Mommy and Daddy

Daniela Rusu
From my tiny bed, their world has colossal proportions. The arm, which sustains her entire body, lies arched on my mother's naked back. Their synchronized movements make me jealous and eager to interrupt, so I can have her all to myself. I get restless and cry, but it seems like they only have eyes and ears for each other. The light from outside lulls me to sleep, but something keeps me hooked and forces me to stay awake. I want to keep watching them, to understand what's happening there, what keeps her there and, most of all, what is it about him that hypnotizes her so.

Carmen-Ecaterina Ciobâcă
All of a sudden, I awake. It's dark. I move my hands, then my legs. I get frightened. There's a lot of space around me, I tumble. I crash into a fence. I get hurt. Horror takes over me, I feel like crying. I hold back my tears. Some time ago, crying brought along with it a voice, a shriek, and a trail of light every once in a while. Now, it brings nothing. I don't know how to go back to sleep, I glare at the void around me in terror. Long ago, I was carried around the world in a rounded cradle. It was nice and warm, I'd hear muffled noises. And Their voices. Some time, once upon a time. Never.

Nicolae Popescu
What do you do for a living? she asked him, after 10 minutes in which he'd talked to her about the cars in his garage. I'm still taking it easy, I'm only 33. My parents have a business, I'm in no rush. I entered an auction, but messed up some papers and now dad won't allow me to do that anymore. At least the deal was already in place. He lights up a cigarette, blows the smoke in her direction. Do you work? Yes, I'm a kindergarten teacher. I take care of my grandma, she's the only one I have left. I lost my parents when I was three. I have to go and give her her pills. He starts to say something, but she cuts him off: no, we won't see each other again.

(Translated by Andreea-Nicoleta Ban / 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.