The Recovery of Passion

Christine rolled over in bed staring longingly at her husband. She could see the gentle swell of his cock through the sheets and she wanted it inside of her.

She nudged him playfully, trying to get his attention

"So what is a hot guy like you doing in a place like this?" Christine asked, doing her best to make her voice sultry and inviting

"ha ha" Alex said opening one eye to look at her, sleep still heavy on his face. "Why are you waking me up so early? I don't have to be up for another 20 min."

"I thought we could have some fun, I see part of you is very alert this morning." she said glancing at his cock.

"Not today, I have a presentation in the office to give and I need to focus on that." he said. He rolled over again resting for a moment before sitting up and making his way ploddingly over to the closet for a change of clothes and then out of the room.

She stared longingly as he left, frustrated again over his lack of interest.

After nearly 13 years of marriage their love life simply was not all that it was cracked up to be in the bedroom. Although they loved each other dearly, and had two wonderful children to show for it, their sex simply was not what had been. Once a passionate and rowdy affair, their love life had taken a decidedly mechanical turn as the pressures of work and family life left them both drained by the end of the day. Various efforts had been tried, costumes, toys, even some light bondage had been introduced in order to try and spice things up. But in the end nothing had really worked and they had dropped off to having sex around once a month and on special occasions, and even those occasions were usually brisk and uneventful.

She was sexually frustrated and she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do about it anymore. In every other way that mattered her husband was virtually perfect. He cleaned the house and provided for the family, he was even amazing with the kids, he just didn't seem like he was interested in having sex with her anymore. Alone in bed Christine decided to get some satisfaction of her own, something that had become a bit more of a routine lately than she cared to admit. She slid her hand down under the flimsy dress that she wore to bed,  and finding the spot between her legs she rubbed her fingers back and forth along the tender flesh of her aroused slit. She moaned quietly at the stimulation to her long neglected pussy. Although her husband wasn't interested lately she had always prided herself on her hygiene and she kept herself free of hair below her head. She thrilled at the touch on the smooth skin and the moisture that was already gathering there under her skilled touch.

In her minds eye she pictured her husbands hands on her instead of her own, his hands on her flesh, sliding up her shirt and grasping her breasts in passion desperate to have her in his arms again as he once had. Christine had always loved the feeling of his hands on her breasts and her nipples quickly reacted to the stimulation of her hands, rising and hardening under her fingers as she teased and manipulated them.The  fingers in her pussy increased their speed, sliding up and down her sensitive slit before diving inside. With two fingers she plunged inside, her hips bucking involuntarily at the sudden intrusion of the exploring digits.

In her mind her husband took her passionately, throwing her onto her back and forcing her legs apart, eager to dominate and control her in his lust. His hands and mouth explored her body, the sensation of their skin and their bodies pressing together and powerful aphrodisiac she knew. He took command of her body, and her legs spread apart he exposed her most private places to his touch, her body his to dominate.

She moaned in passion, her fantasy working her ever closer to her long awaited orgasm and the release it would bring with it.

He slid his erect cock along the length of her pussy, delighting in teasing her to ever higher levels of lust and expectation until she begged to have his cock inside of her.

"Oh god just fuck me..." she moaned into the empty room

Obliging the fantasy of her husband slammed his cock into her, his balls slapping against her ass as he sunk deep inside her. Working with furious speed he pounded her tender pussy, using her body as his sexual object. He grunted in delight as he watched her enormous breasts bounce and bob with his efforts.

"OH GOD YESS!" she cried out, forgetting to muffle herself in the throes of her passion. Her body rock and shook as she exploded into a mind numbing orgasm. In her fantasy her husband was able to cum at the same time, emptying his load into her and filling her with his cum.

She had always loved the sensation of his hot cum filling her up, it was usually enough all by itself to push her over the edge into an orgasm, though having to clean it up after was always something of a pain. She had noticed that cumming in a woman was something of a fetish that every man she had known had possessed, and she was glad that her own fetish matched up so well in this respect

She sighed to herself as her passion and her fantasy collapsed, leaving her again in an empty room. Instead of being left with a load of cum in her pussy like she would have preferred she was left with a sore wrist and some sticky fingers.

She rested in bed a few minutes, thinking of all that she had to do during the day. Her morning release had become something of a tradition, although she would much prefer her husband joining her in this ritual, and the time after she came was often the calm before the storm. She knew that soon her children would be up and getting ready for school, if she hadn't accidentally woken them up already when she came, and she would have to jump in the shower quickly if she was going to be ready to cook them breakfast by the time they were up.

Picking out a red dress she pondered what underwear to wear that day. She settled for a beige pair that were extremely comfortable. One of the downsides to having large breasts was the corresponding back problems, not to mention the added cost for underwear, and as a result she did not own many pairs that were what many would call "sexy", which was something that her husband had complained about often. She thought for a moment about getting online and ordering some sexy lingerie to see if her husband would be interested in her then... but she just as quickly dropped it. The cost and added effort that it would require to find something in her size would make the effort humiliating if he ended up turning her down anyway. She thought sometimes that it was just easier not to try than to try and be rejected. Which was, she thought sarcastically to herself, perhaps part of the problem.

