That's what I saw the day I kissed you, because outside was the Sahara at dusk. I could see people drying up and falling, and in the distance I could see a sandstorm, which would destroy everything in its path. But I didn't care, because inside was Paris. With all the lights, walks along the Seine, kisses under the Eiffel Tower and music in the background. Now I look out the window and see people walking happily under the Eiffel. But I don't care anymore, because inside is the Sahara. With harshness and golden sand.
(Translated by Ana Spînu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / 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 March 2023, the group has 10,790 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, Luchian Abel, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale. 
