She first heard the voice at a dorm party. She had received an invitation to pose for a jewelry brand. You make some money, you get into modelling, you've got potential, the director told her. And he'd heard her clearly in his mind: NO, you better stick to college. But the mirage of fashion made her dizzy as if drinking champagne. All summer she ignored that voice. Now she's locked in a cheap hotel room in England and her passport is gone. She cries and wonders: why me? Outside the window, on the fire escape, the guardian angel sobs and tears.
Vero Anttheia Teodoru
After Pretty Woman, all the escorts in the capital got hot dreaming of the luck that struck Vivian Ward. They dyed their hair red and began to fuss over their clients. Favourites were those who looked at least 1% like the famous Richard Gere. They watched the movie over and over again tearing up at the final scene where he saves her by overcoming his fear of heights by heroically climbing the fire escape with his bouquet between his teeth and helping himself to an umbrella. They forget they're just sweet little girls from Bucharest.
Viorel Spinu
LET THE FIRE COME. Every morning these words were written on the wall, right at the bottom of the fire escape. Precisely drawn letters the colour of the flame. No use painting the wall again and again, no use patrolling the police, every morning the text was on the wall again. The surveillance cameras caught a blurry shadow, like smoke, coming up the ladder, moving in front of the wall and disappearing up the ladder again. Anyone who happened to be there would only see orange letters taking shape on the wall.
(Translated by Cătălina Colibaba / 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.