INTO THE VOID

By Atonia Walpole

Part 6:

“Did you like that?” Sid asked Teri as they exited the gates to Schofield’s compound. He told Teri about his confrontation with the warrior.

“It was gross! You made her pull her heart out.”

“It wasn’t a heart. Besides, she wasn’t a she, she was an it. I’m starving. We haven’t eaten all day.”

“I am, too, but that kind of took the edge off my appetite. I’m filthy. Can’t we find a place to clean up before we go eat?”

“Yes, I know a nice little inn. It’s not too far.”

Sid went in to take care of the room while Teri got her overnight bag from the car. The clothes in the bag weren’t clean but at least they were cleaner that what she had on. She came back into the lobby and Sid was waiting on the stairs.

“It’s a nice room with a view.” He walked over to the window. It was the same room he’d shared with Kath. He felt that for a moment and then turned around.

“Yes, it is nice. Where’s your room?”

“My room is your room, your room is my room,” he sang.

“We aren’t sharing.”

“We are. Look what we’ve shared today. Instead of taking a life, I saved one…yours. I’ve never done that before. I’m not sure how I feel about that. It’s rather strange.”

“I haven’t thanked you for that. She…it was going to kill me after it finished with you.”

“There was something that bothered me today,” he said looking at her. “You got into my mind. I saw the sky.”

“Is that all you saw? I was trying to send you what I was seeing, including the warrior.”

“That was all just a brief glimpse of the sky but it was enough, wasn’t it. I found you.”

“Yes…I’m going to take a shower.” She picked up her bag and took it to the bathroom.

Sid walked back over to the window. He didn’t like that she could get into his mind. What could she see, what could she do?

After Sid had cleaned up and brushed his clothes, they went downstairs and had dinner.

“I am so tired and sleepy.” Teri  pushed her empty plate away.

“I, too, am tired. I drove all night and climbed a rock mountain today.”

“We should go up and go to bed…and sleep…in our separate beds,” Teri said, looking into his eyes.

“You’re trying to get in,” he smiled. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Teri went into the bathroom, changed into a nightgown and came out. Quickly pulling the covers down on her bed, she jumped in and covered up. Sid casually undressed in front of her, down to his close-fitting boxers.  He walked over and closed the curtains, feeling her eyes on him.

Teri couldn’t help but look. He had a great body. The way the muscles moved over his shoulders when he pulled the curtains…she took a breath and turned, facing the wall, plumping the pillow under her head. She heard him get into bed and reach over and turn out the light.

“Teri…you were very good today.”

“…so were you,” she said.

Sid woke at dawn and sat on the side of his bed watching Teri sleep in the semi-darkness of the room. He touched her gently with his mind, a little unsure of her and what she was capable of. She wasn’t like Kath. He touched her a little more boldly and she moaned. He withdrew. He chided himself. What was he afraid of? He could do what he wanted with her. He could get in bed with her and touch her with his hands instead of his mind. He wanted to…he wanted her. He almost jumped when saw that her eyes were open and she was looking at him.

Teri woke aroused. When she opened her eyes she saw him sitting there watching her. He wanted her and was afraid, she felt that. She wanted him, too, and she was afraid of what he was. He was human and then he wasn’t. She could see that in his eyes. They changed constantly.

“I wouldn’t hurt you,” he said.

“I believe you.” She felt her breathing increase slightly.

“There are a lot of bad things inside of me, hundreds of bad people who would do terrible things to you. I have learned to control these tendencies. It’s not easy, but I’m strong. I am the strongest personality and it’s my own, it’s developed by itself. I control the others. I would never hurt you.”

“No, no, and I wouldn’t let you hurt me.”

“I want to get in your bed.”

“I know you do. I know you could whether I wanted you in it or not. Thank you for asking.”

Sid moistened his lips. “You want me to.”

“Yes.” Teri pulled the covers back and moved over. Sid lay down beside her, touching her face, her hair, her shoulders, and feeling her breasts through the thin nightgown. She tugged it over her head and his shorts followed to the floor. Teri ran her hands up his back and down over his firm buttocks. He kissed her deeply.

