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‘Guard your heart with all your power; because the heart of man is the wellspring of life.’
By William Van Zyl – a short story (only 2450 words).
*Listen to the story on Podbean:
At 11:16 on Wednesday, June 19, 2016, several deafening pistol shots rang from a carpark in a Pretoria mall in South Africa. There was bone-chilling shouting. A car took off with tyres screaming.
Two large bags, filled with jewellery, were shifting nervously left and right on the backseat of the getaway car as two burglars escaped from the second level carpark of the Watercress Mall in Pretoria.
The heist was well executed. It was perfect; they had planned it with military precision. For weeks they had been conspiring and conspiring – secretly – busy like little bees. The two robbers have been waiting weeks for the opportune moment. They had been practicing – doing everything in their power to succeed.
However – on that day – something went wrong, very wrong. As their car sped off in the distance, a police officer was lying in a pool of blood. Fresh blood was flowing from just above his right eye under the eye socket. The officer was shot from a distance. The thieves got away. The second police officer – Sameer – knelt at the side of his police buddy and held his head in both his hands.
“No, no, no! Rakesh hold on, I will get an ambulance!” he shouted. He wondered, would his police friend survive the wound to his eye, and consequently his head.
Sameer called 111 – silently, he was praying for a miracle.
“Pretoria, Watercress Mall, second-floor carpark – police officer received a gun wound to his head. An ambulance immediately, please,” he repeated 3 times on his mobile phone. The knuckles of his right hand – now white without blood after all the drama – clenched his mobile phone intensely as he made the call.
Rakesh was his best buddy. They had been working together for the past 2 years.
The ambulance arrived within 10 minutes at the hospital. Rakesh was taken to the emergency ward. They tried everything. Rakesh was fighting for his life. The gunshot to his head was too severe.
“I am very sorry; we have done everything in our power to save his life. Your fellow police officer Rakesh has passed away.”
Sameer thought about Rakesh’s wife and children – he had hoped for a miracle. Unfortunately, that miracle never eventuated.
————0——————-
On June 20, Sally French received a new heart – she had been waiting for 8 months – she was on the cusp of dying. After a successful heart transplant, the heart of Rakesh was beating very strong in her chest cavity.
“The heart transplant was a huge success,” said the surgeon when he spoke to her husband after completing the procedure.
“She needs rest, lots of rest.”
————0——————-
Within a month of the organ transplant, Sally was home. Immediately she started to get dreams. It puzzled her. It first began with subtle images, and then it became disturbing. She dreamt of gunshots and beautiful jewellery. Initially, she did not make much of it. But in the following couple of months, the detail increased.
One particular image really got her attention – a car mirror and a pain in her right eye. The mirror-and-eye dreams became nightmares. She started investigating transplants and dreams, then she discovered the world of cellular memory. Strange research phenomena were reported online. It included a crime being solved after a person received a heart transplant. The memory of events was somehow stored in the cellular memory. The case was blown wide open when the recipient reported ongoing dreams. The person –which had also received a new heart – could describe specific events and phenomena that led the police and investigators to the perpetrator. Sally was astonished.
Was the memory of her new heart trying to communicate with her? Who’s heart is beating in her chest?
“I am perturbed,” said Sally, “I have to find out more about the heart that is beating in my chest. Is there a message from the underworld encoded in my dreams?” said Sally to her husband.
The picture of the exterior car mirror became more explicit and more transparent in Sally’s dreams. Had the red coloured semi-circular shaped mirror with a tiny bit of smoke that escaped from the edges of the mirror any significance?
Sally sat down with her husband and described the recurring detail of the images she sees in her dreams. She told him of the pain she experiences in her right eye while dreaming.
“The interesting thing is that the tiny puffs of smoke came from two tiny holes on the sides of the car mirror. One hole is located on the left and one on the right of the mirror. It aligns horizontally,” she explained.
