Reality kicks in, hard (CH07E11)

Only after the third time she called his name, Patty saw him walking through the doorway. Mark was already getting ready to leave, assuming that his friend didn't feel well enough today to have any visitors. Even though it had been quite a while since the accident, he was still groggy every now and then and his friend respected this. Giving him all the time he needed to recover.
When he entered the kitchen and grabbed for his tea he was shivering. And without any apparent reason he told Patty that once he owned a dog, when he had been a child. But that was then and he felt like he needed a new pet. Something living that would walk around the house when he would not be there and that would greet him when he would come home. Maybe he would go to the animal shelter and save a cat of a miserable fate.
Patty noticed the sweat on his forehead and when he turned towards her she could see in his eyes that something terrible was wrong. As he turned towards her she stepped back. As if it were a dream she grabbed behind her, felt her hand tighten itself around one of the kitchen knifes. Before she knew what happened she swung around and yelled at the man she had loved unconditionally minutes before to step back, to put the mug with hot tea back on the counter and leave her the hell alone.
As this scene unfolded itself before Mark's eyes he noticed a soaring pain on his arms. And when he looked at his arms, trying to understand what was causing this pain he heard Patty scream in utter agony. He looked up, just in time to see a hot stream of tea splash into his face, burning into his eyes. Without thinking he covered his eyes with his hands and that was when a sharp knife cut deep into his fingers. Two fingers of his right hand almost came of completely. His screams mixed with the high pitched howling of Patty who was lying on the floor. Her lover on top of her, pushing the fingers of one hand gently into her eyes and nostrils. With the other hand he wielded the knife, with an elegant move he swung his arm around himself and Mark saw the flash caused by the reflection of the light on the blade move from left to right. His legs fell from underneath him. Startled he looked down and saw that his legs were still there, but they wouldn't respond to the commands his brain was sending to them. Blood gushed on the floor from his knees. Mark's knees were cut and now the blade glided through the air towards his achilles. He tried to kick at his friend. Still Mark looked at him as his friend. When Mark dropped to the floor, Patty felt her brain literally being probed by her lover. Fingernails scratching the surface of her frontal lobe. Through her eye sockets, her eyes were dangling on her cheeks, he pushed his fingers deeper and deeper into her head. She cried, as loud as her body could. Her brain was no longer giving the orders, it was dismantled, she reacted. It was all she could. Her eyes still seeing what was happening. And she not been in this position she would have wondered how her eyes could still see, yet she could not think. Her senses were all she still had, all that defined her now. She was alive because she sensed. "I sense therefore I am", she would have thought under more normal circumstances.

Everything turned black and loosing her sight scared her more than anything else. She heard Mark plead to him to stop. To stop cutting him. She smelled the mixed scent of vomit, sweat and blood. She felt herself emptying her blather and the sour stench of her urine mixed in with the rest of the so human smells. She felt how one of her nostrils tore open, a finger being pushed deeper and deeper into her nose. She heard how one of the drawers was opened and then she heard the ringing noise of utensils, which was followed by the coldness of metal on her skin. Than that feeling was gone, replaced by the agony of a fork being jammed into her thigh with brute force. The pain made her loose consciousness.

Mark was still on the floor. Although for some reason the pain in his legs had subdued, he was too shocked to react. Seeing in front of him his friend mutilating his girlfriend. Something was wrong he thought. There was something missing in all of this, but he couldn't put his finger to it. There was definitely something amiss, but it wasn't tangible. He looked at his legs, still there underneath him. Feeling pain but not responding to anything. He looked at his friend again who dug his hands with great ease into the eyes of Patty, deeper and deeper. Her eyes popped out of her skull, dangling on her cheeks. Than the knife that had severed his legs cut her eyes loose. When they rolled onto the floor Mark threw up. Soundless. There was nothing he could do. Patty's head moved from left to right as if she was looking for something. He saw the eyes being picked up by bloody hands. Fingers used as tweezers carefully held the two eyes. Mark's gaze met his and this was when Mark realized what was missing. There was no emotion. There was no emotion at all. Not with him, not with his friend. No sorrow, no love, no hate, no happiness, no emotion at all. Too late he realized that his mind had wandered of and he hadn't seen the two hands clenched into fists coming. They hit his nose hard. The second time he saw them coming. He raised his own hands in defense. Protecting his nose which was broken and bleeding. But the fists didn't target his nose this time, they opened up and he felt both hands touch his skull simultaneously. Not with force, but almost gently. Still his skull cracked open and despite the pain he stayed conscious. Ten fingers dug into his brain. Poking holes in it, without killing him. Than the smelled urine, not his own. Patty must have urinated on the floor and he was disgusted by this thought. He was amazed that he could still think.
But not for long, two hands slowly found their way into his body. Squeezing every organ in his body, hurting him. Slowly killing him.

