and everyday  as i was commuting from work and on my way back home. There was a police vehicle check point ahead and the comby driver decided to take a detour to bypass traffic as well as the police. We drove into Paisley and drove down the industrial roads parallel to Simon Mazorodze. The driver took a few turns i wasn’t paying much attention to the way he was driving and where we were headed it was just the standard for me -I’d always be numb.

We passed through an intersection, it had several marks on the tar, steel like material that forcibly penetrated the road…

I was on my way to meet Challey in town, we had a little picnic we had planned and he was getting a bit late and i was so excited to be cross with him. I had my basket with our picnic cloth, a few apples and oranges, popcorn, egg sandwiches, Challey was going to buy the juice on his way and last but not least i had raisin muffins. I was wearing a plain yellow short dress with a light lacey cardigan and brown sandals with my brown sling bag.

I waited for him in town at the Construction house building along Leopold Takawira, as i was coming from my aunts house, he would come and pick me up and we would spend the day together. We had had so many memorable moments but with Challey each day was more memorable than the last and i would be so excited to see him. I was getting impatient, he had told me he would arrive in 20 minutes okay maybe i was over reacting it hadn’t reached 20 minutes yet and i thought he was taking too long. From where i was standing i saw so many happy faces, with friends, some meeting up with family.

Construction house just has a way of uniting people. I saw some dull faces and some tired looking ones too., waiting. I would see smiles once their friends arrived and a little slap to show how they had been annoyed to wait that long. Some didn’t wait for more than a minute and here i was growing impatient waiting for Challey, i missed him too much even if i had seen him the day before. ‘Keep it together Deliwe, Challey will be here shortly’ i told myself. I turned to the right and saw a guy meeting up with a girl and as i turned back my heart shook, it started throbbing fast and i shivered a little. I thought that was weird i also felt a little scared, i told myself it was nothing and brushed the thought aside. Right before that moment I received a message ‘I cant wait to see you’- it read and i blushed, i decided not to respond till he arrived…

Shortly after he sent the message, Challey was driving bypassing the traffic near ZBC and used the industrial roads to get into town faster. The road was clear and he proceeded, a huge truck moving in high speed came up from nowhere and the truck driver realising that he had little time he honked pulled the brakes and the truck was unable to withstand the weight and pressure, it sped towards the drivers side of Challey’s car its steal bars grading the tar. The truck fell onto Charley’s car and bounced up, the car turned and twisted with Challey in it, it turned a couple of times and stopped but that didn’t help anything- he was already gone…

As I saw the graded tar on the road and i looked the other way, ‘why did we have to go this way?’ i asked myself and there was silence and thats how i lived, just thinking for the past one year since i lost Challey. After that moment i forgot about Keith’s charm and decided not to think about Challey.

There’s no greater pain, than the pain of losing the love of your life  to a death so gruesome; i was never given a chance to say goodbye…

Spoke