Short Story: Flash of Death by Adrian Smith
Flash of Death
The flash lit up
the sky, blinding CL’s eyes. The stream barreled toward the ground,
fingering off in different directions until it dissipated into the
darkening night. Rain clouds loomed overhead, dark and dirty,
threatening to come even closer to the little haven below on the
ground. Trees grew tall, protecting the tiny house as it stood in
silent reverence. CL swallowed and licked her lips, waiting for the
taste of rain on her tongue.
It wouldn’t be
much longer.
Taking in a deep
breath and filling her lungs with the rich scent of damp greenery,
she stayed still. This time her eyes were closed when the lightning
struck down from the world above, lashing out its anger against the
defense of stoicism. CL didn’t move. The hairs in her nose burned
as ozone washed over to where she stood; her eyes watered from the
sting in the musky air.
God tried to tear
open the sky, using both hands to rip it in half, scrambling to get a
tight grip to shred the world. The sound was intoxicating. Cracks and
pops resounded throughout the small forest just on the edge of the
clearing, echoing as even more bounced through the clouds. Quickly it
turned into deep rolling waves as energy disappeared just as fast as
it came. She only had a few seconds left.
The wind shifted
and the air chilled as she waited with her chin upturned to the
roiling heaven above. She lived for days like these. With arms
wrapped around her chest, she shivered, still keeping her stance in
the center of her yard as the floodgates eased open. Her white, gauzy
summer dress wrapped tightly around her ankles, tangling as sheets of
water started to fall, one after the other until they reached her
toes. That was when she turned. Sliding her bare heel into the dirt,
CL booked it for her deck, the rain already catching up with her.
“You shouldn’t
stay out there.”
She gasped and
stopped on the last step of her stairs, the rain still beating down
on her head. Pressing a hand over her racing heart, she looked up
into the greenest eyes she had ever seen. Her chest rose and fell
unevenly as the man stood between her and her door. She blinked back
the water from her eyes as it trailed down her face and through her
hair. CL grasped for words as she memorized what he looked like.
“It’s raining”
was all she managed to make out, her voice weak and covered by the
rolling thunder.
“It is,” he
said, smiling sweetly. He reached out, his hand ghosting along the
skin of her cheek.
CL closed her eyes,
imagining the feel of him against her skin. There was nothing there.
He didn’t touch; he didn’t caress. When she looked up again, he
was gone. CL licked her lips and stepped onto her front porch,
finally out of the rain. Staring out at the green paradise beyond the
cover of the deck roof, she let her shoulders relax and her body ease
out of its tension.
Lightning cracked
and speared into the earth twenty feet from her front door. She
jumped and curled her toes as the grass charred. For the last two
nights, he had shown up just as unexpected, standing between her and
her door as she wandered toward the house as each storm came in. Each
time, when she had finally reached the stairs, he faded into the
darkness as if he had never existed. CL closed her eyes and let out a
slow breath, remembering the tone of his voice as he spoke for the
first time.
She pictured him as
perfectly as if he was in front of her. Tall and lean body, poised
and balanced as he watched her; light-brown hair cropped short,
feathering down the sides of his head, not rustling in the rush of
the wind as it moved through the clearing; and those green eyes that
made her heartbeat jump into her throat.
The first time she
had stayed in the clearing, letting the rain fall over her, debating
whether or not to confront the stranger. She blinked once, and he was
gone. The second time, after a second’s hesitation, she ran for the
porch, wanting to find out exactly who he was. This time she was
taken by complete surprise. Another flash of lightning stole her out
of her reverie, and she headed inside to dry off.
Spinning the wet
strands of her hair with both hands, she wrung it out onto the
entryway mat. The cold hardwood floor under her bare feet gave no
quarter as she walked to her bedroom at the back of the tiny
cottage-house. She flipped the light on and jumped a foot in the air
as lightning struck and the light blazed at the same time, filling
the room and blinding her momentarily. The storm was far too close
for her comfort—it was right on top of her.
CL slipped into her
flannel polar-bear pajama bottoms and a snug white shirt before
heading into her kitchen to boil water for tea. The pot clattered in
the sink as a shot of thunder ripped through the sky. With shaking
hands, she finished filling the iron pot and set it on the gas stove
to heat.
“Really going to
have to get used to that,” she mumbled and stared out the window
while leaning over her kitchen sink. Three days of storms and each
was just as nasty as the previous one, and she couldn’t shake the
feeling that it wouldn’t stop for another few days at least.
Growing up in the
house should have been enough for her not to be afraid. She’d been
living on her own for the better part of six years after her parents
had died—so, why couldn’t she just calm down? Never did she
remember storms like this, lasting for as long as they were.
Certainly, there were ones nearly as bad but never for days on end.
The water boiled, bubbling up. Hissing, she turned the heat off and
went back to the window, letting it cool for a few seconds.
He was drenched.
