The Scale

Marian Benone Mihai
A lucky day is forecasted in all aspects. Right from the morning, the natives of the zodiac sign will have the good fortune of waking up alive. In love, due to an unexpected death, Libras will avoid an impromptu visit from their in-laws. With Mars in retrograde and due to its conjunction with the Black Moon in the house of peace, today they will have a pleasant surprise: Jupiter will reside in the house of money, leading the natives to postpone an unnecessary expense. It seems they won't buy a portable vacuum cleaner and makeup kit, but a coffin instead.

Ana Maria Dobre-Nir
Mara gently touched his face, then kissed his cold lips. There was no one else in the chapel, so she knelt there, next to the table. Forgive me, she said, as if certain he could still hear her. I didn't have the courage, my lord, to hold you in my arms since the calamity befell our world, because I would have felt your pain. And you were my strength. What will I do now? How will I take care of the tribe? We need a new leader. A wise one. Otherwise, we will continue with blood on our weapons until our end. Answer me. Even in a dream.

Gabriela Rus
Her feathers vibrate music so beautiful that, although I am terrified by what is happening to me, my heart calms and rejoices. She rises and approaches me, cups my chin between her fingers, and looks deep into the mire of my soul. Tell me, lost one, do you know who I am? Maát, you are order in chaos and the sustenance of life. Good. Then speak in your defence, before you are thrown to the demons. A single tear runs down my cheek and shatters on the cold onyx. I'm afraid I don't deserve mercy. Let there be mercy.

(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)


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 December 2023, the group has 12,210 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.