Apex | Charles Leclerc

Chapter 15

Just like the previous chapter, this will be another heavy one I'm sorryyyyy. I needed three chapters to show how the death of her family affected Nadia and this will come up in the future chapters as well. We'll see more of Charles in Chapter 17.

There's another ⚠️ warning in this chapter but it's only short and would not need a summary at the end. It's just Nadia cleaning up after what happened last chapter.

Please comment if you see any typos!

*****

January 2025 - Turkey

It's been twenty four hours since my life completely changed.

I don't know how long I sat there on the floor with Esme, caught in a daze, until a scream sounded from downstairs. For a split second, I thought it was my mother but then I remembered how I placed two fingers by her neck and found no pulse.

I heard footsteps come up the stairs and seconds later, someone whispered my name. I looked up to see our next door neighbor, Mrs. Yilmaz, a sixty-five year old woman who lived alone. She became a close family friend and I realized she must've come over because it was time for our annual dinner.

She was pale, eyes stricken with fear as she looked down at Esma. Seeing her caused a new wave of emotion to wash over me and I found myself sobbing uncontrollably once again. Mrs. Yilmaz inmediately went to my side, kneeling beside me and wrapping an arm around my shoulder while the other scrambled for her phone. I could vaguely hear her talking to the police, voice shaky as she tried to sound clear.

There was no questioning about what had happened as she guided me to head downstairs when the police arrived. Only then did I notice the entire state of our house. The dining room was wrecked, evidence of what looked like the food for dinner was spread all over the place. Bullet holes punctured the walls telling me that my family at least was given the chance to flee or fight. Mrs. Yilmaz led me out of the house when she noticed I was gripping her arms so tight, my knuckles were whitening. She could see my chest going up and down erratically and knew that the sight of my parents was enough of a trigger.

I was in no state to answer any questions so she tried to answer for me. She had just arrived home from visiting her son and was heading over to our house for the dinner. The police went around all the neighboring houses who reported that they hadn't seen anything but I vaguely recall the neighbor from across the street glancing at me before replying to the officer.

It was about an hour later when Gabby called me and one of the officers passed me my phone which I dropped by the front door. I couldn't make myself speak so Mrs. Yilmaz answered the call for me, delivering the news to Gabby. There was no one else to call. Both of my parents didn't have any siblings and when they moved to Antalya, they lost contact with the few relatives they had. It was just the four of us but now, it was just me.

⚠️

The investigation of the house was going to take a while. I've handled my fair share of criminal cases to know that this would take hours. Mrs. Yilmaz let me stay in her house, grabbing some clothes from my luggage so that I could take a shower and clean the blood off of my skin.

As I locked the bathroom door behind me, I finally had a good look at myself.

The right side of my hair was caked with blood, small streaks of it by my cheeks from when I tried to wipe away the tears. It was no use since they kept coming so I stopped wiping it earlier. My abdomen was soaked in blood as well from when I held Esma and the front portion of my jeans were dark compared to the light color it originally held. My eyes were rimmed red and my lower lip wouldn't stop trembling in shock. It was a challenge to take off my clothes because it had stuck to my skin.