Sid had never experienced anything like this. He wasn’t guiding her, playing with her mind. She was doing it all on her own because she wanted him. When he entered her she wrapped her legs around him, drawing him deeper inside. He wanted it to last forever and he tried until he felt her climax. He came in a rush of feelings he’d never felt before. He wanted to stay joined with her but his human body betrayed him so he rested his head on her breast.

“What have you done to me?” he whispered.

“It’s called making love,” she whispered back.

“I don’t know love.” He raised up on an elbow. “I’ve never had love.”

 She touched his face. “You won’t like it. The side effects are terrible.”

The side effects were already making themselves known on the trip back to LA. Sid didn’t want to leave the inn. There was so much more he wanted to know, wanted to experience. He seemed to be moving along with a flow he had no control over. He didn’t like it.

“When we get there you will stay with me,” he stated.

“No, I won’t. I’m going home. I have things to do. I have my work, Sid. I’ve got to make up for the money I lost on this deal.”

“You will have no money worries. I have a lot of money. I will take care of you.”

“Well, thanks but no thanks. I can take care of myself. I need to go home. I have plants that need watering, things in my house that need taking care of.”

She couldn’t do this to him. “No, I want you, Teri. You will be mine and live with me. I can’t let you go.”

“I’m only going home, Sid. It’s not like we won’t see each other. We’ll go out.”

“No, we will not go out. We will stay in. I want to know about love. You can teach me…I can’t let you go.”

 “I will tell you this, Sid. One of the best ways I know to kill love is to start telling me what I can and can’t do, to hold me against my will. You can’t force love. It’s something that builds slowly. It’s very complicated.”  She wasn’t sure exactly what she felt for him. Was it love? Love was a big word. She was sexually attracted to him and couldn’t deny that. What could she teach him of love…what did she know about it, anyway?

Sid drove in silence, thinking about what she said. His instinct was to take her to his penthouse and keep here there but he wanted her to love him again. He didn’t want to kill that.

Part 7:

Sid pulled into the parking garage of his apartment building. “You will please come up stairs with me?”

Teri fiddled with the strap of her bag. “I’d really like to go home for awhile.”

Sid got out of her car but he didn’t hand her the keys. “I’m being nice about this. I would like for you to come upstairs with me.”

“Sid, I’ve been on the road for two days and through a…horrible experience on that mountain and then there’s you…I want to go home and think about things and get myself together. I want to water my plants, take my trash out. I have a home I need to take care of.”

“If you go home you will forget about me, you will…take me out with the trash. I’ve been looking for someone like you and then you found me and I knew it would be you that I would have.  I can have you. I can make you come upstairs with me, but I found out it’s better when you want to.” He tried to probe her and see where she was with this but she wouldn’t let him get inside of her mind.

“You’re right. It is better when I want to and right now I don’t. I’m not saying I don’t care about you because I do. I do care…I just haven’t figured out what that means yet. I’ll give you my phone number and you can call me or I can call you. I’ll come and see you and you can come and see me. But if you think you’re going to keep me prisoner up there in that penthouse then it’s not going to work for me and it won’t work for you, not the way you want it to.”

Sid walked away from the car and looked down at her keys in his hand. Conflicting thoughts went through his head and he squeezed the keys tight before turning and walking back to her side of the car where she waited with her bag.  He stood very close to her, still looking down at the keys.

“If I let you go it is because I am trusting you. You understand how I am thinking right now? I don’t want you to go because I…I care, too. I don’t want to force you to do anything because I care too much.” He placed the keys in her hand and covered it with his.

Teri’s fingers closed around the keys and she reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you.”

Sid touched his cheek where she kissed him then stepped away from the car while she put her bag back inside and went around to the driver’s door.

“I will see you very soon,” she said, got in the car and backed it out and left.

Sid leaned against the concrete wall and fought down all the angry, violent things he wanted to do. He went to the elevator and to his penthouse. Pacing back and forth did not help. He felt as though he might explode. The walls could not contain him. He had to get out.