She had also considered going to marriage counseling but aside from their sex lives they really didn't have any other major problems, and the thought of going to a sex therapist was simply to embarrassing to consider, not to mention her husband would absolutely forbid either of those options as he wouldn't want to air their problems to a stranger. In the end she was simply doomed to celibacy and her morning ritual, she thought to herself sadly.

Gathering up her clothes she headed into the master bathroom, she dropped her clothing in the bin that was specially for her. Her husband had a touch of OCD, and had insisted that they have their own dirty clothes hampers. She examined herself in the mirror. She pushed and poked at her stomach, sucking it in a little in a vain effort to hide the slowly growing roll of fat that middle age had brought to her. Yoga and nightly runs had toned most of her body but there was just a little bit of a pooch that she simply could not get completely rid of. Her large E sized breasts hung slightly, and she played with her nipples, absently pulling up each breast by the nipple and letting it drop down again. Having two children had not passed without having left a mark on her body, but she was proud of how she looked, toned and tan. A length of dark brown hair that bordered on black hung to just below her collarbone framing her face in the mirror. She pondered whether or not to wear her hair up or down today before deciding that the headache she would get from having it in a bun all day wasn't worth it.

She stepped into the shower jumping back in surprise as a sudden chill ran through her as the water took slightly longer to warm up than usual this morning. She sighed as the water gradually worked its way up to the proper temperature.

She had always enjoyed showers, something about the way skin felt when it was covered by a sheen of water, slick and smooth always made her feel more erotic. Shower sex was always the best sex in her mind too. Something about having sex standing up and the way a cock hit her g-spot just right when she was standing always gave her the best orgasms.

She worked the soap into a lather running her hands over her breasts and down between her legs. Although she had just masturbated, cleaning her pussy reawakened her temporarily sated sex drive. She started to slide her hands over her slit again, tempted to try for a second time in the morning.

Her thoughts were however interrupted by the sounds of her children fighting over the shower in the other room. She grumbled to herself but sighed as the moment was lost. Although she had a brief lapse earlier in the morning she tried to be circumsepct in her sexuality and mastuabating when her kids were one paper thin wall away was anything but circumspect.

She finished washing and cleaning herself and got ready for the day.

With all that had been going on between herself and her husband lately she had never felt closer with her children. She went out of her way to make sure that they had a fresh and healthy breakfast made from scratch every day, and that they actually sat down as a family to eat it. Although some early morning grumpiness occasionally interfered with the vibe that she was going for. Her son was not really the morning person that she and her daughter were, all in all it was a part of the day that she valued before her family headed out into the world for the day.

Christine savored the sounds of her family and the home, the little things that let someone know that a family lived here. The her kids moving around the house looking for their school things, the sound of water running as they brushed their teeth and got ready, the sound of the skillet sizzling as she cooked breakfast. It was the little things that she so often took for granted that made such a difference. She set the table for breakfast and closed her eyes, enjoying the morning sun streaming in through the dining room window.

She wasn't sure why but she knew that today was going to be a good day.

***

Christine pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket. Circling the long lanes hunting for a parking spot she mused to herself about the direction that he life had gone. She had never been as sexually frustrated in her life as she was at this point.  With the exception of her frequent masturbation session she could practically join a nunnery given how celibate she had been.

Finding a spot and pulling in she headed into the store. She pulled the list of items the family needed out of her purse and started meandering her way around the store, taking the scenic route as it were, to the items on her list. She was grateful to get out of the house, with her husband at work and her kids in school much of her day was spent alone with only the cats and the TV for company. The joys of domestic life.

"Oh Christine! How are you doing?" a voice asked

"Hmm?" Christine said, she had been so lost in her own musings she had nearly run into another cart. She realized that it was her neighbor Lori from down the street. Lori was someone who Christine had a secret crush on since they had met. Not normally one to fall for the fairer sex everyone had at least one they would bend the rules for, Lori was her one. Bright red hair and a bubbly personality made her a joy to be around. It also helped that she was blindingly beautiful. Skin that was nearly flawless drew the eyes into the swell of her breasts which rose to stand proudly on her chest. She had been blessed in the genetic lottery with graceful curves and an outstanding figure that made Christine both envious and lustful.

"Oh hi Lori" Christine said, she did her best to mask her confusion after being snapped out of her private thoughts so abruptly. The two women embraced and Christine secretly thrilled at the touch of her skin and the feeling of their breasts pressing together through the thin cloth of her dress.

"I am sorry, I didn't see you there. I have been lost in my own thoughts all day today." Christine joked

"Oh don't worry about it." Lori smiled, her smile just like the rest of her caused Christine's heart to beat a little faster. All she could think about at the moment was what Lori looked like naked, and what it would feel like to take her in her arms, the feeling of her body and their skin pressing together. The thoughts sent an electric jolt down her body and she instantly became aroused.

"How are you doing?" Christine asked, trying hard to keep her eyes off the gentle swell of her breasts.

"Oh you know the same old thing, have to get stuff to make dinner tonight" Lori answered, rolling her eyes as if to communicate her own frustration with the drudgery of daily life.

"Yea I know what you mean, I have to do the same." she said

"Well I will see you later." Lori said, "I have a lot to do today." She maneuvered her cart around Christine and continued her shopping.

