Looking For His North Star

Chapter six

The place was secluded in a fortress of Fir and Douglas trees, too far away from the public eyes. Yaman stopped the car and looked around. Several whitewashed buildings spread out towards the horizon and at the entrance, the words "Greenland Shrubs" were engraved in spidery letters.

A group of children in white ran past him, pulling his gaze away from the surroundings. At the entrance to the nearest building, Nedim stood with another older, distinguished- looking gentleman in a white lab coat.

Yaman got out of the vehicle. A private clinic, Nedim had said over the phone. He knew what kind of a place this was. This was a place where people left their senile parents with diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's. A place where parents forgot their little children with incurable heart diseases. It was not not so much of a hospital as a prison.

What was Seher doing here?

And then he saw her.

She was dressed in white, just like in his dreams, holding a bunch of daisies and talking to a little boy. Her hair was longer than he'd remembered, falling to her waist in rich, chestnut waves. As he watched, she turned aside and smiled.

Yaman's vision tunnelled. He didn't even realize that he'd started to walk but suddenly, he was standing right infront of her, taking her in. Seher. She looked up at him with the same smile in her green eyes.

Months of separation had painfully intensified Yaman's feelings. He felt like he was breathing for the very first time after a long while. Without thinking, he pulled Seher into his arms, crushing her against him, hands desperately sliding around her waist and back. He pushed his face into her hair, breathing in her scent. Something burned deep inside his chest.

"Seher..." He kept muttering. "Seher, Seher. I missed you. I missed you so much..."

Tentative hands patted him on his back. He tightened his hold on her, wanting to infuse her whole being into his blood, so he'd never lose her again. She made a surprised noise.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly. "Are you alright, sir?"

"I'm..." Yaman started to say but then he stopped. Wait a minute. Did she just say sir?

Yaman pulled back. She was breathless from the crushing hug. She stumbled back and looked at him, her eyes wide.

Yaman swallowed. "Seher?"

She blinked. A bad feeling started to form in the pit of his stomach.

The sound of footsteps. Yaman looked up to see Nedim and the man in the lab coat approaching them. Something was obviously wrong here. He tensed.

"What did you do to her?" He demanded. "What did you do to my wife?"

"Wife?" Seher squeaked.

The man came forward, holding out his hand for him to shake.

"Turgut Karhan- I'm the head psychiatrist here", he said. "I suggest you come to my office. We have a lot to discuss".

Yaman looked down at Seher, loathing to have her out of his sight again. The man seemed to understand his hesitation.

"She'll be fine. You have a meeting with Dr. Kemal now, don't you Asli?"

Asli??

She nodded, still staring at Yaman.

Nedim put his hand on Yaman's back and led him towards the main building. Yaman felt dazed. He was living in the twilight zone, where the sky was green and people walked backwards instead of forward. Seher was here but it also felt like that she... wasn't. Not in the actual sense.