Pulling Back The Curtains

• Nirman Munawar, Grade 5, Canberra Girls Grammar School - Junior School
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

The moonlight breaks through the gap in the closed curtains as I lie quietly on my bed, breathing slowly. It covers my eyes and it makes it harder for me to sleep. I can hear a
pitter-patter sound in the distance. I don't know what it is, but it is not helping me to sleep at all. I silently get up and pull the curtains together, succeeding in closing the light out of my room for the rest of the night. I lie down in my bed again, but a feeling of guilt comes over me as I try to snuggle up underneath the warm blanket. I feel lonely and scared in my pitch black room, so I reach to turn on the lights. They flicker for a few seconds, but then suddenly they turn off. I think for a while, letting my mind wander. I think about everyone else in my house sleeping peacefully while I can hardly even keep my eyes closed. A sound wakes me up. It is that pitter-patter sound again, and it is much louder than before. I look around my room. I can see the shadows of my desk and my lamp. It's too bad I can't turn the lamp on because if I could, I would be able to see and sleep well again. I walk around my bed to the curtains. I can see some light coming from the gap underneath the curtains and I wonder what it is. Slowly, I pull them back and I see an amazing sight. I can see some red light shining from beyond the world, and next to it, I see a bright rainbow. Behind the first rainbow, I can see another faded but sparkling rainbow. It turns out that the sound I heard in the night was actually the rain. I wouldn't have seen this amazing sight if I didn't pull back the curtains.