Turn the other cheek when you're hit. To look into the eyes of those who hit you and, through their eyes, to look at their parents, grandparents, ancestors. You will see that thousands of wounds have been planted in the tree of their soul. Kiss their wounds and plant buds of peace in them. Let it be a biblical peace, for which God could also become man. If you feel that the love of others weakens you, withdraw into yourself and enjoy nothing. And laugh until they think you're crazy. Then they will hit you again.
(Translated by Bianca Dumitru / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / 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 November 2021, the group has 7.500 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, Răzvan Penescu, and Luchian Abel. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale. 
