After laying on the sidewalk in the pouring rain for what feels like an eternity but is probably only a few minutes, Ryaan Asfour pulls himself into a sitting position and pushes himself against the side of the building he was attacked in front of. A woman passing by who didn’t see the attack notices him and is kind enough to ask if he’s okay. He manages a nod and to mouth thank you but words still aren’t coming. After a few more minutes he pulls himself to his feet. It’s really pouring now and he’s being soaked to the bone. He’s shivering at this point. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone, he’s glad to see it’s still in one piece. Even his earbuds are okay since they stayed away from his head. If this weren’t one of the most unlucky days of his life he might say it’s his lucky day.
He puts all his things into his backpack, wanting to avoid them getting any wetter than they already are. He hopes they aren’t already damaged from the rain. They seem okay. As wet as he’s getting and as bruised as he is, he still needs to get home before his dad. Taking one last glance at his phone he realizes it’s already a quarter after four and his dad will have gotten off work by now. If he hurries he can probably still beat him home. He needs to try.
Walking in the rain, nursing his sore body, he starts to worry. He has practice Monday and their first playoff game is next week. He hurts all over and he worries this will stop him from playing. He doesn’t think anything’s seriously hurt. He’ll probably be okay, though he may not feel great running up and down the court for forty minutes.
How are men like these being allowed to effectively act as judge, jury and if they want to be executioner? Those men could have killed him and even that probably wouldn’t have stopped them from walking the streets. They’d have just made up an excuse. For a program where everyone is a volunteer and there are almost no requirements, vigilantes are being given an absurd degree of autonomy. They can do anything without worry. They’re basically authorized gangsters. He feels ashamed that when he first heard about this program he was excited for it. This is a nightmare. Is it the same throughout the entire country?
There have to be good vigilantes out there, right? Those who can make a difference with this power. Those who might even stand up to the jerks. He thinks of how he might have stopped them himself if he’d been prepared. When his mother was younger she was a knife thrower in a circus. She could throw with such precision that she could hit an ant on the other side of a basketball court, or at least come pretty close.
She taught him and his sisters in their free time. Lana and Nadia never put much into it and then mom took off before they really picked it up but Ryaan loved it. He got really good really fast. His mother said he was almost as good as her which made him so proud. A few knives in his coat and he could have put these guys down before they got started. Hits in the right places and they drop the guns and aren’t seriously hurt. He doesn’t walk around carrying knifes though. School tends to frown upon that.
He’s also good with a bow staff. Not great, but his dad trained in karate when he was younger and one of the few things he brought with him to the US when they immigrated was his pack of staffs. A few years ago Ryaan stumbled upon them stashed in the attic and was transfixed. He starting playing with them until his dad caught him and chastised him that they weren’t toys, they’re weapons to be treated seriously. Ryaan apologized and asked his dad to teach him. He was informed they were a part of a martial art and he needed to learn that first. That sounded boring but Ryaan persisted and finally his dad gave in and taught him how to use the staffs.
They trained for weeks and he got to the point where he didn’t get immediately disarmed every time which felt like progress. He got pretty good with the staff actually, though nowhere near as good as his dad.
Can he use these to protect people? A crazy thought. He’s only 16 and one of the few rules of VMUS is that you have to be at least 18. He’s almost 17 though and maybe he can find a way around it. Or even be a vigilante without registering. He heard the only punishment if you aren’t registered and get caught being a vigilante is they make you register. Seems like a pretty sweet deal but he doesn’t have a clue how that would work for a minor who can’t then register. Maybe it’d be fine. Maybe they throw him in juvie and lose the keys. Maybe his dad would be ashamed of him.
It’s an exciting idea. Someone in this neighborhood has to protect them from people like, and at the thought of this name he practically bursts with laughter again, the Goggle Guys. There’s sure to be other jerks just like them around the area. They have guns which is scary to think about when he’d have a staff. He doesn’t want it to be afraid though. He’s pretty sure if he’d been prepared he could have stopped those two idiots without them coming close to pulling the trigger.
