English version

 

 

"A good reader is not one who anticipates the fate of the protagonists, but one who shares it."

Ercan Y Yilmaz

 

 

 

Well before nightfall I could barely see the edge of the road. The eyes of the donkeys in the team came to mind. They too could hardly see anything, their eyes were hidden by black blinders... And yet I could feel them, without seeing them, it was in their tracks that I walked...

I had found... in fact it would be more accurate to say that I had come across one of their corpses...

Having made the effort to overcome my fear, delicately, although with disgust, I separated the skin from the bones of the skull. It seemed not to have suffered. As it dried, it grew in volume and began to shine. I stroked it. It was extremely soft. I couldn't help but lift it. I adjusted its ears and reshaped its face. In no time at all, I had in my hands a real donkey's head. It seemed so alive. All it lacked was its eyes. I don’t know where what I heard then came from:

“Put it on your head!”

I was trembling a little. I was afraid. Afraid of what, I didn’t know. Maybe of the smell, but above all I was afraid of getting lost in the disturbing shadow of a corpse. After all, I was holding a piece of a corpse in my hands…

I was wrong. The mask didn’t smell of anything. A long stay in the pure waters of the torrent had completely cleaned it and the burning sun had tanned it. It was a miracle that the hair, once dried and unstuck by the wind, was still so silky. And when I entered I immediately felt a presence penetrate me without me being able to know what it was... except that it was hostile and foreign...