Fireworks, Firecrackers, Poppers

Ana-Maria Butuza
The white, long wedding dress was the one of my dreams. I have never seen myself as beautiful as on that day. Maybe it was because of my big smile or my rosy cheeks; maybe it was the fireworks of happiness that took over my body on that perfect night. Walking hand in hand with him down the aisle, the future seemed wonderful, just like the colourful rainbow on the sky after popping the confetti. I thought they were firecrackers and I laughed when he fell to the ground. But he had never gotten up, and everyone was running and screaming. His shirt quickly turned red around his thorax. It was that moment when I saw her. His ex-wife, with a stare full of hatred. And I felt the pain tearing me apart.

Dan Banu
Jack glanced outside and murmured: tonight, we're going to have a fireworks and firecrackers show. Max inspected the sky and confirmed: we are going to have a blast. They both started walking on the grass, approaching the edge of the water. I think we are going to have the best view from here, Max said as he raised his horn, testing the tension in the air. As the wind got stronger, the dandelions filled the sky with their delicate umbrellas and the garden balsam was blowing in the wind, covering the ground in seeds. The beetles winked at each other excitedly.

Mirela A. Nica
There was a time when we didn't know any of these things, but we did know how to bury ourselves in the snow all the way up to our necks, wearing our waterproof coveralls and wellies. We used to come home in the evening with rosy cheeks and we were extremely happy. We would change into our pajamas and if we were lucky enough to have an orange in the house, we would peel it. We used to turn off the kitchen light, take the orange peels and hold it over the burning stove while thousands of fireflies were flying around and we were amazed by our own magic trick.


(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)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In February 2025, the group has 13,650 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, Monica Aldea, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.