M., it's day 256 since you became cosmic dust, and the world goes on just as well without you. That's what hurts me the most, you know? People are still living, and you're God knows where. M., they say it gets easier, but it's day 256, and I wonder what you're doing out there on the planet of those who no longer dream. Does someone pick you up when you're sad? Do you eat chocolate? Does someone tuck you in good night? I hope you're okay. I know, the world doesn't begin and end with you, but my world does.
(Translated by Bianca-Maria Marinescu / 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. 
