I’m saved from depression by this wonderful man, if only a figment of my imagination. He came to me again last night in my dreams. I feel his goodness; the warmth of his heart. He gave me a glorious orgasm. Is he real? His presence is hovering over my conscious and unconscious self. I know he’s real because I woke up wet between my thighs, and my body felt sexually fulfilled. Who might he be?
Kevin felt a rush of emotion as he read her notes. He tried flipping the page but his hand went through it. All right. I’m a ghost in the land of the living. Glancing around on the table he saw a letter addressed to Sarah McCaulkin. So that’s her name, he thought – Sarah.
Sarah murmured in her sleep, reaching out. Kevin snatched her hand but it went through his translucent one. She settled down as Kevin lay beside her, his body no longer solid but going through her. She shivered and whispered, “Where are you?”
“I’m right here, Sarah,” he whispered back.
“Hmmmmm, stay close to me,” she purred and went back to sleep contentedly.
She heard me! Kevin was elated. She heard me! He watched her for a while as she slept. After many hours he rose dejectedly and trudged to his own cottage.
Arriving back at the little white cottage covered with vines, he noticed a crowd around the driveway, where a police car was parked.
“Have any of you seen the man who rented this place?” a burly policeman was asking the few people who were milling around on the driveway.
“He was very friendly,” one woman spoke. “I met him when he bought some groceries from my store.”
Kevin ears prickled. Okay, he was alive when he went to buy the groceries.
“Will you come to the police station ma’am? We’d like to ask more questions.”
“Oh no, I have nothing more to add to that,” the woman replied, fear mirrored on her face.
“Okay then, when was the last time you saw him jogging?”
The woman paused, “That would be five days ago? I remember him clearly because he was the only visitor that dropped by that day.”
Kevin recognized the woman. Five days ago? He thought. Then I was still alive 5 days ago?
“The woman who rented the neighboring cottage may know more,” a man piped up.
“I don’t think so,” another person interjected. “She arrived a day later.” It was a small town, sparsely populated, where everyone knew everyone and outsiders were easily identified.
The officer wrote some notes and asked for their cooperation in case they came across anything that would help in the investigation.
“How did he die?” Kevin heard one man asked another.
“They said he drowned, but they’re looking into foul play, I guess? They must have discovered a wound or something else.”
Kevin felt drained of all emotion. He watched detached, unfeeling, as the cops entered his cottage and went through his belongings.
“Did his relatives arrive?”
“He doesn’t have any.”
“No friends?”
“Acquaintances from work, but they said they were not that close.”
“They didn’t want to claim the body?”
“No.”
“That’s a pity. Then he’ll be buried in the town’s public cemetery.”
“Where else?”
Once more, Kevin’s tears streamed down his face. What a pitiful life he’d led. No family. No real friends. Just an unfaithful lover, who had dumped him for someone else. What kind of life had that been?
“Any clues as to exactly what happened?” the chief investigator asked the other cops.
“There’s something here, a ticket to the town’s cinema dated five days ago.”
“He must have planned to watch a movie,” the chief stated. “That’s it for now. We’ll have to wait for the autopsy report.”
When they left, the house became as silent as a tomb. The distant sounds of the waves crashing into the shore and the occasional cries of seagulls were all that remained.
Kevin stretched his fatigued body on his bed and closed his eyes. He felt light as a feather floating on the bed’s surface, but there was a heavy chain of misery enclosing his heart. How had he died? Why hadn’t he any recollection? So the soul really did live on? But the death must have been so sudden that his soul wasn’t able to realize it? He was lost for a while in his thoughts as he tried to recall the incidents of the past five days.
Chapter 7
The sky became pinkish blue as night approached. In the distance the hills looked like purple silhouettes. A balmy breeze brushed Kevin’s face, as he walked the beach. It was completely deserted.
Curious, he sauntered towards Sarah’s cottage, feeling light as a feather, his feet barely touching the ground. To his astonishment, he noticed himself moving with speed of the wind.
Peering into the paned-glass window he saw Sarah in front of her TV set, drinking a glass of wine. Her brown eyes spoke of her desolation and loneliness. Kevin now knew that she couldn’t see him no matter what he did. He entered quietly, feeling like an intruder. But, hey! I guess I can come and go as I please now! he thought.
He sat beside her and asked, “Why are you so sad?”
Trying to embrace her, his arms went right through. Yet they didn’t before. Was I alive when we first made love?
She turned towards him. Kevin was taken aback. She seemed to see him. But she was glancing at the window, shivering in her nightie.
“Are you out there?” she asked loudly.
Is she looking for me? Kevin wondered.
“I know you’re out there somewhere. Show me where you are and I’ll come to you,” she murmured, directing her eyes to the serene view outside the window.
