Highly Commended Story - A Special Gift

“A Special Gift” by Sarah Essid, Safir International School, Turkey, is the Highly Commended story in the sub-junior category of the first biannual Short Story Contest 2019.

Sarah Essid is a 9-year-old who was born in Canada. Currently Sarah lives in Turkey with her family and she goes to an International school in Istanbul. In school, her favorite subject is Math. Her hobbies are swimming and reading. Her favorite reading series are Ivy and Bean, Roald Dahl, Robert Munch's Munch More, and The Magic Faraway Tree. Sarah’s dream job is to be a doctor. She enjoys traveling and knowing different cultures. She also wants to save lives and to make people happy.

A Special Gift

When Andria was first born, it was a stormy night and everyone was scared except the little baby. It seemed like the thunder was trying to protect her or she had some mysterious power over it.

When she turned four, Andria played a lot in the family farm. She used to hum beautiful tunes while being around the farm animals. It was so peaceful when she hummed that not even a single animal tried to hurt a fly. Whenever the little girl hummed, the sky turned gray and the rain did not stop until she stopped. Nobody noticed Andria's hidden power over thunder. Even Andria herself had not sensed it then.

At the age of nine, her town was drastically dry that the sky did not offer a single drop of rain. Andria was very keen to solve the problem and she set out to search for water.

She almost reached another town when she came across some animals in the prairies. The setting made her reminisce the time when she was around the family farm animals in her hometown. Unintentionally she started humming the same tunes she used to sing.

Forthwith, she heard the mumbling and grumbling sounds of thunder. The storm started and the rain fell heavily over the grass fields. Astonished, the animals scattered all over the place looking for a shelter from the heavy rain. It was only then that she realized one of her powers. Determined to save her town from the drought, she hurriedly went back home. From that time on her hometown never suffered from any lack of water.

At her 11th birthday, an odd man got Andria a present and left town. Curious to know who he was and where he came from, Andria followed him to a cave. To her surprise, the cave hid a stunning palace. The mysterious man knew she was following him and thought it was time to reveal the secret. He beckoned Andria to come over. In a whisper, the man proclaimed to the little girl that she had the same powers as his. He declared that each tune had a special power. He divulged that the gift was a thunder whip. It would help her control the storm initiated by the tune.

Andria started using her powers in a good way. She decided to offer her help to all those in need. She became a little hero and everyone loved her. In her free time, Andria wrote many books about her powers, how she discovered them, and the ways in which she helped her people.