It was a Friday night and I was scrolling on Instagram silently on my bed. I didn’t want to talk to anyone in the house. I was feeling sad because it was my birthday and not a single person in the house wished me a happy birthday.

After a while, my younger sister, Nino, came into my room and exclaimed, “Saad, Mama is calling you for lunch, come quickly.”

I dragged myself downstairs and asked what was for lunch.

“It’s chana daal,” my mother replied, trying to make it sound appealing.

But it was enough to flare me up in anger and I burst out, “Daal! You cooked one yesterday. Why do you keep cooking daal and vegetables that I don’t like?”

Saying this, I stomped into my room, pushing the door closed with force. I flopped on the bed and started scrolling on my mobile in anger. I don’t know when I fell asleep.

After a couple of hours, I woke up on hearing a tap on my bedroom door. I got up and peeked through the narrow opening; there was no one in sight. I sat on the bed again and picked up my mobile. I heard the same sound again.

I stormed off, thinking it must be one of my siblings and shouted, “Who is there? If someone is playing a prank on me, beware that I am not going to spare anyone today.”

But as before, no one was outside the door. I was very angry now, so I marched out of my room, looking for the culprit teasing me. But the strange thing was that there was no one in the hallway, not my sister, not my younger brother or even my mum.

Then I heard a whisper, “Saad.”

My heart began pounding, I turned and yelled, “Who is there? Who is calling my name?” No one answered.

Then the voice came again, and this time I noticed that it was from the direction of the storeroom. With a little hesitation, I walked towards the storeroom door and slowly opened it — but there was no one inside. Suddenly, the lights started fluctuating. I froze in horror as I had no idea where my family members were and what was happening.

My legs were shaking and my heart was pounding so fast that it felt like it would burst inside my chest. I ran to my parents’ room but, to my surprise, I found no one. I ran from one room to another, calling out the names of my family, but there was no one. The lights were still blinking and I could still hear someone calling my name.

I covered my ears, then with all the strength left in me, I tried to run to my room, but my legs suddenly gave way and I fell to the floor. Just then I saw a shadow coming towards me and the power went out!

I screamed in fear, “Papa! Mama!”

The lights turned on, all of them. I looked around and saw there were also colourful fairy lights hung around. And I heard music… and from the drawing room, I saw my whole family emerging with a cake in their hands.

“Happy birthday to you!” they all sang in chorus.

It seemed I had woken up from a nightmare into a dream I had wished to see since morning. But in the first few moments, I was too scared to feel any excitement so I ran to my parents and hugged them in panic.

“We’re sorry, beta. Just like every year, you’ve complained about your birthday being nothing more than a simple celebration — so your siblings came up with a plan to make it a bit more memorable,” mum said with a smile.

“Yeah, right, it is unbelievable! But I like it, I love it! I love you all. And thank you for such a great surprise,” I said, sighing in relief.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 23th, 2025