A Revealing Compilation to Inspire Imagination

By Shannan Andino

A REVEALING COMPILATION TO INSPIRE IMAGINATION is a collection of short stories, a creative non-fiction essay, flash fiction, and poetry. This arrangement is a representation of the life lessons I learned through my survival of seventeen years of narcissistic, intimate, and emotional abuse.

"Rag Doll" is a creative non-fiction essay account of my kidnapping as a child. Admittedly, you might find the story a hard read. But the resolution is worth entertaining.

"The Alibi" is a flash fiction story detailing my discovery that some abusers can easily get away with "murder." They stay hidden in plain sight, doing anything to secure their happiness. Even if it means betraying someone they say they love.

"I Would Like to Start by Saying" is a poem I wrote when I started back to college. Having just made it out of a major depressive episode, I was looking to build my future. I wrote this poem to give recognition to all first steps with determination behind them—the baby steps we all take to get to where we are going.

"The Maturing Nature of Immaturity" is a flash fiction story depicting how maturity is learned only through the recognition of immaturity. Self-love is crucial when you have become your obstacle.

"Green Green Love" is a poem I recorded as a nod to my first love. It flowed from me with an unstoppable deliverance. Our first romantic encounter was all it took to start rewiring my brain. I began to believe in love, loyalty, consistency, and honesty.

"The Jeweled Box" is a flash fiction story written to disguise the obvious deeper meaning. For it is my own life experience that has led me down the road of becoming a successful writer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shannan Andino
• Release date: Mar 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463250921

Shannan Andino

Shannan Andino was born in Missouri and is a first-time publishing author. Currently, she resides in California, Bay Area and is enrolled in the online Creative Writing for the Entertainment Industry bachelor's degree program at Full Sail University. Shannan endured seventeen years of sexual and narcissistic exploitation by devoting herself to her authorship. Now she is twenty-six, parenting two beautiful children and is blissfully wedded. She will unendingly be addicted to her keyboard, spouse, and coffee.

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Copyright © 2020 Shannan R. Andino

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Table of Contents

A Revealing Compilation to Inspire Imagination

Copyright 2020 Shannan Andino

Table of Contents

Rag Doll

The Alibi

I Would Like to Start by Saying

The Maturing Nature of Immaturity

Green Green Love

The Jeweled Box

About the Author

Rag Doll

I was alone. A six-year-old girl with bouncy pigtails wearing my favorite yellow Teletubbie t-shirt. The night was cold and unwelcoming. Standing outside the strip club, I anticipated my babysitter's arrival. I huffed out the fall air just to watch it cloud around me. I waited here, under a single flickering bulb, every night for my mother's boyfriend (the babysitter) to pick me up. My mother had lost me to the department of child services a while back, and I had been returned because she was able to maintain her job here. To be clear, she didn't work the poles, she cleaned them. Leaves rustled across the parking lot, sometimes hovering a few inches when whipped up and swirled in the wind.

I remember thinking, my mother’s boyfriend should be here, and where was he?

Carefree, I danced with the swirling leaves in the flickering light until I heard a vehicle approach. I stop. I didn't recognize the old pickup truck as it turned into the parking lot. I remember