9 Chapter 9

"Guys, I have got news..."

I couldn't tell if it was good news or bad news judging by his voice. He said that, and kept staring at us for a long time. Idil took a couple of steps back.

"Well, what is it?" I asked. He tried to catch his breath, and started talking. He must've ran all the way up here.

"I talked with someone. I discovered what 'the curse' of the building is!"

So it was right. He must've been contacted by the 'local community', no wonder he is so excited. He was about to start telling us everything from the start, until I interrupted his exciting storytelling.

"Yes, we know. It was about time they contacted you too." I said.

"You... you know that all? I must be late to the party, then!" he said. He had a stupid grin on his face.

"What are you so excited about?" Idil asked, while seemingly trying to hide herself behind me; remebering her previous fight with Onur inside the building.

"They promised me something wonderful, and I've come here to lead you there." he said. "Don't you know? Don't you want to be a part of the community?" he asked. So, that was it. That was what I feared the most. One of us were convinced, 'indoctrinated' by manipulation; just when I thought things were settling down.

"Do you have any idea what you are talking about?" I asked him.

"You have a faulty point of view." he said to me. "Trust me, I've got a taste of what is out there."

"No way, you are being manipulated. Resist your thoughts!" I told him.

"No. I can't." he said. "Furthermore, I don't need to. I don't WANT to. Do you understand? Did you not see the wonderful future of this place?"

"So far, the only thing I saw around here was death." I replied. "And I don't intend to share the same fate with many other students that were supposed to be here, alive. They all died because someone couldn't resist the terrible thoughts forced upon her. I don't want to lose you the same way. Come on, resist it!" I tried to motivate him to fight his thoughts.

"No, if only you knew what I know, you wouldn't say that." he said. "Just let me help you." That sentence was a clear sign of danger.

He started approaching us with slow movements as he said that. Idil and I started going backwards. The sloped roof was one of the worst places to walk backwards, it would only take a few wrong steps and to find yourself in the air.

"Look, we don't want to join the community." I changed my argument. "We want to stay in this world. We don't need help."

"You are wrong. What you just said only means you need more help. You are the one who is thinking wrongly!" he said. "Don't resist, and it will be a more peaceful experience." he added.

Idil and I stopped walking backwards, because there were only about three more meters between us and the edge of the roof. The roof had no measures of safety on the edges, it was very easy to fall down. He was still approaching us.

"It is your choice if you want to make it harder." he said. I had nowhere to run. I was preparing myself to fight him at any moment.

"Stop right there." I told him. He did not stop, unsurprisingly.

There was about two meters of distance between me and Onur. In a rather slow move; he approached me and grabbed me from my shoulders, trying to push me down and to the side. I grabbed him from his neck and tried to push him away, while trying to keep my balance on the sloped roof by slightly leaning forwards. He tried to lift his leg and kick me, but this caused us both to lose our balance and fall on the roof. We rolled on the roof downwards, and I loosened my grip on him. We let go of each other for a moment, sliding down the roof for a few more seconds. Suddenly, I felt my feet slip past the edge of the roof. I was barely able to hold on to one of the tiles. The tile got loose, and it could disintegrate from the roof at any moment. I was trying to push myself up as I felt something on my leg. I turned to take a look.

Onur was holding my leg from even below, either trying to push himself back on, or pull me further down; most probably both. I tried to shake my leg and kick him, because I couldn't counter both of our weights for too long.

I looked upwards and saw Idil. She was carefully trying to reach me.

"Hold on a little longer!" she said.

"Why won't you understand?" Onur shouted.

My grip was loosening, and the tile was about to come out of it's place. I couldn't guess which one would kill me. I tried to swing my free leg upwards to step on the roof, while trying to kick Onur away with my other leg. My foot touched the edge of the roof, but it slipped back down.

"Don't make it harder!" Onur shouted.

I tried to swing my leg upwards again, with a greater momentum this time. Unfortunately, I completely missed the edge. I was slowly sliding down on my stomach.

"Let it go!" Onur shouted.

"Idiot, we will both fall down!" I replied, without much thinking.

"Yes. We will fall down, that's the way we need to go!" he shouted again.

"Go on your own, then!" I said, angrily.

Just then, I felt some force on my arm. Idil had reached me and she was trying to pull us up. Unfortunately, our combined strenght wasn't enough.

Onur gathered some strenght, and with a sudden move, grabbed me from my other leg. We slided further down until I came to a stop with only my chest, arms and head over the roof. It was painful, my chest and stomach were hurting so badly.

Idil stooped trying to pull us up, and she grabbed something from her uniform. It was the knife she knocked off of Onur's hand during their previous struggle. She must've came back to take it before heading to the roof, I thought.

She approached the edge of the roof, looking down. She leaned downwards a bit and swung the knife towards Onur. Onur made a sudden move to avoid it, and his move almost caused me to release my grip on the roof. Idil swung the knife for a second time, which ended up hitting the lower part of my leg, and Onur's hand. At that moment, the extra weight on my legs suddenly disappeared, as an intense pain took it's place. Onur could no longer hold on to me. His body accelerated away from me, towards the ground; and it landed on the ground after several seconds. I could hear every one of his bones breaking, even from that distance. His organs were everywhere, and his surrounding was completely red. Some blood was spraying out of his ripped artery near his neck. I couldn't watch the scene for long.

I swung my leg upwards for a final time, and got back on the roof, to safety. Idil dropped her knife, and pulled me further up, towards the middle of the roof.

"Are you okay?" she asked me.

"Apart from the cut on my leg, yes I am fine." I replied in pain.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" she was about to apologise.

"I owe you my life." I told her. "Thank you."

"We owe each other our lives." she said. "If you didn't find me in time, I couldn't fight him." As she said that, a strong wind started blowing and howling.

"We are still not safe here. Let's get back in." I suggested. We went to the ladder and got back into the building.

She was about to say something, but I interrupted her.

"I have something I need to resolve right away."