CHAPTER 29 – DESCENDING THE PATH OF ANGELS
A jabbing sensation on my shoulder stirred me out from my slumber.
"Uyanmak! Hey, hey, uyanmak!" The kind old man who had given me a ride had reached his arm through the gaps between the wooded rails and was poking me.
"Okay, okay," I responded wearily blinking my dry eyes and gazing upwards at the blood-red dusk sky. It felt like it was early morning, but as I sat up on the hay bale I pulled my phone out to look at the time; the time disagreed with my body clock and told me it was in fact early evening. I'd been on the back of this truck for over six hours but it felt like so much longer – damn jet lag.
The stars that had already started to shine through a patchy red sky looked abnormally placed and strangely brighter than they did back at home.
The old man had walked around to the rear of his truck that was parked to the side of the road, opened the rickety gate and urged me to get off his truck, which, I obliged, and after strapping my backpack over my shoulder I jumped off the vehicle, staggered slightly unbalanced on my feet for a brief moment before gazing past the truck and down the road ahead.
The smooth dirt road split into two distinctive paths, fifty feet ahead, but there were no road signs around – I had no idea at all where I was and the sunken sensation of the thought that I had just trusted a complete stranger to carry me for the last six hours to my destination threw me into a panic.
The weathered old man headed hastily back to the cab of his truck as though he was in a hurry to leave.
"Hey!" I yelled out worryingly. "Hey! Where am I?"
Just before the man stepped back into his truck, he prodded himself enthusiastically in the chest with his index finger then pointed his finger in the left direction, and then he pointed at me before swinging his arm back to the path on the right. He urgently nodded and smiled, and he then jumped back into the truck and crunched the vehicle into gear driving off down the road on the left. Seeing as I had foolishly entrusted this stranger for the last six hours, I followed his suggestion and headed down the road on the right.
The first stretch of this foreign road was mainly straight and before I'd reached the first noticeable bend an hour later, the sky had fallen dark. The path that lay ahead of me was barely illuminated by the patchy stars above; my eyes had since adjusted to the dark of the early night but I could only see about a hundred yards around me; it was enough to avoid tripping over the rocks and raised humps of the beaten road. I glanced back to see how far I'd come; the road had seemed to have climbed slightly for the entire walk so far and this explained why my legs progressively protested at this prolonged inclination, but I couldn't be sure, it was too dark to see far enough back. My mind had started playing the album "The Division Bell" by Pink Floyd while the surrounding flat plains appeared as though they were morphing into two dimensional shapes, closing the distance between me and the stars above. I felt as though I could simply reach up and carefully pluck a star from off the black canvas the lay just above my head.
Nearly out of breath, I walked around the long sweeping bend, and my suspicions that I'd just climbed a long sloping hill were confirmed. Bending down and resting on my knees to catch my breath, I gazed out in hope at the hilly landscape below. Numerously scattered soft yellow lights that diffused through thin layers of fog glimmered in the distance in the valley below and beyond them sat towering masses of black. The dark peaks of what appeared to be hills beyond, almost entirely blended in with the patchy night sky; it was almost impossible to see where the hills ended and the sky started.
The descent towards the village of lights was windy and a lot rougher than the road behind me. The jagged-edged rocks raised up out of the road threateningly – one slip and they'd easily gash into a limb or crack my head open. The temperature around me dropped slightly and the air that entered my lungs felt heavy and damp. Gazing back up at the now star-less night sky, a drop of rain landed on my forehead; it felt refreshing, yet at the same time gave me a sense of urgency to push forward before the rain had a chance to settle in, but the lights ahead were still a couple of miles ahead, maybe more. I broke into a careful run just as the heavens opened up turning the dirt road almost instantly into a slippery clay-like mess.
Drenched by the rain, I finally reached the edge of the village where the clay under my feet transitioned to an irregularly-shaped cobbled path. The pathway stretched between widely spaced dwellings that emitted light through their windows as though they were eyes peering down at me as I walked onto the cobble and into the first part of the small village. I pushed forward in a light, cautious jog, and spotted a light ahead which was brighter than the rest around me. As I got closer to the source of the light, it became clear that the glow was emitted from a large single filament bulb that was attached to the side of a large brick and white plastered building; its illumination covered the sizable deck at the front that served as a sheltered entrance. Flanked on either side of the entrance way was a pair of wooden tables and chairs that stood empty yet worn.
