Drugged Love (On Hold)

Chapter Seventeen, Part One

"What happened to your face Ishan?" Ishan's mother demanded as she opened the door.

After his conversation with Zakir, he had almost forgotten about his bruised face and that he'd still have to face his parents.

"I got into a fight, mom" Ishan said trying to somehow slip pass through her into his room hoping his back towards her might prevent her from pressing for the details and the routine lecture that might follow.

"Not so easy there ", she said and Ishan stopped.

She came closer to her and examined his face. "Looks like a pretty serious fight. Have you forgot that you're not allowed to fight?" she said trying to sound intimidating.

"I know mom. I had to protect myself. The other guy started it."Ishan sighed.

"Who was this other guy? And where the hell did you go? Why don't you tell me anything these days?" Every question was dreadful for Ishan.

"I was in the park. We were playing cricket and I had an argument with someone" he said thinking that arguments were common during sports and her mother would fall for that.

"Alright. But you better be careful next time. Go to your room and I'll get some ointments and bandages. Thank God your dad is asleep else he would have gone off on you" she said.

Ishan was relieved and headed straight to his bedroom where her sister was sitting on the bed.

"You look beautiful" she said and started giggling.

For the past months, he had forgotten how fast her sister was growing up. She always managed to lighten his mood with her tiny frame, fidgety hands and squeaky voice. He had missed teasing her and irritating the hell out of her.

"Shut up Shreya. I still look better than you", he said and grinned at her.

They were interrupted by her mom who arrived with the first aid mom. Ishan examined his face in the mirror. A cut on his left cheek, one above his right eyebrow and swollen lips were all that needed to be fixed. He was thankful that it was Friday and school was off for the weekend otherwise he would have had to drag his face to school and face everyone. Besides, he'd be able to reduce the swelling and cuts within two days.

Ishan's mother applied bandages on the wounds while his sister poked the cuts trying to irritate him. The pain in his jaw had reduced considerably and he collapsed on the bed under the covers.

Sleep was hard to come by now that he replayed Zakir's words in his mind. Maybe it's too late Ishan. Did he really meant that Ishan could not quit delivering their drugs for them? While agreeing to do it for the first time, Zakir had mentioned that he could quit any time he wished. Why would Zakir stop him from quitting now? Why couldn't he find another guy? Would the bad people behind all this fiasco try to go after him if he quit or if he stopped responding to Zakir's calls and texts?

All the unanswerable questions were making his heart swell out of anxiety. How long would he have to do this? High school was going to end in another three months and he'd be in college after that, hopefully in another city away from all the drugs and addicted teenagers and murders of school kids. He'd give anything to get away from all the drug filled money, hungry lives all around him in this rotten city. Getting into a college would be an opportunity to leave all this and start afresh with a clean slate in his hand.

It was true that Ishan knew a lot about the operations and suppliers and customers of this drug racket that Elena's dad was apparently running, if it was true that Elena's dad was in fact the head of operations. He would not find it outrageous if he too had someone above him in this drug business hierarchy. He could tell them that he would keep his mouth shut and maybe they'll let him go. The maybes in his life were racking up now.

He knew he couldn't quit out rightly, he couldn't take any risk with these people who would kill a boy in cold blood in the streets and not leave even a speck of a clue to point the police towards them. Whatever he had to do, he had to be careful, very careful. He weighed his options but there were not any, he could only wait now and do their dirty bidding while patiently looking for an opportunity to leave. Maybe Zakir could help him but he was already in deeper than Ishan was. He forced himself to sleep hoping that all his problems would magically disappear when he wakes up.