What? Yes, mother. Sure. I'm on my way. Done. It's over. The waiting is over. Yes. Of course. This time for good. I'm done feeling like I'm in a prison here. What do you mean what am I going to do with him? I'll leave him to someone else. Of course. You're right, it's not normal. But lately, he hasn't been beating me anymore. I know, I could have not wiped the butts of old people. But those were the times. I sacrificed for you, mother. So, you had something to eat. For myself, I managed. Oh, yes, mother, my eye got better. Yes. It's over. I know, even my soul stinks of Italian shit. Yes. I'm on my way.
(Translated by Constantin Istrate / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by prof. Daria Protopopescu / 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 January 2023, the group has 10,220 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. 
