by Alana Davis
Stills’s face shot out in my mind. The look of confusion as I made out with a complete stranger on the dance floor. The look on my face as we walked by him, only adding to his confusion.
“Yes, the manager. His name is Stills. His last name is Stillwagon. I don’t remember his first name. He was the one who hired me to find a match for his friend. He’ll remember me.”
“Did you bring this man home, oh, excuse me, to your office, for sex?” the older officer asked snidely.
“What business of it is yours why I brought him to my office?” I asked angrily. “He’s not the one who shot me.”
“Alright, I think that Ms. Facet needs her rest,” the doctor interjected, obviously upset with the tone that the officers were taking me. “I think it’s time that you both leave.”
“Alright, alright. We’re sorry,” the older officer said, trying to smooth over his remarks.
“I’ll talk to you,” I said, pointing to the younger officer. “Not you, or I’m going to bed.” I eyed the balding officer angrily.
“Tell us what happened when you got to your office. Try to be specific, I know it’s kind of awkward but it actually might help,” the younger officer said calmly.
“We had a drink and talked for a little bit. I put on some music and then things started to,” I said, pausing to think of how to continue. “Things escalated. I didn’t hear her come in.”
“So your companion, Tom, saw her as well, correct?”
“Definitely.” I had a flash of Marilyn jerking him off into her palm. “He’ll absolutely remember her.”
“What happened when she walked in on you two?”
“Well,” I said. I was unsure as to whether I should give the full details. My face started to blush when I thought of the absolute ridiculousness of what had happened even before she had shot me. “She told him to leave, and when he wouldn’t she basically grabbed him and threatened to claim he tried to rape her or that he actually did. Tom was so freaked out that he left.” It was the truth, minus a few bizarre details. If they questioned Tom, if they could even find him, and he told them everything, my story would still hold up even without all the details.
“Sounds like a real stand up kinda guy,” the balding officer interjected, shaking his head.
“Marilyn started ranting about Leon. See, she had shown up at my office a few days prior and tried to get me to arrange the two of them. She said that a cousin had told her I was looking for potential matches for him, which was true.”
“You run a matchmaking service, correct?” the young officer asked.
“Yes. Leon Christensen was a particularly difficult client to match up so I reached out to all of my previous clients and contacts to try to find potential women. Marilyn must have found out that way, or she was just stalking Leon and found out about it some other way and lied about having her cousin arrange a meet-up. I don’t really know.”
The doctor was listening just as intently as the officers, fascinated with the story. I could see lines of worry cutting across her otherwise pretty face. I smiled at her and she gave me a small smile back.
“Marilyn demanded I arrange a meeting. When I said no, she pulled a gun. I tried to call 911 when she made me call Leon, but after I dialed the number, she snatched the phone from my hand. That was when she realized what I had done. She completely freaked out and shot me. I passed out shortly after that.”
The young officer was silent for a while as he wrote. He flipped over two pages, scribbling wildly on each page, rushing to get the story on paper.
“Is there anything else you can think of that might help us find Marilyn?”
“Yes,” I said, a realization dawning on me. “I have a file on her at my office. It has her address, well, at least it’s an address. Whether it’s hers or not I don’t know. You can search my office for it, of course. I give you permission to go in the file cabinet for the women, but only the women. I’m gonna have to get my lawyer to accompany you though, I don’t want my clients freaked out thinking I’m letting the police sort through their personal information.”
“That’s completely fine,” the officer said, rising from his seat. He walked next to my bed and rested his hand on the bar that prevented me from rolling out. “We’re glad you’ve made it through.” It was strangely touching.
“Call my secretary and she can arrange for a time with the lawyer. Tell her it’s absolutely urgent.”
“No problemo,” the young officer said. “Is there anybody else you’d like us to get in touch with?”
“No,” I said quietly. It wasn’t entirely a lie. I didn’t want to talk to my mother until I was out of the hospital, she would only freak out anyway. My dad was probably too busy on vacation with his latest secretary conquest.
The two officers thanked me, the balding mustached one with a slightly disgruntled tone, and then left. The pain in my shoulder was throbbing and I was feeling achy all over. The doctor began to check me and then she turned right to me and smiled.
“Do you need some more morphine for the pain?” she asked.
“Oh, god yes.”
The weight of my body lifted away, fizzling out into the ceiling. I felt a warmth envelope me like a soft blanket and all the pain dissipated as it wrapped around me tighter. The doctor’s voice drifted away until finally there was silence in the room, although I didn’t mind the doctor talking. My eyes were closed and a small smile touched my lips. My world was without worry or care. The hospital room disappeared completely.
Chapter 19
A warm sun shined down on my skin. I felt its radiance absorb into my exposed flesh and it felt wonderful. I could see the sun as an orange globe behind my closed eyes and I smiled as I basked in its healing light. From somewhere above me, a bird cooed and a dozen other birds answered its call. I felt grass beneath my fingers and I laughed at nothing in particular.
“More wine, my love?” a man’s voice said to me.
