Yoe and I, a collection of short stories. Chapters 1 to 4. (written and edited by Richard Jr Ocaya)

 

Content warning

Yoe and I, a collection of short stories is a charismatic sci-fi novel between Melissa Selepe, a South African jeweller and Yoe, a spirtual entity who waited for her in eternity to show her a number of lives to help her move on to the great beyond. Although the book is fun, the story includes elements that might not be suitable for some readers. In the book is mentioned orphanhood, domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual harrasment, hate speech, loneliness, graphic deaths, violence toward infants and eating disorders. Readers who may be sensitive to these elements, PLEASE DO TAKE NOTE.

Acknowledgments

Thanks be to the hard drive gods!

1

“Hey, could you get up. Naledi… Naledi… get up.”

“I’m up. I’m up,” I said.

When I opened my eyes to look my heart sank at the sight.

“What are you doing?” the voice laughed, “You can’t faint here.”

I remained still.

“Fine by me, faint for as long as you want. I’ll just sit and wait by you.”

I thought it was a dream not so much an attempt at fainting. I was trying to wake up. I opened my eyes expecting to be in my bed, late for work, expecting a call from Mr. Connell asking me why I am late for work and to my surprise, I was still there, wherever there was.  There looked like dream land. That’s the reason why I was trying to wake up, not faint. The thing giggled at my confused expression. As embarrassed as I felt I got up just enough to see this thing sitting beside me. It was a man’s body but not a human one. The entire body grey with sparkles all over its body. I could see no eyes, ears, hair or fingernails; the shape of the facial features were visible except the features themselves, if that makes any sense. I looked at his groin expecting to see a penis but for goodness sake there wasn’t anything, it was doll flat.

“Are you done looking at me? You know your naked as well?” he said, “Are you even listening to me?” He continued, “You know what? It’s time to go. If you haven’t yet realised… YOU ARE DEAD. It’s time for your judgement. Come on. Let’s go.”

“What!”

“Now you are listening,” he said, “Let us get going.”

Fear struck my heart I swear I felt its blade go right through my heart and out my back. He quietly led me as I walked behind it. His walk was gorgeous; it left me feeling like a hunchbacked executioner from the mediaeval times even though my posture was erect, I made sure of it. No one else was around, only him and I with distant mountains, trees and grass beneath our feet which were oddly all violet. Above us was the night sky with the exception I could see distant galaxies and planets with all that was in it in greater detail than when I was alive. Having this ability was amazing, yet, the fear still remained though because I was going to hell.

“Naledi,” he called, “We are going to God’s judgement place.” I believed that the name he called me, “Naledi”, was my spiritually assigned name and so I accepted it without question. I could see God’s judgement place just chilling at a distance. God’s judgement place looked exactly as I thought it would look like when I was alive. I remembered how I came across envisioning God’s judgement place for the first time. It was at TECOCC, “The Enlightened church of Christ church” back in Bloemfontein. I know, and I hear you, it’s weird. I remembered the message preached by my pastor which made me envision how God’s judgement place would look like. Pastor Bernard, the pastor of TECOCC said, “As it has been written in first Peter, chapter three, verse eighteen to twenty. Christ died for our sins so that we may not be condemned to hell where there is fire and brimstone and gnashing of teeth for all eternity. You see brethren we don’t have to go to hell. All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and saviour. We who have accepted Jesus Christ will rejoice with Him for eternity in heaven but our job will not end there, we must spread the gospel, speak salvation to the unsaved and bring them to also rejoice in the plentiful gifts of our Father,” he said. “There are many unsaved not only in the world but more so especially in the church.”

I giggled and looked at Lindokuhle beside me, “Mel, he’s speaking about us,” she said, we giggled. “Don’t listen to him, he isn’t any better, he’s talking about himself too; I heard he beats his wife,” said Lindo.

“This asshole. Then what gives him the audacity to stand there?” I asked.

“Poverty honey. He doesn’t work so he uses our offerings and donations to sustain a living for himself and his family.”

I looked at the pastor with disgust; I imagined him entering God’s judgement place to be judged for his crap. Naked and shaking he entered the place which looked like a supreme court; mines had a few differences though, it had a white and red flag. White for purity and red for the blood of Jesus. I stopped going to church that Sunday. The reverie popped away like a badly sequenced video and there I was… dead and looking at that very same building. I knew I was going to hell, I stopped believing in Jesus and hated his name. I cursed at evangelists and claimed esotericism. Now that I was dead, “Please! I am sorry, I believe in Jesus Christ. It’s just that I thought there was no need to go to church because I believed God loved me and would never judge me,” I lied, “Please hear me. Please.” I screamed like never before. I grabbed, pulled and dragged his body but he just continued walking towards God’s judgement place. Then he giggled. When I heard him giggle… I knew, I fucking knew.

