The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

In his past Daniel sits, eleven years old, his arms crossed and leaning against the wall, pouting. He was going to be getting a mentor. He didn’t understand why he needed a mentor. If the other kids would just stop making fun of him and his family everything would be alright. If they would all just shut up and leave him alone he wouldn’t have to make them. There was nothing wrong with him. He just wanted to be left alone. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone?

His eyes stare up at th gray shirted teenagers, school grads, whatever; Americorps volunteers, three white girls and some spic looking young man standing and looking around in Mr. Howard’s office. The three girls stand close together, talking with Mr. Howard, he hears them talking about Angel, Clarissa, and Veronica, three other girls sitting across the room.

The young man stands just off to the side, his head turned away from the other four, dark patient, and thoughtful eyes looking towards him, the faint touch of a grin hinging at the edge of his lips. He tries his best to turn away, to not look at him, to defy him. He didn’t need a mentor he keeps telling himself. But it seems like the harder he tries not to look, the more difficult it is to stay away. He doesn’t know why, he sees something in that face that he can’t pinpoint, something that he would come to understand in the months and years ahead, something that he hadn’t known for many long years before, warmth.

His attention turns back to Mr. Howard at the mentioning of his name, noticing how the young man seems to do the same. The school councilor has walked away from the three girls,his pudgy arm slides atop the young man’s shoulder, his head comes close, “Daniel here is a special case, gets in a lot of fights here in school. I think you might be a good fit for him. He’s in real need of a mentor, but I warn you, he can be very difficult.”

The young man’s grin broadens mysteriously, his eyes shine with a faint amusement at those words. He nods his head, “I’ll do what I can.”

The hand slides off of his shoulder as the young man in the gray shirt approaches him, that almost infuriating grin never leaving his face.

He reaches a hand out towards him,“So what’s up boss? Name’s Simon.”

Daniel looks down at the offered hand, his arms remain crossed, his head turns sullenly away,“I don’t need a mentor.”

The grin broadens, that strange amusement in his eyes brighten. He sighs and takes a seat on the bench next to him.His body rests towards him, his eyes never leaving,“I’m not saying you do, but at the moment Mr. Howard here wants me to pair up with you so I’m going to.”

Daniel turns his back on him,“ What do you think you’re going to do?”

Simon shrugs,“Something, not sure. I guess we’re just going to have to play it by ear and find out won’t we?”

The present stares back at him. He tries not to think about her, sitting next to him in the passenger seat, her eyes staring out the window. He tries to think about Lydia, to push those jumbled feelings aside, and remember her, to remember why this all started, to remember how this all started.

His head turns up towards the street lamps passing by overhead, their pale orange light slowly diminishing in the past behind him. The hospital, the fight, the rescue, the party, the one moment and one night from the shower that changed everything.

His attention turns back towards the open road, the brightened asphalt passing so quickly underneath him, all the different turns and streets and off shoots leading forward towards different places. Nikki Pappadakus slumbering in her hospital bed, the chaotic mess of memories that had assaulted him as he had pushed into the deeper recesses of her mind; hoping to save her, succeeding, but still wondering what would happen with it. Immanuel Sanchez asleep in his bed, weak, but recovering, his family pushed to the brink of breaking and the tears. Andrew Smythe and Sharon, always coming back to Sharon.

What was going on with him and her? Where could all of what was happening really go?

“Daniel,” Sharon whispers beside him, her attention suddenly turned from the outside window, her solemn face on him.

Daniel glances over towards her,“What?”

“Why did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“What pushed you to save your mother?”

“You’ve already asked me that question.”

“And you still haven’t told me” she says, staring out the passenger window. Her head turns away and lowers,“It’s just that what little I remember of you before...you’ve changed. In a good way. I just want to understand...”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

Daniel swallows, his eyes turn back towards the road. He wonders in silence as the car continues down the road.

“It’s okay if you don’t tell me.”

