New Year's Night (Part I)

Kritvik Bhatt

“Here we fucking go,” Aaryan commented. “Tonight… we might not be able to survive…” Aaryan said seriously.

“Yeah. We might get fucked… a lot.” Sooraj said.

I gulped in as I turned leftward. “Then… let’s save it for another day, man.”

“No,” Aaryan said. “We both gotta do it tonight.”

“I’m not even fucking mentally prepared for this, man,” Sooraj said. “I was legit told about this plan just an hour ago.”

“We can do it, pal.”

“Yeah, we can.”

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

***

“Sometime ago…”

“So, got any special plans for tonight, mates?” Aakash asked all of us. He sat on the bench beside the badminton court, where Aaryan shot the shuttle on his right, and I stood on his left.

I observed the shuttlecock flying at me, moved my racket up, and swung it hurriedly back at Aaryan. “Nah.”

“Ya see, we’re going to a party tonight,” Rohit turned to his right at him and said.

“For real, mate?” Aakash turned to him and asked.

Rohit then turned to us again. “Yeah, just some shit high-class party, motherfucker.”

“Ooh!”

“What about you, Aaryan?” Aakash turned to Aaryan.

He swung the badminton again, narrowed his eyes, and replied with irritation, “I know ya got something to flex about, asshole.”

I walked a few steps back, jumped up, and swung the badminton in the air, but with no luck. My black sneakers landed on the ground again as the shuttlecock fell just behind them. I turned back, bent down to take it up, as I heard Aakash’s voice saying, “Not really, mate. But maybe, I’m partying too tonight.”

Aaryan turned to his left at him, looked at him with his narrowed and irritated eyes, and said, “Ya done, asshole?”

“Yeah, mate.”

Maybe, it was around five or six in the evening. The sky was turning darker, even though there was still plenty of blueness. The clouds were floating carelessly in the sky.

“Aakash is legit annoying, man,” Sooraj, who sat on the right of Aakash, suddenly commented in his serious tone.

I smiled as I turned to Aaryan again, and then turned to those guys. “Yeah, man.”

“For real, mate?” He asked Sooraj.

Sooraj turned his narrowed and uninterested eyes to him.

“O-Okay, mate.”

Rohit smiled as he had his head to the front, but his eyes to Aakash. “This motherfucker…” He thought. “He makes this place lively.”

“The gang is meeting tonight, right?” Aaryan asked Rohit.

Rohit turned to him and nodded. “At seven.” He then stood up on his feet and said, “Well, I gotta go too. I got some shit to do before today’s meeting.”

“Meeting?” Sooraj frowned in doubt as he turned to Rohit.

“To be honest, it’s just that Vikram gotta say some shit to y’all, but it’d be called a meeting.”

Sooraj nodded. “But it’s not a legit meeting, right?”

“Right.” Rohit then turned to his left and started to walk away from the badminton court. He moved his hands inside his pockets.

“See ya, mate.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

Some time passed like that as the shuttlecock continued to fly over the net. The sky was still teal blue, though it was a lot darker than before, obviously.

I glared at Rohit’s back walking away. I then turned to Aaryan again. “Score?”

“Eleven-eight.”

I nodded and swung my racket, serving the shuttlecock for another game.

He stepped to his right and swung his racket at the shuttlecock. It came to me again. I dashed a few steps forward and gave an underarm. The shuttlecock flew up in the air and far away. Aaryan turned his head to the top, looking at the shuttlecock coming at him, and stepped a few steps backward. He then jumped up and gave a speedy smash.

The shuttlecock went right beside my right ear and fell onto the ground some steps back. My eyes widened and I smiled. “Damn, man!” I complimented as I turned backward to take the shuttlecock.

“Wow, that was an awesome shot!” Aakash commented. “How the hell did you pull it off?”

Aaryan continued to glare a little downward, maybe ignoring all of us.

I straightened my back with the shuttlecock in my hand and turned backward. I walked to my position, and then stopped and frowned as I noticed him frozen in the middle of the match. “Aaryan?”

For some reason, he didn’t reply.

“Aaryan?!”

His head jerked up at me.

“Why were you spacing out, mate?” Aakash jumped in.

Aaryan turned to him, and then to me again, confused. He then gulped in. “There was just something in my head, pal.”

“Huh? What?” I asked.

“Ya see, it was just… I just have some shit I gotta do at the meeting today, pal,” He said.

I nodded as I thought, “For some reason, I should not interfere in this stuff, then.”

“What is it?”

Aaryan turned to Sooraj. “Nothing important, pal.”

“If it were not important, then you’d not be spacing out, dickhead,” Sooraj scolded him. “Tell me what it is.”

Aaryan looked at his serious gaze. Then, he turned his head down. “Huff. Lemme tell ya, then.”

“Yeah.”

“Ya see, I’m…” He then turned his head to the front and looked Sooraj in his eyes. “I’m leaving this gang tonight.”

He frowned. “Why, man?”

He turned his head to his left and said, “Alright, lemme explain this shit.” He then turned to his right and looked at me. “Ya hear too, asshole.” He placed his hands up on his waist.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. I started to walk from the other side of the net to his side of the court toward him as I asked, “Man, were you not his right hand? Why do you wanna leave this gang now?” I stood beside him, worriedly glaring at him for an answer.

Aaryan turned to me and said, “Ya see, I am.”

“Huh? So why do you wanna leave this gang now?”

Aaryan turned his head down. “Ya see, man, I… I’m fighting this vape addiction, alright. And, for that, I recently told my counselor about all of this selling vapes and shit. And, she’s advised me to stay away from this shit.” He then turned his head to Sooraj. “So, I gotta leave all of this shit.”

