Alright

Kritvik Bhatt

Triiing. Triiing. Triiing. Triiing.

‘Sam’ was the word written on top of the screen of my phone in white font on top of the black screen, along with the words ‘Outgoing Call’ in a smaller font beneath it. On the bottom of the phone was a red button with the silhouette of a telephone handset.

Soon, a feminine robotic voice from the call said, “The person you’re trying to call is speaking to someone else. Please try again later. The person you’re trying to call is speaking to someone els—”

Click!

I cut the call.

“She must be busy, man.”

I glared down toward the screen of my phone in my right hand. I clicked it off with my thumb as I turned my head to the front. I stood on my balcony, in front of my railing as usual, obviously, with my arms crossed on top of the railing and my back bent a little frontward. My phone was on my right hand, touching my left elbow because of my crossed arms. My eyes were a little narrowed, maybe because I was a little tired for some reason. I was glaring at the apartment building in front of me.

I then turned my head downward, for some reason.

The sky was dark blue, and the clouds were nowhere, man. The sun had gone too, and it was about to get dark in a couple of minutes, after all.

A small gust of wind blew from my right to left, pushing my dark blue sweatshirt and my black sweatpants. Then, after a second, it stopped.

“Man, she said yesterday that she’d come to play badminton today, but now she’s not even picking up the call,” I thought. I then turned my head leftward and glared at the same intersection a couple meters away from our house.

“Dunno, man. I don’t feel right about it, for some reason,” I thought as I widened my eyes a little. I then closed them damn hard, and then, I opened them again. I then frowned. “But why?”

As I was glaring at the intersection, I suddenly remembered the face of Aaryan—serious as always, obviously—as he stood beside the badminton court we used to play on with his hands inside the pockets of his sweatpants as he looked at me jumping up to play a shot.

“Not everyone lives a life of butterflies like ya, asshole. Where ya stand today, I’d kill to stand there. And ya wanna know what, I’m jealous of assholes like ya. Ya all don’t need to study and still get good grades, are loved by your families, and live a life filled with no stress, but rather just happy shit all around.”

“I hope he didn’t vape again after all this, man,” I thought. “If anything happens, he goes to vape, after all.”

The lump of my throat moved as I gulped in and turned my head skyward, for some reason.

“Aaryan is a damn cool guy, man. I wanna be like him, maybe. He… He has seen so much, and so, he… knows too much. I wanna be like that too, after all. I wanna experience a lot and know a lot of stuff.”

I then turned my head frontward.

“No doubt—he wasn’t a bad guy. After all, he is trying to fight this addiction of his. He’s got some purpose in his life. He’ll be good.”

I nodded.

“I… I have seen nothing in life compared to him. It’s a good thing, maybe. I’ve had it easy. But… it makes me feel like I’m lower than him, for some reason.”

I smiled.

“I have got my own problems, maybe. After all, I gotta deal with him now.” My smile faded. “But, what can I do to make things alright? I don’t even know where he lives, or where he might be after all this stuff. I don’t even know his school or stuff, for some reason. Maybe…” I turned my head leftward again and glared at the intersection. “Maybe this intersection is the only place where I can hope of stumbling upon him by chance. But, considering that boards are coming and schools are focused on exams, I don’t know how rarely he must be going to school. Or if he is still going to school at all. After all, most people prefer studying alone rather than wasting time at schools, especially when boards are approaching.”

My eyes suddenly widened a little. “Yeah! Rohit!”

***

The sky had turned completely black. It must have been around seven in the evening, maybe. The clouds were nowhere to be seen.

The street was completely empty and silent. It was wide and smooth too, for some reason, and there was no one around—except for some cars that stood there. There were large bungalows on both the sides of the street, obviously. In front of them were their lawns too, and huge gates which revealed their cars and stuff inside. The windows of those bungalows were gleaming out light, obviously.

I walked just beside the left edge of the street, with my hands inside the pockets of my sweatshirt. I was wearing my usual black shoes, obviously, as they patted on the smooth street.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

I turned my head up left and noticed a huge bungalow with white tiles and some woodwork on top of it, for some reason. “It’s Rohit’s, huh?” I thought.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

I turned to the gate of his house on the left as I stopped walking. I stood right in front of his gate, looking at the black and gray cars standing on the right side of the little dark gray footpath and the grass on the left. Everything was in the shades of black, man. It was really dark, after all.

I turned to the right side of the gate and started to walk toward it. I looked at the little box with parallel lines on the top half and a button at the bottom half. I pushed the button.

“Tzzrr. Hello?”

“H-Hello?”

“Sharma residence. Who is it?” A feminine voice asked through the speaker.

“I’m Kritvik, aunty. Rohit’s friend.”

“Ah, yeah. I remember you. I’ll be sending Rohit in just a few seconds. Wait a bit.”

