There's Something In The House

After dinner, everyone in the house had retreated to their own corner, as usual.

Nalan had placed her phone on the kitchen counter while tidying up, watching a film as she worked. She moved so quickly in her eagerness to finish that plates and dishes were practically flying through the air.

Arda had settled into the armchair in front of the television, so absorbed in the match that he had completely lost touch with everything happening around him. He had turned the volume up so high that the house was hardly any different from a stadium.

Their son, Kuzey, was in a world of his own. Holding his phone in both hands, his head bent towards the screen, he was immersed in his game. There were three separate worlds under the same roof.

Suddenly, Nalan felt a chill at the back of her neck. Although it was spring, she felt cold to the bone. She dried her hands and quickly turned around. There was no one there. “Allah Allah,” she murmured. She had shivered from head to toe, but she didn't dwell on it. She hurriedly finished what was left of her chores and went into the living room to sit down.

Frowning, she asked her husband:

“When is your match going to end?”

Caught up in the excitement of the match, Arda was perched on the edge of his seat, constantly jumping up and down. He hadn't even heard Nalan.

This time, Nalan raised her voice.

“Hey! I'm talking to you. When is the match going to end?”

Without taking his eyes off the television, Arda replied:

“It's the last few minutes. Just be quiet, will you!”

Nalan's face fell. The excitement in their marriage had been fading for some time. She and her husband no longer talked as they used to, and they hardly spent any time together anymore. And that wasn't the only problem.

No matter how kind, affectionate and understanding Arda appeared to be outside the house, at home he turned into a completely different person. He had become a rude, impatient man who lost his temper over the slightest thing. Over time, his behaviour had changed Nalan, too. She could no longer tolerate things she had once let slide, and with every harsh word from Arda, she felt the anger inside her grow a little more.

Two days later, Selma, who came to clean their house, approached Nalan just as she was finishing her work and preparing to leave.

“Sis, I don't want to come here to clean anymore.”

Nalan looked at her in surprise.

“Why? What happened?”

Selma hesitated for a moment. She glanced around as though she couldn't decide whether to speak.

“Sis, I don't get good energy from this house.”

Nalan raised an eyebrow.

“What energy? What on earth are you talking about?”

Selma lowered her voice even further and leaned towards Nalan.

“Sis, I've been keeping this from you for a while, but... I keep seeing shadows in your house. Sometimes something passes out of the corner of my eye. I turn to look, but there's no one there. And I constantly feel as though someone is watching me.”

Nalan burst out laughing.

“What do you mean, watching you? What shadows? Don't be ridiculous, Selma!”

Selma didn't laugh. On the contrary, her expression grew even more serious.

“Sis, don't say that. I suspect there are jinn in your house.”

“Don't be stupid, Selma! Where did that come from? Where do you people learn such nonsense?”

“I swear, sis, I'm perfectly fine when I'm outside. But the moment I come to your house, as soon as I step through the door, all my strength drains away. And this terrible feeling comes over me. I feel so unhappy here.”

Nalan had completely lost her patience.

“Oh, then don't come! If you don't want to, you could at least have come up with a better excuse!”

Selma didn't reply. She slung her bag over her shoulder, but just as she was about to leave, she stopped. Her gaze had settled on Nalan's bedroom. The expression on her face changed instantly. Nalan noticed it at once. She turned to look in the same direction, but there was nothing there.

When she looked back at Selma, the woman had already left and stepped into the lift.

Although Nalan was angry with Selma, she couldn't get her words out of her mind. Especially: “The moment I come to your house, as soon as I step through the door, all my strength drains away. And this terrible feeling comes over me. I feel so unhappy here.” Those words kept echoing in her mind. Because she felt exactly the same way. She just never spoke of it.

And then there was Arda. At home, he became a completely different person. “What if...” she thought. Could Selma be right?

As if Selma suddenly quitting her job weren't enough, she had also left Nalan with a truckload of doubts.

When evening came and Arda returned home, Nalan had been watching him through the residential complex's security camera. She opened the door before he even rang the bell. Arda was talking to a friend on the phone, smiling warmly in a way Nalan hadn't seen in a long time. Something caught her attention: the moment Arda ended the call and stepped inside, his brows drew together in a frown. It was as though an invisible barrier stood at the entrance to their home, and anyone who crossed it was forbidden to smile.

When they sat down for dinner, Nalan quickly went to retrieve the phone she had left in the bedroom. Meanwhile, Arda got up from the table and noticed that the light in Kuzey's room was on. Shouting, he stormed over to the boy. As though yelling weren't enough, he struck his son hard across the face without a moment's hesitation.

His brows were furrowed.

“Didn't I tell you not to leave the lights on?”

The child answered fearfully.

“Dad, I swear I didn't leave it on.”

“Shut up, you idiot!”

