November 2019 Winner
Best Laid Plans
Written by: Sharyn Swanepoel
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I‘ve spent weeks planning for this day. Every little detail has been meticulously mapped out, from my dark-coloured disguise down to the right tool I need to get the job done. Now here I am, heart racing, toes cramping, crouching in the dark waiting for that right moment.
It’s taking longer than it should. Or is it? I’d removed my watch, not wanting to alert anyone to my presence with its digital glow. I start counting in my mind, trying to work out the minutes as they tick past. One Mississippi, Two Mississippi. Three Mississippi. I’m up to 384 when a rattle of the gate has me pumping with more adrenalin. My moment is coming. Raising the barrel, my fingers feel twitchy on the trigger. I brace myself. I have one chance.
He’s whistling. The bastard is whistling! No thought of what he’s done to me. To my family. It’s made me more determined. I take aim and wait. I want him to realise I’m here before I pull the trigger. I need him to feel the same fear I felt when he broke into my house, attacked my mother. Put her in hospital. She’s still there.
My eyes start to water but I put that down to the pressure of the moment, having to keep my eyes fixed in one position for so long. I should have known. I should have realised. Then my nose twitches. I wriggle it, but it doesn’t help. I try to rub it on my shoulder but the synthetic fibres on my balaclava only make it worse. There’s nothing stopping it. One almighty sneeze is soon followed by two more.
I look up, and he’s gone. Every little detail meticulously planned, bar one. I’d forgotten about spring and my allergies to pollen. I didn’t even think to check out his garden before lying in wait.
Now sitting in the hospital beside my mother’s bed a week later, the memories came back way too fresh. As do the sneezes. Three in succession again. Those bloody flowers. They are everywhere in here. In her room, all over the ward, even at the nurses station I walked past to get here. I realise now though, thanks to my allergy, I’ve dodged a bullet, so to speak. Mum woke from her coma and the police have interviewed her. Now he’s behind bars. That could have been me.
I have a second chance. I’ve learnt my lesson.
When he gets out, I’ll make sure I’m dosed up on anti-histamines. Or wait for winter.