“No...no...it’s just,” he sighs, “everyone has their own ideas about it. And it wasn’t anything heroic, it was done out of sheer desperation.”

“It hurts.”

“It does, but I’m going to tell you anyway.”

“You don’t-“

He cut her off,“You’re taking a chance for your family. The least I can do is take a chance with you.”

It’s a long story, but things like this always seem to be.

It starts with my dad, he was in AAA baseball, was working on a .400 batting average, had some good prospects of making it into the Majors. He suffered a torn ACL during a game one week before the scouts were supposed to be showing up, career ending injury.

It didn’t help that I had been an accident. It didn’t help that my Mom had six years on him, and probably no real financial future ahead of her.

My dad goes from small town hero to something of a pariah almost overnight.

Who else could he blame, but the people in front of him?

My first seven years had been good. My next four were pure hell. He always made sure to wrap his fist in a leather belt so that there wouldn’t be any bruises.

He really only hit me when I tried to stop him from hitting my Mom. And my Mom somehow convinced herself that she deserved it. I tried really hard to believe that she deserved it.

Meanwhile the neighborhood whispered and the kids made fun of my family a lot. I got into a lot of fights, got into a lot of trouble. I don’t even remember how many times I sat in the principal’s office and later the school councilor’s office.

They even got me a child psychologist, prescribed me a lot of different drugs to take, loved to talk down to me. I didn’t really have any friends, didn’t want any of them, felt miserable, even underneath the meds, didn’t know why.

I made a point of getting into fights just to prove that the medication wasn’t working. Meanwhile my grades were absolute crap and the school was thinking about sending me to an institution.

My dad keeps blaming and beating my Mom. And I refuse to say shit about it.

My councilor, Mr. Howard was his name, puts me on the mentoring list, I had no idea how close I was to be being expelled.

His name was Simon Rosete, a recent college grad taking a year off to volunteer with Americorps. I made myself think he was a dipshit the first time I saw him. I treated him as such. I wouldn’t talk to him. I argued with him for no reason at all. I made a point of making sure he knew when I was ignoring him.

And he kept coming regardless. Twice a week, a couple hours each day when we first met and then five days a week as the months began to pass. Sometimes it was at lunch. Sometimes it was after classes. Sometimes it was after school, but it was always the same with him. If I wouldn’t talk he would. When I did he listened. He never got angry with me. He never yelled once. That’s not to say he let me get away with anything, he did have to drag me more than a couple times to the principal’s office. But he’d always wait with me...and talk, he wouldn’t scold or accuse or anything like that. He never cared that something happened. He just cared about why it happened.

My time with him made the time at home bearable. I began stopping by the Americorps room just to stall going home. He started spending time with me outside of school. And it wasn’t like those horror stories about child molestors, we just...hung out, and I opened up to him. He wanted me to call the police. He’d said he’d do it for me if I would just testify. But I was afraid. And he let the topic drop.

I stopped acting out as much. My grades got better. I didn’t have any idea how many Americorps rules he was breaking, how quickly he would be ejected if the staff ever found out.

I needed him. I hadn’t known I’d needed him.

And I wouldn’t realize how much until the year was almost up. He was going to be going back to wherever he had come back from, some city on the opposite side of the world for all intents and purposes. He said he’d be back once or twice a year, just to make sure I was doing okay. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him when times were rough. He told me that no matter what time it was or what he was doing that he would pick up.

But that wasn’t enough for me. I could just barely handle my situation with him there. The idea of him being somewhere else. The phone, it wasn’t the same.

I suddenly realized that I couldn’t stand what was going on at home. I realized that I shouldn’t. I realized in the time that I spent with Simon that what my father did was crap, that it wasn’t normal. My mother deserved better. I had to change it. I had to do something. Simon wasn’t going to be there in the way that I needed him.

