Right in the middle of playing a game, Nathan heard his phone vibrate. Annoyed, he paused and picked it up, going straight to his texts.

He saw a message from Kate.

“Hi, just wanted to check in.” It said.

He put his phone up to his chest, closing his eyes and breathing in deeply. He forgot the last time he received a message from her. From what he remembered, she hadn’t tried to talk to him since…

He shook his head. No, he didn’t want to think about that.

He brought his phone back out, opening his eyes and staring down at the message as if entranced.

It was a huge relief Natalie already had off that day. She didn’t think she had the strength to even call off, not after last night.

Natalie spent most of her morning laying around in her bedroom, blankly staring up toward the ceiling. By lunchtime, she needed to clear her mind, so she decided to take a walk outside down the sidewalk. It was a nice, sunny day out, something she desperately needed. It felt good, being in the fresh air.

Kind of heavy chapter here so be wary of that

No words were spoken for the rest of the trip. It was silent the whole way back, but this was a warm, comfortable silence, much unlike the tense, awkward one on those first few trips to the mall at the start of the summer. Nothing more needed to be said, a feeling both Sierra and Elise knew well.

Sierra gazed out her window, watching the sun begin to set in the horizon. She hadn't realized they’d been out for so long. It was getting all too easy to lose track of time these days.

“Hi Nathan. I don't know whether you’re a different person or just another side of me, it's really hard to comprehend. I know you’re feeling the same way about this.

The first thing I should say is that I don't think I can say enough times that I'm sorry about the sticky note. That was a really shitty thing to do, and I just… I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry.

I am so sorry that it took so long to update. I know I said I would try to update these stories more, but I got side tracked from the worst college class I've ever taken in my life. It was so bad that literally everyone was having problems in it. I spent so much time and energy just trying to access the assignments on a program that frequently failed that I had very little left to read or write. Now that that's finally over though, I can post some more chapters. So, enjoy.

The doctor stared down at Nathan’s BMI results.

“Well.” She started. “You’ve definitely lost weight.”

“No shit”, Nathan wanted to say.

“Is it a lot?” He asked.

“It’s a bit.” She responded. “Though I should point out how you are no longer in the ‘overweight’ range.”

Nathan furrowed his brow.

The doctor sighed. “If you want, we can do a blood test. We can get the results back pretty quick.”

“How quick?”

“About a day.” She answered.

Nathan’s gaze turned to his arm, examining how much thinner it had become.

In his younger years Geisinger would’ve thrown the book across the room without a second thought. He got angry very easily back in those days. Whenever he ran into something hard or tedious, his frustration would take over and he’d lash out. College was a very stressful time for him, more so than for most.

Of course, a lot of that anger and stress was because of…

He quickly reached his right hand up to his left arm, feeling the cold metal fitted tightly around his skin. He let out a quiet sigh in relief.

The sun’s rays crept through the windows of Jacqueline’s bedroom, waking her up with a bright and irritating sensation in her eyesight. Groaning, she climbed out of bed. This was far from the first time the sun had been an annoyance. Why did she think it was a good idea to choose the bedroom with so many windows? Why did this bedroom have so many windows to begin with?

Turning around, she saw Ben was not in bed with her. She must have gotten up early again. Hopefully she wouldn’t be as active and off-putting as yesterday.

A swirl of leaves spun infinitely around Ben as she frolicked through the trees. With every step she passed by hordes of flowers and wondrous, lifelike plants. She felt them along with the grass below her with her bare feet. Her entire body was bare, for that matter. She figured it brought her closer to the bare Earth.

“It’s hard to say what it was like, being out there in a bathing suit. Hard to put into words and say anything other than ‘it felt good’, I guess. That doesn't even really describe it well either. ‘It felt good’ is so vague it could mean anything. It felt liberating maybe? I don’t know, I’m new to this.

Well, getting back on topic, Elise convinced me to go on another ride. A simple one, one where it just went straight up, turned, then went down. There was a splash at the end. I don’t remember what it was called, but after SkyRush, going on this was nothing.

“C’mon!” Elise exclaimed. “Let us see!”

Sierra gulped. Why had she agreed to this?

“Can you give me a few more minutes?” She asked.

“No.” Elise said flatly.

Well, that answer was certainly quick. She wasn’t going to get out of this one easily.

Sierra sighed, then slowly walked into view, revealing her body in a black bathing suit. No trunks, no shirt, no water shoes.

The front doors of the psychiatric institute were flung open as Natalie furiously stomped out of them.

Major warning for talks of sexual assault here

Natalie thought that she had expended all of her tears. The adrenaline from putting a gun in her mouth and being one twitch away from ending it all had long been filtered out of her system, her sadness and confusion going with it.

But after she heard Sara say she was sorry, she didn’t know what came over her.

She just lost it.

She cried. Hard enough to fill an ocean, probably. And it seemed nothing could stop her.

