Excerpt from the novel “The Returning Point” by Biljana Martinovska.

            To Ana and Darija,

                                    the light of my life

We have met on a bright sunny day in August.

Her hair was shining bright under the sun and her body had been sitting still on the huge rock she has put her tiny body on. There was no movement and for a moment there I thought she was in total harmony with the waves coming from the lake.

I voice as silent as the silence around us has forced me to approach her and make peace with her. It seemed as it was the right moment to finally confront her. She had been looking at the horizon for so long as if there laid the answer to all her questions. As if she would find serenity in distant places and unknown spaces.

Her past has been disturbing her for so long. She wanted to release herself from the pain in her past so she can finally live again, so she can taste the bittersweet flavour of what we call life and indulge in it.

This is the evidence of a life so pure and so distant, and yet so close, that it still echoes in my head that I had to let it out.