2024 winner

2024: Between Dusk and Dawn, Plamen Vasilev

​

As the warmth of the sun surrendered to the soft embrace of dusk, the skyline over Maplewood transformed into a canvas of deep purples and blush pinks.

​

The day, filled with the clatter of life, was giving way to the serene stillness of evening. In his small, cluttered studio apartment, Julian stared out the window, the familiar view flickering like a kaleidoscope—children playing in the park, the laughter of friends shared over ice cream, and the distant sound of a guitar being strummed.

​

Yet, within him, a storm brewed, one that had taken root long before the pinks and purples of sunset.

​

Every evening, the setting sun brought with it a profound reminder of the things he'd lost.

​

His mother’s laughter, sweet and melodic, echoed in his mind; memories of her humming softly as she tended to the garden, the scent of lilacs in the air.

​

She had passed just as the world seemed to awaken from winter into spring, leaving Julian to grapple with a grief that felt both alien and suffocating. As darkness fell, so too did the weight of her absence, wrapping around him like a heavy cloak. It was a time of day he had once cherished, but was now a harbinger of loneliness.

​

But it was not just loss that haunted him; it was the creeping sense of despair that had woven itself into the fabric of his existence. Each night, as dusk descended, ambiguity enveloped him, and moments of pain intensified, magnifying his sense of solitude.

​

He feared the evenings, for they brought with them the whispers of regret, moments that replayed like a cracked vinyl record. Had he told her enough that he loved her? Did she know how much she meant to him? These questions stretched into the night, leaving him restless and despondent.

​

Yet, as if responding to the call of the dusk, Julian found himself drawn to the park, where fires flickered and bonfires glowed in the twilight. There, he encountered others wandering through their own shadows. Among them was Eloise, an artist who spoke to the skies through her brush. She painted the moments that slipped through one’s fingers—children’s laughter, the embrace of a partner, and the gentle sway of trees in the wind. In her eyes, Julian saw both recognition and understanding; she too bore a burden, one etched across the softness of her gaze. Though they were at different stages of healing, they united in their solitude.

 

As dusk deepened into night, Julian and Eloise began to form a tentative friendship, exchanging stories that danced between heartbreak and hope. He learned that she had lost her brother to illness, and while grief had threatened to drown her, art became her lifeline. Each stroke of her brush was a rebellion against the darkness, an assertion that life could be beautiful even in the face of despair.

​

With each shared tale and quiet moment, something shifted within Julian. He began to see dusk not simply as an end, but as a transition—a space for reflection before the dawn.

​

Like the colors that intermingled in the sky, making way for daybreak, he realized that pain and beauty could coexist. It was in the small, tender moments shared with Eloise that he found a flicker of light. They wandered through the park, where the echoes of their laughter punctured the stillness.

​

Slowly, he rediscovered himself, reclaiming parts of his heart absorbed by grief.

​

As the nights melted into days, Julian’s heart gradually began to mend. He began to converse with the dusk rather than shun it, embracing the solace it offered. He transformed his sorrow into gratitude, remembering his mother fondly rather than without chains of regret.

​

One evening, as twilight danced on the horizon, he painted his own canvas—his memories and emotions melding into an explosion of colors, vibrant yellows and soft blues weaving through the darker shades he had known.

​

Then came a day, an epiphany ushered by dawn. After a week of late-night conversations with Eloise beneath the starlit sky, he awoke to the soft golden light streaming through his window. The darkness unveiled by the dawn felt different, lighter.

It brimmed with the promise of renewal. He stepped outside, inhaling the familiar scent of dew-kissed grass and blooming flowers. As the sun broke free from the horizon, Julian found himself at the park, armed with his brush and canvas, ready to capture the moment.

​

Eloise met him there, and together they painted the sunrise, threading their hearts and stories into every stroke.

​

As the light unfurled with breathtaking grace, so did their bond, built upon shared vulnerabilities and joyful aspirations. In that moment, as dawn emerged in all its resplendence, Julian understood deep within his soul that life ebbed and flowed like the cycle of day and night—a beautiful tapestry woven with both laughter and tears.

​

Years later, as he stood under the twilight sky, now filled with a sense of peace, Julian reflected on the journey that wove him from dusk into dawn. The moments of sadness became lessons in love; the heaviness of grief, a catalyst for compassion.

​

In every sunset, he found beauty, and in every sunrise, hope. He realized that the darkness had never consumed him; rather, it had paved the way for an appreciation of light—both in the world around him and within himself.

​

As the first stars flickered into sight, he knew that each dusk was simply a promise of dawn, whispering its timeless truth: from despair, there is birth; from loss, love blossoms anew.

​

And in that interplay of shadows and light, he discovered not only the profound depths of sorrow but the indomitable strength of the human spirit—a journey he would carry forward, painted across the canvas of his days, vibrant and alive.