Yesterday I told her I was quitting smoking. Today she caught me by the window, counting the droplets on the glass and eagerly puffing smoke after smoke. Yesterday I promised her that today would be a new life. Today I talk to her, she doesn't listen. I pound my fist on the window remembering the nights we promised each other days without thinking of tomorrow. A lady dressed in white approaches and I notice the contrast with the black in me. Tomorrow you can pick up the body, she announces without any emotion on her face. I ask her if tomorrow is something that really exists.
Mirela A. Nica
I'm sorry I bit your cheeks. I think it was me who tore a strand out of your moustache. It's not entirely my fault. You're a bite, and you know it, Ugly. I've never used that nickname until you, nor have I ever believed with all my being in its opposite. But it's 40 degrees Celsius outside, it's hot. So what, you think I'd look good with a fur collar around my neck. Don't dig your claws in and kiss me. Ah, you just wanted to check what I ate. The most emotionally blackmailing cat.
Ada Cocoș
She felt cornered. The words hung silently in the knot in her throat. They choked her. She tensed her voice a few times, and then the dizziness came over her reassuringly. She let herself go for a few moments, but the scar across her chest from her collarbone to below her ribs began to throb violently. She could see the people around her talking, but all that echoed in her mind was the roar of the metal that had tightened over her, like a cage in which she was still a prisoner. In the car ahead, no survivors. Hi, I'm Carmen and I'm an alcoholic.
(Translated by Adrian-George Ilinca / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.