A Lost Fight

Kritvik Bhatt

“Then… why did you start to vape? Why did you get into this stuff?”

Aaryan opened his eyes after he had calmed himself and glared straight into my eyes. His face stood just some centimeters away from my eyes. Vikram was looking at Aaryan’s back with his head tilted up. He then moved his back backward and leaned it on the backrest.

“Ya wanna know why we got into this shit, right?”

“Y-Yeah.” I was a little scared by his glaring furious eyes. No doubt, they were scary, and it seemed like he would kill me. His eyes were red too. He then turned his head downward, and then stepped his right foot back, turning toward Vikram. He looked into his streamlined eyes glaring back at him, and then turned his head to the moon. “It… began in class eighth.”

“Then his lips kept moving, and words kept on flowing out of his mouth. He told me everything—how he met Rohit, how he got into fighting, and how he smoked a vape for the first time.”

“… And as the taunts increased, I kept on vaping.”

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. He walked back to his seat, turned to me again, and then sat down.

“Sometimes, it was because one of my best friends in school had said some shit and I was hurt. Sometimes, it was because of the teachers or the toppers. Sometimes, it was because I started to feel shit between my shitty friends just because they started looking at me as a fucking loser, and that I don’t deserve to be with those assholes anymore. Sometimes, it was because my parents had fought real hard and my house had become a complete mess. And sometimes… it was because I had fucked up somewhere, ya see.”

Vikram had his head tilted down.

Aaryan stuffed his right hand in the pocket of his pants, and took out something. He pointed it at me. “I was not vaping for like a fucking week. I had promised myself to not get in this shit ever again. But today, I finally broke that shitty promise I made to myself.” He then moved the black vape to his mouth and kept it between his lips for a couple of seconds.

I continued to look at his back as he stood there with the vape in his mouth.

Vikram had his head tilted down.

Aaryan then moved it out and blew out a puff. It slowly faded away in the air. He then said, “Because this time, I fucking fucked up again, asshole.”

I gulped in and turned my head down in guilt. “I… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, man,” Vikram said as he turned his head up. He moved his right arm up the backrest. “Y’are new to all this shit after all, motherfucker.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Ya are just a fucking kid.”

“Right.”

I turned to Aaryan again, who was still glaring to the moon and had his back turned toward me. “And… I also wanna know… what happened… that you all are stressing over like this.”

“I got caught with vapes. That’s it, asshole.”

“By your parents?”

“At school.” Aaryan then turned his head up, glaring toward the moon.

“That’s just the story he was about to tell all of us,” Someone on my right side said.

“Yeah, if we’re done with all of this shit, then tell us what happened and how ya got caught, motherfucker,” Vikram turned his head to Aaryan on his left. “The boys are waiting.”

Aaryan kept his head tilted up toward the moon, for some reason. He stood still, just like that, for a couple of seconds. Then, he turned to the bench where Vikram was sitting and started to walk toward it.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. His footsteps echoed, for some reason.

He then turned to me, looked me into my eyes with his frowning irritated eyes, and started to move his butt to the bench. He seated himself on the left side of Vikram, just where he was sitting before, man.

He had his eyes a little downward, staring aimlessly into the infinity, lost in his thoughts, as he said, “About a week back, both Sooraj and I had decided that… that we would leave this shit… this addiction of vaping.”

Vikram had his eyes on Aaryan. I too was glaring at him as he narrated it.

“But, ya see, just yesterday…”

***

Aaryan Khanna

It was a bright morning. The sun was shining brightly in the fucking blue sky. The clouds too filled the sky. Ya see, it was a chilly winter day mixed with those summer vibes, alright?

My school stood silently beneath this sunlight. It was a wide building painted dark brown—the shittiest color they could find, perhaps. It stood in the middle of some bungalows and homes on both sides. The street in front of it was wide, and the entrance was filled with a garden of bushes and trees.

There was a narrow alley between the edge of the school building and the school boundary—which only extended to about a dozen fucking steps, until that brown wall which stod there for no fucking reason, perhaps. It was covered with a row of trees on our back, and a bench on the front. That was where I sat, my back leaning backward and my right arm on top of the armrest. I had my right ankle on my left thigh, dominantly sitting on the bench. My head was tilted down. I wore a maroon coat on top of my gray pair of pants and white shirt. The buttons of the coat were open, which revealed the pocket of my shirt filled with some vapes.

On my left, some of the school’s wide ground was visible. It was filled with students playing cricket on the two green nets, and some playing football just beside it. They were just around my age. A group of girls just sat on the edge of the building, talking about some shit.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

I turned my head to my right. Sooraj, in the same uniform as mine, was walking toward me as he wiped his lips with his right hand.

“The water here tastes like shit, right?”

“Yeah man, legit shit,” Sooraj replied as he walked from the front of me and sat on my left. “Did anyone else come?”

“Nah,” I turned my head down again.

“The market is legit down today.”

I smiled. “Yeah. Perhaps they’re busy studying, ya see. Periodic exams are approaching.”

“Dickheads who study don’t buy vapes, man,” Sooraj said as he turned his head leftward, moving his right arm up on the backrest and his left arm on the armrest.

