It was exceedingly pleasant. The setting sun was so warm that it was tending my pale skin. My hands caressed the grass under my palms and I was able to feel the tiny water particles of the grasses brush against my toes too. The gentle evening breeze swirled around carrying the scent of the grasses with it and blew into my long black hair, which was tied back in a ponytail. I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent. I was able to hear the chirping happy sounds of the birds. I looked towards the sky and lay flat on my back in the grasses below. The orange shade was slowly creeping up on the sky. The color was so beautiful. Such a lovely evening it was.

"Cathy?" a voice startled me. "Can we leave now? It's about time," I was so deep in thoughts that I forgot we had other plans too.

"Just thirty more minutes, Angel," I replied looking at the brunette girl sitting on the lawn beside me.

"Thirty more minutes!? That was exactly what you said about half an hour ago. Come on, Cathy. Our plan will get ruined. We can't just spend our entire time in this wonderful Blake garden sitting under this gigantic . . . whatever tree it is," I sensed a spark of irritation in Angel's voice.

"A gigantic eucalyptus tree," I said.

"What?" Angel's brows furrowed.

"This tree," I pointed to the one behind me. "It's a eucalyptus tree."

"A eucalyptus tree?" she paused staring at me. "Actually, you know what. I don't want to know about it. All I care is that we can't sit under this tree forever."

"Actually, we can, you know," I smiled at her.

She let out a frustrated groan. "When will you learn about the fun in going to rides? At some point you'll lose your patience spending your entire time sitting idle under a tree. Oh, I forgot. You are the nature's person, right? But that doesn't mean you can ruin our plans. Now, get up and lets visit the rides," Angel got up in a haste and adjusted her blue crushed skirt.

I really didn't want to leave that place. It was so refreshing, both to my physical and my mental self. I loved staying like that.

Seeing that I did not get up, Lisa, who was quiet till now, spoke up in a kind voice, "Let's go, Cathy. If we have enough time later on, I promise you, we will come here again."

I thought for a minute. "Alright then, to the rides," I looked up at Lisa and stretched out my hand. Her pink lips broke into a little smile and she gave out her hand for me to take it.

"Is this for real? How come you never argue with her?" questioned Angel.

I smirked at her, "That's because she knows how to be sweet unlike you, Angel."

"Cathy!" Angel screamed but was shushed by Lisa.

"Guys, stop it already. Angel, you did say we must go to the rides, right? Then let's not waste our time fighting, okay?"

I smiled to myself. But Angel did not argue again. With a stern face, she started to walk forward.

It was always great to fight with Angel. She usually gives a good argument but at some point, she would lose to me. Lisa was a totally opposite person. She wouldn't involve herself in any of the fights and she would face any problem with such calmness. Those were my two best friends. Great contradicting characters they were. And I really loved spending time with them. But no matter how we fight, Angel always had my back. And she knew I had hers too. With a small smile curling in my lips, I followed them.

Suddenly, the calm breeze turned even calmer. The voices of all the children rushing towards the near-by ice cream shop zoomed out. Only the whooshing sound made by the trees against the calm breeze was heard. I closed my eyes and blocked my ears with my hands, doubting that something was wrong with them. But nothing changed. I was still not able to hear anything. I looked at my friends walking before me. They were speaking something hilarious because Angel was crunched over laughing madly, but I couldn't hear their talk.

Then something even weirder happened. My vision turned blurry. A new found fear crept in me. What is happening to me? Why can't I hear? I focused all my attention on my friends for I feared that the moment I took my eyesight off of them, I might lose my vision of them too. But after a second or two, the image of a blonde and a brunette walking in front of me started to fade too. A chill ran up to my spine. My heart was beating faster. I lost sense of what I must do.

Turning my head to all sides, I found that nothing was visible. I staggered back. Almost immediately, the breeze blew fiercely in a direction behind me. I turned around and found that I was able to see something. A row of red roses. I was seeing them. The Rose plants with its rich red color were visible in a distance.

What might be in there? Why am I not able to see anything but that? I have to know the reason. Something might be there. Curiosity took the better side of me and so, I took a step towards it.

"Cathy?" I heard someone's voice behind me.

I turned my head again to find the source of that voice. My eyes strained and Lisa's round face and her bright honey-colored eyes came into view. I was surprised that I let out a startled gasp. Then all at once, within a blink of my eyes, everything returned to normal. That's strange.

