Written by: Yureka Adhikari - 29049, Grade VI
Posted on: 22 August, 2022
Lila finally mustered up the courage to go to the forest of truth. A forest that has either made lives perfect or ended them. Forever, she was warned to only ever enter it at her own risk. “The truth could hurt you!” They always said so for the entirety of her childhood to the point they had a rhyme“Dead bodies nest, where ghosts go to rest, it’s not the best, the death’s I mean truth’s forest!” All she really knew about the forest was that it had truths that could hurt. Lila had thought that anything could really hurt her by that point in her life. She didn’t care what the answer would be all she thought of as she entered the forest was “what is life?” As she entered the forest it matched the depiction of it she was given a gory dark and unalive place packed with trees to the point you didn’t have space to breathe. Most would stop there but she continued past that and went closer to the forest’s center where she realized that she was fed with lies.
The part of the forest described to her as the worst of the worst of the worst where it is the goriest, darkest and most dead place was actually full of gorgeous trees in all the colors you could ever think of organized in such a way where not a single tree looks out of place, a million flowers and butterflies you could mistake it for a flower field and the most stunning river and waterfall you’d see in your life. The strangest part of the forest was the dead center. You see it was in a circle shape where ginormous trees surrounded the side she came from while the other sides had even massive mountains surrounding it. You’d think that with that much protection the dead center had a precious thing. However, there was nothing but an old cottage with barred windows and no door on top of a lake with a water wheel. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a terrible cottage but it wasn’t an eye-catching or spectacular one either. Despite that Lila was too deep to go back without an answer to her burning question so naturally, she stepped in to see what it really was. It was just two rooms, one had a broken mirror (struggling to stay put) on top of a table but when Lila looked inside the mirror it became a beautiful painting. She saw a beautiful sunset where you can see hints of stars and along with the pinkish/peachy and blueish/purplish background in the sky you could see the moon and sun in the same sky clearly together. Would that be possible in real life, probably not but art doesn’t need to be realistic. In the other room? Porch? Was a water wheel spinning continuously. She really wondered what was so special about this forest; essentially it was a fun little adventure not worth what it was made out to be. Just as she was about to leave the cottage she remembered she left her purse (with basic first aid) on the table. While taking the purse she noticed a thin book that she hadn’t realized was there before. In the hopes that it would clear up her confusion with the place.
There were only a couple of pages but what Lila read made her understand every bit of that place. “As I take my last breath I know this cottage will seem dead. However, as long as this lake decides to stay here rotating the water wheel and as long as this mirror shows the people who came this far in here even when the forest looks so deadly theri worth the soul of this cottage shall stay here. So shall the meaning it holds being that even when the trees and mountains don’t care as long as you're the lake there giving purpose to this empty house(your body) and keeping it alive or shall I say life. Lila finally left the forest and never had to visit it again as she was content with the answer . Was it happily ever after afterwards, no she had her ups and downs like all of us but she never gave up remembering that the lake was the only thing giving life to the cottage just like her soul is what gives life to her body not the trees and mountains around her or should I say others.