“I was just joking. No one’s going to judge you,”

“What?”

He laughed, “You love to say what. You should’ve been called What Mphuthi instead of Naledi Mphuti. Did you know, what is your most said word?” he laughed.

“What?”

“Come on. I was just pranking you. You aren’t gonna be judged.”

My body went limp.

2

“Are you God?” I asked.

“I am whatever you want me to be,” he said, I could hear the smile in its voice. “Look at yourself.”

Not once did I realise my own body was just as glorious this things body. Instead of my body similarly grey with sparkles that looked like stars, my body was purple with a warm yellow glowing on my chest complimented by orange sparkles all over me.

We sat down on the grass and got to know each other. The thing explained the same concept of it being a god as if common knowledge, he then explained I also am alike. When I was alive, I believed that if I were to be a god, I’d destroy humanity, cause wars, give them incurable diseases, increase poverty or cause immense hatred between mother and child, father and son, brother and sister and between self; just because humans pissed me off. But at that moment of hearing this god speak I had no urge or need to; I thought it was stupid.

“So, what now?” I asked, “Wait before that, do you have a name?”

“Di-did you just ask for my name,” he sounded emotional, “Do you know how much that question means to me, especially from you?”

“Uh? No.”

“Not even the religious know. Nobody does. I keep on telling them that they don’t know me and they make it a whole religious thing. How could you create a religion out of a bad relationship? It’s bad because they don’t know my name, if they don’t know my name how would they know anything else about me. If you want to be in a relationship with me, you’d know my name, right? This bad relationship is the root of all religious wars and separations of people all over Ki. None of them know me. If they did, I would not be named all these names in different languages which are all not mines.”

“But—”

It looked at me side eyed… “Jesus. Jesus is my name.”

“Really? I thought you said—"

“I am just messing with you. It’s Yoe.”

“Yoe?”

I stood up and looked down at this “god” with confusion and annoyance.

“Don’t look at me like that. I know it’s weird. I didn’t ask for this name. My mom chose it for me. My dad wanted something between Koffi or Demarcus which is wayyy worse if you ask me.”

“You have a mom and dad?”

“Yes dummy,” Yoe said with slight annoyance, “How else do you think I was born?”

“What?”

“What?”

A brief pause.

“You ask a lot of questions. Just relax alright. Have you ever wondered, the more one gets knowledge hurriedly the more confused they become? Just be still, the answers will come to you if you are ready for them. I will tell you this. I enjoy creating universes, planets and life. You can too if that’s what you enjoy.”

I sat back down and looked at the night sky.

“Does the sun ever rise here?”

As soon as I said that the sun began rising and sooner than later it was morning.

I looked at Yoe looking back at me.

3

“Do you like movies?” Yoe asked.

“Don’t you know that already?”

A brief pause.

“I don’t want to unless you tell me.”

“Yes. I do Yoe,” I answered.

He reached for his side and brought out 5 crystals the size and shape of marbles. They each had different colours; there was a blue, a yellow, a pink, a green and a red crystal. These crystals were covered in an aura in their own respective colour. The most impressive feature about these crystals was that their innards were moving constantly as if joyful spirits were dancing in them, because of this I could not tell which of these were the most valuable, beautiful or rare; they were all magnificent.

“Ok, pick a crystal.”

Yoe folded his legs as if he was about to meditate.

“Pink.”

“Alright,” he said, “I love doing this. Get ready.”

“For what?”

He pinched the marble and a portal opened. The portal was oval and tall with a pink and cream white swirl spiralling in it. A pink puff formed under Yoe and I, lifting us off the ground and finished its formation by covering us. It looked like we were in a floating sphere. It was so comfortable. It opened a top half of a circle in front of us so we could be able to see through it. When it finished forming the opening, the puff moved toward the portal at an even more comfortable speed. When we entered through the portal, I could not tell what happened except that the puff slowed down and came to a smooth halt. All I could see was darkness and soon enough my eyes adjusted to a dim orange light.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Ki.”

“Ki?”

“… Earth.”

We were in a bedroom. At the corner of this bedroom was a bunk bed with a baby sleeping on the bottom bunk. A woman entered carrying a bowl of noodles and sat by a work desk beside the bunk bed. She looked tired. The young woman ate her food, got up and left the room. We neared the baby and by random chance the baby woke up, looked me in the eye and cried.

“Oh no, the mother is going to see us!”

“Naledi chill, if she didn’t notice you throughout that entire meal she enjoyed, why would she when the baby cries?”

“What?”

“Okay you got to stop with the what, only infants and toddlers can see us.”

