Zayd woke up flustered. It was sweltering hot, his hair matted to his forehead, and his shirt stuck to his chest.

The AC was blasting at 18C. The clock was ticking backward.

His broken leg propped up in a cast was somehow hurting even more. He could see blurred backward images fade out in front of him.

He could see his mum bringing him breakfast, could see himself struggling with math homework and then throwing away the pencil in agony.

He could also see yesterday and before that, and a whole week sped by.

He tried to push himself to get up, but his body seemed to be frozen. His breathing got faster and his heart palpitated till he could no longer bear it. That`s when the backward images slowed down, and the clock trickled to a stop. He felt a strong jolt in his bed and his hands could finally move again.

Zayd got to his feet in a hurry, shocked to find his leg unbroken and free of any cast. His breath caught as he glanced around everything in the room looked exactly as it had before the accident. His eyes darted to the date on his phone. It was last week`s Monday, the day of his accident. His heart pounded.

`Had time reversed? Was this a dream?`Zayd wondered.

Zayd staggered to the window and looked outside at the sunny sky. The clouds were trying to form a cover, but the sun pierced through them, shining golden into Zayd`s eyes. It was noon, the main street was bustling with vendors calling out vegetable rates and auto drivers honking at every passer-by. A strong waft of rubbish burning somewhere tinged his nose.

It had been a few weeks since summer vacation had started and, despite mum`s scoldings, he still couldn`t get himself into a routine. A toppling tower of books and homework stood on his desk behind a tattered football that looked like Zayd`s most prized possession, which it was.

Zayd was a football fanatic, his room decorated in red and white for his favourite football team Manchester United. His jersey and football were always within an arm`s reach. Zayd considered any time away from football as a waste of time. Ever since he had broken his leg in the accident, he had lost the motivation to do all other things too.

As Zayd stood at the window absorbing himself in what was happening to him, he thought back to the day of the accident, which ironically was today, the exact date. Zayd had been on his way to the ground near his house to play with his friends when he was run down by a speeding car. He had almost immediately lost consciousness as people started surrounding him, someone calling the ambulance and someone screaming after the car driver that had hit him and ran away.

He was rushed to the hospital and his parents rushed there soon too.

When Zayd woke up, his leg was wrapped in a cast and little bandages decorated the bruises on his arms and forehead. The doctor had said he was lucky because the car`s impact could have caused much more serious injuries.

He was discharged in a couple of days from the hospital,but had to be trapped in bed day in and day out.

His body ached to go outside and play football.

`Was it all a dream?` he murmured to himself. It couldn`t have been the pain had felt too real.

He looked at the calendar again, then at the time. It felt like déjà vu; everything was unfolding exactly as it had on the day of the accident.Perplexed, he wondered why was this happening again? Did he have to relive the pain of the accident all over again? Or was he being given a chance to stop it from happening altogether? This thought surged happiness and warmth through him. `Yes, this is it. I have been given another chance. Now that I know how the accident will happen, I can figure out a way to stop it,` he thought optimistically.

A message rang on his phone, and Zayd hopped over in joy to check it.

It was Ahmed in the football group chat, asking the boys to gather at the ground in 15 minutes. Exactly like it happened that day! `Should I say no to the match?` he wondered. `Impossible.

Maybe he could take a different route to the ground, or perhaps he just needed to be more careful when crossing the road.

`Yes,` he muttered to himself as he started getting ready. `I`ll just be more careful.

In no time, he was out of the door, ignoring his mum`s calls behind him `Eat something before you leave!` and `Be home on time for lunch! It was hot outside, the same as it was that day. Zayd walked briskly, thinking about how to avoid that car. A dog stood at the corner of the street, his body heaving and his tongue hanging out in a desperate call for water. As soon as he saw Zayd, the dog started to wag his tail.

Normally, Zayd would have shooed him away, but there was something special today. Zayd pat ted the dog on his head and poured out some water from his bottle. The dog lapped at it thirstily, his eyes twinkled in gratitude.

Further down the street, Zayd spotted an old woman struggling with heavy bags of groceries. He remembered her. She was out of breath, her knees buckling under the weight.

In a sudden rush of kindness, he ran to her side and offered to carry her bags. An act he didn`t do it that day.

The woman`s face lit up with gratitude, her broken teeth flashing in a warm smile as she raised her hands to give him blessings.

Zayd turned around the corner to the road where his accident had occurred. He stumbled into a little boy eating candy. Instead of nudging him away and throwing away his candy like he would nor-mally have done, Zayd gave the boy a little pat on the head.

As he stood on the pavement waiting for the signal to turn red, Zayd thought about the uncanny similarities between today and the day of his accident. Of course, it was the same day. The thirsty dog, the old woman carrying groceries, the little boy with the candy, all of them had crossed him that day too, but he had only shooed away the dog, ignored the woman as he focused on not being late for his match, and got annoyed at the kid for bumping into him.

The signal turned red and Zayd looked around for any cars before he crossed the road. There were none. He crossed the road safe and sound and made it to the playground on time.

Everything went back to normal afterward, but Zayd remained deep in thought. It felt like a reawakening he was beginning to understand.

`Good things do come around. Because I did good deeds for others, I was spared from harm.`