She clenched her
jaw as she looked once more into those green eyes. CL didn’t move
this time. Determined to not lose sight of him again, she planted her
feet on the tile and watched as he stared back at her through the
glass of her kitchen window. The wind didn’t touch his hair and the
rain didn’t touch his skin as he took two deep breaths before
stepping through the window and counter, coming toward her.
CL stumbled back,
grasping the edge of the stove to hold herself up as he kept coming
closer. Her finger slid along the edge of the pot and the metal
burner, searing her flesh. Crying out, CL ripped her hand away and
grasped it. With wide eyes, she watched as he took three more steps,
his hand ghosting along her clenched fists. The burning pain cooled
and receded as he continued to brush his fingers millimeters above
her hand.
Calming
incrementally until he stopped and looked at her, CL felt the rush of
panic build back into her chest. She took another step back and
bumped into the counter, causing the drawer to slam with a loud
crack. Lightning lit up the room, and she pointed a finger at him,
telling him to stay put without words.
“Who the hell are
you?” she asked.
“Shea,” he
replied.
She waited for the
words of comfort, for the words meaning he would do her no harm, but
they never came. Fear gripped her heart, twisting and clenching
tightly until she could barely breathe. She started to hyperventilate
as she bent over to hold her weakening body up.
He staggered
forward, and she cringed, wincing and moving to be as flush to the
counter as possible. “Don’t,” she managed to get out.
“Just…give me a second.”
Shea didn’t
listen. He stepped into her personal space, putting two fingers under
her chin. Even though he wasn’t touching her, CL lifted her face
and straightened her body to meet him. Slower deep breaths echoed in
her lungs as her eyes locked on those jade-green orbs in front of
her.
She heard his
clothes rustle as he moved forward, his face coming toward hers.
Lightning and thunder boomed throughout the house. Her voice locked
in her throat, her lips parted in anticipation, and she held still as
his lips connected with hers. They were warm. She gasped and reached
up to wrap a hand around his neck, pressing him closer as heat
flooded her body. CL relaxed into the embrace, closing her eyes as
they touched.
They broke apart
after time seemed to stop, and CL looked around, taking in her
surroundings. She wasn’t in her house anymore. Shea stood before
her in a gray, fuzzy and muted area. There were no walls that she
could see—no floor and no ceiling as she stepped away from him to
increase her awareness. The gray was close enough that she thought
she could reach out and touch it, but as soon as she reached her hand
forward, all she felt was air.
Thunder roared
around the room, but it sounded off, like someone had stuffed
earplugs in her ears. She spun back around to Shea when she realized
that the thunder didn’t echo. Light filled the room for a momentary
blast before receding back into the grayness.
“Where are we?”
“In the in
between,” he answered, not moving from where he was rooted. More
lightning came and went; thunder resounded before disappearing into
the ether. “This is where we collide.”
She furrowed her
brow and gave him an odd look, eyes narrowing and bottom lip pulled
between her teeth. “Where we collide?” she repeated as a
question.
Shea simply nodded.
“What does that
even mean?”
CL’s fingers
clenched tightly into a fist while she waited for an explanation. Not
only did she want answers from him, she wanted answers for
herself—she wasn’t freaking out, she wasn’t panicking, she
wasn’t itching to go back. Instead, peace slipped into her
shoulders, relaxing her muscles, settling in her stomach and blooming
in her chest. Something was exactly right about the place that should
have been so wrong.
“My place and
your place.” He walked over to her and ran a gentle hand down her
arm. “I can touch you here.”
“I can see that.”
She shuddered, thinking about how his touch felt. “Why are we
here?”
He cocked his head
to the side as light filled the room quickly. “I wanted to talk to
you.”
“Why not stay at
my house?” CL bit her lip, butterflies in her stomach as he slipped
in closer to her.
Shea’s breath
mingled with her own, his neck bent so his lips brushed across hers
when he answered. “I wanted to touch you.”
CL nodded, not
daring herself to move. She liked the tension and wanted it to last.
Everything about the situation was so wrong, but she felt everything
to do with him was absolutely right. “I’ve lived alone for
years.”
“I know,” he
whispered and curled his fingers into her hair, taking the ends and
rubbing them between his fingers.
She looked up at
him again. “How do you know?”
“I can watch you
when there are storms.” He ran a finger across her lips and settled
his forehead against hers. “Only when there are storms. I watched
you grow up.”
“Why haven’t I
seen you before?”
She wanted to wrap
her arms around his waist, wanted to pull him tight against her, but
she didn’t. She restrained herself, not moving when he tensed. He
didn’t answer for a few seconds, and the muffled sound of thunder
filled the gray air. He took a deep breath and walked away from her:
his jeans were snug over his hips as he moved and his dark shirt
tight against his chest.
“Wait… I have
seen you.”
Nodding, his head
bobbed up and down. “I was there the night that they died.”
