End Of The Dark Days

Kritvik Bhatt

“Yeah, today’s surprise test wasn’t that difficult,” I said on the phone.

“What? Really?” Sana’s voice from the other side of the phone call said. “Well, that’s sad. It was a tough one for me. But I will score decent marks, you see.”

“Huh? Tough? I thought you’d do just fine, man,” I said as I turned my head to my right at the closed door. I was sitting peacefully at the right corner of the room from the entrance on a black chair in front of the wooden table at the corner of the room. I then turned my head to the front at the wall again. “Maybe it’s because it was a surprise test, so you were not prepared.”

“Yeah yeah. Whatever. Anyway, did you catch the new episode of ‘Kawaii Shojo’?”

“Nah, I don’t watch shojo anime, man. I’ve told you many times.”

“Yeah, poverty gets the better of us.”

“Sure it does,” I smiled, turning my eyes to the open notebook on the table. It had some mathematical calculations done on it with a blue pen, which was kept on the right side of the open notebook. “But man, math is tough! I was just practicing the new chapter, and it’s really tough, for some reason.”

“Like, isn’t every chapter is?” She asked. “My tuition teacher is good, so I’m able to understand math, or else, I don’t know how I’d be passing exams right now.”

“It’s not that tough, man,” I said with a smile. “If you try, you’ll get it. No doubt.”

“Whatever. I guess you think wrong about my mathematical capabilities or something. Like, I hate math, you see.”

“That’s the problem, man. If you hate it, you won’t get it.”

“I can’t force myself to like it, can I?”

“Don’t like it, but… be neutral, maybe,” I suggested.

“Yeah yeah. Whatever. Stop with this math conversation. It’s cringe, and not cool. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Wait, what’s the time right now?”

“About six. Why?”

“Actually, I-I gotta leave. We’ve been talking for too long, and now I gotta go somewhere now, for some reason.”

“Yeah, sure. Bye bye,” Her cute voice replied and cut the call.

I heard the beep and moved the phone away from my right ear. I then kept it on the right side of my notebook, just beside the pen. I looked at the phone, and then at the notebook. “Instead of studying, all I do in the evenings is talk to Sana. I… don’t focus on my studies at all, man. I’m running behind the curriculum at school. No doubt, I gotta focus on my studies now,” I thought. “Or else, I’ll fail.”

Creak. Bang. The door suddenly opened and I turned my head to my right. The figure of my mom was at the door, her hands on her waists. She was annoyed, her eyes were narrowed. She wore a dark orange kurta on top of a white tight pajama. “Who were you talking to?”

“I-I…”

“Tell me how much you’ve studied today?” She interrogated me, frowning a little.

I continued to look at her with guilt in my eyes, I then turned my head down.

“Tell me, Kritvik!” She shouted at me. “Tell me.”

“I-I did some questions of math…”

“How many?”

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. She stood in front of me, looked at the notebook, and turned a couple of crackling pages, having a little look at them. “Just two pages, right? Because the rest are from a different pen’s ink.” She then turned her head to me.

“Y-Yeah, mom.”

“And you know it’s just five minutes of work. What about the rest of the hour you were sitting here? Chatting?”

I continued to have my head tilted down in guilt.

“I will take your phone back, Kritvik. It’s getting too much. Talking to friends is fine, but don’t do it when you’re supposed to be studying,” She strictly scolded me.

“Y-Yeah,” I mumbled in a really low voice.

“It’s gonna be six in some minutes and then you’d run off to play with your friends.”

“To supply drugs,” I corrected her sentence inside my head. Obviously, I was not gonna say it out loud, man.

“And who’s it you keep on talking to, huh? Who’s he that keeps on disturbing you in between your studies. I’ll scold him not to call around this time.”

“No, mom,” I turned my head up and said in a low voice.

“What no?! That’s what I’d have to do if you—”

“I-I’ll tell her myself, mom.”

She kept staring at me for a second, her eyes frowning at me. “Is it a girl?”

“Y-Y-Yeah,” I stuttered. “S-Sana. Her name is Sana.” I then tried desperately to switch the topic. “I’ll tell her myself not to call at this time tomorrow at school.”

She kept on staring at me for a couple of seconds silently, her eyes still frowning at me. She was calculating things in her head, maybe.

“M-Mom?”

“She’s just a friend, right?”

“Right, mom.”

“Don’t make her your girlfriend or something, Kritvik. It’s not the right age to get into this kind of stuff. Keep on talking to her. Girls are a great help in studies. But, make sure you both don’t cross your lines just yet. You’re still kids.”

“O-O-Okay, mom.”

“And focus on your studies, not on girls.” She turned around, walked away, with her slippers banging on the floor, and shut the door behind her as she left. Bang!

I kept on staring at the door, my eyes opened wide. “Huff,” I gave out a sign of relief.

“Indian parents are just like that. They take things wrong every time, for some reason, make their own assumptions, and then scold you. And, being too friendly with a girl at this age is a crime here. I gotta tell her to start watching anime or some other foreign stuff so that she can see how advanced the other countries have gone, and we’re still stuck with this gender gap. It was the first time in my life that she’d scold me for this, but… I knew alright that it was not uncommon, and that it was coming. Not that I want a girlfriend or anything, but still, man.”

I then turned to my phone, took it up in my right hand, switched it on, and looked at the time. It showed six-five in the evening. As I stood up to leave, I thought, “Good thing that, for some reason, mom always comes after I cut the phone, or else, it’d have been embarrassing.”

***

My right hand extended the package. Another hand, one filled with some bruises and bandages, took it. I let it go.