Then it all stopped. It was over. The world was dark and empty. And when Mark realized this, he died. Seconds after Patty was killed by the man she felt so fond of.

Five days later the police arrived at his doorstep after Mandy had called them. She hadn't heard from Mark or Patty for that matter since the week before.

Back to normal (CH07EP10)

Weeks went by and his wound healed completely. Only a few scars where visible. Barely. Her attention had diverted from his wounds to him and they grew closer every day.
He still had his mysteries, she clearly didn't know him as well as she would've liked, but then again it was not knowing everything that made their relation so special, was what she was telling herself.

After a while he seemed to pick up his old activities again and when she was at work he would 'roam the planet, looking for opportunities' as he put it so often. She had no clue as to what that meant but every time he'd returned from one of these trips he seemed to have replenished his energy somehow.
One day she returned from work and she found him in the kitchen, bare chested with his hands in the sink. His shirt was on the floor, all bloody and when he grabbed for a towel she saw his hands red. Startled she asked him if he was alright. He turned around and with a big grin on his face he told her he was better than alright. He was actually so well that he had invited their friends for diner that night. On the menu; deer. On his drive home, he'd hit a deer that was crossing the road, the deer had survived the crash, but barely and he had taken it out of its misery.
His face didn't show any emotion, none at all. This struck her as odd. At least he should have been showing some emotion telling her this. Some sadness, compassion, maybe lust. Lust would have been weird, but no emotions at all was even weirder. She dismissed it, it was probably due to the adrenaline or something.
He told her he had been working the deer the whole afternoon, preparing it and tendering it. Now it was in a hole in their backyard smoldering. It would have to stay there for another 3 hours before he could put it on the barbecue. It would be the best piece of meat she had ever had. This was his promise to her.
She was just glad she hadn't been in the car when the deer had hit him. Where was the car she asked him. He'd taken it for repairs because hitting a deer was like driving into a brick wall. The better part of the car's front was gone. It would take a day or 2 for the repairs and paint job. He would stay home and work on his paperwork. Tax season was nearing and for once in his life he wanted to be on time instead of having to threaten the IRS agent to kill him if he wouldn't get an extension. He smiled, but it wasn't a "I'm just kidding" smile. It was a little devious. She asked herself who this man in her kitchen was, she didn't recognize him at all. But it was him, she felt drawn to him and she blamed her exhaustive day at the hospital for reading too much in how he acted.
That night she indeed had one of the best if not the best BBQ'ed meat ever. Their friends Mark and Mandy arrived short after one another early in the evening and they had started with some grilled tiger prawns and oysters, to raise appetite. With the wine flowing the discussions that night grew more and more ludicrous. At one point Mark had commented on the deer steak he was eating and had asked him how he had killed the deer. He had noticed the evenly spaced holes in the deers neck when the deer was cut in parts to be barbecued. "I dug my fingers in its neck and tore its throat out" had the answer been. They all laughed at this. He explained that he had used the crowbar he kept in the car to kill the deer. It had been quite an undertaking, deer turned out to be very tough animals indeed. When he had used the crowbar last time, cracking some traveling salesman's skull it had been a far easier job. Again they laughed at this and Mark joked about the fact that was lucky he never met mr. Crowbar. He told them that Mark was special and deserved a far more exquisite death, like a knitting needle jammed up his ear or a hollow needle stuck in one of his main arteries so he would bleed out.

The following day he was working on the deer, slicing it in manageable pieces, to be deep frozen for later use. Patty helped him do this and she enjoyed the primitive activities, as if they were cave man and woman, preserving their kill for the winter. After a full day of work they were done. The freezer was full of deer and Mark would be over to pick some deer steaks up.

Over the next few weeks he went more and more often out on the roads. Patty did her shifts at the hospital and whenever she was home he would be there or arrive shortly after. Although she wondered what he was doing when he wasn't at home, she figured he would tell her some day.
But as days went by her curiosity grew and one day she asked him what he was doing and how he actually earned his money. He surely wasn't a salesman, so why was he always on the road and never shy of money? He explained to her that he went all over the region looking for investment opportunities. Small investments but many, in local businesses primarily so he could give back to society, but the part he lived in. Because most of it only needed some notarized documents it was low on overhead but often very lucrative. And because he invested in many projects, it was low on risk as well. He would never be a billionaire, but he, they, could live a nice life out of it. It satisfied her curiosity only partially, it didn't explain why he not only took a shower after every trip, but he washed his clothes as well. In fact that was the first thing he did every time he came home. She wouldn't ask him about this, not this time.

