ZEITGEIST 2 FINAL

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p.10 A LITERARY MAGAZINE Friday, April 27, 2018 Short Stories pulling? Choosing to believe the former, she decided to head toward the petal. Even if her assumption ended up being false, she wanted to know what that object was. Perhaps what she discovered would end up not being a petal at all, but something else, maybe a clue for some bigger picture, a message from the unknown. Or maybe not, maybe her eyes just deceived her, and this trip would hold nothing of importance at the end. She chose to ignore these doubts, and began to push. The sunflower was pushing urgently along the counter’s surface. Walking turned to running which turned to hopping, the excitement strengthened her roots as if they had never weakened in the first place. After what felt like a short while, she finally arrived at her destination. Nearing the object, she was now able to view it more accurately. She determined it was indeed a flower petal… but the shape was all wrong. Her own petals were short and thin, only widening a bit in the middle. This one was much longer, and was significantly wider at the bottom, getting thinner as it neared the tip. It was also much darker than she thought it would be, almost as black as its shadow. It turned out the petal was covered in ash, charred across most of its originally white surface. There was a faint smell of smoke emanating from it, so she concluded that the petal had obviously been burned, but it must have been a while ago. But how? The sunflower was eager to know. Where did this petal come from? Why did it arrive at my doorstep? Was it a message from a distant cousin, asking for my help? A moment later, another wind came whistling, and the burned petal was once again lifted into the wind, and soon it was gone. The sunflower lifted her head to watch it fly away, disappointed that she will never get any answers to her questions. It is then and there when she noticed the light around her was now brighter than before. A quick glance up at the sky and her body froze. She had spent too much time in awe of the petal, and now found herself standing on the opposite edge of the counter, as far away as possible from the wall, and the Gazer was regaining his sight. She pushed herself forward without a moment of thought, and ran for her life. She jumped and slid across the counter and through the air. Her roots felt as if they were near bursting, but she resolved not to pay it any mind. Her speed was extraordinary, her terror unthinkable. She carried on like this until the wall was a couple hops away. The darkness entered her line of sight, and she waited to welcome it like a long lost friend. But before she was able to, a sudden heat froze her; she looked up, unpremeditated. The Gazer was staring. He had never stared before, at anything, as if he was always searching, yet never finding. His pupil was engulfed in a raging fire, flames erupting from its center. Indeed, he was focused on something, something he finally found worthy of giving his undivided attention. And the object of his fascination: a lone sunflower, terrified.
Friday, April 27, 2018 A LITERARY MAGAZINE p.11 Short Stories She jerked herself from his freezing stare and took off again. She was zooming through the heat, but soon found herself unable to ignore the pain that was in her roots, since there was now pain entering from other places as well, and it was hard to ignore everything. “no, No, NO” is all that went through her head as the wall before her started getting farther and farther away. She felt something pinch her stem, strengthening its little grasp more, and more, and more. A gray cloud invaded her view. She allowed herself to think, “where’s that coming from?”, but didn’t make an effort to investigate. She then felt something pierce her leaves and was now forced to notice that two of them were puffing out fumes; “Oh,” she realized, “it’s me”. Never had the darkness seemed so welcoming. She was now safe behind her wall, the pain surging through her veins ceased to matter. She looked around her and decided she would die another day, in the confines of this room, fading to gray until all her petals dropped and nothing remained but a wrinkled stem. It was a nice way to go, free from strife. She let herself smile. Time seemed to stand still. The wind blew again, a cool breeze filled the air. Then the sky yelled: a short, piercing BOOM, and the house lit up in flames. The wooden floors spread them everywhere: the long seat and the short ones, the black box, everything else, it was all becoming ash. The sunflower remained frozen in time, trying its hardest not to melt. Heat rushed into the air, trapping itself inside the house as if to say, “This is all mine now.” She was once again forced out her trance by the smell of smoke. It was her leaves again, and some of her petals. But what could she do? What could she had ever done? She peeked her head through the side of the wall and looked up. The Gazer was staring directly at her; he was now squinting, his pupil brighter than she had ever seen. She turned away and back at the house, the color orange surrounded her. She did not want to see any more flames, so she chose not to see at all. Her last thoughts were of the Protector, and how unconcerned it had seemed with leaving her behind. - Pablo Rubín (11) Art by Alexandra Díaz (12)
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ZEITGEIST 2 FINAL

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