Mert

June 14, 2018

It was only just light when he woke up. The smell of wet wood and mould in the room no longer seemed weird to Mert. He looked around with empty eyes for a few seconds before getting up: "This place is not much different from my bedroom, where I wake up in pain every day." He thought. Because within a few seconds of waking up again, his girlfriend and his abandonment came to his mind. The pain this caused in his body would always remain the same no matter where he woke up.

He hadn't looked at the date for weeks and didn't wonder what day it was. But today, when he involuntarily turned his head to the electronic calendar on the wall, that painful feeling burned inside him again. Today was the day his first and only love, who had caused him all this pain but whom he still loved madly, was born. June 14... "How could I know last year that today would be the last birthday we would celebrate together?" The tears he was trying to hold back were flowing involuntarily from his eyes.

"Oh Dilruba, how happy you were when I surprised you at the Harbour Restaurant, when you saw your red heart-shaped cake, you held my hand and said "today is the happiest day of my life!" and took a photo. Why did you leave us, when everything was going so well..." his increasingly frequent sobs interrupted his words. Now he was crying completely, seeing himself in a future where he would never be happy again.

He felt that he was running out of tears. Almost half an hour had passed and he had to realise what the hell he was doing in this room. Maybe if he could find a way out of here he could talk to Dilruba again, ask her for another chance. And maybe they could be happy again, they could go back to their happy old days. He wiped away his tears, realising that he shouldn't hope in vain, but still hoping.

After all these painful feelings, he felt that he had to get back to work as soon as possible. He looked around, now he had to pick up where he left off. He got up from his seat with difficulty and approached the wardrobe. He felt goosebumps, he thought it might be because it resembled the creaking cabinets in the horror films he watched, so he calmed himself.

The wardrobe had three doors. Deciding to start with the right-hand door, which was the least damaged, he slowly opened it. This compartment consisted of two parts, one of which was a hanging shelf. The top shelf of the compartment was empty, while the hanging part contained only one suit. Sweat started to pour out of Mert's body, if it weren't for the blood stains on the suit, maybe he wouldn't be so frightened.

He took the suit off the hanger and started to examine it. This suit didn't make any sense to him, then he thought it might be useful to check the pockets before hanging it back. In the left pocket of the jacket he found a piece of paper, and when he picked it up he realised that it was a bill. It was the bill for a meal for four people and it was made out in the name of Mert. The name of the restaurant where the meal was eaten was erased, barely a few letters could be read. The date of the invoice was the 1st of September 2014. He couldn't guess how much time had passed, he must have lost his perception of time.

Just as he was about to put the suit back, he realised something. This suit was exactly the suit he was wearing in the framed photograph on the shelf. To make sure, he took the photo again and compared the two outfits, the suit was exactly the same. So this photo was taken in 2014. But what had happened that day? He realised at that moment that it was definitely not a coincidence, he could not make sense of anything and could not remember what had happened that day to make it so special.

He was making a serious effort to find the answer he was looking for, his curiosity and anxiety were increasing. At that moment he realised that there were only two cupboard doors left in the room that he had not examined, but he did not want to give up hope. After carefully hanging the set in its place and putting the frame on the shelf, he stood in front of the cupboard to open the other two doors leading to the same compartment.

He reached his hand to the cupboard doors. For a while, he encouraged himself to open them. He took a deep breath, just as he was about to open the doors, he heard a sound like a moan coming from inside the cupboard. For a while he froze with his hands on the door handles, as if all the blood in his brain had drained from his ribs. He didn't know what to do, the door to the outside of the room was locked. There were bars on the window, he felt as if he was trapped.

He waited for another sound. But he thought that he could not endure this horrible situation any longer, that the sight he would see could not be more horrifying than hearing a moaning sound, so he quickly opened the cabinet doors.

He froze at the sight he saw, as if his feet were nailed to the floor. He could not move forward, he could not move. At that very moment he thought that he might lose his sanity and go mad. He felt like speaking, but the words could not come out of his mouth. His eyes were wide open. After a few seconds he could not feel anything. It was as if his consciousness was slowly closing. The last thing he remembered was that his head hit the wooden floor hard.

***

Dilruba

May 17, 2018

When he woke up, it was three o'clock in the afternoon. As usual, he stayed in front of the computer until the morning and only woke up towards the evening. He closed his eyes unconsciously for a while in bed. After a few minutes, he felt a wetness on his face and smiling, he opened his eyes and hugged Mia. Mia, who realised that she was loved, laid down and started meowing.

After playing with her cat for a while, she got up and made her bed, then went to the sink to wash her face. "Every day the same thing..." she muttered. She saw herself as a young girl on the verge of suicide, very bored with this monotony, hoping for new colours in her life. She didn't think she had any purpose in this life, she could do without her family. She didn't have a father anyway, and she was well aware that she was filling the gap with her boyfriend, whom she didn't know whether she really loved or not.

She thought that her boyfriend was the only one who really supported and loved her. Mert...the only person who tried to do everything she wanted, who spent all his income for Dilruba's happiness, who was ready to give her his time, love and attention at any time of the day...All this allowed Dilruba to use him like a slave whenever she wanted. She made him buy what she wanted, she made him pay attention to her, and when she was angry with someone, she took it out on him. In fact, both parties were happy with this situation.

She left the washroom and made her way to her own room. Then she closed the door to her room, not wanting to hear or see anyone. Sitting on her bed, she picked up her phone and started looking at the notifications. 4 messages from Mert... Dilruba had not written to him during the night and then fell asleep. Mert, on the other hand, expressed his curiosity about her in the messages, talked about how much he loved her and wished her a good night. Dilruba got nervous when she saw these messages, she didn't need Mert's attention and curiosity at the moment, in fact, she was uncomfortable with it and tried to get away.

She didn't answer his messages, she didn't want that at all. She didn't want to answer the messages and then see the loving messages from Mert again. Or she would ask him to leave her alone and they would argue. She would not prefer to be in the wrong after this unwarranted outburst, she just wanted to sit in front of the computer right now, talk to her friends and play games.

She put her phone aside and sat down at the computer. She took her food with her and opened a video that she could linger while eating, then she started watching it. She was halfway through her meal when she heard a notification sound coming from her phone. She looked at the phone and checked who it was from. She read the message, then continued to look at the screen for a while with a shocked but internally relieved and relieved expression.

Wooden Room

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