Making Things Alright

Kritvik Bhatt

Those white shoes of mine were walking hastily on the darkened white tiles reflecting the light of the sun. The windows on the left of the corridor reflected the shine of the sun as my figure in white ran through them on the open corridor. The figures of some girls stood on the left as they chatted and talked. I turned my eyes at them for a second as I walked past them quickly. After about a couple of more steps on the corridor, I turned to my right and entered one of the classrooms on the corridor. I walked inside, with the blackboard on the wall on my right, some steps away, and the chairs on my left, with—obviously—other students all scattered around, talking and chatting. I entered quietly but quickly, and I walked after two rows and then entered the next alley between the rows of pairs of desks. I looked at Sana with her head sleeping down on her table, with her black shining hair scattered all around her shoulders and back. I walked to her, moved my left arm out quickly, and then kept the bag down through my right shoulder, and then stood in front of her with a huge grin. I pushed her right shoulder with my right hand. “Sana,” I asked softly.

She gently moved her head up from her arms which surrounded her face, and looked at me. Her chin and arms were still on the desk. “What, K?”

“I got a great idea, man!”

“What? Really?” She narrowed her eyes. “For Kavya?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what kind of idea?”

“She likes Vikram, right?” I asked. “The leader of the Black Reapers.”

“Yeah yeah.” She straightened her back up. “So what?”

“I can make him meet Kavya,” I told her with a huge grin on my face.

Her eyes slowly widened. “W-What?! How?!”

“I—”

“Really?! I-I just can’t believe it!” She replied in astonishment. “Like, how?”

“For some reason, I-I just have some connections with the team and the leader himself, and…”

“How?!”

“T-That’s a long story, man,” I hesitated.

She stood up on her legs, her widened eyes looking at me. “Don’t tell me you’re kidding.”

“I won’t. I’m not.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She continued to glare into my eyes, maybe trying to make me spill out the truth. Obviously, I was not lying.

“That’s sad, K. How did you form your connections with that gang?”

“I… It was just pure luck, maybe,” I hesitantly replied. “Obviously, it’s not really interesting, and it’s a long story. But, it doesn’t matter right now. I gotta make him agree to this, and maybe I’d have to do a lot of begging, but I’ll try my best. No doubt—I’d have to.”

Sana just took in a deep breath, and then exhaled it out. She was not believing my words. “Really?”

“Y-Yeah, really,” I replied. “Believe me, Sana.”

She turned her head down, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and rubbed her chin with her right hand. “Well, you’re really cool if you can do that, to be honest. But…” She turned her eyes at me, as if enquiring. “Really?”

I smiled nervously. “Y-Yeah. Come down today at seven. From there on, we can head to Vikram together to arrange some stuff, man. I know a guy who would know about Vikram.”

“So you know a guy who knows about Vikram?”

“Man, I know Vikram too. But I’d have trouble finding him, so I’d take his help.”

She nodded and turned her head down. “It’s… really unbelievable. Like, why would an introvert like you have anything to do with a delinquent gang’s leader?”

“I-It’s just luck, like I said,” I continued to smile awkwardly as she enquired me and assessed the situation. Then I shrugged with a smile. “Believe it or not, man, but that’s the truth.”

“Okay,” She turned her face to me.

“Let’s meet him today then, K.”

***

“Well, you do this for them every day?” Sana asked. She wore a black fluffy jacket and a white plain t-shirt with a dark denim pair of palazzo beneath it. I wore a red sweatshirt and a black pair of trousers.

“Yeah, man. For some reason, I agreed,” I replied with a smile as I looked on my right at her. We both were walking through the plain peaceful street filled with streetlights, a couple of cars, and silent apartments on both the sides of the street. I had the package in my hands.

“Cringe!” She shouted as she turned her head to the front. “That’s sad. I thought you’d have some really cool stuff to tell about how you work with them and all, you see. But, you work for them. And, it’s pure disappointment.”

“No doubt it is,” I turned my head to the front. The sun had settled already and the sky was completely dark. The streetlights were lit up as the only primary source of light at the place, with the lighted windows of the apartments.

“Why did you agree to such a thing anyway?”

“I… just did.”

I remembered the voice of Vikram when he had said to me that night, “Now listen, Kritvik. I know what this motherfucker did was wrong, and I apologize on his behalf. I see that y’are hurt.”

“Like, that’s sad… and dumb,” She commented.

