Where Rainbows Hide

idn't move. She stared blankly at the rust-streaked sink, the chipped enamel remindin

s a sound she had grown up with in KwaMashu, and one that now followed her into this modest space she rented on

stirred in the instant coffee, black and bitter-just how she drank it every morning, even though

igns that someone lived here, really. Just a stack of papers from her grade 7 class, a dusty bookshelf filled with c

Her mother had called the night before, the same way she always did-asking if she was still going to

said. "Still working, s

l me? Did her mother know w

rself, deep, like bones no one would ever find. But then... there were the other moments. Ones that slipped through cra

ce held too long, a hand brushing another during a study group. She remembered the shame, the panic. The pr

g ago. Too complicated. And honestly, she wasn't su

thickening like smoke. Maybe it was the dreams returning. Or m

the door. Sharp. Tw

, Mrs. Sibanda, who usually announced herself loudly through the wall with he

s her chest like a soldier's weapon, and a leather jacket too bold for this side of town. She looked out of place-like someone who didn'

aught, heart hiccu

but this was the moment