Lunatic Woman & High School

This event occurred in May 2022. I was studying for the LGS, the high school entrance exam, at that time. It was when the weather started to warm up, and there was little time left until the exam. It was Ramadan. A woman in our neighborhood started shouting from her balcony. She said, “I was caught by surprise. I am in heedlessness.” We thought she was on drugs. After a while, a man came and took her from the balcony. This situation continued for a week; she screamed every morning as if she were under the influence of drugs. Consequently, we complained to the police. The cops came, but they left without intervening.

One morning, I was getting ready to go to the classroom again for the practice exam. This time, she started shouting even more loudly as soon as I went outside. I headed for the classroom, took the exam, and went back to the village. While I was in the village, I saw a video on the Internet. The news was like this: “A woman tortured and killed a dog in Buca.” I was really shocked after seeing the news. I showed it to my sister, and she had the same reaction. I called my friend in Izmir because I saw the news while I was in Ordu. This call was out of curiosity. They also stated that they had heard the screams and were eyewitnesses. She told me that the woman tortured the dog for an hour before killing it and throwing it out the window. It was already written in the news. Then we returned from Ordu. I was happy to be back because I had been exposed to village life for a month.

I met Hamza on the first weekend I returned to Izmir. It was a week before school started, so we talked about how the first days would be. Of course, most importantly, we had a hearty meal.

The school opened, and the first days of high school began. I did not struggle socially because there were people in my class that I had always known and had become good friends with. However, academically, I had a hard time understanding biology at first because it required a lot of memorization. Even though I expected the crazy woman to move back to her old house within the year, she did not. This was, of course, much better; she was adding a different element to our neighborhood, but she was a danger.

The school organized a picnic trip. We were very happy that it was at an amusement park because the adrenaline was great. We went on a 360-degree rotating ride and a drop tower. The 360-degree rotation became my favorite ride. It was indeed a very enjoyable day, and we had so much fun. Besides the amusement park, the picnic was fun and beautiful.

Yağız Maytalman