Sleepless night

Edwin couldn’t forget the words the man said last night. He tried to ignore them, but he was unable to get those words off his head. He never saw Ace helping or talking to someone politely. Ace, being good, was unimaginable to him.

While he was getting ready for his college, his cell phone buzzed. Seeing Liam’s name on the screen, joy overtook him.

“Hey Li.” Edwin spoke, smiling.

“Hey Ed. Done with your last night hangover?” Liam asked, laughing.

“Not totally, but I have to attend classes.”

Then Liam apologized to him for not being with him, last night. They both talked for a few minutes, and Edwin left for his college.

After a few hours of boring classes, he reached his basketball court to practice. He told Ralph that happened last night, and for Ralph too it felt shocking and unbelievable. That’s how much, Ace showed his evil side to them. Following two hours of practicing, everyone left to their houses.

Taking rest for an hour, Edwin started to the clothes store, while talking to his parents on call. He was too tired to work, yet he managed to put on a fake smile, while showing and selling the clothes to the customers. At times, he felt quitting his work, but his pockets always kept reminding him the necessity for him to work.

It’s night, he finished his work, had his dinner in the nearby canteen and started to his home, that’s when he received a message from Kate asking him to meet her in the playground that was located near their college. She also added that it’s important, and come alone. He then called her, but she started to cut his calls.

Surprised with her actions, Edwin reached the place after few minutes. There were no one in the ground and the surroundings were filled with darkness. He wondered why she wanted to meet him at night in that place. He took out his cell phone from his pocket, and opened Kate's contact to call her, but before he did that, he felt someone’s presence from behind. When he was about to turn, he was kicked from behind that made him fell to the ground.

Before he could understand anything, he was getting beaten with a hockey stick. Edwin started to cover himself from the beatings with his palms, but his attempts went in vain. He then realized it was Ace, fuming in anger.

“How dare you, try to insult me in the store?” Ace shouted while beating him, angrily.

“Ahh! Ace, stop.” Edwin tried to stop him, but Ace was not listening to him.

Ace kept beating him while shouting at him. Blood started to ooze out from Edwin’s body with Ace's beatings. Edwin stood from the ground holding the stick, and he fought back. He too started to beat Ace so badly and their fight resulted in the destruction of the things that were in the ground.

They both kept beating, kicking each other while cursing one another. Edwin kept shouting to stop, but Ace wasn’t listening. Finally, after many minutes of fighting, Edwin pushed Ace to the ground, shouting “I said stop it.”

Ace looked at him furiously, wiping his blood and sweat with the dorsal side of his hands. Edwin held his head, irritated, looking at Ace. He shook his head in annoyance and sat on the ground, making heavy grunts, frustratingly.

“Are you going to become a killer by killing me or what?” Edwin shouted.

“I wish I could do that.” Ace said, gritting his teeth.

“Why the fuck you hate me this much?” Edwin scoffed.

“Because you gave a reason to hate you. Bastard.” Ace said.

Edwin tapped the ground with his palm, angrily. He shouted, “Why the hell you are taking the defeat personally? It’s a bloody one win. Grow up, man. Stop this bloody rivalry.”

Ace kept silent, still furious with Edwin. Edwin continued saying “Why do have this much hatred, this much venom in you? It not only destroys others, it will destroy you, Ace.”

“Enough.” Ace shouted.

Ignoring him, Edwin kept speaking that was irritating Ace. Ace stood from the ground, and walked to Edwin angrily. He then bent to Edwin’s level and held his collar.

“I said enough.” He shouted again.

Edwin pushed him and stood straight. He said “Ace, someone said you are a good guy. But everything that you do, proves you are an evil one. Question yourself. What are you exactly?”

Ace let out a sarcastic chuckle with his sentences. He spoke “So cinematic... so dramatic.” He then pointed his finger at Edwin, shouting, “I warn you, if you do something against me the next time, the consequences will be worse.”

Ace then gave a final punch at Edwin’s face and walked away. Edwin held his nose cursing Ace under his breath. Then he also started to go away, but suddenly he reminded Kate. He called her, but her cell phone was switched off.

