"Good work, Tejas!" the trainer on the screen smiled. The boy sitting infront of the screen changed the number displayed to 98. "We'll meet again for the last time tomorrow."
When a bell rang at exactly 4 pm in the afternoon, the screen slid behind the large window of the cubicle. It was mandatory for each trainee, irrespective of their specialization, to step out for exercise. The details of weather and temperature along with the schedule of activities in each park glowed on the door.
On the streets at this time roamed hundreds of pre-adolescent kids along with patrols and caretakers. Most places were filled with noise and laughter. But Tejas didn't gravitate there.
Even as a 10 year old kid, he preferred to stay away from crowds. Besides there was a designated area where he met his friends Purvi and Laksh. This quiet kid jumped and hopped around whenever he was with them.
But that day, when he reached their spot, his friends were not there. A breeze, gentle and refreshing, blew, so he sat down under a Banyan tree and tried to dig a hole with the twigs. The parrots squawked on the branches and caught his attention. Their brilliant green colour kept him looking at them.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" a voice, like whisper, hit him.
He looked around hoping to find its source.
"Hello! I'm Trish," he heard someone on the tree. The ruffle of leaves and some other noises followed.
"Where are you, Trish?" Tejas turned around to see a girl, with black and grey eyes, maybe of the same age as him, hanging upside down from the branch too close to him.
'Aaaaaaah!' he screamed loudly until every bird on that tree left the two humans there.
Unphased by his scream, she held one of the long hanging branches of the tree and swung.
"My name is Tejas..." he looked away and continued digging the hole as if out of embarrassment. "That looks dangerous!"
"I'm used to it!" the moment she said that, the branch broke with a loud snap and she fell on the ground, her hands followed by her face taking the fall.
"How many times have I told you..." he heard another voice of a girl from a distance. Earlier, she had been sitting far away, in black overalls and a white cap, pruning the plants.
The girl ran after shouting towards Trish . When she was finally standing infront of them, she looked taller than them. The loose strands of grey hair made her look older even though she had a very young face, some of them were sticking to her face along with dirt and sweat.
Trish had received bruises and scratches on her hands and her face. Guessing by the amount of blood, someone might've thought that she broke he nose. Thankfully they were just scratches at odd places.
The girl hit Trish twice on the head and asked Tejas a little scared, "Did she hurt you?"
"No. No. I was only startled." He tried to turn his face away from them but at the same time tried to recall something. "I've never seen the both of you here before. Where do you live?"
"In the orphanage. Krish and I have lived there for some years now," Trish replied, unabashedly. The blood was slowly dripping down her cheek and coloring her dirty sky blue kurta.
"Oh!"
"But we might be adopted into a new home very soon." When Trish said this, her sister looked away. "Where do you live?"
"In the cubicle."
"You are very lucky to have been adopted earlier…" Krish looked at him with eyes that hid more than mere disappointment.
"Look at how I'm bleeding! Do you have my first aid kit?" Trish tried to change the subject.
On top of the black overall that she was wearing, she also had leather belt with pouches.
"Would you mind?" she looked at Tejas and bent her waist towards him, lifting her hands.
Tejas sanitized his hand and cleaned the wound on Trish's face. He saw how rough her skin was when he wiped her face. There were faint marks of past injuries, some bruises. But judging her based on their short interaction, he wasn't too surprised. Everything seemed normal to him except for her mismatched eyes.
Krish too had cleaned her hands. She applied the bandages and gave a good stare at her sister as if to intimidate her into not doing such things in the future.
She didn't thank Tejas though for the help. She just intertwined her fingers with her sister, gave him a quick grin and after saying, "See you around then," she walked away.
Tejas, who was now alone, felt a little confused. His mind was still wondering, "How did she know?"