"Who are you?"
Rifle in hand, the green-clad man slowly approached.
Raising his hands to indicate he was no threat, Mandla flashed a winning smile before laying on the charm.
"I'm your new favourite person, boet. My parents call me Mandla."
Slinging his weapon over his shoulder, the forest ranger visibly relaxed as he saw he was dealing with a kid.
"Mandla then. What are you doing here? This is private property. Shouldn't you be in school?"
In reality, Mandla had matriculated the previous year and was about to celebrate his 19th birthday, but his short stature and baby face made him seem like a high school student.
Biting back a grimace, Mandla flashed his smile again.
"Do I look that young, malume? I actually came to talk to you about an opportunity."
Eyes lighting up, the ranger obviously understood the subtext.
"I see. What do you want to talk about?"
Lowering his hands and walking towards the man, Mandla made his pitch.
"Me and a couple of friends want to have a little memorial service in the forest. We heard that maybe a ranger would know the perfect place?"
Nodding, the man grinned.
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Six hours later, the party was set up.
Mandla and his best friend, Kaveh, had taken a gap year after matric, ostensibly to "figure out what they wanted to do". What that really meant was, they hit the festival circuit. Hard. All the biggest parties in the region, Rage, Ultra, Bushfire, they'd drank, caroused, passed out, woken up and continued partying at each and every one of them. Finally however, the pressure was coming down from on high for them to apply to university and get a degree. To cap off this year of memories, the pair had organised a party themselves. Nowhere as big as the ragers they'd migrated to and from this past year, it was more of an "enhanced" chill session, where they invited all the coolest people they'd met in the festival circuit, along with a few high school friends they were still in contact with.
They'd organised an open bar with a sharply dressed bartender, a buffet table of food and snacks, another buffet table with an assortment of substances of dubious legality, managed by a nurse who'd been instructed to keep a list of what everyone was taking and how much, to prevent any overdoses or deadly combinations. They had relief tents, hookup tents, even a hotbox tent. They'd thought of everything.
The sound system was wired to only broadcast over a specific frequency, so each guest would be given headphones that could switch between three channels, bass-heavy hip hop, rhythmic amapiano, or relaxing chill wave. This was to be a mostly silent party as their presence was technically prohibited.
The pine forest they were in was owned by a lumber company with a branch in the nearby town, Malelane, so all the trees were planted in eerily straight rows and columns. It made preparing the land easier however. One of Kaveh's family friends had told him that the rangers in charge of this section of the forest were "open to suggestion" and that they'd let the boys do whatever as long as they could be sure it wouldn't otherwise harm the forest. The clearing they were in had been swept of any underbrush or fallen fern needles, exposing the bare ground, and the surrounding trees had been stripped of their bottom 2 metres of bark. Corrupt as they were, the rangers still took their jobs seriously, making absolutely sure the risk of fire was minimal, even providing the boys with two extinguishers just in case.
Of course, despite their precautions, the entire arrangement was very much illegal, but this was life in South Africa. A little bribe went a long way.
"Yo Mandla!"
Arriving with the last few items, Kaveh got out of his car and the two gazed into the clearing, looking over their creation. Mandla cracked a smile.
"Aweh, bro. With this, we're done. Now we just have to wait for people to show up and be amazed."
Kaveh rolled his eyes.
"You know, they would've been just as amazed if this was on a rooftop back in Joburg. Basically every horror movie ever starts with rich kids fucking around in the middle of nowhere. And you're black, so you'd die first."
Mandla laughed, punching Kaveh's shoulder.
"Fuck off, you’re the bigger target. I'd use you as a meat shield and run away, bitch. But the forest adds to the vibe. This is supposed to be an otherworldly retreat from society, we can't do that in the middle of a metropolis."
Kaveh gave a long suffering sigh.
"Well, we're already balls-deep, might as well see this thing through. At least we still have mobile signal out here, if barely."
The ranger had actually told Mandla that the network came and went at random intervals, but he kept that little tidbit from Kaveh. He was a lot more cautious by nature and would likely have considered cancelling the whole thing. Mandla hated keeping things from his friend, but he could sense the real reason he was on the fence. Nicola was coming.