"What!? I thought you made up your mind to finally come away from that spot. But it seems to me that you just couldn't pull yourself away from there," Angel's loud voice reached my ears.

I was not able to process the things that were happening around me. Everything had returned back to normal, from the happy laughter of the children to the shrilling, loud voice of my friend. What had happened? Why was I not able to hear or see anything before? How did I now? I stood rooted to the ground.

"Cathy?" I heard Lisa's voice call out to me. Her words brought me out of my trance.

In the corner of my eyes, I spotted that bush of red roses maintained neatly. My mind ushered me to walk towards that bush and find out how I was able to see only those roses.

"Guys, can you wait for just five more minutes? I really want to check out those beautiful roses," I spoke out. My voice was filled with lot of confusion but I was determined to know what had happened. Above all, I felt that something was there.

"But . . ."

I interrupted Angel's words, "Please, just five minutes. I will not be gone for long."

Lisa said, "Okay, just make it quick."

"I will," I whispered and made a run towards the bush. In the distance, I could hear Angel's protests with Lisa for letting me go. I guessed Lisa must have figured out the confused look in my face.

It was really selfish of me to abandon my friends like that, but I really needed to know the answer to a question that was not yet known. All I knew is that something was wrong with me.

As soon as I neared it, I slowed my pace. The sight was so breath-taking. The bright red colors were a treat to my eyes. My eyes were darting over from one plant to the other. All of a sudden, a grief filled my heart. I did not know what it was but it was like experiencing some sort of mental pain. My eyes came to a stop at a small plantlet that had all its leaves withered away. The grief inside me intensified. A feeling of sadness engulfed me. I felt the need to caress that withered plant.

I bent down and reached out to soothe the plant with my hands. The moment my hands came in contact with it's leaf, a shiny bright green light emerged from my palms. Startled, I fell back. My heart was racing and I felt a sudden tinge of tiredness in me. I looked at my palm to find that it was shaking.

To my relief, no longer was a green light visible under my palms. With a confused look, I searched for that almost dead plant. I was shocked when my gaze fell upon the once withered plant. A new bud had bloomed from it. I couldn't stop myself from starting at that newly emerged bud. Only a minute ago, I had found that it was almost dead. But when I looked at it, it was fresh as new.

Not again. What is really happening? Why do I feel that something is not right? And why am I feeling so tired? What is wrong with me?

I sat there a solid fifteen seconds focusing all my attention only at that plant. But then I remembered something. My friends. I knew they would be waiting for me. And that I could not make them wait any longer. So, I rushed back towards the place I had last seen them.

They were standing by that ice cream shop I had noticed earlier and was eating their ice cream cones. Once they spotted me, they waved me to come over and bought me one cone too. I did not in the least like the idea of letting them in on what had happened. I had already taken a lot of their time away and I did not want them worrying over me. And so I pretended that nothing had happened, which was extremely difficult.

After we had our ice creams, we went straight to the rides. I let myself enjoy thoroughly. Finally, Angel was happy. But I on the other hand was constantly looking over my palms every ten minutes or so. When the sky had turned completely black, we made our way to our homes. Waving bye to each other, we parted ways to our own homes. I felt really tired. Never in my life had I been completely exhausted.

And so, when I reached home, I did not converse with anyone in home. Climbing the stairs to the first floor, I opened my room and crushed down in my bed and I knew that at once, I had slept.

But suddenly, I was woken up with sweaty hands only to find that I was still in bed and it was still dark outside. The power was off and the room had become so suffocating. I climbed out of my bed and went near the windows to open them.

On the window sill, I had one of my favorites – a Daffodil plant in a small pot. That plant made me remember the Rose plant from the garden before. Immediately I felt a shiver run through me. I tried to shake off that feeling and peeped out of the wind. The stars above were very beautiful and lots of constellations were visible. I was able to spot Orion. But then I realized that it was not a windy night. I felt frustrated. I just wished that the trees would move to and fro and bring at least a gentle breeze.

As I was thinking that, I half-consciously was waving my hands too. To my surprise, I found that my potted plant was moving the exact way as I was moving my hands. I abruptly stopped waving my hands and rubbed my eyes. When I opened my eyes, the potted plant was still, not showing any kind of movement.

Then I realized that my sleepy mind had started to play tricks on itself. With a confused mind I hopped back to my bed, closed my face with the blanket and fell asleep.