Don't Eat Flowers

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Pink Sheep

I awoke this morning beyond shaken up after one of the worst nightmares I've ever had imaginable.

Within the dream, I was shrouded in darkness, as Jamie kept taunting me from the distance, her saying that Nami will just lose interest in me, and that Nami will just date Popuri instead. Jamie kept repeating this to me over and over again, and what's worse is she kept showing me visions of Nami and Popuri acting lovey-dovey as a couple together.

Over and over, she also kept firmly saying to me:

"You're not good enough."

"Just give up. No one would actually love you."

"Nami's gonna leave you."

Her voice echoed constantly and I covered my ears as I screamed for her to stop. My eyes were tightly shut and full of tears as I tried to ignore her words.

But her voice only stopped when I woke up.

I was out of breath, sweating, and just felt gross. I felt in a complete panic and my face was wet; probably while crying in my sleep due to the nightmare. For about one hour, I did my best to pull myself together and get all my farm work done, yet, I had to keep pausing during my work as I felt tears uncontrollably flow out of my eyes and it felt hard to even breathe. Anxiety and feelings of insecurity kept penetrating my heart ruthlessly.

Okay. I need to calm down and compose myself before I do anything else today.

I felt drawn to go outside into the field that was basically the backyard of my barn and I jumped over the fence. I decide to lie down on the grass, fully lying on my back. Luckily, I don't think I'll have to worry about any bugs crawling on me since it's Fall now... I took a deep breath and gazed upwards at some of the autumn leaves that were elegantly flowing in the wind, some were still a little green, but most were changing color now. It was a little colder out today compared to yesterday, but it still was pretty warm out.

I began to focus on my breathing and closed my eyes, doing my best to relax and meditate. I remained still. Without realizing though, I had drifted off to sleep.

...

- About thirty minutes later -

When I finally awoke, the first thing I saw was Nami's nonchalant face hovering above mine, her crouching over me. Seeing her took my breath away and for a second, I thought it was a dream. As soon as Nami noticed that I was awake, she fully stood up and put her hands in her pockets.

"Nami?" I said innocently, blushing at the very fact that she was even here.

"I was just making sure you didn't faint from exhaustion or something..." she muttered, her averting her gaze from mine.

"N-No, I was just trying to relax and meditate, but I guess I fell asleep..." I meekly informed her as I sat up a little a bit.

"Alright, well that's good..." Nami said quietly and she soon began to walk away somewhat quickly.

Puzzled, I watched her walk away in silence as I next stood up in the center of the field and let my thoughts roam a bit.

She always seems so distant, yet at the same time she seems to always be around and always keeps an eye on me... I feel like she's not the type to do that for most people. She seems concerned for me a lot... I don't want Nami to worry about me or stress her out constantly. I wonder... If she ever left the valley...would she still wonder how I'm doing? Would she still-

"It's here."

I basically got knocked out of my thoughts when I heard Takakura's voice. I jumped the fence and rushed around the corner to see Takakura standing there with my pink sheep that I had placed an order for last night!