Monica Ciurea
I liked school. But history, with its multilateral fabrications, I could not comprehend. Our comrade was kind of trembling when looking at the head of the one who was leading us to new heights of civilization and regression. It amused me, because in my book, the head of the most beloved son of the homeland continued with his skeleton body mounted on a five-legged horse as if he were Mircea the Great. One day, someone noticed that inside the portrait on the wall, the head had gone crazy. Have it taken down immediately. The only thing left in the frame on the dirty plastered wall where the head used to be was a hole.
Dana Popescu
He had appeared out of nowhere, mounted on his white stallion, preaching in the tongue of the delirious masses. He is a sage, some said, no, a charlatan, others replied. He was born to save us, the first said, he is going to bury us, the others went on. People fought amongst themselves, marriages were breaking up, lifelong friendships were ruined and the words of the one who did not say anything were gathering more and more followers. On the eve of the day when many were getting ready to pack their bags, a voice was heard amidst the crowd: can't you see that he has no head? And he was left without a horse.
Adina Drag
He wasn't whole, but neither was I. Two maps of roads leading nowhere. It had grown dark, the atmosphere in the forest becoming tense. The leaves were trembling like the pages of a book scattered by the wind. When we reached the riverbank, we quenched our thirst. I could have let myself get carried away by the current, could have swum like a loach to rid myself of him, but I lost my mind and gulped down the whole river. A magpie broke the silence with its birdsong and the horse bolted. He turned into smoke in my arms, and I turned into a river as the magpie quieted down.
(Translated by Alina-Alexandra Șovar / 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.