Cold Witness
335 Words
Life settled into a new rhythm. Selin continued her therapy, took her medication, maintained her social life. To everyone else, she was recovering, moving forward, healing.
Only Murat knew the truth. That every night, she came home to him. That every decision was made with him in mind. That she was living two lives—one public and acceptable, one private and impossible.
“This can’t last forever,” Murat said one evening.
“I know.”
“Eventually, something will give. You’ll meet someone alive. Or I’ll fade. Or you’ll finally accept that this is insane.”
“I know that too.”
“So what do we do?”
“We keep going. Until we can’t anymore.”
“That’s not much of a plan.”
“It’s the only plan we have.”
They sat in comfortable silence, watching the city lights twinkle outside. Somewhere out there, people were living normal lives. Having normal relationships. Making normal choices.
But Selin and Murat had never been normal. And maybe that was okay.
“Do you regret it?” Murat asked. “Any of it?”
“Every day. But I’d do it all again.”
“That’s contradictory.”
“That’s love.”
“Or insanity.”
“With us, there’s not much difference.”
Murat laughed—that sound she’d missed so much when he first died, that sound she’d come to depend on in his return.
“I love you, Selin. However long I have, wherever this leads, I love you.”
“I love you too. Ghost and all.”
Outside, Istanbul carried on. Cars honked, boats passed, people lived their lives unaware of the impossible love story happening in one small apartment.
And maybe that was the beauty of it. That in a city of millions, two souls had found each other and refused to let go, even when every logical reason said they should.
Love, after all, had never been logical.
And Selin and Murat were living proof.
- Writer
