Chapter 2 - Escape

Song of the episode:

Jeyhun Samedov- GETME

My mother and I were on our way home from the mall. We were about five minutes away from home. We saw a lot of police cars and an ambulance stopped on the road.

"What happened there?" my mother said, turning her head to the side to see what was going on.

I said, "I don't know, let's go and see."

The sight we saw was someone they had covered up because he was dead.

"Son, what happened here?" my mother asked the man standing next to us.

"A young girl, auntie. She killed her ex-boyfriend because he wouldn't come back to her."

The moment he said that, my whole body trembled. I could feel the fear even in the tips of my toes.

"They caught him. He told her, 'I will kill you and I will not hesitate to go to jail. Of course she didn't believe him."

When I wanted to leave, I almost lost my mind after what the man said to me. The man leaned slightly towards me and said:

"Parviz brother sends his regards..."

☘️☘️☘️

I don't even remember how I got home. I was as white as a sheet. At that moment I was as white as a dead man.

I had to get help from someone. Peri suddenly came in. I looked at her with such hopeful eyes that it was hard not to cry.

"Banu, what happened? Why are you crying?" she asked curiously.

I put my finger to my lips and told her to be quiet. I quickly closed the door and told her what had happened.

Peri was listening to me in astonishment and couldn't say anything.

"When did this happen?" she said with worried eyes.

As soon as he said, "I am twenty-one years old," two tears fell from my eyes.

"Two years ago... You were a college senior?" Peri said with tears in her eyes.

I nodded my head in agreement.

Peri paused for a moment and said, "Go away." I looked into her eyes, not understanding what she meant. "Run away, go to Baku."

I was focused on him, I didn't know what to say. "What do you mean going to Baku? What am I going to tell people at home?" I said, lowering my voice.

"You will say you went to work," Peri said and started to cry.

"What am I going to do there? How will I take care of myself? I don't know anywhere." As soon as I said that, he hugged me.

"If you want to live, please go. Because I don't want to lose you."

Those words still ring in my ears. We had decided. I had to convince the people at home and leave.

When I told people at home, my mother and other siblings did not accept it. But my father's attitude towards me helped us for the first time. He was the only one who accepted.

The others couldn't say anything because my father agreed with them. Whatever my father said was what happened. He was in charge at home.

☘️☘️☘️

I said goodbye to everyone. For the first time, my father seemed proud of me. Because I was going to work.

They thought I had already found a job, but I didn't even know where I was going to stay.

I was leaving early in the morning, before sunrise, so no one would see me. I asked my mother to say goodbye. I hugged everyone tightly, trying to hide my tears. I got on the bus. I had only packed a few clothes. My mother secretly slipped two hundred manats into my pocket. This was her money she had been saving for a long time.

"Take care, my lamb. I'll miss you. Call me often, okay?"

When we broke up, Peri told me everything would be all right. I hoped so.

On the way to Baku, I was looking out the window and dreaming, trying not to fall asleep because when I did, I had nightmares.

☘️☘️☘️

It was morning when I arrived in Baku. The peace of turning a different page was combined with the discomfort inside me.

I had to look for a job, but it was not going to be that easy. I was going to workplaces from morning till night, I had a hard time because I didn't know the roads.

It was getting dark. Suddenly my phone rang.

"Hello! Hello!" Ahu said in an excited voice.

"Yes, I hear you, is something wrong?" I asked curiously.

"Sis, something terrible has happened," Ahu shouted.

"What happened? Where are you?"

"We're in the hospital, my mom... My mom has thyroid cancer..."