Moonlit Scars

Demir

"If you think for one moment that what you did was right, you're fully mistaken".

Altan said as I pulled the car into the mansion lane. This had become our version of brotherly bonding- him reprimanding me about whatever inhuman thing I'd done for the day, me giving him the silent treatment.

Altan twisted his wedding ring- a sad reminder of a woman long dead, as we rode along the secluded path shadowed by linden trees. The whole land around the mansion, all the way down to the harbor belonged to our family. And of course as the local rumors went, the land was cursed just like our family name.

Now that my sister had been found dead in these woods, I could almost believe that.

Altan glanced at my split knuckles. "If you want an outlet for your anger, go punch a tree. We have plenty around", he said. "Breaking six bones in a man's body is not good, no matter how much you think he deserves it".

I ignored him.

"They call you a monster, Demir", he went on. "Another myth added to the Kartal name. Is that what you want to be? A children's nightmare?"

Our home- the Kartal mansion came into view and I parked the car. I spied Hasan's beat up Audi in the carpark. As he got out, I finally regarded my older brother.

"I don't want to be a children's nightmare", I told him. "I want to be everyone's nightmare. And I think I'm on the right path, brother. As for that man, he has two hundred more bones left in his body. That's more than he deserves".

Altan gave me a look, which I'd seen a thousand times. It was a mixture of worry and pity, with a faint underlying of fear and disbelief. He sighed. Suddenly, he looked way older than he was supposed to, lines materializing around those steel gray eyes similar to mine. He shook his head and made his way towards the mansion.

If I were a nightmare in the making, Altan was a shadow of a man he used to be. Ever since his wife's untimely death five years ago,( most deaths in our family were untimely) my brother had been slowly turning into a living shell.

A shell that had no time for even his son.

I took a deep breath. For a moment, I stood there in the parking lot, letting the cool night air calm my nerves. Then I walked inside.

The first person I noticed was Emine, in one of her flashy red suits, sitting in the living room. I never knew why she always dressed up like she expected guests at any moment. No one came to the Kartal mansion anymore, unless there was a party (for appearance's sake), or a foundation meeting.

Except this time, there was someone sitting next to Lalam in one of Emine's overpriced sofas. Someone that looked so wrong among all our props, it took a moment for my perception to balance again. And when it did, I heard Altan's bewildered voice.

"What are you saying? Ayleen did this?"

I looked closely at the girl sitting next to Lalam. For one thing, she was smiling and I could read her face like a monogram. She was nervous, but she didn't let it on.Her shoulders were hunched forward, as if she was expecting confrontation at any moment. As I watched, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and it felt like a habitual gesture she did, without even knowing it herself.

"I have all the papers here", I heard Hasan's voice. He was sitting opposite of Emine, his expression as grumpy as always. "Mrs Ayleen signed it Infront of me. Miss Seray signed it too. So she's Lalam's legal guardian now".

And my world caved.

"What did you just say?"

The atmosphere in the living room visibly changed to tension. Altan came to my side, looking worried. I looked between Hasan and the girl. She stared at me with wide, dark eyes.