The Hope Clearings

• Sophie Murphy, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2018

The canopy above me drips with recent rain. It blocks out the sun, so the forest is gloomy and shadowy. The faint breeze seems to dance in and around me, almost like a living thing. The bird song is loud in the treetops, bouncing off leaves and twigs like an echo. The puddles around me are dark with mud, and smooth enough to be glass, glittering in the small beams of sun strong enough to break through the canopy. The leaves and twigs crunch under my feet, sounding so loud next to the bird song and faint rustling of the breeze. The path gets wider, which makes me confident. Almost there, I think to myself. And then I arrive. A wide circle of dark brown dirt, a small clearing with not enough sun for thick, green grass to grow. But as I walk to the centre, and push a button buried beneath the silt, all that begins to change. Grass sprouts from the ground and grows green and lush within a matter of seconds. Trees grow tall and strong, trees that weren’t even there a second ago. Blossoms bloom, an array of colours as beautiful as a rainbow. The aroma is amazing. There are at least fifty different smells, of the dirt, of the grass, of the flowers, of the millions of different kinds of animals that have come to explore the new patch of forest. It’s beautiful. I have travelled the world trying to find as many of these Hope Clearings, as they are called, as possible. They grow lush, green and beautiful in a matter of meagre seconds, and stay that way for millions of years, surviving through anything and everything. They are like the flame of hope, flared in a second and then able to burn forever, giving people strength, and faith, and showing them the love around them. As I sit on the newly grown grass, the trees above me part their leaves and a patch of clear blue sky is visible, the slightest wispy clouds drifting across it. The raindrops dripping from the leaves seem to glow with a brighter colour, reflecting all the flowers so that they look like a rare and precious gem, the wind seems to sing a happier song, and the bright sun is smiling down on it all. A second ago this forest seemed shadowy, dark and creepy. But now, with just a little clearing growing some plants, the whole place seems brighter, the plants seem healthier, and all the animals seem to be happier, and less afraid. Sometimes the things that make the biggest difference are the smallest things, which are sometimes thought to be insignificant.