My dad bought me a red aluminum baseball bat when I was eight. He hoped that somehow I would show the aptitude for the game that he had, maybe carry on in the way that he couldn’t. But I didn’t and I couldn’t and it frustrated him. I held onto it, never realizing what I would ultimately be using it for.

I snuck up on him one night. He had his back to me. My Mom was crying. She sat curled up on the floor as he yelled at her. I don’t even remember about what. It doesn’t matter.

I didn’t give him a chance to turn around. I knew if I did that he might be able to stop me, that he might catch the baseball bat.

The first shot came to the back of his legs. He fell down on his knees and started screaming in pain. I gave him just enough time to turn and see who had done it. His hazel eyes stared back at me in a contortion of horror and pure rage. He roared my name and I smacked him across the face with the bat. His body slammed down on the ground, and he lay there unconscious.

I didn’t even give my mom a chance to react to me. I didn’t know how she was going to react and I was afraid. I ran out of the room and called the police. I told them everything. My dad was carted away, went to prison for a little, has a fifty mile restraining order put on him right now. I don’t know or care about anything else.

The car rests at park in front of Daniel’s apartment complex. Sharon sits on the passenger side turned towards him, her head resting silently in her hands as she stares at him.

“That was...I had no idea. What happened with Simon?”

“He ended up staying an extra year. He saw me transition into highschool and made sure that there was a school councilor there who understood me.”

“Carol.”

“Yeah. She was really good. The two of them are actually a lot alike.”

Her hand comes out towards him, her eyes searching into his face,“ Daniel...It must have been terrible.”

He nods slowly,“It’s okay. I had the people there that I needed. I still have them, and that means a lot.”

Her hand never leaves. She crosses the middle aisle between them. Bending close she plants a small kiss on his lips.

She pulls back a little, her face just inches away from his, their eyes shift, searching each other.

“What is this we have?”

That was when those words came.“I love you Daniel. I think I did the moment I caught your eyes staring back at the party. You’re not...you’re not like most people. “

This wasn’t like how it had been with Nikki, when she had said those words to him, he couldn’t believe it. He didn’t believe it. But as his dark eyes stared into her deep brown, all he could see was the understanding there, the gaze of someone who knew what they were looking at. And he understood the feelings that were there.

He bows his head, feeling the shame at those words. That she would give this to him and the fact that he didn’t know if he could give it in return. “There’s still Lydia,” he whispers, barely audible.

He knows as she slips back from him without seeing her do so. He senses her head lowered and hears her sigh heavily. “I know” she says after several moments, “I know.”

Daniel lifts his head to gaze upon her. His eyes watch her leaned back against the car door, curled up and away from him. Daniel’s hand comes to the door handle, he pauses, “Do you still want to do this? I understand if you don’t.”

He watches her shake her head. “Why can’t this ever be easy Daniel?”

He stops and thinks for several moments, “I don’t know. I think that’s how its supposed to be.”

Sharon just nods her head, her eyes staring far away. She sits there silently, breathing slowly for several long moments, a wane smile as her head stares down thinking.

“I wish I could promise you more.”

Again she nods. She turns and opens the door behind her. “Let’s do this.”

The lobby at the police station was mostly empty. Two news vans still sat outside, but the majority of the media had gone on to other places. It was late and many felt that everything that was going to happen that night had happened.

There wasn’t even an orderly keeping an eye on the front desk when Jim entered. He approached on the gray tile and made a polite cough. An officer at his desk turned his head up, a clear look of agitation plastered to his face, “Can I help you with something kid?”

Jim looked curiously a moment around the mostly empty station, it looked like there were only two officers there, one tending the switchboard, the other one sat sitting behind the desk further back in the office. “Yeah,” he said after a moment, “I was hoping to see Daniel Bates. I’m a friend of his.”

The officer scoffed turning, his head back down towards his paperwork, “Visiting hours are between 10 and 2 Monday through Friday, and 12 to 4 on Saturday.”

