Remorses

Elena Șușman
He had rented a small room and bought a piece of land. That was all he could afford. Someday, you'll have your own room, he daydreamed. And an office to study in. Yes, baby, a desk. After the rain, worms as long as your finger came out of the old floor. He'd gather them up so the baby wouldn't see. But they would still come out, he got used to it. When they washed themselves in the basin with water from the can, he would sometimes roar: look how we live, do you know how my colleagues live? Of course he did. And it hurt. Badly. Sometimes they'd go to the swimming pool to take a shower. Then he was happy.

Carmen-Ecaterina Ciobâcă
Her world shattered the day she snuck out. Poverty was like a leash around her neck. They paid five euros each to let her out. Her old lady was waiting for her at the end. He'd kiss her, change her clothes, spoon-feed her. He'd grown to love her. He made up for his absences with toys. Ina doesn't talk, the kids at school beat her and make fun of her. That's what they told him. Tonight Ina didn't want to talk on the phone, she went to bed. The doll was sick, she'd put rags between her legs to help her get better. Mother went back to the room under the olive trees and cried sourly.

Clara Marinescu
She had lost weight. She fasted intermittently, eating until 6 p.m., then taking a break until noon the next day. She had been on a diet for a month already and had visibly lost weight. She had a favourite blue dress with lots of buttons. She'd wear it tonight on her date. She'd been waiting all year. Finally, the moment arrived. After the shower, she put it on and tactically closed the buttons. Her fingers were getting nervous around her breasts. The dress wouldn't close. No, she couldn't go anywhere without it. And all because of that stinking chocolate last night.

(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.