A transplanted heart – unsettled by murder – makes a 180-degree turn into a blinding light.

Description

‘Guard your heart with all your power; because the heart of man is the wellspring of life.’

*Christian theme

By William Van Zyl – a short story (only 2450 words).

Read the full story online (blog post): https://fivehousepublishing.com/2021/05/20/a-transplanted-heart-unsettled-by-murder-makes-a-180-degree-turn-into-a-blinding-light/

EXCERPT:

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…