I hurriedly stepped out of the rain and under the shelter of the awning where I stood puffing away struggling to fill my lungs with air. Facing the heavy looking wooden entrance door, I saw the words "Hoşgeldiniz" etched in black stain on the door, but I didn't have a clue what it meant. Muffled laughter, murmuring and heavy footsteps could be heard on the other side of the door. Timidly, I knocked and waited, but no one answered; I knocked again, but still no one answered. Taking a deep breath, then exhaling, I turned the wrought iron door knob and pushed the door open slowly, trying to be as subtle as possible, but just as the noise from within amplified as the door opened wider, the murmuring and muttering suddenly dropped off into a hushed silence.
There I stood, in front of the entrance door that was now open ninety degrees wide, surveying the room as quickly as I could. Inside, the room was a moderately sized open space that was dimly lit by bulbs that hung off wires fixed from the pitched open ceiling. Off to the left and halfway down the room was a large wooden bar that stretched around a towering rack of brown tinted bottles of similar shapes. Tall tables wrapped around the numerous thick pillars that held up the roof and were catering to the many elbows of the rough patrons that leaned against their surface – many of whom held a glass drinking vessel in one hand. Between the pillars, low tables and chairs filled the gaps and almost all the chairs were occupied. Most of the people in the room had stopped drinking and now looked upon me with hardened looks and narrow, seedy eyes. Trying to shun off the deathly stares, I closed the door behind me and stepped casually to the bar.
"Do you speak English?" I nervously asked the large man that stood behind the bar. "English?"
"Yes, small," he replied in a deep and thick Turkish accent. "Little...er... small."
The bearded barman looked at me with a certain worry in his brown eyes and I got the impression that he felt sorry for me, a young american traveling on his own in desolate southern Turkey, soaked by the rain and beaten down by a presumptuously depressive life.
"You, American?" he asked narrowing his eyes ever so slightly.
"Yes," I replied hoarsely.
"Why young boy from America here? You running away, trouble follow?" he asked as he momentarily glanced behind me at his patrons, his eyes flashing with worry.
The crowd in the room started to converse once more putting me more at ease knowing that I was no longer their center of attention.
"I'm looking for someone. A girl," I replied as I reached into the side pocket of my backpack and pulled out the photograph of Jill. "Have you seen her? This one here?" I turned the photo around to show the barman.
"No sorry," he said shaking his head in short quick shakes. He'd dismissed the photo instantly, before I'd even pointed out Jill. A look of regret flashed in his eyes as though the photo had re-surged a painful memory back to the surface.
"Please I beg of you! Please have another look! I can't imagine many visitors come here! Please sir!" I pleaded pushing the photo back into the barman's face.
"No!" he refused, pushing the photo away with his large arm. "You mush leave, go." He turned his face away from me and worryingly peered over my shoulder again. I stuffed the photo back in my pocket and turned around fearfully to see a few of the menacing looking male patrons standing up from their table and casting icy looks at me. I now worried that they were going to head towards me to remove me from the bar but instead and to my surprise, they walked towards the rear of the building and out of sight. I turned my scorning look back to the barman.
"You know something! I can see it in your face!" I erupted out loudly and the room once again fell silent, but this time I didn't care. The lead Jill had left me just strengthened and I was certain that the man behind the bar knew something!
"You must leave, quickly!" the barman said with a raised urgent voice.
"No!" I strongly rebelled. The large barman walked quickly to the end of the bar, slide sideways through a gap in the bench, and stormed over to where I stood. He then grabbed hold of my backpack and forcibly pulled me towards the front door. Fighting back was near useless for I had such little strength after my wearily long journey and the barman was huge in comparison to me – any attempt to resist him would be feeble. Another patron that had sat by the door had gotten up and now held the door open. The barman then shoved me heavily out the entrance way where I then stumbled over the deck stairs landing sideways onto the muddy ground.