"Yea, me too..." Christine said sadly.

She watched as Lori wandered off down the aisle glancing at the objects stacked so carefully for her inspection. Christine's eyes were instantly locked on her buttocks and she practically drooled, she loved the way they moved in her dress, the gentle shift from side to side was graceful in a way that so few could manage. It was almost as though she were dancing through the store, oblivious in her grace. Christine's thoughts went back to the day that she had seen Lori and her husband having sex.

***

She was out taking her evening run when she took a detour from her normal route through the park. It was a path that she had never taken before and  she didn't know yet that it ended in Lori's back yard.

Living up on a small rise Lori's house was a modern work, and the side that faced the park was a massive collection of floor to ceiling windows, allowing the evening light to illuminate the house.

She glanced around and realized where she was, embarrassed at her trespass she was preparing to turn around and head back when a movement caught her eyes. There in the second floor bedroom had stood Lori in all her nude glory. Her legs spread slightly and her breasts exposed proudly, swaying slightly from the movement from behind she stood in front of the picture window as her husband took her from behind.

Christine had quickly ducked behind a tree to avoid being spotted by the couple. Her first instinct had been to sneak away so as not to be caught where she shouldn't be, but something in her begged her to stay and watch.

Lori's husband took a handful of her hair, pulling her body back towards him in and arch as he reached around, cupping her breast with his free hand, which he used as added leverage, his hold giving him the position drive his cock into her with increasing force.

Although Christine could not hear anything from where she was standing she could see the look on Lori's face as her husbands cock pounded into her, her eyes closed in pleasure and her hips rose to meet his thrusts. Her mouth was open, the straight even rows of teeth communicating the sounds of her pleasure as she cried out.

Christine begin to feel herself getting aroused. One hand slid down the front of her running shorts, finding her clit she began to rub, sliding her index and middle finger over her aroused pussy. Her other hand snaked up under her sports bra, mauling one breast. She had never been a voyeur before but the thought that she could watch her neighbor getting fucked turned her on immensely.

Lori dropped to her hands and knees as her husbands thrusts increased in speed, gripping her hips tightly he slammed into her, each thrust sinking all the way into her. Her breasts bounced enticingly with each thrust.

Christine slid two fingers inside her pussy, she bit her lip to prevent her from inadvertently making a sound and giving herself away. She worked her fingers around with increasing speed, matching the timing of her fingers to the thrusts that were driving into Lori's pussy, imagining that their places were reversed.

***

Christine snapped back into the moment, aware that she had been staring off into space for a moment. She blushed as she realized that she was aroused from thinking about her erotic spying. Moisture soaked into her panties as her body reacted to her thoughts. She had been close to griping her breasts and changed the motion rather smoothly to just adjusting her bra.

Gathering up her things she headed through the checkout line and prepared to head back to reality.

***

Christine stopped at an intersection as the light changed to red. Although she had been this route many times before she noticed a store for the first time. A small run down looking porn store shared a parking lot with a few other stores in a shopping complex that had seen better days. This part of town was known to cater to more base desires and in addition to the porn store there were several strip clubs and half a dozen bars within a mile of where she was stopped.

As the light changed she acted on a sudden impulse, steering her car into the parking lot, ignoring the sounds of the horn from the car behind her as she crossed two lanes of traffic without signalling. Finding a spot in front of a run down nail salon she headed towards the store, glancing around to make sure no one was watching as she ducked inside the door, pulling it closed quickly behind her.

The store was surprisingly clean.

She wasn't quite sure what she had expected but the freshly mopped floors and aisles and displays of products was not it. She glanced down an aisle of dildos and was moderately surprised at the variety and selection that was offered. She was not a complete novice when it came to sex toys, her husband had introduced some into the bedroom when their sex life and first started to go down hill but she had never seen the types that they offered here. On particular model had beads inside of it that spun around as it vibrated and had an extra arm that came up, presumably to stimulate the clit at the same time.

The toys went anywhere from the size of her pinky finger all the way up to the size of her arm, that last one in particular was a little disturbing and she could not imagine how that would feel inside of her.

She glanced around at some of the different options that were available, lingering on a small vibrator that was shaped like a tube of lipstick. She still wasn't quite sure why she had come in here until a sign near the back of the store caught her attention. It was an advertisement for some viewing booths.

She headed towards the back of the store and ducked through a doorway. A long hall of doors stretched for the length of the store, each having a number on them and a sign at one end explaining the rates for viewing movies.

For the second time that day Christine took a risk and went against her better judgement. She headed down the hall and choose a booth in the middle of the row, she was surprised at the number of booths that were occupied in the middle of the afternoon on a work day.

She stepped inside the small dark booth. A screen took up the majority of one wall playing a looping recording of the title screen for what was evidently the last video that had been played. There were controls along one side that explained how to choose the video and a spot for payment. Unlike the rest of the store the booth was anything but clean. Graffiti was scrawled across all of the walls depicting various profane statements and illustrations of cocks. Christine peered leerily at a hole that had been cut into one side of the booth, she could see the dim lighting of another booth that appeared to be empty.

