Every time we went hiking, he would always charge ahead like a Billy goat. Last summer, we hadn't even reached the mountain peak, yet he was already back at the car, munching on our schnitzels. This summer, I turned the tables on him. He wanted us to hike an unmarked trail together. As usual, he took the lead. He was under a rock when I spotted him for the last time. I shouted that I was driving back to Uncondoned leaving him there. And that's what I did. I have no clue what happened to him. And I don't really care - I took his schnitzels and his bottle of palinka.
Corina Nina
He was sitting in the airplane seat, playing with his wedding ring. He was effortlessly twirling into his finger, he had lost a lot of weight lately. He took it off and ran his fingers over the inside engraving. Ana & Mihai 1993. Back then, he would have sworn that he would never lie to her. He tucked the ring into the inner pocket of his jacket. A white mark remained on his tanned ring finger, just like a tattoo. He had been to the seaside with the children. The youngest had learned to walk on the beach. He hurried out of the plane and unlocked his phone. Irina, I'm sorry, we can't see each other anymore.
Fabiola Stoi
My delayed birth worried everyone. They cut my mother's belly open for fear that I would die inside and take her with me. When they pulled me out, everyone thought I had placenta between my fingers, that I had tried to cling to my first home. No one thought that the white pieces they tore from my fists were the delicate skin between my fingers, the gift I had come into the world with. I learned to walk like all the rest, but I am still the fastest swimmer and my diving record remains unbeatable.
(Translated by Marian-Cătălin Niculăescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.