The Return

Morning...I hate morning.

Every time The sun comes up, I have to look out my window at the gift civilization has given us.

It isn't pretty.

The Second Civil War was no different than the first. Some bunch decided that they didn't want to be part of the U.S. and that they were going to pack their toys and leave. Uncle Sam, however, decided that he was categorically against the idea. The consequences of that little dust-up lie beyond the dirty glass of my apartment.

The gift of civilization is the realization that no one knows what the hell they are doing. And the ruins of my city are the bones of proof. So from where in those ruins did she come from?

Yes, I said she. I met her through my dreams, my dreams of Rhonda. Rhonda was my girl, my friend, my soul mate. And I repaid her love by losing her on the plains.

Oh, the plains weren't real. They were a product of my imagination. My subconscious coming out to play. But the shadow of death that took Rhonda was real enough.

It was after one of these dreams that I met her. Despite my pain and guilt, I was found by an angel. Or maybe a demon.

I had one of the dreams. The shadow came, and tore me, panic-stricken, into the light of morning. Out of habit I reached for the mostly empty bottle of Jack. Me and Jack Daniels had quite a few talks lately. It was the only way I could sleep. I had just reached the counter...

"You don't want that, Jack."

I nearly screeched in fright at the feminine voice coming from directly behind him. I spun around, dropping the bottle, hearing and seeing it explode in a symphony of broken glass and amber liquid across the floor.

"What…w-who the hell are you?" I managed to gasp out at last. "Jesus Christ, you scared the hell out of me! And how did you get in here?"

The object of my curiosity sat in my favorite chair, reclining languidly across the arms of it, as if she had been waiting there for quite some time. She was pale, nearly white, with flowing red hair and blue eyes, eyes the color of the North Sea, and with as much warmth in them. Her nose was perfectly sculptured, set above a set of gorgeous pink lips that I suddenly and inexplicably wanted to kiss. She was dressed in black leather body suit, French cut, with a keyhole neckline and a silver chain belt. It stretched deliciously over her perfect breasts and accentuated the curves of her hips, almost a second skin on her. Black thigh-high boots with four-inch heels graced her shapely legs, and a pair of black elbow gloves completed the outfit. Well, if I'm going to hallucinate, it might as well be a girl like her. Might be worth going to hell for her, too. I instantly had twinges of guilt. Rhonda hadn't been away, (no, say it, she's dead) a month, and here I am thinking about kissing this woman. But she wasn't real. She couldn't be real. Oh, I am waay gone…

"No, you aren't, Jack," she murmured. "Not gone at all."

"What? How do you know what I'm thinking?"

"Because, I've been there. I know what you are feeling, what you dream of."

I turned around to the counter, my hands clutching for an invisible straw. "What do you know of my dreams…who are you? Death?"

"No, but we talk frequently. She isn't as frightening as you may think."

"Why am I talking to a hallucination?"

"Am I so hard to believe in, after what you have been through these last weeks, Jack?" she sighed. It sounded like the wind in the trees, soft as it passed between her lips. "Remember what you have seen."

"I'm trying to forget."

"You're trying to die."

I recoiled from her words. They were the truth. A truth I didn't want to face. The truth that if Rhonda was dead, I wanted to be too.

"I want to be with her," I whispered hoarsely. "I can't live without her."

"And you can't help her if you are in the bottom of that glass."

"I can't help her now anyway. I thought you were all knowing."

"No. You've got me mistaken for him," she smiled, pointing up through the ceiling. "And I don't know what he's thinking. He isn't speaking to me lately. Something about sins I may have committed…"

"Who the hell are you? What are you?"

"Don't you think you'd better pick up the glass?" she asked.

"What? Oh, yeah…" I bent to pick up the glittering shards at my feet. "Ow, damn it, got a piece in my foot."

"Come, sit here," she said as she pointed at the bed. "Give me your foot."

"Aren't you going to take your gloves off? You'll get blood all over them. Just look at my floor," I said, pointing at the blood trail leading from the kitchen to the bed.

"Yes," she murmured, "the blood…"

She passed her gloved hand over the bottom of my injured foot. A cooling sensation came over the area, and the pain from the glass fragment disappeared. It appeared in the palm of her hand, a dangerous star in the black universe of her glove.

"Why? Why are you here?" I asked. I couldn't contain my curiosity any longer.

"Because, Jack, you need a lesson. I'm here to teach. You are here to learn."

"What can I learn? Look out the window, lady. School is out for more than the summer."

She laughed. It was music. It was so heart-achingly beautiful a sound, and I immediately wanted her to do it again.

