Susie wakes to find the colours in her room fading away, and the animals in her picture seem to know more than they should.
In a little yellow house on a quiet corner street lived seven-year-old Susie. Her room was bright with colour. Red cushions sat on her bed, blue curtains swayed by the window, and a green wardrobe stood tall in the corner. On the wall hung her favourite picture: a pig, a cat, a parrot, and a turtle, all smiling in a happy row.
When Susie opened her eyes one morning, she sat up at once. Something looked wrong. Her red pillow was no longer red. It had turned a dull grey, as if the colour had been washed away in the night.
Susie hugged it tight. A cold shiver ran through her. "What happened?" she whispered.
She looked at the picture on the wall. The pig had lost most of its pink. The parrot’s bright feathers looked faded and weak. Only the turtle still seemed calm, with one tiny eye half closed, as if it knew a secret.
Susie’s heart thumped faster. She felt scared, then curious, then a little cross. Colours did not simply disappear. Not from her pillow. Not from her room.
Then she noticed the kitten in the picture. Its tiny face looked sad, and its eyes seemed to meet hers. Susie swallowed hard.
A soft rustle came from the window.
She tiptoed to the curtain and pulled it back very slowly. Something small and bright flashed behind the glass, like a colourful shadow darting past and back again. Susie held her breath.
And just as she stared, the pig in the picture gave the tiniest twitch of its nose.