Kritvik Bhatt

The soft chilly breeze of November blew. The ruins of a school or a hospital or any other building as wide as a school or a hospital stood behind at the bottom of the dark sky which held no stars or moon. In front of the ruins of the building lay a lawn. The lawn had no vegetation except scarce greenery covering the dominant light brown shade of soil. The cemented skeleton of the ruined building had nothing, except bricks and cement, like it was left incomplete. The lawn too had ruined walls as its boundaries. The ruins of the building had trees on both the sides, for some reason, like it was between a dense forest or something, even though it certainly wasn’t.

On the lawn in front of the building, about two dozen guys stood in two groups. Both the groups were looking at each other.

Two guys stood at the center, looking into each other’s eyes. Both were about my age, but well-built, for some reason. No doubt, the atmosphere was dense. Maybe both of them were the leaders of the two groups. The one on my right had his eyes narrowed down, his arms crossed around his chest, and looked fed up and dominating. The one on the left had his eyes frowning. He was a little skinnier than the right one, but still had fleshy arms. He stood in white shirt-pant, while the one on the right had a red shirt and black loose pants, with the shirt hanging out of his pants. He even had a vape in his mouth.

The one in a red shirt said, “I won’t forgive you for what you’ve done to my boys.”

“I don’t even need yer forgiveness, motherfucker.”

“Oh, ya’ll be needing it in some time, Vikram.”

“Shut the fucking hell up, Amit.”

“The Sons of Satan will never forgive ya for this.”

“Who fucker asked?”

Sana and I were on the other side of the ruined walls. The wall’s paint was ripping off, and it had deep cracks. No doubt, it was really old. We both were standing, our backs facing the empty silent street which lay in the middle of nowhere, and our eyes were on the other side of the wide hole and cracks of the wall. We both were sitting on the ground, her shoes toward me, her knees up in front of her chest, and her hands on both the sides of the legs. I was crouching down as I sat in front of her, my back still bent forward so I could get a better view. Both of us looked from the wall just some centimeters up the road, about a dozen inches in diameter.

“How cool!” Sana commented as she smiled in excitement, her eyes lit up as she looked at the battlefield.

“No doubt, it’s gonna be an intense fight.”

“Vikram is really filled with attitude, but he’s so strong that he can easily take on all these guys alone.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah,” She smiled beneath her mask. “I saw his other fight some months ago. He’s really cool.”

“Maybe…” I replied, my attention to the two guys. Behind Vikram stood other guys in colorful sweatpants, capris, shorts, and t-shirts.

The other guy had his shocked eyes at Vikram. He had a little bit of mustache and beard, a hint that he was turning into an adult. Vikram too had some hair on his face. The other guy looked at Vikram with disgust and shock. “Imma show ya who fucker asked, asshole.” He held Vikram’s collar with his right hand. “Imma show you, ASSHOLE!”

The guys behind Vikram chaotically shouted, “AAAAAEEEEEEEE!” They seemed offended that their leader was touched. Everyone dashed to the action in a second.

The guys on the other side shouted indistinctly too as they dashed toward the other guys. The fight erupted as both the sides started to punch and kick each other. Everyone’s hands and legs were moving here and there in anger and rage.

“Vikram’s just like this, taking up fights against other clans of the area to show himself as the dominant one,” Sana told me seriously, her eyes fixed at the fight. She then turned her eyes to her right at me. “I’m really sure it was him who did something.”

“Damn…” I looked into her serious eyes, and then turned to the fight again. She turned to the fight again.

Pow! Thump! Swoosh! Slam! Whack! Some aggressive fighting was taking place in front of us, no doubt. Everyone was involved in it.

“AHAHAHAHA! YOU PIECE OF SHIT, TAKE IT!” One guy laughed monstrously. My eyes fell at him. He was fighting on the back of Vikram, his lips wide open in laughter. “AHAHAHAHA!” Then, another guy from his back dashed to him, and he quickly turned back, moved his right foot up, and kicked him in his belly. “TAKE THAT, ASSHOLE!”

“D-D-D-Damn…” My eyes opened wide as I looked at him.

Soon, Sana too caught the attention of its laughter, and she turned her eyes a little rightward at the guy. “Who’s he?” She narrowed her eyes a little.

“H-H-H-He…” I stuttered.

She turned at me. “Do you know him?”

I turned my eyes to my left at her, looked at her with fright in my eyes, and opened my mouth, taking breaths in and out successively. “Huff, huff. Huff, huff. Huff, huff.”

“W-What happened, Kritvik?” She softly asked, a little scared at my sudden change in emotions.

“He’s Aaryan.” I turned my eyes to him. I looked at his faded light blue t-shirt, his capris, and his muscular well-built body filled with nutrients as he punched other guys around him. “I… have had instances with him before.”

“What… instances…?” She asked in a low scared tone as she looked at me.

My gaze was fixed at him. My eyes were wide open and serious, not dark or dead. “I… He’s not a good guy. He vapes, smokes, and sells drugs, cigarettes, and other stuff. For some reason, we’ve met once and twice before.” I gulped in. I then turned my head down and covered my eyes with my palm. “I don’t like him. He absolutely fucks me up whenever I meet him.”

“You can share it with me, Kritvik.”

My body was shaking a little as I took breaths in and out, my head tilted down in despair and restlessness. I stayed silent for a couple of seconds, just breathing in and out. “Huff, huff. Huff, huff. Huff, huff. Huff, huff.”

Sana looked at me warmly, moved her right hand up, and patted on my left shoulder. “Don’t worry, Kritvik. I’m with you.”

