What just happened?" I ask aloud, shaking my head to dispel the fog
clouding it.
"Pa?" "Honey!" I called out for my husband. "Paaaa!" I shouted, my voice slicing through the stillness, desperation lacing each syllable.
Silence hung in the air, a hea...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Coerced by Inang to get a tattoo to mark her rite of betrothal and claim her position, Ayu Indah was constrained by having a milestone patik tattooed on her face.
With every prick of the pigmented thorn, her face trickled blood as Ayu Indah lay unmoving, enduring the degradation byshowing no pain or emotion.
The only telltale sign of distress that I saw, indicating that she was in so much pain, was her delicate feet, with rows of purple beads tensely crossed, toes curled in, and tears rolling down the sides of her eyes.
To disinfect and stop the bleeding, the mampapatik, or tattoo artist, covered her forehead with a poultice of crushed leaves from the medicinal malunggay or moringa plant. He was now finishing the last patik streak on Ayu's right cheek.
Uniquely designed by the patik artist, symbolic for "the chosen one," a star on her forehead and langi streaks on her cheeks were marks that would signify her high status in society, reserved only for the "ruling" class or those of aristocratic birth.
It was a great honor, but Ayu was not impressed. To her, it was a constant reminder of her subjugation to the very person she least liked.
With every prick of the agonizing pain, she grew to detest him even more.
