Dystopia.

This had never happened in this country or maybe once.

Alright, I’m the second person to do it. But honestly, it felt peaceful on a whole new level. It felt like smoking cigarettes, you know it’s bad for you but it feels the exact opposite. “21st July, last Saturday, there happened a school shooting. The 18 year old shooter got himself firearms from a smuggler in South-central Mumbai.” Funny, isn’t it ? “8 people were reported to be shot dead.” “According to the investigators, the shooter suffered from mental disorders and had a severe seizure when he committed the crime.” I accept the fact that according to law, I’m a criminal. AFter all, I have taken 7 lives.

Apparently, I’m mentally sick. I have a disorder and get seizures. Sadly, I got one during the school timings and somehow also at the time when I had my gun. I’ll tell you what the truth is. Among the 7 people I shot dead; 3 were teachers, 2 were students, 1 of them was the school janitor and the other was the principal.

Akash Singh Yadav, the Mathematics’ teacher for classes 11th and 12th. He never taught the classes I had been in, but was an infamous fellow. Every person in the school knew what he always did. Rivan Khan, was apparently his favourite student. We all knew this because Rivan was extraordinarily rich and Mr. Yadav only earned because of the favours Rivan’s father would do for him. In return, Yadav would provide Rivan with all the papers, a week or two before the exams and while evaluating, Yadav would correct the wrong answers for him. But no one said anything, not even the principal, Satpal Singh. Well, why would he, 40% of Yadav’s earnings would go to Satpal.

Satpal Singh was the most corrupt human being I’ve ever dealt with. He dreamed and drooled for money. If he could, he’d sell his entire family for the right amount of cash. I’ve seen one of the janitors cleaning his commode bare hands as a punishment for not paying the rent for the accommodation that Satpal provided. No one batted an eye if he’d take 800 every month from each one of them for living with 7 people in one room. Some people said he molested 3 of the female janitors as a punishment for the same thing. Satpal was supported and assisted by Akhilesh Verma, the sports department head and Vineet Kubde, the football coach.

Akhilesh and Vineet were perverts. I don’t remember the number of girls who’d tell us the stories of how and where these perverts touched them. I remember one incident where Akhilesh leaned towards a girl and buttoned the uppermost button of her shirt while feeling her chest and whispered “Follow the dress code.” I was right there looking at it, we were all there. The girl never said a word but was astonished. I hardly saw her in the school after that. Vineet would ask his team to do drills and exercises where he would get to see ‘things’. Last year he took the girls for a tournament which was out of station. Three compartments were filled with girls only from our school and most of them felt someone touching them in the night. All the girls raised their voices against this. But neither they agreed, nor did Satpal.

Now, Rivan was not the only rich brat, Avinash Krishnan and Rahul Nanda were two students from my batch who were insanely rich. These two were best friends. They were in the same class, they would get almost the same marks, they were in the team together and would also molest and rape juniors together. ‘Playboys’, they were often called. They were the most popular kids in school but not everyone knew what they did. They would organise house parties, ask a girl from the crowd to stay overnight. Most of the girls wouldn’t agree to get physical with both of them at the same time and there was the reason why they forced each one of them. The girls would cry and scream but these parties were organised 20kms away from the city in Rahul’s farmhouse. It didn’t get worse until Shivani Desai case.

Shivani was two years younger to us. She was a great footballer and an amazing singer. Avinash and Nanda organised a party in the celebration of the west zone under 16 football tournament win. Shivani, being the top scorer, was invited as well. She had never been to such a party before. But who knew that she’ll never come back home ? According to reports Shivani was found naked and dead in the woods 600m behind the farmhouse. They didn’t kill her. She tried to run and ended up fainting and finally dying due to excessive bleeding. The filled case was taken back when Nanda’s dad showered money on her family and the lawyers.

I’m an orphan and have always tried to be good at studies. I lived with my aunt and had a sister who passed away. We lived in a room, very small and congested. I only had one goal, get good marks and find a job as soon as I get out of school. But I didn’t even come close to that, Rivan was rich, you know. My aunt was a janitor in my school and the principal made her do shameful jobs. My sister was a great sportsperson but got raped and was found dead in a forest last week. These rich kids bully me everyday, they take my money, paint my face, call me names, call my aunt names. I couldn’t handle it. One of the 3 men’s who lived with us helped me get my firearm, just in case I lose my calm. I just wanted to keep it with me and had no intention to hurt anyone.

I stepped in the school on Saturday, it was a half day. I got bullied, like everyday, they started throwing mud at me. Fortunately, they didn’t take my bag from me, if they did, they would’ve found my gun. So I kept walking towards class. I saw Kubde and Verma doing their usual. Suddenly a stone come flying at me. I see Nanda laughing, so I punch him and he punches me back.

Avinash sees us and joins the brawl. Soon Vineet and Akhilesh intervene and take us to the Satpal’s office. The doors closed and Raj bhaiya, one of the janitors asks us to wait. We can hear a woman’s cry coming from inside the office. She’s screaming and ‘please saheb’ is all that’s clearly heard. It happens everyday so no one really pays much attention. The doors open, we enter. I see Satpal and Yadav in the office, which was very weird to imagine. The sports teachers start complaining about how I started beating the two innocent rich brats, who were minding their work while I threw a stone at them to provoke them. The principle gave a 3 week suspension and told me to pay a ₹5000 fine for Nanda’s injuries. I tell him to talk to my aunt and there he screams her name. I was heartbroken, she comes out from the back, crying and with her head facing the floor. There and then, I lost my calm.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

It’s just me and my aunt. She’s looking at me with eyes filled with terror and a pale face.

“The kid shot seven people, which included the principal of the school, two students, three teachers and a female janitor. After murdering them he shot himself out of fear.”

-Apoorv Mathur

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