Ice Cream

Arthur Ianoși
He hated crowds. That whole craze right before the holidays, the false bliss, the promises, more or less tacit, to be better people, the hunt for presents, the waiting in line, because he always paid cash, it was more and more clear he needed to learn how to shop online, with home delivery. He liked freezing bread. And coffee. When he opened his freezer, he noticed it was full. Her open eyes turned a glassy shade of blue. She was the only one he hadn't sliced. He loved having her whole.
 
 Ana Maria Dobre-Nir
The granny watched the little girl enjoy her pistachio ice cream, when the sky filled with drones. She started shaking, but she didn't want to scare her. They're birds, sweetie, don't worry, she told the little girl, with a quivering voice. We're going home. We need to hurry a bit. She took her hand, and the warmth of her little palm calmed her for a few seconds. She prayed in her mind. To have another house, for her children to be alive, for this not to be their end. With each step, the world disappeared under a curtain of fire, and her heart was dying.

Elia Ghinescu
She watched the weak, smouldering fire. She pulled her palms out of her long sleeves, hugging her own shoulders. A sort of chill snuck inside her heart, like a shadow. Her flesh stiffened on her bones, her bones fused together, becoming a compact iceberg made of lifeless tissue. Disappointment paralysed her, she couldn't command her heart to beat, the air to go in or the blood to flow. Her hearing heightened. Heavy steps stomped on each step of the stairs coming from the basement. No one is coming from down there, he'll never come up here, it's all in my mind.

(Translated by Raluca Sălcianu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)