Chapter 02 - The Boys

Sekara woke up to a hissing noise by the window. There were quick yet repetitive knocks on the window pane. He squinted his eyes and looked at his small Nokia phone to check the time, but it had switched off. His Nokia 1100 is on its last breath with its battery taped in its place. The clock on his table said it's 15 minutes passed 9 in the morning. Sekara bolted up from the bed and opened the window in a hurry, slamming the window pane on Mihindu’s head. He snapped back at him.

“Sekara you bastard!!”Mihindu snapped while Sekara was trying to wake himself up for this situation. 

"I’ll take care of this later, but right now Raveen is fighting with some boys in the school, and we need to head there right now before they try to murder him. That son of a bitch can’t even slap a mosquito to death, yet he goes around making trouble for us”

“On a Saturday???”

“Yeah the sinners don’t get holidays, be quick, I’ll meet you by the fence.”

Sekara quickly put on shorts and a plain t-shirt and ran to the well. His mother was washing Gotukola* by the well. 

“Where are you running off to early morning? Your father needs you to take the bicycle for repairing”

“I almost forgot that we have a revision today. It will be only for few hours, I’ll come soon.yeah yeah mom, I’ll get the breakfast at Mihindu’s” he replied his mother while brushing his teeth. 

He splashed some water over his face and ran to the road. Mihindu was impatiently waiting for him by the fence. 

“We got to run boy” 

While they ran along the road, Sekara was thinking how bad the fight must have gotten by now. Raveen can’t fight at all but always in a hurry to start one. Mihindu often blamed Sekara for being a bad influence on Raveen. Sekara was one of the number one fighters in the hood, so it wasn’t a problem if he started a fight. But Raveen lose his temper often and never thinks about the consequences, whereas Sekara knew how to pick his fights wisely. 

When they reached the town, the older boys were hitting Raveen, pulling him by the collar. Raveen, being so stubborn did not leave the fight even though it seemed as if he was about to pass out. 

Sekara and Mihindu pushed through the watchers and jumped right at the scene. There were 3 boys and they were well built physically. Even though Mihindu was a thin boy with a forced willpower, Sekara had the body of a sportsman. The fight looked as if Sekara had been possessed by some foreign entity. He was hitting the tallest one’s stomach and face continuously and his lip got viciously injured and he started bleeding. The other two ran away the moment they realised it was Sekara who joined. Mihindu dragged Raveen out of the mess and had a look over him.

Sekara yelled at the watchers to mind their own damn business.

Raveen wasn’t injured that bad. His nose was bleeding and part of his shoulder has gotten reddish blue from beating but the lucky bastard was still breathing. He was grinning when Sekara got near him.

“Apologies my father” Raveen faked an adorable face.

Sekara slapped his head playfully.

“Oi what's with the hitting, cant you guys see I'm dying?”

“Yeah you would have already if Sekara didn’t come, you bastard”, Mihindu was complaining. 

“So what is it this time, Raveen?”

he didn’t reply. 

They started walking towards the lake as the fight brought unnecessary attention of the villagers. Raveen, with the help of his two friends, dragged his feet and sat with them by the lake. 

Raveen’s face has become swollen but he didn’t look like he was physically in pain. He stuttered and his fingers were trembling with madness. Raveen was a romantic and an overthinker. He had his way with people and he was excellent in attracting people just by his handsome face and flattery. So if he started a fight it was always in the pursuit of love and family. He gets horrifyingly silent after such events, so Sekara and Mihindu was talking about the fight until Raveen was ready to pour. 

He broke the silence in a while. 

“Those guys took my mother’s watch” 

Sekara sighed and put his arms around Raveen.

“I’ll get the watch on Monday, let it go now” Raveen looked at Sekara’s eyes with hope and love. 

“Bastards, motherless cunts” Mihindu was boiling up.

“Listen I promised father that I’ll take his bicycle for repairing today. I need to go home in a while, can we have breakfast at yours Mihindu?”

Raveen knew his friends were not coming from rich families. Raveen’s dad owned a successful rice mill and was considered as one of the richest in the area. He lost his mom at a very young age due to an accident, and his father became distant after her demise. Raveen craved more affection from his father, but he tried his best not to show it. Raveen always held on to his mother’s wristwatch as he was a sweetheart to his mother, he dearly, deeply missed her and he wasn’t afraid to show it.  

“I’ll buy some bread and shall we have breakfast there?”

Mihindu was silently grateful for Raveen’s idea. 

“Yeah let’s all go, and you can get cleaned up Raveen, If Sekara’s father sees you like this you would be joining your mum way too soon” he slapped Raveen’s hand jokingly. 

“Oi your sister is at home?” Raveen’s face was bleeding but all he could think of was Sekara’s sister. 

“Yeah she is”

“How long is she staying for?”

“I don’t know”

“Do you think she will treat my wounds with her soft hands?” 

“Do you want to get beaten up again?”

“No Sir”

“Okay you better walk alone, I feel sick, didn’t even take the morning dump yet thanks to our champion here”

“I was so close to taking them out”

“Yeah taking them out for your funeral, my ass” Mihindu snapped.

While they walked to Mihindu’s home, Raveen stopped to get some bread and a cigarette. They shared a smoke until they reach his home. Mihindu grabbed some leaves from a guava tree on the side of the road and shared with others. Chewing Guava leaves are exceptional when it comes to hiding the smell of cigarettes. The fresh taste of it does wonders. Their parents must not know about smoking. Even though drinking was somehow forgivable sometimes, smoking won’t hold its ground. 

Raveen’s whole body was hurting so he leaned towards Mihindu. Mihindu took his hand and put it over his shoulder and smiled. While walking with his head bent and listening to his friends smiling and laughing at him, he only felt pure happiness just to be part of it. 

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*Gotukola - spadeleaf/Indian pennywort