The mother came storming in with the bowl she ate from in her hand and the fork dangling out the side of her mouth. She passed right through us, carried the baby and sang lullabies . 

“That’s not the mother by the way,” Yoe said, “That’s the older sister.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“My heart told me. Learn to listen to your own. It has a faint voice, develop your ear to hear its voice and it will be the only voice you ever want to listen to.”

“Oh.”

The young woman was nineteen years old, not too tall but taller than the average girl, dark skinned, fairly attractive and rocked a bald cut. The room we were in was a bedroom in her late mother’s apartment, the landlord of the apartment was a close friend to her mother and so because of her close friend’s death she permitted her daughter to stay in the apartment free of charge.

The young woman’s phone rang. She picked up the phone. “Hello? Jimmy?”

“Palesa,” Jimmy said, revealing her name, “I’m coming to pick you up. There is no way you’re missing this event out.”

“Babe, I’m sorry, I can’t come.”

“Fine, then I’ll come and spend the night with you!” Jimmy continued, “You are always cooped up in there. I miss you.”

“Babe, they won’t allow you in here.”

The landlord took Palesa as her own daughter after the death.

“Fuck! Why not?”

“Babe! Fine. I’ll come to you. Let me just get Thabang to sleep.”

“Damn,” Jimmy said.

 

“What are we watching?” I asked.

“A movie,” Yoe responded.

“Is this real?”

“It’s all about how you see it Naledi,” Yoe said, “Let us skip a little bit.”

Yoe sped up the time. The girl grew, the baby grew and the world advanced. I looked around and we were in a McDonald’s restaurant. Palesa was behind a counter in a McDonald’s uniform. It was hot outside.

“Good day, sir!” Palesa said, “May I please take your order?”

The customer was a young-looking man. He wore a blue and white striped shirt, beige khaki pants and sandals.

“Yes, uhm,” he stuttered.

“Please take your time,” that did not sound reassuring; it sounded as if she was indirectly telling him to hurry the hell up.

“I-I will have the big mac and coke. Only,” he said.

“Okay, that will be fifty Rands.”

The transaction happened and two more absent minded transactions took place by the same kid. At the end of her shift she walked back to the apartment. I was expecting to see Thabang. She entered her apartment. There was no sign of Thabang. I almost asked Yoe where Thabang was until there was a knock on the door.

“Who is it!” Palesa asked angrily. Her face revealed its creases. I hadn’t noticed how much fatter she had become.

“It’s me, Sipho.”

“What do you want?”

She walked to stand by the closed door.

“I came to tell you how your younger brother is doing,” Sipho said.

She opened the door.

Sipho was the social worker that took Thabang away from her. She couldn’t take care of him so he was taken away. Love can only go so far. The two sat down on a food stained couch. The apartment was filthy, the floors not swept, dirty plates filled the sink, the tiny table by the couch in what could be called a living room was coated by torn books. Sipho looked at her with hidden disgust.

“I came to tell you that your younger brother proceeded to the fourth grade with flying colours.”

“Why couldn’t you bring him here?” Palesa asked.

“Do you think it would make him happy to see you like this?” Sipho asked.

Palesa’s mouth closed shut.

“He wrote this letter to you,” he handed her a letter with cute drawings on its exterior, “He expects you to write back.”

She read the letter.

“Can I see what is written on the letter?” I asked.

“No, you can’t, it’s meant for her eyes only,” Yoe responded.

“Fine. You don’t have to be a dummy about it.”

Yoe skipped time.

Palesa was grey haired and fat now. Whatever beauty she had went to the gutter. Palesa was on her phone. She was troubled. She had been trying to call Thabang but the calls were not reaching him. She gave up. She watched TV until late when she got a text message, “Don’t call Thabang. He does not want you in his life anymore. Unknown Number”

Something in Palesa’s eyes shattered. I wondered if she left the windows open. She cried. She stood up to get a box of tissues sitting on the kitchen counter by a bottle of antidepressants and sleeping pills. She blew her nose, poured herself a glass of water, drank it and poured herself another this time placing it by the pills. She grabbed the antidepressants, as she tried to open the bottle of antidepressants a text notification popped up. She ran for her phone.

“I will be changing my number. I’m tired of you always disturbing me and my life. Thabang”

“I am sorry Thabang. Sent”

Palesa walked back to the kitchen counter. She opened the bottle of antidepressants and put the antidepressants in her mouth. She was about to grab the glass of water until her phone rang. Palesa accidentally bumped the glass of water; it fell to a wet shatter. Paying no mind to the glass, she rushed for her phone; it was a call. Palesa answered.