“You were in my
dreams.”
“They weren’t
dreams,” he said through clenched teeth, spinning around in his
dirty old sneakers to face her. “They weren’t dreams,” he
repeated, far calmer than the first time he had uttered them.
“Oh.” CL gnawed
on her lip again, debating what to say. “Why?”
His head snapped
back as he stared at her; his eyebrow rose up in a questioning gaze
as he let out a long breath. CL could see exasperation written all
over him, but there was nothing she could do about it. She wanted
answers to all the questions she had.
“You were alone,”
he said simply.
Licking her lips,
CL curled her toes against the gray floor, feeling nothing under her
feet when the pressure on her bones and muscles should have
increased. She looked down, and her jaw dropped. The floor was the
exact same as the walls. A soft gray that faded and came at
her—nothing tangible. She started to panic. Her heart bounced in
her chest uncontrollably, and air rushed in and out of her lungs in
no perceivable pattern. Her arms flung out around her body; she was
falling. The ground had left her, and her body raised into the
nothingness of gray before plummeting down and down and down to no
foreseeable end.
His hands on her
cheeks brought her back. Her eyes locked on his jade-green ones, and
she focused as much as she could on him. Once the gray room was back
in order, as much as it could be, she nodded and reached up to cup
his warm fingers.
“I was alone.”
He nodded once in
response to her statement.
“I was alone
then, and I was alone tonight.”
“Yes,” he
answered.
CL nodded and
slowly turned out of his grasp. She held her breath before taking
another step, releasing it when she didn’t fall to the unknown
below. She didn’t want to look at him when she asked; she didn’t
want to know if he was lying about anything. “So, why now? I’ve
been alone for years since my parents died.”
“The storm.”
“The perfect
storm?” She let out a wry chuckle and rolled her eyes. “You could
only come because of the storm. So what happens when the storm ends?”
“We are stuck.”
“What?” She
spun to face him. “What do you mean stuck? I can’t be stuck
here!”
Shea put his hands
out with palms up. “When the storm ends, there is nothing left of
here. I suspect there is more beyond, but this place ceases to
exist.”
CL wrapped her arms
around her middle and tried to tamp down her nerves. “How do I get
back?”
He reached forward
and tapped one long finger against her temple.
Nodding, CL leaned
in closer to him, smelling the dirt and musk coming off his clothes.
She hadn’t been able to smell him before—not when they were
outside in the rain and not when they were in her kitchen. She
started for a moment before remembering that she had turned the stove
off. Sliding her hands against his waist, she went to move in but
stopped, another question on the tip of her tongue. “Does time in
here matter out there?”
Shea shook his head
and pulled her in close so that their bodies rubbed against each
other. She liked being this close to him. The ghosting feel of his
fingers against her cheek and his lips on hers at her house was a
distant memory when he actually touched her in their gray-ether. CL
couldn’t figure out why she was so drawn to him, but everything
about him called to her. Reaching up, she ran a finger over his lips
before pressing her palm into his chest. He bent his head and touched
his lips to hers. She sighed into the contact but slipped away before
it could go much further. No matter how drawn she was to him—she
didn’t know him.
“Where are you
from?”
“The question
should be when, I think.”
She shook her head
but held out a hand, waiting for him to respond. Her mind worked over
his statement—if the storm could make him transcend space and time,
then where would she come out when she wanted to go back? Would she
even successfully get back to where she had started? Realizing that
Shea hadn’t answered her, she verbalized the question. “When are
you from?”
“The year just
before the millennium.”
“That’s fifteen
years ago.”
He nodded in answer
and started to pace the gray room. She watched curiously as the walls
moved around him, allowing more room for him to walk back and forth.
Nothing was stationary in the gray-ether. “Fifteen years for you,
and a second for me.”
“What happened?”
He stopped and
looked at her with wide eyes. Reaching up, he ran his fingers through
his brown hair, leaving tousled tufts in his wake. Shea started to
shake. His body jolted with the force as he fell down to his knees,
hands clasping his neck as sobs tore from his body. CL stood back in
shock, watching the scene unfold. She wanted to run over and wrap her
arms around his body, hug him until he halted, but she feared her
comfort would be rejected.
Screams echoed
through her ears, mingling with the thunder as the storm’s sounds
passed. With her heart in her throat, CL moved closer and touched the
crown of his head. Shea rocked his body into her legs, leaning all
his weight against her as the tears subsided. She calmed just as he
did, but CL was left with the sharp moment when he changed and became
wracked with pain. Once he was completely done with the tears, she
bent down and sat next to him, one leg propped up behind his back and
the other curled under her body. Shea would not let go of her the
entire time she moved.
She smoothed down
his hair and pressed a few kisses to his forehead and temple, hoping
that her actions would ease him rather than create another
disturbance. He turned his head and kissed her lips—finally, CL
felt that he was back to himself. “What was that about?”