Teri lay back in her bathtub, closing her eyes. Part of her wanted to take Sid in her arms and love him and show him how to love. She’d never met anyone who had never known what love was. The other part of her wasn’t sure she could deal with what he was.  He had explained his existence to her on the way back to LA. It wasn’t something you could take home to mama. And yet that childlike wonder he had for new experiences, even food like ice cream, made her smile and in bed…ooohh! She ducked herself under water.

He didn’t know what time it was and for a brief moment had no idea where he was. He was in a section of the city he’d never been in before. Only the skyline gave him a clue. He began to walk quickly looking for a taxicab to take him home. A more populated street brought a little traffic and finally a cab that he flagged down.

“You been in an accident?” the driver asked as he punched his timer.

“I don’t know,” Sid replied and looked down at his clothes. They were smeared with…blood he discovered upon tasting it.

“Well, you’re lucky somebody didn’t knock you on the head or worse. This is a bad part of town to be in after dark.”

“What time is it?” Sid asked.

“Ah, 3:32 AM to be exact. Where can I take you?”

Sid gave him the address and sat back on the seat. He had lost the last seven hours and had no clue where the blood came from or how he got there. He had lost control of himself. He sat very still with his hands in his lap until he reached his apartment, paid the driver and went upstairs.

He removed his clothes and bundled them into a trash bag then got in the shower. The blood did not come from him. He had no cuts or bruises. He looked at himself in the full length mirror when he got out of the shower. He looked as he always did. Walking up to the mirror, he looked into his own eyes. “I am not a monster. I am not. I am loved.”

He found it hard to sleep, tossing and turning until he finally gave up around six, got out of bed made coffee and carried his cup to the computer room. Teri hadn’t given him her phone number but it didn’t take him long to find it. He sipped his coffee, staring at the number on the screen. He also found her email address and sent her a message. I need you. Please come... Sid

Teri woke from a sound sleep, stretched, got out of bed, made coffee and watered her plants while it dripped. Taking her cup to the computer on her kitchen counter, she checked her mail. The only one she opened was Sid’s message.

Her phone rang somewhere in her purse and she dug it out. It was Sid asking if she got his message and could she please come.

“Okay, give me a couple of hours. I’ve got some things to do and I'll be there, I promise.”

“Two hours is a long time but I will wait for you.”

When she arrived at his door, he pulled her into his arms and buried his head in her neck.

“It hasn’t been that long, Sid,” she said cheerfully.

He pulled away, looking into her eyes. “It’s been too long. You can’t leave me again.”

Teri thought he looked tired. “You didn’t sleep, did you?”

“No, I don’t think so.” He turned away. “I can’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

“Nothing…you’re here now and everything will be okay.” He took her by the hand and led her to the sofa, pulling her down beside him. “I’m so happy you came,” he smiled, touching her face with his finger tips.

“You said you needed me.”

“Yes, and you responded. You are here. I was right in trusting you. I should never have doubted you.” His stomach growled and he looked down, surprised, then back up at Teri.

“When did you last eat? Your tummy is trying to tell you something.”

“I don’t know. I ate with you, yes, when we stopped for dinner. That was it.”

“Do you have food here?”

“No, only drinks.”

“You eat out all the time?”

“There’s a restaurant downstairs in the building. They send food up when you call and order. I haven’t ordered anything. I didn’t know I was in need of food. All I needed was you.”

“Well, I won’t fill your stomach. Where’s the number? I’ll call and order something for you.”

“And for you, too.” He got up for the menu that was lying on his table and brought it to her.

He had on dark blue silk pajama pants. Teri wondered if he had any idea just how sexy…

“This is good,” he interrupted her train of thought.

“Okay, I’ll order for two but I want pancakes with blueberry syrup.”

“Blueberry? I don’t know blueberry.”

“I’ll let you taste,” Teri smiled and he delighted in her smile, snuggling down into the sofa while she dialed a number.

No bad thoughts came to Sid’s mind when she was with him. He would have to keep her. He would do what he had to for that to happen.  He smiled back and kissed the back of her hand while she ordered breakfast for two.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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