Two weeks later she returned from her work and when she got home she smelled the pot roast on the stove with a sweet and tangy smell accompanying the typical smell of cooking meat. It smelled delicious and she looked forward to diner.
She heard the sound of the bathtub filling and guessed he would be upstairs taking a bath after a full day of investing. She liked his view on the matter, investing in local businesses, many of them. To reduce risk of loosing his money, he invested in many projects. But to make sure that the money he invested where never wasted at all, he invested in local projects. Giving back. She knew she was with the right man, with a decent man.
She walked up the stairs and when she was on the landing she continued tiptoeing. She wanted to surprise him and when she saw that the bathroom door was ajar, she was certain that he had anticipated her arrival. A quick peek around the door showed her that he was in the final stages to get undressed. His back to hers he bent over and kicked of his jeans.

In a swift motion she undid herself of her dress and the simple panties and bra she was wearing followed suite. While enjoying the sight of the naked body of the man she had fallen in love with she decided that it had been to long she had given him a sponge bath.
Silently she move behind him and as he stepped with his other foot into the tub, she wrapped one arm around him, squeezing him lightly while reaching
for the sponge with her other arm. Gently rubbing the sponge over his back, she assumed a steady rhythm squeezing him. And as her sponge moved over his back and buttocks, she felt him getting harder in her other hand.
The lathered sponge slid easily in the crease between his buttocks, caressing his balls. Meanwhile her soft lips kissed his shoulders and the especially sensitive lower part of his neck.
His right hand reached behind him, searching for the patch of hair marking
the entrance to her love. His left hand wrapped itself completely behind her, firming its grip on one of her buttocks and started kneading.
First one and then another finger of his were entered into her, slowly moving in and out. Matching the rhythm her hand upheld on his member. He felt her grip tightening when his thumb touched her clit.
The sponge dropped into the bath with a soft splash and he now felt her
hand, relieved from its sponging duties around him and caressing his chest. She pressed herself against him, her hard nipples under his shoulder blades. His left hand, now having some more leeway as she pressed herself against him, moved between her buttocks moistening itself with the juices flowing from between her trembling legs. His hand moved up and down the length of the crease of her buttocks and every time he felt the soft skin between her slid and her butt he applied some pressure, intensifying with every stroke.
When he felt her whole body tensing up he stopped. Her nails dug into his manhood, expressing her frustration. When he turned around, her mouth was open and their tongues started their own dance when he kissed her.
He lifted her up into the bathtub. The water had been too cold. She shivered, but that lasted for the fraction of a second it took him to enter her while
lowering the. Into the tub. Despite the coldness of the water they enjoyed the heat inside themselves and it didn't take long before first he and the she climaxed.

After showering they dressed and with the tea all cold they decided to go for brunch into town. Once on their way they were both silent, both with their own thoughts, neither of them wondering what the other was thinking, neither of them aware of how different things would be had they only known what the other was thinking.

Unanswered questions and unquestioned answers (CH07EP09)

