“We have to get back now.”
“What?” I ask them.
Xandra answers first. “We’re on duty. You’ve been introduced to what’s happening, but it’s up to you to learn more and demonstrate that you’re really able to travel through the fog without getting lost.”
Emily jumps in now. “You’re going to do great. Go up the stairs directly down the hall to the right of this room, and go through the fire doors into a hallway. Once you’re there, you’ll be far enough from the epicenter that you should be able to think a bit more clearly.”
“Thanks,” I tell her, “I appreciate that.”
“Oh, and if the doors are closed you can knock, but if nobody answers, just wave at the camera above the door to the right. Someone will buzz you in.”
“Alright…” I say as they both turn and leave the room. I quickly follow them and say “Goodbye.”
Emily looks over her shoulder, and says “It’ll be fine. I’ll meet you at the fire doors at sunrise, the day after tomorrow. Until then, do your best. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”
“As long as you don’t stray too far from this building,” Xandra adds.
Emily’s final words before fading away are “And don’t go outside after dark!”
They turn the corner and somehow I know that if I ran to catch them I would find that they have simply vanished. I don’t even try. Instead I turn around and head down the corridor. She said it was directly down the hall, but she didn’t say it was close. I’ve been walking for a while when I start to notice the tiles on the wall deteriorate and slowly segue to plaster. A moment after that the hallway begins to incline, and the tiled floor turns to abrasive concrete.
I’d like to say the time here passes quickly, but to be honest, I have no idea. This walk has felt both like a long, dull trudge, and a mere blink. I suppose that other than a bit of walking and talking, pretty much all I’ve done since I got here is partially drown and fuck – two activities which are known to distort the perception of time in humans. Being as lost in contemplation as I am right now doesn’t really make the situation any better, either.
Here it is. Not exactly straight down the hall, but after a quick pair of right turns. I guess there are no other paths to choose though, which is probably what she meant. The stairs up are steep, concrete fire stairs. The material is not like the floor, though. It’s that smooth, high cement content concrete with textured metal edges to guard against slipping. Of course I slip anyway and hit the top of my head squarely on the heavy, steel door. Ow.
Since nobody opens it in the time it takes me to recover from the impact, I look around and find the camera. Just as I raise my hand to wave at it, the sound of metal screeching against itself and clanging to a stop grabs my attention. A panel I somehow failed to notice before has slid open and revealed a pair of slate gray eyes staring at me in statuesque fashion. Before I can answer I think about the door. I didn’t see that panel when I walked up. In fact I would have sworn it was just a flat metal door of rusted metal and chipped blue paint.
“Oh my god!” the voice of those eyes yells at me as I begin hearing the echoing cacophony of concrete and metal unlocking in a complex and lengthy order. “Are you okay?” They seem legitimately concerned for my condition.
“I’m fine,” I assure them, “Just a few cartoon birds circling my head now.”
They smile at me. “That’s funny.”
I can’t tell if they understand or if they’re being polite. This human definitely seems more aware than the vacant creatures I had seen on the beach, at least. Emily did tell me that it would be easier to function here, but they are still naked – but for a necklace and wire framed glasses, anyway – and I’m still not undistracted by their body. I can feel myself starting to get hard again. Not visibly yet, but I can feel it moving within me.
“Thanks,” I say, rubbing the top of my head as it starts to feel a bit better, then think for the first time to ask “Why was that door so thoroughly locked?”
“Oh, that. It’s just to limit the access to this section of the building. Beach dwellers are… a lot to deal with if you aren’t expecting them.”
“I see.” The tone of my voice is neutral and dry.
“You don’t approve?”
“I didn’t say that. I have no idea what’s going on here, and I’m not even close to ready to judge this place or its people.”
“Oh, you’re new?”
“Yeah. Just since this morning, as a matter of fact.”
“Wow. I just thought you were down at the beach for some fun and had never come in this way. Less than a day without getting waylaid by the sirens.”
“I had some help.”
“Oh. Even more impressive.”
Interesting response. It’s weird being noteworthy. “Thanks, I think.”
“More or less, yeah. Since you’re new, I want to be clear that we keep this place locked up tight because we’re keeping them out of our space, and not that we’re trying to keep them in anywhere.”
I nod. “That’s nice to know, certainly. Like I said though, I’m not judging anything yet.”
A momentary pause is broken with the words “Come with me.”
Suddenly there is a hand in mine and it’s pulling me down the hall. Everything around me is partly concealed by the rushing blur of motion flying straight at me as I am pulled to a mysterious destination by a mysterious new acquaintance. Despite the distortion, I am able to pick out a few details from my surroundings.
A few people line the hallway, and I can see a few through the open doors of a couple of rooms to the left. To the write is a very large, multiple paned window running from wall to wall, and spanning the ceiling to roughly waist height. It’s not quite as tropical as I would have expected, given the look of that beach. Very green, though. Mostly sunny. A few clouds are snow white against ocean blue.
