Blessed are the Merciful

Dan Banu
Uric could have held the World on his shoulders, alongside all other merciful men, for years beyond count without even blinking, yet he'd keep his eyes at all times on the water under the bridge, waiting for the eggshells to wash ashore. He was the only one who did not drink from Set's potion and so no thing had been erased from his memory. When the eggshells reached him, he bent down, the World faltered for a moment, and in that split second, she saw him pick them up and read the message within. The merciful were still holding the world on their shoulders.

Alina Ilie
Nobody knew what those painted walls were hiding, but one thing was sure, they all returned happier from that place. For some it did not happen overnight, and they needed to pass the mysterious threshold many a time. They'd ask themselves and each other what sort of wonder could be found there, until they'd all discover it one by one, but would keep silent upon their return, keeping the secret from the curious and uninitiated. The circle of the ignorant was diminishing by the day, and so was their panic. Being the last, Toma passed the threshold fearfully and his face became light.

Horațiu Dudău
He checked his gun then opened the shack's door. The child was on his knees, struggling to cry yet his very fear would stop the tears from flowing. He grabbed him by the hair and dragged him outside. He should have taken him to the edge of the village, where he was ordered to gather them all. The alcohol he'd had in the last hour made him a tad more merciful. He looked the child in the eyes and pulled the trigger. He wiped his boots clean of blood and was reminded of all the lambs slaughtered every year for Easter spent with his family. He took off towards the next house. He slept tight that night. So many children he spared from a meaningless suffering.

(Translated by Adrian-Florin Duță / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / 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 July 2024, the group has 13,200 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.