“I’m here,” Kevin touched her face, tentatively.
Sarah turned back to watching TV when silence greeted her. A news flash caught her attention.
The anchor-woman looked somber as her hair blew in the wind. Behind her Kevin could see the beach where his body had been recovered. “A body was found at the coastal area of Brundock. It was identified to be that of Kevin Potters, twenty-six years of age, from Maryland. The suspected cause of death is drowning, but an investigation is ongoing to rule out foul play.” Kevin’s picture flashed on the screen.
“Jesus Christ!” Sarah was on her feet. “It’s him. It’s him.” She stared wide-eyed at Kevin’s picture on the television set.
Kevin stared at her, disbelief in his eyes. So, she knew him before he died. From where? From their sexual encounters and from her dreams?
Sarah started crying, “He’s dead?” It was more a statement than a question. “Please, say it’s not true!” she sobbed.
Kevin watched her helplessly as she continued crying.
“I’m here beside you,” he said, trying to console her. “I’m right here.”
Sarah turned heel and scurried into her bedroom, shedding her nightie and throwing on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt. She grabbed her keys and purse from a shelf in her little front entrance, and jumped into her little Honda. Kevin slipped into the seat beside her, worried that she may do something desperate. She drove directly to the police station, and walked in, her footsteps weary and uncertain.
“I’d like to know where Mr. Potter’s body is,” she asked the police-woman at the information desk, her voice cracking.
“How are you related to the deceased?” the officer inquired.
“I’m his friend and lawyer,” Sarah retorted, posthumously, she thought. She showed her ID to the cop. “May I know the cause of his death?”
“It’s drowning, but something happened that caused him to drown. We’re still looking into it.”
“What do you mean?” Sarah persisted.
Kevin was standing beside her, listening intently; his eyes unblinking.
“Please sit down, Ms. McCaulkin.”
Sarah sat down heavily on the chair as the officer-in-charge brought out a laptop.
“A CCTV camera captured this video on the day
he died.” The officer directed her to the computer’s monitor. “This was taken at 7:30 a.m.” the video rolled. “See him jogging?” the policewoman pointed to the figure jogging along the road.
“Yes,” Sarah replied reflectively, looking with all her concentration at the computer.
Kevin watched with Sarah as the jogger’s face appeared on the screen. It was him, jogging along the coastal road. When he rounded the bend, a yellow, sports car suddenly whizzed by bumping Kevin aside. He tumbled over and fell into the twenty-foot ravine below the road.
“Apparently, his body hit the rocks and rolled over to the water, where he drowned.” The officer presented the scenario.
Sarah’s hand flew to her mouth. Kevin was staring fixedly at the monitor.
“We’re still checking to see who the owner of the vehicle is. It’s fortunate the plate number was captured by the CCTV,” the police officer disclosed. “It was a hit and run.”
“It’s . . . ,” Sarah stammered. “It’s . . . my . . . car.”
“What?” the officer rose from her chair.
“It’s my car. But . . . I didn’t know . . . that I had hit someone,” Sarah’s voice came out as a whimper.
Yes, Kevin could remember jogging on that road, and he remembered being hit by the racing yellow car. But he couldn’t recall falling down the cliff. What he could remember vividly was standing at the middle of the road, cursing the driver. He recalled how pissed off he’d been because he was drenched, water dripping profusely from his body and shirt. He remembered returning to his cottage to shower and change.
“We’ll have to interrogate you, Ma’am.” The cop led Sarah to another room.
Kevin gazed at Sarah, confused. So, she was his ‘killer’. The woman he’d made love to and fallen in love with was his executioner. How messed up could the world be? He raised his head upwards and howled, “Do you have a score to settle with me, God? How much more do you want me to suffer?”
Kevin’s self-pity was overshadowed when Sarah started sobbing. She was like a lost child, so vulnerable. Kevin’s heart reacted. He felt no anger toward her; nothing but love and pity.
“I was so distraught that day that I was absentminded,” Sarah stated in an unsteady voice.
“Were you drunk?”
“No, I wasn’t. I had just broken up with my fiancé, and I was depressed and angry.”
“I see,” the cop nodded, glaring at her. “You should not have driven in that emotional state, Ma’am. Because of that, you have killed someone.”
“Are you sure it’s because of me?” Sarah still refused to believe what she had seen.
“Your car pushed him down the cliff, into the rocks and into the water,” the cop forced her to grasp the truth, “He was unconscious when he hit the water, causing him to drown.”
Sarah sobbed uncontrollably, her body curled into itself. Kevin went to her, his heart feeling her emotions. He placed his arm around her body.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she was mumbling.
“It’s okay,” Kevin murmured into her ear, but she was unaware of his presence.
“If his body hadn’t been caught by a boat’s turbine on the harbor, we wouldn’t have found him,” the officer continued.
