Zayd woke up flustered. It was sweltering hot, his hair matted to his forehead, and his shirt stuck to his chest. The AC was blasting at 18C. The clock was ticking backward.

His broken leg propped up in a cast was somehow hurting even more. He could see blurred backward images fade out in front of him. He could see his mum bringing him breakfast, could see himself struggling with math homework and then throwing away the pencil in agony. He could also see yesterday and before that, and a whole week sped by.

He tried to push himself to get up, but his body seemed to be frozen. His breathing got faster and his heart palpitated till he could no longer bear it. That’s when the backward images slowed down, and the clock trickled to a stop. He felt a strong jolt in his bed and his hands could finally move again.

Zayd got to his feet in a hurry, shocked to find his leg unbroken and free of any cast. His breath caught as he glanced around — everything in the room looked exactly as it had before the accident. His eyes darted to the date on his phone. It was last week’s Monday, the day of his accident. His heart pounded.

“Had time reversed? Was this a dream?” Zayd wondered.

Zayd staggered to the window and looked outside at the sunny sky. The clouds were trying to form a cover, but the sun pierced through them, shining golden into Zayd’s eyes. It was noon, the main street was bustling with vendors calling out vegetable rates and auto drivers honking at every passer-by. A strong waft of rubbish burning somewhere tinged his nose.

It had been a few weeks since summer vacation had started and, despite........

© Dawn Young Magazine