Kritvik Bhatt

“So, tha-that’s when Napoleon… He decided that he’d, f-for some reason, he-he’d run away from that place, and…” I stuttered hesitantly as I tried to teach Rohit, who was right in front of me. The room was lit up with white dazzling lights on top, with a window on the left of the bed, from where one could see the darkness of the sky. “And, then—”

“Why did he run away?” Rohit posed a question, to help me with my act, maybe. His eyes were at the corner of the room on his left, even though I was on his right. His eyes told me he was staring aimlessly there, his mind lost in his own thoughts, and even though he had asked me that question, he didn’t want an answer for it.

“M-Maybe it was because of…” I turned my head to the book on the bed between the two of us. I then turned to his face again. “T-That’s not really written down in the book, but maybe you can search on the internet to-to find the answer…”

“You can’t do this, can you?” Rohit asked me.

“F-For some reason, I really have some troubles when it comes to teaching others. I-I’m sorry.”

“Well, motherfucker, ya ain’t good, to be honest,” He commented, his eyes still lost in his thoughts away from me. He then moved his head a little up and looked at the window on our left, moving his hands backward on the bed to take support.

I kept quiet, glaring at the back of his head as he was staring at the outside of the window. The sky was completely dark, and for some reason, there were no stars or moon visible. As I looked at the back of his head, I thought, “He… cusses too, huh?”

“Why did ya stop?” He asked.

“Uh, I-I…” I tilted my head a little down and scratched the back of my head with my left hand. “I don’t think of any good reasons to keep on with this teaching stuff.”

“Yeah, me too, to be honest.”

There was silence between the two of us as he kept on looking at the window and I kept on looking at him. I then turned to the window too, and noticed the green curtains beside the window. “He… He must be worried over something, and that’s why he’s acting like this…” I thought. I then gulped in, opened my mouth, and asked, “S-So why did you join this gang?”

There was a second of silence, where nothing notable happened. I just continued to glare at the back of his head, waiting for a response. After a couple of seconds, the response came. “Well, I ain’t really a part of the gang. I just supply drugs and shit to those motherfuckers.”

“B-But why would you do that?”

He must have smiled on the other side a little as the back of his head jerked a little. “My father’s a businessman, so I wanted to do business too. Childish, to be honest.”

“M-Maybe,” I replied. I didn’t know what to ask next. I turned my head a little downward.

“But I still play a big part in that gang,” He added.

“L-Like what?”

“Like I can get my shit done from those motherfuckers when I want. I can always use the blackmail of not providing them shit if my work ain’t done.”

“D-Damn.”

“Well, I don’t wanna talk about them right now, so if you…”

“O-Okay, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, motherfucker,” Rohit added, his smile faded. He wore a blue sweatshirt over a black pair of pants, with nothing beneath his bare feet. His right hand was behind his back from which his body took a little support, and he moved his left one beside him. “Not your fault.”

“Y-Yeah,” I said, my head tilting down a little again in guilt. “So, that’s what’s worrying you?”

“No. What’s worrying me is something else. And ya can’t really guess, so better not make any wild guesses.”

“But, what’s been worrying you? Y-You can tell me!”

At that sentence, he turned his head to his right, and I looked at his annoyed narrowed eyes. “Why? Are ya my girlfriend?”

“... N-No…”

“My mom?

“N-No…”

“Then?”

He then turned his head to his left again, looking at the sky. Silence rose up in the room… again. Maybe he didn’t want to talk to me anymore. No doubt he was frustrated about something. I too didn’t want to be scolded, so I just sat silently for some seconds, glaring at the back of his head. I then turned to my front, looking at the peach-colored wall. It was shining brightly, like it was new.

I then turned to him again after those couple of seconds. “It’s almost time. Maybe I should leave.”

Rohit turned to his front and stood up. “Yeah, you should go.” He walked to the wardrobe on the left back side of the bed. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. His bare foot patted on the floor.

Creak. The wardrobe’s door opened. Rohit moved both his hands in, started to move some of his things inside here and there, searching for the package.

I kept on glaring at the wardrobe, hearing the sounds of stuff being pushed here and there. The wardrobe was laminated white plastic, shining brightly because of the bright white lights. It was attached to the wall, about a step away from the bed, facing the bed.

Rohit then took out a box with both his hands, closed the open door of the wardrobe with his knee, and then walked to me. I looked at the newspaper wrapping on top of the rectangular-shaped box—about one hand’s width—in front of his belly. He kept it on the bed on my left, my eyes still staring at the box.

