Against the Vow

CHAPTER 1: The beginning

The train station in Istanbul was louder than anything you'd ever known. You stood still for a moment, the chaos swallowing your thoughts-honking cars, shouting vendors, voices speaking a language that somehow felt foreign, even though it was your own. Your mother gripped your hand tightly. "Don't let go," she whispered, the scarf around her face hiding more than just her features. She looked like a stranger now. So did you. Behind you was the town you would never speak of again. The place where your father ruled with his anger and his faith. The place where being a daughter meant being a burden, waiting to be married off. The place you barely escaped.

"Come on," your mother said. Her voice trembled, but her steps didn't. Not anymore.
The plan was simple. Blend in. Lay low. Stay silent.
But Istanbul doesn't let people go unnoticed.

Within days, the rehberler-the guides-found you. Volunteers and professionals who help women like your mother. Girls like you. You sat across from a woman named Elif in a tiny, overheated office above a pharmacy. She had kind eyes and spoke gently, as if she already knew your story without needing to hear it.

"Y/n," she said, calling you by your name. "You're safe now. But it's not over. They may come looking."

You glanced at your mother. Her face was pale, her shoulders hunched. She wasn't used to safety. Neither were you.

"What do we do now?" you asked.
Elif smiled softly. "Now... you start living."

But no one told you that freedom comes with its own kind of weight.

Especially when a boy with sharp eyes and a haunted past walks into your life-someone who was raised by the very system you ran from. And especially when you learn that your story was never yours alone.

The guides gave your family a home to stay in. You guys were part of a sect community, a group of people with somewhat different religious beliefs. The women's role in the sect was cooking, so you and your mother helped a woman out there. You didn't want to be here; you wanted to be somewhere else.

You and your mother came home later, and your father seemed furious.
"Y/n, leave! And Meryem, stay."

You looked at your mother, not wanting to leave, but knowing you had to. If you stayed, your father would hurt you too. As you closed the door behind you, you heard shouting.

"I TOLD YOU SO MANY TIMES TO SHUT UP, DIDN'T I?!"
Your father kept shouting at your mother.
"You are so stubborn! I have to find a way to break your stubbornness. DON'T you realize that you ARE RUINING OUR DAUGHTER'S REPUTATION?!"

Your mother kept quiet, not wanting to escalate the situation further.
"Our daughter will marry!" your father declared.

"Naim, please. She's still young," your mother begged, not wanting this early marriage to happen.

"Oh, please. You got married at the age of 14. It's time for her!"

"Please, Naim, she's still young. Don't marry her off!"

"You ANIMAL! ARE YOU REFUSING? WHATEVER I SAY WILL HAPPEN!" He grabbed Meryem's hair, opened the door, and shoved her to the floor. You were witnessing it all.

"This is the guy our daughter will marry. He's a dear friend of mine. Look at him-LOOK at the PICTURE." From the picture, he looked well over 50 years old.

Your father stormed off, leaving you and your mother crying. Later, your mother tugged you to bed. She even slept with you because of everything that had happened.

Ferit's pov

In the sect, there was a 19-year-old boy named Ferit. His mother had unfortunately committed suicide in front of him. Because of the trauma, he struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder-OCD-and PTSD. The good news was that he had a psychiatrist named Levent. Levent was the only person Ferit could trust. The only person who knew about his visits to the psychiatrist was his uncle, Sadi. No one else knew because in the sect, everyone believed that God would heal, and that there was no need for psychiatry or therapy.