Their Dark Past

His hands trembled slightly. He was aware of the beads of perspiration forming behind is neck, despite the cold weather.

Luke was excited. But at the same time, his stomach burnt with anxiety.

Tonight, he was going to meet his friends- his long lost best buddies, after 10 years. But Luke knew that the moment the five of them would meet, painful scary memories of their past would begin to resurface.

Memories of their dark past which neither of them wished to remember.

Luke had himself suffered a lot, trying to recover from that incident.

The memories had kept haunting him.

 He had suffered alone. He couldn’t utter a word about it to anyone as that would have brought all of their careers and dreams down together.

And tonight was their class reunion. When Luke received the invitation 2 weeks back, he had decided not to go. But he really wanted to meet the others.

After that day, he had lost contact with the four of them. Two years later, he got a lucrative job in Canada – a perfect opportunity to forget the past and begin a new life. And he accepted it.                                                   

During that time he tried to locate his friends, but it was in vain. And as the years rolled on, he gradually forgot everything, until the postman dropped the invitation for the reunion in his mailbox.

And now Luke found himself in the car heading to Gardens cape Restaurant, getting ready to meet them.

“How long will it take?” he asked his driver.

“It’s the peak hours, sir. It might at least take an hour.”

Sighing, Luke leans against the window closing his eyes.

FIFTEEN YEARS BACK:

“Joe? Where’s my book?” Ryan calls out, still digging into his bag.

“I returned it.”

“Seriously? We have our exams after three weeks. I need to start studying.” he screams

“Mr. Nerd, cut it out. We have three whole weeks left.” Luke comes out of the washroom, vigorously rubbing his wet hair with the towel.

“Anyways, those guys aren’t back yet?” he asks looking around.

“I hope they haven’t got caught, trying to sneak back in with the food”, Joe replies, as he finally gets an almost battered and folded book from his laundry basket, “I’m so sorry Ryan”

“My book! I’m gonna kill you”

The door flings open before the war could begin. Tony and Ray walk in with a huge grin plastered on their faces, both of them carrying covers and juice bottles.

“Open it quick. My tongue has gone numb these days tasting the bland hostel food.” Luke jumps immediately grabbing the cover. The rest of them get the plates from the shelves and settle down.

“Did anyone see you guys?” Ryan asks biting onto his burger.

“Well! As usual, Mr Snollygoster caught us”, Tony says.

“What? Again?” Joe asks stopping in the midst of wolfing down his chicken.

“Yeah! And he forced us to give him money, again.” Ray whines.

“It’s time that he gets kicked out from here. Why does he hate us so much? We literally give him half of what our parents send us every month! Like that’s more than the measly salary he gets from being the warden’s assistant” Luke sighs, frustrated.

“That’s what he calls himself. He’s only a caretaker but he acts like the Principal.” Tony frowns

“You know what? I have got the perfect idea!” Joe says gulping down the meat. He waits until all eight eyes are on him.

“Okay! So the thing is someone told me that besides this job, he has some other side jobs as well. Some of those are illegal.”

“Illegal? As in drugs?”

“Yeah”

“And who told you this?” Ryan asks.

“A senior, who got the stuff from him.”

“I don’t believe this”, Ray leans back folding his arms.

“I saw it. The senior offered it to Me.”, Joe looks at him.

“What? And you accepted it? “Ryan covers his mouth, shocked.

“No! You know I promised my mom not to do it.” Joe murmurs.

“Now, will you come to the plan? What if James Snollygoster is selling drugs? “What can we gain from it?” Luke asks.

“Listen! The thing is, he has some sort of deal with a very dangerous African group. That’s where he gets the drugs from. He gets the drugs from these people and sells it to the students at a high price. And he gets the money from them and hands it over to the group. He receives a part of this money for his effort. But according to what I heard, the dealers are very particular about the money. They have threatened to kill James if he doesn’t give back the correct amount. So what we do is, steal the drugs from James’ room and hide it, or probably get rid of it. He won’t be able to return the money to the group. And obviously scared for his life, he would have to run away. He won’t come back. The college will eventually hire a better caretaker.” Joe pauses.

 A huge scary silence prevails, as the boys think about it.

“That’s a huge risk!” Ray finally talks, “And how sure are you about these facts?”

“I have got to know about these from a very reliable source.” Joe says confidently.

“But still! Just because he takes money from us and is rude to us, should we go for this extreme revenge? What if they actually kill him?” Luke asks.

“Extreme? It was my mom’s hard earned money. She struggles to pay my fees. And the little bit of money that I save up for emergency situations should be given away to that greedy person. And is that all? He keeps complaining about us even if we do nothing and we end up getting punished. And did you forget what happened last year? He burnt Ryan’s books and slapped me. He messed with our food so that we get sick and miss our final exam. Just because we refused to pay him the undeserved money.” Joe scowls picking on the food.

“It’s true. And we haven’t done anything to harm him. He deserves it.”, Tony smirks”

“You guys are right! And moreover he isn’t doing charity. He’s selling drugs. So we are kind of helping the students, right?” Luke says half convinced.

“Yeah! We have already hacked the computers. So if in case something happens, we can just delete the camera recordings.”, Ray chuckles.

“So are we doing it?” Joe asks.

“I am in.”, Ray chimes in.

“Ryan?” Tony turns to look at him.

“Uh Okay.”

“So that’s done! But how do we know if he hides the stuff in his room?”

“There’s no other place. His family is in another town. And there’s no other hideout.” Joe says with a confirming nod.

“Tomorrow night seems perfect! The warden won’t be there tomorrow.” Ray puts in.

“So tomorrow it is. Brace yourself guys. Let’s make a proper plan.” Luke says grabbing a paper and pen.

