Among Strangers

Mihaela Scânteie
I walk out of the apartment building. I cross the street. Someone honks; an expat is annoyed by my walking. I don't look away; I am fascinated by what I see. The regular drunkard, whom I've known since the first day of my self-imposed exile in Luxembourg, sits on the terrace of the unpretentious pub that doesn't give off the \'heart of Europe' vibes. He wears the same plaid shirt, drinks the same Jupiler beer, and has the same lost and gentle gaze, given to him by some God of drunkards. I've seen this passion practiced back home. He tilts his head towards me. I quicken my pace towards the train station. I get on the train. I take a seat by the window. We all live under the same sky.

Ligia Dumitrescu
Come on, mom, let's light a candle there too, said my kid, pointing to a simple, worn wooden cross hidden away in a corner. The request took me by surprise. Huh? Who's buried there? I don't know, he replied. I saw it last time. You know what's written on it? \'Unknown'. Can you imagine? He's alone among strangers too. My eyes became misty with tears. We keep visiting him ever since. We send him a small light. We became friends with him, and I believe he no longer feels so alone.

Gabriel Rusu
Come on, mom, let's light a candle there too, said my kid, pointing to a simple, worn wooden cross hidden away in a corner. The request took me by surprise. Huh? Who's buried there? I don't know, he replied. I saw it last time. You know what's written on it? \'Unknown'. Can you imagine? He's alone among strangers too. My eyes became misty with tears. We keep visiting him ever since. We send him a small light. We became friends with him, and I believe he no longer feels so alone.

(Translated by Lucia-Alexandra Brînaru-Mitrofan / 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.