Constantinople's Cherry

II - 25. Yaslı kız kardeş

Disclaimer : Mentions of violence, rape, murders, ethnic cleansing, graphic description of harm, torture, possible important character death. This is a work of fiction losely based on Historical facts, with its own creative liberties. No insult, blame, or offense is implied toward any real dead or alive figure, nor towards any group of people or nation.

....

Eda had ran without stopping, she had looked many times behind her, no one had followed her. Absently, she had still lost herself in the Bazar, hoping to lose anyone that could still be tracking her, like she used to do. Then, in a shaken state, she reached café Kundera, and Ceren, at the counter, instantly noticed something was wrong with her.

"Eda ?" She asked, seeing Eda's destroyed eyes.

Eda's eyes met Ceren's and her chest heaved, she sank against a table, almost falling, and Ceren rushed to her, sitting her down on a chair as Eda broke down into sobs.

Ceren looked around, there weren't many customers, but the few present still stared. Consciously, she raised Eda. "Come on, you are tired guzelim, your mother will heal, she will be fine, don't worry." She feigned nonsense as she held her by the waist and led her to the back of the café, and then, to the basement.

Her steps broke the silence of the place, reasonating where Serkan and a couple of men from the organisation were waiting, monitoring the mission from afar anxiously.

"Do you have the information ?" One of them asked her and Eda's silent crying halted as she looked down at the piece of paper in her hand, Naïri's furiously scribed words staring back at her. The last words she had written. She held it out, and the man took it but Serkan's insides filled with worry at her state as Ceren sat her and she held her knees, shaking.

"Eda ? Are you alright ? Everything went okay ?" Serkan bent at her side instantly and seeing the concern in his eyes, she met his and she started crying again, her face constricting, how could she face his eyes ?

She held her hands to her eyes, hiding from him and Serkan swallowed and looked at the stairs, expecting Naïri to be right behind them and hoping she could tell him what was wrong, what made Eda cry like this, he couldn't bear it.

Not seeing her, he held her hand, reaching and squeezing it away from her crying face. "Eda, shh." He consoled. "What happened ?" He tried again, rubbing her knee and then looked at Ceren. "Is Kuyr upstairs, what's wrong, the mission went well, right ?" He asked her.

The blond shook her head. "She came back alone Serkan." She could only let out, but if dread set in her stomach, even Ceren hadn't expected the truth.

Serkan looked back at Eda, and one thing dawned upon him, Naïri was supposed to go as cover and Eda as back up, but it was Eda that came back with the red veil from Naïri's dress on her head and wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl, as if she was protecting herself from the world.

"Where's Naïri ?" Serkan asked, and his eyes searched Eda's, who locked her eyes with him and sobbed.

"Serkan I'm sorry.." She cried.

And it was then that a terrible feeling gripped his heart. No. "Where's Naïri Kuyr ?" He asked more fiercely, shaking her shoulder.

Eda sobbed. "I am so sorry." She cried and Serkan stared at her in shock.

"No no no, she went with you, she was right with you! Where is my sister Eda ?" Serkan rose in panic, pacing on his own steps in distress and then asking Eda again.

"There were soldiers at the mansion, I don't know who called them." She voiced loudly in the entire room and the two men dropped their task of tracking the road on a big map of Anatolia and looked at her.