The rain of bullets tore through his chest. He heard the shouts of his comrades and the enemy planes, as if he was trapped in a dream. His steps grew heavier, his breathing more erratic, and his vision blurred, like a delayed sunset. Every moment stole another ounce of his strength. His thoughts raced chaotically: he was a child in his mother's arms, then in the arms of a lover, then a child again, and once more in love. He felt a profound exhaustion. His soul, once full of fire, was now just a flickering flame. Someone lifted his head: Here, here. He's alive.
Ligia Dumitrescu
Two sounds can still be heard behind the door of the ICU. In the nearly collapsed room, whose cracked walls reveal glimpses of a leaden sky, there is only one bed left, where the shadow of a being is breathing, aided by an artificial lung. The bellows make one of the sounds, a rhythmic puffing like a steam locomotive. The other-a tortured, drawn-out beep. The final breath of the battery still powering the two machines. On the screen, a single line flickers weakly, dragging the remaining life with it. And the silence after.
Paul Dârvariu
My name is Snow White, and I am filing a complaint regarding the poor quality of the batteries in the devices produced by Dildo Ltd. This deficiency manifests as a reduction in the intensity and frequency of the vibrations produced by the devices, as well as their abrupt shutdown during use, with undesirable effects on my psychological well-being. I must mention that due to this deficiency, I was forced to resort, one by one, to the services of the seven dwarves, with results far below my expectations.
(Translated by Constantin Grigorescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by prof. dr. Nadina Vișan / Edited by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.