Thinking something and knowing it are two different things. If he’s right that’s great but if he’s wrong he could have easily ended up with a big hole in his head. Dealing with their garbage sucked but at least he’s alive. So are the couple he helped get away for that matter. Maybe everything worked out as well as it could have.
There’s a part of him that refuses to believe that. This is America. Where everyone is supposed to get a fair break. People shouldn’t be harassed on their way home from visiting a friend. They shouldn’t be beaten for standing against that, for saying it’s wrong. Someone needs to do something. If he won’t then who will? There doesn’t seem to be a line around the block of people who want to stand up and fight. Most people seem to either be cheering this on or they’re so scared they aren’t willing to do anything.
Rounding the corner onto his street, Ryaan sees his house ahead. He lets out a sigh of relief. As he walks up the steps to the house, he knows he needs to be cautious. Dad’s car isn’t parked outside so he isn’t home yet but his sisters school bus will have dropped them off by now and the lights inside confirm they’re here. Both are in middle school and their school is further away so they have no choice but to get the bus.
With how things are going he’s glad they do. It’s bad enough that anyone has to deal with maniacs who want to hurt them. The idea of his sisters doing so fills him with a level of rage he sets aside only to avoid screaming. He needs to sneak upstairs to his room and get changed without being noticed. He also needs to grab a shower. He’s filthy and that will give him an excuse for why he’s drenched other than having laid on the ground in the rain after being beaten up.
Going in the side door he can hear his sisters in the living room. The TV’s on and they’re watching some cartoon they watch every day. He’s tried to watch with them a few times but the whole thing just seems confusing. Their distraction as an opportunity to quietly close the door and make his way to the stairs. Better they don’t know he’s home until he’s cleaned up. He manages to sneak upstairs before closing himself in his room. Seeing his bed, he wants to fall into it head first and sleep for a week but he knows he isn’t out of the woods yet.
Tearing off his drenched clothes, Ryaan grabs a towel and a dry set of clothing. He slips into the bathroom and starts the shower. This will alert his sisters that he’s home so he makes sure to lock the door.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he cringes at the sight of the bruises starting to cover most of his body. He looks like he has spots. If they look this bad when they’re just starting to form, he doesn’t want to think about what they’ll look like tomorrow. He considers going to a doctor but he’s fairly sure he’s going to be okay. At least he hopes he will be. A trip to the emergency room would be hard to hide.
Standing under the pounding stream of water, he feels a small measure of relief on his aching body. He turns the heat almost all the way up and stands there for a long time, trying to clear his head. Was he serious about wanting to fight these guys or was that just the pain talking? He knows he’s right; someone needs to stop these guys but he’s pretty sure it doesn’t have to be him. Someone more experienced would make more sense. If that person existed. There’s no evidence someone’s coming to save the day though and a big part of him wants to be that person.
Apparently his sisters didn’t find his being home interesting. He’s able to stand in the shower for a long time without anyone knocking at the door or bothering him. Suddenly he hears a banging which is too loud to be either of the girls. “Hurry up in there,” he hears his dad say. “You’ll use up all the hot water. I just got home from work. I need to clean up.”
Ryaan promises to be out in a few minutes. Turning off the water, he jumps out of the shower and searches for his towel. Drying off as fast as he can, he gets dressed right in the bathroom. He hopes no one notices. It wouldn’t do for his dad to see him walking to his room with only a towel. There’s no way he wouldn’t notice the bruises.
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Exiting the bathroom he’s relieved to see no one in sight. Heading back to his bedroom, he yells out that the bathroom is open before closing his door behind him. A few minutes later he hears the bathroom door close again and the shower turns back on. His dad works construction and most days comes home covered in grime. Showering is the first thing he does after picking Ryaan up from practice.
Knowing this will take his dad at least twenty minutes, Ryaan decides to do a bit of exploring. He leaves his room and heads to their basement. There’s one thing in particular he’s looking for. Finding a dimly lit room with a ton of boxes, he starts searching for his mom’s stuff.
