Marian Bircea
I am the biggest loser of them all, I've made the worst and most self-destructive decisions in my life, I've been let down by friends, relatives, acquaintances, and co-workers, they didn't deserve my attention and devotion, I've disappointed my parents, bosses, temporary superiors, I've messed up and failed spectacularly in all my personal endeavours, and damn me if I haven't exploded in anger, but from now on, I've decided that the chain of national stupidity will break with me, and I've dedicated myself entirely to my family.
Andrei Lămureanu
He lit the cigarette, half-shaken, directly from the makeshift stove. A brick wrapped clumsily in some wires by someone. His face burned painfully, but the rest of his body was completely numb. An alien forgetfulness had taken hold of everyone's soul, like an unforgiving plague. As if an invisible hand had torn huge pieces from their lives. Obsessively, he tried in vain to remember something, anything. A fragment of thought, from a corner of his soul. The light. Her small face. The darkness. It was cold, and the world was coming to an end.
Horațiu Dudău
Towards his house, the road was lined with spikes where the days had rotted since he was the prince of lost youth. At peace with the suffocating smell, he tried not to hurt anymore in the embrace she gave him every time he entered. In the last few months, they walked on their tiptoes, holding hands even from the hallway, their smile was telling the story of the day, and in the clasp of the palm was all the joy of reunion. They climbed happily toward the bedroom, opening the door with excitement, and his eyes would moisten as he saw the only thing that mattered in the little crib.
(Translated by Alexandra-Ecaterina Radu / 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.