The Golden Tree

• Haruki Parrett, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2020

“The opening in the rainforest led to the most…Never forget that.” His Great-grand-father had told him that.
He never did.
In the rainforest the humidity was barbaric, the rain was intense He trudged through the thick mud on the rainforest floor. He could hear the rainbow lorikeet sing every now and then. The rain started to intensify. BOOM! He turned around and saw a fire flare up not too far from him. Damn he thought as he watched the flames edge closer and closer, lightning must have hit that tree. He gritted his teeth. Even this kind of rain saw no win against the red and orange menace. Time to take matters into my own hands, I guess… He ran.
As he bucketed away the fire charged after him like a hungry predator. He looked around for a solution and caught sight of a golden heart-shaped leaf, the clean yellow reflecting the fierce red, softly floating down from who-knows-were. His mind returned and as it did, he grabbed the leaf, his fingers softly closing around it, and turned and threw it into the fire. The hot red flames suddenly ceased, and all the previously burnt down trees stood up were they were, healthy, strong and untouched as if nothing ever happened. He wasn’t surprised. He knew everything misplaced was magic. That knowledge was overly obvious. But no one believed magic so… Their loss I guess he thought as he started walking towards the way that the golden leaf had drifted from. He knew he had to find the source. As he adventured deeper, he saw more of the golden leaves appear all around- floating in the air or on the floor or even stuck in branches of trees. Not only that, he saw more creatures prancing around. Some he had never seen nor dreamed even existed, such as half deer’s half bunny’s; half crocodile’s half birds (This one he tried his best to avoid) and even animals that didn’t even live remotely close to the area.
He looked down and realized that now the mucky ground was now covered in the shimmering golden leaves. He suddenly hit his head on something hard that made a loud bong sound like a gong. He looked up and saw a beautiful golden tree glimmering in the sun, lots of golden heart-shaped leaves stuck onto the branches. Not just A golden tree, he thought, THE golden tree!
He hugged the tree. He found it! He actually found it! Finally! A golden leaf landed on his head and he blew it off…
“The opening to the forest led to the most…” He heard a soft voice say in his head. “Never forget that… because it always will lead to the most. I want you to go find it. The heart and soul of all the golden hearts...”
A small tear rolled down his face. His great-grandfather had told him that.
I never did forget that. And I never will.