“I died.” He
shrugged and rested his head on her chest.
“Were you
remembering it?”
He nodded and said
nothing else. Her own death seemed so imminent in their gray-ether,
like if she stayed just one second too long or lost any sense of who
she was that she would die and never be seen again. Who would miss
her? She shook the thought from her head and focused on the man in
her arms. He may have started to act normally again, but he was still
wrapped around her with no intention of letting her go.
She wasn’t
expecting it when he turned on her. His green eyes darkened and
widened as he crawled over her, pushing her down into the fake
expanse of gray. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, the heat from his
body pressing into and warming hers. She licked her dry lips and
swallowed, trying to wet her suddenly parched throat. Everything
about the moment was wrong.
“I need to know,”
he whispered, his lips brushing against the lobe of her ear as they
moved. They were so soft.
CL closed her eyes
and took a deep breath, carefully forming the words. “Need to know
what?”
“That I’m
alive.” His hips eased down onto hers until the pressure was sharp
enough that it was uncomfortable for her.
“You just said—”
“I’m dead.”
He nodded in agreement. “But here…here is not there.”
“What do you
mean?” She ran a hand over his back, feeling his muscles tighten
and relax under her touch. She continued the motion, making small
circles against his shirt and skin.
“Here we are
alive. Out there we are dead.”
“I’m not dead
out there,” she stubbornly replied, pushing her head back so she
could fully look at him. He gave her a quick smile, his lips turning
up in one corner before he leaned down and covered her mouth with
his.
Parting her lips in
a gasp, CL shivered when his tongue reached across her lips, tracing
them before sliding in between them. Her nails clenched into his
sides, digging into the skin through his thin shirt. Her heart
pounded against her ribs, no doubt beating against his chest as he
lay fully on top of her.
She kissed him
back, tentatively at first, but then with the full force of what she
felt. Everything in her mind swirled in circles as he ran fingers
down her sides and cupped her breasts through the material of her
tank. Her legs became overheated, sweating in the flannel. Light
entered the room for a moment, and she closed her eyes, white sparks
starting to erupt behind her lids as Shea licked and kissed his way
down her neck. CL shuddered in anticipation.
Ever since she had
seen him, all those years ago during the storm that had killed her
parents and more recently during the storms invading her little
clearing, she had wanted him. Exactly as he was—on top and in
control. She let out a short breath and slid her fingers through his
hair never feeling more alive than she was in that moment. Her back
arched from the gray-matter of the floor, the pressures along her
spine moving to accommodate her new position. Shea growled low in the
back of his throat as he reached the tops of her breasts with his
mouth.
Her eyes fluttered
open when he took her nipple between his teeth and bit down. Pain
seared through her chest and into her stomach before he let go with a
wide smirk on his face. She shook her head and gently caressed the
side of his face, feeling the stubble along his chin for the first
time. “Not much harder than that, all right?”
“Okay,” he
said, punctuating the two syllables. He didn’t wait two seconds
before shoving her shirt up and over her belly. The air that hit CL
was warmer than it was when they stood talking; it felt damp with
humidity, not moving with any wind or breeze as it had before.
Lightning coursed through the gray-ether, this time close enough that
she could see the fingers and lines as they splintered off in many
directions before coming back up from wherever it had disappeared to.
“Shea?” She
hummed as she said his name.
He kissed around
her navel, pressing his lips in a complete circle around her skin
before answering. “Yeah?”
“Why is the
storm…?”
“It’s finishing
for today,” he mumbled back before working the shirt over her pert
breasts.
She gasped when the
air hit her. Warmth and heat surrounded her body, growing with each
passing second to the point where she thought she wouldn’t be able
to get away from it or ever cool down. Combing down his hair, she
writhed under him, his lips already covering her right breast. His
fingers lifted to tweak her left nipple, pulling and tugging at the
skin while his tongue laved circles around the other. Too many
sensations crowded her mind: the weight of his body and bulge of his
erection pressing into her hip as he shifted, the side of his tongue,
rough taste buds on the sensitive skin of her breasts, and the tight
pulling of his thumb and forefinger on her other. She keened and
bucked her hips.
“Shea…”
His name was only a
whisper from her lips as the quiet sounds of thunder rolled through
their gray-ether and away. The vibrations rumbled in her chest from
the sound before it was his chuckle replacing the thunderclap.
“I couldn’t
resist, Carol Lee.”
CL’s eyes snapped
open at her proper name, and she pulled his face up to hers.
Breathing hard, she stared at him, eyes narrowed and lips pursed as
she tried to figure out just how he knew. He seemed to know a lot
more than she did. Her thoughts started to rush away when he cupped
her right breast with his hand, kneading the flesh. A soft moan
escaped her lips as her head tilted back—she knew in that moment
the storm was ending, at least to the point where she would have to
make a decision.
