Dewdrops splatter across my skin as I slowly open my eyes and am greeted by the dark indigo sky.

 

Pain begins to radiate from my hips and ribs. I am lying down on moist dirt.

 

Horror takes over when I realize I am naked. My clothes are gone. I am alone. Before my mind begins to spiral, I hear a loud hoot coming from a nearby tree. I look up, frazzled by the sudden realization that I am not alone. I brush my curly hair from my eyes and make eye contact with a bird... an owl. The vibrant, sunflower-colored eyes stare back at me in silence.

 

I blink several times, remembering that I am naked and cold. "What happened to me?" I ask, curling myself into a ball. I let the question hang in the quiet night, trying to recall how I ended up here.

 

"You wandered here during the late hours of the night. You were with someone, but they left before dawn."

 

My heart stops. Did the owl just speak? This cannot be real. Owls don't speak. They hoot or sometimes screech. As much as I want to run away, I feel trapped here. I am vulnerable.

 

"You can speak?" I ask.

 

"Everything on Mother Earth can speak; you just need to listen."

 

In that moment, everything comes crashing down. The last word of that sentence rings in my head, and I remember hearing his final words, "...listen to me!"

 

His amber eyes burn brightly in my mind. His pale skin. His ink-covered arms. His dark hair, unruly yet perfect. I was with Thomas last night. It hits me like an angry tidal wave during hurricane season. One simple word triggered the memories I was desperately trying to remember. Now, I wish I could forget them all.

 

Last night was supposed to be special. We were going to watch the meteor shower.

 

Once night came, he grabbed my hand, and we ran into the forest. I still remember feeling his cold fingers entwined with mine as he led the way. We ran deep into the forest. I was growing tired, but the adrenaline of being with him pushed the thoughts of exhaustion away.

 

We reached an isolated spot in the forest and came to a sudden stop. He turned to face me and said, "We're here." I playfully nudged his arm and said, "We can't see the sky from here. The trees are blocking the view!"

 

His kind and warm eyes grew cold and distant. His smile became one of a Cheshire cat. My own smile disappeared. Before I could comprehend what was happening, I was overcome by a cloud of darkness, pain, and the words, "...don't move and listen to me!"

 

I never saw a single meteor.

 

A night that was supposed to be filled with bright streaks of light and wonder was instead filled with a darkness that was never meant to be seen by humans.

 

He took what he wanted and left.

 

The memory slowly fades, and I blink back to reality. I cry until my throat is raw. The familiar ache settles into my bones.

 

"I don't want to feel anything anymore. I want to feel nothing. I want to be like him. Heartless." I whisper as the stream of tears dries on my cheeks.

 

"Is that truly what you want?" The owl questions with doubt, but curiosity.

 

I sigh with annoyance. "Yes, I don't want to feel pain anymore."

 

The owl is silent for a moment. "I can make that happen, but you must be sure that this is truly what you want."

 

My eyes widen, and my heart beats erratically in my chest. "Yes! That is what I want!"

 

The owl hoots loudly. Twice.

 

My world goes black seconds later.

 

Suddenly, my eyes open, and I can see the sun shining brightly in the pale blue sky. I feel the warmth of the sun hitting every inch of my body. Night is finally over.

 

Peace is quickly replaced with panic. I cannot feel my body. I cannot move. I feel paralyzed. I realize then that I am a few feet off the ground, and my body is growing significantly warmer.

 

I am in a cornfield. It is my neighbor's cornfield. I practically grew up here with my best friend, the farmer's son. Although best friend feels like an inadequate title considering the feelings I harbor for him. I have buried those feelings so deeply, I hardly know they are there anymore.

 

Hours pass. I try everything I can to move. I tried to scream and failed. I can't even blink.

 

I am a scarecrow.

 

Finally, when the sun has reached its peak, I hear voices coming from a distance. Yes, I think to myself, people who can help me!

 

The voices grow louder and clearer with every passing second. Finally, the voices accompany the faces in the field. An older man, my neighbor and the farmer of this field, talks excitedly to his son. When I see them, I try to move and scream, but I am nailed down to a wooden beam.

 

Accepting defeat, I simply listen.

 

"Look, son! Isn't this land beautiful? It will be yours one day. You can raise your own family here if you wish." Frank, the farmer, looks so happy. His smile reaches his eyes.

 

"Nothing would make me happier, dad. I would love to start a family, but..." My best friend, Atlas, trails off, looking dispirited.

 

Frank appears to understand his son's hesitation. "You still haven't told her?"

 

With a sigh, Atlas looks up toward the sky. "I've loved her my whole life, but the moment never seems right. I don't know if she feels the same way."

 

 

"It can be hard to tell someone you love them, but life is too short to ignore your heart. I know I'm an old man, and sometimes I talk nonsense, but I say this as a father who loves you. Tell Amalthea how you feel."

 

 

It feels like centuries pass before the sun begins to descend, and night falls.

 

A familiar hoot comes from one of the nearby corn stalks. The owl!

 

Hoping words can escape my mouth, I try to speak, "I need your help!"

 

"With what, my darling?" The owl asks kindly; his eyes shine like the moon above our heads.

 

Relieved I can speak again, the words come out as quickly as I can string them together. "I don't want to be a scarecrow anymore! I overheard my best friend confessing his love for me, and I couldn't respond! I remember when I was human, I felt something for him. My heart would flutter. I felt happy and safe with him. I don't feel anything now. I want to be human and experience those feelings again."

 

The owl shuffles on the cornstalk. "But this is what you wished for. You wished to feel nothing. You are a scarecrow. You are filled with hay, so you no longer have a heart. You cannot feel pain anymore. This is what you wanted, Amalthea."

 

If I could cry, I would. "I didn't want to feel pain."

 

The owl is patient as he explains, "You said you didn't want to feel anything. That means you don't feel pain or joy. Love or hate. Once you lose your heart, you feel nothing."

 

I stare at the milky moon. I realized then, "I didn't know living in Thomas's heartless world would be so miserable. Being detached comes at a price. I would rather suffer the pain of feeling than experience the hollowness of avoidance."

 

The owl swivels its head in different directions before answering, "If you wish to become human, I can transform you again. However, this is the final transformation I can conduct."

 

"Please make me human again."

 

I hear two hoots, and my world goes black once again.

 

I wake up surrounded by grass. My arms and legs ache. I put my hand on my chest and feel my calm, beating heart. The pain of the last two days weighs on me. My heart aches, and I smile. I can feel.

 

With a smile on my face, I get up and slowly walk toward the familiar red barn in my neighbor's beautiful field. As I reach for the doorknob, I hear a single hoot in the distance.

 

The End.