Nalan couldn't bear it any longer and intervened.

“I walked past his room just a moment ago. All the lights were off.”

This time, Arda roared at Nalan in fury.

“Are you calling me a liar? You and your son have already teamed up against me!”

After that evening, Arda became a completely different man. He constantly shouted at Kuzey over the most trivial things. Scattering his toys, creasing a page in a book, leaving the lights on... In short, everything the child did irritated him.

Whenever Nalan witnessed Arda's behaviour, Selma's words came back to her.

It was as though the three people living in that house hated one another.

Although Arda remained the same cheerful man outside, Nalan's patience was wearing thin as he continued to beat Kuzey for the slightest mistake. She, too, had begun to feel an overwhelming anger towards her husband.

Things kept disappearing around the house. And every time something went missing, it caused chaos.

But one night became a turning point for Nalan. It had been another tense evening, as usual, and Arda had shouted at Kuzey over something insignificant. When the boy tried to defend himself, his father completely lost control.

Arda lunged at Kuzey in a fit of rage. So blinded by anger was he that he slapped the boy twice. But even that did nothing to calm his fury.

When Nalan looked into her husband's eyes, she felt more frightened than ever before. Arda was gone. It was as though an entirely different person had taken his place. Behind his eyes, there seemed to be another being, driven mad with rage.

When Arda attacked Kuzey, Nalan lost control as well and threw herself at her husband. This time, Arda turned on Nalan. The struggle ended with all three of them suffering minor scratches.

No one spoke that night. Nalan felt helpless in the face of Arda's anger. “This man is going to slaughter us,” she couldn't help thinking. Either he'll kill us, or we'll kill him...

“This kind of anger isn't normal,” she thought. And then she did the last thing she had ever imagined doing. She sent Selma a message:

“Selma, can you come over tomorrow? It's very urgent.”

Selma replied shortly afterwards.

“Of course, sis.”

After Arda left for work and Kuzey went to school, Nalan began waiting for Selma. Every time she looked around the house, a shiver ran through her. Whatever was in this house, it was clearly nothing good.

As Selma stepped through the doorway, she was murmuring something under her breath. It wasn't difficult for Nalan to guess what it was. Selma had evidently recited every prayer she knew. Then she blew gently over herself and towards the house.

They went out onto the balcony together. Nalan hadn't wanted to talk inside the house.

“Selma, you might be right.”

“About what, sis?”

Nalan hesitated for a while before answering.

“About the house... There's something in this house. It's changing us. Turning us into completely different people.”

She took a deep breath before continuing.

“The other night, Arda lost control so badly that, for a moment, I thought he was going to slaughter us.”

Selma's eyes widened, and she exclaimed excitedly.

“What are you saying, sis? You swear?”

“I swear!”

“Oh, may Allah protect us!”

“So what can I do?”

Nalan didn't answer immediately. She gazed outside for a while. She seemed unable to put her thoughts into words. But somehow, she had to find a way to solve this problem.

“Find me a hoca.”

Selma wasn't surprised by the request at all. In fact, she took it so naturally that she immediately nodded in agreement. “Don't worry, sis. Leave that to me,” she said, then left, saying, “I'll go and ask around right away.”

It wasn't long before Selma called Nalan with the address of a hoca. Without wasting any time, Nalan picked up Selma, and together they set off to see him.

When they arrived at the address, Nalan wondered, “What am I doing here?” But she comforted herself with a single answer: “Desperation.”

As soon as they entered the hoca's home, a shiver ran through her. The apartment was on the ground floor of a three-storey building. The moment they stepped inside, the heavy scent of incense filled her nostrils. It was almost evening, yet not a single light had been switched on, and the interior was quite dark. In its present state, the place looked as though it had come straight out of a horror film.

The hoca's wife greeted them. Without a word, she invited them inside and gestured towards the floor cushions directly opposite him. Sitting beside Selma on the cushions, Nalan silently examined her surroundings. The place was very old and in a state of disrepair. Judging by the furnishings, it seemed to be used solely for such matters. Copies of the Qur'an and books on what were called the secret sciences were arranged everywhere.

The hoca glanced at his visitors before calmly asking what was troubling Nalan. As though she had been waiting months for someone to ask her that question, Nalan poured out everything she had been through in a single breath.

She described each of her problems in detail: how the atmosphere at home had been tense for months; how her husband was kind outside but flew into a rage the moment he came home; how he shouted at their son over the smallest things; how objects constantly disappeared; how lights switched themselves on; how shadows moved around the house; and how, one night, Arda had become so furious that he had nearly killed them.

After listening carefully, the hoca asked her for certain information and began murmuring something to himself. He recited prayers for a long time. Then he closed his eyes and began to speak.

“My daughter Nalan, you poured water over some rubbish at midnight.”

