If I become a butterfly, it's because I've never learnt to fly. If I become a tree, it's because I've forgotten my roots. When I become a lion, it's so I can carry my greatness without airs. Or perhaps I'll be a wolf and I'll be able to shamelessly howl. If I become a seed, I'll find the strength to rise. When I become an earthworm, I'll creep deep inside the earth without fearing my inner darkness. Or perhaps I'll be a whale swallowing myself whole.
(Translated by Ioana Diana Sandu / 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 December 2021, the group has 7.750 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. 