“And that would mean what?” Jim said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

“I don’t know if he’s here and you can’t see him anyway. So go somewhere else kid.”

“ But I really need to-“

“Not my problem. Rules are rules, so unless you’re here to report something I suggest that you get out of here.”

Jim sighed, his foot kicked at the floor irately, as his hands slipped into his pockets. What was he going to do now? He guessed that he was going to have to wait, but there was something about the night. He felt it. Something that was happening, something that he couldn’t put his finger on, but that he just seemed to know. It pulled on him as a nagging need that he just couldn ‘t understand why. Maybe it was that he had been waiting for so long already, and that he was tired of it. Or maybe it was something more.

His head turned at the commotion coming from behind the front desk. Two men were stepping out of an office in the back, walking towards the front. He paused as his eyes fell on one of them. He recognized the face, he’d seen it on the television, Detective Philip Bernake.

She had admitted her feelings to him. She hadn’t even fully admitted it to herself until that very moment. He said the best that she should have hoped for. It hadn’t changed much about where she thought she stood. But as those thoughts continued to run she realizes it doesn’t matter. At least for her nothing really had changed. The truth remained the truth and there was nothing wrong with it.

Her gaze falls on him and she knows what she feels, even if he is afraid to admit it, even if he doesn’t feel it. She knows the man that stands there and she knows that he deserves it, even if he can’t.

She’s standing at the door looking back at him. Daniel paused at his mail slot, looking long and hard at something in his hands, something he had pulled out. The front of the letter seems handwritten, but she can’t tell anything else about it from where she stands.

“What are you looking at?” she asks, stepping closer.

She sees the flash of fear come and go on his face as he thrusts the envelope back into the mail slot. Sharon unable to read what it was. Daniel turns his head to her, sighing and forcing a smile,”Nothing...nothing important.”

She knew it was a lie. But she didn’t care.

“Honestly kid I don’t know where Daniel is. Last I knew he was on his way to First Presbyterian in Pine Lake checking up on the Sanchez family.”

“Thanks, I guess I’ll be heading over there.”

“Hey kid.”

“What?”

“Good luck. I think he needs you.”

Jim paused, looking back at the detective. He didn’t quite understand what he meant by those words. But something about them made him smile.

He can’t stop looking at her. Sharon, sitting clothed atop his bed, her back against the wall. Sharon, nineteen, taut brown legs, elegant breasts, deep brown eyes shining with a strange yet radiant luster. Sharon, eldest daughter of four, soccer player, college student studying social work. Sharon standing tall and proud.Sharon crying in his arms. Sharon who would do anything for her family and was. Sharon Camila Sanchez.

He doesn’t care that she notices. He doesn’t care that she returns his gaze, not noticing how she trembles even as his own body shakes. Even as the jumbled thoughts of Lydia threaten and subside into the deeper recesses of his mind.

<This...it’s beautiful. It doesn’t- What is this...?>

He pushes back on those words, those three words, three simple words that meant so little to so many people, but meant the world to him. Words that he had never once told to her, or Lydia, and few beyond them. Three words that had betrayed him in his father, and mother.

He can feel the long moments ticking by, her slow and even breathing, her eyes on him and only him; searching in hesitation. Him sitting on the edge of the bed turned towards her and only her.

And then he understood. He understood this wasn’t just about her family. This wasn’t just about all of the things that Andrew had done to him and everyone around him. This was about what was there, now, sitting in the room between them, in the space around them, and anywhere they were...together.

He’s crawling on the bed towards her. His hand rises to her face. His lips press against hers. She closes her eyes and lets him fall into her. He can feel her warmth below her. His lips pressing against her face. Her mouth crushing into his. He tastes her breath on his tongue.

And then he’d kneading at her chest, pulling at her shirt and lifting it over her head. Her hair tumbling down like an intricate fan. Their eyes open only long enough for Sharon to reach down for her jeans, taking them down off of her smooth legs.

