• Browse
  • Home
  • Stories
  • Brooches
  • Competitions
  • Podcasts
  • About The Casket
  • About Joanna

The Casket of Fictional Delights

Brooches Podcasts Stories

Reclaiming Istanbul

by Nicola Prentis

Flash Fiction Thought-provoking, Unsettling

May, 2013

I’m out in a rooftop bar on the European side of Istanbul. I’m with two male friends, American and French, who I’ve no reason to think fancy me. It’s nearly midnight.

My phone rings.

 May, 2007

A rooftop bar on the European side of Istanbul.  Two male friends, American and French, who I’ve no reason to think fancy me.  It’s nearly midnight.

My phone rings. One, two…

My stomach clenches. Three…I scrabble for the phone, it’s always within easily answerable reach. I catch it before the problematic fourth ring. It’s my boyfriend, Yilmaz, calling from his hometown in Artvin, near the Armenian border.

I’m out. I’m in a bar. I’m with two male friends. It’s nearly midnight.

I step away, so they won’t hear me explaining why I’m out, where I am, who I’m with, when I’m going home.

“…yes….not late…soon….Yes, as soon as I get home.”

An icy wind rolls in from The Black Sea. I return and jitter in my seat for a few more minutes, and then make my excuses and leave, night ruined. It wasn’t worth coming out.

May, 2013

I locate my phone somewhere in my bag and answer. It’s a friend wondering if I’m free to meet before I leave town. I step a metre or so away to hear more easily. A warm breeze from the Bosphorus flitters across my skin. We chat briefly and the night carries on as before.  It isn’t worth mentioning.

  •  
  •  
  •  

About Nicola Prentis

Nicola now claims Madrid as her home and her first novel was published in 2014. She also writes study materials for the EFL market.
Visit Nicola Prentis on the web

You’ve reached the end of this story. Please do explore further. And if you’re feeling generous today, donate to The Casket and help keep the fictional delights flowing. Want to know when more stories arrive? Make sure you sign up for regular updates.

A little tin-rattle

The Casket is a platform for new, fresh and enjoyable short reads. We don’t receive any grants and your generosity helps us provide FREE accessible ad-free content. Any donation is hugely appreciated. If you would like to contribute, donate by PayPal by submitting your name and an amount.

Sending

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

If you choose to leave a comment on The Casket of Fictional Delights, in addition to the comment you provide we collect a little data, including your IP address, in order to check it isn't spam and to publish the comment. Following approval, your comment text, name and website URL (if provided) are visible to the public. To find out how your data is used, check our Privacy Policy

Everyone at The Casket is hoping 2021 will be a better year than 2020.  We have some great short stories and flash fiction lined up for your delight.  We kick of the year with a story by Lydia Unsworth “The Smallest Boxes” and then for Valentine's we have a story by Dylan Brethour which will also be available as a podcast. Later in the summer we have a new Flash Fiction Summer Collection which will be published online and as podcasts read by Menna Bonsels and Richard Hodder.  We hope you enjoy the stories we have for you and look forward to welcoming you back regularly.

Joanna & The Casket of Fictional Delights Team

 

Help Keep Us Going

Please consider making a donation to The Casket of Fictional Delights.  All content on the website is free and widely available to audiences worldwide.  We do not receive any grants and all our content is Ad free.  The Casket of Fictional Delights specialises in producing high-quality podcasts which are recorded by professional actors/voiceover artists from around the world. We hope you enjoy reading and listening to the stories and finding out about Joanna’s varied brooch collection.

DONATE

Tweetings

  • New Brooch of the Month from The Casket of Fictional Delights - https://t.co/X6qktSMZxL, Jan 23
  • Best #brooch of the month, love it, now where can I buy one to add to my collection https://t.co/b4wFYvFVx5, Jan 21
  • RT @lena_valentin_: ❤️🐈🐾❤️🐾🐈 Meet Emily 🐈! Eli found her 2 days ago in an empty hotel area. Emily is super beautiful and very sweet. Little Emily is looking for a forever home 🏡. Please retweet and help Emily finding a loving home. ❤️🐈❤️🐈❤️🐈 #cats #CatsOfTwitter #Eliscats #AdoptDontShop https://t.co/DEctbTZs9R, Jan 15
Follow The Casket on Twitter

Podcasts

Prefer to listen? - from the beginning The Casket of Fictional Delights has specialised in producing high quality podcasts of short stories and flash fiction compilations. The podcasts are recorded by actors and voiceover artists and produced by a professional studio manager ensuring we maintain a consistent high standard. I’ve chosen three to highlight the variety and quality of work we have to offer - visit our Podcast page for more. I hope you enjoy listening to them.

Casket podcast highlights

Listen!

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Android Podcasts
  • Spotify
  • Stitcher
  • Tunein

Sign up for our Newsletter

The Casket of Fictional Delights newsletter delivers the latest story or brooch of the month fresh off the press, and keeps you informed about our competitions and other Casket news periodically.

No spam, ever - and we never use your details for anything but sending your newsletter. You can change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any email you receive from us.

View our Privacy Policy

  • Stories
  • Authors
  • Podcasts
  • Brooches
  • Birth of a collection
  • About The Casket
  • About Joanna
  • Liu Xiaobo
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • The Casket on Facebook
  • The Casket on Twitter
  • The Casket on Pinterest

Text & stories © Joanna Sterling 2021
Stories © various authors
Audio by Menna Bonsels
Brooch photography by Mark Colliton
Other photography by Rosie Marks
Maintained by Brighton WebTech