“Why don’t you go to the donor company and tell them about what you have experienced. Tell them what you see in your dreams. It could just mean that it could be related to the transplant. Who knows,” said George, her husband. They had been married for 35 years. He knows his wife well. This is the first time she had shared dreams with so much detail.
————0——————-
“Sally, thank you for informing us about your experiences; we will investigate and come back to you. As you know, the privacy of the donor of your heart is protected,” said the person from the Donata Organ Company.
————0——————-
It is June 2020. In a cold Pretoria prison cell, two convicted jewellery burglars– Ivan Petranoff and Vladimir Bolschefski are serving their time for a jewellery robbery in the same month at the Watercress Mall. They are separated. Ivan is in the high-security division – convicted of murdering a police officer on the fateful day of the heist.
“It is so unfair,” said Ivan with sadness in his voice, “I fired two shots very high over the heads of the police officers.”
Ivan is confiding in the trust of a fellow inmate also serving a lifetime sentence. He had been repeating this conversation a couple of times to his new inmate friend and confidant.
“Something just doesn’t stack up,” said Ivan, ‘I am innocent, really that is the truth, my two bullets could not have killed the police officer!”
“I used the same calibre pistol; that is why I am convicted. But, what did really happen on that day?” he asked over and over as he explains to his fellow prisoner.
————0——————-
“Mrs French, there is something we would like to tell you,” said the manager of the Donata Organ Company.
“We will reveal the donor’s background to you because we have been in contact with the police and an inmate at a prison. After very long deliberation, we have decided to reveal the information to you because it could possibly change the outcome for the sentenced person.”
“Do you want to hear the truth?”
“You mean, I am carrying a criminal’s heart?”
“You have to sign some forms before we can communicate the information with you,” said the manager.
They sat down at a table. After deliberation with her husband, Sally signed the forms.
The manager continued, “Wait, we have been investigating and reviewing surveillance footage of a heist which took place in June of 2016 in the Pretoria area. It is possible that the explanation of the convicted murderer – who killed a police officer on that day – could be true. Police investigators have interviewed the convict and his fellow inmate. It seems like there is something sinister about this case. For that reason, we want you to consider cooperating with us.”
“Anything, please, these recurring dreams are just haunting me. It has to stop!” said Mrs French.
“There is a spiritual dimension to this situation, and I think it is important to reveal this to you,” said her husband, who had been supporting his wife over the past two years.
“My wife is a devout Christian; she had been describing a spiritual change since she had received the new heart.”
“That is very interesting; please continue?”
“She feels like she has lost her’ salvation.’ That means she experiences that she has no control over the spiritual emotions of the new heart. She wants to know who the donor is. This means that if she knows more, she could make sense of her experiences. Also, it could benefit research and scientific studies in the field of cellular memory of transplanted organs.”
“Yes, there is definitely something very sinister going on,” said the manager.
————0——————-
After revealing the details around the heart donor to Mrs French and what happened on the day, the footage of the surveillance cameras was shown to Mr and Mrs French. Sally felt that she had to visit the scene at the parking area of Watercress Mall. The police showed them the diagrams and photos of the evidence exhibited in court.
————0——————-
Look at the smoke coming from the mirror of the car in front of the murder convicted prisoner. It is precisely what I see in my dreams. Look, there is the registration number of the car!” Sally got very excited.
“Can we trace the owner and car?” she asked with a sparkle in her eyes.
————0——————-
Two weeks later, the owner and the car were traced and located. They found the vehicle and the owner living in the Johannesburg area.
————0——————-
In the forensic laboratory, there is a buzz.
“I cannot believe my eyes,” said the lab technician, “The markings on the inside of the mirror is definitely those of a bullet. Could it be the round that was fired from the pistol of the convicted murderer?”
“If that is true, the bullet could have returned at 180 degrees after being guided around the semi-circular shape of the stainless steel casing of the mirror. And, is it possible that the bullet could’ve hit the police officer just above the eye?”
