By Istaara Amjad

I WOKE UP to the sound of birds chirping in the tree by my window. I lay there for a moment. It was my birthday today! Finally, I would be 12! Hopefully, I would get what I had been asking for — the rabbits.

I had promised to clean out the cage and take care of them, but mum and dad were still not convinced. ‘Ah well,’ I thought ‘No point in lying here all day!’

So I got out of bed, bathed and put on my new clothes. Then I pranced about the house, singing “Today is my birthday, a special day, a special day!”

I did a last minute tidy up of my room, then we went to the market and got whatever we needed. We got a chocolate and vanilla ice-cream cake and it was the most scrumptious thing ever! I had a lot of fun eating it, and playing the games we had planned. We had not invited anybody this year, so it was just me, my 16-year-old brother George, mum and dad.

Finally came the moment I had been waiting for — my presents!

“Wait here,” George said and bounded up the stairs to his room. Mum and dad also followed him. A moment later, I saw George hopping down the stairs, and mum and dad also came down with something in their hands.

George gave his present, it was a remote control helicopter! It was awesome.

Then mum and dad gave their present, which was quite a large box. I tore the wrapping off, and there was… an art box!

“What’s the matter, Jessica? Don’t you like it?” dad asked. “Yeah, I do,” I replied. “but…”

“No rabbits, Jessica!” My mum cut through. “We’ve given you a dozen different reasons, and I’m not repeating them. Maybe next year!”

“Okay...” I gave in reluctantly.

It was night. I was up in my room debating what to draw with my new pencils then I decided to make a rabbit.

“If only this bunny could come out of the drawing.” I muttered while adding the finishing touches.

The next second, there was a big flash and there stood an adorable black and white bunny. The bunny looked at me in terror, then took off, hopping around my room. I got out of my shock and slammed the door shut so that it wouldn’t escape. I tried to catch it, but couldn’t.

Finally, I had an idea. “I wish that this bunny could go back where it came from,” I said, focusing on the bunny, which was nestled on my pillow, nose quivering. And with the same flash of light, the rabbit vanished. I was surprised as well as scared so I wrapped up my stuff and went to sleep.

Next day, I saw a weird piece of news in the newspaper. ‘A rabbit had vanished from its hutch, with a flash of light last night, only to return after 10 minutes.’ And the picture given below was of the same bunny that appeared last night in my room.

So when everyone was out and I was alone in the house, I went to my room, shut the door and took out a picture I had made of a toy car I had. I placed the toy car in the bathroom, then came back and said, “I wish that toy was here in front of me.”

Sure enough, with a flash of light, the toy appeared. I went and checked in the bathroom, but it was gone. I realised that the colour pencils were magical, I had no idea how mum and dad got them and if they knew about their magical powers.

I have hidden the pencils in my cupboard and sometimes use it when no one is there. But I always make it a point to wish that the things return to their original places, and they do.