The sun shone bright in the morning sky, but Zara lay in bed, feeling tired and worn out. She had been sleepless last night. How could it be morning already? Her metal alarm clock clanged and rang.

“Get up,” Zara told herself. Her back was aching all over, so she slowly got out of bed, put on her jogging suit and ran out for her morning walk. Zara was lost in her thoughts as she walked. It was too early for anyone to be out, leaving her to peacefully get some exercise to clear her head. But it was her backache that was giving Zara some trouble, so she decided to cut her walk short and return home.

Later Zara sat in her classroom, not able to comprehend what had just happened — she had brought her sister’s bag instead of her own from home. Why? How?

Miss Adila turned around from the board to stare into Zara’s eyes through her half-rimmed spectacles. “How could you be so careless and didn’t bother to check whether you were taking your or someone else’s bag before coming to school?”

Zara remained silent and borrowed an extra sheet of paper from her classmate and started penning down the class work. She felt ashamed and embarrassed by the fact that she could make such a mistake.

“That’s it! My day is ruined now,” Zara mused sadly. Her sister was a free-spirited and carefree soul, and did whatever brought her joy. Zara wished she could be like that and maybe have a day to herself sometime, to do whatever pleased her.

“Stop being foolish,” Zara quickly corrected herself,........

© Dawn Young Magazine