{"id":18981,"date":"2026-01-23T13:51:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/?p=18981"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:51:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:51:56","slug":"void-novel-chapter-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/void-novel-chapter-7\/","title":{"rendered":"VOID Novel Chapter 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
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VOID (SHORT INSERT)<\/div>\n
\u00a92026 Sanelisiwe Ndlovu Hoko<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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CHAPTER SEVEN<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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SINENHLANHLA<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Last night shattered my spirit. Not with broken bones or blood, but with a mosaic of fear, desperation, and pain. Each piece sharp enough to carve me hollow from the inside, yet too small for anyone else to see.<\/div>\n
My eyes burn and my throat feels scraped raw from crying. I\u2019ve never been this confused in my life. I keep clawing for answers. Why is this happening? As if logic could undo what my body has done. The same way my leg just stopped working, I wish it would just start again.<\/div>\n
I last spoke to Siphokazi last night when I informed her about my leg. She hasn\u2019t called this morning. I pull my phone under the pillow and dial her number.<\/div>\n
\u201cSinenhlanhla,\u201d she answers. Her voice is cold, no \u2018sweetheart,\u2019 none of that strange tenderness she\u2019d been dripping into every call lately.<\/div>\n
\u201cHey, Mom.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI wanted to say\u2026\u201d I trail off. We\u2019re back to factory settings, back to being two strangers bound by blood but not by care. This is normal. Her sudden affection was the lie. This coldness is the truth I grew up with.<\/div>\n
\u201cI wanted to say I woke up still the same. My leg isn\u2019t moving.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy are you telling me then? Don\u2019t you know where sick people go? Go to the clinic.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI will go. But\u2026 I\u2019m afraid they\u2019ll think I\u2019m crazy. I feel like I am.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI think you\u2019re cursed,\u201d she says, \u201cYour house burnt out of nowhere. Now you\u2019re a cripple out of nowhere. What\u2019s next?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a cripple, Mom.\u201d My voice cracks. I already regret calling. I thought she\u2019d be soft like a sponge and soak up my panic. Instead, she\u2019s the knife that cuts me deeper. \u201cOne leg not working doesn\u2019t make me a cripple. Please.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhatever. I don\u2019t want you near me. And stop with the calls. I don\u2019t want your bad luck rubbing off on me. Who knows, perhaps it started when you met Lihle. Those people are witches. I don\u2019t know why you won\u2019t believe me. And I heard you were disrespecting my father yesterday. May it be the first and last time. Never mention the dead again.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not me, it\u2019s Kayise.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s me who did what?\u201d Kayise walks in, arms crossed, hair still damp from washing.<\/div>\n
\u201cWho was exchanging words with Methembe and shouting dead people\u2019s names.\u201d<\/div>\n
She clicks her tongue. \u201cIf that\u2019s your mother on the phone, tell her I said: She slept with Butholezwe Ndlovu and gave him two kids and it\u2019s not a secret. If it\u2019s a crime, she can tell her soldier husband to come and shoot me.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI can hear you, wena khanda khulu!\u201d Siphokazi shrieks through the speaker. \u201cIf Methembe kicks you out, you don\u2019t even have a place to go. Ngobubi la!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re so quick to judge others,\u201d Kayise fires back. \u201cWhen are you going to tell us that you were drinking at our father\u2019s burial? Who\u2019s the soldier who threatened to arrest my grandfather? The only version we have is that you got kicked out. What had you done?\u201d<\/div>\n
I narrow my eyes at her. \u201cWhere did you hear that?\u201d<\/div>\n
She gestures for me to stay quiet. \u201cSpeak, phela, Siphokazi.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cIt was long ago! Honestly, how do you expect me to remember things from over twenty years back?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYour memory\u2019s selective, then. You only remember what others did to you, never what you did. And for someone who claims they hated you, it\u2019s interesting they helped you get a death certificate, which you claimed you wanted to use applying for dependent\u2019s pension. If they really wanted you gone, why would they help you? Since you\u2019re making yourself a victim of the Kalanga people, don\u2019t come with the edited version of the story. Utibudze lebeswa lihele hatitohaka lebeswa lemanyepwa.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAre you interrogating me Kayise? I have a lawyer. I will sue you for harassment.\u201d<\/div>\n