She sat down on the chair provided for that purpose and selected a video from the choices provided. With thoughts of Lori still fresh on her mind she decided on a video that appeared to be about two girls in a locker room. She didn't care much about the plot and fast forwarded through the start of the movie until the two young performers finally stripped out of their clothes and got down to business. She was instantly excited when the two women got into the shower and started exploring each others bodies. She loved shower sex and even watching it was better than normal sex.

She hiked up her dress and moved her panties to one side, exposing her pussy to the dark viewing booth. She was already wet and excited from her earlier fantasy about Lori and was ready to go.

She slid two fingers inside biting her lip to stifle herself. Something about masturbating in a dark booth in a seedy porn store made the entire experience more erotic. She thought about the other people in the booths she had passed and the thought of so many people getting off made her incredibly horny.

So involved was she in the video and her private fantasy that she didn't notice the door to the stall next to her open.

All thought of being quiet ended as Christine became more involved in the fantasy, she could almost taste the pussy of the girl on the screen, mixed with the showers water leaving her slick and delicious. She yearned for the touch of another woman, to feel their breasts beneath her hands, the sensuous feeling of their pussy under her tongue and fingers, to work them into a lather and leave them begging for more.

She could feel an orgasm building within her when something caught her eye, distracting her from her fantasy.

Christine gawked at the cock that slid its way through the hole in the darkened booth. Although she was not so naive as to have never heard of a glory hole before she had never thought to find herself in one. The cock bobbed enticingly in front of her, almost as though it were impatient for her to do something. Gingerly Christine took the throbbing member in one hand, her body thrilled at the touch of the warm flesh in her hand and she moaned slightly in anticipation. She began to stroke the strange cock her passion mounting. It had been a long time since she had held a cock in her hands, and longer since she had given anyone a hand job. She could feel the strangers pulse in her hand. She increased the speed of her motion, running her tongue lightly over the head with each motion. All at once a think stream of cum exploded out of the tip erupting onto her face before running down her chin and onto her breasts. She moaned, louder this time as her passion continued to grow. She felt dirty and used, and she found that she loved the experience. The glory hole offered her something that she was missing in her life, free sex with no strings attached.

The first cock withdrew through the hole, its load spent. Christine groaned in disappointment. She started to gather her things, thinking that her fun was at an end when another cock slid through the hole. Immediately she sat down, taking the strange new member in her hands. This time she acted without reserve sliding it into her mouth. She circled the tip with her tongue delighting in the strange taste and feel.

She started to finger herself as she sucked on the strange cock, she hadn't realized how wet she had gotten until her finger slid inside her without the slightest resistance. Although by no means inexperienced in sex, her children attested to that, Christine had only been with two men with her husband being one of them. Thrusting the cock deeper into her mouth she gagged slightly as it hit the back of her throat. She had never gagged before and realized that this man was much bigger than her husband.

Her passion finally at her limit she released the strangers cock from her mouth, dropping her panties completely to the ground she hiked her dress up over her hips exposing her already dripping wet pussy. Taking the cock in one hand she guided it into her wanton hole. She heard a grunt through the wall as it slid home inside of her. She pressed her ass against the wall of the booth forcing the cock deeper inside of her.  She worked her pussy back and forth along the strange cock, almost releasing it from inside her before slamming it back again. She ground herself against the hole wishing that she was in a bed where she could be taken more completely, but simultaneously enjoying the elicit feeling of the cramped and dirty booth. She could feel her orgasm start to build within her, the muscles of her pussy starting to tighten and release rhythmically as it neared. Without warning she felt the cock twitch within her and an explosion of warm cum filled her pussy. She cried out in passion as her orgasm rocked through her body pulling the cum deeper inside her. She pressed her ass against the hole, desperate to have as much cock in her as she came as she possibly could. She collapsed onto the dirty floor of the booth, her orgasm taking the strength from her legs, she lay there, enjoying the afterglow as she watched the strange cock withdraw through the hole. She could feel the slow trickle of cum leaking out from between her legs onto the already dirty floor and wondered what she would tell her husband if she got pregnant.

She gathered up her things as she prepared to leave, she decided to forgo wearing panties again today, both because of how wet they already were from her earlier excitement, but also because it made her feel a little reckless to be exposed like that. She would have to be careful and clean herself up before her husband got home so that he wouldn't be suspicious. Instead of releasing her sexual desire she found herself more turned on then she had ever been, she was eager for more strange cock and decided that she would have to visit this place again.

She felt a momentary twinge of guilt, she supposed that many would consider what she had just done cheating on her husband. Although she loved her husband dearly he simply was not interested in having sex with her at the moment and she had needs that had to be met. She vowed that she would never have a romantic relationship with another man, and would never pass up sex with her husband if he was interested. But she would continue to explore her sexuality and satisfy her desires.

Trent 02 - The Shadow Rises

ell.... I guess this ring has some magic to it after all..." Trent said to himself. He backed away slowly avoiding the pitfalls of his roommates room. He wasn't entirely sure how it had happened, but he was very sure that he had somehow just found himself inside another person's dream. An event which, had he been asked the day before, he would have told you was impossible in anything other than a campy sci-fi movie.

 Returning to the cramped and dirty living room Trent searched for the letter that had come with the ring. He had just kind of tossed it aside after giving it a cursory reading earlier.