I opened my mouth to reply, but no words came out. A hand caressed the side of my face and it felt as warm and welcoming as the sun, filling my heart with excited joy. I leaned my head over, still closing my eyes, and kissed the fingers that had just departed from their caress.
“Today is,” the man said, pausing for years before he finished the sentence. “Perfect.”
I laughed again, feeling better than I had ever felt. Lips graced my forehead and I felt them plant a small kiss on my warm skin. I opened my eyes to see Leon leaning over, his face hovering over mine. The sun illuminated him in light from behind and he glowed before me, beautiful. I reached up a weightless arm and held the side of his face.
“I missed you,” I said breathlessly. No sound came out, but Leon smiled and moved his head over and kissed my hand.
We were running, running nowhere and running everywhere. Water shimmered to the left of us and I looked out over a vast lake where small disturbances of water glimmered light from the sun in my eyes. We ran faster, our feet skimming through the water and the coolness of the lake feeling wonderful against our naked feet. Leon ran in front of me, his hand outstretched behind him as it held mine. I followed, giggling with happiness.
We were in front of a fireplace, Leon laying on his back and laughing. I couldn’t remember the joke and it wasn’t important anyway. Sweet wine touched our lips from glasses that we raised in a toast to life and nothing more. What more was there to celebrate? The space we were in was large and roomy, uncluttered by artifacts and belongings. The rug beneath us felt so soft and fuzzy that I wanted to roll myself in and sleep forever.
“Don’t sleep forever, unless you dream of me.”
Time passed. Forever passed by us and the world ended and began again. Leon kissed my lips and I felt the wetness of his tongue against mine, soft and gentle. I ran my hands through his hair and felt the back of his neck as I pulled him closer. I let out a small laugh of disbelief that this could be so wonderful.
“It is wonderful.”
Outside again, the su
n lower in the sky, but still bright. Shadows cut across the ground as we walked through an orange grove. Trees stood tall among us and Leon reached up and picked an orange down, holding in his hands as he studied it. He peeled it and handed me a slice. Wet orange juice flowed down my chin as I bit down and I gorged myself on fresh orange that I knew must have tasted incredible but for some reason my taste buds were dull, unresponsive to the taste of anything. For a brief moment I had a sensation that this wasn’t real, this was nothing more than a beautiful dream, but the thought was hard to hold on to, hard to make real.
We came to a clearing where a blanket was spread out on the ground. As I saw it, I was suddenly looking up at the sky and I realized I was already laying down. The sun was shaking in the sky, flames so radiant and beautiful coming off of it that tears formed in my eyes at the mere sight of it. Mountains in the background climbed higher and higher and I marveled at them, the snow melting on the tops as they climbed towards the sun which exploded with more flame.
“Where are we?” I asked, my voice sounding airy and light.
“Here,” Leon said. He lay next to me, his shirt off. I studied his chiseled chest and he simply smiled, content to be in the sun.
His hand floated over to my shirt and unbuttoned the top button. I felt the soft touch of his hand and closed my eyes, leaning back. The sun made my closed eyes see nothing but bright orange and I laughed again over how good it felt to be in the sun with Leon’s hands slowly taking off my top. I inched closer to him and pushed my forehead against his. We lay there, face to face, until finally our lips gravitated towards each other’s, pulled by the force of our wanting.
Our lips met. Stars exploded behind my eyes and I felt dizzy. I tried to move my arms and nothing happened; I was powerless to do anything but kiss him. His hands fell on my hips and I let out a sigh of pleasure as his tongue moved against mine. I tried to breathe in deeply but no breath came. I panicked for a moment and then I relaxed; my lips against Leon’s, I didn’t need to breathe.
My eyes opened and it was much darker now. The sun was gone from up above. The orange grove no longer there. A fire was raging next to us and when I turned to look at it, I saw that a large fire pit was before me. The flames climbed high into the sky and danced against the night. My eyes grew wide as I watched the flames soar higher and higher until they reached the stars and spread out across the sky, filling it with beautiful, glorious flame.
Leon was above me, his arms flexing as he held himself up. His eyes, a sapphire that glowed bright in the relative darkness, were open and staring into mine. I felt my body convulse with energy, a wonderful, warming energy that alleviated all my pain and filled me with a loving embrace. I tried to speak, but the words were gone. I couldn’t think of a single word and all there was in my mind was the sight before me. Leon leaned down and his eyes burned so bright tears formed in my eyes, but it wasn’t painful. I reached up with my lips and kissed him.
We rolled through the grass, holding each other. Our bodies melted into each other’s and all lines of separation were gone. His heartbeat raced against mine and soon too they were one. My eyes opened and closed, a kaleidoscope of images and colors exploding as I opened and closed them. Darkness cast over my vision as I shut them closed forcefully and tried to taste the experience of being in Leon’s arms.
He caressed the side of my face with fingers that felt so soft and loving that I let out a moan. I could feel his cock pressing against my leg and I knew we were naked. The ground felt soft against my back and when I finally opened my eyes again, I saw we were inside, the fireplace steadily kicking up flames and tiny cackles as wood popped and burned. I looked up at Leon and he looked down at me, eyes interlocked and exchanging something deep and meaningful. Something beyond description. Something beyond thought.
