Your Grace - Burak Çelik

CHAPTER 11

^^ "Hold Me While You Wait" <3 + Selim 🥵

The light of the faded autumn sun's rays peeked through the drawn curtains of Ayedah's window as she opened her tired eyes, and was nearly blinded by the slight brightness. The excitement of the previous night had drained out her energy immensely with all the preparation leading up to it, with the addition of being the cause of her late night. When she had finally woken up the next morning, it was 9AM. She had overslept.

"Damn it," she cursed under her breath when she noticed the time on her alarm clock, before dragging her body out of her bed rather sluggishly, nearly causing herself to fall face-flat on the floor. She heard a rather amused meow coming from a satisfied-looking Stormy, who was sitting on her desk and watching her with his golden orbs. She gave her cat a weird look, before she stood herself up; she did so in such a way that she resembled a marionette on strings, before walking to the bathroom. She looked into the groggy, tired brown eyes of her reflection sleepily, before opening the mirror cupboard to take her pills.

She took out her organizer, and opened the green box labeled 'Thursday'. "Oh you gotta be kidding me," she muttered when she realized that there was only one capsule left in her pill organizer- the boxes for the other days of the week were empty. "How did I not notice," she groaned to herself as she began to rummage amongst the other medicine boxes inside the cupboard, before realizing with defeat that she had to go pick up some new pills at the pharmacy. She sighed, downed the last of her medication before stripping off her pajamas and hopping into the shower. She came out after a few minutes, got dressed in a simple black hoodie and matching jeans, then went downstairs with Stormy at her heels.

"Ayedah I thought you were off work today, where're you going at this time?" asked Aunty Gab, who was eating her breakfast at the kitchen island as Ayedah fixed up her hijab in front of the hall mirror. "I have to go to the pharmacy," explained Ayedah when she took her keys off of the keyhook beside the mirror. "My medication supply's finished." Her aunt nodded in understanding; "Well then, either have breakfast outside or come straight home to eat," she said with a half-exasperated sigh. "Don't forget to eat or skip, for God's sake. And if you do eat out, send me proof or I will never let you hear the end of it." Ayedah smiled wearily at her, nodded and left after petting Stormy on the head and saying her 'Salaam'- she knew full well that she probably was not going to end up eating.

Ayedah put in her earphones before starting off on her walk- listening to 'Hold Me While You Wait', by the artist Lewis Capaldi. The pharmacy was not far from the house, but it wasn't close either- however, she could walk to it and that is what she decided to do that day to wake herself up from the spell of sleep. She adjusted the surgical mask on her face, as she walked across the pavement, the rubbery soles of her sneakers gripping the ground to prevent her from losing her balance in the gust of the Autumn wind as it kissed her face.

Winter was coming, she could sense it in the air- but she was rather glad about it, for Autumn and Winter were her favorite seasons. She always loved the cold, and she always loved warming up inside with a book or her laptop to write and a hot drink after she had had enough of it. Perhaps I could write something about the weather, she thought, stopping to look up at the faded yet still bright sky. She continued her walk, her hands in her pockets as her thoughts ran a river through her mind, digging up ideas from the deepest depths of her brain.

Finally, after a good quarter-to-half of an hour's walk, she arrived at Eczane Ayasofya, a pharmacy near the Sultanahmet Square in Fatih, Istanbul. She had only been there a few times in the two years, always with her aunt- it was the best pharmacy nearest to them, and also the only one which happened to supply Ayedah's type of mood stabilizer medication that her old psychiatrist had prescribed years before. She took out her earphones before entering, and drew out her wallet from her coat pocket as she got up to the counter, and took her temperature as per the health procedures.