Sent By Sophia

Chapter 11: Starry Confesses

A Transgender Coming of Age Adventure

A Story from THE ONE

Ariel Montine Strickland

*

We walked out to the car, Jacinta keeping a loose hold on my right arm. She opened the back door:

“OK, sit in on the seat, then swing your legs in.”

Being a good girl, I did as I was told. Naturally, twisting around into a car pulled my skirt up; she leaned in, caught the hem, and tugged it into place.

“I’ll climb in the far side and take your handcuffs off.”

She closed the door, walked around the back of the car, got in:

Split Victory

© 2026 Zoe Taylor

In which the twins experience their own forms of euphoric reforging of their previously shatterd defenses and world views. Tiffany experiences the embrace of the Static offshoot branch calling themselves simply "The Out Group" and the most brutal MMA training of her entire life, while Morgan learns that presenting as a girl doesn't mean she has to give up being the badass Kenpo master of the phantom blitz

“You done showed them your bongos,” she said.

Not This Guy
Chapter Two
by Suzan Donamas

Torn from his own world and stuffed into the body of a villainess, facing the end of a doomed route he himself wrote, "Amelia" must navigate a world she really should know - too bad she was never great at worldbuilding.

Stuck in a world she (maybe) created, Amelia quickly finds that reality has filled in the details she failed to describe. The characters who were so flat when she wrote them now have nuance, and motives. The kingdom she wrote into existence is experiencing internal strife she never even thought about. And let's not even get into the complexities of the magic system, or the demon that forced her into this situation to begin with...

Oh, and then there's the fact that she's about to be arrested and executed... but surely she can come up with a way to write herself out of that, right?

...Right?

In the dream, I was there with Mona, and I went straight to the point.

“What I’d like, if you can do it, is a portal between my home in Alaska and my dream-home in the world Nancy lives in. My home is two doors down from hers. Um, no, I shouldn’t call it a portal because of the Portal People. Let’s say a doorway.”

Torn from his own world and stuffed into the body of a villainess, facing the end of a doomed route he himself wrote, "Amelia" must navigate a world she really should know - too bad she was never great at worldbuilding.

Stuck in a world she (maybe) created, Amelia quickly finds that reality has filled in the details she failed to describe. The characters who were so flat when she wrote them now have nuance, and motives. The kingdom she wrote into existence is experiencing internal strife she never even thought about. And let's not even get into the complexities of the magic system, or the demon that forced her into this situation to begin with...

Oh, and then there's the fact that she's about to be arrested and executed... but surely she can come up with a way to write herself out of that, right?

...Right?

My phone rang; I was jolted awake; Janet. I answered, quite disoriented as I was in another room. I hadn’t even woken when I’d been moved.

“Hi; how you?”

“More to the point, how are you?”

“Fine. I've just woken up; what time is it?”

“7:10pm; did I wake you?”

“Yes; but I’m glad you did. I just wanted to let you know what happened.”

“You’re all over the news… and you’ve been identified from the pictures of where you tripped up the gunman. How’d you get away?”

Split Victory

© 2026 Zoë Taylor

“Sweetheart,” Tori said and kissed Morgan’s forehead, “Whatever you need, you know you just have to ask.”

London Cab
Two Vignettes
By Maryanne Peters

Meeting His Parents

We met again in London, two years after we had got drunk together in a Soho bar. Mark was still working for the same investment firm, and I was working for an associated one, just as I had been back then. He was more charming than I remember, but only by a fraction. I put that down to circumstance.

Authors Note: I've been missing posting weekly stories. I just finished this piece this morning. I've submitted it a few places, but likely won't hear back, I'm going to post it here. It's 100% Non-Fiction. My pen name is Sarah Hillcrest, my real name is Mattie. Since cycling is a common thread here I thought some of you might enjoy it.

The Skirt I Carried Across Kansas

Torn from his own world and stuffed into the body of a villainess, facing the end of a doomed route he himself wrote, "Amelia" must navigate a world she really should know - too bad she was never great at worldbuilding.

Stuck in a world she (maybe) created, Amelia quickly finds that reality has filled in the details she failed to describe. The characters who were so flat when she wrote them now have nuance, and motives. The kingdom she wrote into existence is experiencing internal strife she never even thought about. And let's not even get into the complexities of the magic system, or the demon that forced her into this situation to begin with...

Oh, and then there's the fact that she's about to be arrested and executed... but surely she can come up with a way to write herself out of that, right?

...Right?

I stood in front of the full-length mirror and adjusted my necklace so it hung in the centre of my chest. I smoothed my hands across my light blue tee and adjusted the high sleeves so it sat straight. Lauren had said this colour matched my eyes. Maybe that was why she’d bought it for me.

The Dead Pixel Society

© 2026 Zoë Taylor

“Sure, as long as it’s not about my eye,” she shot back playfully. He turned to look at her. She smirked back at him. “It was a joke. What’s your question?”

Monday, July 17, my bed-mate was just the doll again. I spent the day back out at well 2 again, but we resolved the problem that day and so they had me take Tuesday off. Since I felt like I had been neglecting her, I focused on dreaming about Victoria that night. Being Victoria had been awkward when I was working, and I’d had other priorities the last two weekends, so this was the first day that was convenient to bring her back since I’d figured out I had some control.

Track Ban
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

If you really know your horses, on track betting is the way to win. People who treat horseracing as a game of chance are fools. Why not toss a coin? That is chance and probability, but if you know horses and courses and watch the animals and their riders and the track close up and in the flesh, then it is not a gamble, it is the exercise of special skills.

Split Victory

© 2026 Zoë Taylor

“I’ve got this, Barbie,” Liberty said, squeezing her shoulder again, her arm around Tiffani now in a moment of solidarity.