My name is Orange. I am the tiniest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch nicknamed "Golden Fields" by the people who have been coming and going through this autumn season. I have yet to get picked by the people who come by to buy my friends and family to take them home, which is a good thing.
I have heard horror stories about these homes... We all know that they get to the humans' homes and killed in gruesome ways... Such as getting turned into pies or getting scooped and carved into. It's terrible. So we all try to hide under our leaves so we don't get picked and brought to these torturous places. And these aren't just rumors too. Our farmer man advertises our doom everywhere on little posters and gives out his special pumpkin pie recipes to anyone who asks for them and sells pumpkin torture devices.
Luckily for me, I am so tiny, that no one has found me yet! The only people that have found me said I was too small for their pies and moved on to bigger pumpkins. Hopefully I'll stick it out like this until the first snow. Once the first snow comes, the remaining pumpkins get to live out the rest of their life in peace.
I've always wanted to see snow! It sounds so beautiful! Like white crystals falling from the sky and covering you like a soft, powdery blanket!
Something the humans don't know, is when we're attached to our plant, we can walk short distances until our vine breaks. If your vine is broken, you are unfortunately stuck in place forever. We can also move some of the vines on our plant and they're strong enough to pick up small things. Since we can pick up and throw pebbles, we like to use this to our advantage and throw pebbles behind children to distract them from coming closer to us.
I've spent many days with my friends who grew on nearby plants, until one by one, they slowly disappeared. I miss them, but at least now I have Plep.
Plep is my younger sibling. They grew from the same plant as I, which is nice because I'm lonely, but they've grown a lot bigger than me. Unfortunately, Plep is now risking my safety by being so big and bright... I have to dispose of them somehow...
Farmer man doesn't sell us on what they call "Sundays" which is every 7 days, but people are still welcome to check out the fields. Today is one of those days of sun and many people have already inspected my plant because Plep attracts the humans' eyes. I begged Plep to hide under the leaves, but they like the feeling of the warm sun on these chilly days and the leaves' shadows are too cold to them. This is bad... This area... This PLANT... Plep's drawing too much attention...
Nighttime came. Tomorrow, people will be back here to fight over Plep. Not a big deal except... Once someone takes Plep, the other humans will be inspecting my plant closely to try and see if they're under the leaves or something... I'm sorry Plep...
I extend one of my vines and pick up a sharp pebble. Plep likes to go to bed early because they're so big and use up a lot of energy soaking up nutrients from the plant, so they're already asleep. I silently cut Plep's vine so they are now no longer part of the plant. I then thrust the pebble into Plep's side numerous times and carve out a large hole. Plep's pulp falls out in small chunks. If pumpkins had voiceboxes, Plep would be screaming in pain and horror right now, but instead I see Plep tremble a bit. Many hours later, Plep's exposed innards begin to rot attracting many early morning bugs and a bird or two to them. They tremble and tremble as the bugs eat their soft pulp until finally... They stop. Plep is dead.
Soon after Plep's unfortunate demise, people arrive to Golden Fields, specifically the ones looking for Plep. After seeing Plep's horrific state, they cringe and move on. I'm safe... Plep finally decomposes and is gone forever.
Weeks pass by. I'm safe. The air is chilly, my plant is withering, pumpkin selling is over. I get to die peacefully. I feel bad for murdering my sibling like that weeks earlier, but I refuse to die by becoming a decoration or food to these disgusting humans...
Suddenly, I see farmer man walking the fields collecting pumpkins in a wagon that he pulls behind him. What? What's happening? He pulls up my plant and promptly tosses it aside before picking me up and dropping me into the wagon with the remaining pumpkin survivors. All of us are trembling from confusion and the wagon going over bumps.
After what feels like hours of getting comrades dumped on my head and going over many bumps, we finally come to a stop. Slowly, one pumpkin at a time, light finally reaches me. I'm so low that I still don't know what's happening though. Eventually, farmer man's hand reaches down and picks me up. I'm confused as to what's happening until I feel something stab into me. I suddenly notice the pumpkins that went before me. Some, the smaller pumpkins, are in one pile with holes in them, and others are in a different pile that have no holes but are trembling all the same. Farmer man shoves one of his pumpkin torture devices into my underside and cuts a decently sized hole. I tremble and tremble, but I know he can't feel it over the shaking from his movements of making the hole. Pain pain pain pain....
I get set on top of the other pumpkins with holes. Most of my innards have been removed through the hole in my bottom, but I'm still alive. Hopefully he'll return us to the field soon... I miss the soft, tilled dirt and the warm sunlight that peers through my leaves every morning. I miss the feeling of an occasional weed trying to crowd my plant and the satisfying release when I use a vine to pull it up and out of my space.
I don't know how many days it's been, but I haven't seen the sun in too long. My stored energy from the now dead plant I grew from is fading quickly, especially now that I had most of it ripped out of me. I just want to die in peace...
Farmer man is back. He's putting us back in the wagon. Finally. Maybe we'll die happy now. He brings wagon outside. It's cold. Sky cloudy. When will it snow? Are we going to field? No. We stay in wagon. At least we outside now. Many of pumpkins in wagon dies. I going to die soon. Tired. Tired. Want to feel dirt one last time before die though.
Days pass. Tired. Humans here. They look at us. Some get picked up. Strange thunking noises. Yells of humans. Tired. I get picked up. Human warm. Pumpkin remains all over ground. Scared. I want back. Back to plant. I miss friends. I miss Plep. I'm sorry Plep. I regret. Human throws me. I go far and high. I see my field. I see my plot I grew in. I know this is it. Hit ground. THUD. Ow. Pain. Pain... I feel ground... Cool... Soft... Dirt... Warm... Sunlight... Tired... Pain... I'm shattered... My remains... Everywhere... I so tired... Goodbye.......
As the annual Golden Fields Pumpkin Chunkin' game comes to a close, people begin rushing to their cars as the air becomes colder and the overcast becomes heavier. The fields are eerily empty and quiet once everyone is gone. The fields, usually filled with beautiful colours of gold from hay, orange from pumpkins, green and red from the apple trees, are now brown and grey from the dead plants, course, malnutritioned dirt, and leafless trees. Although, there is some colour left. Orange splatters the field from the Pumpkin Chunkin' and is the only remains that there was once a great pumpkin field here. At the far side of the field lays remains of a pumpkin smashed to pieces. That was Orange. The littlest pumpkin. Slowly, the remains begin to get covered up by a white crystals as the autumn experiences it's first snowfall, covering the field like a soft, powdery blanket.
The end.
