Oh,the tricks of the afternoon sun.

Playing it's tricks, poking rays of fun.

But your eyes make it stop and the afternoon seems like forever.

 That would be what's different here,  not bad nor better.

Imagine a world where time seemed like it stood still, all clocks on 5:30 and the skies are ranging gold to vermillion –and whatever that color is- like the sky on a setting sun's glory. Silly, isn't it? How strange would it be? And that's exactly the case here in Lemmington. There was never a night, there was never a blue sky of day (at least since time stopped.) Now, the sun lies on the horizon... half awake and half asleep.

"Emmett! Get DOWN here! You have to eat supper!" A woman yells from below this two-story home. In her yellow apron where her glistening black hair rests upon, She prepares for a typical afternoon. She was cooking another slice of ham for the next afternoon which will be in about a few minutes later.

"And since when did we have supper, mom? A few hours ago!" Emmett replies while he walks down the stairs. In his brown jacket with white shirt under, he walks down in a dull tone of boredom. It surely didn't look like he was tired of his games, the little video game console was never that boring.

"What are you trying to get on with? JUST START MUNCHING ON THAT HAM!" and boy I'm glad she's not my mom because that bellow could have made time move again. As Timothy, Emmett's brother-in-law, is munching on THAT ham, Emmett is busy fondling the food with a fork.

Timothy was a thin, frail kid but he eats like there is no tomorrow. Somehow, he never gained a gram higher than 3 years ago. "Whath makesh you sho shadth?" There he goes again, talking while he eats...

"I'm not sad. I'm just tired." Emmett says in reply. "Why?" Timothy asks. Emmett was silently looking at his plate. 

"It just doesn't look good if you were that sad with a sulk on your face." Timothy says right away. He resumes eating right away. They just had an afternoon meal everyday... 

"Every few minutes" Emmett thought to himself.

"Um... Timothy? What's your dream?" He asks.

Timothy glances and swallows, "My dream?" He blinked a couple of times. "Wow, I never thought you were this deep. I always thought you were kind of shallow in thought. I want to be a goat-racer!" Oh boy, I thought he was going to say something interesting.

"My dream," Emmett says as Timothy resumes his fast forward food frenzy, "I want to be free. I'm so tired of all these same afternoons. They keep on going on the same! I'm tired!"

Timothy miraculously stopped munching... and swallowed of course. "Of this cycle? Like supper then play then supper and..."

"YES!" Emmett blurted. It was great that his mother didn't hear it, She might let another behemoth-like shriek of madness.

"Well... why don't you leave? Mom won't notice and I don't care. You're my brother you know, I care about what you want to do and... oh..." When Timothy glanced... He wasn't there anymore. He left Timothy hanging...

"Timothy?! Where did he go?!" Mom was glaring at him. Timothy smirks and as he takes another munch says, "Off to his destiny."

Dashing through the dusty pavement path, Emmett went to find his destiny.

Freedom, that's what he had sought for years of this thing he called a cycle. His heart was beating fast, with a smile shown on his face. The wind caressing his dark shiny hair. His eyes were bright gold. His boots thrashing on the dusty paved roads of the city, the upper class were too lazy to even hire janitors.

No question of going too fast, Not a single qualm of doubt and then... THUD! He bumped someone... Bam! Just like that, He fell.

"Hey... Watch it..." He found his heart beating faster. For what he saw was a familiar girl just his age... Her brown hair flowed boldly to her thighs and her eyes were ruby red! She wore a checkered burgundy long-sleeved polo and a plaid skirt.

"Wh-wh-who... are you? ..." And oh my, He found himself mesmerized. Those red eyes were mesmerizing.

"You don't look like you're from my place..." She looks him up and down with her hand holding her chin, "...but you sure do dress like one of us..." That's what she told him. Her town was someplace where everyone knew everyone, She'd expected that she'd recognize him.

He wore some brown leather pants with some suspenders and this ordinary white shirt under a brown jacket and a cowboy hat. Who wouldn't think he'd be a country bumpkin or whatever you call them.

