She walks up to the counter barefoot and battered, refusing eye contact with the receptionist, sporting a fresh hairdo from slither salon, the serpent weave still feeling tight and itchy, spirit broken, baby bump forming around her neck, eyes secreting pebbles in place of tears.

Should’ve prayed to Aphrodite instead.

Arshi Mortuza is a 20-something Bangladeshi writer living in Toronto, Canada. Through her poetry and prose, Arshi likes to breathe life into frozen characters from fairytales and popular folklore. She is the author of the poetry collection, One Minute Past Midnight. She can be found on Instagram as @poetessarshi.