by Viola Grace
“I don’t understand.” I looked at him.
“It’s my punishment. And maybe if I do enough good deeds, I will be pardoned.”
“Good deeds.” I was baffled. I laughed a little. “You talk in riddles. And what is your name, by the way?”
“Rayon.”
“That’s an unusual name.”
“Not from where I come from.”
“Which is where exactly? France? Doesn’t Rayon mean Ray in French?”
He turned his head to look at him. “I come from a distant star called Menet.”
“Yeah, right,” I laughed.
He sat up. “Kyle, I’m telling you the truth. I can read your thoughts. I knew exactly what you craved tonight and I gave it to you, didn’t I?”
He gave it to me all right.
“I know about Adam. You were together three years. You were happy. You caught him cheating on you. You know it wasn’t the first time. He needs you far more than you need him. He doesn’t respect you. Forget him.”
I swallowed. I got up off the bed. “This can’t be.”
His eyes suddenly glowed incredibly bright. “Look at my eyes. You know.”
I backed into a corner. “You’re some kind of a monster?”
“No, I’m just a man like you. The atmosphere on my planet is very dim. Our eyes are almost like that of the domestic cat. We can see in the dark. Some people on our planet have mindreading abilities. Those born with those abilities are destined to be sexual surrogates.”
“Whoa, sexual what?”
He sat up. “Think of me as your equivalent to a prostitute. Only I was born to it. I am forbidden to develop emotional attachments to anyone. I am destined to please, although in return, I am permitted to experience pleasure, or I was until I disobeyed the rules.”
My mind was spinning. “Let me get this straight. You’re a prostitute from another planet, who reads minds?”
He shrugged. “Yes.”
“How did you get here?”
“I was banished. I fell in love.”
“You were punished for falling in love?” I couldn’t believe that I was buying any of this, but somehow, I knew he was being sincere.
He looked so sad suddenly. “It’s against the rules. And I’m in the elite. I’m the best of my kind.”
“What society would condemn someone to a life of sexual servitude, denying you love?”
“It’s not as bad as all that, Kyle. It was my destiny. I was born with the sight. I live in a society where the values of hard work and ambition are emphasized. It is essential to our survival as a people, but the pleasure principle is also extremely important. We must separate sex and love. Those with the sight like me, perform an important function, release from stress, from pain. We are highly honoured in our society, very privileged. We satisfy so well that there is no need for other partners.”
“But yet, you are denied love?”
“There is no place for love in our lives. We are sex. Those without the sight may experience love.”
“And your lover, the man you fell in love with?”
“He, too, broke the rules, mixing love and sex. He was…eliminated.”
“Eliminated? You mean, killed?”
“Not exactly, more like erased.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s complicated. We don’t see death in the same way as you do. It’s rather temporary.”
“Death is temporary.”
“Yes. We have perfected the art of recycling human lives.”
Kyle shook his head. “I’m sorry about your lover.”
“It’s okay now. Time takes care of that kind of pain.”
“And your punishment was to be sent here?”
“I have been banished temporarily, until I am able to satisfy the counsel by doing good deeds. They have restricted my ability to experience sexual release.”
I came over and sat down on the bed. “Then I was one of your good deeds?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
He leaned over and kissed my mouth gently. “You were so sad. I wanted to make you happy. Did I make you happy?”
“I guess you can add me to the list…”
“I’ve hurt you.” He frowned. “It wasn’t my intention. I really wanted to be with you.”
“But yet, you feel nothing for me. It was only because I was sad, a good candidate to help you fill you quota of good deeds.”
He lowered his head.
After a few seconds of silence, I said, “Are all the men as beautiful as you on that planet of yours?”
He looked at me. “We vary in looks, as do Earthlings.”
“What happens to you now? Do you just go on finding these heartbroken losers until someone from your planet calls you back home?”
“You’re not a heartbroken loser, Kyle. You’re a beautiful, loving, giving man, who fell for the wrong guy, that’s all.”
