“Back to that are we? What happened to your ‘I humbly apologize, please come visit again’?”
“I do not remember ever saying those words to you. Now, follow me and if you can keep up we’ll be back at the village in a couple of hours.”
Tana stalled, almost certain she’d rather spend eternity wandering if it meant avoiding the taunts of Kajika but she soon followed, remembering Mingan’s food as her stomach rumbled. As they walked, Kajika made the occasional barbed comment about her ability to keep up and how she was doing better than he thought she would. As they neared the top of mountain and she saw the villagers there waiting for her return, her patience finally broke and she let loose of the anger she’d been biting back.
“Do you know something Kajika? You are nothing more than a pitiful little man. Oh sure, you’re tall, but deep down you’re just a little boy afraid of being hurt again. You torment me, you make fun of me, not because I’m actually ugly or I might hurt someone with my girth, if that was the case most of the men in the village would have wiped out the entire female population by now, no; your anger is at yourself and not me. You taunt me so you won’t feel soft towards me and for however ugly you say I am, the attitude you’ve treated me with is far uglier, and as the leader of this village, this village of people that have shown me nothing but love and kindness, you should bow your head in shame. You are not leading by example; you should be following the lead of your people if anything.” And with that she stomped off with Mingan, enjoying the way Kajika’s mouth hung open in shock.
“Come back here, you deserve a thrashing for that!” Kajika shouted at her receding back.
Tana’s only response was to turn slightly, still walking, and lift a middle finger to him before carrying on. She didn’t see it but he stomped off, ranting about lippy giants. She did giggle though, proud of herself for getting the best of him.
“That ought to keep him quiet for a while, Tana. Or he’ll rant more. We’ll see, we’ll see. I am glad you finally spoke up for yourself though, it was getting tedious.” Mingan said as he lifted the flap on his wigwam letting her in. “Now wait here, I’ll bring you something to eat and you can tell me what happened.”
Later, Tana ate from the slate plate and explained how she’d just gone in some weird loop, always returning to the middle of the mountain. Mingan rubbed his chin, looking at her with concern.
“Tell me, Tana, the day you came to us, what do you remember of that day?”
“Just that I got up, ate, and started up the mountain. I wanted to get up here before it turned dark. Nothing unusual happened, I didn’t fall through a wormhole, and pass through any strangely arranged trees, nothing like that. I just hiked up the mountain and then I found you guys up here. Why? What are you thinking happened?”
“I’m not sure yet but I have to guess something unusual happened. It may simply be that you haven’t fulfilled whatever you came here to do. We will figure it out eventually, I’m sure.” Mingan did not seem concerned about how long Tana was going to end up being here but she was.
She didn’t want to lose her job. Her parents wouldn’t really worry, they were illegal drug users and she usually avoided them anyway to stay out of their drama. She had friends but nobody really close in her life. The only person she could really count on to raise an alarm was her partner at work. John knew she loved her job and that she’d gone camping, maybe he’d be able to push an investigation, a search for her? She had a feeling she was stuck here, even if anyone came for her. That trip down the mountain taught her one thing, perhaps it was time to finally admit that she was not in the LOL anymore. Not in any way.
A few days later and Tana was soaking in a spring some of the women and children in the village used to bathe when it was warm outside. The mountain was massive and the land at the top covered quite a few acres. The spring was nestled behind some trees, the water cold but nice. It was deep enough to swim in but not very large, more like a small pool than a lake.
Tana rested against some rocks the ladies had arranged sometime in the past, letting the cool water soothe her ankle and sore muscles. She’d been helping the men with chopping the wood and piling it up yesterday, and now she was paying for it. She smiled though; the physical exertion had eased some of her anxiety and helped her to think. Even if she was stuck here life wouldn’t be so bad. She didn’t have a lot to leave behind after all. She frequently came to the mountains to escape, even going to camp when she had two days off in a row to get away from the frantic pace of modern life.
