When I was little, four years old, my mother took me a place.

She told me to put on my little boots because it was a surprise.

With excitement, I rushed over to put on my worn-out yellow boots and hopped over to meet her. I was so excited to see what surprise she had for me. Was it a doll? Was it a pony? “What’s the surprise, mama?” I had asked. “Oh, sweetie! It’s nothing big. It’s just a garden. Just right at the back of our house!” She gave out. She wasn’t the best at holding on to surprises. I gasped in shock and wonder, despite not fully understanding what a garden was… but I did know it had butterflies in it.

She told me it would take over my little mind for the rest of my life. And then she told me to make sure to keep this little garden with me in my heart and never forget. I nodded excitedly and followed her to the garden with my little feet.

Erm…

I expected to see a beautiful and colourful garden. But my smile faded away when I took sight of the said garden before me. It was like a dessert.

The garden wasn’t much.

In fact, it wasn’t anything at all.

It wasn’t anything to write home about. It was deserted and it looked abandoned. There were not even signs of flowers in the garden. And if there once was, then all the flowers were dead. The grass that was supposed to serve as a pretty carpet to compliment the sky was stained brown with a lot of sand. The trees had its branches with no leaf on it. And the butterflies…

Of course, they won’t be there. There was nothing pretty in sight for them to perch on.

I felt like I had been lied to.

My mother watched as my smile and excitement faded away. It was now replaced with curiosity and confusion as I wondered why she would bring me here. There was definitely no surprise here. I looked up to give my mother a questioning look. She smiled back at me knowingly and dipped her hand into the pocket of her sunflower dress. Then she bent down to my height and brought out a seed and placed it on her opened palm towards me. I eyed the single, tiny, seed on her hand and was still very confused. Was this the surprise? She could have just shown this to me inside the house then, I thought. As if to read my expressions, my mother burst into a calm laughter and tickled me on my little round belly.

She looked down at the seed and smiled. “The name of this seed is Love.” She said.

Love?

Without saying another word, she dug a hole and buried… Love.

I wondered why she would bury the lone seed, if it was supposed to be a surprise. Was this the surprise? It made no sense to me. She looked at me again and as if she read my mind again, she told me that someday, it might grow up to be a giant tree with lots of colourful branches and fruits. She said it would even have birds and butterflies and squirrels if I did a really good job. Or – She added – the tree may die like the rest of the trees in the garden.

My little heart immediately sank because I did not want Love to die and become like the rest of the dead trees in the garden. I already didn’t like them and I would hate to see Love turn out like the others. The others did not bring a nice view to look at.

But then, mother said if I wanted to keep it alive and see it grow pretty flowers and fruits, I must remember to water it every morning just before the sun rises.

I was immediately covered with joy, seeing that there was in fact, something I could do to help Love.

Not letting my happiness linger, she quickly pointed her index finger at me – A warning. Then she told me that there would be wicked weeds that would want to stop it from growing. I gasped. Oh no! how dare they! I thought to myself as I imagined little weeds, matching up in an army to execute Love. She instructed me to always remember to pull them away. I smiled with excitement and nodded attentively, ready to protect Love, the seed from any danger.

And so, we began. Everyday.

And the seed began to grow.

I wasn’t sure what I was doing or what it meant. All I knew was that the little plant looked fragile and needed someone with watch over it. Also, I really wanted to see pretty flowers and fruits too. So just like that, I watered the growing plant every morning, every day with my mother beside me. It became our daily routine. And every day the seed did grow into a little fragile but beautiful seedling. And I watched the tree grow its first bloom.

Planting and watering in the garden with my mother brought so much joy to me.

And a happy child I was until my mother passed away…

She passed away unexpectedly in her sleep one sunny day and since then…

I never went back to the garden.

I felt lost for many years. I couldn’t believe how attached I was to my mother. She was my mother. It felt like a large empty hole had been dug open in my heart. I knew it was because I missed my mother. And I wanted that pain to go away, so I searched thoroughly for something, anything that will make me feel connected to her again.

Then I remembered Love, my mother’s little plant.

Immediately, I ran to the garden at the back of our house not minding the stormy weather that was coming up. The garden was still deserted as usual. I ignored it all and went over to our spot and saw that the little seed that was once becoming a young tree was now dying. Eaten by large and stubborn weeds.

An emotional turmoil poured over me from within.

Tears began to pour out of my eyes with a heavy ache in my chest as I realized that my mother’s love was dying too. I cried my heart out because I did not want her love to die. It was the only connection I had left to her.

I immediately remembered my mother’s instructions. A small ray of hope lit up and a small smile traced on my face. I dropped to my knees in the rain and without thinking, I began to pull out all the weeds not minding the bruises it left on my hands. And even though the rain was pouring hard from the sky to the ground, I still fetched a bucket and poured as many to the tree.

The next day, I did the same. Over and over again, I didn’t stop.

It took a while longer for it to respond to the treatment but I didn’t give up. Months went by then it finally began to grow again. How happy I was to see that my Love was finally responding. It finally gave me peace of mind and a good sleep. Since that day, I gave it my full attention not having a reason other than it needed to stay alive. I just wanted it to grow to the full vision that my mother had in mind.

Years later, Love had already grown into a big old strong tree. Its lovely white and pink flowers blossomed and its fruits was sweet. My Love had finally grown and could never be harmed again.

Its shades became a resting place for me to rest and think after a long day of work. I could always hide away from the world whenever it got too overwhelming. Or I could simply read a book while my dog played around.

But then,

One day, as I sat in the garden under a shade admiring my tree and knitted in my feeble old age, I had a moment to look around the still deserted garden. Most plants were dead and brown and some tried to grow and survive through the cold and harsh weather, struggling with the weeds around them but they all eventually died. But mine had survived. My big old tree, Love, had survived. It had all the treatment and attention it needed. It was such a lucky tree–

And it was in that moment that it hit me.

I finally understood.

Though it took me my whole life to my very old age to understand the message, but I was now glad that I did. My mother always had her cryptic meanings to things. As I looked around in enlightenment, I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at my folly.

The garden was the world and the seed that was buried in the garden was Love. Love is a very delicate and fragile thing. But it was also the heart that kept people alive. Everyone needs a little of that love with them, because it was the thing that gave people life. It brought people together and made the world a colourful and bright place. It bred hope and promises for everyone. But it demanded a sacrifice. The act of giving. Love was something you wanted to keep giving your attention to. Watering it and pulling out the weeds that would constantly grow and try to kill the love of the world. Because without that love, the world will just be another deserted, abandoned, broken and lonely place. There would be no sign of healthy growth and the world would inevitably wither away.

I looked around at the mess I had made. My love had grown so old and strong but I had forgotten to share it with the rest of the world, the garden. I had been too selfish…

I felt horrible for being so self-centered.

That evening, I called my son to the garden and told him what had to be done. Together, we began to build and water the garden every day. Because we could not do it on our own, he brought some of his friends to help out. And as time went by, with us constantly treating it and giving it our full attention, the grasses in the garden became to grow. Bright and rich colors of green, rainbow colours from the little bed of flowers that spread all around and fruits enough to go round for the bunnies.

And at last, the butterflies came around.

And now, as I sit in this beautiful rich garden, I wished I had done this much early. The garden had never looked so beautiful and smelt so great. It was more than I could ever dream of. It was the greatest gift I ever received.

THE END.

A/N: Hi Everyone!!!! So this is the first short story I’m going to publish here and there would be more to come next month. So please like and subscribe and leave a comment. Thanks and have a great day!