Yeah, and it looked like I was doing it again. I glanced at his erection. “You have a beautiful cock.”
He smiled.
“I want to try and make you come. Can I?”
He lay down his head on the pillow. “If it pleases you, but don’t think it’s a reflection on your performance when nothing happens.”
“Okay,” I said, moving my hand over his thigh. “I just want to touch you. I’m not performing.” I wet my lips, lowered my mouth to his cock. Heaven. It was like tasting heaven. He placed his fingers in my hair as I licked the length of his shaft. I lost myself in the feel of him, the scent, the taste. I inhaled every inch of him, took him into my mouth and tried in my own way to give back some of what he’d given to me. He was right. I had a lot to give. Adam didn’t deserve any of it. He never had. I swallowed, moved my jaw around his girth until it ached. I’d never felt anything like this with Adam.
His fingers curled in my hair and pulled.
I paused, tasted his cum, redoubled my effort and heard him sigh, then moan deeply, his hips pumping up into my mouth, his cum sliding down my throat.
“Oh yeah,” he breathed. “Oh, yeah. Kyle. Kyle.”
I lifted my head, let his softened cock slide out of my mouth. I wiped my lips with the back of my hand.
He pulled me up to him, his eyes glowing like two precious green gems. “Thank you, sweetness.” He kissed me deeply and that kiss was thanks enough. It made my head spin.
There was a tear on his cheek. I wiped it gently with my finger. “Has it been a long time?”
“Oh yes,” he nodded, “a very long time.” He folded his arms around me, kissed the top of my head. I’d never felt so loved, so cherished.
I snuggled down into his arms, settled my head onto his chest. “Do you think they’ll ever allow you to go back home?”
“Eventually.”
“Do you want to go?”
He lifted his head, looked at me, those eyes questioning. “Do you want me to go, Kyle?”
I swallowed. “I…it’s not for me to say, that’s up to you.”
He nodded, kissed my forehead and closed his eyes.
I lay there a long time, trying to memorize the feel of him, trying to etch this moment in my mind forever. I didn’t even mind so much that I was his good deed. Rather, I was grateful for it.
When I opened my eyes, the sun was streaming through the room. I was alone. Suddenly, a great sadness fell over me. I truly believed that I was never going to see Rayon again. I lay there in bed for a long time. I didn’t want to get out. I felt as if I was still in his arms, his scent lingering on the pillow and in the sheets. When my self talk began to chastise me, calling me a God damned fool, I found the strength to get out of bed.
It was Sunday. I had absolutely nothing to do all day. I almost talked myself into going to my office at the travel agency, getting a head start on work tomorrow. Then I changed my mind. I’d caught up on all my files Friday. I’d only sit there and stare at the wall.
I took a shower, ate a piece a toast, read the paper. When the phone rang, I
ran to it, suddenly realising that Rayon wouldn’t be calling me. He didn’t even have the number. It was Adam, soft spoken, apologetic, asking to get together.
“No thanks,” I said. And for the first time, I meant it.
“What do you mean, no thanks? Kyle.”
“It’s over. I’m not taking you back this time.” I hung up, turned the ringer and the answering machine off, then went back to bed. It wasn’t because I was tried or even depressed. I just felt close to Rayon there. I wrapped myself up in those sheets and pretended it was him.
I went through the week like a zombie. I looked for him everything, thought I saw him around every corner. He’d either found another good deed or two, or three, or he’d been forgiven for his sin and went back to wherever to hell he came from. Rayon. I love you. It made no damn sense. But I did, really.
I went out for a beer with some friends Friday night, visited my sister on Saturday, tried to fill the hours. But I couldn’t wait to crawl into bed every night. I needed to change the sheets, but I couldn’t bear to, changing the sheets meant that I’d erase all traces of him. It was insanity.
Finally Monday night, I stripped the bed, threw the sheets in the wash and stood there as the machine went through the cycles, thinking that I had imagined it all. Adam left several messages. I erased them. Finally, two weeks later, he stopped calling. I was relieved.
