I woke up in a massive queue. I was waiting for my meeting with Him. I shifted from one foot to the other, wondering what I could say to Him. What He would say to me. Whether I would burn in the flames or be offered a peaceful place in a meadow filled with flowers and butterflies. My mistakes were crowding in my mind. The moments when I could have been a better person but I wasn't, the decisions I could have changed, the different paths I could have taken. I never got to see Him cause of the bright light. But in His kindness, God allowed me to press the reset button.
Arthur Ianoși
Doing good deeds, I thought out loud as I adjusted my beggar's face in the phone screen. The tax office had called about an apartment I hadn't declared as rented. The grim building across the street amplified my irritation. Just press it already, I said to the guy standing to my left at the crosswalk. Sir, the light won't turn green if you don't press it. I saw his white cane and instantly felt guilty. I pressed it for him. We crossed together and he stopped at the pretzel stand. Give me these two crispier ones, I heard him say.
Bogdan Sebastian Burjan
In the dry desert, hidden deep beneath the sea of dunes, or maybe somewhere far north, under thick layers of ice, they secretly built the bunker. Something like a steady robot came from the future to guard the button. It was bright red, and not even one remembered about its existence anymore. One evening, the robot mixed up its oils. Dizzy, it tried to steady itself. Without meaning to, it touched the button. The sky or the earth cracked open the gates to other worlds. Or maybe just a road leading to a bottomless void. There was no one left to say.
(Translated by Constantin Grigorescu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.