"Do you think we have to go anywhere for class? I'm going to teach you everything you need to know right here, Jack." I held my breath as she crossed the floor. "Right here, right now."

"No," I croaked, "no, I can't. She's coming back soon.."

"Who, Rhonda? Oh no, Jack, she isn't ever coming back." He arms slipped around my neck and drew me closer to her. I couldn't help myself. Something about her completely dominated me, sapped my will. Almost automatically, my own arms encircled her of their own will, feeling every curve of her delicious body.

"Jack," she breathed in my ear, "Oh, Jack, I can give you anything you want in this world. You can converse with gods. You can vacation in hell. I can give you the power of life..."

"What about death?" I asked.

"You've seen enough of that." Her pink tongue flicked around my earlobe. "You can even have me, Jack. All of me..."

I turned my face to speak and met her lips as they pressed against mine. Her tongue explored my lips, flicking, tasting. Suddenly, urgent need formed in my belly, and began moving down my thighs. She pressed her body against me, eyes seeking me out. Peering into my soul.

"Let go, Jack. Stop hanging on to the past and embrace your future..."

Slowly, teasingly, she trailed her hands down the front of my chest, and my shirt suddenly parted of it's own accord. Her fingernails traced intricate patterns across my chest and around my nipples, making them harden. All thoughts of Rhonda began to fade, as lust began to take over from guilt. My hands moved to the front of her body suit, my fingers undoing fastener that held the zipper up. Slowly, I pulled the zipper down, inch by inch revealing her perfect milk-white skin.

"Yes, that's it," she breathed. "Give in..."

"No...I ...I..yes..yes, I can!"

I began peeling the suit away, her large breasts yearning to escape their leather prison. The zipper stopped at her pierced naval. I couldn't wait any longer. With one motion, I slid the suit down to her waist. I bent my head and took one of her large pink nipples in my mouth, sucking it until it became hard as a diamond on my tongue. Her skin was cool to the touch, almost as if she were an apparition, and the sensation only heightened my desire for this woman. My other hand found her other breast as I moved to take her other nipple in my mouth. She faintly tasted of...strawberries. Rhonda's favorite thing...

I unzipped the suit the rest of the way, clutching at the ring pull like a drowning man to a life preserver. If I went beyond this point, I couldn't go back. This one moment determined whether I would live in the past, or the future...

Down it came.

"Wise choice, Jack."

My hands moved to her sides, the white skin feeling like silk under my hands. I slid the body suit over her gorgeous hips and boots and heard it slide to the floor. All my reservations went down with it.

Suddenly, she put her hands on my chest and shoved me backwards, stumbling, onto the bed. I managed to look up and watch as the flame haired goddess struck a pose, her gloved hands on her waist.

"Now the real lessons start."

She moved to the bed, straddling my chest. The scent of her sex made an intoxicating perfume as she lowered herself onto my willing mouth. Her boots trapped my arms at my sides, and I couldn't hold her no matter how hard I tried. It didn't matter, not any more. My tongue parted her sweet pussy lips as I licked and sucked greedily at her clit. Her breath began to come in short, sharp gasps as I sucked her tender bud between my teeth and flicked my tongue over it. The sounds coming from deep in her throat made me all the more excited, and my tongue even more active. Slowly she began to move back and forth as I held my tongue still, feeling all of her pussy slide back and forth on it. She was in total control.

After what seemed forever of being her prisoner, she began to slide down my exposed chest and lay down upon me. Her long red hair flowed over me like a waterfall over rocks. The feel, the smell. Everything was so familiar.

A slight smile played over her lips, exposing those perfect teeth. "Ummm, now it's your turn..."

"Oboy..."

One hand unbuckled my belt as the other began expertly popping the buttons on my 501's. My excitement began to build as first one button, and another, and another gave way to her. Suddenly, my cock popped free of my pants and directly into her waiting mouth. I felt like I was going to die from pleasure. One silken hand stroked me as her velvet soft tongue slid along under my shaft, down and up. It was heaven watching her slide the head of my cock into the warm sweetness of her mouth, feeling her pumping my with her lips, making little slurping noises, sucking me faster, and taking me deep into her throat. The sensations began to build in my belly, and I knew if she didn't stop, I would cum down her throat. I wanted her to stop. I didn't want her to stop. But she knew that already...

"No, Jack, not yet. Not for a while yet."

She slid my pants down over my legs and tossed them off to the floor. Then she lowered herself onto my cock, settling down on it as if she had decided she was going to live there.

