EMEL’S NIGHTMARE (THE DREAM)
Chapter 1
EMEL’S NIGHTMARE (THE DREAM)
The only way to make dreams come true is to wake up.
— Paul Valéry
“Hey! Hey! Miss, please wait, don’t close the door.”
“Who are you, and what are you doing here at this hour of the night?”
“Please, please help me…”
That man, as disheveled as his clothes and hair, collapsed right at my feet as if pushed by an invisible hand before he could even finish his sentence. I immediately crouched down and tried to revive him. I touched his face, shook him, and gave him a few light slaps. He was ice-cold; his skin was as cold as a corpse.
With the help of the servants, we carried him away from the doorway and into the guest room. I had some food and drinks prepared on a tray and placed it on the nightstand.
“Sir, sir, please come to your senses. Drink some water. Are you alright? You suddenly fainted.”
He barely managed to open his deep blue eyes. For reasons unknown, a feeling formed inside me that made my skin prickle. It was not fear, I knew that.
“I am Lady Emily. Who are you? What are you doing in the forest at this hour of the night?”
“My name is Jack. Someone is after me, I have been running for a long time.”
“May I ask why or from whom you are running?”
“I am running so that I do not hurt them.”
I could not understand anything from what he was saying.
“Why would you hurt them?”
“It is in my nature.”
In his nature? How could it be in someone’s nature to harm others? I still did not understand.
“Look, I know we have just met, but if I am going to help you, I need to know who you are.”
“As I said, my name is Jack and…” He paused for a moment.
“And what?”
“There are people who want to kill me. Please, Emily, help me. I do not want to hurt anyone.”
Not knowing what to say, I turned toward the door.
Before I could even touch the handle, Jack was already beside me.
“Emily please, I have no one I can trust, help me. I feel like I can trust you, maybe it is fate, I don’t know but…”
“Alright, but how can I help you? I know nothing about you.”
“Let me hide here for a while and help me feed myself, I promise I will leave your life afterward.”
“Feed yourself? I already gave you food but you didn’t even touch it.”
“I do not eat.”
“Then what do you feed on?”
I had asked the question that made my whole body tremble with fear.
“Blood!”
I suddenly woke up drenched in sweat. What was that? Why was I constantly seeing the same dream? I had been watching horror movies for a long time, maybe that was why, I thought, when my eyes fell on the clock.
Today was Saturday, the day I meet the girls. We only manage to see each other once a week, so I should get up and get ready.
“Mom!”
“Dad!”
They must have already left. Ever since my brother’s daughter was born, it has been impossible to find my parents at home. Actually, I am happy that my niece is now part of our lives. Before she was born, my parents were completely focused on me.
“It is time for you to get married now. Look, our friend’s son Ertan is an engineer, he works at a very good company, and he is handsome too. What more do you want? Get married and let us hold our grandchild,” they used to say.
At least they don’t bring up grandchildren anymore, but I know how much they want me to get married. Sometimes I understand them too. They are both retired, and they are getting older. My mother always says, “My daughter, don’t be angry with me for insisting that you get married. We don’t have many days left. I cannot bear the thought of you being alone.”
I knew what she truly meant. She had shown it the day I told her that I got into the Faculty of Literature. She always complained that I hadn’t entered a better department. Maybe she was right. It had been a long time since I graduated, but I still had not decided what I wanted to do.
Actually, I loved writing, but for a long time I had been busy questioning myself, so I could not decide what I should write. I guess I will continue writing my poems for now.
It was almost time, I should leave now. I would meet Sinem first. Sinem has been my friend since childhood. In fact, we are more than friends. We hide nothing from each other. We support each other even in the smallest things that others may find meaningless.
But lately, we haven’t been seeing each other very often. Actually, it is not entirely because of me. As you know, I am unemployed, someone who watches movies all night, goes to bed in the morning, and only wakes up around noon. Sinem, on the other hand, works as an accounting supervisor at a company, and she has been quite busy lately.
Luckily, I arrived right on time. Finally, we met, and we were going to Bedia’s place. Bedia would get married soon and would probably move away from Istanbul. We might not see each other this often again.
Our friendship goes back to our high school days. Whenever we come together, we always talk about those times. Those beautiful days that once felt like they would never end are now just memories. Life… you exist one moment and the next you don’t, it flows by like water. Despite all the years that have passed, I am still searching for myself in this huge city. Sometimes I sit by the Bosphorus and watch the ships, thinking that one of them will take me to myself. As long as I can remember, I have felt like I do not belong to this city. As if everyone is a stranger, as if nowhere reminds me of myself…
It was almost evening again, the conversation had been wonderful. When you are with the people you love, you don’t even realize how time passes. Luckily, my parents had not come home yet. Since I was alone, I could read my book.
