Before you, I used to leave when the magic disappeared. I remained by your side, but the wish to leave, to lose myself in this world, never left me. Do you remember when I used to tell you that I could not sit next to only one person? I lied. In fact, I can, but in time only a ghost will remain next to you. Yesterday I got a new tattoo, through which I wrote freedom down on my skin. I cried so hard but not from the pain caused by the needle, but from... you know. From everything. I lost myself, darling.
Cecilia Fofiu
I opened my eyes amidst a pile of old rags, under a crooked ceiling, with my brother and my mum, a redhead with green eyes, beside me. She took great care of us until, suddenly, she was gone. We were left alone for a few days, shivering and hungry, crying. After a while, we heard her sweet voice nearby and slowly moved towards her. We stumbled a few more steps, but then plunged, screaming, into a haystack. Mom, up at a window, was indifferently combing her hair while a chubby child gently lured us with a bowl of milk, here, kitty, kitty.
Titela Durnea
It's him, Sanziana. We might finally have a roof over our heads. And a bowl of warm soup to heal our souls. For they've been left empty since your father left. And mine will remain empty forever. I listen to her while I am choking back tears. How can I tell her that his gaze slithers over my skin like a slippery snake? How can I tell her that the hand which will bring the bowl to the table is rummaging through my insides? How can I tell her that it hurts me? That I would rather have the sky cover me, than that bloated, filthy body? I caress her. And I swallow.
(Translated by Carmen Badea / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.