It was a long, hard day at work again and resting my sore muscles in this hot bath is more than pleasurable. My eyes closed, I'm leaned back, water up to my chin, with a few strands of lose hair that I failed to keep in my hair clip, floating on the surface of the bath water - it makes me think of a giant octopus in the deep sea, with tentacles swooping the surface of the water for survivors of the ship it just wreaked... What the hell is that sound? What is it? An airplane? Lanseria isn't too far from here, planes often fly over this way. But it sounds like it's getting closer. With so many airplanes crashing now days, what are the chances that there is an airplane falling out of the sky right now, heading for my house? WTF I better get out the bath SOMETHING DOESN'T SOUND RIGHT.
I wake up. I'm ice-cold. I want to reach for my phone and check the time, I'll probably have to get up for work soon. Suddenly I realise, I'm not in my bed. I don't know where the hell I am. I can't see. I'm in pain and I am freezing. It takes me a moment, but I realise that the last thing I remember is the strange sound coming for my house while I was trying to take a damn bath. Why can't things just go according to plan? For once? I hear voices in the distance, crying, screaming. Bombing? Sirens? What the hell is going on out there? Oh shit someone is IN MY HOUSE. I lie dead still, I'm naked, I don't know what the F is going on. It's better to remain unseen till I can find some clothes. "Someone" seems to have left my house, but to be safe, I'll just wait here till day break.
It feels like forever, but I couldn't fall asleep. I'm getting hypothermia, which means technically, falling asleep shouldn't be a problem, but I hear absolute chaos out there. I can hear people being attacked, begging for mercy. I hear helicopters and bombs. Crying, followed by gun shots, and then nothing - I picture families being executed in their masses. I don't know what the hell is going on out there. It sounds like word war 3, which is probably very possible. But why would the shit hit the fan in SA? Aren't we spineless and "neutral"? Julius Malema must have something to do with it...
The sun starts bursting through, everywhere. My bath seems to have kept me safe, like a bomb shelter. The wall has collapsed over the bath, tucking me in and sheltering me from debris. The bath did crack, so all my bathwater leaked out, just as well, in the middle of winter, it would have only caused me to freeze to death. I stick my head out through the partial wall that served me so well, and I cannot believe my eyes. The "someone" in my house earlier, wasn't in my house as much as he was on it. Everything has been flattened. It looks like one of those natural disaster scenes I've seen on TV, like the aftermath of tornado or a tsunami, only, this isn't some little wetland or farmland with big wooden houses, this is Randburg dammit, Johannesburg! Concrete and brick, townhouses stacked on top of each other. What in the world, can flatten this? There doesn't seem to be anyone around anymore. I'm glad for it too. I'm too scared to know what's going on. But there is one thing that I need to do, and that's get some clothes on. This is Africa, if I'm caught naked, well, that will be the end of that.
I'm trying my damn best to be light footed, but every step I take seems to trigger a concrete avalanche. I've already severed a toe with a piece of shower glass, and now it appears that my bedroom, and the cupboard with all my clothing that was in said bedroom, has totally disintegrated. Amazingly enough, my ugliest piece of clothing, a super big tee with bleach stains and holes, has not only survived, but made it's way to the bathroom, or, bathroom area, since this was a bathroom, I don't know what it is now... But I still don't have pants. I don't know if I should cry or laugh. OH LOOK, my work skirt. What a combination, a formal black pencil skirt with this, this thing, well at least I'm covered. I hope I can find a jacket and some socks too because it is freezing. I feel like the cold has settled in my bones. I don't know if I'll ever warm up again.
I've started making my way, somewhere, with everything reduced to a pile of bricks, I can't tell which side is President Fouche Drive. My feet are numb from the cold. I couldn't find socks or shoes. It's just as well because there are sharp pieces of debris everywhere, and no path, so I have to walk over it and if I could feel, I'd probably be sitting in a corner crying. I found a jersey along the way, it must have belonged to a school child, but I don't mind, it's better than nothing. I've spotted a few people. Clearly they were in a better position than I, as they are wearing real clothes, some in pj's. Everyone looks scared. I've been tempted to walk up to someone and ask what has happened, but people are carrying kitchen knives and guns, just now they get spooked and attack me. I don't know. When I spot someone that looks halfway sane, I'll stop and ask them.
I found myself in a heard. A heard of lost souls, walking in the same direction, looking. Looking for help. Looking for answers. Looking for their husbands and wives and children. Some say we were attacked by aliens. Some say it's part of a government experiment. One thing is for sure. None of us know what's going on. I step on something unstable and I feel it give way beneath me. I feel my body jerk to the right at the sudden loss of balance. As I make my way toward the uneven earth at 120km/p, I imagine the graphic effect the force of this fall will have on my head... and just as I'm about to make impact, I kick myself awake.
Jip, I fell asleep. I can be glad I didn't drown! Retard. Damn it's cold. Let me get out before I catch my death!
