Chapter 13: Memory II
A neighbor stepped inside and froze at the horrific sight before him. Shock gripped his chest until all he could do was scream: "Ah…what is this hell?!"
He stumbled out, shouting for help, and within minutes the house was surrounded by people, as if it belonged to a fallen celebrity.
When their eyes fell upon the four lifeless bodies sprawled across the floor, some could not bear it. A few women with tender hearts collapsed, fainting at the gruesome scene, while the rest stood paralyzed, horror etched across their faces.
"Our neighbors… the ones who shared meals and laughter with us… gone, just like that?" "And what about the little boy?How will he live after watching his family torn apart before his very eyes? How can he continue when everyone he loves has been taken from him?"
Such questions swirled in the minds of the onlookers, but all thoughts were silenced by the arrival of police sirens and ambulances.
Officers and medics rushed in, carrying the bodies away one by one. They even took young Aydin with them, to ensure he had survived the nightmare.
Hours passed. When Aydin awoke, the shrill beeping of hospital machines filled his ears. His eyes darted around in panic before a flood of memories surged back, drowning him in grief.
"Hah! Hah!" He bolted upright,gasping, screaming names that tore from his soul: "Mother!Father! Lisa! Sena!"
Nurses rushed to restrain him as he thrashed against their hands. "Please,calm down!" "No!I want my parents! Bring me to them now!"
A firm voice cut through the chaos. "We have no choice…sedate him."
He fought until the needle pierced his arm, his cries echoing through the sterile room: "I want my mother!I want my father! I want—"
Darkness swallowed him.
When his eyes opened again, hours later, leather straps bound him to the bed. A nurse sat quietly nearby, watching him.
The man hurried out to fetch the doctor. Moments later, a figure in a white coat and glasses entered the room, flanked by three police officers.
"Good evening, Aydin. I'm glad you're safe." The boy remained silent,eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Don't be afraid. I'm just a doctor. These officers only want to speak with you."
Aydin turned his gaze toward them, then gave a silent nod.
After ensuring his patient was stable, the doctor departed, leaving Aydin in the cold company of lawmen. They questioned him, but what could a boy of barely ten years understand of murder? His answers were confused, empty. Still, the officers promised him solemnly:
"We will bring you justice."
Justice.
The word rooted itself deep in his mind. He remembered it from cartoons, where heroes always arrived to punish villains and protect the weak. To him, it was a light—pure, unshakable hope. He repeated it silently, clinging to the promise that somewhere, somehow, a hero would come.
---
The following day, Aydin left the hospital. It was the day of his family's funeral. He endured the sorrow with a child's fragile bravery, but inside, a fire smoldered—he would not allow their deaths to be in vain. He awaited the day justice would be done.
The mourning hall filled with grim faces and hushed whispers. While mourners filed past the coffins, Aydin noticed a group of men speaking in the corner, their furtive glances betraying a guilty conscience.
Creeping closer, he caught words that stabbed into his chest like poisoned daggers:
"That family wasn't innocent. They were involved in dirty dealings… that's why they were killed. They got what they deserved."
Aydin's eyes widened in shock. No… no, that's a lie! His fists clenched, his whole body trembling. He tried to convince himself they were slandering the dead, but when he heard the same whispers from others, doubt pierced his heart.
Rage broke loose. Tears streamed down his face as he cried out:
"You're lying! My family was innocent! They never did anything wrong!"
The hall fell silent. All eyes turned to him. Yet instead of comfort, he was met with cold, disdainful stares. Disgust. Contempt. As if he were not a grieving child, but a stain, the cursed remnant of a disgraced family.
His body shook. What did I do to deserve this?
He stumbled back, overwhelmed by their gaze, then turned and fled the hall, sobbing as he searched for a place where the cruelty of men could not reach him.
The next day, as his family was lowered into the earth, grief was no longer his only companion. Powerlessness consumed him.
He turned to the police, his last flicker of hope. "Did you find the killer?Will you avenge them?"
Their answer was always the same: "We're still searching,son."
Days became weeks. Weeks became months. "Searching" turned into "no leads," and finally into a sealed case: perpetrator unknown.
When Aydin heard the words, his world collapsed. No hero. No justice. No law.
The world had abandoned him.
---
And the cruelty didn't stop there.
His father's relatives, whom he thought would shelter him, revealed their true faces. "The house was never your father's.It belongs to us. We merely allowed him to stay there."
Aydin didn't fully understand, but he understood the outcome: he was thrown out.
When he begged to live with them, they turned him away coldly. Their children mocked him, pushed him to the ground like a broken toy.
He was left with nothing. No home. No family. No one.
He wandered the streets, clutching his father's old clothes as his only treasure, holding them close each night to steal some semblance of warmth.
But time is merciless to a boy not yet ten. Each day felt like the world itself conspired to crush him.
At last, he sought refuge in the mountains. Carrying what little remained of his home, he climbed into the freezing silence, praying the wilderness would be kinder than men.
Days turned into months. Months into years. He learned to survive on nothing.
At first, he ate worms and insects, then learned to fish in mountain streams. Survival shows he had once watched on television became his only teachers.
But the one thing he could not escape… was his own mind.
Memories haunted him. He spoke to his mother in dreams, laughed with his sister in the shadows, imagined his father sitting beside him. He even invented an imaginary friend to keep him company, sharing in his explorations of the caves hidden deep in the mountains.
And then came that day. The day he entered the cave. The day the world itself was set ablaze with destruction.
When Aydin emerged to witness the ruins of civilization, blood staining the ground, the memories surged back like a flood. Instinctively, he ran to his old home, as if his family might still be waiting there. But of course… they were gone.
And so the cycle repeated—shock, denial, despair—until he stood in the present moment.
It was then he realized: the family, the home, even the friend… it had all been an illusion. A fragile world he built to shield himself from reality's cruelty.
The sight of blood returned him to that day, to the injustice that had scarred him forever.
And within him, something ignited.
Rage...