Chapter Text
It's bright. Too bright.
I'm standing in the middle of a sunflower field, the tall plants looming over my body. The sun hangs right above my head, casting almost no shadows other than drooping leaves and an oval shape where my body is supposed to be over. The only few paths are very tight, with yellowish overgrowth along the sides where feet haven't trampled.
I don't know where I am; it feels like I'm in the middle of nowhere. I can't see anything else other than sunflowers, the sky, and the pale, dry dirt. I call out for anyone, but only a breeze and a few overhead chirps respond. There's nothing else, so I decide to walk on the biggest path that I can find.
After what feels like ten minutes of walking, I come across another circular opening. This time, there's no paths other than the one connected to the path I took, and in the middle of the opening, there's a sign.
"YOUR MIND IS LIKE A SUNFLOWER."
What does that mean?
I stare at it for a few seconds, before I hurry down along the path. The weird thing is that the same exact circular opening appears again, almost identical, except for more droopy sunflowers and different text on the sign. I quickly shake my head and read the next text. At least I think there's text.
There's no text. Whatever. I decide to sit down and rest for a little while. I reach to pluck a sunflower off its stem, brushing off the disk flowers (the tiny flowers in the middle) and ripping the soft seeds out. Surprisingly, there are no bugs that crawl out, which is quite suspicious considering they like to feed on nectar. I throw the head back into the field and slowly stand up, my knees aching from walking so much.
It's so weird. I've passed the same opening about four times already, it's starting to get tiring.
But this time?
It's different.
As I approach the last opening, I feel an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Brushing the covering sunflower leaves, a bright light feels like it blinds me. There, I spot it.
The opening is much larger, spanning at least 20 feet in radius. The sunflowers aren't standing tall anymore; the heads are drooping downwards, as if the sun was never there to begin with. But in the middle of the field is the one object that I have wanted to gaze upon again for months. Her golden hinges shone in the sunlight, blinding my eyes as she slowly turned around to look at me.
I took a step forward. Then another. And another. Sooner or later, I was practically drifting towards her. But all of a sudden, her expression changed from curious to cautious. With that, the sky darkened from a sky blue to a bright orange sunset. I stopped for a moment. That was weird. The only time I've seen such a sudden change in the sun was during one of my season's episodes when I had my contestants make me dinner.
I didn't care. I just wanted to get to her. Hug her. Finally feel her wooden body under the sunflowers. I was overwhelmed with the hunger to embrace her again. By the time I was a few paces away from her feet, I was too late.
The sky had turned a deep blue, and an overwhelming shadow loomed over the field.
All of a sudden, she disappeared.
And then, I woke up.