Stay with me

Chapter 35 Fate

Defne acutely felt that she was alive. Her hearing was cut from an eerie cry of a dozen voices. It stank of burnt rubber. Her fingers frantically clung to Omer's neck, and the button of his coat painfully pressed into her chest. She heard how the heartbeats and how the air enters the lungs. As blood jerks through the veins and a cold wind freeze the neck. Omer clasped his hands convulsively and her fragile bones cracked with the pressure of his strength, but Defne was glad of this pain.

She is alive!

The baby is alive!

And then, the memory of a push in the back and a thud, lightning pierced the brain, and she tried to look around. But Omer grabbed her head with large palm and wheezed:

- Do not look there...

She heard the clatter of feet, agitated voices, a woman's scream, and dull groans.

- Who? She looked into Omer's blackened face. He hesitated, and she cried out: "Who?"

- Fikret ...

Defne put her hands on his chest and demanded:

- Omer let go!

He slowly unclenched his hands, and she looked around. Turning across the road stood an eerily huge SUV. Near the front wheel, clutching his head with his hands, a young guy sat and whined. A little further away a small crowd gathered. They had surrounded something that Defne could not see. Seda, Iz, and Laura cried. Deniz yelled into the phone demanding an ambulance to go faster. Sinan was kneeling. Defne, as in a dream, moved toward them.

A broken doll lay on the pavement. Her legs were unnaturally curved her head thrown back, and her eyes ... transparent, the blue eyes of Fikret looked into the sky. She tried to say something, but the red foam protruding on her lips prevented her. Sinan pressed a hand to her neck and blood oozed between his fingers.

Omer grabbed Defne's elbow and stopped her. He took off his coat, wrapped her up, and then led her to Laura, who embraced the girl trembling with horror.

"Look after her," he asked and bowed to his wife's face. Looking into her eyes, he asked: - Try to calm down, okay? For the baby.

She nodded her head and Omer went to Fikret. He knelt next to Sinan and leaned toward her. She saw him. Her face brightened.

- Om .. er, - fell off her blue lips, - take ... my ... hand.

He took her hand and squeezed it tightly. Fikret smiled and the next moment the blue eyes became motionless. The last breath, with a wheeze, escaped from her chest, and she calmed down.

- Fikret !!! - Defne cried out and huddled in Laura's hands. - Not!!!

The howling of sirens became louder and faster, and after it, the police drove up to the scene of the accident.

Doctors pushed the men. One of them examined the girl motionless on the ground, looked at the second, and said:

- There is no sense in reanimating. Injuries are incompatible with life.

Omer went to his wife and hid her in his arms.

They returned home around midnight, broken and depressed. The meticulous questions of the police took away their last strength. They were released only when Omer lost his temper and said sharply to the senior investigator that they had already answered all questions seventy-seven times. His pregnant wife was tired, cold, and barely able to stand on her feet. He apologized but warned that if necessary he would call them to the polis station.

Defne was shivering. Even Omer's coat and his strong, warm hands did not save from the inner cold. At home, turning on the heating at full power, he led her under a hot shower. Hugging, they stood for a long time, under the water jets. Defne was crying, and Omer was trembling. The shock that paralyzed feelings and thoughts gave way to the realization of what almost happened a few hours ago. Chilling horror and panic covered his head and only the warm, lively body of his wife in his arms prevented him from falling into hysteria.