Mira saw a girl sitting under a tree with no leaves. It was first day of the autumn season. Mira noticed her while walking home from school. Only the tree where the girl was sitting was leave less. All the other trees were with green leaves. The girl look like she was about Mira's age. She was wearing a pale blue dress. Her here were dark black and she was holding a silver Bell in her hand. Miraa stopped walking in finally asked the girl " Are you lost?" The girl slowly turned towards her and smile "No" she replied. “I have been waiting.” Mira looked around because she thought she might be talking about someone else, but there was nobody there. “Waiting for whom?” she asked. The girl looked directly at her and said, “You" Mira felt confused because she had never seen this girl before in her life. Before she could ask anything else, a cold wind suddenly blew through the trees. Mira closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, the girl had disappeared. The only thing left behind was the little silver bell lying on the ground.
The next day, Mira went back to the same place. She told herself that she only wanted to return the bell, but secretly she wanted to find out who the strange girl was. When she reached the tree, the girl was sitting beneath it as if she had been waiting there all along. “You came back,” the girl said with a smile. Mira immediately asked why she had disappeared the day before. The girl simply said, “I had to go before sunset.” Mira looked at the sky and told her that sunset was still hours away. The girl laughed and said that Mira asked too many questions. Mira then introduced herself, and the girl replied, “I know". Mira became even more confused and asked how she knew her name. Instead of answering, the girl picked up the silver bell and handed it to her. “You dropped this,” she said. Mira reminded her that the girl had actually found it, but the girl only smiled and said, “You will understand later.” Her name was Elia
After that day, Mira and Elia started meeting almost every afternoon. Mira discovered that Elia was very different from everyone she knew. She had no school, no family that Mira knew about, and not even a real home. Whenever Mira asked where she lived, Elia would point towards the forest and say, “Somewhere in there.” Mira knew there were no houses deep inside the forest, so she asked again, but Elia never gave her a proper answer. Instead, she would change the subject or tell Mira some strange story about the forest. At first, Mira thought Elia was just making things up, but after spending more time with her, she started noticing that strange things really did happen around her. Flowers sometimes glowed at night, birds seemed to understand what Elia was saying, and the forest always became unusually quiet whenever she rang the silver bell.
One evening, Mira decided to follow Elia into the forest. They walked deeper than Mira had ever gone before. The trees became taller and the path seemed to disappear behind them. Soon, they reached a place where the grass was covered with tiny blue flowers that glowed in the darkness. Mira could hear soft sounds coming from the bushes, but whenever she looked, there was nothing there. Finally, they reached a large lake that Mira had never seen before. The water was completely still, almost like a mirror. In the middle of the lake stood a huge white tree. It had no leaves, but thousands of small golden lights which were ha ging from its branches. Mira stared at it in amazement and asked Elia what it was. Elia sat beside the lake and told her that the tree was called the Tree of Memories. The golden lights were memories that people had forgotten. Each light contained a moment from someone's life that had disappeared from their mind.
Mira looked closely at the lights and could see small scenes inside them. One showed a little boy running through a field. Another showed an old woman laughing with her family. There were memories of birthdays, friendships, pets, journeys and many other things. Mira suddenly felt sad because she realized that every beautiful moment in those lights belonged to someone who could no longer remember it. Then she noticed that one of the lights was much brighter than the others. She asked Elia why it was different, but Elia only looked away. After a few seconds, she quietly said, “One day, I will be there too.” Mira did not understand what she meant, but Elia refused to explain.
As autumn continued, Mira and Elia became best friends. They spent almost every afternoon together. They explored the forest, climbed rocks near the lake, shared food, told each other secrets and laughed about silly things. Mira told Elia about her dreams of travelling to different places, while Elia said she wanted to see snow because she had never seen it before. They promised each other that one day they would travel together and see it. Mira even started teaching Elia things she had learned at school, while Elia taught Mira the names of strange flowers and creatures that only exist deep inside the forest. Soon, Mira Stopped cating that Elia is stranger. Now, Elia was just mira's best friend.
But then something started to change. Elia began forgetting things. At first, Mira did not notice. One afternoon, Elia forgot Mira's favourite food. The next day, she forgot the name of Mira's teacher. A few days later, Mira told her about something funny that had happened the previous afternoon, but Elia stared at her blankly and said she could not remember it. Mira thought she was joking, but Elia's face showed that she was serious. Mira became worried and asked what was happening. Elia told her that sometimes she woke up and felt as if parts of her memories were missing. Mira asked if there was anything she could do, but Elia shook her head. “You can't stop it,” she whispered. “It has already started."