When he entered the kitchen his girlfriend, as he came to think of Patty, was talking to his friend Mark. They seemed to be past the smalltalk of the day and were discussing the bigger issues at hand. From the fragment of the sentence he heard, they were discussing the elections for the city council and the fact that the owner of the Chinese restaurant had introduced himself as the independent candidate to become major of the city they were living in.
When they saw him the discussion stopped and Mark asked him how things were going. If he still was in pain and if he already started toning down on the painkillers. He was, but it was hard.
When he sat down at the kitchen counter, on one of the barstools Patty handed him a fresh cup of tea, green tea with a slice of lemon.
Conversation was picked up again and came back to local politics, but moved fast into the interesting realm of the smudge in politics. The rumors around politicians. Was the Chinese restaurant owned by a Chinese or was he actually Taiwanese? Which started a whole new discussion on whether a Taiwanese person was in fact a Chinese as well? He continued with the announcement that he'd been married to a 89 year old Chinese lady once, for only 15 minutes. It had been the consequence of a lost game of black-jack several years ago... Well, the lady had thought she was married to him anyway. She'd died 15 minutes after the I-do's. He was pretty sure that she was Chinese and not Taiwanese, if there was a real difference. Mark and Patty were at a loss, where had this come from, this he knew. He had no intention to elaborate on this episode of his life. Not even when they would ask for it. He put a smile on his face and left it at that. Patty and Mark picked the conversation up. It was a lively discussion with many laughs and it emphasized to all that life was getting normal again. The reality of the day was taking over from the absurdity of his 'accident'.
He inquired about Mark's ventures into the world of love recently. He knew about Mandy and that it wasn't going anywhere, but Mark had told him once that he was never shy on girls. This time was different, after the dates with Mandy, Mark hadn't dated anymore. Actually he had, with Mandy. Non-romantic dates. Mark explained it by seeing his friends becoming so close and that their love seemed to run so deep that he now was looking for more in a relationship than just romance and what it could lead to. Mandy was definitely a dead end when it came to that, but both seemed to enjoy each others company and they both weren't looking for sex at this point in their lives. It worked, because both didn't feel sexually attracted toward the other.
Mark had another coffee and then he left. He still had a sales target to meet and times were not that good recently.
After he left Patty told him that Mandy had told her that she and Mark had been on a few more dates, as friends, but that she had gotten very fond of Mark and now actually wanted to take their relationship to a next level. But she didn't want to ruin their friendship right now and feared that romance would cause this. Patty asked him if he thought men and women could be just friends. If he though that men could be with a woman and not consider sex as a possible result of a discussion. He didn't answer, instead he asked her if she would make him another tea and he was going to take a bath. His wounds were itching and he thought that maybe one of the wounds had gotten infected. She turned on the water cooker and told him she would be upstairs with the tea, he should already go and tend to his wounds.
While she was waiting for the tea she thought this over. Why didn't he answer? It had seemed almost as if he hadn't even heard her. She dismissed it, maybe he hadn't because of the wounds. Although she was pretty sure that they all had healed. She would take a close look, maybe they had to call the doctor.
When she got upstairs with the tea she heard the water in the bathroom running, the typical noise of a bath filling up. She put the tray with the tea on the windowsill and quietly walked over to the bathroom. The door was a bit ajar and she was allowed to take a peek inside. What she saw made her whole body shiver. His muscular body was in plain view as he was taking of his clothes ready to step into the tub. His wounds were showing, slightly reddened and she was sure that they must hurt him still. But he never complained about them. It was as if his wounds would heal and then worsen again. As if he would inflict the wounds on himself over and over again, but the scares she saw were the exact same scares as she had tended to ever since she met him in the hospital. They could not be self inflicted, not over and over again without clear signs of self mutilation.
She could see the ripple through his back muscles caused by the agony while he was easing himself into the water, which was either too cold or too hot as she could tell from the flexing of his muscles. Too cold would be most likely as he had been complaining about his wounds itching, hot water would increase the itching, but would be better for an infection.
She turned around, picked up the tray with the tea, decided to get some cookies and took care of it.
When she got back to the bathroom he was rubbing the special emulsion into the areas around his wounds, at least there where he could reach. He smiled as if it wasn't a painful experience, but his eyes told Patty otherwise.
He looked at her, saw her concern and within the blink of an eye his facial expression changed and the pain was gone from his eyes. Te smile was genuine and he reached for the tea. Patty gave him a cookie instead and told him that the tea was still too hot. A tremble in her voice gave away that she didn't believe his change in posture and wasn't convinced that the pain hadn't been there. He took a bite of the biscuit, dipped it in the tea and nibbled on it. Then he told her that he thought that the wounds on his lower abdomen seemed to be infected. That they would never really Completely heal because of the parasite living in him. Childhood problem. No doctor ever found anything, but whenever he had a wound in his lower abdomen it took a dead serious infection to heal, and still it would be a weak spot. No problem. Patty asked him why he thought it was a parasite when nobody ever had found anything. He replied by elaborating how weird it was that some people wild dip a biscuit in tea before eating it, maybe that was because they didn't like chewing? The tea didn't really add any flavor to the cookie and it wasn't that hard anyways. After this he handed her the tube with the emulsion, asked if she would rub it in the remaining wounds and then maybe they could out and maybe buy some plants or flowers to brighten up the house. He wanted the house to reflect how he felt about her, which would require a lot of flowers. An awful lot of flowers, that was of course when she was okay with that and wanted to do something like that. Patty didn't know how to respond. It had been the second time he just continued their conversation, if that was what it was, with something completely else, completely of topic, not even close to the original topic. As if she had been unconscious for a split second missing the transition from one subject to another.
Sure she wanted to go out with him, but she also wanted to buy some groceries. They would have to go to a nearby town as she needed some special vegetables and spices, for diner that night.

After treating his wounds they prepared for a rainy day in town and went of. First taking care of Patty's shoppinglist, which took quite some driving around to various ethnic stores. Then they went to the florist where he spend in Patty's opinion an obscure amount of money on flowers, vases and decorations. It was to help the economy he told her. Patty just wondered how he would pay for this as she was still not clear on how he earned his money. They went back home and while Patty was working on diner, marinating the meat, chopping the vegetables and preparing various sauces, he was creating the most beautiful flower pieces she'd ever seen. When she was ready preparing diner, he just finished his last piece. The whole house smelled like roses, lilies, daisies and various other flowers. Patty suggested that maybe they could invite Mark and Mandy for diner as she realized that more food was prepared than the two of them could eat.

Later that night the four of them had diner.