Shea tugged her
tank over her body again, kissing her lips on occasion. Her muscles
were utterly relaxed as he tugged her to stand. She blinked back
tears, knowing that he would be leaving. CL shook her head, not sure
of where the tears came from—she had only just met him after all.
Wrapping her arms around her chest, she stepped away, giving herself
space.
“We have to go
back,” she said, certain that it was truth.
Shea didn’t
answer her; instead, he curved two fingers along her cheek and jaw,
lifting her chin to press his lips delicately to hers. Her eyes
closed as the feel of him against her body took over any and all
sensations she had. She moaned and listed forward, opening her eyes
when her body started to fall. She reached her hands out, flinging
them around to try and grab on to something.
CL grunted when her
shoulder hit the wood floor of her house, causing shockwaves to
ricochet through her body down to her toes. She let out a breath,
steadying herself before she even considered getting up from the
ground. Rolling onto her back, CL stared at her lilac-painted
ceiling, letting the events of whatever it was she had just
experienced roll over her.
She took deep
breaths and looked around the house, not seeing much as it was pitch
black save for the slight change when lightning far off from her
clearing lit up the sky. It echoed, beckoning her back into the gray
in between that Shea had taken her to. She licked her lips and pushed
up from the floor, the boards squeaking under her weight. Once firmly
on her feet, CL stepped to her front door. Rather than turn the
lights on, she went outside, deciding to watch the rest of the storm
from her damp porch swing.
The finished wood
was wet with beads of water when she sat down; her flannel pajama
bottoms absorbed the water and dampened her legs, but she ignored it.
The swing moved in the sway of the breeze as she wrapped her arms
around her middle, tucked her feet under her body and let the
momentum lull her. Lightning struck some far off place, so distant
that it seemed no bigger than a thin needle moving through the fabric
of the sky, looping in and out as the seams were sown back together
from where God had ripped it apart earlier.
Thunder barely rang
through the night, sounding too far away to echo through the trees
and fields back to her lonely cottage in the middle of the clearing.
She let out a breath and tightened her grip on her arms. She had
missed her favorite part of the storm, spending it in a muted room in
the in between of her world and a ghost’s.
CL closed her eyes.
A ghost. That’s what Shea had to be. If he had died fifteen years
before, there was no doubt that’s what he was and nothing more. A
ghost bent on her not being alone. She smiled to herself and looked
out at the wide dark yonder. It could be worse. He could be a ghost
bent on killing her; instead, he seemed to want to love her.
A soft smile tugged
at her lips—one that had been completely missing in action since
the death of her parents. CL shivered as cold fingers of the
after-storm breeze glided over her flesh, loving her skin in every
way that she wanted Shea to. Panic gripped her heart. What if she
didn’t see him again? What if this was the last time? She pushed up
off the bench and started to pace along her porch, her toes touching
on the water where it pooled in the dips of worn and rotting wood.
Salty demons scaled
down her cheeks onto her tank as she shook her head, trying to rid
herself of their possession. She didn’t want to cry. CL slapped her
hands to her cheeks and pushed the teardrops away, hiding from the
pain she felt. He had gone from sweet and loving to torn and broken
to hot and sexy in the matter of seconds.
She stopped
walking.
Perhaps he wasn’t
the kind of person she wanted to be attached to. Was he even a
person? She shook the thought from her head, not wanting to have an
internal debate over the understanding of who was or could be
considered a person. He had feelings and emotions just like she did,
which meant he was enough like her that it didn’t matter. Who was
she to decide that reliving a memory of her own death wouldn’t put
her in the same state that it had put him?
CL let out a whoosh
of air. She turned on the spot, finding her bench, and plopped down
into it. His death must have been painful and tragic for him to
respond like that. She reached up, feeling the soft skin of her neck,
the surrounding air biting her with cold. She really should go
inside. Giving one last longing look out to the storm that had passed
by without her presence, she slipped inside the house and flipped the
lights on.
###
The whip lashed out
and cracked, piggybacking on the light as it filled the house. The
walls started to shake before the windows, the sound getting louder
and louder, roiling and disappearing. CL bolted straight up on the
couch, a hand over her heart and her eyes wide before the thunder
completely disappeared. Before she could catch her breath and her
bearings another strike lashed through the sky and struck down in the
little field outside her house.
She gripped her
covers tightly and rolled onto her side to watch the storm through
the window. A few deep breaths later, she realized that her heart
wasn’t pounding in her chest. Panic started to seep into her bones
as she fought the blanket to sit back up and press her hand to her
chest. Her fingers were pale and her head dizzy, spinning out of
control as she strained to find her heartbeat.
Digging her nails
into her skin, she clawed at her heart, desperately trying to feel
the sweet pump of it inside her body. But there was nothing. CL let
out a whimper in the back of her throat, pushing up from the couch
and barreling toward the window. Lightning burst through the sky and
down onto the ground just at the base of her front steps. She closed
her eyes and curled her toes as the smell of ozone filled her
nostrils and the rumbling of the thunder cascaded through her body.
