Endless Field of Flowers

What time is it? I must overslept. Didn’t I leave the blinds closed?
I slowly opened my eyes and saw the blue sky. Gentle white clouds flying slowly in a background of pure, light blue. Where was the ceiling? Where was my bed? Why was I laying down in a field of wildflowers? I must certainly still be sleeping and this is just a dream. Yes, it must be.
I sat and looked around, all I could see was flowers of every possible color. Some were white as snow, others of a delicate pink and a lot of oranges and yellows completed the bunch. I was in a living painting of some artistic genius, perhaps exposed in an art gallery downtown.
Achoo.
Was it possible that even in my dreams I was allergic to pollen? I decided to stand up, putting my nose as far as possible from those miserable, wretched flowers.
Achoo.
Needed to get away from there quick. Walked and walked through the endless field of wildflowers, but all I could see was more flowers.
Achoo.
Looking to the horizon, the little colored dots in the distance told me I was in hell. A place of the condemned made of fragrant, exquisite petals that made my nose turn red and my chest hurt from so much sneezing. Some bees and butterflies appeared from time to time, but I couldn’t see anyone. I felt like a man in the desert, lost, tired and despairing for water. In my case I didn’t want water, I just needed to get out of there.
My eyes became red and my vision a watery blur. I walked for hours and the landscape didn’t change a bit. Flowers and more flowers. It was ridiculous and driving me insane. I screamed and kicked all the flowers around me. I cursed them and it almost felt as if they were laughing at me. My body was hot with fever and I couldn’t stand anymore.
I should be in my bed. What was this place? What was I doing here?
I guess that’s when I fainted because all went black.
When I came to my senses all I could wish was to finally be in my bed. That would mean it had all been a huge nightmare and my life was in order. But the whispering and the slight movements around me hinted that it was not the case.
I slowly opened my eyes. This time I had a roof over my head. In fact, I could almost touch the roof with the tip of my nose.
Oh no. Maybe I was in a coffin? Would I have been buried alive?
As I slowly turned my head to the side, some little people looked at me with amazement. My movement disturbed some that started running away, others held each other frightened. They looked like Elves taken from some children’s book. Although cute, with their little legs and little arms, they didn’t look pleased. I tried to move the rest of my body and they all yelled at me to stop. So, I stopped.
I started to feel something climbing to my hand, then my arm. I couldn’t move my head to see what it was because the roof was so low I would hit my head in it. It felt as if a heavy ant was moving up my body. When he came closer I could see a less than 3 inch man,with small feet and small hands. He was slender and dressed all in brown. He had hairy eyebrows and a serious and scowling face. He just sat right on my nose.
“My name is Aubree and I’m the Mayor. Who are you?” he asked.
“My name is James. Where am I?”
“You’re in a place where you shouldn’t be,” said the little man with an angry face.
“Well, I totally agree with you on that. I should be on my bed. But since I’m not, could you kindly tell me where I am?”
“No. You are going to be punished by death for infringing our rules. The law says “The one that hits a flower with the intent of harming her, will also be hit until death.” That’s what the law states and the law is the law” Mayor Aubree declared with all is rigor and authority. He was not only addressing me, but giving a speech to all others that stood around at a safe distance from my body.
“I’m not entitled of a trial? You know, I’m not from here and I don’t know your laws. Besides in my defense, I have to say the flowers harmed me first,” I said a little puzzled for trying to defend myself from what could be considered an army of peanuts.
“And how did the flowers done you any harm? Never in all history of the Ifanore Realm have I heard such nonsense,” said the Aubree in a mocking tone. “No one has ever been harmed by a flower, they are the most peaceful beings on this Realm.”
“Well, I can see no one here is allergic to them, but I am,” I answered.
“Allergic? What is that? Some kind of plague?”
At least he was curious. I couldn’t tell why I would not sweep all those tiny people with my arms and just go out of there. Instead, I continued my defense in what was the weirdest trial ever seen. The defendant laid on the floor, belly up, while the judge was on the top of his nose, sitting there as if it was his throne.
“Yes, allergic, they make me sneeze, cry, gave me the fever, headache and red eyes. Can I go home now?”
I was really hoping to see my bed soon, but my gut was telling me it wouldn’t be that easy.
“And where is your home?” the small man asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot on my nose. It felt as if I was tapping with a pencil on my nose, thing I usually do when I’m writing an assignment and have no idea what to say next. That thought almost made me start laughing, but I was able to control it. The last thing I wanted was to aggravate those tiny people even more.
“Well, my home is on number 57 of Rose Street. Can you take me there?”
“We don’t have a Rose Street, only a Rose Avenue and there’s no 57 there,” the tiny judge said, shaking his head. He then got down from my nose to go talk to someone who was standing on the floor near my right arm.
I couldn’t hear a single word of the conversation, so I waited. I was starting to feel my body getting dormant, which meant I had to change position. If I did that it would lead to more screaming and panic, the space around was really tight and there was a chance that I could crush someone in the process.
The man got back on my nose and I whispered, “I really need to move my body.”
“Well, now it’s not a good time for that. We are going to take you outside for your trial. You can’t move an inch, do you hear me?”
I couldn’t believe I was actually scared by that little person, but the tone he used to menace me made me shiver, I had this feeling he would really not hesitate in killing me. My body started lifting from the floor and moving at an excruciatingly slow pace. I felt as if floating, but underneath me a lot of tiny hands were lifting my body. They were not as weak as one could think. My head went through a tiny door and my shoulders scratched at the wood on the sides, a little bit of more shoulder training at the gym and I would be stuck there. I was happy to see the blue sky again, the house where they had imprisoned me was too narrow for me to breath. Breath… Oh, no. I looked horrified to my left side, I was back at the endless field of wildflowers.
Aubree climbed again to my nose. “So James, how did these flowers harm you in any way? Look at them, so peaceful, so colorful, so -”
Achoo.
I sneezed making the Mayor jump to the ground.
“Are you okay?” I asked, trying to see where he had landed. He reappeared limping and trying to make himself loose of the petals and leaves that were stuck with him.
“Your sentence is going to be given,” he declared with his little finger pointing at the sky, “I declare you guilty of hitting those flowers, but since it was self defense I condemn you to go back home.”
I was so glad to be condemned to go back home again. But how was I going to do that if as it seemed I was in a different Realm?
Something smashed into my head, making me faint again. I don’t know for how long I lost my senses, but when I tried to open my eyes, my head hurt as if I was with a hangover. What I saw filled me with happiness, the white walls of my bedroom, the soft touch of my sheets and…
Achoo.
Some petals still clinging to my hair and a huge bump on my forehead. I couldn’t understand what happened, but I had physical and painful evidences that it had not been a dream.