"LEAVE HERE!" I heard the barman yell out before the door to the bar was slammed shut. I slowly heaved my body off the mud, sat up and stared angrily at the building I'd just been kicked out of. He knows something. I need to find out more. Why had he been so dismissive?
Seconds into planning my re-entry into the village bar, three men emerged from the side of the building walking slowly towards me with menacing, revengeful looks on their faces – their intentions were obviously hostile. I weakly stood up, raised my fists and faced the approaching men, preparing myself for a fight that I had no chance of winning. The first male that had reached me grinned, then threw the first punch towards my face. It was a sloppy punch and I managed to dodge it and return with a quick jab that hit him squarely on his nose. He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground as blood rushed down his chin; he cupped his face swearing and cursing in Turkish. A bold shape under his right ear contrasted against his skin and as he cocked his head irately away from the light of the building's light – the shape of a tattoo came into focus for a fleeting moment – it was a tattoo of a winged human, an angel.
The next attacker approached me from my left side and I perceived that the third attacker was now out of sight, somewhere behind me, but before I had the chance to turn around to locate him, the second attacker that had quickly closed the gap on me from my left, taunted me by pointing out his identical angel tattoo and cackling loudly, holding his long tongue out as though he was a mental patient. These men must be part of a gang. A powerful kick suddenly collided with the back of my knees and I fell backwards, folding over myself onto the muddy ground. Unable to get up before the assailants closed in on me, I curled up into the fetal position and endured the onslaught of kicks and punches that followed. One of the attackers kept trying to pull my backpack off me but I curled in further into a ball and held on my bag tightly.
The viscous attack lasted for a slow agonizingly painful minute –
Then out of nowhere, a loud crack echoed abruptly though the air from somewhere close by.
My attackers suddenly stopped their assault and ran off rapidly, apparently scared off by the gunshot. A throbbing pain shivered through my shoulder as I tried to stand up, and although I tried to move my hand up to my chest, to relieve the agony, it refused and responded with a sharpening pain through my upper arm. I reached my other hand over my shoulder and felt an unusual bump – I'd never had a dislocated shoulder before, but I was sure I had one now. I scrambled to my feet as best as I could in the bruised and weakened state that I'd been pummeled into and slumped against one of the nearby rock walls for cover clutching my dislocated shoulder with my free hand. What followed the single gun shot was the tranquil sound of light rain drops tapping on the nearby tile roofs – and that's when I saw Jill.
She stood on the road fifty feet away, a long black coat hung off her shoulders; her distinctive ash blonde hair glittered against the shadows of the night that surrounded her. The light drifting rain appeared to wrap around her, almost as though the drops danced about her coat, never seeming to land on her body. Her back faced me and she didn't turn around; it was as though she didn't know I was there!
"Jill!" I yelled out, but only a weak, raspy sound came from my sore throat. Jill didn't turn around, she didn't hear me.
"Jill!" I shouted out again, but my throat was too dry and raw for my cries to be heard.
Jill began to walk away down the cobbled road and was now almost out of sight. A surge of hope flooded my veins and with this wave of liberation I propped myself up and staggered towards her but she kept on walking away. I picked up my pace as much as I could muster, but so did Jill – the distance between us remained constant. After walking for a few minutes trailing Jill, the road that ran through the village, that was once surrounded by shacks and trees, now only had thick forest on the left; the right was completely exposed to a chilling wind; the crashing sound of waves against a rocky cliff face could be heard from down below and the ocean beyond reflected the rippling patches of stars above. This road was rocky, windy, and in some places steep yet Jill never seemed to stumble or lose pace, it was as though she was impervious to the ground's unforgiving texture. Further up the hills in some places, the only way I could transverse some of the steeper sections was to pull myself up using the branches from the bordering trees yet Jill appeared to effortlessly glide up these with no trouble at all. My legs felt as though they were going to finally give way from underneath me as I approached the crest of yet another incline – I sighed at the top of the hill and tried to catch my breath.
