Mountain Stories

Aurelian Țolescu
He was a professional climber. He combined his passion for the mountains with his profession. A handsome and cheerful man. He had just gone on holiday when his boss wanted that day to dismantle an aerial from a pylon. He came with joy and a smile on his face, climbed up, reached the top and there was just one more metre to climb so as to dismantle the object. He only secured himself with the hook on his chest. When he stretched further he didn't realize the ring had come off the hook. He was crushed after a fall of dozens of metres. What remained was only the smile.

Nelida Holban
In a long gone early July we decided to go toPadiș. We pitched our tents, set the routes. Hey, we split into groups, like those trekking kids in that children's book. Some of you go to Izbucu' Galbenei, others to the Fortresses and Gaps, and we'll gear up and head for the Living Fire. I wanna go in the cave with you. No way. It's too hard. You go to the Gaps, but be careful you don't fall in. The Hot Someș is cold as hell. Hey, is it dangerous too where you go? Yeah. I feel like my heart's aching. Well, then, make sure you don't get hurt, because I can't come to your funeral.

Bogdan Sebastian Burjan
In the savannah everything had dried up. There was still a breeze. Hot too. It was only stirring up the dust. There was nothing alive there. He couldn't even breathe. He could see the mountain in the distance. He could see its peak. White, snowy. I'll find shade and water there, he told himself. For four days he hadwalked across the savannah with his burnt feet. It took him another four days to climb. He still hadn't reached the top. He looked down from the plateau into the valley. The rains had begun. The vegetation, the animals and his tribe, with whom he had quarreled, had returned. Then he looked at the stars. Four days. He needed more.

(Translated by Florina Georgiana Țîncu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by prof dr. Nadina Vișan, Edited 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 January 2024, the group has 12,500 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.