Winter came. I went to work, saw my friends and tried to fill the ache he’d left. Then, just a few weeks before Christmas, I was coming out of a major department store, loaded with packages, and I saw him. I dropped the packages, and stood there watching him like an idiot as Rayon picked them all up.
He tucked the parcels under his arm and grinned at me, those green eyes, so warm that immediately the cold chill of the night went away. “Rayon?”
“Hello, Kyle,” he said. “Where you headed?”
“Home. I was shopping for Christmas and…”
“Bizarre holiday you people have here,” he shook his head, snowflakes sparkling like diamonds on his dark hair. “I don’t get the tree thing, putting all those little decorations on it. What do they all mean?”
He looked so innocent, so young. I laughed aloud. I laughed for joy. “What are you doing here? I mean, I guess they haven’t called you home yet.”
He shrugged. “They did actually call me home.”
I blinked. “Really?”
“Yeah. They decided that I’d suffered enough. Plus, they needed me to do some training.”
“Oh. What’s that about?” My heart was pounding in my chest.
“Oh, nothing special, just those like me, with the sight. They have to be taught. Come on, I’ll help you take these home, if you want. What’s in them?”
“Christmas gifts for the family. My car is around the corner,” I told him. Tears stung my eyes. I tried to hold them back. “And, so,” I managed, as we reached my car, “I guess you broke another rule? They sent you away again or what?”
He laughed. “Kind of.”
He took my packages as I searched for my key. I tried to put it into the lock, but my hands were shaking too badly. I was blinded by tears. “Damnit,” I choked.
“Kyle, it’s okay,” he said, reaching out and taking the key out of my hand. He opened the door, took my bags and put them into the backseat. I stood there trembling, my heart in my throat. “Rayon, are you going to stay with me for the night?” I wanted him so badly. I would have done anything to make him stay. I tried not to scream while I waited for him to close the back door and answer my question.
“No,” he said. Those eyes glowed in the obscurity of the underground parking lot.
A flash of pain gripped my heart. “But you can do another good deed and…”
“What deed would that be?” he asked gently. “You’re over Adam now.”
Tears coursed down my cheeks.
Suddenly, he placed his hands on my shoulders. “Kyle,” he said softly, “I don’t want to stay for the night. I want to stay forever.”
I choked on my tears, half sobbing, half laughing. “What?”
“They accepted me back home. I trained the others. I told them I wanted to come back here. I love you. That was enough to make them say yes. They’ve decided that I’m a lost cause, hopeless. They even gave me back my…well…” he grinned, “let’s say you won’t have an aching jaw this time.”
I wrapped my arms around him, kissed his mouth, his cheeks, his eyes. He hugged me tightly, said my name.
“And the sight? Do you still have it?” I lifted an eyebrow.
“I still have it, but it will gradually leave me the longer I stay here. So, guess I won’t be able to make you a rich man by helping you win the lottery.”
“I’m already a rich man,” I breathed, searching his face, looking into those eyes. “You’ve just made me the richest man in the universe. What about your eyes, will they still glow?” I laughed softly.
He kissed my nose. “Um, maybe in the dark, when you touch me in various places.”
“Let’s go home,” I said. “I’d like to put it to a test now.”
When we got out of my car, Rayon paused and looked up at the sky for a moment.
“Are you sad?” I asked, hugging his waist.
“Not for me,” he replied, those green eyes looking down at me. “I’m happy. I’ve found what I was looking for.” He glanced at me. “I’ve found love and sex all wrapped up into one. I feel sad for those who will never know that joy.”
I stayed silent, allowing him his thoughts.
“So,” he brightened suddenly, “what does a star prostitute do on your planet anyway? It looks like I’m permanently retired from my former job.”
We walked inside. I grinned at him, removing his coat and then undoing his shirt, I kissed his chest. “Well maybe I could get you a job at the travel bureau where I work. Do you know anything about booking luxury cruises?”