The book was about reincarnation. It contained stories from lives that some people believed they had lived before.
My mother hated this book. She insisted that reincarnation did not exist. While a part of me agreed with her, another part wondered if it could be true. What if it was real? What if none of us were here for the first time? Then I would like to know what I was in my past life, who I was, in which century I lived.
“Emily, please help me.”
Oh my God! That voice again. I must have drifted off while reading. I have been seeing this dream constantly lately, but I cannot make sense of it. Who is Emily? Why does someone keep asking me for help?
Maybe it is because of the book I am reading. Maybe I have been influenced by reincarnation stories. Or maybe it has nothing to do with the book. Maybe it is related to my past life.
Could it be?
There is only one way to find out. I should write down the things I constantly hear in my dream, the names, and what I see, and then I can research them. After all, I don’t have anything better to do, and the good part is, now I have a reason to sleep.
Today is a cold day in London, but I still feel the need to walk, to get lost among the crowds. Should I really help Jack? Even if I do, it will not last very long because my family will return from their trip in three weeks.
Oh God! For now, I just want to forget everything and watch Big Ben. This giant clock was built only a few years ago, but whenever I see it, it always reminds me how valuable time is for us.
It was getting late, and the already gloomy weather became even more suffocating as dusk fell. I should head home now.
On my way back home, Jack was still on my mind, and suddenly his eyes appeared before me. He looked as if he wanted to tell me something. At that moment, I heard his voice again:
“Emily please!”
No matter how afraid I am, I will help Jack. I don’t know why, but it feels like something is growing inside me for him.
I suddenly jumped out of bed.
I need to find a piece of paper immediately.
“Don’t forget, don’t forget! Emel, you have to write down every detail,” I told myself.
I should prepare my list of clues immediately. What did he say? Emily. Yes, I remember. Big Ben, and he said it had been built a few years ago. So Emily and Jack live in London. But which century?
I should quickly find the date Big Ben was built.
I found it.
The 19th century.
I could not believe my eyes. The people I had been seeing in my dreams for so long had lived in London in the 19th century. As far as I understood, Emily was the daughter of a wealthy family, and Jack, if I was not mistaken, was a vampire. He had deep blue eyes, pale skin, and jet-black hair. But I could not clearly see Emily’s face, or maybe I could not remember it. I only remembered her hair, long and light brown, just like mine.
So what should I do now? Should I go to London? Would my family allow it? My mind filled with questions, just like Emily’s.
At one point in the reincarnation book, it said that if we come back to this world, there must be a reason.
Could it be true?
Could I have had a life connected to Emily or Jack?
I felt that I could find the answers in London. I had to go. There was nothing tying me here anyway. But I could not tell my family that I was going to London because of a dream.
At that moment, an idea came to my mind.
I had been attending an English course for a long time, and there was a campaign. Students who wanted could complete their final level of education in London. This training lasted only three months, and that was more than enough for me. Besides, I was already at the second-to-last level.
Now it was time to convince my family, and I was almost sure that I could. Because lately, my mother had been saying that I looked unhappy and that focusing on something would be good for me.
You are right, Mom. This trip will be very good for me.
Tonight, we would have dinner at my brother’s house. I should get ready. I would bring up the London topic there. I was sure my brother and sister-in-law would support me.
When I arrived, the table was already set. Everyone was waiting for me to start dinner. Luckily, I was not too late.
“Emel, tell us, how is life going?” my sister-in-law asked.
Life?
The sentence she formed echoed in my mind again. Was I really living? What was I doing other than breathing? I did not even have a life. I felt lost. Who knows, maybe I would find myself in London.
“It’s the same. Lately, I’ve been having trouble with English,” I said.
My mother immediately spoke:
“Your exam results were quite good. I think it just feels that way to you.”
Actually, my English was quite good, but for now, they did not need to know that.
“Yes, Mom, my results are good, but our teacher says I need to improve my speaking, and he has a suggestion. You know the course ends in a week, and I will move to the next level. Our course has a campaign. They say it would be better to complete the final level in London, and since they have an agreement with a language school there, the prices are the same as here.”
“So?” my mother asked.
“So… if you allow it, I want to go to London for three months.”
“But where will you stay?”
Thank God, I was sure the answer would be yes after that question.
“In a boarding house arranged by the course. Also, two people from the course staff will come with us.”
For a moment, everyone fell silent, but it felt like a good silence. My father stood up, came to me, and kissed me on the cheek:
“Start packing your suitcase. Maybe this trip will help you come back to yourself,” he said.
Oh my God! I could hardly believe what I heard. For the first time in a long time, I felt this happy. I felt like a soldier returning to his homeland.
Wait for me, London…
I’m coming…
