Remorses

Mihaela Scânteie
We went where we had to go. We did what we had to do. We got to where we had to get. I was happy. You were happy. We got undressed to do what we had to do. Scissors, I asked him. Are you sure? Yes, he said. Are you sure? Yes, I said. You won't regret it, will you? No. You won't be sorry either? No. What about you? Me neither. Do you think others will be sorry? I don't know, nor do I care. Then let's do it before we move on to another day, I said to you. Or to another world, you replied.

Iulia Biro
Dash these memorial services. We give away pieces of furniture and clothes, and feed an entire village when there's a celebration, while others make do with a prayer and a candle. Don't they all end up on the other side anyway? Do others starve or sleep naked on the ground, while our people bask in luxury? I flipped out. Since my mom passed away, all I could hear was \'we have to' and \'don't forget to'. I'll do things my way, I said. And so, I got drunk at every celebration where I didn't prepare koliva and feed the people.

Gabriela Rus
You killed thirty civillians, including five children. How do you explain that? My mission was to free the hostage J. Falcon. I see. But the top priority is protecting people's lives. How did it come to this? The algorithm indicated that, without taking out the bus,there was a 70% chance the mission would fail. Something is wrong here. We'll send you for an in-depth assessment. You killed innocent people, yet there's no sign of remorse. Sorry, sir, empathy patch hasn't been updated. I am a 4.23 model.

(Translated by Alin Sescu / 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.