“That is what I have seen in my dreams: The mirror and the smoke coming from the left and right of the mirror,” said Mrs French.
“What! Do you guys realise that the police officer could have killed himself on that day? He probably fired into the external mirror and the curve returned the bullet at 180 degrees. His own bullet killed him. If it is true, the convicted murderer is innocent!” said the lab assistant.
“Unbelievable! The bullet could have ricocheted around the inside of the mirror, returned and entered the eye of the police officer,” said Mr French.
“Yes, that is what I am thinking too!”
Could this be the key to the mysterious events on the day of the heist?
The markings on the inside of the mirror casing showed the 180-degree-return-path of the bullet.
————0——————-
All the parts of the puzzle came together. All the evidence was laid out in the high court of Pretoria.
“Innocent, conviction overturned! You have completed your time,” said the judge.
“Ivan Petranoff, you are free to go.”
————0——————-
Sally and her husband were jubilant. The case was solved.
However, after a couple of weeks, Sally reported to her husband that the dreams continue.
“What can we do?’ asked George.
“Could I repent for the heart I am carrying now as a Christian?” asked Sally
“Wow, that is quite a tall order. Can one ask for forgiveness for another person?” asked Mr French, “I guess if you ask God and you are really repentant for the previous owner of the heart, He could pardon the person.”
“Sameer, the police officer who saw his buddy perish on the day of the heist, have indicated that Rakesh was talking to him about going to church and that he wanted to become a Christian,” said Sally.
“Is it possible that Rakesh never got the opportunity to take the final step to become a Christian?” asked Mr French.
“That’s why I have the dreams. Is that what you think?”
“Correct, that is what I think. You could make amends for Rakesh. The dreams could then possiblyy stop,” said Mr French.
————0——————-
Sally not only made amends for Rakesh.
“Lord, I give you the heart of Rakesh, unconditionally. I repent of his sins on behalf of him. I receive you as his personal saviour. Amen.”
Sally did not stop there. She also visited the convicted ‘murderer’ Ivan Petranoff – now released from prison – a free man. She and her husband, with the police officer Sameer, visited Ivan at his home.
During their conversation, in a strange turn of events, the police officer, Rakesh, who sadly died on the heist’s scene, had decided to become a Christian.
“I carry Rakesh’s donated heart. I have had dreams that really got my attention. Based on cellular memory, it seems like the memory of Rakesh – and what happened on the day of the heist – were etched into the cells of his heart. I am here to ask for forgiveness for the wrongful conviction of murdering a police officer. As you have witnessed in court and confirmed by the judge and jury, you have been truthful. I also know that you have been remorseful for committing the heist,” said Sally.
“Yes, you are right. I am really sorry for what I have done and the police officer who lost his life on that day,” said Ivan.
“I am here to say sorry on behalf of the officer – Rakesh – whose heart I am carrying. I feel he wants to say sorry to you. That is why I have arranged to see you,” said Sally.
“Thank you, you will not understand how important those words are to me,” said Ivan with eyes tearing up.
“You are forgiven,” said Sally.
————0——————-
At the grave of Rakesh, there is soft weeping. Sally is praying.
“My Father, I bring the heart of Rakesh before You. Please accept him. I give You his Heart.”
————0——————-
With permission, the heading on the tombstone of Rakesh was changed. It now reads:
“Lord, I give you my heart, I give you my soul, I live for you alone.
Every step of the way, every moment of every day,
I live for you alone.”
Rakesh Pravaad
1 April 1973 to 19 June 2016
Rest in Peace.
In the following months, Sally French slept like an angel – she had no more disturbing dreams.
THE END.
Copyright © 2021 by William Van Zyl
A transplanted heart – unsettled by murder – makes a 180-degree turn into a blinding light.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion
thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of the
publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Published by Five House Publishing (New Zealand)
First Publishing, 2021
More ebooks and articles available at https://fivehousepublishing.com/
More about the author at http://williamvanzyl.com/
