Deadly Talent

The boy, who was tired of running for a long time, was breathing deeply with his hands on his kneecaps. But with each breath, the unbearable frost of the night that filled him burned his lungs, and the shivering that covered his body increased a little more with each breath. He could no longer remember how long he had been running, but he could not stop, no he should not stop. The little boy started running again. Even this few seconds break was too much. As if the cold was not bad enough, the last bit of light disappeared as the moon went behind the clouds. After minutes of running, the boy had reached the top of a steep slope. After groping his way through an area covered by dense bushes, he let himself down the slope in front of him. A few metres before he reached the level, his feet could no longer withstand the fatigue and he tumbled to the ground with the effect of his speed. Trying to get up with tears in his eyes, the boy realised that what he was chasing was just ahead of him as the moon came out of the clouds. A tall man in a long black overcoat and a fedora was walking with a crying child of 4-5 years old in his arms. Seeing what he was looking for in front of him, the child rushed forward with all his might. “Stop! Please let my brother go.” The man turned in the direction of the voice. His face was covered with a dark scarf, only his eyes were visible, grey eyes with an expressionless look. Seeing his brother, the little boy stretched out his hand as if to get rid of him. It was as if he wanted to catch his brother with his thin and beautiful fingers. He could not say anything because he was crying and sobbing, but his frightened look was enough to tell what he was feeling. Her brother was running on the one hand and shouting on the other. “Please let my brother go, what has he done to you, please let him go!” The man looked at the boy following him for a while and then continued on his way as if nothing had happened. However, the boy had closed the distance, and with a last effort he managed to catch the man by his overcoat. “I said let go of my brother; let go, let go, let go!” The man grabbed the boy with his free hand and swung him, then turned around and continued on his way. Crying helplessly, the brother picked up a large piece of stone and threw it towards the man in the black hat. The stone hit the man in the back. Turning slowly back, the man took the small child he was holding under his armpit in his other hand, now holding the child as if he was holding a bag. The man stared at the child with grey eyes that looked as if they belonged to the dead. After looking at the child following him for a while, he took his free hand to his waist. The grey-eyed man took out his long-barreled gun that shone like silver in the moonlight. He pointed his gun at the boy, whose face and clothes were covered in mud, who looked at him with a look of fear. When he pressed the trigger, the boy never felt the pain of the bullet entering his head. “Cemillll!” Hearing the shout, the woman stopped what she was doing in the kitchen and ran to the bedroom. Her husband was sitting naked on the bed. He had the look of fear and surprise on his face that people waking up from nightmares have. The woman sat on the bed and put her hand on his shoulder. “Darling, are you okay?” The man ran his hand through his hair in distress. “Yes, yes, I’m fine.” “Is it the same nightmare again?” The man didn’t answer. “This is the third time this week. And the drugs aren’t working anymore.” “This time it was much more realistic, as if I relived that moment.” “Cenk, I think we should turn to more definite solutions. My cousin Nermin knows a professor in America who specialises in these issues...” The man glared at her. “Please, Mehtap, don’t start again.” “But darling, I am also very sad about your situation and I want to do something.” “I understand, but we’ve talked about this abroad business before.” “Don’t be stubborn. There is no solution here.” “The organisation has found me a new psychologist, I’m going to see him today.” “Fine, suit yourself. Chicken Kali...” Mehtap headed for the door to leave the room “Come on, breakfast is ready, get dressed and come.” She said these words without looking back. “Okay, my love, I’m coming.” Cenk answered too quietly for her to hear. Cenk continued to sit on the bed for a few more minutes. The window of the room was right behind him, the light coming in through the window made the dust flying in the air shine and created a very beautiful view. He usually found this visual feast amusing, but this morning he was definitely not in the mood. Finally he got up from his seat and went to the bathroom. When he entered the bathroom, he put his hands on the sink and started to watch himself in the mirror, his body was still tight, combined with his height of 1.92, the image was not bad, but the whiteness that appeared in his hair last year continued to increase and almost completely covered the tops of his ears. This was not good. The advantage of his big green eyes and glowing skin was starting to fade as the years went by. His angular facial features, which resembled comic book characters, were now filled with middle-aged wrinkles. The only thing the years hadn’t taken away from him were his nightmares. He had turned thirty-five last week, but he lived that night twenty-five years ago at least a few times every week. Cenk closed his eyes tightly as if he wanted to get rid of his thoughts, turned his head slightly to the left, and then put his head under the tap he opened. He liked to wash his hair in the sink since his student years. He stayed like this for a few minutes. A dense mass of steam was coming out of the water and his skin was getting red, but despite this, Cenk did not show the slightest sign of discomfort caused by the heat. When he lifted his head, the mirror was covered in steam. Wiping the mirror with his hand, Cenk was startled by what he saw in the mirror at the first wipe. The murderer who kidn*pped his brother twenty-five years ago was standing in front of him, he was wearing that scarf and that fedora on his head again, and his eyes, those horrible grey eyes, were looking at him as if they belonged to a corpse. Startled by the face he saw, Cenk let out a high-pitched scream of fear and took a step or two back, but immediately afterwards he hit his fist against the mirror with an anger far greater than his fear. The pieces of the mirror were noisily scattered all over the bathroom. Hearing the noise, Mehtap ran to her husband for the second time. “Cenk... Oh my God!” Seeing her husband with his hands covered in blood and his head red as beetroot, Mehtap covered her mouth with her hand to prevent herself from screaming. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Mehtap held her husband’s injured hand. “How are you okay, your hand is covered in blood?” “What does it matter if I can’t feel the pain!” Allowing his wife to wrap her hand before breakfast, Cenk got into his 2005 light blue car parked in front of the house. His wife had tied his hand really tightly, he was having a hard time gripping the steering wheel. Mehtap had been the only woman Cenk had ever fallen in love with. Mehtap was not like the women you can meet every day on the street, she had a beauty that immediately attracted attention. She had long brown and full hair, brown eyes just like her hair, a plump body, a constantly smiling face, and her smile was not a woman who could be easily forgotten. When she laughed, she had an excitement that made people happy. Especially her love, she loved Cenk as tenderly as if she loved a cat. Mehtap’s life was also worthy of her beauty: fast, exciting and fun. There was a little age difference between Cenk and Mehtap. For some reason, Cenk was attracted to women younger than him. As far as he remembers, he inherited this trait from his grandfather. One day his grandfather had told him that if a man’s wife is younger than him, even if he grows old, his spirit will always remain alive. Like many Turkish young people, they had met at a friend’s wedding. Then they exchanged phone numbers, met, dated, went on dates, went to parties and got married. When a man proposes to a woman, he really loves her and it takes years for a man to reach the threshold of marriage. Their marriage, which was very fun in the early days, had deteriorated a little bit due to Cenk’s work and problems. Of course, Mehtap’s longing for her old-style flighty life also had an effect on this bad course. She wanted to go travelling and shopping like she used to. Suddenly, she was making appointments, making plans for dinners, and when Cenk’s work and responsibilities did not allow her to do so, she would get upset and become irritable. Since Cenk was a Capricorn, he was a dignified, somewhat reserved man. He cared about his responsibilities. Although his working hours were uncertain due to his profession, he always liked to act in a planned way. For this reason, Mehtap’s desire to do whatever she thought of right then was enough to drive him crazy. There were not a few minor problems and arguments in their marriage. Maybe it was a little more than in every marriage. These small arguments grew like a gas leak left on the stove and exploded at the slightest spark. Even if Cenk shone at such times, he was still taking it easy, preferring to keep silent in order not to harm her. Mehtap, on the other hand, had no tongue. At such moments, she would say whatever came to her mouth, shouting and calling. No matter how broken Cenk was, he knew how to warm both hearts when they went to the bedroom, and woke up in the morning as if he had woken up from a bad nightmare again. Cenk couldn’t stop thinking about his marriage, which had started to deteriorate even more in the last few months. He should definitely talk to his psychologist about this too. What saved Cenk from these thoughts about his marriage was a car coming out of a side road on his right and then a hard brake sound. “Watch where you’re going! Are you blind or what!” After making an interesting movement with his hand, the man stepped on the accelerator and left. Cenk did not neglect to respond in a similar way. Just as he was about to leave, he saw a young man dressed in ragged clothes entering the alley that the previous car had just left, but the young man had a small brown lady’s bag in his hand. Cenk got out of the car and started to follow the scruffy young man with a lady bag. The young man had taken a detour into the alleys, and in the meantime, he often looked behind him to see if he was being followed. After passing a few alleys, he stopped at a dead end. He was approached by two men much older than him, one with a stubble beard and a black leather jacket, the other a large man in a brown overcoat. The big man put the cigarette in his mouth, took the bag in his hand with a quick movement and started to rummage inside. “Good business, gentlemen. How is the revenue?” The punks, who thought they were alone and suddenly saw someone they did not recognise, looked at each other in surprise. “I see you started the day early. I thought all the rascals were asleep at this hour.” Cenk walked towards the men. “Who the hell are you!” “The young man took my bag and that’s why I’m bothering you!” Cenk said these words by thinning his voice and making it sound like a woman’s voice. The punks were looking bewildered again, but this time it was short-lived. The man in the leather jacket made a fist and started running towards Cenk. But before he could get closer, Cenk’s kick had already found his stomach. This time, the ragged youth rushed with the switchblade knife he took out of his pocket, but in his first move, he caught his arm in his opponent’s hand. With the violence of the hand squeezing his wrist, the knife slipped between his fingers. Meanwhile, the big man took out his gun and pointed it at the intruder. Catching the knife falling to the ground with a sudden movement, Cenk managed to throw it at the armed man. The knife stabbed into the right chest of the big man. Meanwhile, the other man with a stubble beard had already swung his own knife at Cenk. Cenk realised this move very young, the knife hit his bandaged hand, which he extended at the last moment to defend himself. The knife pierced his hand and passed to the other side. Cenk first looked at his hand and then at the man who stabbed himself, and then started laughing with laughter. “What the hell!” The stubble bearded man was quite frightened by the fact that his opponent, whose blood was gushing out of his hand, was laughing instead of writhing in pain. Cenk pulled the knife out of his hand as if he was pulling a small piece of thorn. “Do you know how many times I have done this to myself?” The man preferred to run away instead of listening, but when he took his first step, his own knife quickly stabbed into his calf. The big man lay unconscious, not dead but bleeding profusely. The young man was writhing on the ground holding his arm and the stubble man was holding his foot. Cenk took out his mobile phone. Ever since the phone companies introduced free public lines, the police had been using these free lines as walkie-talkies. “Hello Evren, is that you? This is Cenk, send an ambulance and a police team to the address I will give you now...”