She took in a short
breath, letting the burst of air fill her lungs before she let it
out. Beginning to hyperventilate, CL opened her eyes just as another
lightning strike whipped out and landed right next to where the last
one had, scorching the green grass and earth as it touched down.
Before the thunder could start, he stood there.
CL clenched her jaw
and ground her molars together as she stared at him, narrowing her
eyes into a glare. Her body burned with the memory of his touch as
his cold eyes looked at her through the window. She shivered in
anticipation, not knowing if it was for the feel of his hands on her
again or for the anger rampaging through her system.
She waited two more
seconds before stepping away from the cold windowpane and toward the
door. He was about to get a piece of her mind. CL licked her lips and
clenched her fists tightly, the skin of her palms protesting the feel
of her nails digging in and breaking the skin. When she lifted her
hand back up and looked at it, ready to see blood pooling through the
cracks in her palm prints, there was nothing. The broken flesh
knitted itself back together, and she was left with only the feeling
of a slight tingle.
Shaking her head,
she filed the healing into the back of her mind and wrenched open her
front door ready for battle. Shea stood exactly where the two
lightning bolts touched, each of his dirty old sneakers on the two
scorch marks upon the earth, steadying him and rooting him to the
spot.
“What the hell
did you do to me?” she shouted out the door, not walking over the
threshold.
He stared at her
hard, the rain not dripping down his body as he stood still in the
onslaught. CL gave in and stepped onto her porch, shoving her arms
under her armpits to warm her body as she walked farther into the
sheets of rain falling around her. She made it down two steps, the
rain not soaking through her hair and clothes. Shea looked up at her,
standing one step above him, desperation and tears in his eyes.
Instead of asking
anything, she closed her eyes and leaned down and pressed her lips to
his, not touching him anymore than with her mouth to his. Shea
breathed heavily, his chest rising and falling with each intake and
exhale of breath that he didn’t even need. CL parted her lips and
dashed her tongue out to taste the salt filled drops on his lips. She
moaned.
Listing into him,
CL caressed his cheeks with both of her hands and held on tight,
slipping her finger down to his neck and playing with the short hairs
at his nape. It was the first time she realized that he had no
heartbeat. She squeaked when his fingers moved up against her back
and dragged her closer, holding her tightly as three bolts of
lightning descended down around them and set off sparks wherever they
landed.
With her eyes shut
tight, she missed where they touched, but the smell was intoxicating.
The smell of ozone, harsh and burning, was such a contrast to the
scent Shea gave off of just after the rain, when everything smelled
green and ripe with life. She bit his lip and pulled back, leaning
her forehead against his to ease her breathing.
“Why?” she
whispered.
Shea shook his head
and lifted her up until he held her entirely. He took three steps
backward before spinning and putting her onto the ground. “I didn’t
do anything.”
CL drew in a sharp
breath and opened her eyes as more lightning began around them, the
storm that night far worse than the last. Once again, they were in
their gray in between, his arms warm and cozy around her as the
lightning and thunder became muted to their eyes and ears, each
passing second moving further and further away from wherever they
were. The ether had that effect.
She spun around to
face him, stumbling back a few steps when the tears streaming down
his face were left untouched. She shook her head, reached for
anything to lean on and found nothing. Her bottom hit the ground, the
floor moving to make her comfortable, the small gray dots flittering
around her as she dropped her head into her hands. “What happened?”
“You died,” he
answered.
Sobs broke free
from CL’s chest, and she started to shake as they took over her
tiny form. She wanted nothing to do with the world she was stuck in.
She was nothing better than a ghost who haunted her house and the
ether with nothing better to do than cry in the arms of a stranger.
She sat there for
some time before Shea shuffled forward closer to her. CL looked up at
him and brushed the tears from her eyes, wincing at the way they
stung from crying. Her throat was dry and parched, but she didn’t
even think she could drink anymore, not to mention she had no idea
where to get water. She sniffled a few times and blinked back more
tears as he kneeled in front of her.
“I don’t have a
heart anymore,” she stated flatly.
Shea shook his
head. “You have a heart. You will always have a heart.” He
pressed his palm against her chest and smiled. “It’s right
there—it just doesn’t beat anymore, but you will always have your
heart.”
His words tore
another sob from CL’s throat, and she launched herself forward and
wrapped her arms around his neck. “You killed me,” she whispered
into his ear. She had no idea why she hugged the man who had killed
her, but he was the only one there.
“I didn’t kill
you.” He rubbed fingers up and down her back, easing the tension
from her shoulders.
“Then who did?”
“The storm.”