Daniel tugs at shirt, lifting it off of him. His lips drop at the space between her still covered breasts, slowly working down towards her navel.

He can hear her contented sigh.

His fingers pluck at her panties, pulling the red lace slowly down. He pulls at his own pants as the panties slide off, Sharon, half naked and lying on the bed before him. His hands slide delicately along her amber legs, as he pushes forward towards her, almost like a receding and returning wave.

He hardens, even as his eyes remain on her anticipant face, hers staring back and watching everything that he does, holding it in her mind and in her memory. Again their lips lock, their eyes close. His hands grope along her chest, lifting up and exposing her round breasts.

Her hands delicately caress his chest as their heads lean against each other. She can hear his breathing.

He squeezes at her warm and malleable flesh as Sharon coos. His head presses forward into hers. His tongues presses into hers. Her naked body slowly begins to move to his rhythm. His member pushes into her snatch, his hips humping into hers.

He knows what that means. He knows what is going to happen. He can feel the creature inside of him swooning, pushing him, intensifying the emotions of two in the body of one. Her warm and shivering body presses against his. The memories and thoughts of who she is ringing in his mind. Does he want to lose this? Will he lose this?

He forces, the swirling passions burning within tear at his insides, but he can’t let them take over. The creature within him lost in a daze, almost like it is floating within him. The heart wrenching feeling of grinding to a stop, pushing against his drive. His arms holding him up over her, his eyes staring down into her face. Sharon spread out underneath him. Her eyes open and stare up at him in wonder, her naked body lain out before him. She’s beautiful. She was always beautiful.

<beautiful...>

“Are you sure-“ he begins, stops, knowing the answer to that question; seeing the answer in how look up into his. Her fingers rise to his face, delicately resting there. She stares deeply into him, never in the moments turning away.

“I love you Daniel.”

He nods, smiling weakly as his gaze rests on her. He knows. “I’m going to...I’m going to put you under.”

She rises up from the bed, her arms wrapping around his body as her eyes close. Her lips press hard one last time into his. All of her warmth seeming to pass into him through one long, labored kiss. He feels how her body trembles.

He feels the chemical flow out from him into her. He feels her lips slacken against his. Her grip around him loosens, but holds. Daniel opens his eyes to see hers staring back at him, blankly. His head pulls away. “Release me,” he whispers to her.

Her body slips slowly back down towards the bed, her arms resting spread outward. Her lips still parted in a mid kiss. He looks down at her body laying there for several moments swallowing hard, his head turning away.

A few more thrusts and it was done.

“Hey...you’re Daniel’s friend right?”

Jim paused at the side door entrance into the hospital, his head turned up at the girl standing just up the stairs, small framed, her black hair cut short in almost a bob, her lightly freckled face had the same dark eyes as her sister. They were in the same grade, but he couldn’t remember her name. “Yeah...you’re Sharon’s sister, aren’t you?”

She nodded, stepping away from the wall and walking down the stairs towards him, her hand lifted forward, outstretched, “Carmen.”

He shook her hand, “Jim.” Their hands fell back, standing some distance apart from each other. Jim’s eyes fell on the hospital building behind her, he thought again about why he was there, “So do you know if Daniel’s here?”

She took a drag on a cigarette,“He left about an hour ago, told me some weird shit.”

Jim thought for a second, “Any idea where he went?”

Carmen shrugged, “Prolly back to his place.”

“Thanks. I guess I should be heading over there.” Jim turned to leave, walking back towards his bike.

“Hold up.”

He turned,“What?”

“Do you know anything about what’s going on?”

He stopped, thinking for moments. His mind flashed back to the party at Wendel’s, what he saw, the news. Jim looked back at Carmen,”It’s all the news girl. Just trying to find out more. You get me?”

She stepped closer to him, her brow furrowed,”What do you think it is?”