My arm still throbbed from the attack but the bump had disappeared; my back dully ached from bruising and I felt steady waves of nausea that would cause my balance to sway. I pulled my phone out to check the time but after pressing the "on" button, the phone's screen flickered briefly before going blank. The screen was cracked and the phone was soaking wet; it was malfunctioning, broken by the vicious attack on me from those three cowards. Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I tried to gauge how long I'd been walking for, but it was impossible. I felt as though I was losing my sense of awareness. I was lost, wet and hungry and I was following this person, this phantom deeper into the forest. Doubt was starting to surface whether this was truly Jill and whether or not I'd made the right decision to come to this hostile place. Jill slowed down momentarily and it was as though she had heard my doubting thoughts and yearning to see her again; she turned her face ever so slightly towards me – just enough for me to catch a glimpse of her cheek-line.
"Jake...almost..." she whispered as though she was speaking to me from within the walls of my head. Her encouragement urged me back into a walk in pursuit of her but I felt as though I was losing my hold on my reality. Was I dying? Was this my ending? My only option was to keep following Jill.
A moment that felt like an eternity later, the road headed back inland and the pathway was now completely surrounded by the thick forest. I could barely see through the dense shadows of the trees that fell over the path – Jill's sparkling blonde hair was my only guiding light. Jill, who was still fifty feet ahead of me, turned right and disappeared into the woods. I broke into a clumsy run, afraid I'd lose sight of her.
"Jill! Wait!" I screamed out racing to the point where she'd disappeared.
Frantically straining my eyes around to my right, then back down at the continuing road, then back to my right again, the dirt path appeared to tee-off into the a thinned out part of the forest... It was another road, narrower then the one I stood on and it had been overgrown by shrubs appearing as though it hadn't been used for decades. The small fading glow of Jill's hair shone through the gaps in the low slung branches before disappearing again.
"Jill, wait for me!" I yelled through my sore dry throat as I weaved my way between the clusters of shrubs.
Some time later, maybe an hour or so, I felt my body shutting down from absolute exhaustion, but I continued slowly through the maze of criss-crossing bushes. There was no place to rest, and pairs of small beady glowing dots appeared to float in the darkness between the tree trunks around me – I was becoming increasing weary and paranoid as these eyes, that watched me from the shadows, didn't make a single sound – they were figments of my imagination and I was clearly losing my mind. I'm going to die here, tonight – I can feel the encroaching death wrapping my body in it's cold, gripping embrace. I gazed down to the ground, preparing to fall to my knees and just as my legs gave me their final steps, the path unexpectedly opened widely around me; the ground underneath my feet softened as it turned from hardened roots to cold wet grass.
With the last of my waning energy, I glanced around the large clearing in the forest and a gigantic shadow ahead of me protruded upwards towards the patchy starry sky. The grey hazy clouds above parted just enough for the moonlight that barely peaked above the horizon to penetrate through and onto the clearing – and that's when the elevated structure came into view. Through a pair of large rusty spiked entrance gates that had sunken into the ground, a large widespread stone manor stood staunchly towards the back of the clearing a hundred yards away. At the middle of the manor, a tall stone tower stood steadfast; its walls widening towards three sharp turret roofs at the top; the tower cast a lengthy shadow across the flat overgrown lawn. The roof line to either side of the tower was humped with more but smaller turrets and countless chimneys. On the farther right, a large section of the roof was flat and was encased with scores of stone balustrades – it appeared to be a viewing porch. The walls of the building, between the generous amount of methodically placed windows, were partially covered with a climbing ivy that appeared to be dead; yet it's remains still clung tightly to the stone. A tiny yellow flicker of what looked like candlelight seemed to emit through the damp night air from the upper most window of the tower.
Jill was inside and waiting for me...
While I stammered slowly forward, barely one step at a time, the view of the manor pulsated from moonlit to shadow as the clouds fought to block the moon's light. And as I finally reached the front porch to the vast building, I tripped over the single step that I'd failed to see and landed heavily against the heavy planked wooden door which hung on over-sized, black iron hinges under the stone archway of the manor entrance. The door slowly strained open as though it hadn't moved for years and its groans and creaks echoed lowly off the walls of the room beyond.
"Hello?" I called out hoarsely. "Is anybody here? Jill are you there?"
Stepping through the doorway and into the stale-smelling room, I felt a sudden chill sweep past the back of my neck and I got the sinking feeling that someone, or something was hiding in the room – and that it was watching me from the lurking shadows.
