❝I think you're more of a goddamn female than I am, James.❞ | ❝Pfft, don't you know? The only thing straighter than me is my parking, Janice.❞ | Copyright © 2015 Sarena Akhter. All Rights Reserved.

-- ❝Because in the end, she is pure, cherry cyanide in a tube, and he is only the boy who talked to her on a dusty sidewalk, who comforted her once on an autumn's evening, who couldn't tell her what he truly felt in time.❞ A not-quite-love story in a meandering sort of way.

unspoken stories in only six words. /// 11.11.15 #2 in Short Story ///

Arm yourselves with the armour of your strength, and nothing, not even death, can pierce it. | © 2016 Sarena Akhter.

[EXCERPT - FIRST 5 CHAPTERS] THE FULL BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE IN STORES AND ONLINE! Never trust a guy in spandex. In Abby Hamilton's world, superheroes do more than just stop crime and save cats stuck in trees - they also drink milk straight from the carton and hog the television remote. Abby's older brother moonlights as the famous Red Comet, but without powers of her own, following in his footsteps has never crossed her mind. That is, until the city's newest vigilante comes bursting into her life. After saving Abby from an attempted mugging, Morriston's fledgling supervillain Iron Phantom convinces her that he's not as evil as everyone says - and that their city is under a vicious new threat. As Abby follows him deeper into their city's darkest secrets, she comes to learn that heroes can't always be trusted, and sometimes it's the good guys who wear black.

Seventeen-year-old April Parker wakes up in an underground facility, a shock bracelet on her wrist and a five-day countdown on the clock. Dozens of other teens share her inexplicable fate, but their unseen captors never intervene no matter how brutal conditions become. When the ruthless - and unnervingly magnetic - Marcus seizes control, April's trauma-forged instinct is to lay low. But protecting her friends drives her to bargain with the boy she should fear most - a boy whose reality fractures with every tick. Then the countdown ends, and the real terror begins. Powers ignite. Alliances shatter. And predators are born. And with a saboteur among them determined to keep the doors closed forever, escaping what comes next may be the only way to survive it.

Cherry blossom lipstick: check Smokey eyes: check Skinny jeans: check Dead kid in the mirror: check For sixteen year old Mattie Hathaway, this is her normal everyday routine. She's been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too. Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. There's a little glitch this time. The ghost she sees is her foster sister, Sally. Everyone thinks she's just another runaway. Mattie knows the truth, though-she's dead, murdered. Foster kids look out for each other and Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can't do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young police officer and together they set out to discover the truth of Sally's disappearance. Now the killer has set his sights on her. It becomes a race to see if she can find the truth before the serial killer finds her.

One of the winners of the Once Upon Now contest! Feet Aren't Made for Walking will be renamed Truth Be Told and will be published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, on October 11, 2016 in the Once Upon Now Anthology! ---------------------------- Leo Clark is having a really bad day. He's been transported into a topsy-turvy alternate universe (not a good thing when your mom's expecting you home for dinner), he's recently acquired wooden extremities and is physically incapable of telling a lie (an even worse thing when you pride yourself on not sharing your emotions), and his little sister has been kidnapped, mistaken for the lost princess of the Land of Pittsborough (the worst thing of all because...please refer back to the part about Mom making dinner). In order to save his sister and find a way home, Leo will have to confront an evil queen who lives in an office cubicle, a few mice with horrible fashion sense, and a girl with green skin and webbed toes (but hey, at least she's kind of cute). And he'll have to do it all before the clock strikes midnight or risk being trapped in Pittsborough forever. Now if only he could figure out how to walk on his wooden feet... --------------------------- This short story is a modern day fairytale mashup, partially inspired by Pinocchio, The Frog Prince, and many others. Enjoy!

Ever stereotype the stereotyped? [alternativelly called feminazi in action]