Manish Murthy

The man in front of me dragged up his pants as I lay on the ground, with my butt facing him, and knees folded. “It was good today, pal,” He said and closed his zip. “I had fun today.”

I breathed hard while lying on the ground as I dragged up my pants too. I straightened my knees and fell on the ground. That man turned back and left me away into the dark corner of the building. “T-Those assholes!” I was angry. “W-Who the hell rapes men?! Those fucking gays are…!” Suddenly, a tear found its way from my cheeks into the ground. “W-Why am I weak?” I thought. “I-I can’t even defend myself, leave others. W-Why am I the one to be toiled around? Why do I always lose? WHY CAN’T I WIN?!” I breathed hard again. “People either rule or are either ruled. W-Why can’t I be the one to rule? Strong plays with the weak, weak ones perish, weaklings always lose, but, wh-who the hell decided who’s born to be weak or strong?”

I was walking down the corridor the next second. I had my hands in my pocket and my t-shirt was all torn up. My head was tilted downwards as I walked quickly through all the doors and people laughing or talking. I opened a certain door and went inside. I quickly closed the door with a bang and turned off the light through the switchboard on my right. My bed was just in front of me in my small room. I threw away my clothes and entered the bathroom. I was in the shower, when I closed my eyes to rub soap on my hairs. But, when I closed my eyes, I remembered it again. I was on the ground, with a person raping me. He continuously went up and down with his penis under my butt-hole. “DIE!” I thought. “People die anyways, there’s nothing new in it!” Then, I suddenly remembered him saying, “I had fun today.”

“You shithead, I’m not a toy to play around! I can prove dangerous too. I CAN PROVE DANGEROUS TOO!” I was screaming with my eyes close. “WHY, GOD? WHY?! WHY CAN’T I PROTECT MYSELF?! WHY CAN’T I JUST RUN AWAY FROM THINGS?! WHY DO SUCH THINGS HAPPEN TO MEEEEEE?!” I was breathing hard again. I tilted at the wall in front of me and bumped my face lightly into the wall. “Why?” I broke down and started crying again. “Why do all the bad things happen to me?” I was covered with the letters of ‘weak’ all around the bathroom. “Weak weak weak weak weak weak weak weak weak weak weak weak weak weak! I’m FUCKING TIRED OF BEING WEAK!”

Kartik Khandelwal

“W-Why can’t you…?”

“It’s just because I’m specially told not to,” She replied. “I’m sorry, but the name won’t help you either. T-The whole organization is led by a man named ‘Vikram Sethi’, and he-he can do something big anytime soon, Kartik. I want you to focus on TES rather than the faction.”

I nodded. “Okay, Radhika, but tell me when the right time comes.”

She smiled, and said, “Now, that’s the Kartik I knew--determined, genius and one who understands others’ problems.”

I smiled and stood up. “So, let’s sleep. I got a guests’ room for you. Enjoy your stay.”

“Don’t make me feel like I’m in a hotel. I can ask for some good Chinese food anytime.”

“Ha! I got my e-wallets, Radhika.”

Manish Murthy

I was in the bedroom, searching for something under my bed. I waved my hand inside the bed when suddenly, it found something. I took it out and saw that it was a bottle of wine or something. It was thin and was made of glass. “This will do.” I took it out and stood on my feet. “This is gonna be my defense, my weapon.” I turned towards my desk on the back and walked towards it. There was a black small bag made of cotton which had red designs of flame on it. I opened the chain of the bag and kept the bottle inside, besides my books and registers.

The next day, I was walking down the corridor of my college quickly with my bag hung on my shoulder. It had no wall on the left side, just railing, and I glared at the greenery of the ground below as I walked. “I’m gonna end this all now,” I thought as I saw the people walking on the cemented path between the green grass to come in and out of the college. I stopped in front of the washroom and entered inside. “He’d surely come here today too.” I walked inside the white washroom and turned right. There were toilets on the right side and sinks to wash hands on the left. A man was washing his hands at one sink while four to five toilets were occupied too. I entered inside the farthest toilet at the corner of the washroom.

Suddenly, he entered, wearing a white and red sweatshirt along with a white pair of pants. He walked towards the door of the toilet and opened it, only to find my wearing a monkey-cap, with a bottle of wine in my hands. I waved the bottle around and it hit his face. The bottle broke at the other end and his face was bleeding. Then, I suddenly turned it backward and waved it again on his face, this time to do away with his face. His face was unrecognizable and he was bleeding from all over his face. “Take this, you motherfucker!” I screamed as I saw that the man washing his hands suddenly ran away with fear visible in his eyes and ears. He was screaming, “Awww!” He stepped backward and fell on the ground. I threw the bottle at him and then started dashed towards the door. I ran outside and then started running. I saw that there was a wide commotion outside the washroom as I ran down the corridor. I suddenly entered the stairway and threw my monkey-cap behind. I was breathing hard. I looked at my hands. They were trembling, and had blood on them. “W-What did I just do?” I thought.