Tana’s serenity was interrupted by Kajika’s sudden appearance, his scowl alerting her that he was already in a foul mood. She tried to hide her body behind the rocks, not wanting him to see what he’d ridiculed in the past. She also tried to cut him off when he opened his mouth to speak.
“If you’ll give me a minute, I’ll leave. No need to insult me. In fact, I believe we should call some kind of truce, don’t you? It doesn’t appear that I’ll be going anywhere soon so we either call a truce or you slowly tear this village apart with your hatred of me. That or I leave and honestly, I have nowhere else to go.”
Kajika had the decency to look somewhat ashamed and hung his head as Tana spoke. He looked up at her when she finished and gave a grimace that may have been a mangled up grin. “I suppose you’re right. I have started to notice people are looking at me with distaste. Perhaps I have taken this too far? May I join you and we can discuss this further?”
“I suppose,” Tana said, looking out from her rock, privacy fence. She looked away as Kajika stripped but watched out of the corner of her eye. The man had a beautiful body, that part could not be denied. Tana ended her admiration of Kajika’s body as he moved into the water as if he owned everything he saw before him, no hiding of his bits, no hunching, just a confident stride into the water. Tana sighed wishing for a moment that the man hadn’t been such a jerk.
Tana sank lower in the water, determined that he wouldn’t be able to see anything of her nude form. He slid down in the water beside her, sighing as his skin submerged into the cool water. She tried not to think about that sigh, about other kinds of sighs men could make, sweet, erotic sighs.
Tana blew air out from between her lips and looked away again. “So, then, what did you want to talk about?”
“Could you tell me more about what I said to you the night before you left? I was really angry when you kind of threw it back at me but after I stomped off I thought about what you’d said. I have been trying to think of a way to apologize but could not exactly come up with anything that did not sound paltry.”
“Oh. Ah. Um, you told me that your wife had left you and that you didn’t want to let anyone else near to you. You were afraid of being hurt and that you thought I was beautiful. You apologized to me then kind of stumbled off into the darkness as I fell asleep.”
“Oh, well, that is not too bad then. I was afraid I had perhaps made a complete fool of myself. It sounds like I actually didn’t do a bad job the first time around.”
“No, it was really quite a lovely apology, as apologies go. You don’t have to do that again, if you don’t want to. Just an acknowledgement that you’ve been a complete bully would be nice.” Tana said with a smile, cutting down on some of the bite of her words.
“You are right,” Kajika said, “I have been unnecessarily rude, cruel even, with my words. Can we start over?”
“Sure but if you ever call me a giant again, I’ll break your knees.” Tana said with a beatific smile.
“Agreed.” Kajika said with his own apologetic smile.
Feeling a bit braver Tana moved out into the deeper part of the pool, letting her hair flow out behind her. She loved how the water tugged on the strands as she moved through it.
“You are truly beautiful, you know? Half of the time, when I was saying all of those cruel things, I was only saying the exact opposite of what I was actually thinking.” Kajika said as he followed her into the middle.
“Were you?” She a
sked over her shoulder, hoping that his words meant that he was interested in her. Because she was definitely interested in him if he’d decided to stop being a jerk.
“Yes, you remember when I said you had lips like two fat slugs? Well, it would not be polite to tell you what I was actually thinking about your lips.” He said, looking away as he tread water.
“Tell me, what were you thinking?” She had an idea but wanted to hear him say the words out loud.
Kajika looked into her eyes, a wicked but pleasing grin spreading across his face. “I wondered how those amazingly seductive lips would look taking me into their depths. If you would close your eyes as you swallowed me or if you’d look back into mine.”
His words sent a tingle up her spine and her lips parted, as if to invite him to find out. She floundered for a moment, not sure what to say.