Having been on the receiving end of many a tearful rant about her dating choices, Kaveh's feelings towards her were old news to Mandla. What wasn't, was the possibility of her leaving forever. She'd been accepted at a college in America and was about to leave to start a new chapter of her life. Mandla had advised Kaveh to let it go and look at the other beautiful women that threw themselves at him on account of his 6'2 height, his hazel eyes, his dark, brooding brow, his thick, wavy hair and his exotic middle-eastern skin. But alas, the boy was smitten.
He'd gotten it into his head that he could confess his true feelings tonight and then...? Mandla wasn't sure what the next step was meant to be considering there was no way she'd give up university abroad, but you cannot reason with a man in love. All his attempts at convincing his friend to let go of his hare-brained scheme had been met with refusal, so Mandla had just shrugged and figured he could dissuade him when the moment came. Knowing his flair for drama, no doubt he was planning to confess at midnight exactly. There was plenty of time to help him see reason. After all, there was a big difference between planning and action.
Pulling out his phone, Mandla took advantage of the waning signal to send out a location pin to everyone he’d invited, before putting the device in the glove box of Kaveh’s car. It was go time.
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Looking out over the packed clearing, Mandla allowed himself a smile. Everything was going according to plan.
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Guests had arrived and given up their phones, as was customary at gatherings of people with huge social followings. They’d quickly sorted themselves into different groups based on what they’d come to the party to do.
There were the “groovists”, attendees who’d come purely to have a blowout rager. Most of them had immediately gravitated towards the dance floor with a drink in hand, with a significant portion of them taking a line or pill of something harder before abandoning all decorum in the silently strobing lights.
The “astronauts” were all sitting on beanbag chairs in a makeshift den on the other side of the clearing, with heavy clouds of smoke rising from their heads. They had a few hookah pipes, ridiculous amounts of devil’s lettuce, along with colouring books, art canvases and a projector set up to show fractals all night for those choosing more psychedelic methods of intoxication.
Finally, the “socialites” made up the bulk of the remainder. These were the influencers, the people staying sober and the people trying to get laid. They were mostly gathered around the bar and buffet table with their headphones around their necks, talking to one another.
Mandla frowned.
He’d wanted this to be a complete withdrawal from society, however temporary, but he saw people clearly trying to network, flocking around some of his more famous friends. This was not the plan.
I’ll have to deal with that later.
It annoyed him but he told himself most people were having fun and that’s what counted. The night was going well and it was only 11pm.
Idly, he wondered what a worst case scenario would look like. Maybe a cannibal attack? Did those even exist these days? More realistically, probably an animal attack. The property they were partying in was in the east of the Mpumalanga province, near the border, and the area had a surprising number of game reserves and nature parks around. In fact, the Kruger National Park, one of the largest game reserves in Africa, was only a few dozen kilometres away.
Mandla and Kaveh had actually considered the possibility, because of the weird stuff that had happened the previous month. A meteor had come crashing into the atmosphere unannounced and exploded over the Indian Ocean. For about five days afterwards, animals across the world had gone wild. Normally docile zoo animals escaped enclosures en masse, beloved pets left families they’d been with for years, wild animals began brazenly encroaching on human territory, it had been chaos. Whatever anomaly was causing it died down and things returned to normal, but people had a bit more wariness around wild things now.
It was one of the reasons they’d had the party here instead of in an official game reserve campground. Lions didn’t live in forests.
Shaking his head free of his inauspicious musings, he searched around for his friend.
He spotted Kaveh standing with some of the socialites. There was a gaggle of women around him, of course, and he was telling them some story or other. Mandla noticed he kept shooting glances toward the hotbox tent by the astronauts’ den.
So that’s where Cinderella is. Makes sense.
Nicola Steenkamp was a cool girl, but easily the biggest stoner Mandla had ever met. The petite blonde’s lungs must’ve been toughened to leather by now, with how much smoke she could put away. It just made her achievements even more impressive, as she was dangerously sharp, even making the top hundred in the whole country with her matric results. That hadn’t been enough however, because she had her sights on leaving the continent forever. She applied to do the SATs and aced them too. It was no wonder she was going off on a full scholarship to an Ivy League.
Still, he didn’t much care for her. She knew how Kaveh felt and, in Mandla’s opinion, had been stringing him along for years. He’d even talked to her about the situation, but she’d acted coy and coquettish.
I really did try. Ah well, one more go of it, and if he doesn’t listen, I’ll just have to be there when she inevitably breaks his heart.
