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12 December 2018 | Story Mothepane Lebopo

The door closed. My eyes opened.

My dreams were halted as I sat up. She was already outside my window, the midnight moonlight lit her skin and erasing my fingertips on her arms. I opened the window… cold truth blew in. It stung my heart. She was going.

“Seriously? After four months this is how you are going to leave?”

Silence.

She was trying to control her breathing, to keep it as flat as possible. She had a unique, annoying gift of being able to compose herself in such situations, especially when she knew it was needed.

She stared at me.

My heart was pounding against my chest. In anger. In desperation. It had settled on her, but clearly she wouldn’t let me get close to hers.

I felt the first tear roll down my cheek. I quickly wiped away the second one. She just stared…

She could have been looking at me, thinking of other things. With her you never knew. She turned.

“Wait, please wait. Did you ever love me?”

She stuck her tongue out and left.

And I knew that was it: we were over. Thinking back, I might have known for a while that it was coming. But still… being prepared for something doesn’t guarantee your heart won’t break when it actually happens.

I left the window open, slightly. My head was spinning and my heart was tearing.

I laid on what was supposed to be our bed and dug my head in a pillow in an attempt to block out reality. It was useless; warm liquid from my broken heart poured out through my eyes. All I could smell was her.

But what was I expecting? It could never work. We were two puzzle pieces from different sets. Two pieces that were never supposed to fit… We tried to force it, and it ended in pain.

She was such an odd person. She had this ‘forbidden love’ thing about her. Being hers was strange, I knew she wasn't mine but I still tumbled head over heels. Being with her was like cheating on a diet. Or texting when you’re supposed to study.

She had beautiful, wild eyes that had perhaps seen too much. She got high on other people’s vulnerability. When her arms locked around me, she wasn’t just holding me, she was searching for pain. Insecurity. She would pin me down and kiss my nose. When she felt my guard coming up, she would tickle me and my power would leave me and enter her. She always won.

Often we’d try to watch the stars. I could never concentrate, her beauty was fierce and demanded undivided attention. She couldn’t focus either. She looked at the stars, not for their beauty, but for adventure. She looked at them as a guide.

I felt her hot blood in her embrace, she had to move to keep cool. There was rarely a still moment. Always dancing. Always moving.

I guess that’s what attracted me to her. I made her my adventure. I wanted to see what she had seen. I told her I was happy where I was but in reality I wanted to go everywhere she went. Wherever the stars would take her.

My lips only met hers when she was drunk. Perhaps she didn’t want to remember showing a little bit of emotion, being a bit vulnerable in front of me. But even then she rarely shared her thoughts with me.

So her secrets are still with her, while she knows mine.

That wild girl, may I never hold her again. She said she didn’t like it. She wanted to feel liberated. And my arms didn’t offer her that.

The girl with a storm in her heart had started a fire in mine and left.

I look out the window, where she had been standing. I almost smiled. What was I thinking?  Thinking I could fix her? Whether I love her or hate her, it makes no difference because she’s not here. She’s not coming back.

I will never know what exactly she wanted with me. But I’ll grow wiser from this.

You can’t teach someone who’s power hungry to surrender. You can’t mould someone who despises being held. You can’t put out a wild fire. Don’t try to pick wild flowers, because their thorns will pierce your skin and then they will wither because of your blood. But their scent will linger forever.

Now I know. You can’t tame someone who is wild. You shouldn’t offer your heart to someone who has sold her soul to adventure.

Don’t try to love someone who can’t be still.

 

News Archive

Degree in Forensic Science for 2014
2013-08-28

 

A BSc degree in Forensic Science will be presented for the first time at the University of the Free State (UFS) from 2014. It is also the first degree of its kind to be presented in South Africa.

According to the Department of Genetics in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences the three-year degree is, among others, aimed at people working on crime scenes and on criminal cases in the SA Police Service and in forensic laboratories. At postgraduate level, students can specialise in a variety of forensic fields up to PhD.

A maximum of 80 students will be selected for admission to the course in 2014. Entrance requirements are an admission point of at least 34, as well as a combined minimum point of 17 for Mathematics, Life Sciences and Physical Science. Applications for 2014 close on 30 September 2013. About 700 to 800 new appointments were advertised in this field by the SAPS in the past two years.

The UFS has been offering an honours programme in Forensic Genetics since 2010.

The new course comes at a time when the Government is taking significant steps to eradicate crime in South Africa. At the first conference of the SA Police Service’s National Forensic Service in July 2013, it was reported that milliards of rand are spent to establish an integrated, modernised, well-manned and well-managed criminal justice system. New laboratories are already operational and more laboratories are planned, including one in each province.

The so-called DNA Bill is likely to be approved by Parliament before the end of 2013. Under this bill, all current schedule-1 criminals and suspected criminals will be obliged to provide DNA samples. This information will be stored in a DNA database.

According to the SAPS’ Serial Unit, approximately 1 300 serial killers are currently active in South Africa and the DNA database can be helpful to bring these and other criminals to book. About 80% of all crimes are committed by about 20% of the criminals.

More information on the Forensic Science degree can be found at forensics@ufs.ac.za or +27(0)51 401 9680 or +27(0)51 401 2776.

Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication

Telephone: +27 (0) 51 401 2584
Cellphone: +27 (0) 83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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