Nudity still abounds, but more people are wearing something. One woman has a pair of shorts on. There’s someone with a t-shirt and boxers on, but he’s getting his cock sucked through the fly, which kind of washes out the fact that he’s two thirds dressed. That chick has her hair pulled back, and she’s wearing a sports bra, underwear, and a sock. Okay. There are changes. Not that I’m starting to see what they might mean.
My observations are cut short once again. My escort peers into rooms as we pass them, and upon finding one which is not too crowded, forcefully shoves me inside. I am suddenly against a wall, being kissed. A firm hand delicately grips my cock, then runs it’s slender fingers up and down my shaft, taking care to tease me when it reaches the end.
Despite the sheer talent being applied to me right now, I pull away, and seize the wrist of the hand which follows me. “I need a second.”
Insistent eyes travel downward. “Really? You’re very hard.”
“That’s not what I meant. It is a side effect, though. I’m not sure from what yet, but it isn’t natural.”
“It’s a side effect of here.”
I sigh halfway before stopping myself. “Regardless, I need to figure some things out before I feel safe enough to enjoy that the way I’d like to.”
A full sigh in response. “Alright. Go ahead.”
I take my time composing my query in my head. It has to be simple, but comprehensive. “You can obviously see the . So, what makes this place enough?”
“I guess I just like it here. It’s not that I don’t see that there are things that don’t make sense, but try as I might I couldn’t make sense of them – to say nothing of which I have a steady supply of food, water and shelter, plus I get to relax twenty-four hours a day and have essentially whatever sex I want pretty much whenever I feel like it. More than that though, I didn’t have a lot going for me back home, so when I washed up here with all my physical needs met… I guess what I’m saying is that I’m not exactly aching to get back, and this honestly seems like a fine place to try and build a new life.”
“But–”
“Please don’t try to ruin it for me. This is my home now.” There is a certain urgency to the interruption.
After I pause, deliberate, and reach a conclusion, I acknowledge the request “Alright. If I found what I think you’re describing I wouldn’t want anybody to ‘free’ me either.”
“Thank you.” The words are accompanied by a delicious smile which is charming, sincere, and seductive all at once.
It’s that smile which pulls me back off balance. I’m hooked. I’m drawn. There is something unmistakably enchanting about it. Only a moment later we are wrapped in each other. Limbs slither and wind, entangling us until we are seemingly inseparable. There is little to no explanation in my mind. It’s more a compulsion I’ve voluntarily surrendered to than a specific choice I’ve made.
As I squeeze the firm and supple ass in my hand, pulling it close to me, my hard cock is pressed against a soft stomach, leaking pre-cum everywhere. Within a fraction of a second of the end of our kiss, my companion drops to the floor so quickly it’s almost as if they’ve vanished. The sensation of a hot, wet mouth on my cock is almost enough to send me over the edge. Still, I’m less sensitive than I was when I came all over myself just by watching Xandra and Emily.
Taking control of the situation for a moment, I pull them to their feet just long enough to kiss them, then turn them around and push them down by one shoulder over the nearest of the two tables not stacked haphazardly against the wall. Feeling a great need, I take their hips in my hands and hold tightly as I shove my cock inside without guidance.
Despite the requisite effort to hold back, I am enjoying myself immensely. We fuck like this for a few minutes until I am shoved backward, sending me staggering four or five steps behind me. Before I know it, they’ve tossed me by the ribs onto the nearest mattress – about four feet from where I was just standing – and take a very firm grasp of the shaft of my cock, moving their thumb lazily about the slick head, coaxing even more of the clear, salty liquid out of me. Soft lips pressed against mine, which quickly parted. With locked tongues I we both moan in utter delight. I run my nails down their sides and up their back as we kiss.
I close my eyes for an instant and suddenly they are straddled atop me, holding my cock at the entrance of them, ready to get both of us off. I hope, anyway. This could also be over very quickly. For a few seconds or a minute we fuck intensely. For a few minutes or an hour we fuck slowly. Sensually. When I climax, I do so profoundly. Filling them to the brim with my cum and forcing their own orgasm over the edge in doing so. My stomach and chest are sprayed with a hot, slippery liquid as they fall backward off of me, causing the lightweight table to clatter and slide away from us a few inches.
Laughter fills the room for a moment, and I suddenly remember there are other people here, but I’m far too entrenched in the afterglow to be embarrassed. Really this whole situation sort of negates embarrassment due to its sheer absurdity. The sound fades, and it feels strange. More like somebody adjusted the volume of the room, than the people getting quiet. Of course I’m too tired to focus on that, and suddenly find that I am far sleepier than fatigued. Soon my eyelids are too heavy to lift, and I am cloaked in pure darkness and dead silence.
