Debtors' Prison

Titela Durnea
You owe me for life. That's all you've ever known to say: Tomorrow, I promise. What you don't understand is that you're stealing from yourself. I'm tired of covering for you. Do you think you won me in a lottery ticket? Do you even think about me for one second? Everyday, you present yourself to the world all polished. Don't come to me for help when reality hits you hard. You know what? You'll figure it out. You've locked me in so deep that even when you look in the mirror you can't find me. Drink the damn bottle and go lie down. There's about 30 of them. Take them with water.

Ina Moldoveanu
Florica, have you paid your debts made in this world? Cause the end is coming. Well, if it's coming, why the hell should I pay? I'll go to the other world and do the same there. What, they won't be serving plum brandy shots? And since you told me it's coming, I'm gonna get a liter on the slate. I'll die happy. God will strike you. He's putting me in charge of the furnace. Cause I've got no room in heaven, because of you saints. Who wants to get out of the blazing furnaces - can do that by bribery. I'll treat them like one does in a resort, bathing them in thermal waters. But I think it's gonna be milk and honey. You do realise that all this world's chavs and hoodlums will be there, I'll be in good company.

Monica Aldea
Shaking off the snow, the old man stepped into the hall. The cold, more bitter than the one outside, struck him mercilessly. He refused to pay his dues. He had left all his life's savings to the children at the orphanage. He knew that the physical burden was lighter than the spiritual one. He pulled the worn-down sheep skin coat he had on tightly over his tiny body and lit the last of the kindling. He fell asleep. Cheerful flames lit his peaceful face. The Inquisitor of Souls looked at him for a moment. He opened the Great Register of Debtors and erased him permanently from the ledger.

(Translated by Ana-Maria Batog / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / 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 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.