Together Again

Chapter 15

Serkan's Perspective
Serkan sat on the edge of the river, the same river he had crossed weeks ago when he first followed the path toward what he believed was the lead to Eda. His heart was still heavy with the thoughts of her, but today, something felt different. He opened his journal, the pages now worn and filled with his desperate, fragmented thoughts. This was his only connection to her now—the only thing that kept him grounded.

As he wrote, his mind wandered back to the last conversation they had. He had begged her to stay. He had promised that she wasn’t a burden. But she hadn’t listened. And now, weeks—no, months—had passed. The silence had become unbearable. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was out there, somewhere, waiting for him to find her.

Eda's Perspective
Eda’s eyes flickered over the cracked screen of her phone. She hadn’t checked it in days. The battery was nearly dead, but that didn’t matter anymore. She had almost forgotten it was there—except for one message she could never bring herself to send. It was always right there, in the drafts, waiting to be sent. But no matter how many times she opened it, her fingers never followed through.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to send this to you,” she read again, as she did almost every day. “But I need to write it anyway. I need to let it out before I lose the courage to face it all.”

Every word felt like an echo, a reminder of everything she’d left behind. The wilderness had become her sanctuary, but as the months passed, she found herself haunted by the things she had left unsaid. Had she made the right choice by leaving? Or had she made a mistake she would never be able to fix?

Serkan's Perspective
The journal felt heavy in Serkan’s hands as he wrote, his hand moving faster now, desperate to articulate everything that had been left unsaid. He had spent hours reflecting on Eda’s note, overanalyzing the meaning of her words, wondering if he could have done something differently to stop her from leaving.

He paused and reread his last entry, wondering if he could have done more to convince her to stay. His mind buzzed with a thousand unanswered questions. But the one that remained at the center of it all was simple: Where is she?

Eda's Perspective
A soft breeze rustled the leaves around her as Eda pressed the screen of her phone again, her thumb hovering over the “send” button. She hadn’t meant to keep this message locked away. She hadn’t meant for it to stay a secret, but the fear had always held her back. What if he hates me? What if I’ve lost him forever?

But there was something different today. A pull deep inside her, a feeling that maybe, just maybe, it was time to stop hiding. Maybe I could give him a hint. Just a small one. Maybe I could tell him that I’m okay, that I’ve learned from my mistakes.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she pressed the button. “If it’s not too late... if you can forgive me...”

A sudden rush of emotions overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes and whispered into the quiet of the forest. “I never stopped loving you, Serkan.”

Serkan's Perspective
Serkan closed his journal with a snap, his heart pounding. He hadn’t realized how much he had needed to write until the words were finally out. He stood up and stretched, his body aching from the long days of travel. The terrain had grown rougher, and his steps had become slower, but the thought of Eda kept him moving. She was out there. Somewhere.

He turned his attention back to the path ahead. It felt like he had been walking forever, each step more exhausted than the last. Water was his only respite—finding it was a small victory, a momentary break in the endless struggle. He didn’t sleep much anymore, barely enough to keep his mind clear. His dreams, when he did manage to sleep, were always filled with her.

The night had fallen again, the cold air biting at his skin. He settled for a spot under a thick canopy of trees, the sounds of nature filling his ears. He pulled his jacket tighter around his body, closing his eyes and focusing on the hope that tomorrow would bring him closer to her.

Eda's Perspective
Eda lay awake, her body pressed against the ground beneath the shelter of a small cave she had found earlier that day. The nights were cold here, but the air was clean, and the solitude gave her a strange peace. She had stopped trying to fight the silence of the wilderness long ago, embracing it instead. There was comfort in being alone—no expectations, no fear of letting someone down.

But tonight, for the first time in a long while, her thoughts kept drifting back to Serkan. Would he have forgiven me? Would he have still loved me, even after everything I put him through?

Her fingers found the phone again, the screen now dim. She read the message one more time, the weight of it sinking in. I never sent it. I never gave him the chance to know the truth. What if I could have changed things? What if we could have had a future?

She closed her eyes, her breath catching in her throat. It wasn’t just the wilderness that was isolating her now—it was the crushing sense of regret