At the time it had seemed unimportant, a mere scrap of yellowed paper on a trinket someone had left on his front door. Now however it seemed slightly more important.

His eyes caught sight of a glint of yellowed parchment sticking out from under the edge of the couch. Trent dived for the parchment, bruising his knees and his ego slightly in his haste.

Trent read the letter again, studying every line as through his life depended on it. He had always been taught that if something was too good to be true than it probably is. There is always a catch. Trent read the letter out loud:

To whom it may concern

Don this ring and you may find

A way to tread another's mind.

The power to go from here to there

As easily as you breathe the air

A word of warning you should mind

Do not seek what you should not find

For darkness rests within us all

and it may bring about your downfall

"Don this ring and you may find, a way to tread anothers mind." Trent said,  "Well there is nothing overly confusing about that." He supposed that technically he had been in her dreams, though that could easily be considered part of her mind.

"The power to go from here to there, As easily as you breathe the air" he read. This line was a bit more confusing. Did it mean that it would make him strong and able to keep going long distances without getting tired as easily as he breathed? Or did it mean something more esoteric, like that he could teleport?

"Do not seek what you should not find." He mused to himself.

"That sounds ominous" a voice said from behind him

"holy shit!" Trent exclaimed in surprise, he jumped involuntarily. He hadn't heard his roommate come up behind him, so focused as he had been on reading the letter.

"Jumpy much?" she asked, giving him an inquisitive look. "Since when have you taken to writing brooding poetry?" she enquired

"It's not mine, I found it in the hall" He said. He knew he looked guilty, he always did when he lied, and he knew as well that she could see right through him.

She raised an eyebrow and said nothing, letting the silence sit between them for a moment.

He tried to reach out to her mind the way he had before. His senses could detect her in the way they always had, but it was almost as though he had a new sense. Her mind almost vibrated in front of him, sending off stray signals like sparks from a campfire. It was confusing and he was unsure what to make of it. So many thoughts flitted through her mind that he felt like he was going to have a seizure trying to grab onto every stray spark.

"why is he looking at me like that" came a thought. "is he looking at my tits?"

He traced that thought back to the center, ignoring the stay thoughts and perceptions that bombarded him as he immersed himself in her mind. He could feel her growing anxiety and frustration as on the surface silence continued unbroken between them. To the outside observer it would look like he was simply staying at her.

"maybe I can try calming her" he thought to himself. He reached the core, he smothered the fire, trying to calm the vibrations and emanations that were erupting from her. He immediately felt her mind rebel, fighting against his touch.

"what is going on!?" came the thought.

He ignored the thought and focused on enforcing his will upon her.

"shhhhh, be calm" he commanded

With this final command he felt her resistance to his presence crumple beneath his touch. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped towards the ground.

Trent jumped to catch her, grabbing her around her waist as she collapsed. He struggled against her limp weight, trying to ignore the feeling of her breasts pushing up against him.

He carried her over to the couch, trying in vain not to let her dragging feet make a mess as they knocked over piles of objects. He set her gently on the couch and covered her with a blanket, trying to think what else he should do.

"I guess I was a bit too heavy handed there" he said to himself, "Instead of just calming her down I put her to sleep."

Trent felt her mind as she slept, the fires of consciousness still burned within it, however it had dimmed significantly from before. He was not sure what would happen if it went out all together but he was sure that he did not want to find out right now. He did his best to stoke it, under his gentle caress it slowly started to brighten.

He glanced at the clock that hung by the door. He hadn't realized that so much time had passed. He realized that he must have spent more time in Eva's dream and playing with the ring than he had thought. He had always heard that time passed more quickly in dreams than it did in the waking world. Leaving Eva to sleep peacefully, her breathing slow and even as she rested in a deep dreamless sleep he moved to go change into his uniform and get ready for work.  Trent always prided himself on being clean cut and professional in his attire, his uniform crisp and clean, but today would have to be an exception to that rule.

Rustling through his closet he found his uniform shirt in the back, carefully segregated from his casual clothes, the way you might segregate a patient with a dangerous infection to keep it from spreading. When he had started his job he had liked the way the uniform made him look, he had found the stripes and colors made him look dashing, now he felt more that it screamed of minimum wage and long hours being yelled at for just doing his job. The one recompense for the downside of his job was the people he worked with. The nurses and doctors at the clinic where he spent so many of his waking hours were kind and friendly, in many ways giving him the motivation he would otherwise have been lacking to attend work so consistently.

Grabbing his coat on the way out Trent wound his way through the maze like corridors that honeycombed the inside of the building. Many times when he had first moved into his building he had become turned around, ending up at blank hallways and dead ends before finally memorizing the path to his apartment. The upside of the building he lived in was that in the heart of downtown Portland it was close to everything and even had a pub on the ground level that he enjoyed dining at on a regular basis. The downside was that every hallway looked the same, and while the building was well insulated the sounds of the city never really stopped.

He stepped out into the late afternoons sunshine and closed his eyes momentarily in enjoyment. The sounds of the twin fountains that guarded the front of the building cast a soothing cascade of sound that he had always found peaceful. Rain and frequent gray skies aside, Portland was a lush, green city that he wouldn't trade for anything.

