Debtors' Prison

Monica Bologa
I punch the walls, I grab the bars of the door and shake them with all my might, I start screaming at the top of my lungs; no one can hear me. I didn't steal anything, I have no bank debts, I gave people more than I received, I loved more than I was loved, so why am I locked up, why? It was only after three days that I found out why. The judge told me that I owed it to myself. I will not leave the cell until I regain my self-respect. Who can lend me some money? I need a lawyer.

Florina Hegedüs
The first day I said - I'm committed to. The second day I promised myself a dream. The third day I promised someone else a dream. The fourth day I wrote down - I should visit my boy. The fifth day the doctor made me promise I would sleep more. The sixth day was sunny, my body wanted it, but I told it - another time. Sunday. In my pyjamas. I nibble on an apple, the paper's still not submitted yet, he didn't get a dream, I put off paying the rent, a star awaits for me to name it, I'm on the phone with the boy, I don't feel like going out. Even though I'm indebted and locked in the vault of ideals, I'm happy.

Ioana Epure
I chose to be. Indebted, until the end of me. Do you know where you're going? they asked me. Yes, I do, and I accepted the variable interest, for my life to be that way. I would pay it with the deposit of unrequited hugs and sobs with hiccups, under the cover, so I wouldn't be heard. Converted at a favorable exchange rate, into never lie to me. There are many of us here, we often talk to each other, and sometimes we are even able to understand one another. I don't feel the bars, the walls aren't closing in on me. How many debts do you have? One and is pretty big. How about you? Two, a big one, and the smaller one starts kindergarten tomorrow.

(Translated by Andreea Teodorescu-Colciu / 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 March 2024, the group has 12,800 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.