A New Hope

Elena Fermuș
No, no. Mommies don't lie. If she said she's coming, then she's coming. She sat me down on the bench by the gate, put a blanket over me and told me not to move from there, because she would come back quickly. I was little and cried for my doll; it was left behind inside the house and the house was burning down. Mommy went back inside to save her from the fire too. I don't know why she hasn't come back. Mommies don't lie. I know she'll come. She will come to change my little dress, that she left me in. It's too tight now. I have grown. And I am still sat on the bench by the gate, I haven't moved, just like she told me. I am waiting for her to be born again. From the ashes.
 
 Iulia Stavre
There is a smell of damp soil in the air, the trees have round buds that are about to bloom. The sun and I, we are both searching for white snowdrops among the patches of snow and dry leaves. The magnolia flowers covered in moonlight dust make my heart light as a feather. I swim to the shore of the island and the sun caresses my skin with its golden rays. I run through the green fields covered in blooming poppies. The magenta umbrella protects me of melancholy, late, in autumn, on the one-way boulevard. I hear a door slamming and an echo of footsteps on the hallway. If only it were the nurse to inject the sedative into the drip.

Daniela G. Pătrașcu
He had caught his wife cheating on him with his best friend. They had divorced. She had sold the house and had given him half of the value. He had found a really hot woman on a website. He still had hope. In order to forget his past, they had fun on the beach and travelled to the mountains. When he arrived back at the North Station, the conductor woke him up. You've reached your destination. His suitcase was gone and so was the woman. He had his documents and money in the suitcase. He searched the jacket's chest pocket and he still had his phone. He bought a doughnut. He needed to use the restroom. He found an ecological one. Holding his nose with one hand, he crouched on the seat. The phone started ringing and it slipped out of his hand.

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