Moonlit Scars

Seray

When the taxi dropped me off at the mansion lane I was so exhausted, I couldn't even walk straight. An outing with Safet and Kaya always started enjoyably enough, but ended with me supporting both of them to taxis and leaving them at their houses before I got off. Someone had to make sure everyone returned home, safely.

I never drank, but now my clothes smelled of beer and cheap cheese sticks. Sighing, I took off my denim jacket and wrapped it around the strap of my bag.

Despite the isolated castle at the end of it, the mansion lane looked beautiful in the evening light. The air smelled of green earth and moist breeze. Hushed whispers of the forest floated around me as I pulled down my sleeves over my fingers for warmth.

My footsteps made no sound on the carpet of fallen leaves strewn over the ground. There was a reasonable distance to walk so I plugged in my earbuds and turned on one of my Spotify playlists.

Art and music always helped me calm down. In the darkest nights of my life, when I couldn't seem to breath, I drew in air in the shape of guitar strings and paint strokes. I had a passable voice and when all seemed lost, I could always rely on it to help me cope. When everyone my age went to soccer matches and vodka parties, I dragged Kaya and Safet to musicals and art exhibits. This was one of the reasons I never had many friends. Growing up, I was neither cool nor funny like Kaya and Safet. I was the one who filled up empty spaces, the one who faded into backgrounds. And I was fine with that. My life might not be the most exciting or glamorous but it was safe.

Right until Kartals came to haunt it.

Inevitably, my mind drifted to the incident that happened at the Four-leafed clover cafe. He was a sociopath- that man. A man who probably took everything he wanted, without falling prey to consequences. He didn't have to come terrorizing us in broad daylight. He didn't have to order Lalam around as if she were a trained puppy. And there was absolutely no excuse for him to be mean to me, accusing me of being after my niece's money and threatening my family!

My uncle warned me of people like that- people to whom the law had loopholes, people who looked at the world in a different way, in a different angle.

I was so lost in thought, the sound that pierced the silence around me escaped my notice entirely. One moment I was walking, my hands pushed deep into the pockets, the next I found myself careening sideways into a ditch to avoid the red sports car that came from the opposite direction, almost running me over in the process. The car sped towards the mansion in a cloud of dust and dirt and I could hear a few expletive words uttered in a female voice over the noise in my ears. I watched with disbelieving eyes while the car disappeared around the corner, out of sight.

As the shock of nearly becoming roadkill washed over me, I sat on the ground heavily. For a moment, I put my head in my lap, clutched at the back of my head and tried to calm my racing heart.

Maybe the driver didn't see me, I tried telling myself. Maybe she (I recognized the voice now- it was Mrs Emine's sister, the beautiful blond girl called Melek) was engaged by her telephone in an important conversation?

But logic overtook the voice in my heart and I realized that the girl almost ran over another person but didn't even care to stop the vehicle. She had the nerve to shout at me even though I walked at the near edge of the road. I didn't know much about Melek, except that she had studied abroad and had a penchant for drinking too much white wine at dinner.

Still I didn't think I'd done anything to deserve this treatment from the people in that mansion.

The cold was sleeping through the material of my sweater dress, so I sat up to assess my situation. My legs had taken the brunt of the fall and there were bleeding patches on both of my knees. My palms were scraped raw, with mud and crushed leaves sticking to the wounds. Taking a tissue from my bag, I wiped away the excess of blood and dirt from my limbs.