The Sunflower Field

The train stopped with a metallic screech.

It was a hot sweltering afternoon of mid march; the sky was clear blue, fields of yellow sunflower stretched as far as eyes could see from the train window. Jas sat up wriggling his eyes and blinking at the field of sparkling yellow sunflower. Afternoon stupor has set in and his fellow passengers were asleep.

Jas got up, stretching his arms and legs. Might as well take a breath of fresh air outside he thought. Jas climbed down from the train. The train has stopped in the middle of nowhere. Most of the people are asleep , their windows shut to keep out the afternoon sun. Jas had a strange feeling of being alone in this train, even though it was full of people. Suddenly the world seemed to be devoid of sound or movement. There is no wind, Jas thought, that is why this eerie silence.

He waved irritably at the dragon fly which had come from nowhere, flying in front of his face.

Jas looked at the sunflower field that lay before him, the flowers in full bloom facing up at the sun, all in a row. He stared at them. Suddenly he noticed a movement in the field. The plants in the first row in front of him began to move. Jas blinked. Maybe he was daydreaming. But surely, the plants could not have moved. But there it was, the plants had moved to create a small path through the field. Jas tapped his forehead, he was dreaming to be sure. Maybe the path was already there and he did not see it the first time. Curious, he walked towards the fields. There it was, a neat way amidst the sunflower field. He was tempted to go further into the fields.

But then he must be careful. He did not know how long the train will stop. Jas turned to looked at the train, it didn’t look like the train will start any time soon. May be he could take a short walk down the field, Jas thought. He started walking. The sunflower trees were quite tall, reaching 2 or 3 inches above his head. He kept on walking down the field pushing away the branches and stems with his hands. He began to sweat from the heat. Jas halted and looked behind. He had walked a good 15 mins. The train was still there. But, the path behind him was gone. Jas looked again carefully. The path through which he walked was not there anymore, but he could still see the path in front of him. But surely the plants couldn’t have moved. But where did the path go? Then how could it have disappeared.

Jas stood thinking. Suddenly, without warning, the train pulled forward. He started to panic. Then the train began to move slowly. Noooo, he said. He ran forward, waving his hands in the air. Stop. Stop.

But the wheels of the train has already started moving. He broke into a run now. But the sunflower stems were thick and strong. He began to use both his arms to push the stem and branches away. But it was difficult to run through the plants. Was the field so densely planted before? He thought suddenly. Were the trees so closely placed? The train had already started moving away. He began to push the trees wildly in all directions. But they were like a fortress of green. He began to move his arms wildly. The train quickly picked up speed and disappeared in the horizon. Jas stopped, panting with exhaustion and fatigue. Suddenly he realized that he was very tired.

Jas sat down to catch his breath. His heart was racing wildly. The trees began to loom over him, sunflowers looking down at him. Yes, looking down, he realized with horror, the sunflowers were looking down at him. Or maybe he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes. No, still the flowers were drooping down from the step facing him. He looked around him. There was an absolute silence. Not even a single fly buzzing in the air.

He moved to the right of were he was sitting. The flowers turned right, facing him. Suddenly he wanted to get out of the fields immediately.

Jas began to crouch on all fours trying to squeeze through the plants. But the foliage was denser below, leaves and thick hairy stem stalks grazed against him. No, it was impossible to get through the plants. He looked up again. The flowers were still looking down at him. The plants seem to crowd around him. He could hardly see the sky. His heart raced. He tried to stand up. But his legs began to shake with fear.

The heat was terrible. He began to wipe sweat off his face and brows. Jas had a sudden urge to lie down and close his eyes. Maybe this was all a bad dream. Maybe this was his imagination. Maybe he didn’t miss the train. Maybe he wasn’t there at all. He closed his eyes and opened it; he was still there. He pinched himself, no he was not dreaming. Or maybe that was also in the dream. His began to feel tired like he had never felt before. It was the heat, he thought, he was silly. He leaned against the plants and began to rest. Rest is what he needed now he thought to himself. His eyelids began to feel heavy. He tried to keep them open. The plants seem to come still closer. The flowers seem to grow bigger. He did not care anymore. He tried to push the foliage away, but his arms wouldn’t move. Something began sapping all his energy and his desire to move. Deep down, a voice within him was telling him to close his eyes and not to worry.

Maybe he should sleep. It was becoming hard to keep his eyes open. His vision was blurring. He thought he saw stems twine around his feet, his hands and his neck. But he did not feel anything so he just laid there. Then he gave up and closed his eyes. The last thing he saw was the trees moving closer, so close that he could see sunflower right in front of his eyes. He could smell them now the flowers were so close, he could see the brown whorls, the yellow petals. Strangely as they drew closer the flower petals appeared dark red. Everything was blurring out-of-focus fast.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep.