Wattpad Contests 2022

SONG OF THE UNLIT SUN

takitapuɭaw takituɭuɖaw
tumatənabaw tumatənəkin

When I opened my eyes, I was in bed. The millet field had disappeared. My grandmother had stayed in that mental scenery too. I scrutinized my hands carefully. They were those of a young adult. I let out a reassured sigh. I was Gabrielle Raera, twenty-five years old, living in her smaller-than-life apartment.

All of a sudden, four words invaded my headspace.

takitapuɭaw takituɭuɖaw
tumatənabaw tumatənəkin

I took time to pronounce them, to appreciate the syllables and its rare consonants. I knew I loved rolling my tongue to make the sound purr. I was drawn to the ancient language. The utterance was harmonious, yet simple. By speaking the words out loud, a deeper intimacy echoed with my soul. I found a connection bounding my intentions to the words, without knowing their exact translation. Soon enough, I was seeking meaning.

I realized that these rhymes were the first and the last token of love my grandmother had ever offered me. And, weirdly enough, after having spent years to memorize them, I had forgotten about them until that day. The exact words, articulated in the same fashion as the white-haired woman in my head would. The thought made me tremble.

takitapuɭaw takituɭuɖaw
tumatənabaw tumatənəkin

I repeated the words again. And again. And, the more I repeated them, the more I could hear the inherent music within them; the harmony of each word, perfectly balancing one another. I repeated the four words until my soul was filled with a warmth that made it easier to embrace.

The tone in those words had started to ring different. I was not in control of my speech anymore. The articulation of my tongue and my teeth was preceding my thinking. I was becoming a powerful vessel for a force that overwhelmed me within seconds. I could feel the energy rushing through my body, aiming for my heart. My soul was feeding on this incredible source of faith and discovery.

takitapuɭaw takituɭuɖaw
tumatənabaw tumatənəkin

The sun slowly changed, its warm color faded to a more shadowy one, and from a light yellow went to a darker shade of grey. The old tongue finally made sense to me. 

Through the words unbinding, the reversal of the world occurred.

takitapuɭaw takituɭuɖaw
we go and we welcome in our hands

And from one realm to another, I travelled with the rightful key on my lips.

tumatənabaw tumatənəkin
her soul, her soul

A world where the sun had unlit opened before my eyes.

"Gabrielle, you found me." A voice in the distance commented.

I raised my head immediately. My grandmother stood at the edge of a millet field, bare foot on her side of the land and a few steps away from the wooden floor of my bedroom.

"Is... Is it really y-you?" I didn't want to falter, but I couldn't help it. I was stunned. The scene felt all too surreal.

"You've reached the world of the Unlit Sun, Gabrielle."

"What does that mean?"

"You know what it means, darling." She smiled wistfully.

"This... You're on the other side, right?"

My grandmother nodded silently, joined by a man I had never seen before. He was taller than her, and slimmer. Yet, their faces shared many common traits. He might have been related to her somehow. I just never had the chance to learn about the nature of their kinship.

"This is my father, Gabrielle; your great-grandfather, Isaw."

The man seemed just a few years older than me. He smiled brightly and invited me to stay a moment in the millet field behind them.

"Don't you want to pay a visit to your grandfather?" My grandmother added in a playful tone. "He is reading religiously his newspapers on the porch."

I couldn't help but return their smile.

"Some things never change!" I exclaimed, extremely amused.

"Bad habits!" My grandmother said in turn, rolling her eyes. She was pretending to be exasperated.

I took the hand of my great-grandfather to cross our worlds. And from my apartment situated in the capital city, I was transported into their red millet crops.

takitapuɭaw takituɭuɖaw
tumatənabaw tumatənəkin

As I went to salute my grandfather, I was beginning to understand the importance of these four words and their essence. The beauty of what they implied. The powerful magic they held. They were a rampart to fear and to loneliness. An antidote to the fear to lose someone you love. A lifeline to hold onto after mourning their demise.

I realized that my grandmother, my grandfather, and all my ancestors had never left me. They were waiting in their own world, waiting for me to open the gate between the living and the dead to visit them. It filled me with such an empowering feeling of peace and strength. I could still count on my family to support me every steps of my journey.

I don't know why it took me ten years to find my way back to these four words. Nor why I hadn't try sooner after my grandmother's passing. Or even why I didn't believe unconditionally that the Old Puyuma rhyme was a key to our family's secret. But I had finally arrived to the realm of the Unlit Sun; this magical place where a life beyond life was possible. Where my reality could meet the reality of my ancestors. Where I could make peace with their somber absence from my world.

takitapuɭaw takituɭuɖaw
tumatənabaw tumatənəkin

we go and we welcome in our hands
her soul, her soul

Now, I know. We share a birth and a rebirth, bathed in different lights.
The living own a sun. There is a sun for the dead too.
And my sun and their sun alike will continue brightly shining on me.