Kajika was on a roll, though, and didn’t allow her time to speak. “I wondered if the glorious globes of your breasts would fill my palms or if they would overflow, and if your bottom would fit perfectly nestled in front of me, if your gasps would be sweet and timid or wild and free. I wondered so much but I wouldn’t dare allow myself to find out. You are not one of us; you could leave at any time, and I could not allow you to get to me. I am not sure why I am allowing it now but I know I cannot deny this anymore; I cannot deny that I want you beneath me, filling my senses.”
Tana just shivered, not cold or afraid, but anticipating what she knew was coming, unwilling to stop it. And then Kajika was there, kissing her lips softly, exploring slowly and giving her the chance to back away. Her next move might have been crazy but Tana had to find out, had to know what he felt like and she wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing their bodies together intimately.
Tana sealed her mouth to his, sliding her tongue between his lips to invade his mouth, to chase his tongue. She moaned as she felt his tongue slide along her own in answer and his hands clench at her hips, pulling her closer to his body, sealing them as close as their mouths were sealed. She could feel him there, between her legs, hot and hard in the cold water of the pooled spring, and she circled her hips, wanting to take him in.
Kajika broke the kiss, moving them to the water’s edge and then out of the water to a buckskin blanket she had spread there earlier. He laid her on the grass, his strong arms and back easily handling her weight, and followed her body down to the ground. Kajika explored her body then, his fingers gliding over her damp skin, over her already tight nipples, his heated mouth sucking at the tight flesh as his palms cupped the flesh there, her breasts overfilling his hands. Kajika grunted in pleasure at the sight. He moved lower down her ribs and over her soft stomach. No tight abs to be found there but he loved how tight her skin was, how rounded and soft she was all over. There were definitely muscles beneath her skin; they were just hidden by a soft layer that made her appear more feminine, somehow, than the lithe figures of the women in the village. Perhaps that’s why he couldn’t find a mate among them; they were all too thin for him.
Kajika’s mouth followed his fingers, making Tana squirm in anticipation. They were heading in her favourite direction; south!
Her eyes flew open as his fingers and mouth found her clit at the same time, pleasure rocketing through her body.
“Oh! Oh wow!” She stammered, the sensation of his hot tongue against her cool clit incredible. His fingers moved further down, to glide inside of her slick walls, causing her hips to jerk, another thrilled gasp escaping her lips. She let her head fall back and Tana let go as he thrust his fingers in and out of her in time with his tongue. Kajika loved her with his mouth and his fingers, taking her sighs and gasps as signs of what she liked best. When her breath quickened, when she stopped being coherent he moved a thumb down to the tight little ring hidden between her buttocks, not entering her body but teasing her just enough to send her over the edge.
Tana lost the ability to speak completely as she came, her head thrown back and her back arched, the muscles of her pussy grasping greedily at his fingers, wanting more from him. Before she’d climbed down completely he was there, filling her body. Moving within her, taking her high again as his cock stroked that sweet spot inside of her, his thumb still teasing at her ass.
Tana touched Kajika, sliding her hands over his chest, down his back, and up to his mouth slipping a finger inside between his lips. He sucked at her finger, making her pussy clench in response to his suction. His cock responded with a twinge of its own and his thrusts increased, strengthened. Tana had to brace herself on the ground, digging her heels in to stay still as Kajika’s concentration on his thrusting increased, his hands now braced on each side of her head. Tana was so caught up in watching the wonder of Kajika fucking that she wasn’t paying attention to her own body, lost in watching the emotion, the feelings that crossed his features as he worked inside of her.
Kajika had different ideas and wanted her to join him so he slid a hand between their bodies again, finding the nub of flesh that would drive her to heaven with him. He circled the flesh, knowing he’d found the right spot when her pussy tightened around him and her breaths quickened. As her pussy gave one strong pulse, squeezing him tight, his orgasm broke, the grunt he couldn’t hold back signalling to her body to follow. They went together, Tana’s movements, her gasps, driving him on.
She held him when it was over, when he’d collapsed in her arms. She stroked his hair, loving how it felt brushing against her skin. She didn’t think she loved him yet, this was too new, too unexpected, but she knew what had driven him to his cruelty. It may have been misguided, but it was done for a reason she could understand: self-preservation. For now, she was content.
