Spells

Chapter 12: Fight

Abhimanyu

Abhimanyu drifted towards his home, his lips sprouting blood, and clothes  plastered with dirt. Scattered throughout his body were small and large bleeding cuts. Held down by mud, the usually voluminous hair stuck to his scalp and swollen face. The fight kept replaying in his mind...

He was on his way back home after school, crossing the tiny school ground littered with students mingling among themselves. Abhimanyu himself was having a lively discussion with his classmates, Pulkit and Parth, about which of the band was better, AC/DC or Linkin Park- of course it’s Linkin Park. He failed to notice the expressions of his friends suddenly twist in fear. He did notice a hush sweeping across the ground, but it was too late. By the time he looked back and realized what was going on, a large fist came at him with such a speed, that at first he mistook it to be a white cricket ball. The brute force of the sideways jab was enough to rotate Abhimanyu’s head a little over right angle, his body trying to catch up. He pulled his neck muscle first, the effect for a moment blinding him as fell to the dusty ground. He bit his tongue and felt blood filling his mouth. The pain came a moment later and a cry escaped his throat. For a moment he was grateful for the ground that he fell on, if it wasn’t for that he might have kept on rotating forever.

Abhimanyu blinked his eyes open, wincing as the sunlight attacked his pupils directly. He saw the duo of Yuvraj and Varun standing above him with smug expressions pasted on their faces. Yuvraj was slowly cracking his knuckles to wind up for another punch, making sure Abhimanyu caught the action and realized what was coming for him. Varun was taunting him, loudly asking how he was feeling, whether he still felt high and mighty kissing the dirt beside their feet. The noises and the sunlight was too much, it ached his head. He closed his eyes. He will open them again in a moment, and he will fight, but right now it felt good to allow his throbbing head to have a moment of peace.

Varun's and Yuvraj’s expressions turned sour when Abhimanyu opened his eyes again. Perhaps they sensed his thirst for revenge. With thunderous anger he rose! They were prepared. Yuvraj threw a punch at his face when he was barely on his knees. Abhimanyu didn’t block it but rather threw his fist too, blindly and furiously, and tried to get up more swiftly to dodge the punch. It grazed his right shoulder, but Abhimanyu’s punch caught Yuvraj right on his nose. He didn’t think he had ever hit someone that hard before. He could feel the crunching of the bones beneath his fist. Yuvraj flew behind a few feet, blood coming out of his nose even before he hit the ground. He screamed.

Varun responded fast, not being distracted by his friend this time and instead using this as an opportunity. He tackled Abhimanyu to the ground. Abhimanyu’s head hit the dirt hard, bouncing a little on the soft gravel. He didn’t feel any pain though, not with his heart pumping a high dose of adrenaline.  Varun attempted to restrict his movements by sitting on top of him. Abhimanyu launched an uppercut, landing it nicely on Varun's chin and throwing him off. Varun regained his balance quickly, and might have gotten a nice juicy shot right on Abhimanyu’s eyes if not for Pulkit, Parth and a guy named Ayush holding on to his arms and body tightly.

They had responded slowly, but they still had responded in time, Abhimanyu thought.

His schoolmates had also formed a close circle around Yuvraj, who was still holding his nose. They seemed furious.

Yuvraj looked around, quickly got up and ran away. Varun broke free of the now loose holds and followed him. They didn't look back. A little wobbly and numb, Abhimanyu quietly walked out of the park, ashamed of the pity in everyone’s eyes and embarrassed for himself.

The more he thought back, the more it was evident to him that there was no way he could’ve stopped these events from occurring. He had done what was right, hadn't he? He pictured the first time he fought them, the child they were picking up on looked so sad and helpless. He didn't have a choice, guys like these don't learn by words. He was friendly, with perhaps everyone, only using his fists when he thought there wasn’t any other way to do the right thing. But maybe this time he had been too quick, too excited to fight that he didn’t think of the consequences. These guys were hell-bent on revenge, unlike the bully he beat up in his last school (He didn’t bother anyone after Abhimanyu punched him in the eye the second time they met). But for these two... He had noticed the gleam in their eyes when they were fighting, it was enough to tell him they enjoyed this. He had an inkling that these two would keep coming to fight him, until they finally had the satisfaction of defeating him. But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was if they included Arul in this! Today his brother had the last class cancelled and went back home early, but he could have been as easily involved in the scuffle.

No, he won’t let that happen, he won’t let Arul get caught up in this mess, even if he has to get his dad involved.

He reached home, quickly and silently running towards his room. He couldn’t let anyone see him like this, there will be too many questions, and he had a feeling they won’t be happy with the answers. He locked his room, struggling to get his closet door open, cursing at the knob that was one again jammed when he heard someone colliding with his door.

“Hey, since when did you start locking your door?” Arul yelled, periodically banging on the door with both his fists.

“Since I got a pretty bad headache . Leave me alone dude, I am trying to sleep.” Abhimanyu replied back, trying to make his voice sound weak. Though he knew that his little brother would probably find out about his short but intense brawl tomorrow at school. Whether they were rumors or not, news about stuff like fights, pranks, who made out with whom, the newest addition to the list of children suspended spread like a wildfire in schools. There was no doubt in his mind that the next time he stepped into the school, everyone would have heard about this. With different variations of course! Telling the same thing again and again gets boring after a while so people like to spice it up, he was pretty sure in most of them either he or Varun and Yuvraj would end up bloody and crying pathetically.

“Oh, guess I will talk to you later, then.” His knocking stopped and Abhimanyu could distinctly hear the sound of Arul’s slow and heavy footsteps retreating. It pained him that his brother wanted to talk to him but he couldn’t listen. He made a mental note to talk to Arul tonight, about whatever is bothering him. But right now, his head had actually started to ache and whether it was from an injury or exhaustion didn’t matter, he was going to wash up and sleep it out.

Arul

Arul had decided to tell Abhi all about the book, from him finding it in the library (or rather hearing it!) to him deciding to test a spell. He was unsure what he was going to say, but he had no uncertainty about Abhimanyu understanding him completely. And he was sure that his brother would tell him what to do, whatever it would have been didn’t matter, and he would listen to it because Abhi was always right. He sat on his bed, deciding his next step.

Maybe he was a little relieved, he didn’t want Abhimanyu stopping him. He had found out something fascinating to do, and he was going to do it.