Straight 'A's for the finals, they shouted in unison on the rooftop terrace, where they had held their proms one after another, and she smiled at them from the armchair where she was watching. Through the speakers, freedom, man, maybe college, and nightlife. Proud posts from her parents crossed her mind. In reality, fool, whore, and the scars from the beatings had become her second skin. She had long thought about leaving and had chosen the moment: after the finals. She watched her friends for a while longer, then stood up, determined. I'm only 18, she heard just before the impact.
Ramona Ungureanu
The countless ghosts of my past, mounted on finely woven horses adorned by my trembling hand, the white ones with flowing manes, the black ones with manes woven with red tassels. And on my third breath, I cracked the whip into the air, and they galloped off, never to return. Riders in the sky. They raised a great dust, the ashes of vanished souls. And then I saw that my shadow fell where it should, and I grew fond of it. And it brightened; the hooves beat on a different cobblestone, I embraced myself, and I smiled.
Florina Hegedüs
I live in a different world. Mother, this is no joke. So, let me conceive the thought differently, if only I could live in the world I dream of. But there are well-established rules, each with its own world. Do we philosophize, are we philosophizing, dear mother? Not at all, I break the rules, and that's the only way I divert my thoughts from the notion that my grandchildren will eat me in the form of biscuits. Are you alright, mother? - Your response doesn't fill me with optimism. Yes, I still exist, and now, give me your arm, son, and as we walk, I will tell you about what the Universe is truly like and who we really are.
(Translated by Alin-Marian Mărgescu / 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.