The man discovered the intermittent opening, as a photography object. He carefully stepped inside, first a step, then the other. Ahead, the boat was waiting. He grabbed the paddles and started to glide over the clear canvas of blue. Right in the middle, patiently waiting, was the island. He plunged into the green and stayed there for several hours. Or maybe day, or months. Eventually, he wiped his eyes and tried understanding where he was. He sought the way of return, but he didn't find it anymore. He was left captive inside the gaze. The woman had closed her eyes.
(Translated by Daniela-Andreea Gugescu / 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 April 2022, the group has 8,175 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. 