She sat back on her
haunches and blinked rapidly at him. Lightning cut across the gray
ether, lighting the planes so she could see the shadows on his face
better. She swallowed hard and slid a finger down his cheek and
across the white scar she had somehow missed before. “How did you
die?” she asked.
“The storm.”
Somehow she had
known. All along she had known that the storm had killed him, that he
was there because of it in the only place he knew he could be—with
the lightning. She shivered and kissed him quickly. “Two lost
souls, living on the edges of the sword. Lightning bursting through
the planes of mother nature, altering lives as each one strikes down.
Two lost souls, living on the edges of the sword. Thundering hearts
in the beat of the storm, making love as the rain falls to the
ground. Two lost souls, living on the edges of the sword.”
Shea kissed her
temple, her eyes closing against the onslaught of emotions that took
over and started to confuse her. CL was dead. No longer a person of
the living world she had spent her entire life avoiding. She had run
out into the storm, the dreaded lightning slicing down from the sky
like a double-edged sword and splitting through her body. If she
tried hard enough, she remembered the pain. If she tried, she
remembered the tears in Shea’s eyes as he watched her slip to the
rain-soaked ground in a heap of scorched death.
Air burst into her
lungs with a moment of clarity, and CL did the only thing she could
think of. She kissed him. Her mouth hot against his, her hands roving
over his chest and arms, she pressed him back into the gray ether and
crawled on top of his body. This time, their actions were hers.
Sliding her fingers down his chest and to his waist, CL nipped at his
lip, pulling it between her teeth.
She couldn’t
stop. She had known that as soon as she started there was no way to
stop. She reached down and started to slide his t-shirt up and over
his body, revealing the cool and white flesh of his abdomen. Leaving
his mouth, her lips trailed over his warming flesh. She dipped her
tongue into his navel and reveled in the way it made his stomach
quiver. Shoving harder, she pushed his shirt up to his armpits and
lavished at his nipples. Shea groaned and wiggled under her but said
nothing to encourage her and did nothing to increase her own
pleasure. They had an understanding.
Rolling his nipple
between her tongue and teeth until it hardened, CL looked at him, her
eyes locking on his for a few seconds before she bit down. Shea cried
out and tangled his fingers in her drenched hair. “I want you to
feel,” she whispered, raking her nails down his sides.
Shea nodded and
gave her a hard look. “Trust me. I feel.”
“Good.” She
smirked and started back down on his nipples, letting her fingers
create random designs against his sides from the top of his chest
down to the low waist of his jeans. There her fingertips encountered
heat—his skin and body radiated it.
She couldn’t get
enough of him. Rolling her hips against his, she let out a groan at
the feeling of him pressing up into her. CL opened her eyes and
stared down at his, wanting to make everything about that
moment—wanting to forget everything outside of it. She took in a
deep breath and clenched her thigh muscles around his legs, leaning
down to kiss him senseless again. Completely losing herself in the
embrace was harder than she thought.
Concentrating on
everything her mouth and hands did, on every reaction that Shea gave
her to whatever she did, could not push the voice in the back of her
head away. Death had captured her in its firm grasp and hung on
tight. With no heartbeat and no life left in her, she was stuck where
she had been—in the gray ether of the in between. CL breathed out
deeply and tried again to focus all her attention on him and what she
was doing.
She tapped his
shoulders until he pushed to sit up and took off the infernal
t-shirt. With full access to his chest, she rested her lips against
his neck and collarbones, tonguing designs into his skin, leaving a
wet streak behind. Curling her fingers into the dark hairs smattering
his chest, CL pulled and smiled when he groaned.
Shea ran his hands
up and down her sides, working the tight white tank up her body. He
had it over her head, her wet hair flopping back to her shoulders as
he tossed the garment away. CL kissed him hard as her body turned,
his hands guiding her hips over until he rested on top of her. She
wiggled under his weight but caught sight of his grin once he had her
pinned down.
CL bucked her hips
up and smiled at him. He palmed her breast, squeezing the mound and
massaging her skin. CL moaned and tugged her fingers in his hair,
pulling him closer until her lips could touch his. She thought for a
moment that her heart skipped a beat when he sucked at her neck, but
then reality came crashing down on her. She had no heartbeat.
Closing her eyes
was the only way to fight back the tears. She wrapped her legs around
his hips and rested back into the graying floor that molded to her
body. Looking up at him, she knew that focus would be key—she
wanted to be with him, she had wanted that from the moment she had
first seen him. CL sighed and ran her fingers down to his jeans,
unhooking the belt and button.
“Shea,” she
murmured.
He sat up and
shoved his shoes and pants off, taking his boxer shorts with them.
Giving her a long look, his eyes raking up and down her body, Shea
turned and covered her skin again. The heat of his body on hers was
enticing and distracting. She swallowed hard and ran her hands as far
down his body as she could, cupping his ass before plunging her
fingers into his hair again. She couldn’t get enough of him.
“I could only
come here if I was dead right?” she asked.
