Book of Dark #1: Always Stand Up

by Deepak Khanchandani

  ~~~

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” Zara dove to the ground and threw her arms around Keane.

  She squeezed so hard that it made his bruises and fractures hurt more than they already did. But having Zara hold him that close felt good. So good. Her arms around him, the touch of her neck against his cheek, her warmth, her smell. It all just felt really, really good. So, Keane happily suppressed his pain.

  “I-I didn’t realize they were even capable of that!” said Zara. Keane could feel the poor girl shaking, clearly horror-struck by how badly she’d misjudged the severity of the beating the Bullies would levy. “Otherwise I would never ever have—”

  “No!” interrupted Keane. She was about to apologize and he was going to have none of it. He was already feeling rotten about how cowardly he’d behaved while Zara had dared to at least try and set the Bullies straight.

  Besides, throughout the fight, he’d held the words from his dreams at the back of his mind. Words uttered by a man with savage looks but wise eyes. Words that seemed to match what Zara had been trying to tell him all this time.

  “You were right all along,” said Keane. “Anyone who attempts to coerce you to their will through means of power must be confronted. Always.”

  Zara stared at him, perplexed. “When did I ever say that?” Then, she narrowed her eyes. “You hit your head, didn’t you? Let me see…”

  “No, wait,” said Keane, cutting short her inspection. The meaning of the words that had previously seemed so elusive was so clear now. He knew that Zara was the last person who needed to be told this. He knew, even before he said it, that he was doing so mostly for his own benefit, but it just had to be said.

  “It means that we always need to stand up to bullies, Zara. Always!”

  Zara just shook her head. She seemed astonished that Keane could still spout such advice after the pounding he’d just taken. She wrapped her arms back around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder once again.

  Brok, who had been poking at the unconscious bodies of Johnny and Don with a tree branch, as if unable to believe that they were really out cold, now approached Keane and Zara, staring at his best friend with utter bewilderment.

  “Tell me they’re still alive?” said Keane.

  “Oh… yeah, alive… unfortunately. But, more importantly… how did you… do that?” said Brok, “Was it… was it actually ropes and pulleys?”

  Keane grinned sheepishly and cast the briefest sideways glance at Zara. Brok mouthed an “Oh”.

  Both boys were taken aback slightly when Zara started to gibber. “I was going to go get a teacher, I really was!” Her words were slurring as she burrowed her head deeper into Keane’s shoulder. “And I started, but then I stopped because I was scared, just so scared, because you said you didn’t want to go back to Mr. Smith’s office and that you couldn’t take any more detention and I was afraid that they’d do exactly that, Keane, I was afraid that they’d only give you more detention…”

  “Shhh, shhh,” Keane whispered into her ear, running his hand through her hair. “It’s over now. It’s done. All done.”

  “Over now…” she repeated, simmering down. “All done…”

  “You know you broke your promise, right?” said Brok.

  Keane knew that he had. He shrugged his shoulders as if to ask what choice he had, but Brok crossed his arms in a huff. So Keane mustered up the biggest puppy dog eyes he could and stared unrelentingly into Brok’s face with them.

  Brok, to his credit, resisted valiantly for a while, but seeing Keane’s eyes grow ever larger, he finally caved in.

  “Oh, alright,” he sighed, “You know I can’t stay mad at that face. But let the record show that I’m too happy about it. At least you’re getting to grips with your, er…”

  Brok began to mime at a speed which made Keane’s eyes hurt. Keane frowned deeply and strained to keep up. But when Brok finally finished and turned to him with a grin, Keane could only shrug, having understood not a thing.

  Brok huffed with frustration and went to start again, but Keane stopped him with a desperate shake of his hands.

  “No, please don’t! Er, I think you mean my… ‘temper’! Yes?” he suggested, guessing that Brok wanted to discuss the powers without mentioning them in Zara’s presence.

  “Ah, yes,” said Brok, taking to the idea. “Sure. Let’s go with that. I am glad that you’re getting some control over your—ahem—temper…”

  “Guys? I can hear you,” said Zara, as she finally released Keane. “You know I have ears, right? Tell me you know that.” She turned to Brok. “I’m actually quite worried that you especially don’t.”

  The boys watched her mutely. Clearly, the word ‘temper’ wasn’t going to work. Brok seemed unable to fathom how the new girl had already managed to crack that super-secret code.

  What Keane wondered, though, was if Zara had fully grasped the implications of everything that had just happened. He really, really hoped she hadn’t. He hoped that she thought it was all just a string of cheap tricks, and that she didn’t now suspect him of being the telekinetic aberration he truly was.

  What he did know was that discussing his powers any further with Zara around was only going to make things worse, so when Brok attempted to continue talking, Keane made chopping motions across his neck to get him to stop.

  “You know I have eyes too, right?” Zara said, raising an eyebrow at Keane.

  But before Keane could reply, he spotted blood on Zara’s elbow and grabbed her arm. “Are you okay?” he asked, frowning at the cut.

  Zara inspected the wound curiously. She had clearly not even felt it.

  “Just a scratch,” she said, now turning her attention to Keane’s bruised and bleeding face. “Let me see that. You’re the one who need to visit the school nurse. Like, more than anyone has ever needed to. Like, since time began.”

  Keane started to chuckle, but soon stopped as this made his ribs hurt. He pressed them to see how broken they really were, and, although this made him flinch with pain again, it wasn’t quite as bad as he’d expected. His bones had been through worse.

  Zara wrapped her hands delicately around his arms to help him up and, as they walked toward the main block together, she began to more closely scrutinize all of his scrapes and bruises.

  Keane couldn’t help but smile. The day may have been a relentless barrage of misery and pain, but being fussed over by Zara sure was a good way to end it.

  “Er, guys?” said Brok, suddenly aware that he was being left behind. “I was bullied too, you know?” Realizing that he didn’t have a single scratch on him, he added, “Emotionally, I mean…”

  Miffed by the complete lack of response from the departing pair, he increased his volume. “My injuries are all internal! That counts too!”

  The echo of his voice around the courtyard made him realize that he was speaking only to himself now. He looked around and confirmed that he was, indeed, very much alone.

  “Mustn’t ignore internal scars, right guys?” he called out, now unashamedly chasing after them, but the school bell rang and drowned his voice out.

  “Guys? Guuuuuys?”