As I fall from this consciousness I seem to land in another. It’s a curious sensation, being aware as you fall asleep. Tumbling over and over through nothingness into a new world, I gaze on the madness between my thoughts. The rush of motion slows slightly, and I seem to flip over one more time before hitting the ground. Touching down far more gracefully than I would have thought, I immediately take in my surroundings. It’s a dim room, with many colors of light coming from different places, but it’s hard to see more than that yet. Everything is blurry.
Sound is a strange thing. Vibrations in the air. I think someone is playing a cello. A string of some kind, anyway. Stringed instrument, I mean. Ugh. Words are hard even in my mind. I can hear water boiling, and what seem very much like the sounds of pleasure – a supposition supported by the smell of sex. My vision is clearing, and I can see figures which are clearly people. I try to stand, but my sense of equilibrium is compromised.
Oh. It’s a party. Obviously. Those lights are lava lamps and string lights. The haze is smoke. The boiling sound is a bong. I smell the air again. And… a hookah? Did I wake up in 2010? Ugh. Maybe I did. I massage the pain in my temples as I mourn the mismanagement of the playlist. I can feel the bass in the air from the aggressively amateur DJ trying to make a house party feel like a club.
This is very strange. I was sure that wasn’t a dream. I remember a whole day in… wherever that was. Vividly. Still, things here are clearing up. The fog is lifting while there it only got thicker. I can remember deciding to go to this party, and I can remember getting here, which is a comparatively good sign. I think my compromised balance is because I’m a bit drunk… Maybe the combination of things just knocked me out? I’ll get it back. I somehow feel like this isn’t the first time I’ve blacked out like this, but everything is so fucking blurry.
“Hey!” Someone yells cheerfully at me from across the room.
I recognize them, but I don’t know their name. “Hey,” I reply as they traverse a sea of bodies to reach me.
“I haven’t seen you in weeks. What’s up with that?”
“I don’t know,” I stall, then start improvising, “I’ve just been busy with school, mostly,” I had definitely not been, even before my sojourn to that strange place, “and I’ve been trying to solve a bit of a mystery for a friend who got blackout drunk and wants to retrace her steps.”
“Wow,” they say in surprise, “That’s… really nice of you. You’re a good friend.”
“Thanks, Gretchen.” Apparently I’ve remembered their name. Not sure on the pronouns, though. I can feel that I know something relevant, but the bulk of my memory is still largely obscured or distorted.
“Can I ask who it is?”
“Azami.” I say, surprising myself by knowing the answer instantly.
“Pushing it now, can I ask what happened?”
“I’m not sure that I’m completely at liberty to divulge that information,” I say, covering the hole in my memory momentarily, “Besides, the investigation isn’t complete.”
I’m feeling better. Not great, but better. I can feel the fog begin to clear. I don’t know whose party I’m at though. Without responding to my last statement, Gretchen leans over and says quietly, “I miss you.”
My first response to her tone is to urgently think ‘What does that mean?’ before attempting to answer in a reasonable fashion. “I miss you too,” I tell her, though the tone of my voice does not seem to emphasize any agenda in particular.
“I like you a lot,” she says.
I smile, remembering a bit more. “I like you too. We should see each other soon. You know, the two of us.”
“I’d like that.”
“Good.”
“What about somewhere quieter right now?”
“Huh?” I ask, sheepishly.
“The bedrooms upstairs are surprisingly soundproof, and I know at least one of the guys is at his girl’s place tonight.”
“Oh,” I say, trying to arrest the widening of my eyes before my dopey appearance eradicates the appeal I seem to be otherwise exuding. With an unfamiliar smile whose charm I can feel on my face, I say “Yeah. I’d like that.”
She stands up again, pulls me to my feet, and leads me toward the stairs. They’re right by the front door, so we pass by literally everyone at the party, and at least half of them have surmised what we’re doing. It is a little embarrassing, but also a little gratifying. Gretchen leads me to a room at the far end of the hall, with a slanted ceiling on one side. The bed in the room is tucked partly under it, so once we’ve ripped each other’s clothes off, we climb onto it facing the wrong way to avoid hitting our heads while in the throes of passion.
It is an odd thing to fuck someone for the first time in a random third party’s bed, but I find that I’m totally, recklessly unconcerned, just like her. I pin her down and kiss her, then wait a moment. She smiles at me and asks me “What’s next?” with her eyes. I move my hand to her throat, gently taking hold but applying no pressure at all. She bites her lip and nods slightly, and I squeeze just a little as I reach between her legs and under her skirt. I am elated by what I feel.
Changing roles very abruptly, she wriggles free, takes hold of my sides and rolls me onto my back quite forcefully. She climbs atop me, then puts her hand on my throat, and touches my very hard cock with her other. Just as she smiles at me and takes aim and prepares to slide me into her, the world becomes still again, and that cold, artificial quiet I felt before sets in. Moments later, I feel myself falling away from her, just as she sinks onto me.
Once again, I am falling between real places through no place at all. Having been through it once before, I am less terrified and more interested, but I’m still afraid. What if I don’t land where I came from, and I just keep waking up forever? What if I never land?