His lips were at
her throat and moving down to her breasts. He nodded and hummed an
answer before swirling the tip of his tongue across and around her
nipple. She drew in a ragged breath and nodded even though he
couldn’t see her.
“So I was
dead…before the first time.”
Lifting his head
that time, Shea answered, “Yes.”
One sole tear
dripped down her cheek and fell into the yonder of their gray-ether.
With a deep breath, CL made her decision—she was done crying. She
lifted her chin until she could see him and smiled, letting it reach
her eyes. “Shea…” She waited until she had his attention. “Kiss
me.”
He did as she
asked, letting their tongues mingle and dance together as each ran
fingers and hands over every part of exposed skin. CL’s flannel
polar-bear pajama bottoms were pulled off her body until she was
naked. The gray ether started to heat and warm, lightning striking
across the grayness more and more often as she spread her legs and he
slipped into her.
She hissed for a
moment as her body adjusted and grinned broadly when the thought hit
her. Leaning forward, she kissed him loudly on the lips. “I guess
we don’t have to worry about pregnancy—seeing as we’re dead.”
Shea’s eyes
widened in surprise before he smirked. “Nothing to worry about.”
Curving her arms
around his neck, she pulled him down for another lasting kiss before
his body started to rock against hers.CL closed her eyes, focusing
all her attention on the feelings pulsing through her system. He
reached down and swished a thumb over her tight bundle of nerves,
causing her shoulders and legs to jerk at the contact.
She smiled and
nodded at him. “That felt good.”
Shea responded by
doing it again and again. Pleasure shot from the tips of her fingers
and toes through her arms and legs to her core, and she focused on
the sensation. Nothing had ever felt better. She mewled softly,
bringing her knees higher as he continued to slide in and out of her
body. CL sighed and slid one hand down his chest, feeling his muscles
work under his skin. Her back arched and she tweaked his nipple as
one wave of pleasure washed over her.
Lightning burst and
fingered around their gray haven as more waves washed gently over her
body. CL gasped and gripped him hard, sweat sticking his skin to
hers. Heat pooled at the top of her chest, sending a flush from her
breasts up her neck and into her cheeks. CL breathed harder with each
passing second. Shea’s thumb moved in circles, harder and harder
with each pass. His thrusts became faster and uncoordinated just as
his hand slipped from her.
She let out a short
breath as she clenched at him, her body pulling in tightly before
releasing so many times that she lost count. Lightning burst a moment
later when Shea pressed a gentle kiss to her neck. CL let out a soft
sigh and relaxed her muscles as he continued to push into her. The
gray ether cocooned her body like a warm blanket.
He came to a stop, his neck tense with strain before he took in a
deep breath. CL felt hot liquid fill her body as she lay under him,
running her fingers over his cheeks and chest to calm him. Shea
kissed both of her cheeks and down her neck, taking in a deep breath
when he reached the hollow of her throat. Licking her lips, CL stayed
still and worked through what she might say.
Light shone around
them, filling the gray before dissipating into nothing. The flashes
came at fewer intervals, and CL knew that the storm was quickly
coming to an end. She started to breath heavily, panic setting in
that she wouldn’t be able to go back to her tiny cottage in the
clearing. “Shea?”
“Yes?” He
kissed her neck again.
“Do we have to
leave?”
He pushed back and
looked her straight in the eye. “This is where I live.”
“In the in
between?”
Shea nodded and
stroked a hand down her cheek before moving so that he rested against
her side. CL curled up into him and stared at the gray ceiling above
her. “Are we in the clouds?”
“I think so,”
he said, running a hand down her side, looking only at her. “I
think that’s where we are supposed to live.”
“What happens
when the storm dies out?” She turned her chin to look at him. She
wanted an answer, thinking that as soon as the storm clouds
disappeared into the greater air currents and movements of the earth
that they would simply disappear. Death would perhaps be painless in
their gray ether, just a fading of their already flimsy existence.
She licked her lips
and traced an invisible line down his chest. Maybe they could move to
another storm system, living on the double-edged sword of lightning
as it struck down to the earth below. CL reached up and played with
the small dots that lined their gray ether walls, moving her fingers
through it without purpose or intent. Maybe they weren’t in the
storm, and it only looked as though their souls would follow it in
the beyond, attached to the root of their ethereal existence for the
rest of their remainder.
When Shea kissed
her cheek, CL turned back to him, pressing a hand to his chest,
expecting to feel his heart beat under her fingertips—but there was
nothing. She tilted her face upward and stared into the depths of his
eyes.
He kissed her
lightly and answered, “I don’t know. I guess we’ll just fade
away in a flash of death.”
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you so much for taking part on the blog! Loved the story. I liked the last quote "I guess we’ll just fade away in a flash of death.”
ReplyDeleteawww thanks! That line was in debate for a bit, so I'm glad it made an impact.
Delete