Mira did not accept that answer. She went to the old library in the village and searched through every book about magic, legends and the forest. One night, after hours of searching, she found an old book hidden behind a shelf. It had no title and its pages were very old. Inside, Mira found a drawing of the white tree. Her hands began to shake as she read the words beneath it. The forest was called the Forest of the memories, and every hundred years, it chose a guardian. The guardian protected the Tree of Memories and the forgotten memories inside it. However, once the guardian accepted the forest's magic, they could never return to the normal world. Their memories would slowly disappear until they became part of the tree itself. Mira turned the page and read one final sentence: "When the last leaf of the autumn season will fall, the guardian will become a memory."
Mira realized that Elia was the guardian.
She ran through the forest and found Elia sitting beside the lake. Mira held the old book in her hands and requested to know the truth. Elia looked at the ground for a long time before finally saying that everything in the book was true. She knew it from the beginning that she would disappear at the end of autumn. Mira asked why she had never told her. Elia looked at her with tears in her eyes and said that she did not want to spend her last autumn alone. She had been waiting for someone who could see her, someone who would not be afraid of the strange forest. “Then you appeared,” she said. “And I thought maybe I could have one normal autumn before I disappeared.” Mira started crying and told her that she should have told her the truth. Elia apologized and said she was scared that Mira would leave if she knew. Mira immediately hugged her and told her that she would never have left.
From that day, Mira spent every moment she could with Elia. She tried everything to save her. She searched the forest for magical plants, read more books and even asked the creatures of the forest for help. But nothing worked. Finally, Mira discovered one possible way to break the curse. Someone else had to become the guardian instead. Mira decided that she would take Elia's place. When she told Elia, Elia became angry for the first time. She told Mira that she would never allow her to give up her life for her. Mira cried and said that she could not simply watch her best friend disappear. Elia took Mira's hands and said, “You promised me we would see snow together. You have to keep that promise, even if I can't be there.”
The final evening of autumn arrived faster than Mira wanted. The forest was covered in golden leaves, and the Tree of Memories was glowing brighter than usual. Mira and Elia sat under it for the last time. They talked about all the silly things they had done together and laughed even though they both knew what was coming. Mira reminded Elia about their promise to see snow. Elia smiled and said she hoped Mira would see the biggest snowfall in the world. Then the first leaf fell from the white tree. Elia's hands began to glow with a dim silver light. Mira grabbed her hand and refused to let go. She begged Elia to stay, but Elia told her that she was not afraid anymore because she knew that someone would remember her. Mira promised again and again that she would never forget her.
As the final leaf was going to fall , the silver light slowly covered Elia. Mira held her as tightly as she could. Elia smiled while she controlled her tears and whispered, “Thank you for being my friend.” Mira cried and told her that she was supposed to stay. Elia looked at her one last time and said, “I wish I could.” Then the final leaf touched the ground, and Elia disappeared. There was no great explosion or loud sound. She simply vanished, leaving Mira sitting alone beneath the tree with the silver bell in her hands.
The next morning, the forest looked completely normal. The glowing flowers were gone, the strange creatures had disappeared and the lake looked like an ordinary lake. Mira searched everywhere for Elia, calling her name until her neck started to ache. She finally returned to the white tree and rang the silver bell. One time, second time, Nothing happened. She rang it again in the hope to see one of the golden lights appear, but the branches were still empty. Mira sat under the tree and started crying. She took out two cups of tea from her bag, just like she and Elia used to have together. She placed one cup beside herself and one on the empty space where Elia used to sit. “You always hated cold tea, Elia." Mira whispered. " So i brought it before it got cold."
Years passed, and Mira grew older. She travelled to different places and finally saw snow, just as she and Elia had promised. She stood in the snow for a long time, but instead of feeling happy, she cried because the person she wanted to enjoy with was not there. Every autumn, Mira returned to the forest. She would bring two cups of tea, sit beneath the old tree and tell Elia everything that had happened in her life. The silver bell stayed with her, even though it never made the forest glow again.
Many years later, when Mira was old, she returned to the forest one last time. She was tired and walked slowly towards the tree. She sat beneath it and placed the silver bell beside her. She looked at the old branches and smiled sadly. “I saw the snow,” she whispered. “It was beautiful. I wish you had been there.” The forest remained quite. There was no golden light, no magical voice and no sign of Elia. Mira closed her eyes and held the old bell in her hands. She stayed there until the sun disappeared.
The next morning, the villagers found Mira sitting peacefully under the tree. She had passed away during the night. Beside her was the little silver bell and two empty cups of tea. Nobody in the village knew why Mira had two cups for.
That autumn, for the first time in many years, a single golden light appeared on the branches of the white tree.
Inside it was the memory of two girls sitting under a tree, laughing together.
But, Elia was gone. Mira had to suffer alone.
People still remembered how Mira used to pray saying that how Elia left. A girl who stayed for just one autumn.
