<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740305146657537274</id><updated>2025-12-26T01:52:40.152-06:00</updated><category term="fiction"/><category term="short stories"/><title type='text'>Random Voice of Reason</title><subtitle type='html'>A common but extraordinary life.&#xa;&#xa;</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://randomvoiceofreason.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5740305146657537274/posts/default?redirect=false'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://randomvoiceofreason.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Amanda</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00413551665228473666</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40NnlSdl-YP0oF6zFONaCVQ1ogdFohvtVMiJlkbwyDeS4yDSXCVPBct6K26Q1sdYfi43hUPMq53yFPhyCV-yR7ahLTHQoaSwA2YInt363_cf3Ek2wmqacx-lPDyfBFMQ/s220/Amanda.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740305146657537274.post-5830762787099955932</id><published>2012-06-04T09:38:00.002-05:00</published><updated>2016-11-29T11:59:44.928-06:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="fiction"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="short stories"/><title type='text'>Short Story: Second Chances</title><summary type="text">This is a story I wrote last December. It&#39;s very, very short. It was born out of a place of heartache and pain, and trying to make sense of a world that wasn&#39;t making much sense at all at the time.

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Pain is transformative, and can often turn us into something we never knew was possible.

In my case, pain became such a part of my soul that I did not know how to separate it from the thing that </summary><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://randomvoiceofreason.blogspot.com/feeds/5830762787099955932/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://randomvoiceofreason.blogspot.com/2012/06/short-story-second-chances.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5740305146657537274/posts/default/5830762787099955932'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/5740305146657537274/posts/default/5830762787099955932'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://randomvoiceofreason.blogspot.com/2012/06/short-story-second-chances.html' title='Short Story: Second Chances'/><author><name>Amanda</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/00413551665228473666</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='32' height='32' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi40NnlSdl-YP0oF6zFONaCVQ1ogdFohvtVMiJlkbwyDeS4yDSXCVPBct6K26Q1sdYfi43hUPMq53yFPhyCV-yR7ahLTHQoaSwA2YInt363_cf3Ek2wmqacx-lPDyfBFMQ/s220/Amanda.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>