22/09/2025
PUBLISH'D AFRIKA MAGAZINE FACEBOOK SHORT STORY COMPETITION - SEPTEMBER 2025 LEG
TITLE: When We Were
Written by Lerato Ramalapa
Sweat clung to his skin as he quickened his pace, calling out to the fading shadow disappearing into the dark. No matter how close he thought he was, the figure always slipped further away like a memory that refused to be caught. It was strange how his past always stayed just ahead of him, never letting him catch it. He would sometimes wonder why he kept holding onto it, but the pain meant he was still breathing, and it was the only memory he was left with.
Chad jolted awake as his heart was beating so violently in his chest, he pushed himself out of bed, took a shower, and the sun was starting to come out at Bersig as he tossed his bag onto the back seat of his car and drove back to where it all began. He had an option to go see a therapist about his dreams, but Chad was an African man, raised by the words “Men don’t cry”. He didn’t want a stranger to peel away his dignity.
As he drove along those familiar roads, the autumn wind rattling his car windows, Chad felt the ache deepen with every passing kilometre, a constant reminder of why he had left. Now that he was returning, one question replayed endlessly in his mind, “What would he say?”
By three in the afternoon, he found himself in Houghton, standing before his brother’s home. He hesitated to knock, but he did and finally stepped inside the house. Chad didn’t have any problem with seeing his siblings, but he was afraid of how they would see him, a lesser man who hadn’t defended them when their parents threatened to shift the blame of money laundering onto their shoulders. A man who had walked away, but his sister’s warm embrace and his brother’s eager smile melted his fears. They had forgiven him long ago, and in their eyes, he was still family, still their brother.
For a moment, the weight lifted, and he allowed himself to breathe again. The familiar smell of Houghton reminded him of what he had left behind, but something was weighing down on him, and it resurfaced each time he sat in silence watching the sunset.
The next morning, Chad rose early and made his way to the restaurant, the restaurant that was once their family’s restaurant. But because of their parents’ betrayal and greed, they lost it all. Chad lost Maggie, too, the blue-eyed girl whose laughter once filled the air and whose smile could brighten his darkest days.
He lingered at the doorway, staring at the very spot where he first saw her. The first time they met, Maggie had mistakenly spilled juice on his jacket, as she was serving him with his friends, and as she was apologising, Chad couldn’t hear a word she said, and as he drove home that night, Maggie's face kept replaying in his head.
Slowly, he stepped inside and took a seat at the counter. The place felt familiar yet hollow, haunted by echoes of what used to be. He waited, hoping against hope that he might see Maggie. After thirty long minutes of silence, his phone rang.
Chad’s heart tightened as he answered the phone call. It was his father asking to see him. The last time he had seen his father was the day of his sentencing, when he finally went to prison for all the things he had done. Now, after all these years, his father wanted to see him. Why? Chad felt torn between anger, disbelief, and the unhealed scars of the past.
Facing his father wasn’t part of Chad’s plan. He had written him off the day he threatened his siblings and Maggie, his fiancée.
“You testify against me, my son, and you all go down with me, including Maggie, “his father had said when Chad begged him to tell the truth in court about the food poisoning, the tragedy that had claimed lives, including Maggie’s father.
The weight of it had crushed Chad. His parents’ actions had destroyed so much, the death of Maggie’s father, followed shortly by the passing of her mother, leaving Maggie alone. Chad couldn’t bring himself to see his father. He was the man who had ruined his life, the man whose choices had taken everything he loved.
The phone call ended abruptly in his hands. Without another thought, he left the restaurant, and the memories of Maggie and the past kept pressing heavily against his chest; he had to see her. That evening, Chad drove past Maggie’s home, torn between summoning the courage to get out of the car and knock on her door, but he couldn’t.
The next day, he returned to the restaurant, hoping to see her, but she was nowhere to be found. Where was Maggie?
