In the emptiness, I am always on duty. You'd think it is quiet in here, but voices come from deep memories. Who's the boss here? Me, said a small Self, shaking his hands. They gave me this life in service, but I don't have anything, and, furthermore the Fears come to steal my energy, they cling with invisible wires and make an earthquake-like shake. It's more complicated than I was told when I was hired. You haven't dreamt in a long time, Mr. Self. Ah, didn't you know? They moved them during the day shift, they come out clearer when I have my eyes open.
(Translated by Otilia Mocanu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In March 2021, the group has 4.300 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, and Luchian Abel. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficţiuni Reale. 
