A Collection of Stories

Sunflower

The sun rose and shone upon me as I stood straighter to catch its bright rays. I extended my leaves and let the warmth reflect off my vibrant greens. It was a beautiful day. I watched the glorious orb fully reach the sky and illuminate everything around it. It was a sign of a new day. A light breeze ruffled the other plants around me and I too, swayed with it. My yellow petals threatened to fly away but by some miracle, they held on. Each day I stood taller, and each day my petals struggled to stay on.

I knew that I would only be this way for so long, before winter comes and I am forced to go away until spring came. For now I would just have to enjoy my time. A bee flew around the field, looking to pollen to take back to its hive. I loosed a couple of my own, hoping to catch the creatures attention. It caught the scent and flew to me, landing on my brown face. The little bee began collecting my pollen and my head felt lighter as it did so. It always felt nice to rid myself of the pollen that continuously built inside.

When the bee was done, he waved his little leg in goodbye and flew off in the direction he came from. To spread my pollen and make honey for his queen. Other than the occasional bee, my days were fairly uneventful. If I was lucky, sometimes a human would come by and examine my brothers, sisters, and I. I liked how they regarded us with awe, how we stood far above any other flower and looked strong, like an army of soldiers, braving whatever the world sent us. We knew they looked at our magnificence, our thick stems, large leaves, and grand flower buds.

Once in awhile a human will cut one of us down and take them away, causing our moods to sour. We mourn our lost one and think about them often, silently relieved it had not been us. The humans only seem to enjoy cutting us down when we are in our prime. They do not care when the very core of us are somewhere down in the ground, cold and waiting for the time when we would rise again. Each spring, I would be reborn in a new body, all the while my soul inhabiting a new form. Though no matter how many times I would be brought back, I will always remain a sunflower.