13.1 Your Sister

Sunday passed quietly.

Aarav felt relieved that the haircut had been cancelled, but he still did not know what would happen at school.

Once, while sitting with Riya, he picked up a small clip and fixed it into his hair. He kept it there for several minutes, removed it, then put it back again.

Neither of them knew whether they were preparing for a new beginning or only enjoying one more safe day at home.

On Monday morning, Mother called Mrs. Patwardhan.

"I would like to meet you," she said.

11.1 The Closed Door

Mother returned from work at six-thirty.

Riya opened the door. Mother placed her bag on the chair and removed her sandals.

"How was the carnival?"

"It was good," Riya said. "We enjoyed it."

"Where is Aarav?"

"He was tired. He went to rest."

Mother nodded and went to freshen up. She did not ask Riya to wake him.

By half past seven, dinner was ready. Riya sat at the dining table, but Aarav's bedroom door remained closed.

"Call your brother," Mother said.

7.1 The Quiet Weeks

For the first week of vacation, Aarav liked having nothing to prepare for.

He slept late, wore old T-shirts and shorts, and left his schoolbag untouched in a corner. There was no temporary pass to carry and no reason to think about which building he had to enter.

8.1 Riya's Result

The summer routine continued for a while.

Not every day. Aarav still wore his own shorts and T-shirts most of the time. But every few afternoons, he brought the clips to Riya, asked for the soft T-shirt, or chose one of the kurtis. Sometimes he went downstairs dressed that way; sometimes he stayed inside.

Then Riya's Class 10 result arrived.

5.1 Known By His Name

By the second month, Aarav knew the girls' building well enough to move through it without looking for Riya first.

He knew the crowded staircase after Marathi period, the library timings, and the corner near the office where students waited after forgetting an ID card. He could go for water alone and sit with Anaya and Kavya even when Riya had an extra Class 10 lesson upstairs.

Still, new girls sometimes called him "Riya's brother" before remembering his name. A substitute teacher once asked whether he was visiting.

Mother did not go to school in anger.

That frightened Aarav more than shouting would have done.

She ironed her cotton kurta in the morning, packed his tiffin, and checked his diary twice. Riya stood near the kitchen door, holding her own school bag.

"Aai, should I come?" she asked.

Mother shook her head. "You go to your building. I will handle this."

Aarav looked at the floor.

"I told you not to make it big," he said.

Mother closed his tiffin box and kept it in his bag. "If a child is scared to enter class, it is already big."

Reader note: This story contains scenes of teasing, bullying, and humiliation in the early chapters. These scenes are included only as story conflict. They are not shown as acceptable, funny, or something to copy. Bullying, forced humiliation, harassment, and pressure around clothing or identity can seriously hurt a person. The story supports safety, consent, dignity, family support, and respectful treatment.

In Green Park Society, Aarav was the only boy in his age group.

This story is set in Ireland during the War of Independence, 1919-1921.

The Players.

An Cailleach, approximately Old Hag in English, is a term found in both Irish and and Scots Gaelic. It carries connotations of divinity or magic.

Volunteers, the name used by Irish national insurrectionists engaged in the War of Independence. After independence, these formed part of the basis for the new National Army which still has the letters IV (Irish Volunteers) on formal uniform buttons.

RIC, Royal Irish Constabulary, an armed police force responsible for crime and internal security. Recruited locally, it was heavily infiltrated by the Volunteers and many members left the organization during the war.

Black & Tans and Auxiliaries. These were paramilitary police recruited in England to support the RIC, notorious for indiscipline, terrorism and extra-judicial killings.

For a while, Archie thought about Amy.

Deliberate thoughts had become difficult now. They needed somewhere steady to stand, and stumbled around in his mind as the ground crumbled away beneath them. Each thought came without asking, soft and immediate, gliding softly around the gaps. Instinctive thoughts settled much more easily, as they could simply float through the spaces as they pleased.

He remembered the first time she had rescued him.

CHAPTER 64
We sat for a while enjoying the views, comfortable as a family, until Clara spoke up again.

“I got given a pressie before I came over, one for you all”

Maz gestured ‘go on’, and Clara chuckled.

CHAPTER 30
Our departure was a wrench, but we still had a lot more to see. It felt as if we had found the ideal holiday spot only to abandon it. As our train pulled out, clearly sharing my thoughts, Ange simply whispered, “We can always come back”

Society is a huge live role playing game where we have to learn the rules as we play, right?

I had a weird dream. I was Victoria, and we were back at the weddings of the previous week, but it was Victoria who got married to Nancy, to Mona, and to Aries in consecutive ceremonies. Of course, my parents weren’t there, like in all my dreams, but we went to what should have been their apartment afterward. Aries wanted to consummate our marriages, and her ovipositor was fully out, though I had no idea when she had had time to have sex with a man during the day. Then it turned out that Nancy and Mona were Pasthru emales, and I was worried that the group was going to impregnate me somehow. We got as far as the four of us nesting our organs when all of that evaporated and Victoria was there alone, and then I woke up.

Mark Lansing never wanted to stand out. He was perfectly happy disappearing into a football huddle with the rest of the team until one play made him the talk of the town. Thrust into a spotlight he never wanted, every choice can reshape his future, and every decision could transform him in ways he never believed possible. Mark’s destiny will be determined on the field … assuming he can figure out how to dress the part.