Horror of the McCarthy family

Beyond the waters

Birecik district, Turkey
1985
25th of July

The Turkish rivers flow gracefully through the lands. Some say that if magic exists, it is contained in water. But how much of this is the case?

Kılıç household

The Kılıç family was amongst one of the poorest families in the district. You see, the economy of Turkey in 1985 wasn't the best. There were a select few wealthy people. But in 2022, these rich people of 1985 would be middle class. It sometimes was a struggle with food; however, the family got a lot of stuff provided for them by their neighbors.

The family existed of 6 people. Kamile Kılıç, the mother of the household. She's married to Abdullah Kılıç and together they have 4 kids. Their eldest, Kerem, he is 18 years old and works to partially provide for the household. Zeynep, the families second child, she's 16 years old. She is one of the smartest kids in town and she would do anything for a scholarship to get into a good school. Hakan, the third child, he's 13 and isn't in school anymore. You see back in the day you were only obliged to go to elementary school, the rest was optional. And then the family's youngest, Efe, he is 7 years old and there is nothing special to him.

One day, Efe was being brought to school by his mom. "Are you excited for school, annem?" Kamile asked him with a wide smile. "Yes..." "Why the long face, dear?" Efe did not reply to that. Kamile sighed "Did Kerem tell you another Jinn story?" Efe nodded shyly before he said, "But I asked him to tell me one, he warned me it might be scary." "UFT Efe, I warned you to forget about the Jinn. Just believe in Allah and nothing can happen to you, okay? And if a jinn would happen to target you, remember to-""recite Ayat-ul Kursi, it's the Qurans most valued verse, I know" Kamile smiled upon Efe saying that.

After a little walk, they arrived at Efe's school. Kamile got on her knees and made Efe's hair sit properly. "Remember be nice, I don't want you to be a problem child like Hakan." Kamile smiled. "I'll be fine, when's the last time I caused a scene after all?" "I am just saying. Tell miss Elif I said hi." Efe nodded before he was summoned. Everyone had to stand with their class and sing the national anthem and then enter the school one by one. Kamile left. When Efe entered the class, he walked over to his teacher and told her "My mom said Hey", to which his teacher smiled "Tell her I said hi back" "Will do". Efe went to his seat and sat down. During every class he would sit next to his best friend: Kaan. Efe and Kaan have been friends since birth, since their moms are quite close.

Kaan looked at Efe since he was already in his seat. "Morning best friend" Kaan said with a wide smile. "You're in a good mood." Efe responded. "When am I not, I'm not like you after all, grumpy face." "That's your best insult, Kaan? That's sad" Efe said. Both of them laughed. "Did you guys hear??" Suddenly a random classmate of them approached them with this question, her name was Selma. Efe sighed before asking "Heard what, Selma?". "The Euphrates waters! They say someone disappeared again there!" Selma said excitedly. Efe sighed again, "again? Do you truly believe these stories Selma?" Efe said, Kaan followed "My grandma says the Euphrates Waters has its own will and conscience! But then again, my dad thinks she's crazy..." Kaan said with a kind of sad voice. Efe smiled as a form of reassurance that it's all good. "Well, my parents say a Jinn resides within those waters! And that the Jinn is taking away all the people!" Selma exclaimed. Efe sighed "Well maybe, the person just fell in and did not know how to swim. Afterall almost no one besides those in service know how to swim." Kaan and Selma looked at Efe as if he had just said the weirdest thing ever. Aren't these 7-year-old kids just the cutest?

Now, I won't bother you any further with Efe's school day. Nothing noteworthy happened. You might be wondering right now, where is this going? Well not every story is directly to the point like McCarthy's, okay? Moving on. Efe finishes his school day, but we are going to skip to the family dinner.