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Soumaya Ben Souissi
Papillonismus
There was once a world where every word mattered. In this world, silence wasn’t golden; it was survival.
Before speaking, you had to measure, estimate, and weigh every syllable. Each utterance cost you; your breath, your time, your life. Sinon, la mort t’attendait. À ta porte. Discrète. Alerte.
Every spoken word had a price. You paid with your years, your memories, your body. So, people became terrified to speak. They safeguarded their energy. They fought to survive in silence.
If you needed water, you asked —but paid for it. Un litre pour une semaine de ta vie. Not a bad deal, right? If you wanted apples: Un kilo pour un mois de ta vie. A big promotion.
In the middle of this quiet chaos, when everyone rationed their speech like air, Little Euphemie was a chatterbox. Une vraie volubile. She never paused. Didn’t even breathe between her sentences. Because Euphemie didn’t need words to live. To buy apples, almonds, honey, or cheese.
She found a better solution. A superior one. She ate butterflies to stay alive.
Soumaya Ben Souissi writes in a bilingual world where French and English meet myth, tenderness, and intimate sensory storytelling. She is the author of Stories from the Kitchen, a gentle space where recipes, narratives, and languages coexist.
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