One-night Stand

Mihai Dinescu
She was at a conference. He was doing business. Both of them single. Unhappy. Defeated. They were looking at each other and speaking outright. They had nothing to hide. Not even their wedding rings. Sometimes, you can only speak with strangers about what you feel and what you really want. She invited him in her room. He followed. They started timidly. Then, she bit him, until he bled. He angrily pressed her against the wall. He ripped her clothes off and threw her on the bed. She laughed. He punished her. Squeeze, she begged him. His hand gripped her throat. Her eyes closed. Squeeze. Yes. Cho-ke-me.

Florentina Ghițescu
5 P.M. I am going to the tailor for my wedding dress fitting. It turned out very well, it just needs a little adjustment at the waist; I've lost some weight. 6 P.M. My love is waiting for me downstairs with a bouquet of roses, but I want to walk for a bit, I am sad and I don't know the reason. I told him we will be meeting later at home. I sit on a bench in the park. What a beautiful autumn, so why am I so sad? A man asks if he can sit beside me. We start talking as if we are continuing our story. Do I know him? 7 P.M. I am not returning home.

Vlad Nastea
They loved each other passionately throughout the polar night, making love on the floating ice without feeling the cold because they would immediately go back and wrap themselves in the fur of white bears, and stuffed themselves with smoked fish and drink water from the melted snow. They cheered along with the seals at the penguins' somersaults and placing bets on which walrus had longer tusks. During the short breaks, he explained to her about the constellations on the incredibly clear sky and she listened to him, enchanted, running her hand through her hair. And when morning came, they went to the antipode.

(Translated by Maria-Ilinca Darie / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / 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.