I gulped in. “T-Thank you, Sana.” I then moved my hand down from my eyes. “And… sorry for it.” I turned to her. “F-For some reason, his image just… opens up some bad memories. So…”

“It’s okay. And I promise you, everything will be fine.” She said, looking into my scared eyes. I looked at her caring warm eyes. I then took in a deep breath, turned my head down again, my hair facing her, and then breathed it out. My head was tilted down in that position for some seconds silently. After those seconds, I nodded softly. “Thank you, Sana.” I moved my head up to her.

She smiled beneath her mask. “Now smile, emo.”

My chapped lips widened into a smile. I then turned to the fighting. I looked at Aaryan laughing and waving his hands here and there, fighting with everyone around him.

Sana then turned to the fight too. “Anyway, it’s kinda boring, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s Kavya who likes them.”

“Who’s Kavya?”

She turned to me with a smile. “That girl who’s always around me.”

I nodded.

She turned to the fight again. “She has a crush on this Vikram guy. So, she is always coming here, watching his fights. I’m by her side, too.”

“Oh,” I smiled. “That’s great.”

“She’s caught a cold, which soon turned into a fever. Changing season, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“So she wanted me to watch the fight and tell her what happened. But, I didn’t want to come here alone, and I don’t really talk to others much.”

“Oh.” I smiled, turned at her with a smug, and said, “That’s… sad.”

She chuckled inside her smile as she turned to me. “Yeah, that’s sad.” She then turned to the fight again. “Vikram sure is cool, but I don’t really like him. He’s filled with attitude.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I like him either.”

“You’re a boy, that’s why.”

I smiled. “Maybe.”

“MAYBE?!”

“I-I mean, if I were friends with him, even then I wouldn't like him,” I said hesitantly.

“Oh,” She smiled. “Yeah yeah. Like, why would anyone like a guy like this, filled with attitude?”

“No doubt no one.”

Intense fighting was taking place in front of us. Both the sides were angrily scratching each other’s skin and flesh, punching and kicking with full might. About four to five were lying down on the ground in pain, with their faces filled with blood. Some drops of blood were spread all across the soil.

Sana and I had our complete focus on the fight.

“How… can someone… punch so hard… intentionally that… the other person literally starts bleeding?” I asked, my eyes on those guys on the ground.

“Really, these guys are insane.”

“No doubt, they’re heartless.”

“Yeah.”

Just as my eyes moved up from those guys up to the fighting ones, I looked at Aaryan. His legs, hands, and body were standing completely still as I was moving my vision up. Then… my eyes fell toward his eyes. Our shocked eyes met. Mine were horrified. His ones frowned in doubt. He said something as his lips moved, but his voice didn’t reach us. I gulped up. Sana then turned to me, and then looked at what I was looking at. Her eyes widened too.

“That guy saw us!”

“Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!” I chanted.

Suddenly, he stepped to his front toward us. My crouched legs slid a little backward, my body in a position to run away anytime I command it to. Sana too moved her knees down, her butt up, and crouched, into the position of running away, as she glared at Aaryan angrily with a frown. Aaryan’s left foot then moved to the front at us. Suddenly, he was met with a punch from his left.

“Run away!” Sana shouted.

Both of us stood up in an instant–which was not in an instant, for some reason, since we were not professional track runners–and started to run to the left where I sat on the road.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap. Both of our irregular footsteps patted on the empty street as we ran. We were slow, but for some reason, it appeared as our maximum speed at the moment. We both were bad at athletics, maybe.

We ran and ran and ran. Our hands and legs moving to and fro, our mouth open, our chest panting, and our eyes fixed to the front, we both ran and ran.

After a few seconds, I slowed down. In another second, I stood on the ground. I bent down, my hands on my knees, and panted heavily with my open mouth. Some steps ahead of me, Sana too came to a halt, bent down like me, panted, and turned her head backward at me. She looked at me as she panted with her open mouth.

My head was tilted down. I turned my head up at her, looked into her eyes, and smiled with my open lips. “That HUFF was HUFF insane!”

“Huff! Huff!” She panted and nodded. “Yeah. Huff. Really.”

I turned my head down and closed my mouth, trying to calm my body down, and she too closed her lips, turning her head downward. I turned my eyes up at her for a second, and stole a glance of her hair falling down her shoulders, covering her face.

Her lips opened again. “Aha… Ahahaha! Ahahahahahahhahaha!” She started to laugh.

“Ahahahahhshaahaaha,” I laughed too, my head tilted down. I then straightened my back. “That was fun, man! That was damn fun!”

“Really!” She laughed as she moved her back up, her head still tilted to her back at me. We both laughed, our eyes closed and mouths open.

“Man,” My laugh faded away, and what remained was a little smile. “I had fun today,” I told her.

“Yeah, me too.” She turned her head down, like she was being a little emotional about something. “It’s been days since I’ve had this much fun.”

“Huh? Why?”

She turned at me with her smile. “You see, I had too much fun during the COVID pandemic, so I was just feeling like my life suddenly turned normal again, and I didn’t like it.”

“Don’t worry, we can still have fun without COVID.”

“Yeah, right.” She took in a deep breath and let it out. Her eyes were glaring at me, and mine were at hers.

“She… reminded me of Jiya, and the good days we’ve spent. And, she was the one who… made me live those evenings again. The same chilly evening breezes, the same soft warming sun, the same moon lighting the area. She showed me that… even though it was different… it was still the same. And… I, too, was laughing genuinely for the first time since I shifted there. For some reason, I was not remembering the days foregone. I was in the present, and… I was happy. I didn’t want that night, or those days… to ever end. But… they did, obviously, and… there were more days after that…”