I felt him enter me, slowly. I cried out soundlessly and Leon kissed the side of my face. Inch by inch, he pushed further and further into me in an cacophony of ecstasy that overtook me completely. My hands ran all over his back and I felt his taut muscles bulge out as he moved his hips to slide deeper into me until there was no separation between us at all. Inside me, deeper than anyone had ever been and as deep as anyone could go, Leon’s eyes glowed so bright they were two sapphire suns before me.
He started to pull away, sliding out so slowly that the sensation of him inside of me spread throughout my entire body. I moaned, the sound mixing with the popping of the burning wood, make a melody of our embrace. My eyes stayed wide open, locked on his and his locked on mine. The energy flowed between us and it materialized before us, a steady stream of bright white energy that formed a thick ribbon. Colors exploded all around us and my body rocked through convulsions of pleasure as he continued to slide out of me, miles of him sliding out.
Leon leaned down, the ribbon of energy between us thickening as our eyes grew closer. He kissed me fiercely and the energy exploded and filled the entire room. Everything was washed with white light and only the fireplace and Leon’s sapphire eyes shined through. Abruptly, but not alarmingly, he stopped pulling away and he pushed back in deep in one fluid moment. I cried out loudly, feeling the rush of him inside of me as a rush of pleasure. Growing with speed, he moved in and out of me, his eyes burning brighter than the sun now.
Climaxes rose and fell, countless and boundless. My body was wracked with the feeling of pleasure that Leon filled me with. Warmth and happiness wrapped itself around me like tight fitting clothing and my mind drifted away. Every push of Leon’s hardness into me was like a drug dumped into my veins, filling me with its wonderful effects.
“You are...” the words trailed off, letting the eyes finish the sentence. I cried out again, overcome with the moment.
I ran my hands down Leon’s arms, as hard as cut wood. His hips pushed against mine, firm but still gentle, and I gyrated my hips against his. His muscles flexed and veins raised off his arms as he propped himself up. His eyes remained open, focused on mine, but I watched as the thralls of his orgasm tore through him, bursting from every part of his body. He erupted inside of me as he cried out, convulsions moving through him with orgasmic pleasure.
He pulled me closer, his arms behind me. I felt him push deep inside of me, somehow deeper than before, and he rolled over. I bounced up and down on him, feeling a powerful orgasm rising inside me. I was wracked with pleasure, bound with the feeling of his embrace. I was lost in the feeling of him inside of me, pushing further and further into me as my eyes fought to stay open.
The orgasm broke through. I pushed back hard against him and I cried out loudly, my eyes defying me now and shutting. I opened them and as I came we were back in the orange grove.
I was floating across the lake that reflected a perfect summer day, trees surrounding us. My eyes opened and closed, scenes changing before me like a television changing channels as my orgasm grew and grew, grabbing hold of me and rising to a volcanic explosion. Finally, it broke and I felt myself tumble back down from the sky into the world where Leon lay beneath me, looking up at me with such affection as to melt me completely.
We laid there for eons. We were in a field, surrounded by stalks of wheat that swayed in the breeze. A little clearing was around us and I looked up at a perfect blue sky, the sun cutting across it. Darkness fell as the sun descended. Birds chirped as the sun circled the globe and rose again in another instant. We watched the years pass as we laid next to each other. The world was without weight, without stress, without anything but us.
We turned away from the sky and laid on our sides. I caressed his cheek and he smiled. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but the fought against me. Leon’s hand fell on my hip, but I couldn’t feel it. I knew it was there, but my body was slipping away, drifting back to a place I didn’t want to go. A place I knew where there was pain and I was plagued by that pain. A place where Leon wasn’t. I didn’t want to be anywhere but here. The darkness became complete and Leon was gone.
~~~
A beep repeated at a steady pace.
The hum of electronics created a backdrop to the sound that cut through the quiet. I felt the weight of my body return and the pain in my shoulder throbbed with a dull ache. Warmth that had once enveloped me in a loving embrace had died down to a faint whisper of its former power. I lifted my hand, the same hand that had once been dripping with crimson blood, and flexed it open and close.
The throbbing in my chest grew as I became more awake. I looked down at my other hand and noticed a remote attached to a chord. I lifted it up and studied it. It was a simple remote which had television controls along with a button that allowed me to call the nurse if I needed. The morphine was wearing off and I could feel my wound ache with renewed pain. I turned my head and saw that an IV bag hung next to me, attached to a metal pole with a box that had numbers under it. A tube ran through the box that I figured out regulated the flow of the IV. The bag was completely dry. I pressed the button for the nurse.
I closed my eyes and leaned back. I had barely moved since I was awake and I hoped that sleep would come back like a dearly missed friend. The hospital room was bleak and colorless; I wanted the world of exploding skies and climbing mountains back. I wanted Leon beside me, needing me. This world had none of that. This world only had pain and loneliness.