*`CHAPTER 13: YOUR CHOCİES`*

*CHAPTER 13: YOUR CHOICES - EXTENDED*

_Present Day. The sky was slowly turning grey. Not clouds. Like someone put a dirty filter over the sun._

_The wind stopped. Even the birds left. 12 kids in a circle. One in the middle._

_Simge's Inner Monologue - her voice is shaking inside her head, but outside she is stone, arms crossed, trying not to cry:_

_"You're wrong, Dad. The world didn't want you to be bad. You chose the wrong path with your own will. I saw you. You came home drunk and said 'world made me do it'. No. You chose. You chose the easy way every time."_

_"You got caught in the sweet spell of evil and chose the easy way, because easy felt powerful. The hard thing was to stand against it with your own will. To say no when everyone says yes. Remember, Dad, every choice has a price. And you paid that price by losing me. By losing Mom. By losing people. And now... now I'm about to pay the same price. Because I'm about to watch them do it, and I'm not stopping them."_

_The courtyard went silent. So silent you could hear Kerem's breathing. Fast, scared._

_Simge stepped in front of Kerem. Suddenly. No thinking. She opened her arms wide, like a cross, like a shield, with a cry full of pain that tore her throat and made her voice hoarse:_

_SIMGE:_

`"STOP! DON'T DO IT! HE'S ONE OF US! HE'S KEREM! OUR KEREM! HAVE YOU ALL GONE INSANE?!"`

_For a second, everyone froze. Because Simge never shouts. Simge is the logical one._

_Beyza did the same, a second later, running, almost tripping. She stepped in front of Kerem too, her small body trembling like a leaf, standing next to Simge. Two girls. Skinny. Shaking._

_For a second, two girls against nine. Two consciences against nine fears._

_Mehmet grabbed Simge's arm - hard, from the waist - and shoved her aside. Not like a classmate, like an object. Like moving a chair out of the way. He had already decided. His father's voice was in his head: "Don't be weak."_

_MEHMET (voice cold, eyes not looking at Simge):_

`"Don't interfere in our business. You want to die with him? You want to be next cursed? Move!"`

_Simge fell to the ground. Hard. Her palm scraped on rough concrete, blood instantly. Her knee hit. She held her waist where Mehmet grabbed her. She froze. Not because of pain, but because of realization. She looked around. No one reached to help her up. No one. They all looked away. The choice was made._

_Aslıhan, in a frightened, selfish, very human voice, crying, hugging herself, stepping back:_

_ASLIHAN:_

`"Please Beyza, Simge... please get out of the way... I don't want to die. I don't want to be next. Please... I have a little sister at home... please don't make us choose..."`

_After Mehmet's words and Aslıhan's crying, the whole class looked away. Heads down. Except Beyza and Simge. They were still in front, but now Simge on the ground, Beyza standing alone._

_Kerem, in that moment, dangling in Furkan's strong grip from behind, remembered what the monster had whispered to him alone in the dark room the night before, when Ahmet came to him as shadow, alone, and said it with a smile:_

_AHMET'S VOICE IN KEREM'S HEAD:_

`"You humans... you'll do any kind of filth, scumminess, betrayal to survive. You'll sell your best friend for one more day. You're the most disgusting creatures among all living beings. Worse than me. Watch tomorrow, Kerem. Tomorrow your friends will kill you and call it justice."`

_Everyone in the class, except Beyza and Simge, had taken a side against Kerem. Erkan held his legs. Furkan locked his arms. Hasan closed his eyes and pushed. No one wanted to die. No one wanted to be branded next. No one wanted to be the next name on the paper. So they chose Kerem to die. Because it was easier to believe he was cursed than to believe they were murderers._

_The sky was slowly turning grey. Clouds had covered the sun, swallowing its rays, surrendering the earth to darkness. The wind shook the branches of the trees violently, and the howling made the atmosphere even heavier. Like the sky was closing its eyes because it didn't want to watch._