"You're from the Outlands?" he asks "You sure do dress better than anyone would think people dress there... But can you take me there?!" Emmett couldn't control it. He loved the countryside yet rarely been there. He was shaking. Her.

"Wow... The first town's boy I met loves our place." She laughs awkwardly as he is still shaking her. "I never thought my fresh start here would be that easy." 

She sighs as her eyes sparkle with Emmett staring "Sure, I'll take you there. Just follow me okay?"

He nods and he thought to himself. "Is this... my destiny?"

The clouds run with them and the wind blows harder. From then on, the tides of time slowly... turned back in his mind... Quickly the dark night flooded in and the sudden fleeting pain of a morning began to playback like a video game that has been hacked to play in fast forward mode.

After dashing through a few alleys here and there and 'dark' alleys to be exact. The wind blows harder and harder.

They feel some grass, well, A lot of grass. They find that the scent has changed a bit like... -sniff sniff- ... Sunflowers! but the sunflowers are... flying?

"Welcome to Sunflower plains!" He couldn't find it easy to breathe because his heart was beating a lot harder now. Why? Is it because he's finally out here in the clear? No... It was something else...

"You okay? You seem pretty...exhausted -giggles- Oh! You didn't tell me your name."

"I'm ... Emmett." He says still breathing heavily.

"That name feels so ... country-like..."

"You think so too?"

"What do you mean -too- ?" Emmett has always been hated by his friends. They hated him because he was brave, honest and wasn't afraid of the wild. They were into the rich life but he was such a big fan of the outcasts. He was not afraid to tell anyone that he sings to birds and that they sing back too. Secretly, his friend always envied this great phenomenon and so they hated him! He told her everything.

"You could sing with birds?!" She asked and continued, "Oh, we have nightingales... at... home...HEY?!" She then finds Emmett lying on the ground. He is not moving. Her face was full of fear.

"Emmett!!" she struggles to wake him "Hey!" He opens his eyes a little and his lips move...

"I remember now... Phemie..." She struggled to process what he said. Her name WAS Phemie. He knows her? Wait that's not the problem here! He just fainted. 

*footnote: He has a memory induced accumulation of opioid substances that trigger fainting and heavy breathing. His brain structure is very sensitive to memory and so it shut's down every now and then.

She brings him to her house. She ran as fast as she could and she was crying. She was terrified if he won't wake up. She didn't know why

"Phemie! Who's this?" Her mother says.

"MOM, HELP HIM QUICK!" Her face is so red.

Her mother examines him, being the professional doctor she was before. "No injuries, no defects and no worry. He only needs rest my dear." And what a relief that was for her, yet she never understood why she was so connected to him in the first place.

"How on earth does he know me? I don't remember him at all... I feel so different now he's here." She talks to herself under a tree. It was a big tree full of flowers that she put there. It was full of roses, daffodils and daisies and a one white lily of the valley.

Three years ago, this tree was just some ordinary little shrub. "The sun shines gold like his eyes and his hair as dark as the starless night I only saw 3 years ago... Am I? NO! No... I can't be in love!" She is so confused. "But... he's so... cute..."

Suddenly, out of the blue, someone spoke. "What are you ranting on about there?"

She looks back to see her friend Amanda. "I can't believe you forgot Emmett! You're all golly-eyed for him and you only met him now? NO, He met you before. Wait no, he met US before!"

Phemie looks her with wide eyes. "You knew him? We met him? I? I don't remember anything..."

"Lemme give you a refresher then. That will ease you, won't it? Come on, follow me will ya?"

They start walking through the grassy plains full of thyme and rosemary to one very wide forest full of Oak trees. "Oh... how... nostalgic." Phemie says.

They reach a river. It was shining with the rays of sun. Time hasn't stopped the water's will to run. Lilies of the valley grew a lot there shining like diamonds.

"You remember now?" Amanda says. Phemie starts to remember... "Well, do you?"