After she took off his dad didn’t want to stumble onto the things she left behind every day. Instead he moved all her stuff down here. Ryaan knows where to start but there’s a lot of boxes and he’s looking for one small wooden one in particular. It takes so long to find that he starts doubting it’s here but eventually he spots the box and in a rush of excitement opens it.
Inside he finds six beautiful curved throwing knives. He’s practiced with them before and he knows how to maintain them as well as how to sharpen them. They’re fantastic pieces and if he decides to do this they’ll serve him well.
He’d love to look at his dad’s bow staffs but those are closed in his dad’s room. He can’t take them. His dad would notice almost immediately if one were missing or if one of them were damaged. He has another idea. Sneaking back to his room with the box of knives, he slides them under his bed. Sitting at his laptop, he runs a Google search for bow staffs. He finds many for sale at reasonable prices. He’s immediately drawn to some cool looking collapsible models. If he’s running around town with these things, having one he can slip into his bag so it won’t get in his way would definitely be nice. His dad would never use anything but a full size ceremonial staff but his dad doesn’t use his for anything practical.
Ryaan finds a site selling the model he likes for a hundred bucks each and they’re running a buy one get one half off sale. He still has a fair amount of money from his summer job and he decides having a backup is a good idea so he orders a pair of them. Looking at the various designs, he orders them in green as that’s his favorite color.
He still hasn’t made up his mind about trying to be a vigilante but he reasons that even if he decides going forward with this is too crazy, they’ll still be good for practicing. His father won’t let him touch his unless he’s there to actively supervise so that limits how much he can practice without a staff of his own.
After putting his order in Ryaan falls back on his bed and lets his head hit the pillows. Laying there at least some of the pain drifts away. Ryaan isn’t far behind as he too starts to drift off. The next thing he knows there’s a knock on his door. Rousing himself, he asks who it is. In reply he hears only, “Us,” from two separate voices.
Groaning he glances at the clock. He fell asleep for almost an hour. He tells his sisters to come in and two bubbly girls come bouncing into his bedroom and start jumping on his bed. Nadia tackles him which brings the pain right back. He groans and rolls her off which gets another giggle. He knows why they’re here. His promise last night. Today is definitely not the day to keep that promise.
Nadia’s tall for her age and already one of the stars of her middle school basketball team. She’ll be entering high school next year though and she wants to stay ahead of the curve. She’s made it her goal to make the varsity team as a freshman. Ryaan’s tried to tell her no one makes varsity as a freshman but that hasn’t deterred her. She’s already on pace to be better than Ryaan ever has been but he still has a few tricks up his sleeve that help him beat her. Most of the time.
Lana’s younger and short even for her age. She tried out for the team this year but didn’t make it. It’s her first year of middle school so she wasn’t too upset. The only part that bummed her out was that missing this year means she missed her chance to be on the team with her sister. She won’t get that chance again for three years. She’s been working her butt off to make sure she doesn’t miss again next year.
Lana’s a bit of a geek and spends a lot of her time playing Minecraft and watching Youtube videos. She has tons of friends who are always over to the house on the weekend, being loud and running around. They drive their dad crazy. Nadia doesn’t fit into any box. She’s neither popular or unpopular. She’s quiet and reserved and only has a couple of close friends but they’ve been her friends since elementary school. If not for being good at basketball she’s the kind of girl a school could forget exists. Ryaan sees the humor behind her eyes though. She reminds him a lot of himself.
Lana jumps up and down. “Come on, come on! You promised to help us with our shots today. We need to practice.”
She’s grabbing at Ryaan’s arm and trying to tug him off his bed. He barely resists and can’t break his little sister’s grip on his arm. Nadia’s just grinning and waiting for a reaction. “Sorry to disappoint little sisters,” he says, “but I slipped and fell at school today and hurt my back. I’m super sore. If you just want me to watch and give you some pointers I can do that after dinner. Otherwise we really need to wait until tomorrow or maybe even Sunday.”
