“I got it!” yelled Asad suddenly. It was a dull day. My friends and I had just returned from school. Luckily, we all lived in the same neighbourhood and could meet up whenever we wanted, but that day was different. It was gloomy, and we had nothing to do.

We were so bored that we had started counting the stones on the ground when Asad suddenly jumped up to share an idea with us. We were excited to hear what it was.

The plan was to prank a boy in our neighbourhood, Salim, by pretending to rob him.

To execute this master plan, we needed a few accessories. We all gathered as much of our pocket money as we could and bought whatever we needed. We all knew that Salim had earned a black belt in karate and he was still training.

I did some research and found out that Salim walked home from the karate centre every day, just around sunset. The timing was perfect. Some of the others did their own research and discovered that Salim was afraid of burglars and snatchers. Everything seemed perfect, or so we thought.

The day was fixed. Each one of us had to be at our designated spot a few blocks away from Salim’s house at the agreed time. What we didn’t know was that we would end up putting one of our friends’ lives at risk that night.

The day arrived. We took our positions, disguised ourselves and waited patiently. Soon, we spotted Salim turning the corner, walking straight into our so-called “trap”. From his point of view, he was simply walking home and everything seemed completely normal.

Suddenly, we jumped out and pretended we were about to rob him. Then everything happened so fast and before we even realised what was going on, each one of us was lying on the ground while Salim ran from the scene.

None of us was seriously injured except Ahmed, who was knocked unconscious by one of Salim’s powerful kicks. Ahmed’s parents were out of the country on pilgrimage, so he was staying under the care of his uncle and aunt.

Ahmed was admitted to the hospital. When our parents found out what had happened, mine, along with some of the others, decided to enrol us in a boarding school so that we could learn to be more disciplined. If we had even the slightest idea that our prank would change our future, we would never have gone through with it.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 25th, 2026