Remorses

Vlad Mușat
I've been coming here every end of the spring for 10 years. When I saw that poppy in bloom, peace came over me. I got down on my knees and thanked God for this gift. I took the water from the trunk and started to water it. Then a feeling of panic came over me. Many people take pictures of themselves in the rapeseed field and there is a risk of destroying the flower. I'll guard it. The poppy has blossomed on the spot where I buried Andrei. It's proof of forgiveness. It was an accident, but no one would have believed me.

Diana Cornea
Some see God everywhere. Others nowhere. Miruna was returning from church on her bicycle. Shorts, wet T-shirt. She had scored the last goal. The boys were pissed. They had chased her through the cemetery. She'd jumped over the wall, saddled up her bike and ridden home. But on the way, she came across Grigore's path. He was with the sheep. He hadn't lifted his head out of the dust. She stood still and in her ears the harsh voices made her bite her lips. As if on cue, the sheep made way for her and crowded behind her. Today, she is Grigore's too.

Nelida Holban
Her grandmother figured it out first. Think twice before you speak. You have a filthy mouth. Don't curse. She didn't care. Hurt, wronged, she was unleashing poison darts. Sometimes the thought of harm rebuked her, but she couldn't help herself. Over the years she learned to swallow her bitterness, to be silent, to understand, to forgive, to help. She wanted neither thanks nor divine vengeance. As of cursing, she had cursed once. Long ago. With burning passion. 'Wish you to never have the luck to love again, my longing for you will burn you all your life.' No one told her that curses return.

(Translated by Andreea-Daniela Vasilache / 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 August 2023, the group has 11,680 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.