4.
“Do you like looking at the night
sky, kid?”
I didn’t know if I wanted to
laugh or cry when I heard that question. I decided it won’t be any use doing
either of those things.
“I think the sky betrayed me. I
went after it with all my heart and it took everything from me. If it were up
to me, I would never look up towards it again. If only I could turn my face
away right now. This is torture.”
“What? I love the night sky! I
wish I could look at it for a while before my time ends.”
“Why don’t you, then?”
“You see, I consider you very
lucky right now.”
“Because I think looking at this
sky is torture?”
“No.”
“Why can’t you look at the sky?”
“Because I’m in a situation
similar to yours. The difference in our situations however is that while your
gaze is stuck pointing towards the sky, mine is fixed towards a tree.”
“Trees hate me more than I hate
the sky.”
I heard the man chuckle as if he
knew what trees had done to me.
“Hey Kid, how does the moon
look?”
“It looks like a thin bent
branch.”
“Are there any clouds?”
“No.”
“Good. The stars must look
especially pretty then.”
They did look prettier than
usual.
“Have you ever seen the night sky
dance, kid?”
Now I really wanted to look at
this man and see who he was.
“I have. I mean, I don’t really
know about dancing but I did see it move in a very weird way. But that only
happened once.”
“Would you like to see it again?”
“I would.”
“Then stop talking to me or
anyone else in your head and really see the sky.”
Really see the sky. Okay. Shut
myself off from voices and look. As if through instinct, I understood what he
meant when he said really seeing.
To my astonishment, it worked.
The sky slowly started to swirl and the stars formed a spiral above me. A hole
formed in the middle of that spiral and the sky began to slowly sink into it.
There it was. I blinked as little as possible so I won’t miss a thing. I didn’t
even have to worry about any angry tree that’ll throw me to the ground this
time. The hole got wider and wider as if to make room for more stars. I could
feel through myself that the hole was a portal to the center of the universe. I
wasn’t able to enter it but I felt honored to be able to be present at the gate
and witness all of its glory. Tears started drenching my cheeks and my heart
had never throbbed this hard.
“You’re Abram, aren’t you?”
“Well, yes and no.”
“Then who are you?
“I am the night sky, you and
everything between you too.”
This time this answer didn’t
annoy me. I smiled. My tears tickled my face but I couldn’t wipe them off. I
stared at the swirling sky for hours.
“Is this your beloved Secret
Sky?”
“Ignore all noise and
distractions, around you and within you. When you do that and really look into
the sky with proper curiosity for its beauty, it gives you a gift. It becomes
even more magnificent than it usually is. It wants you to look at it. It even
starts moving to keep you interested. It gives proof of the vastness of the
universe and ensures how insignificant we are in comparison. However, despite
our tiny size, it also makes sure we understand that we’re not unimportant.
Take joy in the fact that you can see the Secret Sky! It dances only for those
that it thinks deserve its performance.”
No one said a word for some time
after that. After an hour or so I broke the silence.
“You’re not really here are you?
Am I talking to a ghost or a spirit? Or am I just talking to myself? You told
me to stop talking to you or anyone else in my head. Are you just a figment of
my imagination?”
“There is a man in your village
that really hates me. He hated me so much that he banished me from his village.
Even though he wasn’t sure if I really even existed, he taught people to be
very careful about me.”
“You’re probably talking about the
village elder”
“The village elder? That kid?”
“Kid? How long ago did you meet
him?”
“Probably a long time ago if he’s
an elder now. He couldn’t turn off the noise from his mind even though he had
seen the Secret Sky twice by luck. He got so frustrated with not being able to
see the gates to the center that he promised that no one else will see them
either.”
“I would’ve showed him a thing or
two if I could go back now.”
“Then why don’t you? Go and fix
what he’s ruined.”
“Have you forgotten the situation
we’re in now?”
“What situation?”
“I’m totally incapable of going
anywhere, Abram. I’ll die here.”
“No you won’t.”
Something clicked.
“I’m hearing answers from you
that I want to hear. You must really be in my head.”
“You’re not hearing answers that
you want to hear, kid. You’re hearing those that you need to hear. About your
incapability of doing anything, you want to know the best thing about the
night?”
“Sure.”
“The best part about an ongoing
night is that it always comes to an end, and when it does, it makes way for a
new day and through this new day, a new beginning.”
I don’t know how that was
supposed to help me but I believed him. I finally closed my eyes.
When I opened my eyes, I found
out that I was lying under the tree that I thought had thrown me into the
stream. I jumped to my feet in shock.
I jumped to my feet?
I inspected my body and to my
surprise, there were no injuries. I was absolutely fine. What I saw last night
was too vivid to be a dream, though. I ran downstream in hopes of finding where
I met Abram. I paced swiftly for many hours until it started to get dark. I
must’ve really dreamt that. I was relieved that I was going to live but I
started doubting this journey’s objectives now.
Night started to creep in. I
decided to lie down and rest myself. As my back touched the ground, I realized
how tired my journey had gotten me. My belly is shouting at me to feed it and
my legs are vibrating from fatigue. However, lying down allows me to see the
sky above me and marvel at how enchantingly beautiful it can be. This is a
special night. I can feel it. There is no moon in the sky and only the shine of
the stars light the world around me and the path to my destination.
I close my eyes and clear my
mind. When I feel a powerful silence in my head, I open my eyes and see what
the canvas of the universe has to offer tonight.
“Ignore all noise and distractions, around you and within you. When you
do that and really look into the sky with proper curiosity for its beauty, it
gives you a gift.”
He was right. The Dancing Night,
Gate to the Center, Secret Sky. Whatever I want to call it. There it was. The
swirling sky that took me on a journey.
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