Edwin ran after Ace, shouting, “What the hell you did to Kate?”

Ignoring him, Ace drove away in his car. Edwin kicked the dustbin beside him and started to Kate's house, muttering “Bloody hell. I guess I won’t sleep this night.”

After an hour, he reached Kate's house. He slammed the door, shouting her name. In a minute, the door was opened and Kate was shocked to see Edwin.

“Ed?” She narrowed her eyebrows. She held his hand and dragged him to the backyard shouting “What are you doing here at this late night? Mom and dad are sleeping inside.”

“You... you alright?” Edwin asked.

“What? Of course, I am.” Kate was confused. She then noticed scars and cuts on his face and hands. She asked worriedly, “What happened to you? Are you alright, Ed?”

“Yeah.” He nodded his head.

“Let’s go inside. Let me treat you for these wounds.” She said.

“I’m fine.” Edwin said and sat on the ground as he had no energy to even stand.

“You... you stay here. I’ll be back.” Kate said and walked away.

In a few minutes, she approached him with a medical kit in one hand and a juice glass in another. She then treated his scars and plastered them with band-aids. Edwin started to drink the juice while she kept looking at him with a questioning face.

Edwin put aside his glass, saying, “You... you texted me to meet you in the college premises.”

“What? I didn’t.” She shouted.

“I mean, I got a text from your cell phone. When I called you, you cut my calls, then it’s switched off.” Edwin said.

“My cell phone? How is it even possible? Few minutes back, my cell phone got switched off, and I was outside.”

“Outside? Did someone take your cell phone? I’m sure Silver High members did that because instead of you, Ace came to the place, and he beat the shit out of me.”

Kate shut her eyes, shaking her head in annoyance. She said “It’s Jacob.”

“Jacob?”

“I was in a restaurant with my cousin. To my bad luck, Ace and Jacob arrived. Jacob wanted to talk to me personally, so I walked away from my cousin. I left my handbag on the table. Ace might have taken my cell phone from there, secretly and after calling you, he might have deleted the call list.”

Edwin started to curse them, hearing Kate. He then asked, “Why did Jacob want to speak to you personally?”

Kate’s eyes widened, and she bit her lower lip. Edwin continued, “Kate, what’s happening? Are you hiding something from me?”

Kate shook her head, saying, “Edwin...”

“Don’t tell me you are fraternizing with the enemy.” Edwin raised his eyebrows.

“Shut up, Ed.” She let out a sigh. She said “Okay. I’ve been hiding something from you. Jacob had been asking me out. He even proposed me many times, indirectly. In the restaurant, he was trying to convince me.”

Edwin stood from the ground, shouting, “What?”

“Shhh! Don’t overreact, Ed.” She said standing straight.

“What do you mean by not overreact? From when is it happening? Is he bothering you, Kate? If it’s the case, I swear we are going to...”

Before he finished his sentence, Kate shouted, “That’s why I didn’t say. Ed, you guys loathe eachother so much, and I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. It’s not a big thing, I can manage this.”

“That bloody Jacob... we should do something to him so that he should feel scared to even look at you.” Edwin said angrily.

Kate held his hands, saying, “Ed, calm down. Promise me, you won’t tell this to anyone.”

Edwin kept quiet, as he didn’t want to let Jacob go easily. Kate said “Please.”

“No Kate. What if they are planning something to do to you? I can’t take this risk.” Edwin said.

“Come on, Ed. Nothing happens. If I feel something wrong, I’ll inform you till then promise me, you won’t tell this to anyone.”

After thinking for a second, Edwin said, “Fine. I won’t. But you also have to promise me that you’ll tell me everything.”

“Yes. I promise, Ed.”

"Also, don't tell about this fight to anyone, including Ralph. Things will really go worse, if they know about this." 

"But..." Kate was not ready to accept to him as she wanted Ace to pay for the things he did. After a lot of convincing, Kate said "Okay then. I won't tell to anyone." 

He nodded his head and started to walk away. Kate realized he couldn’t be able to reach his home easily, seeing his position, so she convinced him to stay in her house. He accepted and they both walked inside.