A new sound intruded on his introspection, disturbing the placid moment that he had been enjoying. Senseless and inane chatter surrounded him, sounding as though he had set foot into the middle of a crowded mall instead of the front courtyard of his apartment. But the sound was off, it echoed off walls that didn't exist and pressed into his consciousness in a way that shouldn't be possible, given his close proximity to a foundation that normally did an admirable job of blocking out all sound.

As Trent watched the flood of humanity that crossed in front of his building, the unadulterated flow of individuals owed its presence to his buildings proximity to both the Portland State University campus as well as the normal downtown fare, he realized that the sounds he was hearing was the thoughts of all of the people who were around him. The sounds echoed around each other in a senseless babble of voice. Trent covered his ears to no avail, trying to block out the babble before it overwhelmed him.

He remembered the way that he had adjusted his thoughts when he was listening to Eva. He pictured a dial in his head, reaching back into his mind he adjusted the dial, trying to change the way the power was manifesting the thoughts of those around him. The babble began to recede and changed from a cacophony of sound to a gentle murmuring.

He pictured the thoughts of the people changing from a voice to more of a visual medium. Having always been a fan of the sims he used the framework, forcing it into place. All at once the voices ceased and the normal sounds of the city drifted back around him, wrapping him in a cocoon of normalcy.

Trent opened his eyes and looked around him. A girl passed him heading out to the sidewalk in front of his building, a small green gem hovered over her head, pulsing in time with her thoughts. Looking around him he could see every person around him had a similar object floating above their heads. He found that if he focused on an individual gem he could hear the thoughts emanating from it. Something that he had not expected was the diversity of the colors and appearances. Unlike in the game he had used as a model where every gem was virtually identical, here there were as many shapes and colors as he could imagine, each one unique in its own way, belying the diversity of the individual that they represented. Trent decided that he much prefered this to the way it had presented initially, the gems were virtually unobtrusive while still offering him the chance to snoop when he so desired.

Trent walked down the street towards the bus stop where he always caught the bus to go to work. He passed people heading to and from their jobs and observed the minds of the people around him.

A portly woman with jowls hanging down from her cheeks exhibited a thick, nearly spherical gem somewhat resembling a hamburger in shape, while a grouchy looking elderly man exhibited a gem with sharp spear shaped protrusions protecting an interior that looked delicate and fragile.

As he approached the bus stop one mind in particular immediately caught his attention. It hung above the head of an attractive girl who appeared to be in her late teens or possibly her early twenties. Unlike the other minds he had seen that seemed to exhibit traits that connected with the individual they represented hers appeared to be a stark contrast. She was pretty and put together, a professional shirt and blouse worked well with a gentle brushing of make up, enough to cover any flaws in her skin without overwhelming her natural beauty. Her mind on the other hand radiated pain and despair on such a visceral level that Trent almost stepped back in shock. Her mind had been twisted by something dark and insidious and it was all he could do not to weep in utter empathy with her pain.

Her mind almost seemed as though it was emanating from the bottom of a deep well, struggling through layers of darkness to reach towards the sun the way a twisted skeletal tree still grasps at the sky.

Trent reached into her mind to examine it, instead of hearing a voice the way he had so often before his mind became overwhelmed with an image, an HD video of what the girl was picturing in her own mind. She stood at the brink of an overpass, standing on the pitted concrete barrier looking down at the cars and the sidewalk below. The sensation of both overwhelming dread mixed with a sense of expectancy and resignation. She took a single step into the yawning abyss and her foot caught only air, she tumbled head over heels before smashing into the pavement below with a heart rending explosion.

Trent gasped in shock, ignorant of the looks he was getting from the people around him.

He watched in despair as this vision played itself out over and over again before his eyes. The thought consumed the girl in front of him and twisted her mind, he could sense only the barest of barriers between thought and action. She clearly had been thinking about this for some length of time and very little held her back from making this dream a reality.

In a flash of insight this girls life unspooled before his eyes, abuse and pain from an early age from people who should have been her champions in the world had left its mark and a series of abusive relationships had done little but reinforce her own belief in the futility of life. Although she worked a good job and lived in a nice apartment she had nothing in her life but her cat, no one whom she believed would miss her except for her manager, and only then because of the inconvenience it would take to replace her.

As tears rolled down his cheeks Trent vowed that he would not allow this lost soul to suffer in silence, something had bestowed this gift upon him and while he might not be a knight in shining armor, neither was he a heartless sociopath.

He reached forth gently, caressing her mind with the tenderness and care that one might use to brush the face of a sleeping baby. He sought out the dark places in her mind, the crevices that hid her pain away from the light and shined a beacon of empathy into them. Her smoothed over her rough patches. In her mind as the vision of her own destruction started to play itself out again, but this time he inserted himself into it. As she prepared to step out to meet her oblivion he reached out and caught her, pulling her into the safety of his embrace. The vision shattered in an explosion of light within her mind, so disrupted by this alteration that it could not persist. Someone reaching out and caring about her, without asking for or needing anything in return was such antithesis to this darkness that it could not abide its presence.

This time it was the girl who gasped.

