A lazy breeze loiters around the banks of the gurgling brook as it ripples across the grass field, reflecting the late-summer sun. The green grass carpets the entire valley... wait... not quite entirely.... There is a little plant by the stream... and there’s this small bud... a tiny speck of yellow in the ocean of green.... oh, it’s a sunflower, and its opening up... gradually... petal by petal... unfurling a glorious splash of colour in the monotonously green valley-side...
The Sunflower sways lightly in the breeze... its petals straighten a little.... and effortlessly imperceptibly, it now stands facing the sun.... taking in its warmth.... the feeling of being born....
There’s a rustle nearby..... someone’s walking down the hillside... a swishing red skirt... the muffled sobs... tears.... she wipes them on her sleeve... a soft whisper... is she talking to the river ??
“ You remember me, don’t you ?? you knew him too... we used to come here together, always... it was here that our love blossomed... day by day... moment by moment.... that feeling of inexplicable bliss... how foolish I was to believe it would last forever.... and how foolish I am to keep thinking he’ll return....”
She restrains herself from succumbing to that urge to cry her heart out........
There's a faint rustle..... she looks up.... the sunflower is swaying lightly... she twists her fingers around the stem... and in one tug... she has the sunflower... dead.. but not destroyed, it still looks like it could be faintly smiling...
She plucks a petal “he loves me”... then another “he loves me not”....
“he loves me”.... “he loves me not”.........................
The last petal...................................... “he loves me not”...
The sunflower is nowhere to be seen... but there is something bright like sunshine, floating down with the river.... sunflower ??
Far away... there’s a faint outline of a red swishing skirt... walking into the evening....
Her entire life seemed to have been given to that pretty flower...
And as the night descends... there is none to witness this silent death.... of the Sunflower..... this silent murder of her dreams, her faith.... this devastation of two lives....
