The following short story is written in multiple languages to capture the flow of the thoughts of the main character and thereby explores how the language of internal narration might interact with external circumstances. The substantive content is in Turkish, German and English. The numbers are occasionally in Spanish and Farsi, in addition to the aforementioned languages. 

The Sickness/Hastalık/Die Krankheit/بیماری/La Enfermedad

He first heard a faint buzzing when he was entering the gym. The gym was very crowded, and this sensation he therefore attributed to the noisiness of the atmosphere he found himself in. Kafasında bir sürü düşünce uçuşuyordu. Eve dönünce ne yapacağını, yazı nasıl geçireceğini henüz düşünmemişti. He wore his earbuds. Er dachte, er müsse sich immer mit etwas Geistigem beschäftigen. Deshalb hörte er ein Audiobuch an, wenn er Sport machte. Heute wahlte er “Der Process” von Kafka. 

His hand habitually grabbed a towel as he walked by the reception desk. He hopped onto an elliptical. He was going to warm-up by doing cardio for precisely five minutes; then he would do 3 sets of 5 reps each on every machine, and he would stretch and leave. The methodical precision of this routine comforted him. Nothing could go wrong in the gym. Everything was precisely in order, always.

He hopped off the elliptical and walked toward the squat machine.

Eins

Zwei

Drei

Vier

Fünf

Five perfectly executed squats. Although by now going to the gym had become customary for him, he nevertheless felt a little proud and satisfied after every set. 

Eins

Zwei

Drei

He felt a slight unease in his stomach in the middle of a squat. “What could that be?” he thought. The buzzing feeling was back in his head, stronger this time. Bunun geçici bir his olduğu inancıyla egzersizine devam etmeye karar verdi.

Vi/Gerade um halb zehn U/er

Fünf/hr als er weggehen wollte…

He stopped and took a deep breath. Although he felt nauseous, he had done this for long enough that his exercise routine was mere reflex for him, and therefore his movements were unimpeded. 

یک/ denn es wurde so dunkel, daß er, als er aufblickte, in dem nahen Seitenschiff

دو

Drei/ ob er sich jetzt nicht eiligst entfernen sollte/

Vier

Five

He got up. The uneasiness in his stomach had vanished, but he felt the buzzing in his head intensify, now joined by a slight airiness. He walked toward the closest machine and plopped himself on the seat.

Bir

Two

-The nausea in his stomach was back. He felt his thoughts turning in a whirlpool. Now he thought about a professor, how ashamed he was to have said something, this girl-

Tres

-self-loathing, utanç –

Vier

-and perhaps hatred-

پنج/ he had always suspected-

He felt that he was falling. Er bückte sich. Der Bauchschmerz war fast unerträglich. Karnını acı içinde tuttu.  He felt a tug at his belly. Before his shocked gaze, his stomach freed itself from his abdomen, ruptured his torso, turned inside out, and emptied itself.

The last thing he could see was the unconcerned onlookers calmly continuing their workouts.