Aaryan Khanna

I was sitting on a swing by myself—with no one around me, ya see—with my head tilted down. The evening sky was on top of my fucking head, with some clouds peacefully floating above. I sat at one edge, my head tilted down. The little me seemed really tensed because of what had happened, pal.

“PTMs after half yearly exams are the worst!” I murmured with a frown. “And why do they have to reveal our marks in front of our parents?! Don’t they even trust us this much?!”

“Hey.”

I turned my head up, and looked at the younger figure of Rohit. “Who are you?” I asked him.

He wore a blue check shirt with a black pair of pants. He had his hands in his pocket. “Ya seem fucking stressed about some shit, motherfucker.”

“I didn’t use to cuss at that time. I was a fucking kid, pal. So, just hearing those words from him kinda made me uncomfortable, ya see.”

“W-What happened?” I suspiciously asked.

“Ya seem my age. In which class do you study?”

I frowned in doubt at him. “… Eighth.”

“Well, motherfucker, I’m one of the leaders of the Black Reapers, the biggest and the most feared gang in this area. And, we need men around our age.”

“I-I’m not interested in joining.”

“I can help you cope up with this stress of yours in return, motherfucker.”

I continued to glare at him for a couple of seconds, accessing the situation. “… How?”

“Well, to be honest, it won’t help with your current state of affairs. It’s not a magic pill. But, motherfucker, it can… distract you and make you enjoy some time with yourself… away from all of your worries.”

“What… What do you wanna say, pal?”

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. He bent his legs and sat on my left. I turned my head to my left at him. He turned his head downward, taking something out of his pocket. It was a black pen-like thing. He took it out for a second, and then stuffed it in again. We then looked into each other’s eyes again.

“What was it?” I asked.

“Vape.” He said, his eyes widened for a second as he stressed at that word. He then continued to look at my dumb eyes for a few seconds, and then said, “D’ya even know what a vape is?”

“Mm-hmm,” I shook my head.

He closed his eyes in disappointment. “What the fuck, motherfucker?” He then turned to his left, then at the front, and looked if there was anyone else who was listening to our conversation. He then turned to his right at me again and said, “It’s a stress reliever. Using it can increase the amount of dopamine in your brain, which leads to happiness and less depression.”

I nodded.

“This can help you calm down when you’re really worried, and then you can handle the task with calmness and ease.”

“But, what is it?”

“It’s a vape.” He widened his eyes for a second again as he stressed on that word. “It’s a cigarette-like thing, but it doesn’t contain harmful substances like a cigarette. Also, it’s not addictive.”

“Uh, okay.”

“So, wanna try some?”

I gulped in. I turned my head downward, and then turned to his eyes again. I thought about it for some seconds, thinking about all the shit that could happen. “Perhaps, yeah…”

Rohit’s face turned into a huge grin. “Then, you’re in the team, right?”

“… Yeah.”

“All of the information he gave me that day was fucking fake. Was it addictive? Yeah. A fuck lot. Was it harmful? Yeah. Did it have nicotine? A fuck lot. That shit was just like a fucking cigarette, but in a pen-like shape. He fucking robbed the young me, and that got us here.”