Pranshul had taken an early bath, washed his clothes and was already on his laptop continuing with the novel, while Arun made preparations for the breakfast. It had been a few days since the last court hearing. There was a better rhythm in their daily routine. Although, still most of the household chores were Being done by Arun, Pranshul was slowly getting used to the lifestyle and changes were happening in him organically. The characters in him were slowly merging together. Some of them were still too far from the rest but there was a positive hope which drove him to capture the whole process in the Story he was writing.

At times he wondered if the audience would be able to understand it all, leave alone appreciate it or connect with it. But most of the times, he would just keep writing assuming that it would turn out to be just another draft sitting in the 'Documents' folder, just like 'Pages of Deep Shit', 'Personality Full of Gas', and many more.

After writing Two pages, his eyes fell on the bottom right of his laptop. It was quarter to Ten. He remembered his mother telling him the previous day to get an auto rickshaw booked for her at that time.

Pranshul's mother lived in the city adjacent to the capital of the country. She was the only member in his family who had a regular Nine to Five job. Pranshul's sister, Soorpanakha, was working on her sales consultancy in the most characterless city of the country. Characterless, because it was the start- up hub and thus, attracted all young blood ready to change the world. There were hardly any elderly people around to instil in them the moral values needed to live a life full of Character. The locals in the city didn't care much and only looked for Business opportunities catering to the high influx of young people from all over the country.

Pranshul had a hard time not treating anything like a Character anymore. His family members, close friends, social media friends, big ants who were sent to carry food particles to feed the smaller ones, protective curtains who did not want anyone in the next building to see him, stars and planets who were plotting against him by using their gravitational pull to make his blood flow in a way that didn't let him achieve what he wanted to and of course, the Twenty-Six characters he had constructed within himself. It had started to seem like a recipe to push a person over and beyond the highest of cliffs into a dark and lonesome life.

Thoughts like these were what had inspired him to find his true identity among all that was fictional around him. To be close to the real world. The world in which everyone else lived, loved, lied. Oh! The lies. He had found so much Character in the lies especially. He spent a good amount of time exploring the Character of lies. He would sit on social media and lie about his existence each day. He would then observe which of his friends associated with those lies and which of them tried to understand his motives behind posting those lies. But the ones who interested him the most were those who unfriended or blocked him based on the lies. Since there were no notifications for getting unfriended or blocked, it was only through accidents that he would come across such people. And once he did, he would pursue them to make them reveal their judgments about him, studying the Reality that the person had created in their mind based on the lies he posted. He liked to think of it as his recreational activity.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Pranshul picked up his phone and dialled his mother's number. After Two rings, she answered.

"Yes, beta?" her voice came through the smart phone.

"You asked me to get an auto rickshaw booked for you." Pranshul stated the purpose of the call.

"Oh, I took a regular rickshaw today. It was right outside the house. Book One for me tomorrow."

"Ok."

"You changed your name to Pranshul on social media? It felt so nice to see the name I chose for you when you were born. Sweet, little Pranshul. It always sounded nice with the letter 'L'. God knows why your father got the L removed. Everything started to turn for the worse after that. Your health started deteriorating. Your studies got affected. And see, what you're doing now. When will you come out of your imaginary world, beta?"

"If I'll come out of it, how will I take everyone else into it?"

"That's true. So, how is the Story coming along?"

"It's coming along. Not really focussing on the how part yet. I just sit and write and keep writing. It seems like this is the reason why I was living the last Ten years the way I was."

"How is the weather there?"

"It keeps raining all day."

"That's the perfect weather for writing. You get a lot of inspiration."

"Yeah and there is also a stream that runs behind the building. I keep staring at it and thinking about how to further the plot."

"Are you planning to come back anytime soon?"

"Not for a while. I like it here."

"I was having langda mangoes the other day and I was missing you since you're so fond of them"

"I've been having them here. Dad bought lots of them. You enjoy yours."

"Ok. I'll enjoy."

"Bye, now. I'll get back to writing." Pranshul cut the conversation short as he got an idea for the next plot shift based on the conversation he just had.

"This should give another dimension to PranShoe." He thought to himself, as he went on to write Two more pages, completing The Eleventh Chapter. He was trying to write each chapter as One of the characters in hope to read it later on and look at the way they all behaved while he experienced the novel along with them, thus, detaching himself from them and figuring out his true identity.