Magic made the clean up process after missions much quicker, and in Ben’s case, much more bearable. No shower was needed for anyone, a spell was able to clean up all the dirt and filth they had picked up in an instant. An incredible convenience, and Ben was thankful he didn’t have to actively bathe. Seeing his naked body in its current state would undoubtedly be uncomfortable.

The girls were so lucky their parents forced them to bring sunscreen.

The sun was absolutely brutal. Anyone who dared to step outside was sure to be burnt to a crisp within minutes. The heat was like a constant pressure on every part of their bodies

Essentially, it was the perfect day to go out to an amusement park.

Hershey Park, even just past the entrance, was full and bustling with life. Everywhere one looked, everywhere one heard, people were having pure, unadulterated fun.

To live so close to such a huge amusement park would’ve been any kid’s dream.

The sudden drop in the cave’s path was finally cleared of rock. All parts of the floor that had fallen down into the room underneath were now stored in a pile above it. It had taken ten minutes to do in all, which, considering the tech they were using, was actually pretty quick. Still, Geisinger’s group was incredibly frustrated that the better tech hadn’t been released yet, even after all this time.

One hand in front of the other. Each movement upwards is like a step, one at a time.

Ben made sure to keep his breathing stable and consistent. A mandatory technique for exercises such as this, and one that he had long since mastered.

The rope was thick, and long, sixty feet in fact. This specific exercise was straight out of “American Ninja Warrior”, one had to climb the rope to the top, attached to a belay. The rope may have been fifteen feet short, but the extra length was made up for by a short ladder at the end.

Okay, important announcement here. Due to finals coming up for me this will be the last chapter of any of my stories that I post until at least after Christmas. I'm sorry, studying and finishing up some homework takes a lot of time and I need to cut this from my schedule. Hope you understand.

Another slow, boring day at work. The corporate drone in the meeting Natalie just left had been going on for hours about a bunch of stuff she didn’t remotely care for. What was the meeting even about anyway? It had just ended and already she couldn’t recall.

At least her lunch break had arrived so she could openly drown in her sorrows in the worker’s lounge. She hadn’t actually brought a lunch, eating would require a level of effort and commitment that she, at the moment, wasn’t able to uphold. She hadn’t eaten breakfast either, she simply couldn’t eat at all.

The soul of a thousand year old spider has just been unleashed onto the world, looking for a suitable human to bond with.

tw // Death, Violence, Attempted Suicide, Body Horror, Gore, Torture, Disturbing Scenes

This is probably not going to be an easy story to read. I can guarantee that. It was largely inspired by “The Fly”, particular the 1986 version of the film directed by David Cronenberg and starring Jeff Goldblum. There will be deaths, and some disturbing scenes, which could pop up in any chapter. Keep this warning in mind while reading.

Also my new goal is at least one chapter per week for all of these stories. This year I want to become more serious about writing.

Elise awoke to the obnoxious beeping of an alarm on her phone. She quietly groaned as she reached over to her nightstand to turn it off.

Slightly begrudgingly, she sat up in her bed and checked the time, 6:03 AM. At least she hadn’t overslept. That would’ve been awful. She had a big day today, going to Hershey Park. She couldn’t be late.

Sierra had a big day today.

Okay, so before getting into this chapter I want to leave these notes here. First and foremost, I have received criticism regarding the politics in this story, and honestly I completely agree with most of the criticism. Including politics in this story was a horrible mistake. If I had the time and energy to rewrite this story, I would take this specific subplot with Elise's grandparents out, as well as most of the political stuff. I fully understand any criticism I get for this chapter and this story's use of politics. "Shame and Desire" is not a perfect story, and I am very much aware of that. I don't think anyone here reads these stories for lectures on capitalism, imperialism, and fascism.

If I will say anything to defend myself, it's that when I started writing this story, I wasn't exactly very serious about it and often times included certain elements for the sake of it. Quite a big chunk of this story was just used as a vessel to spout left wing political views. This is my first really big story, it has just hit 98K words and we still have quite a ways to go until the end. I am bound to make some mistakes. And now I have to live with them. This doesn't mean you're not allowed to criticize me or this chapter, but I thought it was just worth pointing out.

If you don't like the politics in this story, then you can be glad that there will be no major political subplots or commentary in this story from now on. I want to take writing this story more seriously and start only including elements that will add to the plot. They might still be thrown around here and there, as I've come to like Sierra's characterization as someone who cares a lot about left wing politics. And I also like the dynamic between Sierra and Elise in regards to this, with Elise being more of a liberal socdem and Sierra being far left (I'm not sure if she'd be more of a communist or an anarchist). But it won't be big, and it definitely will not take up a major part of the story.

If there's anything positive I can say here, it's that if you do like political debates, you'll probably enjoy this chapter. But other than that, go into this chapter and come out with whatever opinion you want.