***
“I’m all messed up. I drank until the break of day. I could barely get up from my armchair, and plunked down on the bed face up without changing into my PJs. I shut my eyes in the tar pit darkness and listened to my heaving breath that exited my nose. Just then, I started feeling cold. I couldn’t find the strength in me to get up, close the window, turn on the heater and clamber beneath the blanket. When I started to freeze up from my feet upwards, I then felt a mouse waltzing Matilda on my back as it nibbled on my sweater. My eyes, nose and lips began twitching uncontrollably. I tried to pull myself together. I told myself this was neither a dream, nor a nightmare and that I needed to get ready to set out on a long, strange trip…”
Merih Günay born 1969 in Istanbul, lives in his native city. Since 2001, the beginning of his active literary life, his stories have been published in various magazines and selected volumes. He has received numerous awards for his stories and books.