The line goes dead.<\/div>\n
I stare at Kayise in disbelief. \u201cYou know Kalanga?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cJust a few words I asked Chimney yesterday,\u201d she says, a faint smile playing on her lips.<\/div>\n
\u201cIs he the one who told you Siphokazi was drinking at the burial?\u201d<\/div>\n
She nods.<\/div>\n
I scoff. \u201cAnd you believed him? Where did he hear that?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI believe our aunt. She\u2019s the one who told him everything. I\u2019m not saying Siphokazi lied about being kicked out, but a lot happened that led to her being kicked out. Who drinks while pregnant? You heard it yourself; she failed to answer the questions I asked her. Isn\u2019t it suspicious to you?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI was young. I wish I could remember. I only recall Lihle carrying me. Grandmother took me and placed me on her lap and \u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
I close my eyes, trying to pull up the day our father was buried, any fragment or any words. Nothing. Blank. It\u2019s like my mind erased it all to survive.<\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019ll never forgive you,\u201d Kayise says softly, \u201cfor not telling me about Lihle. For not giving her a chance to speak. You decided it was all lies before she even opened her mouth. Now she\u2019s gone and we\u2019ll never hear the whole story. Not even the lies you\u2019re so sure of.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cKayise,\u201d I start, voice low, \u201cyou can\u2019t go around believing people with their own agendas, people trying to paint themselves innocent. Did you really expect Lihle to say, \u2018Yes, my family stole from your father\u2019?\u201d<\/div>\n
She sighs, tipping her head back like she\u2019s pleading with the roof. \u201cRight now, I don\u2019t care who says what. All I want is to meet my father\u2019s family. That\u2019s it. Because the truth is, no matter how angry you are, nothing changes. We can\u2019t rewrite the past, Nhlanhla.\u201d<\/div>\n
A tear slips down her cheek. She blinks fast, but more follow. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with knowing my roots. Just like you said the other day, we\u2019re grown. We don\u2019t need anything from them. I just want to know them and see my father\u2019s resting place.\u201d<\/div>\n
Hearing her say it like this\u2014the ache in her voice, the quiet hunger behind her tears, makes me realise I underestimated her. This isn\u2019t just curiosity. It\u2019s grief. It\u2019s identity. It\u2019s the hole left by a father she never met.<\/div>\n
A part of me wonders: Was I selfish for not telling her about Lihle? But another part, the older sister, the one who\u2019s carried her since she was two whispers back and assures me that I protected her. She has no one but me.<\/div>\n
I can\u2019t risk her getting hurt because of some ghost from the past wearing a kind face.<\/div>\n
But right now I\u2019m not strong enough to be her shield. I\u2019m filled with uncertainty. What\u2019s wrong with my leg? Will it go back to normal again?<\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to prepare breakfast,\u201d Kayise says as she stands up.<\/div>\n
\u201cYou know how to cook?\u201d I ask teasingly. She is the laziest person I know. Her hands are only good at plaiting hair and hiding money under mattresses.<\/div>\n
\u201cYou have one leg Nhlanhla, you need to mind your language because right now you\u2019re at my mercy.\u201d<\/div>\n
I smile slightly and watch her as she leaves. I take my phone and dial Gift\u2019s number.<\/div>\n
\u201cHey you,\u201d he answers. I miss you.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI miss you too.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhen are you coming back to work?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I need a favour urgently.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cShoot.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou remember that social worker who claimed to by my aunt?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow can I forget when you nearly strangled her in my presence.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI need her phone number. Please ask her colleagues if they\u2019re still there, look even in the visitor\u2019s log book. It\u2019s urgent and I need to talk to her.\u201d<\/div>\n
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VOID (SHORT INSERT) \u00a92026 Sanelisiwe Ndlovu Hoko CHAPTER SEVEN SINENHLANHLA Last night shattered my spirit. Not with broken bones or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-void-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18992,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18981\/revisions\/18992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}