“Please, let me call my lawyer,” Sarah requested. She was not prepared emotionally to defend herself.
The officer gave her permission and she was on her phone tearfully talking to her closest friend from her own department, Attorney Ted Palmer.
Kevin stared at her, realizing how scared she must be. What could he do for her? If only he could move objects as he previously had done, he might be able to help her. He had been capable of touching objects at first, he realized. But this ability seemed to have vanished as soon as he had seen his dead body.
Sarah’s lawyer arrived after two hours looking harried and concerned. After another excruciating hour, she was out on bail.
Kevin sat with her through all the bureaucratic proceedings, persistently touching her and comforting her. But she was oblivious to his words and actions.
It was close to midnight when Kevin followed Sarah back to her cottage.
“I’ll take care of everything, just get some rest,” her lawyer suggested. “I’ll call you if something comes up.”
Kevin eyed Sarah as she flopped into her bed, not bothering to wash or even brush her teeth.
“Oh, Kevin, I’m so sorry,” she buried her head on her pillow, sobbing uncontrollably.
“It’s okay,” Kevin whispered to her ear, wanting her to hear him. “It was meant to be.”
He stayed by her bedside, listening to her sniff and cry until she fell asleep.
“Let’s meet in your dream,” Kevin avowed firmly. “Give me the chance to introduce myself.”
Chapter 8
Kevin closed his eyes and visualized himself standing beside Sarah’s bed.
In his mind, he touched her, waking her up gently, “Sarah, Sarah, I’m here,” he said longingly.
Sarah opened her eyes and sat up, wiping away the cobwebs of sleep. She stared, uncomprehendingly at Kevin.
“It’s me, Kevin,” he repeated, touching her face. “I’m right here with you.”
“Are you real?” Sarah queried, perplexed.
“No, I’m in your dream,” Kevin responded. “I came to introduce myself formally.”
“But you’re dead,” she said miserably.
“Don’t blame yourself. I believe in fate. It was my time to die,” he comforted her.
“I’m so very, very sorry,” she bawled.
“No, don’t be. You have warmed my frozen heart. I have learned to love again.”
Sarah ceased crying as Kevin lifted her chin and kissed her lightly on the lips. She responded passionately, encircling his neck with her arms. He slipped in under the bedcovers and they kissed again, their bodies straining to press against each other.
“I’ve learned to love you too,” Sarah said, as Kevin slowly broke free from their deep kiss. “I can’t explain why, but it’s what I feel.”
Kevin kissed her neck and behind her ears, relishing the warmth and the musky scent of her. She sighed contentedly. When Kevin unhooked her bra, she moaned softly, and searched for his lips. While his lips descended into the softness of her luscious breasts her hand groped for his penis.
He groaned and nibbled her nipples, shifting from one to the other. His hands slid along her beautiful body, down to her crack, gently fingering it; his mouth still on her tits, while her nipples started to become hard.
Sarah had managed to unzip him and he wiggled out of his jeans, using his feet to slip out of their confines. The bedcover was haphazardly thrown to one side of the bed, and their naked bodies were exposed to the cool night air.
She gripped his arms and stated plaintively, “Please don’t disappear, I’ll dream on, for as long as you want.”
“Sssshhh,” Kevin murmured, feigning anger. He placed one finger on her lips naughtily. “You might wake up, and I’d be lost in your memory.”
He lifted her buttocks and brought her musky petals into his face. “Hmmmmm, smells good,” he declared with a chuckle, and traced the contours of her vulva with his tongue.
Sarah faced the opposite direction and her face came right before Kevin’s enlarged and throbbing manhood.
“Suck me,” he begged her, his tongue leaving her crack for a moment.
“I’d love to,” she said.
She went down on him in a delicious 69 position, sliding her tongue along the length of his dick; her hand massaging its base in a firm but gentle manner.
Kevin sighed in delight, “Yeah, baby, that’s it.”
Sarah’s tongue played with the small opening of his rigid cock. He quivered in anticipation. He felt her hands and mouth on his organ. She worshipped it like an idol, letting her tongue lick every inch of his skin up to the crown of his phallus. She licked the crown too, going around it with her tongue in sweet breezy motions that held him hostage.
Kevin assailed her slit with the same fervor that she had to his penis. He explored the sensitive folds of her pussy, his tongue penetrating her wet hole mercilessly until she squirmed and screamed. When his tongue flicked her clitoris, she cried out loud, lowering her ass to grind her moistness into his willing face.
He focused on her clit, repeatedly tonguing it; his two fingers going in and out of her love hole, until he felt her fluid flood his fingers. The pressure of sexual craving from his groin was more than he could bear.
Annabelle's Angst: NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY SUSPENSE ROMANCE Page 20