_Furkan was holding Kerem from behind, locking his arms with wrestling move. Mehmet was in front, both hands around his throat, choking him, thumbs pressing hard. Kerem's face turned red, then purple._

_Kerem struggled. Like an animal. He kicked. He scratched Mehmet's arms until blood came out, deep nails, Mehmet didn't even flinch. He tried to bite. He tried to scream but only a choked gurgle came out. But he had no chance against 9 people who had decided to kill him to live. 9 hands holding him down._

_Slowly, he was losing consciousness. His vision blurred. The faces of his classmates became black dots, then shadows. He could hear Beyza screaming his name far away, like underwater._

_Right as he was about to black out, in that last second before dark, he didn't look at Mehmet, who was killing him. He didn't look at Furkan. He turned his eyes to Beyza. To the only person still fighting for him. And he smiled. A tiny, sad, forgiving smile. In his mind, only one last thought, clear as water:_

_KEREM'S LAST THOUGHT:_

`"Neither you nor I deserve to get out of this shit hole, Beyza. He's right. We all deserve this. We're filth. But you... you tried. Thank you."`

_Then his head fell. Arms went limp. Silence. Terrible silence. Only Mehmet's heavy breathing._

_Beyza was the first to scream. Not a cry, a scream of pure hatred, pure disgust that ripped from her soul._

_She turned to the class, to her friends of 3 years, to people she ate lunch with. She was shaking with rage, her whole body shaking, pointing at them with a finger covered in Kerem's sweat and Mehmet's blood:_

_BEYZA (voice hoarse, screaming):_

`"What... what did you do?! What did you just do?! You are MURDERERS! You are MURDERERS! All of you! You killed him! He was breathing! He was your friend!"`

_Furkan let go of the body. Kerem dropped to concrete with a dull thud. Furkan was breathing hard, his hands shaking uncontrollably, looking at his own hands like they were not his. He turned to Beyza, trying to convince himself more than her, voice trembling:_

_FURKAN:_

`"Don't be stupid, Beyza. We're not murderers. It was self-defense. It was either him or us. He was cursed! The monster said cursed people bring death! If we didn't kill him, we all would die tonight! We had no choice!"`

_BEYZA (looked at him like he was a stranger, like she never knew him):_

_Crying, but not weak crying, angry crying, disgusted crying, she walked away backwards, not wanting to turn her back to them:_

`"I loathe you. I loathe all of you. Don't ever talk to me again. Don't ever say my name again. You disgust me."`

_Buğra grabbed Beyza's shoulder, gently this time, worried, because he loves her and he is scared to lose her:_

_BUGRA:_

`"Wait, Beyza. Don't go. It's dangerous alone. You saw what happened to Kerem. Please. Stay with me. I didn't want this..."`

_Beyza shoved Buğra's arm away so hard Buğra stumbled back, shocked. Her eyes full of hate even for him._

_BEYZA:_

`"Don't touch me! You were there! You watched! You are just like them!"`

_She didn't even look back and walked away, disappearing into the grey fog, alone, her footsteps echoing._

_Ömer stood over Kerem's body, looking down, his face pale. In a serious, cold, dead tone, watching Beyza go, then looking at the body on the ground, at the red marks on Kerem's neck that were Mehmet's fingers:_

_OMER:_

`"Let her go. We need to talk. Now. I have things to tell you. About Beyza. About last night. About what I found in the archive."`

_Buğra turned to Ömer, his eyes still on where Beyza disappeared, his voice broken:_

_BUGRA:_

`"Is it about Beyza? Is she... is she one of them?"`

_Ömer, in a low voice, looking at Kerem's lifeless body at his feet, closing Kerem's eyes with his hand:_

_OMER:*

`"Yes. And I think we just killed an innocent man. And the real cursed one just watched us do it."`

_And far away, on the roof, Ahmet smiled. The fog turned a little darker._