The Hate Game

Chapter 5

In the evening, Eda was going through the cabinets in the basement kitchen. She had learned by now that it was open all the time except for a couple of hours on Sundays. After Serkan gave her the chocolate bar the other day, Eda figured that somewhere in the kitchen had to be a hidden supply of sweets.

Eda just laughed in victory as she found the jar with chocolate cookies when Ferit entered the kitchen. He walked over to the fridge and took the leftovers from the dinner, smirking at Eda.

 She knew him too well not to notice that he just came up with some stupid idea. She couldn't help to remark that Ferit shared a lot of his annoying cousin's behaviors. The only difference was she actually liked him.

"Eda, you shouldn't be walking around alone at this hour." Ferit said with a mischievous smile. "Didn't you hear about a serial killer running loose in the neighborhood?"

Eda rolled her eyes, sitting comfortably on the counter between the stove and fridge. "What are you trying to achieve, Ferit? You want me to get scared?"

"Are you still getting scared of everything after dark?" 

"No, I'm not." Eda pouted. She needed one suggestion and was imagining the wildest things in the dark.

"Ok, you can prove it by sitting in this kitchen in the dark for half an hour." Ferit put his dish in the microwave to hit it up.

"I don't need to prove anything."

"Are you chicken?" He teased her. Ferit knew that Eda was very easy to wind up.

Eda glared at him. "Do you want to bet?!"

"Eda, did you forget I always win all the bets?" He asked smugly, and Eda wondered between two cousins who after whom got this attitude or if it was running in the family. "But ok, you have to sit here for one hour in the dark alone, and if you get scared and run, you will have to clean my car."

"Ok, you will lose because I won't get scared. I have my cookies, and I'm going to enjoy myself. And when you lose, you will eat only the porridge for breakfast for a whole month. I know you hate it."

"No problem. I won't touch it because I will win. I'll be here in one hour with my car keys, and I want it waxed first thing in the morning." Ferit chuckled at Eda, who made a childish face at him. He took his plate and switched off the lights.

"A thief was breaking into the kitchen last month." He added, closing the doors.

Eda snorted in the dark and opened the jar with delicious cookies with chocolate chips. She wasn't a baby anymore. She won't get scared, and Ferit will eat his words together with that awful porridge they served in the university cafeteria. 

Eda was now on her third cookie and ten minutes into the bet when the exterior shatters closed abruptly and she almost dropped the glass jar. She took a deep breath to calm herself down but the sudden wind that started to blow behind the windows made her imagine the scenes from horror movies. Eda shifted on the counter nervously, not knowing now if the floor creaking was only a creation of her imagination. She suddenly remembered that it was a medieval castle, and she was in the dungeons, and that realization made her shiver.

Eda sat in the dark for another ten minutes or so when she heard the door slightly opening and saw a male silhouette. She hid behind the fridge and grabbed the pan. He didn't turn on the lights and was walking slowly in her direction. When he was about to pass the fridge he stopped and turned to her. Eda panicked and hit him in the head. The man groaned in pain and slumped on the floor.

"What the hell?!" He shouted, and Eda recognized his voice. She switched the kitchen light on and knelt next to him. 

"Serkan?"