Breccia’s Account: The Day the Sun Danced

I, Breccia, lived in a small town in Jupiter called Laiden, where the sky was unbalanced, and our community was split in two. The pebbles and the colorful gems lived together, and the diamonds lived on the other side. We were called the pebbles because we matched the color of the dirt. The colorful gems got their name if they were born with a deformity or if they loved the same color gem. We lived together, us pebbles and colorful gems, and we knew how to love, share, and most of all how to survive.

The diamonds were defined by their shiny, translucent, almost clear texture. They ruled over us pebbles and colorful gems. They looked like pale figurines and when they came in contact with the sun, they produced a powerful shine. It could blind you if you stared for too long, that’s why we were told to look down at all times when we were outside among the diamonds.

My family and I worked on the fields of King Vespusio, the King of Diamonds. Vespusio and I met on the field and had a platonic relationship. He told me he loved me, but our love had to be kept secret because I was a pebble. I could not understand such words.

One day, my family and I received news that King Vespusio had made a new rule: We were not allowed to walk on the sidewalk if a Diamond was on it, and we pebbles and colorful gems had to wear a symbol of a rock to remind ourselves of the rules and our place in Laiden. I always asked my mom why the King couldn’t accept us or treat us like the other diamonds, but she never had an answer as she could not understand. As time passed, King Vespusio’s rules became stricter. He told us we could only eat every other day. “Only on odd days,” he said. He said it was for good luck, so we obeyed. We starved ourselves for good luck. When I was alone with Vespusio, I was prohibited of questioning his rules, I was there only to serve him.

But one day the sun set unusually high and it danced. Everyone stopped and looked in astonishment. It was quiet. Nobody said a word. The sun became a fiery sun with purple flames, and it turned the sky scarlet. Then we could feel Jupiter stop spinning. Indeed, it stopped spinning. Then everyone’s head tilted backwards and their eyes closed; they were sleeping standing upright except for me, and they began to mumble an unknown language.

Suddenly, the sun with all its flames came down and became something disfigured. It was awful-looking. It was unusually tall, its skin was moving, and it had a watery texture. It had no eyes and no mouth, and I could sense it looking through me, at my soul. It observed me. As it approached me slowly, my heart began to pound. I couldn’t run because my feet were stuck to the ground. I kept yelling for help, but no one could hear me because everyone was sleeping.

It stood in front of me and it didn’t say a word. It touched me lightly and my eyes were set on fire. It didn’t burn, but I could suddenly understand everything. I had answers. The disfigured thing stepped back and flew into the sky to its original form and the sky became balanced.

When everyone awoke, the diamonds had lost its shine and I knew what to do.