The hunter is making his evening rounds in the green forest. On the path, he meets Dopey and Little Red Riding Hood. Upon seeing them holding hands, the hunter rubs his eyes in confusion. He points his finger at them: The two of you, how? Dopey proudly answers: Yes, why not? We've wanted to meet for a long time, we're going to the ball. There's this new app where you can take any fairytale character you want. They fixed the internet in the forest too, don't you want to join us? Snow White is free. The hunter grabs his phone in a minute and types fast: Will you let me take Snow? I hope no one invited Grandma yet.
Denisse Oana Rădoi
My name is Mădălin and I'm a fine man. Left swipe. Sergiu hates lying and botox. Left again. Adrian doesn't like wasting time on the internet. You guessed right, left. George is married and he's looking for the same thing. Equally left. Ionel has a tattoo of Adelina, Bogdan has NSFW pictures, Gina is a lesbian. I'm getting tired and old. I give up. It's spring after all, I'm going to spend some time reading on a bench in the park. Who am I to judge people? I'm just Denisa, a Niche nerd who likes to seize the day through reading.
Ruxandra Comșa
Fake blood honoured the wedding night, fake blood dripped from the communion spoon, fake blood bathed the greedy countess, fake blood loosened the tongues of the guests. The False Blood Tavern was blessed. Princes and rogues, ladies and dames, scholars and madmen, no one paid at my table. Instead, they bared their secrets in the upstairs rooms. I weighed them carefully and made my fortune from them. When the rivers thawed, I was left without customers. Across the street, the Matched Souls shop had opened: hoopoes and hard-boiled eggs.
(Translated by Oana Ionescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.