Their eyes met from across the bus stop and somehow she knew that he had reached out to her. Though she couldn't feel the changes that he was making in her mind, she found that her mood had inexplicably improved. She was by no means euphoric, but she was in a better state of mind than she had been before.

Trent relaxed his hold on her mind, breathing a heavy sigh. Working with that level of precision and care had been more mentally taxing than he had realized when he was doing it and he found himself mentally fatigued. When he looked again at the girls mind he saw that it had shifted, although it still looked twisted it was far less dark and distorted than it had been when he started. He saw now that she was thinking about calling someone from work and going over a list of things she needed from the supermarket instead of repeating the vision that had appeared to be so much of an obsession when he had started.

It was at that moment that the bus rolled up to the bus stop. Reaching into his bag Trent pulled out what he called his "fuck off headphones" a large pair of over the ear headphones that he typically wore on the bus in order to prevent awkward conversations with random bus patrons. At times he didnt even have them plugged in when he wore them. Making his way to the back of the bus he sat down alone near one of the windows. As the bus started to pull away from the bus stop his eyes again met those of the girl, she seemed to radiate gratitude, though she clearly was unclear what had happened.

The rest of the day passed in a blur as Trent tried to focus on his work. The lure of peeking into the minds of those around him was almost irresistible, however he found that each mind he listened to wore him out more and more, by the time the day was done he was nearly asleep on his feet in exhaustion.

 ***

Trent walked into the apartment, kicking the door shut behind him as he dropped his bag by the door. He shrugged out of his uniform coat and shoes and sighed in relief. Ever since he had been a kid he had hated wearing shoes, a sentiment that had magnified since he joined the working world. Instead of simply being uncomfortable shoes now represented work as well.

"Im home!" he shouted into the empty room.

"how nice for you!" Eva shouted back from behind the closed door the led to her room. When they had initially moved in together he had thought he was being chivalrous by giving her the master bedroom, though to be honest he figured he probably would have lost if he had tried to fight her for it anyway.

He slid down the hallway to his own room, stopping only momentarily to slip out of his uniform and into a pair of gym shorts and a t shirt, his preferred attire for lounging around at home, and dropped onto his bed with a grunt.

He reached out, finding the warm pulsating ball of thought that emanated from Eva's part of the apartment. He instinctively slipped out of his body and towards her room, like a moth to a flame. He found that by concentrating he could see though her eyes by listening to the thoughts and intercepting the signals.

The process felt a little like possession, and he wondered sarcastically what that would make him. He sunk more deeply into her mind embracing the sensations that she radiated, he could feel the cramp she had in her left calf from stretching earlier in the day, and the sensation of the cold smooth wood under her feet. She opened her eyes, which he only just realized had been closed, and he found that he was in her room. She was looking down at a table where a various assortment of makeup was piled before looking up at herself in the mirror. He found himself instantly aroused when he realized that she was standing in front of her mirror with little but a bra and panties on.

His own mind emanated his arousal, and without meaning to he allowed it to seep outwards. Her nipples hardened and he could feel the processes in her body start to speed up as she began to share his excitement. He realized that this could easily become a feedback loop as he was both aroused, and since he was connected to her mind he could feel her own growing arousal which caused him to become further aroused.

One hand slipped up to her breast and she began to fondle and kneed the soft flesh through the thin material of her bra absent mindedly.

Trent shuddered in his own body, the unexpectedly powerful stimulation she felt as she massaged her breasts caught him unprepared, he could feel his cock harden further causing it to nearly stand at attention.

He sighed as the fatigue started to rest upon him. He wanted so badly to see where he could go with Eva but a day of walking through other peoples minds wore heavily upon him.

"It's amazing how much a life can change in a single day" he thought to himself

He felt himself drifting and pulled his mind back into his room.

In between blinks his room disappeared from around him. He stood on a branch of an enormous tree. Beneath him the world stretched away, clouds drifting in lazy patches beneath him. The tree he stood upon was impossibly large, a single branch easily as thick as a city sidewalk.

"I should be cold" He thought "or unable to breathe"

Although he had never had a lucid dream before it didn't take him long to realize that he must be dreaming. He had been in his bed only moments before, laying down after a long day.

Above him stretched the infinite dome of the heavens, a million blazing stars covering it in broad swaths.

"Well if I am going to dream, I should at least have fun while I am doing it" he thought to himself

Trent reached within himself and altered the dream. Under his touch the dream shifted, changing from the fabulous dreamscape that he had started in to something a little more mundane. The bathroom from his apartment. He shivered as the walls finished solidifying around him firming into reality. They wavered slightly the way the street shifts in the distance on a hot summers day before becoming still. He turned around finding that the bathroom was not empty.

The gentle swishing of water betrayed her presence before, Eva stat in the bathtub a swath of bubbles covering the surface of the water, as well as her stomach and the swell of her breasts.

"I've been waiting for you..." she said demurely. "Come on in, the water is getting a little cold but I bet we can think of some way to warm it up..." she said winking at him

She was wearing a skimpy swim suit that he vaguely remembered her buying during their last outing to the beach when she had wanted to go swimming on the spur of the moment, even though it had been late fall. He had secretly drooled over it, especially given the amount of her firm, tan skin that it had shown off.

