Attic for Rent. Serious Inquires Only

Gabriel Rusu
You see, many lost their mind in this room. Nina, a psychology student, was found dead. Forensics came to the conclusion that she had banged her head against the walls until her brains splattered on the floor. Then, the Popa spouses, nice and calm people. One day, the lady confessed her passionate love for a close friend. Her husband beheaded her with an axe, and then he hung himself. People say that an evil spirit dwells here. Look me in the eye, do I really seem that bad? I have the lowest price in the neighbourhood.

Ina Moldoveanu
You're also here for the loft? Is everyone's paperwork in order? Yes ma'am. We have everyone's CV, they all have possibility of four guarantors, recommendations from their employers, medical certificates, up-to-date vaccinations, and various tests-we don't accept just anyone. Is the rent at least decent? Yes, absolutely, €1,500 for a dream nest. It really is a nest. I saw it just now. Except, there's no space to lay an egg, since the bedroom is also the bathroom, kitchen, and living room. Do you have a husband? You won't fit. Unless you also rent the neighbour's loft. For Cluj, it's a real steal.

Dana Popescu
But I want it to smell of powdered donuts with looots of sugar. And of acacia flowers, and of elderberry juice. And on the little table in the center -oh I haven't told you about the little table- I want rummy pieces laid out for a game. Actually, no, never mind, we'll arrange them ourselves. I also want the laughter and joy of the first days of holiday and the late nights spent telling stories, near the rummy boards, with steaming donuts between us. What do you mean "who is \'us'?" The herd of children that would gather in the yard as soon as summer started. How could you not provide me with these things? Everything is possible in heaven.

(Translated by Alina-Lorena Dulamă / 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 October 2024, the group has 13,400 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.