“This is the package, motherfucker. Make sure ya don’t fuck up with it.”

“Y-Yeah,” I said as I looked at it. For some reason, it looked like a bundle of printer paper, just wrapped around with a newspaper. I gulped in as I thought, “It… has drugs inside it.” I continued to stare at it like that for a couple of seconds, a little scared, and then I turned to my bag. I moved it up in front of me, opened its zip, took up the history book first, kept it inside beside a couple of other books and notebooks, and then took up the heavy package from my right hand. I stuffed it in, behind all the other books and notebooks, and then I zipped it in.

***

After a couple of seconds, I was out at the entrance. I tied the laces of my sneakers, and then bent my back up straight. Rohit was standing beside me, his eyes on my head. I took up the bag with my right hand beside me, hung it around my shoulder, and then moved my left arm inside the strap, and then placed it around my other shoulder. I walked down the narrow couple of stairs in front of the entrance, walked through the pathway in between the lawn, and continued to walk out. Rohit was looking at my back walking away, maybe a little relieved beneath his annoyed face. My face showed I was scared and hesitant as I walked away. I pushed open the gate, stepped out, closed the gate behind my back, turned left, and continued to walk away on the street filled with such bungalows and apartments on both sides in the middle of the night.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. I walked away in the middle of the dark street lit by the streetlights every dozen steps away.

***

After a couple of minutes, I turned left and entered a park. It was a dark park with trees on the edge of the entrance. I walked through the shadows of the trees, my eyes at the circle of kids my age at the front. My hands were inside my pocket, my bag hung beneath my back. My face was neutral as I looked at them—some standing, some sitting, all around the metallic bench at the center.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

As they heard my footsteps, they turned their backs to their back at me. Some indistinct whispers followed as some of them stepped aside and I walked inside the circle and stood in front of Vikram, who sat dominantly with his right leg on his left, and his hands on top of the backrest of the bench. I looked into his eyes. “I got it.”

Vikram, with his neutral face and hard voice, complimented, “Good.”

“Shit, pal, ya did it, then!” I heard Aaryan’s voice and turned to my right. He stood up from the ground and walked to me. He too donned the white shirt-black pant combo, just like everybody else in the gang. He had a huge grin on his face.

I hesitantly smiled a little as I looked at him coming toward me.

He threw his left arm on top of my shoulders and kept on grinning, for some reason. “I knew ya could do it.”

“Aaryan, check if Rohit has sent the right stuff.”

“Yeah,” He turned to me and backed his left arm.

I looked in his eyes, then hesitantly took out my arms from the straps of my bag, and moved it to my front. I crouched down on my legs, kept the bag on the ground, opened the zip of the bag, moved my right hand in, took the package out, and then raised it up at Aaryan. Aaryan’s right hand took it and I moved my right hand down again, closed the zip, and then stood up again, my bag hanging in my hand. Aaryan looked at the package which he held from both his hands in front of his chest, and after a couple of seconds when I stuffed both my arms inside the straps of my bags and stood silently, he commented, “Packing is quite good. That asshole—”

“Who fucker asked?” Vikram interrupted him.

Aaryan then started to tear off the package, completely ignoring the fact that he was just scolded.

“Maybe I should go, then,” I said, turned to the entrance of the empty silent dark park, and started to walk away. After taking a step away, I stopped, turned my head to my back, and asked, “Uh, I’d need to do it again tomorrow?”

Vikram turned his eyes from Aaryan tearing off the wrapping to me, and nodded.

“O-Okay,” I turned my head to my front, gulped in, and started to walk away.

The situation seemed tense. No one was talking and everybody of those half a dozen guys were silent as they all looked at Aaryan tearing off the wrapping. There was no other voice surrounding the air other than the crackling voice of paper being torn off.

“Damn, something’s off here too,” I thought in my head as I was walking away. “For some reason, the situation seems tense. Something definitely is cooking up inside this gang.”

“At that time, I surely was not aware of the tensions between Vikram and Akshay, but I was sure to find out after some time. No doubt at it.”

There was an open paper, maybe torn out of a register or something, kept beside the left thigh of Vikram. It had a crease in the middle, like it was folded once. With a blue ink, the huge words written on it in English were: ‘Imma strike back again, fucker! And a lot stronger than ever. Akshay.’

“… Because this thing wasn’t gonna continue for too long.”