Gelu was a narcissist but no different than the rest of us. Just a narcissist. Tired of seeking validation in the world of so many other narcissists, Gelu decided to propose to his own self. This decision was probably the first sign of the decline of his
self-adoration. The only way, was to legally bind himself to himself. No one can undo the law. The next morning, when Gelu looked in the mirror, it was different. Was it somebody else, or was he cheating on himself with another one? His jealousy exploded, he pulled out his revolver and shot himself in the head.
(Translated by Mălina Ioana Butaru / 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 May 2022, the group has 8,350 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. 
