I was home alone with my cat, Cupcake. My parents had gone out for a dinner with their friends. They asked me to come with them, but I had to do my assignment. Besides, I sleep early so I didn’t go.

After doing my assignment, I still had time before going to sleep so I thought why not watching a movie and chose a horror one. The lights were dim.

I felt as if the thunder struck twice and my popcorn accidentally fell from my hands. Suddenly, the telephone rang. When I went to answer the call, it stopped ringing. I went back to watching the movie. The movie got scarier.

Suddenly my cat came towards me, its eyes widened and stared at me fiercely, as if she was going to eat me. I had never seen Cupcake behave in this way. Far away, I heard a horrifying scream repeatedly. I felt suffocated and was breathing heavy now.

To calm my senses, I turned my face away from Cupcake. I was scared and couldn’t say anything!

All of a sudden, the electricity was gone and I was all in the dark! I tried to escape, but something held my foot. As if something didn’t want me to move, I knew there was no one in the house except me and my cat, so who was holding my foot? I screamed my lungs out and felt the grip loosen, I ran and stumbled on something.

It was a book. When I held it, the label on the book started to glow “The Legendary Spell Book,” and its pages started to open itself.

The book was glowing. I heard the rattling noise on the window and then I heard my cat making loud scary noises. The page in front of me was about a spell to get rid of evil. I quickly read it loudly and everything turned back to normal in seconds, as if nothing happened. At that very minute, the book also disappeared.

Just then, there was a loud thud as I fell from my chair and found myself on the floor. I realised it was just a nightmare, as after doing assignment, I had put my head down on the table and dozed off!

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 18th, 2017

Opinion

Editorial

UAE’s Opec exit
Updated 30 Apr, 2026

UAE’s Opec exit

THE UAE’s exit from Opec is another sign of the major geopolitical shifts that are reshaping the global order. One...
Uncertain recovery
30 Apr, 2026

Uncertain recovery

PAKISTAN’S growth projections for the current fiscal present a cautiously hopeful picture, though geopolitical...
Police ‘encounters’
30 Apr, 2026

Police ‘encounters’

THE killing of nine suspects by Punjab’s Crime Control Department across Lahore, Sahiwal and Toba Tek Singh ...
Growth to stability
Updated 29 Apr, 2026

Growth to stability

THE State Bank’s decision to raise its key policy rate by 100 basis points to 11.5pc signals a shift in priorities...
Constitutional order
29 Apr, 2026

Constitutional order

FOLLOWING the passage of the 26th and 27th Amendments, in 2024 and 2025 respectively, jurists and members of the...
Protecting childhood
29 Apr, 2026

Protecting childhood

AN important victory for child protection was secured on Monday with the Punjab Assembly’s passage of the Child...