The Scale

Monica Bologa
Holding my hand, he began to list all the reasons that matter and should make us fight for our relationship: we love each other, we have a lot of compatibilities, we make heavenly love, we know how to enjoy the small things together. Tell me just one serious thing that could topple all these reasons, and I promise I'll let you go, he said. I answered him clearly and emphatically: I'm pregnant, and the child isn't yours. My words catapulted all his reasons to the stars.

Marilena Demian
I inhale and fixate on a point. Perfect balance. Once, I stole a piece of cloth. The point oscillates slightly. I sewed a dress for the doll. Fixed point. My sister's boyfriend told me he's leaving her for me. The point sways vigorously. But I refused him. I straighten up. I'm going to take the life of an unborn child. The point sways violently and leaves behind a comet-like trail before extinguishing. It's normal to faint in situations like this, it will pass, it's the anaesthesia. Why are you running? These indecisive ones, they have no idea what they want from life.

Laura Stanciu
Well no, I'm not seeing that accountant anymore. We tested the waters for a while, chatting on Mess, then on w-up, and he was late for our first date. Rude. Being 50 years old, I don't have time, dear, for this kind of foreplay, life is passing me by. I want to know where I stand. What can I say? I waited in the restaurant for half an hour, the day before yesterday, on the 31st. Foolish me. When he finally arrived, he showed me his phone was out of battery. He apologized, saying that balancing accounts killed him. Well, I'm a Libra, and that's my rising sign too. I got it. I stood up and left.

(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.