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by Andrea Lena DiMaggio

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Can't close my eyes
They're wide awake
Every hair on my body
Has got a thing for this place

Oh, empty my heart
I've got to make room
For this feeling
It's so much bigger than me

After a reasonably early breakfast the next morning, Sergei and his brother-in-law, Tomasz moved the rest of his belongings from Sergei’s SEAT[1] into the Nissan van. Tomasz added a rolled-up mattress and sleeping bag once Sergei had explained that he’d likely be spending at least one night on the road.

Tomasz agreed with him when Sergei told him the outline of his route north. He gave Sergei an old but usable Michelin Road atlas of France.

“That will be a great help, thanks.”

I Am What I Am
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

I am what I am, and I am proud to be me. I may appear to be a woman, but I am not one. I love appearing as a woman. I love everything about it. I love the hair and the makeup and the nails and the clothes and the bags and the shoes … I love it all. But I am not a woman. I am what I am.

Katie was not happy. Ever since Sophie hung up on her after telling her I wasn’t well and couldn’t come to the phone [but really it was because I was dressed in a little black dress and full make up] she had an underlying suspicion she was being lied to. One thing led to another and a few crossed words and things got difficult but she was one of Sophie’s bridesmaids [to be] and so part of the arrangements and in the end we were seeing each other mainly for that reason.

Chapter 2

She picked up a small hessian bag and I followed her to the next cell, aware of Bull gazing at my butt as we went in. The cell was the same size as Cloes’ but with two bunk sets, with one having a guy curled up in it. Bluto and Pluto was sitting at the table, playing cards.

“Hi, there, boys. We’re ready for our walk of shame to the library.”

They looked at us, then more closely at me.

“By my ancestors dicks,” breathed Pluto, “Just a few hours and Delia is going to slay them in the aisles.”

When a mountain downpour forces Lydia and Thomas Thompson into a cavern's shadowy embrace, Lydia's touch upon ancient runic inscriptions awakens her latent power and identity. As they emerge to find the enigmatic town of Sælicbrook—a nexus of realms and magic—Lydia is transformed into her destiny as its guardian. But as the cosmic entity Nyarlathotep stirs, intent on unraveling the threads of reality, will Lydia's newfound power be enough to stand against an eldritch horror bent on devouring all? The battle for existence looms, and only the guardians of Sælicbrook can safeguard the world from the impending darkness. Will they triumph, or will everything they know be consumed by the infinite appetite of the Crawling Chaos?

I had a dream I was locked in a room with four sets of hands grabbing at me. No bodies, just the hands as they traced around my body, I wanted to kick and scream but couldn’t. I could only feel eerie sensations all over. I thrashed about and found myself on the floor of my room wrapped in my comforter and my hair all in my face.

When a mountain downpour forces Lydia and Thomas Thompson into a cavern's shadowy embrace, Lydia's touch upon ancient runic inscriptions awakens her latent power and identity. As they emerge to find the enigmatic town of Sælicbrook—a nexus of realms and magic—Lydia is transformed into her destiny as its guardian. But as the cosmic entity Nyarlathotep stirs, intent on unraveling the threads of reality, will Lydia's newfound power be enough to stand against an eldritch horror bent on devouring all? The battle for existence looms, and only the guardians of Sælicbrook can safeguard the world from the impending darkness. Will they triumph, or will everything they know be consumed by the infinite appetite of the Crawling Chaos?

CHAPTER 20
I woke in a warm fuzz, my bag snug around me and my bladder, for once, not that insistent. I slithered out of it nonetheless, and after I had done the necessary, I started a trawl through the food left ready for breakfast by the Woodruffs.

That term finally made sense to me, for Steph was now so clearly right in her skin, content as she was, and if someone who shared a bed with her had no issues, then why should I? I decided I would keep telling myself that until I was convinced.

The next day I got home before anyone else. As usual I dropped my bag in the hall and took my shoes off. I walked into the dining room and couldn’t help but notice the make up that Suzie had used last night was on the table. I stood for. A moment in silence wondering if it had been left there to taunt me following my debut as a make up model, or just a coincidence.

“C'mon. You'll look cute in them, Dave,” my girlfriend, Shelly, said.

“I'll look ridiculous,” I countered. We were in her dorm room bed and I was preparing to get up, get dressed, and head back to my dorm.

“You're just chicken.”

“I'm not afraid of your panties. They just aren't designed for my body.”

“I don't want them to be functional on you,” she said with a laugh. “I just think the red lace will look good with your dick in them.”

Monday morning was an absolute whirlwind at the Blackburn house, as Ariel found out the moment she stepped from her room. She nearly collided with a half-asleep Rylee in the hallway, at which Rylee profusely apologized and then scurried off in the direction of the bathroom. Somewhere off down the hall, a hairdryer whirred, and the kitchen yielded the sounds of sizzling meat and the clatter of dishes.

“Tori, I can’t find my eyeliner!” Rylee called from the bathroom as Ariel stumbled toward the kitchen.

What do you do when you look 7 years old, but you're actually a college student in your late teens? For Kathleen's entire life, she had fought against people treating her much younger than her actual age. Feeling obligated to grow up fast to show people she wasn't the age of her size, Kathleen never let her inner child out. Tired of fighting against the world, she explores the adult submissive world. What she finds, however, is an enjoyment of regression. Had she made a mistake? Would life be better if she just let people treat her how she looks, 7 years old?

After a lot of fun Toni really knuckles down to work. She’s been given the freedom and opportunity to really show what she can do in her job, maybe the opportunity to keep her job. However the freedom comes in extraordinarily handy when she faces her first crisis, all alone and anxious for reasons she can’t understand.

The question is whether the nascent Toni is strong enough to handle this? And whether she can even begin to handle it? What she does could determine where she goes next. Is Toni ready for what Toni? Or is the warning Big-G gave her about setbacks coming true faster than she could ever have expected?

The next email from ‘Uncle Vanya’ arrived just after the sun had set for the day. Sergei had watched the light of the day ending from the west terrace of his home.

Ice cream can be used for many things!

The idea of me having a date with Leland Frick, the team photographer, almost caused a riot. By this time, there seemed to be sixteen girls —including me, damnit!— left at the party, and all of them had one thing to discuss: my supposed date.

HOW I BECAME STEPHANIE

(MY OLD NAME AND FAMILY NAMES CHANGED TO PROTECT IDENTITIES OF THIS LIFE STORY)

CHAPTER 1

The Brooks Range, Alaska:
Stacy spots the fake blind someone had setup to conceal an area. She approaches carefully and notices that someone had gone to great lengths to hide their presence out here. The fake blind went all the way around a twenty-foot area.