It was a pretty lucky night for Devin. He didn’t have any nightmares that night. There was no dream to taunt or tease him about wanting to be a girl. Nothing to bother him. He couldn’t possibly be happier.

Devin sat down on his living room couch as he contemplated what he was going to do that day. Today was going to be a pretty big day, by the looks of it. A mall trip and they were probably going to finish “For a Girl”. It had been a week of reading it, but it felt good to finally get it done.

Three wishes from a Genie seemed like a dream come true. But a poor choice of words may leave a young man with more than what he bargained for.

The Heart of January Bliss
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I don’t know where she came from. That is the funny thing about being a creator. Sometimes it is not a deliberative process – it just happens. She just happened.

Sure, I was looking for a new comic strip to develop and publish, and I had read somewhere that strips are more often read by men. So, I suppose the idea was that I would come up with a strip that women could enjoy.

I sigh as the loud, impersonal buzzer wakes me from a dreamless sleep. After staring at the blank ceiling for a few moments, I sigh again before getting out of bed, pulling on my slippers and my dressing gown before padding down the corridor to the sterile white bathroom, relieving myself before heading toward the dining room for breakfast. This has been my routine for almost four weeks now, and every day I walk down these halls it reminds me or why I’m in this place- it reminds me of my failure.

Dad’s Style
An Illustrated Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

We always thought of my father as being the most masculine of men. He was fairly big with a square jaw and a strong nose, but people will always say that the features that made him stand out were his bright blue eyes and his huge mop of grey hair.

Dan waited outside his boss’s office bedside the door. He could smell the sweet perfume coming from Cindy, his boss’s secretary. He looked at her as she faced away from him photocopying. She was slim but had a nicely rounded bottom. She wore a narrow black skirt and black stockings. He wasn’t sure. He knew she did sometimes, as he had seen the bulges of the clips outlined in her skirt before. She had a silky white short sleeved blouse on and 3-inch heels.

I'm Elliot Beekman, and I'm a guy. Or I was a guy.
It's something I'll have to figure out, and by the end of this story,
you'll understand my perplexity.

Scarlett was shooting pool down at Big T’s pool hall. She has been coming to Big T’s since she was capable of walking. Her father uses to hustle people for money, while she watched. When the former owner of Big T’s decided to retire, she bought the place.

She used the money she saved up from hustling people like her father. Everyone that came into the pool hall always underestimated her. There were only a few times that she lost, but she won more than she lost.

Love and Decision
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

She lay beside him. It was a Sunday afternoon. He had called her over. He had just enjoyed a lunch with one of his sons and his son’s pregnant wife but seeing them together had reminded him that he needed intimacy. He called and she had agreed to come round to his house.

Shame
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“Don’t take a photo of me in my underwear!” Michelle glanced over at Paul while she played with her long red hair and suddenly realized what he was doing.

“I could not resist,” he said. “It is the same pose as this photo”. He held it up.

“Give me that!” she snapped. He held it away from her reach. “You really are such a brute. You know how ashamed of that photo I am.” But she was smiling, just a little

“Well that was the idea, wasn’t it? You were supposed to be ashamed.” He put his arms around her.

All Brides Are Virgins, Aren't They?

Arising on a fine Saturday morning to find my love had already claimed the bathroom, I contemplated the day ahead. Vonda had warned me to dress comfortably in something simple and to wear comfortable shoes. She had been shopping with her mother before and knew how to prepare.

Karma
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

People like me get used to casual racism. We learn to just nod and get on with it. Asian people are never threatening, or that seems to be what European people think. Many are small like me with poorly developed muscles and have little facial hair. Sometimes it seems as if Europeans think of us as childlike because of it. Certainly, nobody expects us to react with anger.

“Auntie Stephie!” The tiny voice calls as I enter the dance studio, immediately bringing a smile to my face as she toddles over to me in her pink leotard and dance skirt.

This took two months for me to finish. Imagine being me constantly saying she’s worried about copyright and then going out and doing this. If anyone objects to me posting this please say so in the reviews. Either way, this is my fanfiction Epilogue for “Suhara of Curses”. I hope you will find my interpretation of the ending to this story entertaining but it’s fine if you don’t. I have no idea what Ruexin’s original intentions would be.

UPDATE AUGUST 2024: I split the epilogue into 5 chapters, added 2 new scenes, and switched the placement of two scenes. I also want to mention that most of this epilogue was written when I was a new and inexperienced writer, and that I acknowledge it has a lot of problems, mainly relating to tone. It's too bright and happy compared to the dark ending of the story. But, as of now, with these two new scenes I am satisfied with how the story turned out. And no, nothing from the original version has been cut.