Kritvik Bhatt

“Bye-bye!” Sana waved her palm as she smiled.

“Bye,” I replied with a smile, turned back, and started to walk away. I was still smiling as I walked away.

She turned back too and started to walk away.

The two of us walked in two different directions outside the metallic wired fence. There was the empty ground on the other side of the fence, with the school building some steps away. There were more gangs of boys and girls surrounding me as I walked away from her and she walked away from me.

I turned back, looking at her back, where her black bag was hung in front of her white back. I then turned to the front again, smiling. “Damn, man!” I thought beneath my smile. “I literally talked to her! And… we talked so much! All day long!”

“The only time we talked a little was during lunch and hometime.”

As I was walking, smiling wide, I remembered her face—half covered with her black mask, obviously—as she smiled, covered her lips with her palm as she laughed, widened her eyes as she asked with her faint voice, “What? Really?”

“Like, why do you even appear emo in front of the class? You’re not what I thought you were at all!”

“That’s sad…”

“I just can’t believe that you don’t like that anime! It’s so cool!”

I turned my head down because I didn’t want to appear like a freak, smiling so hard for no reason in between all this public. There were whispers and faint voices of people talking and laughing all around me, but that day, as I turned my head up and looked at the sky, walking around all those guys and girls, I felt happy. I felt genuinely happy.

The sky was shining blue brightly, with their abnormal meaninglessly shaped clouds covering half of it. No doubt, the sky was happy, just like me.

With my face still toward the sky, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in, and then exhaled out. I moved my head down to the front, opened my eyes, and with that little smile on my face, I thought, “So people here notice me too.” My eyes felt a little emotional on that thought, and I turned my head down, and then turned to the front again. “Sana notices me too. And… it makes me happy. No doubt at it. But… why? Why does her talking to me make me happy?”

“What… is this feeling?”

***

“C’mon, go out!”

“But why, mom?!”

“You can’t make friends sitting at home all day like this!”

“Yeah, but, I can’t even forcefully befriend people!”

“You can! Now listen, you’re never gonna make friends like this. So now, go make some!”

“Okay, mom…”

So, I was walking on the empty street, filled with cars and apartments on both sides. “Huff! How do I tell mom that’s now how it works?!” I murmured to myself, my head tilted down. “That’s not how one makes friends!”

I had my hands in the pockets of my pants as I walked through the street. The sun was about to set in about half an hour, and the evening was pleasant and peaceful. The street was filled with cars, streetlights, electricity poles, and all that stuff. In front of me was the four-lane intersection. I walked toward it silently as I remembered Sana’s smiling face beneath her black mask, which covered her chin, nose, and lips. A small smile erupted on my chapped lips.

Two small mynas sat on top of the electric wires on the other side of the intersection. The left one chirped a little as it was turning in a randomly different direction every second. The one on its right turned to the first one, chirped back, and then pinched its long yellow beak inside the first one’s neck. Maybe, the two of them were playing with each other. No doubt, they looked harmless, innocent, and naturally beautiful.

As I looked at them with a warm content smile, I thought, “No doubt, today’s a good day, so I should try making friends. Maybe it'll work today.” I then turned to the left at the intersection.

After some seconds of walking with that same content smile and peace of mind, I noticed the same park some steps ahead of me. I noticed the same green fence, with leaves of the dense bushes and shrubs planted on the other side coming out through the fence. My smile faded a little, but a little of it remained.

Aaryan’s furious face flashed in front of me. I remembered how he looked down on me that afternoon fiercely . But then, I remembered the three guys in white, looking to their backs at me. That hurt the most. That caused a little pain in my chest. But it went away the next second.

I turned my head downward, a smile still on my face darkened by the shadows.. “I… couldn’t even fight back. Damn, man!” That caused another little pain in my chest, and my heart punched in my chest once. I closed my eyes. “I’m so weak that… I couldn’t even save my own self-respect?”

“… No!” I opened my eyes after a second. “I’m not gonna think about all that, man!” I turned my head to the front. “I’m gonna be happy today!”

I remembered Sana’s smiling face. “Yeah, maybe if I think about her and only her and nothing else, I’m gonna be happy.”

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

The footsteps of my shoes echoed a little in my ears as I walked hurriedly toward the park, wanting to get over with all that stuff. Then, my left foot stepped beside the fence asi kept on walking like that. I turned my head to my left, looking at the park. I smiled a little. I gulped in. I returned to my normal pace. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

“It’s empty!” The voice of my head rose up in joy as I thought, looking toward the empty square park with some metal benches on both the sides. I then turned my head to the front. “No doubt at it! They must be at home!” I turned my head to the front. “Yes!” I whispered, my eyes fixed to the front.

I continued walking straight on the street. “There’s an empty field a little ahead. Some guys must be playing football or cricket. Maybe I should check it out.”

No doubt I was joyful that day as I walked through the peaceful street in the middle of the evening.