------

“Sir? Excuse me! Sir, we are here”

Luke jolts up, as he looks around trying to figure out where he was. He finally gets out of the car, adjusting his hair and pulling at his shirt.

As he walks into the hall buzzing with people, he recognizes a few people.

The same faces, the same smiles, just a bit older.

A few of them come up to him, but he dodges them with a polite smile.                                                                

  He knew who he wanted to meet.

And there they were! All gathered around a table in the corner.

A feeling of mixed emotions capture him, as Luke stumbles towards them.

Ray notices him first. He immediately springs up followed by the others and they excitedly pull him into a huge hug.

They chatter excitedly catching upon each other’s lives, sharing their numbers, resolving to keep in touch. Everyone knew that there was an untouched sensitive point which all of them were desperately trying to avoid.

Joe speaks up first.

“I know, I was the one who tempted you into that weird plan. And all these years, I haven’t been able to live peacefully because of the guilt. I’m sorry guys.”

“It wasn’t your fault”, Ryan says immediately.

“Did you guys hear anything about it after that day? I mean the body....umm” Luke stops awkwardly.

The others shake their head in a negative.

-----

A FLASHBACK: As dusk drew in, the boy braced themselves. The plan was set. They knew what to do. They were waiting for the perfect moment.

Ray watched the caretaker, as he slowly walked out of the building for his usual stroll. The time had come. And they had to act.

Ryan and Tony stood keeping a watch, one at the entrance and the other one at the third floor, near Mr. James’ room.

The three of them stumbled into the dark room holding a candle, groping about for the drugs. The moment they find it they had to run. But the plan that seems so simple before was now getting difficult by each second. They had no idea where he had hidden it.

Tony’s heat freezes when he sees the faint shadow returning. He immediately calls Ryan.

Ryan runs into the room alerting everyone. “Guys get out. He’s here”

“But we haven’t found it yet.” Joe shouts.

“Keep it down Joe. Let’s leave guys”, Luke says tugging at Ray.

But Ray wasn’t listening. His hands were busy unscrewing the tiny trap door under the cot.

He kept tugging at it, until it finally gives away. Filled packets drop down one by one.

Luke quickly grabs the bag and starts stuffing the packets into it. Ray and Joe follow him.

Their hearts beating every second.

“Guys, Come out.” They could hear Ryan’s scared pleading voice. But this was their only chance and neither of them budges.

Well! All three of them believed that they could get out unnoticed.

But it was only when Luke hears Ryan whimpering that he realizes that it was too late.

“Sneaking into my room? You should have asked for it” His cold voice makes the four of them shiver.

“Whom should I call first? The Principal or your parents?” he smirks.

“You will be the one in trouble. They are gonna ask where it came from and the cameras will show what actually happened.” Joe shouts.

The smirk his wiped off as realization dawns on him. He jumps to grab the bag but Luke is quick enough. The four of them run pushing James down. But the man despite his age chases them down. Luke runs up followed by the others.

The terrace.

It’s going to be over once he drops the bag into the big open drain.

Luke knew it and he runs with an inhuman pace.

He suddenly gets pulled back by the collar, and James reaches for the bag. Luke tosses the bag towards Ryan and James desperately runs after him.

Ryan was no athlete. He stumbles and falls flat on his face, the bag flying out of his hands, out of the limits of the terrace. James trips on Ryan’s leg.

A scream echoes through the air.

And there’s a thud as the body hits the ground.

The four stand there frozen. Scared to death.

They stand there. Like statues.

Joe suddenly recovers from the shock. “Guys we have to run. Come on.” He pulls the others.

They run back to their rooms, still not sure of what happened.

They knew that there would be an investigation soon. And they would all be in trouble. They had to run away. They knew it.

And that’s exactly what they did!

They ran away, leaving everything behind.

-------

The party was going great. The teachers were as excited as the others to meet their old students. The five of them go about talking with their old classmates.

All of them had coincidentally done their homework on the lies they had to tell when asked about their sudden departure.

“Oh! So you wouldn’t have known about the accident that happened to Mr. James, the caretaker, right?”, the old warden asks.

“Oh! We did. He fell off the terrace and died, right? How is your family doing?” Luke immediately changes the topic.

“No! He fell off the terrace, but he survived.”

“What?” the five of them are perplexed beyond words.

“Yes. He was into drugs and stuff. The police found him with the evidence. After treatment, he was prisoned. He’s still in prison. The other dark secrets of James came to light soon after. And the students opened up about him asking them for money and being bullied. Man! I never knew these things happened.” he chuckles.

The five of them stare at him.

“He didn’t die? We didn’t kill him?” Ryan asks still in a daze, once the warden leaves.

“So we aren’t murderers anymore!” Joe says.

“Ten years! I couldn’t sleep for ten years. I was so guilty of what I had done.” Luke sighs taking a sip of his champagne.

“And I kept thinking that the police would come for me one day.”

“And all those times my mom asked me why I had left the college just like that, I had no answer.” Joe whines.

“I was criticized by my parents, I kept having nightmares and the worst thing was I couldn’t even share it with anyone.” Ray sighs, rubbing his forehead.

The party slowly comes to an end. The crowd slowly starts decreasing. Luke hugs all of them goodbye, each of them promising to visit each other with their families.

The driver drops him back home. He gets into his room, shrugging off his coat. His eyes soften as he sees his daughter and wife asleep. He gets onto the bed, cuddling them.

All these years, he had lived his life thinking that he was a murderer. A cruel one.

He couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t laugh. Couldn’t enjoy. And the worst thing was he couldn’t love. He was afraid of losing his wife and kid. He thought that they would leave him once his dark past was revealed. That fear had prevented him from loving them unconditionally.

But today, was different.

And for the first time in ten years, he slept with a smile.