"Bhaiyya, Where are you going?" Mariam asked Azaan as he was packing his bag, keeping everything, from his toothbrush to his cricket-bat.
"Khaala helped me join a camp. So, for a month, I'll be training under reputed players." Azaan said, happy as ever.
"Oh. But you had to attend my Barbie's birthday party tomorrow."
"Barbie won't feel bad." He laughed."I will call you if possible, okay? Be a good girl and take care of yourself."
Mariam watched as her bhaiyya left the comforting gates of the Orphanage, their home.
For once, she could actually refer to a place as home, not because of the walls sealed by the roof above, but due to the people who showered her with immense love. Her new family.
As she was dusting her bed in the girls dormitory, Mariam noticed Amreen, a twelfth grader, doing something with the needle and thread.
"Didi,what are you doing?" Mariam looked intently.
Completing the last pattern, Amreen said"I am finishing off my assignment."
"Assignment?"
"You'll get to know when you grow a bit older, then you wont have time to play with your dolls, you'll have to work hard to get into a good university."
"I don't want to grow up." Mariam caught hold of her teddy bear, pulled her blanket up and dozed off, only to wander into a land of dreams.