“For some reason, today’s day is going just great! I talked to Sana, didn’t have an encounter with Aaryan and the other guys, and now, maybe I will befriend some guys. It’s just so great!”

“For some reason, I’d forgotten that… the day was still not over.”

***

Some minutes had passed. I was still smiling a little, my eyes fixed to the front. My hands were inside my denim pants as I walked on the silent street. I could see an open plot of land between apartments on my right. It was really wide, covered by walls with paint ripping off on all the sides.

“Yeah, do it!”

“The fuck are ya doing?!”

“You motherfucker! Stop it!”

I could hear the angry shouts of some boys, maybe my age, from the field. I frowned a little in doubt. “What’s… happening there?” I thought. No doubt, the voices were not positive and friendly.

I walked a little faster to reach the field. I stepped out from the corner of the apartment and turned to the field on my right. My eyes widened as I stood at the corner of the street.

I looked at the three boys beating the two in between their circle. The two in the middle were kneeling down on the ground, with their hands and legs tied up with thick black tape or some stuff.

“Stop it, you bitch!” One of the two being beaten shouted. “Y’are gonna pay for this! Yer whole gang is gonna pay for this shit, motherfucker!”

“Shut the fuck up, you fucking asshole!” Aaryan shouted as he kicked on his face.

The first one, who was already down kneeling at them, thumped his face on the ground. The second one, who was crying, shouted in pain, “Please! Leave us!” He was both scared and in pain. He was frightened to the core. His cheeks were covered with tears, his chin and mouth covered with blood. “We never did anything wrong to you! Please leave us!”

“Nah, pal, ya see, we like conflict!” Aaryan commented with a smile and kicked him in the face again. He too fell to his left—his face on the belly of the first one.

“These guys legit deserve it,” Sooraj, who stood on Aaryan’s right, said as he looked at the two.

“That’s what ya get for touching Rohit.” The one on the other side of the two said. I was looking at the back of Rohit. Rohit then turned his face from the two guys down to Aaryan. He had a vape in his mouth. “Whaddya say, we shoot ‘em nude?”

“Nah, I’m not into guys, ya see,” Aaryan commented back.

“ARRRRGHHHHH!” The one on top of the first one cried hard. “Please no! PLEASE NO!” His shrill shouting voice was literally tearing up.

Aaryan turned down at him, and then with a smug grin, he turned his eyeballs at Rohit. “I guess we now know what we’re gonna do.”

“Someone please help us! SOMEONE HELP US! SOMEONE HELP USSSS!” He moved his head left and right as he shouted for help. His eyes then, after a second, fell upon me as he had his head tilted up right. “HEY YOU, PLEASE HELP US! THOSE GUYS ARE TAKING OFF OUR CLOTHES AND FILMING US! PLEASE, PAL! PLEASE!”

My eyes widened as I looked at him crying so damn hard at me. I stood there frozen as I looked at his beaten-up face and his helping cries. “HELP US, PLEASE!”

Aaryan turned to me, Sooraj turned to me, and Rohit turned his back at me. Aaryan was smiling, Sooraj was neutral, and Rohit seemed like he was pissed off.

“He’s the same guy, ain’t he?” Rohit asked.

“Yeah,” Aaryan replied with a smile.

“Whaddya say we should do?” Rohit asked, still glaring at me angrily.

“That asshole’s a pretty nice guy, so if we tell him to fuck off, he’s gonna fuck off. He must have already shat his pants off.”

“Then tell him to fuck off, motherfucker.”

Aaryan turned to his left, went from the back of Sooraj, and started walking toward me. I looked at him walking through the brown soil toward me with a smile on his face.

As I looked at him walking toward me, I thought, “No doubt, I’m fucked today!” My eyes widened as I stood there frozen, glaring at his figure walking at me. I gulped in. My heart was beating vigorously, like punching me ten times a second. Thump! Thumpp!

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

“Hey, Kritvik!” Aaryan said when he was just about a couple of steps away. In the next second, he stopped and stood in front of me.

“H-Hi…”

“Why are ya here, pal? What’s happening here?”

“W-What’s happening?” I asked.

“It’s so peaceful today, right?” He said with a smile. “Ya saw nothing bad going on today. Today’s nice and peaceful.”

“Y-Y-Y-Yeah.”

He then patted me on my left shoulder. “Then fuck off from here, pal. Today’s such a nice day, and this is not a good place to enjoy your day, right?” He pushed me back a little. I stepped backward, looking directly into his eyes, scared and shocked. “Go away, pal,” He nicely said as he walked to me, and pushed me by my chest. “Go.” He then suddenly pushed me a little harder. I walked back a few steps by the impact, now standing behind the corner of the wall, with those guys out of my view. “Ya saw nothing, okay? Nothing was going on here. And if ya remember what ya saw, remember that I’ve got my networks all around this part of the city. Ya remember it, right?”

“R-R-Right…”

“Then go away. Shoo.” Aaryan turned back and started to walk away.