Here's the first chapter! Enjoy! :D
A Field Of Sunflowers
Chapter 1
Alana’s P.O.V.
Looking back to before I moved to the city holds so many precious memories of my childhood and early teenage years. I used to think I was trapped to the place I used to live but now that perspective has done a one eighty. I could never quite figure out why my parents insisted on raising my brother and me on a little farm by a sunflower field and a major highway that snaked its way in and out of the countryside. Why did they want us to grow up there and be home schooled compared to going to school in the nearby city? It’s not like we were going to become some kind of addicts or be arrested for grand theft auto. Either way I wish we would have gotten a taste of the city before being shoved right up to the middle of it when entering college. I had been to the city a lot before but actually living in the city would have been helpful, especially when learning to tolerate the noise.
Don’t get me wrong; I loved life on the farm and surrounding myself with nature each and everyday. I remember my poor mother having to make those early morning and late afternoon trips from work during the weekdays. That poor woman would always come home so tired afterwards we would never see her on the weekends because she would be catching up on her sleep most of the time. Unlike her, my father lived and breathed the outdoors. He thrived on working on his farm and getting up early to do the majority of his work before coming in at noon for lunch. Luckily we would be in the other room with our neighbor, or teacher, since we were home schooled so we wouldn’t be in his way.
My brother was quite older than me and was first in line for the shove into college. He, surprisingly to my parents, managed to get by pretty well according to his grades so that gave me hope that I would follow. Then not too long after he met a girl and fell so far for her that he transferred to a different university across the country. We would see him at holidays when the family came together but that was pretty much it. Now he is newly married and settling down somewhere by the neighborhood she lived in previously before.
Around that same time when he got married I was about sixteen going on seventeen. I was enjoying the time I had left before I suffered the same college fate my brother once had. I was somewhat excited and afraid all meshed together. Ever since I was a little girl I loved to run up and down the sunflower fields when I could. Even when I was dressed up for something in a little lacey dress my mother insisted I wear or anything else I would always find a way to get to those sunflowers. I had never grown out of that and never wanted to.
I remember one particular day was a small but large twist in that routine. The sunflowers in the field were extraordinary. They were extremely beautiful and rich in color and there was an innumerable amount, it seemed like they never ended while looking across the field. I couldn’t help but grab my camera while heading out the door so I could snap some pictures while I was out and about. I made my way from the house to the field in no time and instantly whipped the camera out. I walked the perimeter of the field and found every single shot was a newly crowned favorite of mine. After a few more minutes I strolled over to my neighbor’s house to see what my best friend was up to.
Living out in the country and being home schooled kind of limited my amount of friends and the chances to make new friends. Luckily, my neighbor was around my age and from the first day we met each other, even if we were younger than the age of five, we were going to be the best of friends. I remember my parents always telling Julia and I the story of how after we moved in a Julia’s parents moved in right next door a few years later, well, not exactly right next door seeing we both lived on a few acres of land. Apparently, my mom was pregnant with me when they came along and then a few years after I came along here came Julia, my best friend. We’d always be set up on play dates or, in other words, an excuse for our mothers to brag about their children to each other and our dads could discuss farming to an extent where it was ridiculous. From then on, Julia and I did everything together, and when I say everything I mean everything right down to the detail. You’d basically assume we were sisters separated at birth.
After I got to her house she came out with a big bright smile on her face as always and we made our way back out to the field just to catch up on things. As we left I could see her parents waving hello to me from the window. We talked about music, our favorite television shows, and everything in between as usual as we stomped through the tall grass. We both shared my camera taking pictures from all ends of the field, I walked to one side and Julia went to the other. It was so beautiful that day, the clouds were extra white and the sky was extra blue. It seemed like you could only see this kind of day drawn or painted in masterpieces.
I found the perfect shot nearby the road and I angled my camera just right. Looking through the lense, I snapped the shot and admired it on the digital screen. Before my brother went to college, he taught me so much about photography. It was his passion but I adapted it more as a hobby. With that shot he would have been proud as far as I was concerned.
“Um, excuse me?” a quiet voice called behind me.
I whipped around so fast I could have split air molecules in two. Sadly, as I did that I turned right into a pointy leaf that went straight in my eye. My hands instantly went to my face and I rubbed my eye until I could somewhat see.
“Oh, are you okay?”
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I saw the image of a blurry face going clear as my sight returned to normal. I found the voice belonged to a guy about my age, maybe a little older. He had short, curly brown hair and the most amazing eyes I had ever seen. I could have gotten lost in them if it wasn’t for the throbs of pain in my eye bringing me back to reality. He had on a t-shirt with an interesting design and old blue jeans along with old Vans. I managed to find words to speak with after deciding he wasn’t a creep roaming around.
“Yeah, I’m fine, thank you. There’s nothing like poking out your eye,” I said with a chuckle.
“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he apologized still with concern on his face.
I smiled in reassurance, “No, it’s alright, everything’s okay.”
He seemed to be pretty nice, and pretty gorgeous the more I looked at him. Surprisingly, he didn’t act like the other guys I knew. He was such a gentleman, even in those few minutes of meeting him. I guess it was just something that came within the first impression of him. Then, I heard him clear his throat.
“So, the reason I bothered you is, well,” he scratched his head, “my car broke down on the highway and I forgot my cell phone. Is there anyway you can show me the nearest phone or gas station so I can call someone?” he asked.
I nodded, “Yeah, I’d be happy to let you use my cell phone.” I reached in my pocket and I found I had left my phone at home.
“Oh, I left it at my house. You can go with me to get it, I live right over there. You could even just use the house phone if you prefer,” I told him. I know it wasn’t really a good idea to bring a stranger I met in a sunflower field to my house within the first ten minutes of meeting him but he seemed a little desperate.
He smiled and nodded, “Thank you so much, you saved me from a long trek down the shoulder of the highway. That wouldn’t have been fun at all.”
I started walking and he reluctantly followed me. “Sure, it’s no problem at all,” I called back to him.
Making my way back through the grass we didn’t talk at all. I was too deep in thought wondering how he could have possibly ended up here, in the middle of nowhere. I’m pretty sure that was what Julia was thinking when she turned the corner to see the two of us walking her way.
Comments are quite lovely.. :D:D
