ac 25: cult interpretation.

She comes in every day like clockwork. A Turkish coffee and a bagel with a small fruit cup. Occasionally she has her child with her and in those instances she also orders a yogurt. Every day she sits at the same window and is doing a lot of writing or if she isn’t writing she is regularly on her phone and it’s intriguing. 

Throwing down the towel, I head over to her table and the young girl looks up at me. Nothing like the fresh face of innocence. “Ayla?” I ask, looking over her shoulder and she jumps then looks up at me. She flashes a quick smile but it’s obvious I scared her. “What’s that?” I nod in the direction of her iPad screen and she shrugs her shoulders. That makes me even more curious so I lean in closer to her. I can tell that she tenses slightly and it makes me chuckle. 

“Sanctum. What’s that?” I question, finally feeling bold enough to ask about the logo on the sleeve of her sweater. Ayla stops typing and lets out a deep breath, closing the case of her iPad. I’ve clearly annoyed her and I make a mental note to apologize later. “Sounds..culty,” I responded, sitting next to the small child. “What is it?”

Ayla let out a sigh. I could tell by the look on her face that she was trying to think of the best way to describe what it was. She chewed her lower lip and shrugged her shoulders, “It’s..” She glanced around the coffee shop before her eyes landed on me. “It’s a family thing..Why do you ask? That’s…weird.” She responds with a raised eyebrow. 

“The logo on your sweater. You wear it a lot so I was curious,” I responded. “How would one go about joining this family?” That’s when I get a smile and she practically bounces in her chair and she reaches into her back and pulls out a pamphlet. 

“Read it..” She responds with a shrug of her shoulders and scoots back, although nearly knocking me over and heads out the door with her daughter, her drink and the remainder of her order in hand.