Highly Commended Story - Nothing is Impossible

“Nothing is Impossible” by Rachel Challista Chelcie Hutapea, Sekolah Citra Berkat, Indonesia, is the Highly Commended story in the sub-junior category of the first biannual Short Story Contest 2019.

Rachel is a grade 3 student at Sekolah Citra Berkat Jonggol in Indonesia. She wants to be a famous writer as she loves to write stories. She likes reading books and comics. Her favorite books are "Ready to be Popular" and "Genius" by Lee, Kyung-Sin and she also loves "WHY". Her hobbies are playing guitar, dancing, and travelling.

Nothing is Impossible

Laila prays, “Thank you, Dear Lord, for everything that You have given to me. Amen”

Laila lived with her mom and her grandparents in a small house. She is a humble girl who loves to smile and always help people. Her dad died years ago in a car accident. It was a really hard time for her and the family. But life must go on. She always remember what her dad told her, she must be a good girl, smart and humble. She missed her daddy every single day. Every morning, her mother made all kinds of traditional snacks and sold it in front of their house and cleaned up their neighbour’s houses to fullfill their needs. Laila wants to be a ballerina. She loves dancing. But her mother told her that it’s impossible, because they have no money. Laila said, she will become a ballerina, someday.

One morning, Laila was playing in the garden next to her house, alone. She danced beautifully and tried to catch a butterfly until she saw an old man who walked too fast and suddenly fell into a drain. Laila ran to help him but it was too deep and she could not raise the old man. Laila ran to her house, told her mother about the old man and they ran again so fast, to help him. Her mother tried to ask him his name. Meanwhile, Laila called the others. His name is Grandpa Rudi. He was in recovery time from his heart attack, weeks ago. Laila cried. She just felt so sad about Grandpa injured. His face was bleeding. Laila gave her mom a bottle of water to wash the sand and blood from his face. He said thank you to Laila and her mom.

Laila became famous in her school and in her neighborhood. Local newspaper made a news about her kindness. The title is “Laila, A Lovely Girl with An Awesome Heart”. All people talked about her. The government heard this great news. They came to her school to give an invitation for her.

The next morning, Laila, her mother and her teachers came to the government office to attend the meeting. She felt nervous and happy. They asked Laila about Grandpa Rudi. She told the story, humbly. “What is your dream, Laila?”, asked the governer. Laila answered, “I want to be a famous ballerina”. Her mother says, “Laila...we just talked about this, sweetheart.”

“I’m sorry Mama”, Laila said. The governer smiles and says, “Reach your dream, Laila. Start from today, you will have scholarship from us to make your dream comes true. Study hard, stay humble and always be the lovely Laila”.

She yelled joyfully, cried and hugged her mama. She said thank you many times to the governer and also her teachers. Her dream will come true. She just remembered her daddy, he will be proud of her. Laila went home, happily. She thanked God for all this blessing. Just pursue your dream. Nothing is impossible.