Ek pal

The first day of college

Satvik had been invisible his whole life.Not the kind of invisible that people noticed. The real kind. The kind where you sit in the back of every classroom, eat lunch alone by the window, and go home to a house that feels more empty than any room should.He thought college would be different.He was wrong.The gate of City College loomed above him like a mouth waiting to swallow him whole. Satvik paused at the entrance, his bag digging into his shoulder, his new white shirt already sticking to his back from the morning heat.You can do this, he told himself. Just walk. Just get to class. Just"Hey. Fresher."The voice came from his left. Satvik's stomach dropped.Three of them. Maybe four. He didn't count. He just saw the way they leaned against the pillar…..relaxed, like they owned every brick of this building. Like they had all the time in the world to break someone like him."Come here."His feet moved. They always moved when someone older spoke. That was the thing about being invisible .you learned to obey. Because disobeying meant being seen. And being seen was worse.He stopped a few feet away. His eyes stayed on the ground. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat."You went the other way," the tallest one said. "Tried to sneak past us."Satvik said nothing."You think you're smarter than us?""No." The word came out smaller than he wanted."Then why'd you try to run?"Because I'm scared....... Because I don't know how to be around people without feeling like I'm doing everything wrong."I don't know," he said instead.The senior smiled. It was the kind of smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Take it off. Everything."He can understand what they are saying but he can't do this on his first day of college. On the other hand he has to survive in that college for like 3-4 years. He can't be naked so easily.Satvik's blood went cold.No. Not here. Not on the first day.He had heard stories. Everyone had heard stories. But hearing was a whisper in the dark. This was standing in broad daylight while the world waited for you to break.His eyes burned.Don't cry. Please don't cry. Not in front of them.He pressed his nails into his palm until it hurt. The pain was a rope. He held onto it.One tear slipped out anyway. He wiped it so fast..like swatting a fly…but he knew. They knew.His hand found his water bottle. He gripped it. The plastic creaked under his fingers. It was the only thing in his hand. The only thing keeping his fingers from shaking.Hold it. Just hold it. Don't let go."Leave him."The voice was different. Softer.Satvik looked up. Another senior had stepped forward. Rajiv. His face wasn't cruel. It was tired, almost. Like he had seen this too many times."He's done," Rajiv said quietly. "Give him something small."The tall senior looked at Rajiv. Then at Satvik. Then at the bottle in Satvik's trembling hand."You love that bottle so much?"Satvik didn't answer. He couldn't. His throat was a closed door.The senior's eyes drifted to the end of the corridor. A door. Old. Wooden. No sign on this side."See that room?" he said. A smirk pulled at his lips. "Whoever comes out of that door…you throw water on them. All of it."The other seniors grinned.Satvik looked at the door. It looked like any door. A peon would come out. Maybe a clerk. Someone unimportant. Someone who would laugh it off.It was better than standing here naked while strangers laughed at his body."Okay," he whispered.The seniors stepped back. Rajiv didn't smile. He just watched Satvik with something that looked almost like guilt.Satvik walked toward the door.Each step felt longer than the last. His shoes squeaked on the floor. His shadow stretched behind him like a ghost trying to pull him back.He stopped in front of the door.Please be no one. Please be anyone who won't destroy me.Behind him, the seniors whispered. Somewhere, someone laughed.Satvik stood alone.His hand tightened on the bottle.His eyes were dry now. The tear was gone. But something else had taken its place …something cold and small and very, very tired.This is what college is, he thought. This is what every new beginning will be.And then..The door handle turned.