Olive was always the last to be collected from school.
But it was always worth the wait.
The journey home was long.
Olive watched as the world passed them by.
Olive was her father's world.
She felt weightless on his shoulders.
The train brought them home, but books could take them anywhere they imagined.
Tonight, Olive couldn't sleep.
Tomorrow was her first real adventure.
The Tree Museum was built many years ago,
by the last of the Tree Generation.
Olive said goodbye to her father on the steps of the museum before following her class inside.
For as long as Olive could remember,
she had longed to meet a tree.
But the last of the trees
had died long ago.
It was a painting that caught her eye,
and Olive found she couldn't look away.
She whispered its name:
'The Last Tree'.
And the tree whispered back.
Olive was lost for words.
They had their conversation in silence.
She began to climb.
It was a long way up.
It was a long way down.
Sometimes, to reach the sky,
you have to lose sight of the ground.
Olive felt drawn into the sea of trees.
Time passed by differently here, counted in seasons not seconds.
Deep in the forest, Olive was lost and yet found.
In time, she realised that she was not the only one alone here.
So this is how trees sleep,
thought Olive.
The light of the day fell away.
Olive looked up at the dark night sky,
only to learn it was filled with light.
Clear skies may not stay that way.
But shelter can be found in the darkest of places.
As the rain subsided, distant shadows began to emerge.
She ran as fast as she could.
There are some things you can't run away from.
But fears need not be faced alone.
It wasn't until she saw her father waiting that Olive felt she was truly home.
He marvelled at his daughter's imagination,
until she showed him the seed in her hand.
They knew exactly what they needed to do.
Time passed and Olive watched over her trees,
as they would watch over the generations to come.