Metropolis

Siranuș Hakobian
In absolute unanimity, the inhabitants of the metropolis put their shoulders to work, with unusual fervour. With no downtime, everyone contributes to the overall progress. And they were doing an excellent job. The ruler of the city was rumoured to sexually abuse her concubines, but otherwise she was an excellent administrator: schools, kindergartens and hospitals had been built by her will, and the army was well trained. The metropolis would have been flourishing if it hadn't been for the cataclysm: Vlăduț, stop jumping on the anthill.

Ionuț Morariu
He was on the bus when he realized that something was rotten in Bucharest. Ten journeys had ended up costing a half of a soul. As you composted the ticket, the langoliers performed an open-heart microdissection. The neighbours in RATB[1] had also become expensive. And not just talking. For a mundane hello with your mouth open without scratching your teeth, they charged your card directly. So far he had paid the price without a peep. Suddenly it seemed like a lot. Maybe he was getting old. Or maybe the city had gotten cancer too.
Adriana Patroi Miu
Lost in the metropolis, the soul haunts the streets uncertainly. It's easy to fake happiness here: you match light smiles, paint sad eyes and cover everything with perfume, a fine perfume that lasts several generations in a row. I sell butterflies. Butterflies, 2 pieces for 5 lei[1], shouts the mocan. You stop. You buy. And suddenly you realize that you can't hold the butterflies in your fists, you have to let them fly: far away, where the sun dresses the towers in gold. Breathe, inhale and feel the wings pierce your skin. On the back.
(Translated by Andreea Maria Liceanu / 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 June 2024, the group has 13,100 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, Monica Aldea, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.