He watched as she pulled back the skimpy material of the swimsuit and exposed herself to him.

She laughed in playful joy, pressing her breasts against the window of the shower stall. Trent could  feel his excitement grew as he watched her. She moved with a quiet grace that even in play lent her an elegant air. Her voluptuous curves and casual beauty enticed him and excited a passion that no amount of pornography or adult magazines were ever able to match. There was just something about the real thing, the warmth of flesh and blood that simply couldn't be matched by even the best imitation.

He stripped off his remaining clothing and joined her in the shower. Embracing her he thrilled at the feel of her breasts pushing against him as their bodies intertwined, the heat of the showers water a dim memory in the face of their passion.

As their embrace ended Trent sighed in satisfaction, the taste of her lips still upon his, eyes closed in bliss. He felt a gentle pressure around his cock and his eyes shot open, Eva had sunk to her knees in front of him, her mouth enveloping his manhood. She made swift bobbing motions as she slid her mouth around his shaft, each gesture almost losing his cock from the confines of her mouth, only to envelop it again. He groaned in pleasure, almost erupting in that moment. Her own groan echoed his and he could see one of her hands had slipped down between her legs and began to massage her clit roughly.

Pulling his cock out of her mouth she climbed up to her knees sliding his cock between her enormous sopping wet breasts. She exploited the lubrication of the water that surrounded them and began to slide his cock back and forth between her breasts.

Trent reached behind her grabbing a shoulder in each hand and began to fuck her tits with mounting furver.

As he mounted in his passion he picked her up, lifting her bodily from the showers floor with strength he never would have possessed in the waking world. 

He bent the world around them moving them through force of pure will from the showers stall to the bedroom, collapsing on top of her in the beds soft support.

Lifting her again he pushed her into a kneeling position, her exposed pussy peeking through the back of her legs. He slid his cock back and forth over her opening enjoying the sound of her moans before sliding his cock inside of her

She begged him to fuck her harder, and with his climax nearing he increased his pace slamming his cock into her tight, wet pussy with ever increasing passion. Their minds were consumed in passion and made wanton by its embrace.

With a grunt of passion he grabbed her hips, pulling her against him and sinking his cock into her as deeply as was possible. As he filled her with his cum their minds nearly shattered with the force of a mutual orgasm, the waves of pleasure washing over them both, leaving them as little more than quivering husks as it passed. They rested in each others arms, enjoying the afterglow.

Trent rose as he became aware that something in the room had changed, and that it was a change not of his making. A dark infection spread across the far wall, leaving everything in it path twisted and diseased. Seeping out of the shadows it spread until it had consumed an entire wall of the room. 

Out of the center of the corruption emerged a door. The door appeared as similar to any of the others that would have been found in his apartment, however instead of wood the cold unforgiving gleam of steel reflected the confusion on his face. Untouched by the corruption from which it had emerged the pristine steel door was none the less clad in heavy iron chains, secured to brackets which had been set into the wall.

"Something appears to not want that door to be opened" Trent thought to himself.

He walked over to examine the door, Eva's presence fading away as his attention shifted from their passion to the strange presence which had intruded into their revelry. He touched the chains, feeling a solidity which he hadn't thought would be possible within a dream. While Eva's body had felt real enough in his arms, the chains held a weight that was massive beyond belief, as though crafted from the very fabric of the world around him.  The chains rattled menacingly at his touch.

An immense grinding sound split the air, causing Trent to fall backwards onto the bed in shock. Before his eyes the corruption that had been slowly seeping through the room spread onto the formerly pristine chains. They shuddered and writhed before him, almost seeming like living beings, heaving in shock before being split asunder. The door opened with a screech that spoke to the length of time that it had been closed. The protestations of hinges ended as the door reached its apex and slammed against the wall.

Beyond the door was darkness.

The utter darkness of a grave dug beneath a moonless sky at the last hour before dawn.

Trent felt a wave of cold wash over him and his breath suddenly fogged before his face as the temperature in the room dropped.

The shadows slithered and crawled, coming together to form a shape that was blacker than black. A pair of eyes that glowed like embers in a dying campfire glared balefully out of the shapeless mass of darkness

"You should not have come here" a voice said in Trent's mind. "Long have I been bound, trapped behind a wall... alone... hungry..."

"Who are you?" Trent asked, his voice quivering in fear

"I am what is, what was, and what will be" the voice answered "I have had many names, I am the shadow that follows you in the dark, the spectre that hovers at the edge of your sight, Freud called me the Id and he feared me for my power, for my drive, I am life, I am death, I was present at the start of all things and I will be present at the end of all things."

The shadows gathered together in a rush and gained a sense of solidity. He found himself nose to nose with an mirror image of himself. It was more than just a reverse, it was a reverse in all the ways that mattered, dark where he was light, empty where he was full. The eyes that glared balefully out of his mirror face knew not but lust and hunger.

"I'm you" the voice said.

 Trent's eyes snapped open. He sat up in the room a cold sheen of sweat covered his body and his breath came out in ragged gasps.

He stared around his room, scared about what he might see.

He wanted to believe that everything he had just seen had been nothing but a dream but a voice inside of him questioned this. The line from the letter came into his mind

For darkness rests within us all...