Zip.

I took up the bag with both my hands, got my right hand inside the straps, hung it on my right shoulder, and then I struggled to get hold of the left strap as I asked, “How did you get so many cuts? Were you all in a fight or stuff?”

The crescent moon was shining brightly in the middle of the dark sky. The street was completely silent where we stood, with just the streetlights and the lighted windows to illuminate the street. Dark apartments stood silently on both of the sides of the street—all in the shades of black. I wore a black sweatshirt with a blue pair of denim jeans, and Aaryan had his white shirt and black pair of pants on.

“Yeah, take it like that, pal,” He said as I got the strap and stuffed my arm in. The bag was hanging behind my back peacefully now.

“Damn, man. Don’t get into irrelevant fights.”

“We’re the strongest ones here, ya see, and we got shit. So these assholes are always on our backs.”

“Still, why you gotta fight them? Just… don’t show up for the fight.”

“We got pride and reputation, asshole.” He then turned his head to his back. “Good no one’s here. We’ll continue our daily exchanges here. Got it?” He then turned to me again.

“Yeah.”

“And I gotta say one more thing to you, Aaryan.”

“Hmm?”

“Uh, actually… it’s about Rohit.”

“What about him?” He asked.

“For some reason, he doesn’t really seem to be in a good mood. Maybe he’s depressed over some stuff. Something’s worrying him.”

He nodded.

“You’re his friend, so I thought it’d be good if you could help him, man.”

“Yeah, I’ll see.” His tone didn’t really say that he’d see into the matter, for some reason. He then turned back and started to walk away. “Here, tomorrow at seven. Got it?” He told me one last time as I looked at his back.

“Yeah, man.” I then turned to my back, and started to walk away too.

“That day, I was talking like a friend to Aaryan… to someone who used to bully me, who… who I was scared of so much, who I… hated so much that I wanted to kill him. Maybe, that’s just life. And it made me realize that… everything that I used to think about him—all of that stuff—was… was just something I made up in my mind, after all, and that… he’s as human as I am, maybe.”

***

Ding, dong. Ding, dong.

The bell rang, and as usual, the teacher turned to her left, walked to her desk, and started to collect her stuff. I looked at her heavy figure in a pink kurta-suit as she collected her books from the teachers’ desk at the corner.

I turned to the book on the table, shut it, turned to my left down on my bag, opened its zip, stuffed the book in, took out my lunchbox, kept it on the table, and then turned up. I looked at the teacher walking away from the front of my desk. Everyone stood up—including me—and, as always, sang, “Thaaaaaank you, maaaaaaaaaa’am.”

“Welcome, kids,” She mumbled in a low tone—maybe to herself, since she didn’t even look at us, man—as she turned to her left on the corridor and walked away.

We all then turned to each other and all the uniformity we had while singing thanks disappeared. The whole class walked here and there and stood in groups. Chatter erupted.

I turned my head to the ceiling, looked at the white roof behind the rotating white fans, and then turned to the back. Some seats back, at the row on my right, I looked at the figure of Sana sitting silently. Her eyes were staring aimlessly at the front. She was spacing out. I noticed her, took up my lunchbox, and started to walk to her. I walked through a gang of boys and girls sitting on tables on my left as they opened their lunchboxes and laughed.

“Ahahaha!” Everyone laughed in unison.

I stood in front of her across her table, looking at her. “Sana?”

No response.

I shook her right shoulder with my right hand. “Sana!”

Her eyes opened and she turned up at me. “W-What?”

“Why were you spacing out, man? Is something wrong?”

“I-I was not spacing out, K,” She replied.

“No doubt you were, man.” I said as I looked at the empty seat on my right and in front of her desk and kept my butt on it, with my legs out of the desk. “Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah.” She smiled beneath her black mask. “Don’t make me feel like I killed someone.”

“Nah, man.”

“Anyway, were you not online yesterday at twelve in the night?”

“No. I sleep before eleven,” I replied with a straight face.

“Yeah, but the app was showing you online.”

“What were you doing online at midnight?!” My eyes widened a little.

“Well, just playing Jenshin, you see,” She replied. She then narrowed her eyes. “I don’t watch porn.”

I then narrowed my eyes too, imitating her. “Obviously you don’t.”

“Whatever.” She said as she turned to her left at her bag and started to get her lunchbox out. “Anyway, did you know about the new update on Jenshin?”

“What?!” I narrowed my eyes. “How can… How can these guys release a damn update every week?!”

She smiled as she banged her lunchbox on her table. “They’re cool, K. Cool. Something an emo like you will never understand.”

“Huh? Why?” I just asked out of curiosity.

“Because poverty gets the better of us—”

“Shut up, man!” I said with a smile.

“Ahahahaha!”

“Man, get some new material now! This is not funny anymore!”

“Well, it will remain funny till you remain poor,” She said as she turned to her lunchbox and started to open it.

“Man!”

“Ahahahhaa!” She laughed as she took off her mask. And, for the first time, after so many days of being friends with her, that was the time when… I saw her complete face. And I can comment that… her soft pink lips, her little nose and chin, and her complete face… was great. Just great. And her laugh on top of it, for some reason, made it even more beautiful, man!

I, for some reason, continued to stare at that face of hers for a couple of seconds—with my cheeks slowly turning light pink.

***

Some steps away, Kavya looked at the two of us with each other as she laughed and I glared at her face. Kavya had her head tilted down, her eyes beneath her hair falling in front of her, and her face covered with darkness of her true self.

“That… bitch…”