She wished she could become a black pearl, hidden inside the most tightly sealed shell at the bottom of the ocean. The noises from outside bothered her, the sunlight was unbearable, and she dreaded getting out of bed. No visitors today, please don't come over. Maybe another time, I don't feel up to it. She tossed her phone aside and covered her nose with the duvet. Beside the bed, a Mioritic shepherd appeared. The massive fur pile snuck its snout under the covers and licked her wrist. Dear, you must be thirsty. The woman smiled, her heart warmed. I'm lucky to have you.
(Translated by Lucia-Alexandra Brînaru-Mitrofan / 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 2023, the group has 11,260 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. 
