Everything is black and dark… but there is a flicker of light… yet the darkness consumes it.
"Dad! Mom! Outside is going crazy!" Mayex shouted, his voice cracking against the sudden roar of a reality falling to pieces.
"Don't worry, kids. Just hop into my car," his father's voice cutting through the panic, frantic but determined. "We're going to the village—our village, with our relatives. We'll live there for a while until things settle down."
The memory fractures. Everything goes dark again. The flicker of light grows brighter, trying to push through the shadows—only to be swallowed once more.
"I will go to Turkey and work there," his father whispered, the weight of the future crushing his words. "That way, I can earn enough for your travel—the legal way. None of you will have to cross illegally like I did." He pulled each of them close, a desperate embrace meant to last a lifetime. "One last time."
The darkness returns, heavier now.
"We have to go illegally," their mother's voice trembled in the gloom, shattered by a ticking clock. "Your father couldn't manage it in time… we have no choice. We go now, kids."
The light grows, sharp and blinding.
"You see that motorcycle? When I say run—we run. The driver will take us across the border. Your father will be waiting on the other side."
They ran. All of them, pushing their bodies past their limits, their legs tearing through the dust.
"And when we reach Turkey, your father will take us to Germany. Can you imagine?" their mother said, breathless, a desperate smile carved onto her face.
Mayex, his older sister Rokia, and his little brother Amir shouted together, a chorus of fragile hope—
"YES!"
They reached the motorcycle, the engine idling like a mechanical beast. One by one, they climbed on, packing tightly against each other. But as Mayex moved to get on last, the driver's hand shot up, blocking his path.
"Sorry, kid. No more space. Wait here—I'll come back for you."
The engine revved, a deafening roar that drowned out Mayex's protests.
They pulled away.
Mayex stood frozen in the dirt, watching the taillight dissolve into a cloud of rising dust. He waited.
And waited.
The sun shifted across the empty sky. The shadows grew long, stretching like clawed hands over the earth.
"…Where are they?"
He turned in a slow circle—dirt, sand, and stones in every direction. No road signs. No voices. No signs of life. Nothing.
"Is the driver not coming back?… And Mom… Amir… Rokia… why is no one coming back?"
He waited longer, the suffocating silence answering him.
"They didn't abandon me… right?"
Something shifted deep in his chest. A terrifying, volatile heat.
"WHERE ARE THEY?!"
He started walking. Then faster, his boots kicking up dust.
"WHERE ARE THEY?!"
"DON'T YOU DARE ABANDON ME!!!"
He broke into a frantic sprint—and his foot caught a sharp stone. He went down hard, his hands scraping violently against the jagged dirt.
He didn't get up right away. He lay there, his cheek pressed into the soil.
"WHERE ARE YOU, MOM?!"
His voice cracked, splintering into the empty air.
"DAD—MOM!!!"
Tears fell, instantly swallowed by the dry, unyielding ground.
"WHERE IS EVERYONE?! THIS BETTER NOT BE A JOKE—BECAUSE IT ISN'T FUNNY!!!"
And then, something inside him snapped. The grief hardened, turning into something cold and sharp as iron.
"YOU ALL BETRAYED ME! ALL OF YOU!!!"
He pushed himself up slowly, ignoring the stinging blood on his palms.
"I DO NOT TOLERATE THIS. I WON'T BE LEFT BEHIND!!!"
He looked out at the empty, barren horizon, his eyes completely hollowed out by rage.
"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!"
The light became blinding, fracturing the memory into pieces.
He woke up.
Mayex lay completely still for a moment, staring at an unfamiliar, water-stained ceiling. Slowly, the cold reality of the room took shape around him—bare concrete walls, thin mattresses laid out on the floor, and children sleeping in every direction. Strangers. All of them.
He sat up quietly, his jaw clenched, and said absolutely nothing.