Pouts form on both girls’ faces and they’re clearly upset. He hates doing that to them. Ever since their mom left he’s spent a lot of time helping his dad take care of them. Dad works a lot so until he gets home it’s Ryaan’s show. He has to make sure they get off to school in the morning and get breakfast. They’re supposed to do their homework the night before but he has to check to make sure it’s done. He’s protective of them and while he knows they’re able to take care of themselves at this point, he doesn’t mind doing some of the work. While he doesn’t like to disappoint them, he doesn’t see how he can get jumpers up at the moment. Besides, if the goal is for them to copy his form, no form he’s going to have right now is worth copying.
He escorts them out of his room with promises to at least watch them shoot after dinner. They seem a little less sad and he promises he’ll make it up to them. Closing the bedroom door, he pulls up his email to see the staffs already shipped. He didn’t spring for expedited shipping but he’ll have them in 3-5 business days.
He starts looking up throwing knives. He has his mom’s and a part of him wants to not care about anything she left behind. There’s another part of him that knows if he loses one of her knives he’s going to feel dumb and regret it. They can possibly be backups but he should get a set of his own. He’s surprised to find some nice sets relatively cheap. For just $36.00 he can get a nice set of 9 with a holster that can wrap around his leg so they stay hidden. It seems perfect and it’s a great price so he puts an order in. He’s even happier to see that he gets two day shipping on these. They’ll probably get here before the staff.
Remembering some homework he has to get done, Ryaan pulls out the book he needs to read for English class and digs in. He stops only when he hears his dad call that it’s time for dinner.
Coming downstairs, he instantly notices the aroma of pizza. His dad apparently decided to order in tonight which is fine with him. He’ll have gotten their standard cheese pizza. Most of the other popular pizza toppings aren’t an option for them.
Sitting down to dinner his sisters immediately break into stories about their day. Nadia tells them about a test she got a perfect score on and Lana talks about having spaghetti for lunch and how her friend wouldn’t eat it because she said it reminded her of worms. When asked about his day Ryaan only talks about the first part; how everyone was congratulating him on his shot and he was the talk of the school. His dad nods proudly and tells him it was a great shot.
One nice thing about his dad’s job is that they finish by four every afternoon. That means he’s always home at night for dinner and he can make it to their various school events, whether it be a game, a concert, or a play. The only time he misses anything is when more than one of them has something going on the same night. He hasn’t missed a game in forever and Ryaan knows he’ll be at his big game next week.
Their dad tells them about his day as well. They were working on putting up a new building downtown. First they had to tear down the old building which they finished the week before. Now they’re starting on the foundation for the replacement.
It’s surprisingly Nadia who brings it up. She says that an hour or so earlier she got a call from her friend Violet who told her that her Arab neighbors were chased by a couple of vigilantes. They threatened them and tried to make them kiss their gun. Someone saved them but they’re terrified.
Ryaan’s relieved not to hear his name. Apparently the couple didn’t recognize him. That’s not a huge surprise. He hasn’t spent much time around them in years and he’s much older now. It’s good to hear they got home okay. He takes pride in that. He didn’t do a perfect job by any means and it went terribly but at least in part due to his actions two people in danger made it home safe. That’s a feeling he kind of likes. It’s one he wants to feel again.
Dad interrupts Nadia’s story. “Don’t share stories like that Nadia. I’m sure everyone is doing the best that they can. Who knows what might have happened.”
Ryaan finds himself filled with rage. He’s angrier than he was when he saw those men abusing their power. It’s one thing when terrible people are willing to do terrible things. That’s infuriating but what can you expect from terrible people? To hear his own father won’t take a stand against this though? This is a man who risked his family and his life to try and get his country out of the hands of a dictator. He’s one of the bravest men Ryaan has ever met. If even men like his father won’t stand up, then someone else will have to do it. It seems that has to be him.