Sanda Vaideș
The shock stunned her. She collapsed like a rag doll. She had waited for him with such joy, with thousands of expectations. Bitterness flooded her veins and escaped through her eyes. Tears darkened the carpet like a crime scene stain. In the newspaper photo, he stood beside her sister, both dead in a high-speed highway crash, mid-act in their twisted games. Horror and despair burned through her head in a whirlwind of humiliation and waste. Much later, exhausted, a light flickered through the fog. She gently touched her belly, where a spark of life had just begun.
Cecilia Fofiu
She flung off her shoe with a twitch of rage, nearly getting a lump from bumping her head into the doorframe due to the lack of balance. Just great, next thing I need is to parade around with a horn on my forehead. Stupid bastard, she hissed, spotting the hickey on her neck from her recent entanglement with Puiu. She, the office beauty, had accepted his invite, only to discover he kissed like a clogged sink plunger. Chubby fool, she thought, calming down a bit. Maybe I'm too picky, she suddenly wondered. Am I really this dumb? Who cares about fifteen lousy minutes when I could be a banker's wife?
Ana Ludușan
Your silence is killing me. You lifted me up until I reached the sky and let me fall down like a boulder. I'm the sand scattered by the wind; my insides ache with longing. Come gather me, put my soul back together, dance with me, laugh with me. Let's make a child, the most beautiful one in the world. Let's write a book, paint a masterpiece, wander the cities of the world, bathe in the oceans. Come, my love, and piece my soul back together. Come, or I'll forget myself and lie down, a virgin, in my grave.
(Translated by Oana-Elena Dragnea / 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.