The Star Tree

I wish...

Hello there,
I decided to write a short, one page story and I hope you like it!
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It was a cold, windy night as I looked at the stars, but this time I was alone.

"Mom, I could really use you right now." I say as I touch the tree while looking up at the stars, "I wish you were still here with me, I miss you."

I hug myself as the wind decided to blow in the direction my back was facing. I think about all the times my mom and I had come to this spot. I could almost hear her reminding me what she had said the last day we came up here, "Look up at the stars and not down at your feet and try to make sense of what you see. Be curious. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed, but it all depends on you not giving up."

I had gotten mad at my brother and ran out the door, into the woods, and kept running until I got on the other side of the tree-covered land.

My mom had said there was a particularly unique tree that would grant you wishes on the other side of the woods, but she never took us there. So, I'm went there for myself.

As I got closer to my goal, I saw a faint glow of light, which made me slow my pace until I was walking. I move the leaves that were in the way. Every step I took toward the big, healthy full tree, I noticed that the light had shaped itself as stars. In the action of reaching for the star-shaped light, I heard someone say, "I'm glad you made it."

I turn around to find my mom, shocked, I say, "What! How did you find me so fast and how did you beat me here?"

"I have my secrets," she had said, waving me to follow her as she walked around the tree.

I follow her but ask, "Wait, have you been here before?" As those words left my mouth, I had remembered that every time she told the story about the wish tree, she made it sound like she was there.

She suddenly stopped, and I rammed into her back. I pock my head from behind, to see the cause of her abrupt stop, and saw there was a picnic in front of me. My jaw drops, and my eyes were most likely huge. She sat down, looked up at me, and laughed, "Your reactions are always funny. Now, close that mouth of yours, you don't want to eat a fly accidentally, and sit next to me."

I sat next to her, laid my head on her shoulder and said, "You were that girl in the story, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was," she replied.

After we ate the food and talked a little more, we cleaned up and brought the dishes back home. My mom showed me how she had beaten me to the tree; apparently, there was a hidden path that leads right to it near the house.

She and I would go to the star tree whenever my brother and dad went out or whenever I got mad at anyone. The tree became our tree, but she soon passed away. Though it was still my mother's and my tree in my mind, it didn't feel like it anymore without her.

"She had said that if I wish on one of the star lights on the tree; it'd come true. I wonder if it's true."

I look up at the stars once again, and silently whisper, "I wish I could show someone this tree, that truly needs help as I did. Let me help someone, just like my mom had helped me."

The wind blows against my back, causing my hair and everything else to go up, but then the wind stopped. A few minutes go past, and I let out a breath, "Who am I kidding? That was just a story, but if it was just a story, than this tree wouldn't be here."

I sign and sit at the trunk of the tree and hug my knees. I look at the woods, and as if on cue, I see a girl with messy dirt blonde hair and sea sky eyes. She was wearing a white shirt with dark blue overalls.

When she got closer, I could see, she had scratches on her face and a cut on her knee, but before the girl reaches me, she collapses.

I rush over to her, gently pick her up, slowly carry her to the star tree, and carefully lay her against the tree.

If I'm correct, the tree should be able to heal her. I wait for a few seconds and stare at her, as the light around one of the stars comes down, dances around her, and fades away.

All the scratches that were once there, gone, with the rips in her clothes and the deep cut, vanished. I sign in relief and say, "So, what mom had said in the story was true. You can heal people if you think they're worthy."

"Thank you," I say, touching the tree. It had brought me someone to help.

"Who are you thanking?" a soft voice asks.

I look at the girl and reply with a smile, "The tree and the stars, of course."