Making his way down through the crowd, he socialised. Making introductions, starting vigorous debates and leaving, pulling people away from drinking alone at the bar, he was in his element. Playing the gracious host, he greeted and laughed his way towards his friend.
“Yo Kaveh!”
Seeing his head perk up, Mandla beckoned him towards the buffet table.
Bidding his goodbyes, Kaveh left the giggling group and cut easily though the masses, joining the short man.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
Mandla offered him some canapes from the small mountain on the table. He was always more agreeable when he was eating.
“So this confession plan of your-”
Face brightening up, Kaveh leapt in.
“Yeah, I have it all set up! We said hi earlier and she agreed to come talk to me just before midnight! You think that’s corny? Will she think it’s corny? I know the whole midnight confession thing is cliché but I want it to be special. Either way, we’ll look back in a couple decades and by then, it’ll be cute.”
“Uhh-”
“I’m thinking too far ahead, aren’t I? But I mean, is that even a bad thing? You’re supposed to be able to envision a future with the girl of your dreams, right? Otherwise she’d just be another girl. Am I making sense?”
Is he on coke?
“Are you on coke??”
“Haha no but I wish. It’s something about finally making the decision, you know? I’m finally gonna tell her and I feel light as a cloud. It has to be a sign.”
Of an impending panic attack, sure. I need to try a new strat.
Mandla sighed.
“Look bro, you know how I feel about this whole thing, but have you considered how she would feel?”
“Joyous? Ecstatic? Overcome by my sheer masculine aura?”
Mandla chuckled.
“Yeah, aside from all that. Say you’re right and she’s just waiting for you to make a move. What then? You know she’s off to Yale. Are you going to make her choose between love and higher education?”
Kaveh paused at that. He frowned, before shaking his head free of the thought.
“No, it won’t come to that. We can make it work long distance, and on the off-chance we can’t, I’ll move there. I can enrol in a community college or something.”
Jesus, he’s completely set on this.
He didn’t want to watch his best friend crash and burn but the man was stubborn as they come. Deep down, he probably knew it was unrealistic. No way his parents would let him go to a random community college. No way she’d agree to enter university with a ball-and-chain, and even if she did, knowing her, no way she’d stay faithful.
But deep in his eyes, Mandla saw the fevered light of desperation. Kaveh wasn’t stupid. He knew this was his last chance, but he also knew she was likely going to leave no matter what he said. It was blind hope driving this. And how do you argue against blind hope?
Mandla threw his hands up.
“Aight. Cool. I’ve done my part as the eternally wise best friend. I’ll be over here when you finally see sense.”
Kaveh was about to retort when, with a loud unzipping, the hotbox tent opened and in a plume of smoke, Nicola appeared.
Dressed in a simple white crop top and shorts, with her hair falling in soft golden curls around her face, she had an ethereal magnetism about her, drawing every eye. She looked good, no one could deny that. Problem was, she knew it.
Scanning the throng with her eyes, she locked onto Kaveh and prowled his way.
Mandla looked down at his wristwatch.
11:49.
Of course this has to happen now. Ugh.
Kaveh, struck dumb by both her sudden appearance and her alluring sashay towards him, couldn’t even close his mouth.
Mandla sighed.
Bro, I love you but man, you’re a simp.
Regardless, he didn’t want to watch the tall Persian drool or suffer her innuendo-laced attempts at conversation, so backing off, he swam through the crowd once more to get to the bar. Might as well have a bit of fun before it went sideways and he had to take care of a heartbroken Kaveh the rest of the night.
Keeping one eye on his friend, Mandla got a drink from the bartender and shuffled back to the buffet table. He sipped on his drink as he watched the two talk. It was almost cute, they had genuine chemistry. Shame she was toxic. He checked his watch again.
11:59
Oh boy.
Mandla raised his head and saw Kaveh put up a finger, halting Nicola’s story in its tracks. The lovestruck boy took a deep breath, steeling himself.
Oh god. Please pussy out, it’ll be better for all of us.
Saturation complete…
Mandla frowned. He saw Kaveh jerk his head back in the distance.
Scanning: dominant species…
Scanning: progenitor gene seed…
Scan complete.
Genome sequenced. Margin of error: 2%. Acceptable.
Overlap found.
Granting: lesser Atavism…
Mandla only had time to stare in puzzlement at the blue boxes before everything went dark.