1 The Primary School Days

Everything is said to have an order in God's creation, which ever God it is. But did humans live following this order? Remain faithful in this order? Or get branded as sinners for breaking these orders? Nobody knows. People do get branded but what happens later is a secret of the greatest creator itself. And believing in whatever the secret is, people hold on to things they read is right and try not to sin, to keep an order in the society. But the man made orders just crack the peace and murder everything you can and cannot see with your eyes. Order going in chaos. Chaos killing one's freedom of choice and happiness.

It was 5 p.m in evening and school rush has passed on the roads. Kids got back home. Taliyah ran inside her house. And found her mothers waiting for her. Mother took her bag away and walked her to the backyard immediately. She took off the black and white checked pinafore and white shirt form the little girl and filled a bucket of water for Taliyah to take bath.

"Taliyah," her mother called her. "What is this in your hand?" she took the 8 year old girl's hand and took off the beaded bracelet. "Who gave you this?"

"That's a gift, don't throw it please," Taliyah begged her mother.

"Who gave you? don't you know what it is? Grand mother will kill you if sees you wearing a cross in your hand?"

"My best friend gave this to me," little girl said.

"Which best friend is that?" mother asked suspiciously. "The one who moved to our town recently?"

"Yes him, Derek, his mother fell sick after coming back home so everyone took him to church to pray, so they gave this alot, so he gave me one and asked to pray for mother,"

"Oh poor thing," her mother, Nihala sympathised. "We will include her in dua, don't worry, ask your friend to not be upset alright?" she said and poured a cup of cool water over Taliyah's head, and applied the pears soap all over her body. Mother showering her daughter after school. Then she dolled up her daughter putting on a yellow laced skirt and a white top. Combing her dried hair and putting on talcum powder on her face in the end.

"Umma I hate this talcum powder I feel suffocated," she said and withdrew.

"Relax Taliyah," mother said and pulled her. A few minutes later the yellow doll walked out of the room behind her mother to eat the evening snack Nihala had prepared for her hungry daughter. A plate full of gheed banana fry.

"Umma am bored eating this," Taliyah cried.

"Sit and eat properly, keep your legs down, pray to god, say bismi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm and have you food quickly Taliyah, don't be a sinner neglecting food. You are supposed to serve others in the future, you will know the pain then," Grand mother Sarah, her father's mother shouted at her and left the dining hall.

Her father Zahir is a businessman who is running a bakery and has 6 mouths to feed with the income he makes from the bakery, pay all the rents of shop and their house. Grand parents refused to live with their other children since they felt neglected except with Taliyah's father who is a warm hearted man but still living according to his mother's words. Nihala had limited freedom as the daughter in law but looked after two of her precious daughters amazingly trying to not let them suffer and become the ultimate subjects of patriarchy like she lived ans survived through.

On the other hand, in another household. Life looked a little hard. Amy and John when Amy fell sick decided to settle down coming back to their hometown they haven't lived for 15 years and decided to bring the kid also back with them.

Amy had severe rheumatism and it made her body ache all over. John instantly quit his job as a software engineer and found one back at home, starting a hotel that rose to success in the first few months itself. But someone was not doing okay apart from Amy.

"Derek, don't worry, the moment your mother finishes her treatment we will go back okay, stop staying depressed all the time, come on did you not make friends?"

Derek said nothing. "You said you gave the bracelet to a little girl in your class,"

"She is my only friend," Derek replied instantly when her father mentioned about Taliyah. He was glad that he had her. When he cried at school, she saw him but told nobody about him. It made him like her and he offered to be her friend.

She always gave him half of her lunch saying she is full but to him it was the best food he had ever tasted in his life. Her biriyani, the chicken she brought, the mutton stew and the different rotis her mother cooked for her e everyday. He loved them all. Taliyah and Derek always waited for the lunch hour to come so that they can sit together and lunch under the tree in the ground. Nobody had caught them there. Derek never said at home that he eats food with this girl, to not hurt his mother's feelings. Amy trying her best would cook sometimes but on her painful days would just give him some bread toast and milk along with some fruits. But for the boy who is growing up quickly, it was not enough.

"Bismillāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi," Derek one day said before eating his meal while dining with his family. It was natural and he did not think much about it.

"What did you say?" Amy asked him. "John did you just hear that?" It is then Derek realized that eating with Taliyah made him develop her habit in him. Like praying before waiting. 'Oh no, oh my god,' he looked at his parents in fear. 'They are going to kill me,' he thought.

"I heard, I did, Relax Amy," his father was cool with it.

"Take him to sunday school and register him for classes," Amy ordered her husband. And thus Derek started spending half the sunday with kids at church learning different things and write exams.

His first year at school got over just like that. And he also made friends with other kids. But his lunch breaks were meant exclusively for Taliyah. After lunch they would play games, run around, kick some ball and learn to score goals on the ground and return back to class once the bell rings.

Taliyah was pretty good at studies while Derek had trouble with language papers. Taliyah's friends Arthi and Ella always made fun of Taliyah and Derek for working and eating together. But Taliyah never cared about it.

The boys always found Derek suspicious lurking around this one girl all the time. But one day Derek beat them up. Seeing him fight, Taliyah joined him and gave him a hand. They together beat up several boy for making fun of them. Nobody was injured and Taliyah hurt her hand. Derek stopped fighting when she hurt herself and sat next to her, trying to stop her from crying. The others ran away seeing her crying wondering if they would get caught for making a girl cry.

Derek took an only chocolate he had with him and have her. But she rejected. "Don't cry," he said and wiped her tears. And he pinched her chubby cheek trying to make her laugh.

"I want more," she said in between sobbing, eyeing his chocolate.

"I will give you," he said.

"Where?" she asked rubbing her face with the back of her hand. She pulled her socks up and corrected her black cut shoes. His white shirt was dirtied lying on the ground while fighting.

"In the the form of love," he said. "Okay?"

"How much?" she asked him.

"Hmm, hundred pounds," he said. Though they both had no idea what they were talking about, he made her smile and they walked back to class only to get punished for coming late after the break. They both were made to stand looking at the wall for the whole period while their teacher taught social science. They stood there looking at the wall, at each other and trying to hide their laugh.

Life was fun for them, innocent and too beautiful. School days are what made their life colourful. But then Taliyah's family put a bomb to Taliyah.

"My dear girl, our father managed to finally buy us a new house, we will go there soon okay?" Nihala said to her daughter breaking the happy news first and keeping the bad second. "But," she said and looked at the happiest face of her daughter. "We will change your current school and join in a new one," The happy turned sad and started tearing up. "I don't want to leave my friends," she cried aloud.

"Stop crying, teach your daughter to behave properly Nihala," Grand mother said and walked away.