Flood 2.0

Adriana Patroi Miu
The sky split open: an uninterrupted liquid drains from it. For 7 hours, it has been liquefying under the pressure of the water. Something must have happened, it was a foul, viscous water. It has a pungent smell. No one dares to get out of the house. No one. The children remained isolated in the school.The level of the water increases alarmingly. The little ones cling desperately to the teacher's clothes. The woman cries while trying to calm them down. She handed them the last of the pretzels. Only Ana sits quietly at her desk. She hums. She knows her father will come. He has never missed a day.

Caterina Tudorache
Mom lets us eat whenever we want. We are happy. She may leave sometimes, but she comes back quickly. We feel safe and she teaches us a lot of things. She often says that when we'll get older, we have to manage on our own, and that we will eventually forget her. I got mad at her for saying something like that. How could I forget about her? I will argue with everyone to defend her. It rained all morning today. She told us to behave because she will go to get food. It is already evening and we're crying out of hunger. The rainwater has reached us. Are we already grown up and we need to
 
 Monica Ciurea
Should your child leave? She is so full of life. Bye, Mom. With her cupped palm, she covers the kiss on the cheek, as if saying goodbye to gravity[1]. It will be great, Mom, Alex, Ioana, Tudor will come, and with me we'll be 64; this is not the day to give up. Their eyes glisten. Voices can be heard in the Colectiv[2]. The sirens. Huush. If only we had been told, Lord, that the air is scorched, life stumbles, the future shakes ash in their lungs, if we had known that day, we would have cried, not now, but before, all at once, to gather, Lord, drop by drop, a flood, to bring our children home.

(Translated by Adina Gabriela Văcărelu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)