It was nearly noon, sun was smiling on my miniscule existence as I was enjoying my time in this vast garden. My hair was being blown by a cheerful wind breeze while I was lying on the warmed stone. It was such a beautiful day. Sometimes I wish for the time to stop here and let me stay here for the rest of the life. Unfortunately, as the clouds above my head flew away, my time disappears as well. Suddenly I hear couple of children, disrupting my thoughts and snatching away my attention to the nature. 'Hey guys, let's play a game here.'
'What game?'
'Like...hide and seek? This garden is big, it's gonna be fun!'
'But, there is only three of us, that's not gonna work.'
'Look there!' The smallest one pointed a finger on me. 'That guy is just chillin' there, I bet he will play with us.'
'Hey boy! Let's play some hide 'n seek!' I was pretending that I don't hear them. 'C'mon kid, don't make me go after ya.' Well I guess couple of games won't hurt me. I stand up and walk towards couple of boys in the same age as me. One last wind blew my hair as if it was trying to bid me farewell. 'Eh, hey...' I said awkwardly.
'So we'll be playing some hide and seek, y' know the rules?'
'Oh sure.' Other boys were carefully following all my movements, it was so intense that I felt their striking eyes piercing my body. 'So you'll search and we will hide, do you know how to count to hundred?'
Hundred? What a silly question. 'Yes, of course...'
'Great, count loudly, bud.'
As I started counting with my eyes closed everything suddenly felt so slow... There was no breeze, in front of me was only unmoving darkness and numbers that my mouth was shouting felt more like a drag. When I finally exclaimed 'one hundred' I put my hands out from my face, but I forgot about the sunlight, which in turn blinded me, so I stood there for another moment just to make sure that I will be able to see something. I remembered from where the sound of their steps had been coming from when they've been running away. It took me only couple of minutes until I found the first one. He was hiding behind a tree nearby to the place where I was counting. He couldn't hide himself so well behind those trees because of his fat body. 'Man, you're pretty good at this game huh?' he said to me. I was wondering what kind of answer he wanted me give. I mean it was quite clear that even people with bad sight are going to see him. He even wears a blue t-shirt, not exactly a natural colour in nature. He looked at his body 'I wasn't able to run away, it's just too exhausting...to run.'
'I see, well at least you tried.' We continued to walk across the field of flowers, back into the tree farm, when all of the other two boys were fighting each other in the middle of the path. They were laughing and it seems like they really didn't care that I found them. Good five minutes passed until they finally stopped fighting and one of them said that because I won so fast, now he will be searching and we will be hiding. I was wondering why they didn't hide at all. I just climbed on a tree that had a clear view on the place where the boy who became "it" was counting and on the field of flowers, which was in the middle of the garden. Perfect spot with a place where I can sit down and don't need to be afraid that I'll fall down. Some birds started singing in the middle of the day and a group of blue butterflies passed me, magically confusing my mind. Wind was moving through the treetops. Everything was on the move... again. A tall boy just passed by me and I started to feel a bit nervous, but he continued all the way to the field and completely ignored me up here. The obese one from before was lying in the field and when the tall one found him they started laughing so hard the birds flew away from the trees. Why are they filled with such a joy? They lost in the previous game but still it felt more like they are not even try to hide. A small centipede was eating a leaf, I wanted to touch its rough body, but the centipede rolled itself into a ball and fell down. A bug was stuck in the cobweb hanging on the other tree. Cross spider was probably preparing himself to have a snack as he was sitting in the corner of his web. The nature is so fascinating. I took a book from my pocket, Seifert's 'Farewell, Spring". As I kept reading, it seemed that my surroundings wants to communicate with me. The ants were crossing my body, birds flying above my head and I wished that nobody will disrupts me there.
The sun started to set and I was still sitting on the tree. I suddenly realized that they still haven't found me. A couple of hours must have passed, did they surrender or are they still searching for me? Suddenly I heard a child laugh, I knew it was them, I jumped down and started to walk in direction of their laugh. They were on the way to leave, telling each other jokes. And what about me? So they gave up? Why did they even wanted me to join them? They were seriously bad at this game so why did they even played it? Maybe they just wanted to have fun... Having fun huh? I'm having fun in the nature too, does it makes me a friend of nature if they are friends with each other? Well, one thing is certain. I was the only one who they have never been able to find...But was it because I was good at hiding? In the end I think it was because I've never wanted to be found.
7