Her pussy was a fine-tuned machine, the muscles gripping me hard as she rose slightly, then relaxing as she descended. Up and down, up and down. My hands gripped her hips, pulling her onto me as I tried desperately to drive my cock up into her throat from below. All I wanted was to be sucked into that gateway of heaven.

Slowly she leaned forward, placing her hands on my shoulders. Her eyes became slits as her body began to move faster, her heavy breasts swinging just within range of my reaching tongue. Her nipples brushed the tip of my tongue, eliciting moans of pleasure from her. She was moving faster now, her own orgasm building deep within her. Faster and faster she moved, muscles clenching and releasing over and over until finally she clamped down and refused to let go.

"Ohhh, Jaaack, ohhh yes, yes, yesssssss...." I wasn't far behind.

Her fluids squirted out over me as her orgasm rocked her. Her fingers dug into my shoulders, hanging on as her body trembled in spasms of joy, her face a glory of sensuality. Suddenly, she collapsed onto me, and my arms automatically encircled her, holding her tight.

"Oh, oh gods. How long has it been?" she whispered, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "How long since I felt that way?"

"It won't be long til you feel that way again," I offered. Without warning, I rose from under her, turning her over on her back.

"What? What are you doing?" she asked.

"You got me this way. You aren't done yet."

"No, I guess not..."

I grabbed her by her sweat-slick hips and turned her onto her hands and knees. I never noticed the knotwork tattoo on her back above her amazing ass. Gilding the lily, I thought. I went to my knees to lick and suck her dripping pussy, to drink in her juices and bury my tongue in her hot slit. The little moans confirmed that I was doing the right thing. She tasted good, so sweet as I sucked her clit again, hard. I could feel the muscles in her belly begin to tighten up as another orgasm began to build in her. I stood behind her again, my hands finding her hips, and I pulled her up toward my still hard cock. I ran the head up and down her wet, dripping slit a couple of times before I stopped and slid in its full length. She let out a sharp gasp and a little cry, and began moving against me as her fingers massaged and pinched her nipples as her breasts swayed below her. Slowly, I began to pump her, building like a steam train on a long straightaway, harder and faster, fucking her like she was the last woman I would ever have. Her pussy clamped down on me adding sweet delicious friction, and suddenly I exploded in her with a cry. Every fiber of my being poured into her, filling her, becoming one with her. She let out a simultaneous cry as her orgasm flowed through her, dripping out of her, our juices mixing flowing down our thighs together. At last, I collapsed next to her, still in her as she gripped me. Our breathing calmed, became even again, and together we slept. How long I can't tell you.

But there were no dreams.

At long last, I began to wake. The bed felt suddenly empty. I opened my eyes. It was empty. I shut my eyes, and began to cry. Nothing. It was nothing but a wet dream. A liquor-induced hallucination, sent by some cruel god to torment me.

"Not necessarily."

The voice, so familiar, it hurt. The scent, the sudden feel of a hand on my back.

"If I turn around and you aren't there, I'm going to kill myself," I said, not daring to turn and face disappointment. "I can't take this anymore."

"Turn, and see."

I rose, and there in the chair, in the black leather body suit, boots, and gloves, was Rhonda.

"It can't be," I whispered. "You're dead."

"No, my love," she said as she rose and came to me. "I'm not."

"But how? I saw you die in the city. I held your body in my hands."

"It was you," Rhonda said. "Your love of me, yet your willingness to move into the future."

"What? Was it some kind of test?" I asked.

"I dunno," she said "Maybe. Death didn't give me much explanation."

"But, the redhead...?"

"Oh, that was me. I knew you always loved redheads, and I thought that would be a woman you couldn't resist."

"You shame me now. I don't like that."

"No. Not at all. It was a test. Jack," she began, "a new age is starting. I have it on good authority from above." Rhonda pointed through the ceiling. "We...he...needs good people down here. People who are loyal and true, but are willing to move forward when moving forward is needed. You proved that two days ago..."

Two days? Had I lost that much time?

"Yes, you have." Her mind reading was starting to disconcert me.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. But now, I have to go."

"Go where?? I just got you back!"

"Yes, but you will always have me now. Don't worry. I have to see Death and collect on my bet. She bet me you wouldn't go through with it. I love owning the bitch..." Rhonda smiled brightly. "Besides, now we can go to that cute little place she has and use it for a weekend. You'll love the fourth plane..."

I didn't know what to say. Rhonda always did get her way with me. She crossed the room once more, her hand unzipping the body suit again as she kissed me.

"Honey," she whispered. "I'm home."