“And do ya think Vikram will let ya leave the gang, dickhead?”

“Pal, I’ve been thinking about leaving this gang for so long anyway.” He then turned up, looking at him. “I had always known that the main reason why both of us get back to vaping is because… we have access to this shit. Through this gang.”

“Leave that, dickhead. Think about… Vikram. Ya know him, don’t ya?” Sooraj asked. He then stood up. “I too have thought about it multiple times, man. But… that fucker… Ya know him.”

“I… have thought about this shit for so long, pal.” Aaryan then smiled. “And what better day can be for this shit other than the fucking New Year’s Eve?” He threw his badminton down, and continued to glare in his eyes. “This new year, I’d be a new man… a changed man, asshole.”

Sooraj nodded. “Then let’s try this once, dickhead. Together. That fucker ain’t gonna beat two of us at once.”

Aaryan smiled. “He can, actually, but let’s assume he fucking can’t.”

“I’d be there too, then,” I said with a smile. “For some reason, I wanna help you guys.”

“And me too,” Aakash stood up with a smile.

“Nah, ya won’t,” Aaryan told him. “Kritvik is partly a part of this shit, so he can be trusted, but not ya. Ya don’t know this shit.”

“But mate, I—”

“No,” Aaryan shook his head.

Sooraj turned to his left at him and said, “It’s for your own safety. Those guys know Kritvik and both of us. But if they see ya, an outsider, involved in this shit, then they’ll legit kill ya.”

“And, it’s got nothing with ya, so it’s better if ya stay back,” Aaryan firmly added.

Aakash smiled back at him and replied, “Yeah, mate.”

***

“Help me, guys. Help me today,” Aaryan muttered.

The sky had just a little shade of blue left, and most of it had turned dark. The clouds too, for some reason, had turned dark white.

The street where we were walking had the streetlights turned on, obviously. Aaryan walked at the front, Sooraj on his left, and I was about a step behind him on his right. I had my hands in my pockets as I turned my head leftward and asked Aaryan. “Don’t worry, man. Vikram is a great man.”

“Yeah, asshole, but ya have never seen him when people ask him to leave the gang.”

“Yeah. There’s a legit reason that our gang is this fucking big,” Sooraj commented from the other side.

“Ya see, when we beat other gangs, we forcefully make those guys join us, and then work under the main five-seven guys. If anyone dares leave, they first gotta try fighting him. If they win, they can leave. It’s the law of the Black Reapers. But, ya see, most of the time, it’s never a fight between equals, alright?”

“He’s a strong dickhead.”

“Yeah.”

I nodded. “Then, if someone wanna leave and they can’t, why don’t they… just stop working for him?”

“They get fucking beaten.”

I nodded. “Damn.”

Our footsteps filled the surroundings as I turned my head to the front. I noticed the park where we were supposed to be about two-three dozen steps away from us, on our right.

“Here we fucking go,” Aaryan commented. “Tonight… we might not be able to survive…” Aaryan said seriously.

“Yeah. We might get fucked… a lot.” Sooraj said.

I gulped in as I turned leftward. “Then… let’s save it for another day, man.”

“No,” Aaryan said. “We both gotta do it tonight.”

“I’m not even fucking mentally prepared for this, man,” Sooraj said. “I was legit told about this plan just an hour ago.”

“We can do it, pal.”

“Yeah, we can.”

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

We reached the entrance of the park, turned left inward, and stopped. We both stood there for some time, looking at the back edge of the park, where the other gang members were—in their usual white shirts and black pants. The park had turned darker because the sun was settling down, but there was still some amount of light left. For some reason, all the members of the gang were smiling, some laughing, and everyone was just chilling out.

“Do ya think it’s right?” Aaryan asked, glaring at Vikram, who sat dominantly on the bench at the center of all those guys with a smile on his face, for some reason.

“Sure it is, man,” I replied. I turned to him. “It’s the first step toward becoming a better man, man. You are definitely on the right path.” I then turned to the front again. “Obviously, it might be scary, but… no doubt, it’s necessary.”

“Ya are speaking a lot today, dickhead,” Sooraj smiled, glaring at the front.

I smiled too.

All of our feet then moved up together as we started to walk in.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

As we reached the circle, I stopped some steps away, standing with the other members, while Aaryan and Sooraj both walked in and stood right in front of Vikram. Both of them looked downward at the figure sitting dominantly with his arms on the backrest and his left leg on top of his right one.

Vikram turned his head upward—his smile faded—and asked with a neutral face, “What, motherfuckers?”

The laughs slowly lowered down and whispers and murmurs spread.

“Vikram, we gotta tell ya something,” Aaryan said.

“What, Aaryan?”

“I… I wanna leave the gang, Vikram.”

“A-And me too,” Sooraj added.

Both of them seemed like they tried to act normal, but were a little scared inside. Still, for some reason, both had their eyes directed on Vikram.

Vikram then stood up. “Who fucker said ya can leave?” Vikram asked as he looked at Sooraj. He then turned to Aaryan. “And y’are my fucking right hand, motherfucker.”

“Yeah, Vikram. B-But I recently realized… that… I gotta leave this gang to become a better person. I wanna stay away from vapes, and I wanna stay away from this business of fights and shit.”

Vikram nodded. “Y’are not the only one who came up with that shit of an excuse, motherfucker. And, by the way… I never thought ya too would, one day, come to me to leave the gang like this.”

“I-I’m sorry, Vikram.”

“Ya know what comes next?”

“Yeah.”