The Vigil

Each night Unda asks the endlessness of dream time to let him reach back to save his daughter. Each night he pleads with the myriad points of distant star light to erase all the dimensions of today and yesterday. Ralph Unda has never been the same since the disappearance of his only daughter. Disturbed for some time by the death of a seagull, the young woman takes her father's boat out one evening to photograph the sunset. Later, the Coast Guard returns with the vessel, but no Georgia. As the lighthouse keeper for Boston Light, Unda is in a prime location to keep watch. He's a common sight on Little Brewster Island—a solitary figure gazing through binoculars, waiting for her return from the turbulent water. He called her Lumen. The mystery of the young woman's disappearance comes to light through multiple perspectives: the heartbroken father, overcome with guilt and despair, a Greek chorus of townspeople who witnessed her stormy life, the haunting voice of Lumen from beyond the saturated horizon, and the songs and ancient stories that keep Unda tethered to the living. A stunning meditation on innocence, attachment, and grief, The Vigil tells a timeless story through a modern lens familiar with the searing landscape of mental health struggles. Written in beautiful, lyrical prose, this captivating story swirls with the mysteries and depths of the sea and staggering resonance for anyone who has ever loved absolutely, beyond the limits of all time and space.