the short story

Heaven Beneath the Trees

By: Firdausi Khoirunnisa

Luna had never been the kind of person who cared much about nature. She wasn’t against it, she just didn’t think that much about it. Trees were just trees, the sky was just the sky, and picking up trash wasn’t her idea of a fun weekend. But thanks to her school’s community service requirement, she and other students were now stuck volunteering for the local park cleanup project. The activity was a routine, but she never felt excited.

She looked around at her classmates, most of them seemed just as unenthusiastic as her. Josh was scrolling through his phone, Mia was dramatically sighing, and Daniel, the class president, was the only one who had actually started picking up trash.

“Alright, class,” said Ms. Carter, their environmental science teacher, who went together with them. “We’ll be here for the next few hours, so let’s make the most of it! Remember, this park belongs to all of us, and we have a responsibility to take care of it.”

Luna sighed and grabbed a trash bag. The sooner they got this over with, the better.

At first, it was as boring as she expected. Picking up candy wrappers, plastic bottles, and abandoned socks wasn’t exactly thrilling. But as she wandered deeper into the park, away from the main path, she started noticing things she hadn’t noticed before. A lot of wildflowers grow between the roots of an old oak. The way the sunlight filtered through the branches, painting golden patterns on the ground. The sound of birds chirping in the distance.

Then she saw it.

Half-hidden behind a thick wall of ivy was a narrow path she never noticed before. She felt curious, she pushed through the greenery and stepped inside. What she found made her stop.

The path leads to a beautiful place. Tall trees stood like silent guardians. A lake with blue water and around it pretty flowers grow wildly, there were lots of colorful flowers. There was also a big big tree.

Luna took a cautious step forward. Her heart raced with an excitement she didn’t quite understand.

“Whoa, this must be heaven.” a voice said behind her. She spun around to see Josh, for once not looking at his phone. Mia and Daniel were right behind him.

“How did we never see this before?” Mia asked, eyes wide.

Daniel stepped closer to the big tree, brushing his fingers over the bark. “This tree must be hundreds of years old.” He crouched down and pointed. “Look at this—someone carved their initials here. ‘A. L. – 1923.”

Luna suddenly felt small in the best way possible. How many people had stood in this exact spot before them? How much history does this place have? And how had they, who had walked past this park a hundred times, never known it was here?

“Do you think anyone else knows about this place?” Josh asked. Mia shook her head. “If they did, it would probably be trashed like the rest of the park.”

They stood there in silence for a moment, all of them feeling the same unspoken realization: this place needed to be protected. They named the place ‘Hidden Heaven’.

From the day they found the beautiful place, the cleanup routine did not feel like a forced chore anymore. Luna and all of her friends started coming back, not only when they had to clean the park. They even started an awareness campaign at their school, to encourage other students to see the park as more than just ‘some place with lots of trees’.

One afternoon, Luna returned to the Hidden Heaven alone. She ran her fingers over the initial carved on the tree. She smiled. Who ever ‘A. L.’ was, that person must be the one who came often back in the days. All she did in that place was just sit and read books.

Months passed, Luna and her friends still came to the same place. They still do the clean up. Until one day an old man who used gold framed glasses approached Luna while she sat under the big tree. “I used to come here as a kid,” he said with a warm voice. “That initial, A. L., was carved by my grandfather. I always think this place is magical.”

Luna looked up at the old man, “We think so too,” she smiled.

“Thank you for taking care of this place,” he said with a kind voice and nice smile.

The man walked away and Luna watched as he disappeared behind the ivy. She felt proud of what she did. She and her classmates used to be people who are forced to love nature. Now they realized that they should love nature, to keep these kinds of beautiful places served by nature alive.

The place has been hidden for long, but not anymore. (fk)