He had tried, in his mind, to forget the place where that shadow had disappeared yesterday.
And still, his feet would not move away from it.
He had not meant to return to the same place.
Barış thought that as he climbed the slope again.
The place where he had seen the distant dog-like shadow yesterday.
The dry grassy slope overlooking the valley.
The place where Göreme spread low beneath him, and the rocky paths crossed one another below.
There was no reason to come.
No—
he could make reasons.
To see the view.
To breathe the morning air.
Because yesterday still bothered him.
But none of them felt like the real reason.
His feet had remembered before he did.
The morning light was a little whiter than yesterday.
The rocks were dry, and thin shadows still lay at the bottom of the valley.
Whenever the wind moved the grass, a narrow sound passed by his feet.
Barış looked toward the bend where the dog’s shadow had disappeared.
Nothing.
For a moment, something in his chest loosened.
Maybe it had been his imagination after all.
Maybe yesterday’s shadow had only come from tired eyes.
That would have been easier.
But the relief did not last.
On a rock a little distance away, there was something neither black nor brown.
Almost the same place as yesterday.
Barış stopped.
The dog-like shadow seemed to be sitting with its back to him.
He couldn’t see its face.
The outline was not clear.
Still, the low posture,
and the quiet that did not mix with the wind,
were the same as yesterday.
Yesterday it had been at the edge of the valley.
In the end, it had disappeared beyond the rocks.
And yet this morning, it was here again.
Coincidence.
The word came to him.
But it was weaker than yesterday.
Barış took one step closer.
The dog-like shadow did not move.
Another step.
Still nothing.
The distance was wide.
And yet it did not feel as far as yesterday.
That was strange.
Not because he had moved closer.
His body was still far enough away.
But somehow, it felt more on this side than before.
As if not the space,
but the distance inside him,
had narrowed a little.
Barış stopped.
“You are…”
He almost spoke.
Then didn’t.
He was not close enough to speak to a dog.
And he still didn’t know if it was a dog at all.
Then the shadow slowly raised its head.
He couldn’t see its face.
He couldn’t see its eyes.
But Barış knew it had noticed him.
The same gaze as yesterday.
No—
quieter than yesterday.
Not to frighten him.
Not to call him.
Only to let him know it was there.
Barış noticed his hand touching the map in his pocket.
Again.
Whenever something happened, his hand went there.
His father’s map.
The nameless mark.
The line with no destination written on it.
Maybe the map was not pointing toward a destination.
Maybe it was pointing toward a place to return to.
The thought crossed his chest for only a second.
A place to return to.
The words brought his mother’s face with them.
The house in Ankara.
A closed door.
His mother swallowing her words.
Deniz, not angry—
wounded.
He had set out on a journey.
But maybe he had run away.
And maybe this dog-like shadow was not leading him forward.
Maybe it was showing him what he had to return to.
Barış shook his head.
Too much thinking.
That was what he told himself.
But each time he did,
something in this land took one more shape.
From below the slope, tourists’ voices rose.
Two young travelers came up with a camera.
They passed beside Barış and pointed their lens toward the same valley.
“Beautiful,”
one of them said in English.
The other laughed and pointed at the shapes of the rocks.
Barış looked toward the dog’s shadow without meaning to.
Still there.
The travelers had to be looking near it.
Their camera was facing the same direction.
And yet, they did not react.
Could they not see it?
Or did they see it and simply not care?
The thought sat uneasily in him.
It was so clear.
At least to him,
clear enough that he could not look away.
One of the travelers pressed the shutter.
The dry click mixed with the wind.
At that moment, the dog-like shadow stood.
Only Barış noticed.
The shadow moved slowly toward the cover of the rocks.
Not hurried.
Not fleeing.
Still, it seemed to avoid being seen.
Barış drew in a small breath.
The travelers were still taking pictures of the view.
No one looked toward the dog.
Barış took one step forward.
The shadow stopped once, just as it had yesterday.
Whether it looked back or not, he could not tell.
But to Barış, it seemed that way.
Then, in the next moment, it disappeared beyond the rocks.
In the same place as yesterday.
In the same way.
The only difference was that Barış could no longer call it coincidence.
He stood there for a while.
The travelers’ laughter came from somewhere far away.
The town was moving as usual.
At the guesthouses, breakfast plates were being set out.
Someone was drinking tea.
Someone was taking a photograph.
Someone was lost in the streets.
Inside that ordinary time,
only Barış seemed to be standing inside another clock.
Beyond the rock where the dog’s shadow had vanished, a narrow path continued.
The same path as yesterday.
The path descending toward the distant valley.
Barış did not go there.
Not yet.
That was what he thought.
It was not fear.
At least, not like yesterday.
He was not unable to follow now.
Before following,
there were things he had to be sure of.
Why the same place?
Why was he the only one who noticed?
Why did that shadow never change its distance?
No answers.
But the questions were clearer than yesterday.
Barış slowly began to descend the slope.
Halfway down, he looked back.
There was nothing on the rock now.
Only the grass remained flattened
where the dog’s shadow had been sitting.
Against the wind.
Barış stopped.
The wind blew.
The other grass moved.
But that one place did not move for a while.
As if some weight
had been left there.