Chapter Four
Tana settled into village life, working with Mingan as a healer and helping with the chores when she wasn’t with Kajika. The villagers were happy that Kajika’s bullying of Tana had stopped and that they now seemed to be building a relationship. Tana moved her few belongings to Kajika’s wigwam, and they spent every moment they could steal in the day making love. Tana had shown such stoicism, such bravery that he decided to take her out on a hunt, looking for meat for the village. It wasn’t dangerous but far too many women were squeamish and did not like the act of killing. Tana accepted, although she’d never killed anything. Their survival depended on it so she knew it was something she would have to learn to do.
They set off early one morning, following the trail of a deer down the mountain. Tana tried to concentrate on what Kajika was teaching her about tracking but realized quickly that she recognized where she was. She’d stopped here to take pictures not long after leaving her first camp. Moving down the mountain, she saw the camp grills, the building for a water pump, and a lone tent, weathered by the elements but still standing. She stopped and stared at the tent, a wave of anxiety, of fear, spreading throughout her body.
“Kajika,” she whispered, taking his hand to stop him as she pointed at the tent.
“What is it, my heart?” He asked, concern over the fear he saw in her face.
“That is my tent. The one I thought I’d brought with me the day I found the village.”
“So you left your tent that is not a problem. Maybe we can find some of the things you’ve been missing there as well. Let us have a look.” Kajika walked over to the tent, looking around the campsite.
Tana followed slowly behind him, seeing everything just as she’d left it the night before she found the village. Kajika looked at her, worried, and then did what she could not force herself to do. He unzipped the tent and there; within its confines, Tana found the answer to her questions.
Stumbling, falling to the ground she sobbed as memory finally engaged and she knew what had happened, why she could see her reddish-brown hair sticking out of the top of her sleeping bag. Her heart had developed an arrhythmia in the night, and it had just stopped working. It happened to athletes, people with healthy bodies, and people with heart problems, even to those that had no idea they had a heart problem. They just fell a
sleep one night and did not wake back up. She didn’t feel pain; she didn’t even really wake up, but she knew that was what had happened and her anguish at knowing the truth finally, at seeing her body there, helpless and abandoned, was devastating.
Kajika quickly picked her up, carrying her away from the scene, and back up the mountain, his strong body handling the burden of her weight with ease. He raced back to the village, calling for Mingan as he ran to his wigwam. The healing elder came, gave Tana a tea to calm her but not make her sleep, just enough to calm the sobs wracking her body, so that he could speak to her. Kajika sat beside her on their pallet, holding her hand as Mingan spoke.
“So you are a spirit. That is why you could not leave, that is what I suspected though you could not remember your death. I don’t know how you saw the LOL, perhaps now that you have fulfilled what you came here to do you can cross into the LOL more easily, but you can no longer live there. This is your world now. Don’t look at it as an end to your life, Tana, look; you have a life here amongst our people. You have Kajika, me, Allana, and the others to keep you company and your health is improving without all of that pretend food you told me about. This is your second chance at life but if you cannot handle this life you can always go into the great beyond.” Mingan said reassuringly.
“The great beyond?” Tana asked.
“It is a place of oblivion, where you cease to exist, you are just gone. It is a form of spirit suicide I suppose. You just stop being.” Kajika told her.
“Ah, no, I don’t want that. Never. How long can I expect to live here?” Tana asked.
“Well, Mingan is 900 years old, I’m 480, if that’s any help.” Kajika spoke again.
“You’re joking!” Tana said with a gasp of disbelief.
“Not at all. Time is not the same here as it is in the LOL. We age differently. The good news is, that when our time comes we are reborn, either here or in the LOL, so we get to live again.”
Thriller: Horror: Conceived (Mystery Suspense Thrillers) (Haunted Paranormal Short Story) Page 45
