Letters to Elif

The Present

"Hadi Dayir! Hadi the shooting stars have started"
He could feel Elif's fingers curled around 3 of his, tugging him. He drifts forward, through the backdoor into the garden, the night air is surprisingly warm, welcoming him outside. Bora spots her. How could he not, his eyes are naturally drawn to her. Ada. She is curled up on a picnic blanket, her long brown hair brushes the floor as she tilts her neck to see the stars. She turns to face him as he comes closer, as if sensing his presence. When their eyes meet, his soul lights up and he feels whole.
"Boracim, hurry! You and Elif are missing it. Sit down askim" Her voice is so full of love, as she reaches out her hands to both him and his Prenses. God her smile, he can hardly move when she looks at him like that. He stands there watching as Elif curls up next Ada, cuddling in tight. They look so comfortable together, Ada gives Elif an extra squeeze and kisses the top of her head, before pointing to the sky. He adores them both. Leaning down Bora kisses Ada on the head, "Bitanim" he says into her hair. He joins them both in the blanket, enveloping them both in his arms. This is right. This is his whole life in his arms. His world. He glances at the sky where Ada was pointing and is suddenly blinded...

Full sunlight blazes through his window and rips Bora from his dream. It take a while for his groggy brain come to. He rolls over to shield his eyes from the sun, he can hear a rustling of paper. Paper? Why is there paper on my bed?...The letters! Bora sits up immediately. His hands scrabble for the precious pieces of paper, he thanks his past self for safely placing most of them back into their envelopes. He realises he must have fallen asleep mid -letter as he skims over the one he had just rolled onto, it's from mid February. It must have been about 3am, his eyelids had become like lead weights. From what he can remember Ada was talking about her aunts birthday and how they had planned a dinner for her. Birthday. His brain began to clear away the fog of sleep. Birthday present! I need to talk to Elif. He glanced at the clock, 6am, his niece would be awake. He quickly collects the letters that he read last night, placing them in his pocket. He wanted to keep them and reread them, to keep this tangible link to Ada, but he knew they are not his. Then are not his to keep. He should return them to Elif. Bora glanced at the pile that he hadn't read yet and slipped them into his other pocket, he wouldn't let them out of his sight until he had had the chance to read every last word.
After a quick diversion to the toilet, Bora headed straight to Elif's bedroom. If he didn't ask her now he would go mad. He paused at her door and knocked.
"Gunaydin Dayir" Elif sang tunefully.
Of course she knew it was me, Bora thought as he opened the door.
"Gunaydin dayircim, how are you this morning?" He asked as he bent down to hug her. Elif was already dressed for school, with her hair in pigtails and looked very much like she had been expecting him.
"Iyi, how are you? I didn't upset you last night by giving you the letters, did I?" She said, her eyes glinting with concern.
"Hayir! I am okay, just a little tired. I do have something to ask you though..." Bora stopped mid sentence as Elif suddenly pushed away from his arms and ran over to her wardrobe. She flung open the door and started scrabbling at the back, almost climbing in completely. It only took a few seconds for her hand to find what it is searching for, at which point she span around to face Bora. She kept her hands behind her back, hiding the item from his sight. Bora straightened up and walked over to her, his head tilted to the side with curiosity, "What have you got there Prenses?"
Elif couldn't help the smile that spread across her face, "What have I got? Oh nothing Dayir" she teased as she wiggled from side to side, unable to contain her excitement. "Just the thing you were about to ask me about."
"Öyle mi?" Bora replied taking joy in Elif's playful demeanour, he hadn't seen it in a while. Or maybe he hadn't noticed it...
"Evet! I have been hiding it for months. I haven't opened it. I promise Ada abla. It has so so so hard not to, really hard. You have no idea. I want to know what she got you." With that she presented it to him in a flourish, hands out in front with the present placed on to, almost like a waiter holding a tray. This made the present look as if it was vibrating because Elif continued to struggle to contain her excitement and ended up bouncing up and down. She stared up at him, with wide eyes,"Can you open it now? Lutfen! I have waited so long! I asked Ada Abla what it was but she wouldn't tell me. Open it... lutfen dayir"
Bora was a bit taken a back and took in the whole situation. He couldn't help but smile at Elif, she was so eager and she clearly couldn't stand still, it was like she had eaten heaps of sugar. His eyes then moved to the present in her tiny hands. As he expected it isn't too big, or too heavy as Elif was able to carry it with ease. It was beautifully wrapped in sea foam green paper. No doubt chosen because Bora had once told Ada that green was his favourite colour, and how could it not be after looking into her eyes?
What had she gotten him? He reached out and took the present from Elif, before she burst with excitement.
"Tamam Elif, sakin ol. I will open it now. Come sit down on your bed and please remember to breath"
Elif gleefully obeyed and she skipped over to sit cross legged on the her bed. Once there she looked up expectantly at her uncle.
Bora walked over to the bed while properly inspecting the gift. It is a rectangular box, fairly light but when he shook it next to his ear nothing rattled. Ada what did you get me? Once he was sitting next to Elif, Bora began to unwrap it which caused Elif to squeak as he ripped off each bit of tape. He couldn't not chuckle. He had to give her credit for not opening it herself, it really did seem like it had been killing her. Inside the wrapping paper there was a cardboard box and he flipped open the lid to reveal something wrapped in tissue paper and a note which read: