THE PEACELAND TRILOGY (For Critics Only) #Wattys2020

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Nishi, a naïve but a confident girl. She was almost 17. She had friend circles- bunch of boys as some of them still lived in the 80s nostalgia such as board games, hide and seek and bicycles. Yes, they do play videogames but only on summer holidays while the major part of their friend circle goes on a trip. They might be on their senior years but they love doing stuffs like aforementioned to entertain themselves because they felt bored of their regular lives such as submitting assignments, chatting in the social networking sites as well as some things that distracts from reality.

Her friends were Jared- a charming man who might be the 'hottest' in the group but by heart, he was a nerd. The other was Kabir- a recently Bangladeshi migrant who had characteristics of a stereotypical Bengali but the situation eventually might change his close mindedness. To further mention he was called 'motu' means chubby and the arrogant lady in the group Shahana- selfie queen and also a social- 'networkaholic' like Nishi's father (cough) but she was at least was a funnier version of himself.

Now back to the story, they were playing a card game in the rainy night of the neighborhood.

"A spade" said Jared.

"A ten!" said Nishi.

"KILL THE PILE" said Shahana.

Nishi gave the ten and stepped the old card pile aside. Everyone was cheerful.

"Hey, you won the game" said Kabir.

"Finally, I did!" smiled Nishi.

Everyone felt joyous. It was such a moment for them that it took Nishi a long time to win a card game. Nishi was not like other girls because she was quiet as well as understanding. Otherwise, she was a comedian like her father but she was not aware of it.

The rain started heavily on the streets of New York. My wife, Zafrin and I were stuck in the traffic. We left Nishi due to the enjoyment in the party that she was having with her friends.

When I mention about her mom, she used to become curious most of the time because I lied to her "she is out of the country. She will be back soon".

In reality, it was a far more dangerous situation. Sehara was in the mental asylum, New York but she was into severe dissociative identity disorder. Some might say that it was a demonic possession. I am the person who was in charge of her treatment. Unfortunately, I have to tie her in chains because she used to get so aggressive that she could not control her behavior. She even could not recognize us. Nishi was even safe to not know the reality of her mother because as a child, she was traumatized by her mom, who almost choked her.

Thank God that she had no memory of it. She was actually five back then. Anyway, my daughter Zafrin, my wife and I were out for a dinner party where 'just a bunch of boring adults' would go. Zafrin was quite bored of it but she forced herself to go because she just graduated Law. Otherwise, Zafrin and Nishi had a dynamic equation. In our absence, they used to play videogames as well as the board games with each other. They even used to cheat with assignments that till today, ironically no one even knew that. I always used to laugh at the situation.

Back to the story, Nishi was done hanging out with her friends after the rain stopped. We arrived after the traffic of Manhattan was over.

"Hey Nishi! How's the party?" asked Zafrin.

"It's too good! You know? I won the card games" said Nishi.

"Woah! I knew you will do it!" said Zafrin.

I smiled at Nishi.

"Hey, I need to talk about something" I said.

"What is it? Uncle Kamal?" asked Nishi.

We went to our room.

"Yes?" said Nishi.

"I want to tell you something. It's that, sometimes, you get a little too kind. It's okay but you also need to be a little defensive of yourself" I said.

"But all of them are my friends" said Nishi.

"It's okay, Nishi. The world is beautiful but you need to survive in it. Do you remember Jarvis Travers who was killed after being bullied right after your father disappeared?" I asked.

"Yes, but the bullies were arrested, right?" said Nishi.

"Hmm...but your life is more than being bullied. You always get being too upright about yourself but you loosened up a bit. But you also need to work on that behavior that you could chill out more" I said.

"I understand, Uncle. But as father disappeared, I remember him being dead because Peaceland is a myth, isn't it?" asked Nishi.

"It's more than a myth, dear. Someday, you will understand it" I said.

Nishi went to her room after she nodded her head. She was asking herself that what her past was? Why she was imagining things even she knew that Peaceland was a myth? What is the thing that her conscience wanted to say? She even hear the cries of 'help' from some people she had not met yet. It was traumatizing for her.