The party ran through his head, but he didn’t want to say what he knew,”That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

He watched her look behind him, staring at his bike, her eyes looking up the road. She took in a deep breath and exhaled, flicking her spent cigarette to the side, “I’m coming with you.”

That jolted Jim.“ What?” His turned back behind him, as if thinking that he might have missed something. Other than the fact that she was nuts.

“I’m coming with you,” she said firmly.

“Okay, I only got my bicycle, it’s not like you can fit two on that thing.”

She layed a hand on his shoulder walking past him towards the parking lot,“Yeah, and I got a scooter. You’re riding in back.”

Was she serious? He turned in her direction, yelling after her, “What the fuck is this about?”

She stopped in a huff and turned towards him, a look of clear and undeniable agitation,”Daniel told me some weird shit that made no sense. And I, like you, can’t stand waiting around to see what happens next.” Her head turned back towards the parking lot, “You coming or what?”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

He stared at her in clear dumbfoundment for about a second. After that she was walking away. A second later he was raising his hands up in resignation. “How the fuck are those two sisters?”

He sighed, picking up to a jog to catch up with Carmen.

He impatiently waited at the front door of the house. He’d seen the light turn on upstairs after he’d pressed the door bell a second time. His wrist flicked to his watch. It was just after 10. Detective Bernake sighed, rubbing his eyes, it had been a long day for him, just over fourteen hours by his reckoning. And he wasn’t even sure when it would be ending. Fuck if he wasn’t tired.

His attention turned to inside, the sounds of steps coming down the stairs from within. He took a deep breath, making an effort to compose himself. He could only guess at how much more not sleep he would have to manage. But he had to take his steps one at a time. And right now there was a more pressing concern than whether he’d have a restful evening or not.

He saw the curtain pushed aside behindthe tall oak door, two eyes stared out for a moment, recognized him. He heard a latch unlock and the entrance open. The large, burly body of Professor Malarkey stood in the entryway, plain white t-shirt and boxers. By the groggy look in his eyes Bernake could tell he that the bell ringing had woken him. And even that he could still sense the nervousness in how his eyes seemed pause on a shift from him back and forth. It wasn’t the actions of someone who was surprised to see him, but rather someone who had hoped the detective wouldn’t be coming.

Alexander tried to play it off, badly, “Sorry officer, it’s kind of late...can I help you with something?”

Bernake decided to start firm and stay there,“Yeah you can, there was a little discrepancy in your statement Mr. Malarkey.”

He saw the professor’s eyes bulge for a fraction of a second, “What do you...what do you mean?”

“The anonymous caller’s phone number matched up with your cellphone professor. You did realize we’d do that right?”

He watched as Alexander freezed for a moment, his mouth went slack and his eyes went thoughtful. His head turned as the sound of footsteps came from the stairwell behind him.

Bernake looked past him at the older woman standing on the stairwell, dressed in only a plain white shirt and sweat pants.

“It’s okay Cynthia” he heard Malarkey say, “ I have this, you go back to bed.”

The woman on the stairwell paused, her eyes shifting between Bernake and her husband.

“Trust me. Everything is okay. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

The woman nodded her head slowly, turning back towards the stairwell and up.

The professor closed the door behind him, stepping out onto the porch and the cool spring evening.

His head turned up and down the empty street. Bernake, followed his eyes, noting how he paused on the squad car behind him.“Couldn’t this have waited till tomorrow?” he said.

The detective scoffed,“Did you see the news tonight Mr. Malarkey? Do you realize how fast everything seems to be getting worse?”

“What does this have to-“

Bernake could feel his anger rising,“Cut the bullshit. Andrew’s making a fucking mess in a way that isn’t possible with any of the normal reasons. The longer you hold out on what you know the more likely other people will get hurt. Do I need to spell it out for you?”

That stopped him,“I-I didn’t want to get involved.”

“Yeah, but you are.”

Again his body shifted nervously, his head bent down,“What do you know already?”

“More than you might think. Daniel Bates told me about the creatures.”

