The School of Magic

Corina Nina
I couldn't even read the time yet, but I knew exactly where the clock's hands were supposed to be when dad came home. I watched him from the window. Just one glance and I could tell what he'd been drinking, from the way he came swaying down the alley behind the building, from the way his hat sat askew on his head, from the way his briefcase swung in his hand, from the redness in his cheeks. That was when I had to click my heels three times and become invisible in the kingdom in my closer, in the enchanted forest beneath my covers. For years I wondered what Prince Charming would have done in my place.

Ana Maria Dobre-Nir
When the turtle started speaking to her, the little girl thought she was dreaming. Her grandma had told her all about her magic powers, but talking to animals still seemed unfathomable. And what it asked of her didn't sound like a job for a young witch: cleaning the plastic lake. What she needed for this was a boat and a hook, not potions. She would have liked to involve the mayor too but, to her knowledge, he didn't believe in magic. There was also his brat of a son, who had caught her while she was telling the animals her plan.

Sorin Rizeanu
They say I'm too rebellious so they transferred me from Jean Monet to the Hexe Mătrăguna School of Magic. So that's how it is? Wizards have long hair? I'll shave it all off instead. They dress like hippies? I'll wear a blazer. They meditate in caves? I'll do it on the computer instead. Wizards read the future in the stars? I'll read it in the numbers. They smoke magical plants? I'll take vitamins instead. If you want to contact me, forget about telepathy, sign here on page 5 and page 66. And your initials here. You happen to have a binder? I'm a rebel, you losers, I bring the witchcraft to Monet, and the bureaucracy to Hexe.

(Translated by Bianca Ioana Prisecaru / 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.