I'm the naive leader of my tribe. So naïve that even the most sophisticated algorithm couldn't fix me. I always give in to the pressure of the monkeys around me: the sturdiest branch, the ripest banana, the nest with the thickest foliage. I'm easily horrified. Which is why I've had dozens of panic attacks. I think I get it from the rock that was hung around my neck at birth: crumbly fire agate. Supposedly it boosts vitality and eliminates addictions. Looking for ape to show me the way out of the jungle.
(Translated by Bianca-Maria Marinescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by prof. dr. Nadina Vișan / Edited 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 October 2022, the group has 9,400 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. 