He paused in the middle of removing his shirt and gave me the most profound look of confusion I’d ever seen. I laughed until he reached for me, took me into his arms and smothered my laughter with his kiss.
A STONE’S THROW: EMMA
C.R. Moss
Emma stared at the old storefront trying not to cry. Her hand and arm gripped tighter around the crook of her best friend’s arm, not just to keep herself from bawling but also to keep her friend from fleeing. Addi didn’t want to be at the boutique with her. She realized that. But she dragged Addi along, needing the support of her friend when she came to the boutique that her dear, late friend, Miss Q, had owned. She was curious to see if the new owners had altered anything and hoped they were as privy to the energy in the establishment as Miss Q had been.
The sign over the door had been replaced. The new letters in A Stone’s Throw were bright and bold against the drab, paint-faded building. The displays in the window were gone, the shelves draped with black cloth. Nestled on the middle shelf was an eight by eleven, black and white portrait of Miss Q. She stood in the photo, prettily poised and showing off her long, salt and pepper hair, her multiple necklaces with charms and her dangle bracelets. Two other black and white photographs flanked hers. Nephews, Emma assumed. She remembered Miss Q mentioning them in many of her conversations. Both of the men, each handsome in his own respect, were eerily similar in appearance, save for the hair and eyes. Drawn to the light-haired, light-eyed one, she tilted her head as she studied the photo, wondering where she had seen him before. Closing her eyes to think better, an image of a clover-filled meadow came to mind and the sweet scent of honeysuckle floated past her nose.
Her eyelids flew open. The image and accompanying aroma were the same as the ones in the dreams she had been having since she had hit puberty. A shiver racked her body, recalling the earthy male presence always in attendance in the dreams, too, one whose fleeting ghost of an impression could get her heart pumping and loins stirring. She had tried in every dream to find him, to see what he looked like, but she was never able to. All she had to hol
d onto was a sense of him, his power, his omnipresent lusting. Many mornings she’d masturbate, imagining how her dream lover would appear to ease the dissatisfaction of waking up alone.
“Do you think they could be twins, Addi? Their resemblance is so close,” she said to her friend. She didn’t get an answer and that was all right. She had spoken more for her own benefit to snap back to reality and get grounded.
Addi was transfixed on the dark one’s photograph.
She tugged on her arm and her friend absentmindedly glanced and smiled at her.
Emma pulled her into the store and was pleased to see the inside and merchandise hadn’t changed a bit. Every item was still in its place exactly as Miss Q had put it.
“Addi,” she said releasing her friend from her grasp. “Go browse around and let the calming properties of the store envelope you. You’ll feel better if you do, you’ll see.”
Addi shrugged, mumbling about the store not being attended to, and headed over to a rack of scarves.
Emma inhaled deeply, letting her chest expand, and reached out with her mind and aura to embrace the store’s energy. She loved the metaphysical aspect of the boutique with the clothes and accessories on one side and the crystals on the other. She went to the rocks, wanting a bauble to ease her hurts. Not only had Miss Q left the earthly realm, her boyfriend, whom she had helped get back on his feet after a bad stretch of gambling, had dumped her.
Relaxing into her search, she let herself lazily scan the large selection. Within moments a rough, multihued green stone hooked her. She picked it up. The large stone, its edges slightly sharp, covered her whole palm and was comfortable in her hand. Holding the crystal brought a sudden wave of peace washing over her and a sensation of two arms wrapping around her and comforting her with a motherly love.
Oh, Miss Q, she breathed with a whispered sigh, believing the old woman’s spirit was still in the store and soothing her in her grief. She missed her friend and wished the woman hadn’t gone on to another realm so she could have advised her on the stone she held.
The impression of the arms faded and she noticed a nagging pull on her back…and not on her clothes either. Luckily, along with the lectures on crystals, Miss Q had also taught her how to see and cleanse auras and how to fend off those who would feed on another’s life energy. Her hand wrapped around the stone as if to protect it and she put up an aura shield to stop the intrusive and unsolicited transference of her energy.