I turned my eyes at her and looked at her face—covered half with her black thick mask. “For some reason, this dumb decision of mine is helping us right now.”

“Yeah yeah,” She smiled. She then turned to her left at me. “Anyway, how did you pull this off?”

“Uh… it’s a long story.”

“Whatever. I have loads of free time.”

I turned my head to the front. “No, you don’t. Because I can see Aaryan standing there.”

She turned to the front too, and noticed that a muscular fleshy figure in white shirt tucked out of his black pair of pants stood about a dozen steps away from us at the intersection with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He had his serious gaze at me.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. After a couple of footsteps, I stood right in front of him, looking directly into his eyes. My smile had faded. He looked right into my neutral eyes. Sana sensed some danger, so she stood a step behind me, letting me do all the talking this time. “Who’s she?” He asked, kinda controlling his anger, maybe.

“She’s Sana. She got some work with Vikram, so I called her with me.”

“Does she know what’s inside this package?”

“Obviously she doesn’t, man.”

“I lied.”

He continued to glare at me silently for some seconds, and then, for some reason, got the feeling that I was telling the truth. “Okay then, pal.” Aaryan turned to his back and started to walk away. I still had the package in my hands as I walked behind him. “Imma take ya two to Vikram. But remember, ya gotta get your shit done quickly and then leave, alright?”

“Y-Yeah,” I answered.

After a couple of minutes of following him silently through different shades of lights, street width, and backgrounds, I looked at him turning right inside a dark park. I followed him and turned inside to my right, with Sana a step behind me. We walked through the shade of the tree on the left as we walked past the entrance. I could see and hear the indistinct discussions of the gang from beside his neck. There were guys—all in shades of white shirts and black pants—sitting and standing around the guy sitting at the metallic bench in the center. The guy in the center was Vikram, muscular and well-built. He had his right ankle on his left knee and his arms on top of the backrest, signifying his dominance. They all turned to us at once, and the chatter stopped completely, for some reason. In the silence, only the footsteps of the three of us echoed in the atmosphere. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

Aaryan stood right in front of Vikram, some steps away from him, and I walked and stood on his right. Sana stood behind me. Everybody had their eyes on me and Sana.

“What took Kritvik and this girl here, Aaryan?” Vikram asked.

“This girl here got some shit to do with ya.”

Now, all the eyes were on Sana. Vikram too turned his head at her and waited for her answer. She was a little hesitant as she stood silent there for a second, for some reason. Maybe it was because she was scared to be at the center of attention. She turned her eyes here and there, standing silently. She then turned at Vikram, whose dominant eyes stared at her for an answer. “Uh, I-I wanna ask you for a favor, actually.”

“What’s it?”

“A-A-Actually… I-I-I…”

I then continued, “Uh, actually we got a girl who is a big fan of yours, a-and would like to meet you.”

“I don’t have time for girls,” He replied.

“No, just say hi to her, and she’d be happy…” Sana stated. For some reason, her shyness faded a little. “W-Well, if-if you could do that much… s-she’d be very happy, you see…”

“I-It might sound dumb, but…”

“Okay,” Vikram replied. “I’ll see her.”

I stood silent for a second as I continued to glare at his serious face. Then, I said, “T-Thank you.” I turned to Sana and whispered, “L-Let’s go.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Both of us turned back and started to walk away. Aaryan and others turned to their backs to look at the two of us walking away shyly and slowly. “What the fuck…” Aaryan silently moved his lips.

Just as they were looking at our backs and we had walked to the entrance, we both jumped, “YEAH! WE GOT IT!”

I turned to her. “Damn, man, that was so tough!”

“Yeah! Like, for a second I thought he’d eat me up!”

Aaryan and others were listening to our indistinct happy voice. He smiled. “This asshole…” He then turned to the front.

“And, you see, my heartbeat tripled!” Sana shouted as we turned to our left—from where we came—and started to walk away.

“No doubt he’s scary!” I replied. “He can absolutely beat people whenever he wants! Didn’t you see how many other guys were around him?!”

“About six or eight!”

“Yeah!” I turned my head to the front. “For some reason, all of them are loyal to him and listen to him.”

Sana too turned her head to the front. “Like, why would they listen to him? Are they such losers?”

At this, my smile faded a little. Maybe because I knew why those people chose to follow him, and that I was loyal to him too.

“… You won’t understand, maybe.”