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.