by Ximena Escobar

Knowing the fate befalling virgins in the forest, Mirén never sent her daughter for firewood. Therefore, her husband’s claim that she’d been taken by El Trauco, met her suspicion.

Although the ugly dwarf was to blame for every fatherless child in Chiloé, something about her daughter’s eyes told of a far uglier monster. El Trauco’s victims slept unaware through his attacks, but her daughter hadn’t since held her mother’s gaze and couldn’t lose a painful frown.

When the child was born, bearing a hideous singular eyebrow like her husband’s, Mirén gripped his axe, splitting his head—and monobrow—in two.

Ximena Escobar

Ximena is writing short stories and poetry. Originally from Chile, she is the author of a translation into Spanish of the Broadway Musical “The Wizard of OZ” (2011), and of an original adaptation of the same, “Navidad en OZ” (2018). Having started a family in the UK in 2005, it took her a while to feel confident enough to write in English, despite speaking it since childhood. In the meantime, she ran her own business teaching extra-curricular Spanish in primary schools and telling ‘traditional stories with a twist’ in schools and festivals, with “Pie in the Sky Storytellers”. Though her degree in Arts & Communication Science/TV & Media set her aspirations on writing for the screen, she has, since resuming writing in 2018, devoted her time to poetry, short stories and micro fiction. Whilst her first literary novel waits to be written, she is enjoying every minute of this exploration through different forms and genres. Ximena lives in Nottingham with her husband, three children, two rabbits and a hamster.