The monster approaches, which one can sense rather than see in the darkness of the night, that unmistakable snarling, the bloodied fangs, it comes like a tempest, lightning breaks the darkness like thunder, and God, it is closer than the clothes on your back, that grotesque creature, its magnitude frightens, and when it opens its jaws for a roaring attack, there is a head which dangles curiously from a tooth, the hands clench with a twitch as I grab her by the shoulder. Mother-in-law, did you take your pills? But she flinched. Good Lord, you oaf, you scared me.
Florentin Sorescu
Oh God, will this rain ever stop? I swear, I'm starting to grow gills from all this water. If anything the rain should just be bucketing down, then we'd have something solid to complain about. But no, it drizzles endlessly, like some cruel joke. A drizzle designed to leave us plenty of time to think about every single sin we've ever committed. We're sinking, little by little, but we pretend everything's just fine. Instead of searching for a safety net, we spend all day glued to our screens, unwilling to see our lives slowly turning into a puddle.
Daniela Toader
He spent hours staring out the window. Hidden behind the curtains, he waited for her to show up. Hours passed. He drank three coffees and imagined dozens of possible scenarios. Maybe she's asleep. Maybe she's sick in bed, feverish, curled up in bed with every muscle aching. Maybe she's working late shifts. Damn them, First chance he got, he'd figure out where she worked. Maybe she's out of town. Maybe she's crashing at a girlfriend's place. Or... boyfriend? Lover? The mere thought that someone else might be in her life felt like a hurricane rising around him.
(Translated by Maria Loredana Constantin / 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.