Indiscreet

Răzvan Dițescu
She pulled out the drawer and opened the yellowed sheet. Paris, May 13th, 1913. With a heart full of emotion and words that cannot be contained, I think about you. With every moment spent around you, my soul fills with happiness. Every smile is a ray of light that brings me comfort in the dark nights. I am the luckiest man on earth. I confess that my heart belongs to you. With the most sincere and deepest feelings. He folded the letter and put it back. What love story did you experience, Granny?

Elia Ghinescu
In eight hundred meters turn left. The heat wave red code is being extended. The route of bus 783 will be diverted. Work is still underway on the subway line. Joe Biden withdraws from the candidacy. In four hundred meters keep left. CFR[1] accumulates historic delays. Savoretti performs on Saturday in H. The Madonna is moved from the Louvre. Turn left. Ciucă and Ciolacu[2] do not reach a consensus. The Olt Valley is closed for deforestation. He can't resist anymore and from his dry throat comes the cry of a fed-up man: shut up, will you, Alexa?
Ana Maria Dobre-Nir
When he disappeared in the April rain, a raven had been his witness. The same raven that had cut his path when he had returned among the people, from the blue forest. He didn't know whose it was or what soul was hidden in it, but they shared an unusual friendship. Over the years, he had begun to believe that she might even be his woman. Because he saw him everywhere. But who can know for sure? None of the Gods had promised him that she would return, even if he felt that she hadn't really left.

(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 September 2024, the group has 13,320 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.