Samantha wishes she were someone else. Anastasia, to be exact. Anastasia doesn't sit in the corner and read because she's too shy to talk to anyone. She doesn't keep trying and failing. Anastasia slays dragons. Of course, Anastasia is only a character in Samantha's story. That's what Sam does, she writes. She writes to keep the monsters at bay. She creates new worlds to escape into. And she writes to block out the cranky ramblings of her jilted father, who refuses to acknowledge the woman that ran out on them years ago. But Samantha finds herself thrown into a not so magical adventure when she discovers her long lost mother has been in town all along. She has questions that need answering, and a few arrow- accusations... she'd like to sling. But there are obstacles to storming the castle, her father for one. Either Samantha makes this her happily ever after, or it all ends in tears... Either way, the story is about to change.

"I'm not okay!" I yelled at him. "Okay?! I'm not okay." My chest rose up and down as I breathed heavily. It had been years since I had a break down, and I wasn't going to have one right now. "It's okay not to be okay," he whispered, walking closer to me. He caressed my cheek, trying to sooth me. I stared at him, pain filled my eyes. I was trying hard not to cry. I couldn't cry. That's not what I did. "It's okay to cry," he comforted. His eyes stared so hard into mine I felt like he was seeing into my soul. "Crying shows weakness, and I'm not weak," I told him, swallowing hard. "Sometimes crying is the strongest thing you can do. It just shows everyone else that you're just as human as they are." And right then and there I started sobbing. I had lost all control of my emotions, I cried like I hadn't since I was little. All those times I didn't cry when I wanted to poured out now. The walls I spent so long building to make them unbreakable, broke. Alana finds a thick orange envelope in her mailbox one day. No return address, no stamp or postage mark and it's not even addressed to her. Someone had just dropped the letter off in her mailbox. The only thing written on this envelope is "You might need this... or not." Alana takes it inside and begins to read the life story of a complete stranger. The life story of someone trying to find their place in this big scary world. © Somethingtrue 2013. All rights reserved.

A series of twice-told tales from Canadian author Shane Joseph. These newly re-published works include stories of losing home, wandering abroad, and finding home, always beginning from scratch. Similar to Joseph's own life path, each story has a silver lining and each story deserves to be heard once more.