Blue ✓

prelude

"See if I help out that brat ever again!" Rayyan bit out, snatching a pair of goggles – the last one – out of the tray, hardly noticing the girl that flinched back and looked at the empty tray forlornly. 

Qasim inched back slightly, wincing at the sheer venom behind the words.

"Okay mate, let's try calming down for n-" 

"I'm not calming down!" Rayyan snapped back and stalked past Qasim towards the furthest table. He prided himself in being apathetically composed, but recent events had really pushed his level of patience to its peak, and made him want to blow a gasket. But he didn't want his classmates to see him like that.

Fortunately, the science lab is quite spacious and taking the furthest table had placed some distance between himself and his classmates. One of his group mates had already started putting out the equipment and setting it up as per instructions. The experiment had something to do with measuring the reaction times of acid-alkaline solutions, or something of that sort – he hadn't bothered to listen when sir had explained the whole procedure. But then again, it's not as if this experiment would affect his final grade anyway.

"What are we doing even?" Nurdin asked, before taking note of his very annoyed expression. "Woah boy, calm down!"

Rayyan glared back at him, Nurdin ignored him and called to the other person in the group.

"Shaqeel! What are we doing?"

Shaqeel placed the last equipment in its place and turned around. "Well you'd have known if you'd listened."

"Sorry professor. So?" Nurdin returned with an easy smile.

Shaqeel rolled his eyes. "We're supposed to find the pH of a few solutions and neutralise them while noting down the reaction times."

Nurdin made a face, and peered at the set out equipment. "Boring. Where's the solutions though?" True to his word, there was only an array of test tubes and litmus paper on the table.

"Qasim's gone to get them from Sir."

"Of course, that model prat." Nurdin leaned towards Shaqeel, his voice an octave lower. "What's wrong with the Ice King?"

Shaqeel looked back at Rayyan, who looked to be glaring a hole through the window. "His little brother earned him a grounding."

"From last week?"

"Yep."

"But that wasn't even his fault!"

Shaqeel gave him a dry look. "Do you think he'd be this angry if it was?"

Nurdin whistled. "Aww, that's peak man. I'm happy I'm the youngest."

Rayyan, despite having heard the low conversation, ignored it and focused on the returning Qasim. There was a girl tottering behind him, he frowned. Any group work had always been him, Qasim, Shaqeel and Nurdin – he didn't mind acting however in front of them- but to have another classmate in his group made the whole purpose of choosing the furthest table null and void. 

His mood worsened.

Qasim put down the test tube and Shaqeel noted down the time of reaction from the timer, while their other teammate mixed two solutions together. The girl didn't even have any goggles on for goodness' sake, and she was fiddling with alkaline solutions. Rayyan was brought out of his musings when Qasim looked at him and Nurdin with a put out expression.

"Can you two help out and do something useful?" He said, glancing pointedly at the sports magazine in Nurdin's hands.

"B-but you guys are doing fine!" Nurdin protested in return. At the same time, Rayyan shrugged.

"Why not?" He said.

Qasim looked surprised at his cooperation but was pleased nonetheless and giving one last glare to Nurdin, who gaped at Rayyan, turned back to the experiment.

Rayyan moved towards the girl, who was probably trying to neutralise the solution, he assumed, as she watched the reaction bubbling in the tube.

"Here," he took the test tube off her in one hand, faintly noting the startled expression in her face, and picked up another test tube – the one he assumed the girl had been using before – pouring it into the first, completely missing the horrified expression settling on the girl's face.

"No! Don't-" The girl started, and Rayyan looked at her in annoyed surprise before noting the test tube was bubbling and heating up tremendously. His eyes widened and the test tube exploded, sending out a shower of broken glass and alkaline solution, and as he felt someone push him back, vaguely he saw blood.

Qasim and Shaqeel jumped at the sound of shattering glass and caught Rayyan who fell onto them.

"Rayyan!" Qasim half shouted.

Rayyan didn't even register it, his eyes fixed ahead of him. Qasim followed his gaze and gasped. Shaqeel froze. Nurdin paled.

The commotion had attracted the eyes of the entire class on their group, and the teacher was quickly scrambling his way towards them.

None of that, however, registered in Rayyan's mind, his eyes fixated on the sight in front of him. Time slowed down as his female teammate stood amidst the shattered glass and scattered liquid solution, both her hands pressed firmly against her face. Like a martyr, red seeped through the cracks between her fingers.

Time returned to normal.

"Aiyla!" Qasim swiftly moved towards her, being careful to avoid the glass and chemical spilt on the floor, looking closely at her. "Get me something to stop the blood!" He barked at Shaqeel, who grabbed at his pocket, and brought out a packet of tissue.

Mr William had reached them by then, his lips pressed thin and pale, his hands fumbling at his phone.

"Get her to sit on a chair and try to stop the blood. Shaqeel, more tissues! And get a bowl of water. Nurdin, get the nurse now! And Rayyan-" he stopped at the frozen boy, "stay out of the way. Rest of you, start cleaning and tidying up. Stop gawking and don't crowd around her!"

Qasim immediately began talking nonsense to the shaking girl, while simultaneously trying to stem the flow of blood. Mr William moved slightly to the corner to call the ambulance. Shaqeel made it a mission to get all the tissues from the class – once that was done, began cleaning up what he could. Nurdin – being the sports freak of the group, therefore the fastest sprinter – rushed to the infirmary. And Rayyan, he simply sat. And watched. Frozen. Numb.

Red didn't leave his mind as a whirlwind of thoughts rushed around it. What if he didn't take the test tube off her? What if didn't mix them together? If only he could keep his emotions in check! If only he..

If only...

As days passed, when the girl didn't return to school, and rumours began to spread, of her losing her sight – the reality dawned on him.

The reality that, because he couldn't keep his emotions in check, he may possibly have ruined someone's life.

He might as well have killed her.