“Unknown Number This is Shaniqua, Thabang’s wife. Do not bother him or else we will put a restraining order against you. Call Ended”

A pain struck Palesa’s heart, she became light headed and needed to hold onto something before she collapsed. She chose the kitchen counter to hold onto. As she trudged her way to the counter, she stepped on a glass shard and slipped on the other foot. Her head violently connected to the sharp corner of the counter and her skull cracked open with a mighty bang when her head violently reached the ground. On landing she fell on even more glass shards which penetrated into her body. She died.

“What the fuck did I just watch,” I shouted.

“Shh,” Yoe said.

A few moments after her death a figure like ours emerged out of Palesa’s body and disappeared into nothingness. I was not surprised by this.

“Where did she go?” I asked.

“Where else but home?” Yoe said.

 

Yoe skipped time and brought us to 3 months later. Her body was still in the apartment. If it is even safe to say her body. He skipped even more time, a month later. The body popped. Thabang came knocking on Palesa’s door a day after the pop, he was left ignored. He smelt the horrible odour from outside the apartment, the neighbours complained as they passed him. “Tell your fucking sister to take a fucking bath.” He called the police and they came. When the police received no answer from inside the apartment and submitted to the demands of the complaining neighbours, they kicked down the door to see the terror of what was inside. The pink puff immediately covered us and brought us back to where we were sitting and dissipated.

 

“What the hell was that?”

“A movie,” he laughed.

“What kind of a sick b—”

“Woah there,” he said, “I just wanted you to see one thing. I wanted you to see Palesa come out of her body.”

“I saw that!”

“Good.”

“What is wrong with you. How are you entertained by this? Why didn’t you help Palesa? Aren’t you a God full of love? You are a sick bas—”

“Relax,” he said. “She asked for that life.”

“What?”

“Just stop. Okay? I’m not a bad guy,” he said, “Calm down.”

I forced myself to calm down. The night sky returned. I looked at the stars. They looked even more glorious than before. Like gems and crystals brilliantly radiant. I noticed our surroundings also changed. We were seated on a park bench in the middle of an eternal grassy field with colours of the Earth yet more vibrant. It was as if I never used my eyes before.

“What is this place?” I asked.

“I call it the chill factor zone. You can call it whatever.”

“There is no way I’m calling it that. What type of name is that?”

He didn’t respond.

I looked around. A soft tickling wind blew…

There was no way I’d call it the chill factor zone, I had to think of a name. It couldn’t be heaven because it reminded me of religion and the unfairness of that guys judgement and sending off of people to hell. I had to think about this one.

“Did you notice the change in warmth when she received that text?” Yoe asked.

“Yes, I did.”

“Good, you should keep watch of that for the rest of the other movies.”

He pulled out the crystals. Four remained: blue, green, red and yellow.

“Are they as horrible as the one before?”

“I don’t like my movies getting spoilt so I won’t spoil it for you. Pick one,” he said.

I pointed at the blue one. He grabbed it with his pinky and index finger and pinched it. I know and I hear you. An oval portal formed with blue and black swirls spiralling eternally in the portal. A blue puff formed around Yoe and I and took us through the portal.

4

Thabang’s say

 

“We buried my sister a month ago. How long had my sister been like that? Oh God, the blood. If it were not for my wife’s constant pushing and greed Palesa would still be alive now. ‘Thabang! Our kids need clothing, I need clothing! Why do you keep sending money to that useless sister of yours?’ Shaniqua never failed to say about Palesa. ‘Thabang, I promise you if you send more money to your sister, I will leave you. You barely buy enough food for our kids and I,’ Shaniqua loved to threaten a week before my pay. ‘But she needs me Shaniqua. She is unfit for work after the accident.’ I would answer that same answer for years. ‘So, must we suffer for your dumb sister. She never even used to visit you as a kid but now here you are acting as a messiah trying to forgive her. I promise you if you send her more money, I’ll divorce you and leave,’ she’d say and we’d always fight.

Our children would hear us fighting the same fight for years so much they sided with their mother. I eventually gave in to Shaniqua’s nagging and that was when she sent those messages to my sister pastor. Pastor Bernard, Shaniqua called Palesa telling her she’d get a restraining order against her, when she did that… when she did that, I never heard from Palesa ever again.”

“I’m sorry babe,” Shaniqua says, “Pastor, this kills me as much as it kills him.”

The End

  About Richard Jr Ocaya:

I am a passionate dreamer and writer who creates vivid worlds with words not for the money but for the passion of writing and sharing with people who will find value in my words. I am currently 19 years old. Born in Botswana and raised in South Africa.

Connect with me: 

Instagram: @rosayawritesstuff

Copyright©, Richard Junior Ocaya, 2023.

All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be copied, distributed, or published in any form without permission from the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.