It had been four years since he last spoke to her. The last time he saw her, they had gone out for dinner, and when Chad excused himself to the restroom, he returned to find the table empty; on it was a note that read “This is the end, Chad. Goodbye” with the engagement ring on top of the note. He spent the whole of that night driving the streets of Houghton, calling her name into the darkness, calling her cell phone that didn’t go through, searching her home, but she was gone. Months passed, and Chad’s search yielded nothing. Piece by piece, every fibre of him seemed to unravel; each glance in the mirror reflected a stranger, someone broken and lost.
Maggie was gone, and the blame weighed on him. His father, his family, their greed and betrayal, all had cost him the woman he loved. He fought with his siblings, with strangers, with anyone, hoping to unleash the fire of his own wound, and he eventually left Houghton.
Now that he was back, he had hoped she might be at the place where they once lived, but it had been years; how long can one stay away from their hometown?
Chad left the restaurant and drove to Maggie’s home. This time, he summoned the courage to get out of the car and knock, but he was met with unfamiliar faces. Maggie no longer lived there. She had vanished from Houghton, and his heart sank. How could one person disappear into thin air, leaving such emptiness behind?
Chad asked around and finally got Maggie’s address. That evening, he said goodbye to his siblings and drove to Bathurst, relieved to finally have the chance to see her again. He remembered their drives downtown to watch live concerts, their Friday strolls through the botanical gardens, lazy Sundays watching sunsets, and dreaming of a life together.
Once in Bathurst, Chad booked into a guesthouse and rested briefly before he could go see her. Thoughts and emotions collided in his mind. What would he say to her? “Hi Maggie” felt inadequate compared to the whirlwind of feelings he carried.
The next day during midday, dressed neatly in a long-sleeve shirt, dress pants, and sneakers, Chad drove to her house. It was a beautiful grey house, surrounded by trees and brown fallen leaves. Two swings and a colourful slide peeked through the thinning branches. He knocked, his heart racing and his palms sweating. A man answered the door, greeting him politely. With a trembling voice, Chad managed to say:
“I’m looking for someone named Maggie.”
“And who are you?” the man asked.
“I’m an old friend of Maggie's.”
The man invited him inside the living room and called out to Maggie. Moments later, Maggie appeared. The reunion he had longed for was now happening. Chad rose and stepped forward, his eyes drinking in her face, the face he had wished to see for all these years. He reached out his hand and touched her cheek, and whispered, “It’s you.”
Tears welled as he embraced her; he had finally found her. The man excused himself to tend to the children, leaving them alone.
“Chad… what are you doing here?” Maggie asked as she broke off the embrace. Her voice held no warmth, but Chad’s own voice trembled as he asked why she had left him.
“I didn’t want to hate you,” she said quietly. “But your family… everything they did ruined my life. I had to go away.”
Chad’s chest tightened as the truth hit him. Maggie was no longer his. She had married, built a family, and found happiness without him. His longing, his grief, the years of yearning, longing, they had all ended here, in the bittersweet reality of her life without him.
He swallowed the lump in his throat as tears blurred his vision. Words failed him, and his dignity was all he had left. With a heavy heart, he stepped back, letting go of the hope he had carried for so long. Maggie had moved on, and there was no place for him in her life anymore.
Driving away from Bathurst, the wind brushing his face, Chad felt the ache of loss, sharp and unrelenting, yet beneath it, a quiet stir of release began to form, a recognition that he could no longer live in the shadows of what once was. Memories of her laughter, her gentle touch, and the curve of her smile all stayed with him.
He had loved, and he had lost. It had always been Maggie. How could he let go of the only love he had ever known, the one whose face lingered in every crowd, whose laugh echoed in every moment of silence? Every soul he met carried a fleeting shadow of her, yet none could ever compare. And so, he held on to the ache, cradling it like a fragile ember, painful, yet the only remnant of a love that had defined him.
He had found the love of his life, but he owed karma and paid the full price.