His tired eyes turned up towards the detectives. He sighed in deep resignation. “He probably knows more than I do. I’ve only had the things for a few weeks. And I can’t say I know how they react when merging with a human being.”

“What happened Mr. Malarkey? How is Andrew able to do all the crap that he’s been doing?”

Again he hesistated, “I-“ stopped, his head lowered,“I’ll need to take you to my lab. I can show you.”

“Then get dressed. I’ll be waiting here.”

He’s crying. She lays out on the bed above him, arms spread out, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. He’s leaning against the bed, his head turned down towards the ground. He knew what was happening. He knew it was what she had wanted. But it wasn’t enough. He should have said no. He should have stayed firm.

He’s curling up on the ground, pulling himself towards the far wall. He can hear and feel his startled breaths, the wet streaks running down his cheeks. She was gone. Everything had been so ludicrous and for what? For what?

<Daniel...>

There had to have been another option. There had been another option. He’d just needed time. He could have thought of something. He gave in. He wanted to. Why had he wanted to so badly?

<Daniel.>

No it wasn’t that. It couldn’t have been that. Three words. One word. It didn’t make any sense. It was just emotions. It was just a trying time. He should have known better. He’d hardly known her a week. It didn’t matter that argument that she’d told him, about all things that he had done. He was just a man, nobody special. Just a-

<Daniel!>

“WHAT!” he screams into the darkness, as if the creature inside of him needs his breath to hear his thoughts.

And for several moments the silence that echoes back at him. He lifts his head, staring back into it, the figure lying gone on his bed, the dresser drawers, the white ceiling, now gray in shadow. And nothing else. All seeming to stare back at him, immovable as they always were, by anything that he felt. Swallowing away at the edges of the hysteria that he slowly realized he had been pushing himself to. A feeling that solved nothing. The truth, or maybe something else calling back at him.

<Daniel...>

He felt it again, different from how he had remembered, but knowing it came from the same place that it always had, the creature. Sounding almost like a voice now, and less like an off shoot of his own thoughts. Daniel takes a deep breath and exhales.

<I understand now Daniel. I understand you now.>

He pauses on those words within him, the undeniable change, the strange feelings branching out from within. It doesn’t matter. His head lowers back down to the ground I can’t change anything. It’s done.

<No it isn’t Daniel.>

His eyes turn up, his mind slowly thinking. What do you mean.

He knows as the creature within him feels, on wonder<You wanted her. All you wanted was her.>

A look of bewilderment crosses Daniel’s face. What does that mean?

<I didn’t send one of those. I couldn’t.>

Bewilderment gives way to slow realization as the creature’s words sink in. It had been sex. It had just been sex. He thinks about her face, that last kiss before he had started it. He thinks about those burgeoning feelings in that last moment before he had put her under, before he thought he was about to lose her. No, it had been more than just that.

Daniel wipes the tears from his face. He rises upward onto his feet. His attention turned towards the open bed, Sharon naked sprawled out on it, her dark skin evident still from the weak light coming in from outside. She lays on her side, her chest rising and falling as she breathes, her eyes closed, her face peaceful. Then she’s-

<Just sleeping.>

Daniel nods slowly, smiles staring down at her. Relief passes over him. He kneels by the bed beside her. His face rests inches away from hers. His hand rests delicately against her sanguine face. She stirs for a moment, but slowly falls back into slumber. His eyes trace her facial features. His thoughts focus. Everything that they’ve been through. Everything that he has shared with her and so few others. Everything her eyes have had to see. Those words, three simple words, and yet never seeming to be quite so.

He bends close and kisses her lightly on the lips,“I love you” he whispers.

<She knows Daniel. She knows.>

In the dark oblivion that is the rest of the weary she feels the moment’s touch of another like her. She rouses just enough to perhaps sense another’s sleeping presence. She lets herself slip back into the dark indifference. Maybe it was nothing.