Midnight's Children |✔

Special thanks to @UrwaKadri.

(COMPLETED)

We loved to go to school, but feared the worst: We could be pulled out anytime. My brother kept sleeping in each class because he never got proper sleep. Now, since Mother was bedridden, the whole responsibility of caretaking went to my eldest sister. Nineth grade was no cake walk for any student and we all knew that very well. Seeing the gifts my classmates got made my heart sink. Even we loved gifts. But the reality couldn't change. We wished so many things, but Fate had different plans. Which child loves to work in factories? I never remember a day playing without fear. The 'free time' we got in the mill was the only playtime we had. There was no escape. Even if any of us did, all would get punished. Was it our fault? We were never destined to become this. No child working here surely, never dreamed of ever coming here. We all saw dreams of freedom. Me and my siblings were lucky since we went to school. But there were those, amongst us who didn't even know what the word 'school' meant. The unlucky ones. Working there made our child-like minds work like a machine. As if we were programmed beforehand and were sent to perform a duty. Due to our innocence, they controlled us; which I hated. I never liked control. It felt like you are being owned.

The curse of child labour is still prevalent in our world. No matter how much we try to destroy it, it still finds new ways to enter into young and innocent children's lives and destroys them completely. Through this story I have tried to highlight the challenges faced by 5 siblings who go through challenges of child labour.