“Yeah, I forgot.”

We both sat there like that, in silence. Sooraj turned his head up and closed his eyes, perhaps trying to sleep. My head was on my right shoulder. I closed my eyes too.

“It was a peaceful and cozy day. The warm sunlight hitting our skin in the middle of those fucking cold winters was one of the nicest shit, ya see. We both took a little nap as we sat there, waiting for some asshole to come and buy our shit. But, someone else arrived that day.”

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

My eyes half-opened. I turned my sleepy eyes to my left, looking at the approaching figure. There was a guy with his shirt tucked out. He had his hands in his pockets, and his eyes were frowning. He was not extra fat or skinny, just right, ya see. His eyes were narrowed. “Hey, ya both selling vapes here?”

I first continued to glare at him for some seconds, and then asked, “… Who the fuck are ya?”

“Well, consider me yer new customer.”

“Whaddya want?” I asked him, suspiciously keeping my eyes on him.

“A mango-flavored vape. How much?”

“Three-forty,” I answered as I moved my right hand inside my pocket.

“Huh?!” He exclaimed. “It’s two-fifty!”

“What?!”

“My men say it’s just two-fifty, fucker.”

“… So? Flavored ones are more expensive, asshole.”

He continued to glare at me for a few seconds. But, he then took some currency out of his right pocket, moved it right hand out, counted the sum, and then raised it at me.

Seeing the money, I took out the device and raised it at him, taking the notes with my left hand. He too took the device in his left hand. He kept it inside his pocket as I turned my head down to have a look at the sum. I then stuffed them inside my right pocket as I turned to him. “Hope ya come again.”

“Sure will,” He replied as he turned back and started to walk away.

I then again moved my right arm up the backrest as I glared at his back walking away.

“It seemed a fucking normal transaction to me, ya see. At last, trade like this was normal for us. But, the next day…”

***

The day was a little cloudy. But the shitty sunlight was still on top of our heads, ya see—though it was not as extremely sunny as the day before. We sat in the same narrow alley where no one used to come. The nets were empty, and there were no shitty girls on the edge today. But, the game of football was still going on at the edge, ya see. A goalkeeper stood there—wearing the uniform—with his gloves in his hands, his eyes at the front, and his body ready to jump anywhere and catch the fucking ball.

“Sooraj was absent because of some fucking match of his, perhaps.”

I sat there silently, my eyes on that guy who was alertly looking at the ball. Some guys in front of him were all passing balls to each other and trying to snatch it. I had my back leaned on the backrest and my left arm on the armrest. I was in the usual attire like yesterday.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

Suddenly, a gang of about four to five assholes emerged from the edge of the building. They all turned at me. All of them had their fists out, ready for a fucking fight. In front of them was the same guy who bought the vape tomorrow. He was frowning angrily as he walked to me. The guys behind his back were laughing and smiling devilishly.

“Ya fucker…!”

I stood up, my eyes frowning in suspicion. “What the fuck…?” I thought.

He was just walking toward me as he had his eyes at me. He fucking grabbed my collar with both his hands in rage as he stopped in front of me. “Whaddya think y’are, fucker?!”

“Wha-What happened, pal?”

“Ya ask me what happened?!” He punched me with his right fist. Thump! Thump!

I held my left cheek as I turned my head to him again. “The fuck ya think y’are doing?!”

“Beating a fucking scammer!”

“Wh—?!”

Thump!

“Ya tryna scam me by fucking selling me a vape that doesn’t work?!”

Thump! Thump!

He left my collar, moved his right foot up, and kicked me on my waist. I stepped backward and fell down on my butt.

“Ya sell vapes this expensive and they don’t even fucking work, fucker!”

“Ya could have just returned it, asshole!”

“Ya think I dunno that ya would then blame this on me and won’t take it back?!”

I turned my head up, moved my feet back to my butt, and then stood up on my feet. I then walked to that guy and punched him back. He stepped backward. I then kicked him on his knee.

“Argh!” He shouted in pain as he bent downward.

I then moved my right leg up and kicked him on his fucking ear, ya see. He was just about to fall down, but he stumbled a little and held his ground. “Ya asshole!” I shouted as I held his collar with my right hand and pulled him up. “I can fuck ya and your whole fucking family at once, asshole! Don’t ya know that I work for the Black Reapers?!”

He moved his head up and said, “Fuck yer Black Reapers!” He then punched me on my left eye.

“AGH!” I shouted as I left his collar and covered my left eye.

Then, the guys from behind walked to me too, and all of them surrounded me and started to punch and kick me at once.

I fell on the ground and received kicks from all over.

That guy then stepped back from the circle as the other guys were beating me up. He then turned to his right, looked at the football field, and noticed a sports teacher approaching in his dark blue and black nylon t-shirt and pants with another guy. That guy smiled as he looked at him, and gave him a thumbs-up.

***

Kritvik Bhatt

“I was fucking caught by my teacher that day, and… he discovered vapes from me.”

I was glaring at him as he told me that story. After he was finished, he sat there motionless, silently glaring at his shoes.