The raindrops smashed on the window, then ran down in long streaks, uncovering the once fixed image of the trees. I turned around and poured the tea, and the faint light coming from the fire lit his cheek just for a second, then he stopped. Where have you been? I fought. And did you win? I won myself. Now, if it's not too late, I'm here. Only death comes late in life, husband, life leaves its print on us and we only have to figure each other out for as long as it's left from our late life. He reached out his hand towards my cheek, but he stopped halfway: I do not dare feel how much time you've been waiting for me.
(Translated by Daniela-Andreea Gugescu / 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 April 2023, the group has 11,000 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. 