Nalan thought for a brief moment before exclaiming in surprise.

“Yes, but how did you...”

The hoca continued.

“The water you poured struck a jinn that happened to be there at the time, and it attached itself to you. The jinn became angry with you, made your home its dwelling place, and has been tormenting you ever since.”

In stark contrast to the hoca's calm manner, Nalan's eyes widened as she hurriedly asked:

“What do you mean, tormenting us?”

“It's amusing itself with you.”

“What? How on earth did this happen? And how are we going to get rid of it?”

“Through prayer. We will ask Allah for help. I will give you certain prayers. You will recite some of them and carry others on your person.”

Nalan said nothing. She merely nodded in agreement. After waiting for a while, she took the prayers from the hoca and headed home.

From that day onwards, Nalan did everything she had been told. For a while, there was some relief in the house. But none of the problems had completely disappeared.

Several months passed before the same problems began again. Only this time, they were worse.

One night, somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, Nalan saw an ugly face in a dream. A jinn with a pitch-black face, bulging red eyes and wild, dishevelled hair stood directly before her. Its torn mouth stretched into a smile as it laughed like a mad creature.

“Did you think you could get rid of me?”

Nalan woke drenched in sweat and couldn't sleep again until morning. And she had good reason. From that day on, the being's attacks grew more severe. No one in the house could find a moment's peace, day or night.

Nalan began searching for another hoca. Eventually, she found Necmi Efendi, a hoca who practised hüddam, on the internet. After listening carefully, Necmi Efendi said, “I will solve all your problems,” and told her he would come to her home the following evening.

That night, Nalan arranged for Kuzey to stay at his grandmother's house and waited for the hoca.

The moment he stepped through the door, the hoca sensed the dreadful atmosphere inside. Without saying anything, he shook his head, recited prayers and blew towards different parts of the house. Arda kept giving Nalan hostile looks, as though to say, “Why have you brought this upon us?”

Necmi Efendi placed a chair in the middle of the living room, seated Nalan on it and began reciting his prayers. Arda stood beside them, hovering over Nalan with a glass of water in his hand.

The hoca kept reciting prayers and passing the beads of his prayer beads through his fingers. As he continued, Nalan's voice began to change. First she spoke with a rasp deep in her throat; then came a moan. The longer he recited, the more her complexion changed.

When he had finished all his prayers, the hoca put a mirror in Nalan's hand and told her to look into it. Nalan slowly raised the mirror directly in front of her face and screamed at what she saw.

The jinn from her dream was staring back at her with its enormous bulging eyes. But this time, instead of smiling, it looked terrifying and threatening.

The hoca leaned towards Nalan and spoke into her ear.

“Leave the body you are occupying at once!”

The being resisted. It did not want to leave. Nalan seemed nailed to the chair. She stretched her hands rigidly and thrust out her legs. At times she shook as though an electric current were passing through her. Every so often, she screamed like someone possessed, making Arda jump in terror each time. Necmi Efendi ordered it again, but the jinn refused to leave. Finally, he threatened it one last time, yet the answer was the same: “No.”

Nalan began trembling where she sat, as though she were having an epileptic seizure. Her body suddenly went completely rigid. The being inside her had not taken kindly to the treatment it was receiving and had begun taking out its anger on Nalan.

The hoca shouted again, demanding that it leave her body.

Meanwhile, Arda was beside himself with fear, sprinkling water onto his wife's face.

Growing furious, the hoca shouted with all his strength:

“I command you! Leave this body!”

When the jinn still refused to obey, he began reciting entirely different prayers. He placed a piece of paper in a basin and, continuing his prayers, set it alight. As the paper caught fire, the being began to burn as well. When the flames had reduced the paper completely to ash, the uninvited guest had died along with it.

A short while later, Nalan came to her senses and looked fearfully into the mirror. All she saw was her own face, mascara streaked from crying, and her hair in complete disarray.

As the hoca gathered his belongings and left the house, he paused for a moment at the door. He turned to look at them and smiled. Nalan was surprised by the smile, but couldn't understand what it meant.

After he left, she looked into the mirror again and understood why. In the reflection, she saw herself and her husband standing side by side, holding hands. It was the first time they had held hands in a very long while. Nalan gazed at their reflection for a long time. She tightened her grip on her husband's hand. The heavy, suffocating atmosphere that had hung over the house for weeks seemed to have lifted all at once. For the first time, she could take a deep breath. When she and her husband looked into each other's eyes, neither said a word.

It seemed there was nothing left to say. Nalan rested her head on his shoulder.

Just as they were about to leave the room, a faint mist formed on the surface of the mirror.

Nalan didn't notice. First one line appeared in the mist, then another.

As though an invisible finger had touched the glass from the other side of the mirror.

Özlem Akgül Altuntaş

1 October 2026