I Did Something Bad ✓

quatre

16th January 2024
10:45 A.M.
Sunshine Public School

Betty, who had already conjectured that it was Jaden's plan, became prepared with the hammer and stood next to the door, waiting for Jaden to arrive.

After a skip of a mere million heartbeats, she saw the door open and held her breath. She tightened her grip on the hammer after noticing the silhouette. Yet, as the silhouette came inside the library, Betty yelled and was about to land the hammer on his head, but failed since he took a step behind.

Before she could take another attempt at it, she noticed the framed photograph Jaden had around his arms. It had a quote written as, "Save Humans. Stop Sexism," in crimson red on a white backdrop. She came back to the normal posture while he asked, "What are you doing here? And, why are you holding this hammer? Give me."

She handed over the hammer and asked, "That dipshit History teacher had told me that you called me. What do you want?"

"Sit here for a while. I have a small job to do," Jaden informed, which made Betty imagine herself dying in the worst ways. Noticing her strange expression, Jaden added, "I need to fix this photograph on the wall. Could you please wait?"

She sat on one of the chairs while he closed the door and walked to the end of the library.

"Why did you lock me inside the library? And, where did you go?" Betty raised her voice in a way Jaden could hear.

"I didn't lock the door. It was some passerby kid. And… I went to collect this photograph from the front desk. She was having it," Jaden narrated while getting a chair for himself and climbing on it.

As he was busy fixing the photograph, Betty's mind revolved around the quote written in the photograph. Hence, shedding away all the hesitance, Betty questioned, "What's with the photograph?"

"I was thinking to create awareness on rape." Betty's spine pained as fuck as she heard the R-word. "We all know that girls are being raped every day in some parts of the world. But, do you know that boys are being raped as well?" Betty realised that she was on the verge of breaking into sweat beads.

"You know what, Betty? Rape in males was not a case until 1980. Later, many male children were being raped in the initial years. There was a survey conducted on 98 males, out of which around 46% of them are forced to be penetrated at some point in their lives. Nearly one in seventeen men are being raped. Another survey reveals that 10.5% of men are raped.

"While we talk about rape on men, we think that only homosexuals rape men. Yeah, but the fact is, women also rape men. Personally speaking, I know some men who have been raped and some girls who have raped men." Jaden looked at Betty this time while she sat uncomfortably erect. He continued working with the photograph and continued, "It was not as if I was aware of this for a long time. Only since last month. Then, I realised that as a global citizen and as a teacher, it is my responsibility to create awareness among students regarding this. Who knows? I may create a change in someone's life at some point in my life."

"Wow," Betty fake-exclaimed and clapped her hands. "Nice monologue."

Jaden chuckled and got down the chair, glancing at the photograph for the last time.

As he came to Betty, she asked, "Why did you call me here?"

"I'm sorry." For a while, Betty assumed that Jaden was apologizing to her.

"Oh, pardon me? I thought you were apologizing to—"

"Screw that thought, Betty. Why would I apologize to you? It was you at fault." Jaden shrugged while cutting through her.