I didn’t have the heart to tell Dr. Yildirim that the last two weeks before his visit were the worst I have ever experienced. I had no energy whatsoever. I was barely able to swallow my food. Thank God, I didn’t have to perform oral sex on anyone during that time. I had a feeling that if I didn’t make my move this month, I would never do it. When the doctor asked me questions about how I was feeling,  I lied and said I was doing well. But somehow, I think that Dr. Yildirim knew I was lying. I think he also sensed that he would never see me again alive anyway.

My breathing had become coarse, and I was having a difficult time catching my breath during energetic acts. I knew that Dinara would soon catch on. I could keep it from her only so long. Define was already aware that I was seriously ill.

Define was having a difficult time coming to grips with my illness, so she started distancing herself from me. It hurt, but I also understood where she was coming from. It just didn’t make sense for people like us to get close to anyone. You just didn’t know when one of us would simply disappear. I knew one thing, I was definitely going to miss my friend Define when I left. She was one of the few bright spots in my life over the last 12 years. Oh, yes, I had just had my sixteenth birthday. I asked Dr. Yildirim what the date was, and he was kind enough to break the rules and tell me.

After I finished with my last John of the night and  had eaten my meal, I sneaked over and put a piece of the clear tape over the lock on the door leading to our lounge area where we met our male clients. It was the only double key lock in the brothel. All the rest of the locks had latches on the inside and  keys on the outside. Once you got past this one door you could easily escape.

All I had to do now was first hope that Emre did not discover the tape covering  the lock and secondly, wait for him to fall asleep. The night guards had a big stuffed chair that they sat on at the end of our sleeping room. I am not sure why they put the chair there instead of upstairs. Unless it was just them being perverts. Because it was hot where our beds were located, most of the girls slept in the nude. It also made it easy for the night guards to get a quicky from one of the girls before they fell asleep. The showers were also close by, so they could watch them clean up each night.

Finally Emre fell asleep. Thankfully, he didn’t partake of any midnight rendezvous with any of the girls. I quickly put all of my clothes on that I had. I only had flip flops, so I carried them with me, so not to make any noise. I went over to the door leading to the lounge and pushed it open. The tape worked like a charm. I peeled the tape off the lock and closed the door behind me. Let them guess how I got out. I put my flip-flops on and quickly as possible made it down the long hallway that led to the front door. I tentatively turned the doorlock and opened the door. As I stepped out into the alley way, I took a deep breath of the fresh air and immediately started to cough. I was terrified that my loud coughing would wake someone up but  no one did. I quickly closed the door behind me and hurried down the alley.

I had no idea where I was going, All I knew was that I needed to get as far away from this part of the city as possible. My only idea was to walk till I found a nicer part of the city so I could ask for help. My biggest problem was to find someone who spoke English. All the time I had lived in Turkey, I had never learned any of the language. Let’s face it education was definitely not a priority at the brothel.

Besides finding someone who could help me I had another problem…I didn’t know how long my strength would hold out. I only had completed part of my quest, I was at least free. Now, I had to find the Mediterranean Sea before the sun came up.

I wondered the streets for hours gradually finding nicer and nicer sections of the city. Finally, I started smelling a difference in the air. It had to be the salt from the sea that I was smelling, so I must be getting close. I finally came to an elevated open area which must be part of one of the city parks in Istanbul. The park overlooked the sea. I finally was able to see it. But I was still not satisfied, I wanted to feel the water on my legs so I kept on walking.

It turns out that it was further than it looked. But I finally reached the water. The area I found must have been a marina for fishing boats because there were a lot of men walking around carrying nets and crab traps and fishing stuff. After asking several men, I came across a friendly elderly man who spoke passable English and asked him if there was a park close by with a beach.  He told me that if I kept on the road I was on, I would come across the Caddebostan Daylan Park about a kilometer down the road. I thanked him profusely.

I was almost there, but I was running out of time because my energy was quickly failing me. My breathing was becoming more and more coarse. When I coughed, I spit up globs of dark blood, and my chest hurt. I also felt like I was burning up.

Finally I found the park. There was a chain blocking the path leading to it, but I didn’t let that stop me. Time was too precious to me. After a brief stumbling walk I made it to the water. I took my flip flops off and stripped down to my underwear and walked into the water up to my waste. I never felt anything so wonderful in my life. I splashed the water in my face. Finally I had the courage to submerge myself in the water.

My body finally started cooling off and I felt a little better. After I got out of the water, I started getting cold as my skin started to dry, so I put my sweaty clothes back on. When I was making my way to the beach, I had passed a park bench, so I made my way back to it. Now, the final part of my quest was almost upon me…my sunrise. All I had to do was survive long enough to see it.

As I allowed myself to relax a little, I heard someone whistling and out of nowhere appeared the most beautiful man I have ever seen. He was dressed casually and had his pants rolled up and was carrying leather sandals in his hands.

He spoke in a melodious, chuckling voice, and said “I see I am not the only rule breaker here today. Would you mind if I sat down and watched the sun come up with you?”

Yua, in a weak voice said, “Please do, I would love the company.”

The young man smiled and replied, “Excellent!” And sat down.

As if on cue, the sun started appearing on the horizon, before long the water turned a beautiful orange red and the clouds all lit up. All I could say was, “Oh my God!” I immediately started coughing and I convulsed as my hand brushed the young man’s arm. That is the last thing I remember as everything simply went black.