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I nodded as I turned to the gate on my left again and walked a couple of steps toward it casually and loosely, waiting for him to come out. I then stood right at the center of the front of the gate and turned my head to the front, glaring at the door which threw out dark yellowish lights from the window at the top.

Tap! Click! Creeeeeak.

The door opened, and from the other side emerged the figure of Rohit in a white pair of sweatpants and a dark red sweatshirt, with his black crocs on.

He looked at me with his irritated eyes, obviously, as he pushed the door close and started to walk toward me. For some reason, the door didn’t completely close.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

He stood on the other side of the black gate, glared into my innocent eyes with his narrowed eyes, and asked, “Whaddya want, motherfucker?”

“Do you know where Aaryan lives?”

“Why d’ya wanna know about his place?” He asked back.

“We had a fight, man,” I replied as I moved my right hand up to scratch the back of my head. “So, I wanted to make things alright.”

“Don’t.”

I frowned doubtfully. “Huh?”

“Don’t. Don’t try to make things alright.”

“B-But why?”

“Well, motherfucker, he’s lost his mind. I don’t think ya talking to him will make any difference. To be honest, that motherfucker is gone. Move on.”

“Huh? No,” I moved my hand down again. “Man, I gotta make things alright. Don’t you want things to be back as they were?”

“That motherfucker can die and I won’t give a fuck. He fucking says his shit and tries to fight me. He’s fucked up right now.”

“But we gotta make things alright, don’t we? He’s angry at us, no doubt, and we gotta make things alright.”

“Let him fucking be, motherfucker.”

“But…”

He frowned. “To be honest, that motherfucker has come to me and picked up a fucking fight himself.” He took out his right hand and pointed his index finger toward himself, and angrily continued, “He’s being fucking childish right now. I had some fucking work to do out of town, and he’s tryna fuck my ass. I ain’t apologizing to that motherfucker.” He moved his hand back in. “If he comes to me and says sorry, I might be back on the badminton court with everyone else.” Rohit then turned back and started to walk away. “I don’t fucking care about that motherfucker now. I don’t give a fuck about him and his childish tantrums. He can fucking die for all I care.”

Clomp. Clomp. Click. Creeeeak. Clomp. Clomp.

BANG!

He slammed the door damn hard behind him as he walked back inside.

I continued to glare at his door silently and dejectedly. “What am I gonna do now, huh?” I told myself. “Seems like both of them had some serious fight over this stuff.” I turned left and started to slowly walk away from his house.

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp.

Suddenly, I stopped. “Wait, what if I find him in the park?”

***

“Obviously, man. He was not gonna be here. After all, what would he be doing here?”

I stood in front of the badminton court that stood on the right corner of the park. The lights of both of the poles of the badminton court were on, man. The seat on the right edge of the court, where we used to sit, was filled with a little bit of dust, for some reason. Behind my back was the same open field filled with ankle-length grass, for some reason, in front of the irregularly bricked wall filled with paint tearing off.

I turned to the metal seat painted black and glared at it for a second. I then started to walk toward it, for some reason. I stood in front of it, twisted my body, and put my butt on it. With my back bent frontward, my elbows on my thighs, and my fingers crisscrossing each other, I looked toward the empty badminton court.

There were a lot of mosquitoes that were floating around here and there around me, for some reason. One of them buzzed.

I then turned my head downward as its buzz faded.

“I… It was just a few days back that all of us… together… were here, having fun… For the last time, maybe. It was just… some days back… that we were playing here, laughing beside each other. A lot happened in just a few days, huh?”

I gulped in.

“Still, I feel as if it has been years since I’ve been here, with those guys, laughing and having fun.”

I remembered Jiya’s white pimple face smiling toward me.

“I never felt like I was a part of these delinquent-type guys, after all. So why am I feeling so guilty?”

I turned my head rightward and looked at the lane of bushes in front of the footpath at the end of the badminton court. “Yeah, man. Maybe it’s because I didn’t stand up to his expectations.”

For some reason, I remembered that night when I was sitting on the right of Aaryan when he turned to me and glared seriously into my eyes as he had said, “I… wanna befriend ya. I wanna be someone like ya—someone who can have a decent bittersweet life, someone who can make his parents proud, someone who can score decent marks, someone who can study and work hard, and… and someone who can stand somewhere in other people’s eyes.”

“I gotta make things alright between all of us, man. It’s still not too late, after all.”

I then turned my head downward again. “But… I don’t know Aaryan’s address or stuff like that. I don’t know how to contact him, or Aakash, or Sooraj. And, I don’t know how to make things between Rohit and Aaryan better. I don’t know what everyone might be up to, man. What if… everyone else is angry with Aaryan too? And how am I gonna meet them and ask them about it?” I took in a deep breath from my mouth and then blew it off. “Man, I know what to do, but I have no clue about how to do it.”

“… Damn it, man.”