by Ashlee Price
Some people laugh.
“And I became a doctor, which I always wanted to be.”
“The best doctor ever,” someone shouts.
“Why, thank you, Ryan,” Nancy says. “Do remember that the next time I ask you to take your pills.”
Again, the crowd laughs.
“Then I met Phil, and I…”
She pauses and silence falls over the room.
I hold my breath. Somehow, I know what she’s going to say next.
“I had three… wonderful children,” Nancy says with a shaky voice. “And not a day goes by that I wish the world hadn’t changed as it did, that the Icebreaker hadn’t come and taken them from me.”
My eyebrows furrow. The Icebreaker?
“I’m sorry.” She sniffs and wipes a tear. “I guess I’ll take this moment to remember them and all those we’ve lost.”
Suddenly, I remember the graves in the woods.
Did all of those people die at the same time?
“But let us not forget that without Martin’s dome, we would have lost more,” Nancy continues.
Martin Schwarzschild? What dome?
“I think we should go.” Travis suddenly grabs my arm. “Toby might be feeling lonely in the car.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “What’s the hurry?”
“Nothing,” he says as he ushers me towards the entrance of the gym. “The party is over, isn’t it? Everyone will go home soon.”
I’m not convinced. Something is going on.
I jerk away from him after we’re outside the gym.
“Travis, what’s going on? And what was Nancy talking about?”
“Nothing,” he says again.
“Why are we in a hurry to leave?”
“You want to know the truth?” Travis asks.
I nod.
“Because I can’t wait to take that dress off of you,” he says.
Before I can get another word out, his mouth falls on mine.
Chapter 17
Travis
I kiss her. Hard.
It’s the only way I can think of to stop the wheels I can see in her head from turning, to make her forget what Nancy just said.
Damn it.
Nancy’s usually one of the smartest people in Hope Creek, but she gets emotional on her birthday, and when one’s emotional, one says things they don’t mean or things they’re not supposed to.
Grace pushes me away and looks at me with wide eyes. “Travis?”
Ah. Just as I thought, a kiss isn’t going to cut it.
“Come with me.”
I grab her hand and lead her into the school building. I try to open the first door I find.
It’s locked.
I try the second one on the opposite side, and it opens.
It looks like a faculty lounge with empty desks, whiteboards hanging from the wall, and curtains covering the windows, one of which is broken so moonlight floods into the room.
I hoist Grace on top of one of the desks and kiss her.
She places her arms around my neck and kisses me back.
Finally, she’s playing along, I think as our tongues mingle and she lets out a moan.
I need her to be into it, though. If I’m aiming for a complete distraction, this has to be intense.
Intense. Mind-blowing. Out of the ordinary.
I look around the room and see the pegs on the wall and the rubber wires in the corner. An idea enters my mind.
I pull Grace off the desk and lead her towards the end of the room against the wall.
“Hold your hands up, sweetheart,” I tell her.
She narrows her eyes at me.
I give her a quick kiss. “Do you want to have some fun, sweetheart, or not?”
Grace nods and obeys, lifting her hands over her head.
I go to the corner to grab the wires. I use a coil to tie her wrist to a peg and do the same with the other.
“Now you decide to tie me up,” Grace comments.
“Does it hurt?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “No, but I’m not sure I like it. Did I really like this before?”
“Who cares? I have a feeling you’ll like it when I’m done.”
I take off my necktie and wrap it around her eyes like a blindfold.
“Travis?” I hear the worry in her voice.
“Shh.” I stroke her cheek with the back of my hand, then run my thumb over her lower lip. “Just trust me on this. Don’t worry about anything. Don’t think of anything but the pleasure I give you.”
I suck on her lower lip, then reach down the neckline of her gown to cup a breast.
Grace gasps. Her nipple pokes against my palm and it tingles.
Something else stiffens and strains against my boxers.
No. I can have my own pleasure later. Right now, this is all about Grace’s.
I unzip her gown and the silk and chiffon pool around her ankles. I pull down her underwear and it falls on top of the blue pile.
I leave them both there and lick her earlobe as I rub her pert nipple.
She shudders.
I plant a kiss on her neck and reach between her legs. She closes them reflexively and my hand gets trapped between her quivering thighs. I push a knee in between them as I kiss the other side of her neck.
I find the nub hidden in her curls and stroke it. She throws her head back and lets out a cry.
I wrap my lips around one of her breasts as I continue stroking. I tug on her nipple and she shivers.
I move to her other breast and keep stroking her until her breath comes in gasps. I slip a finger inside her and she lets out another cry.
Feeling those walls of velvety skin clinging to me makes my cock even harder. I slip another finger inside and my cock throbs again.
I move those fingers in and out of her as I swallow her cries and turn them into moans. They become coated in her desire, slick and warm.
The tip of my cock becomes slick in turn.
I pull away and Grace gasps for air, her lips slightly swollen, her cheeks a deep shade of pink like her nipples.
I give her only a second to catch her breath, then drop to my knees on the floor. I grab her thighs, open my mouth and dig in.
“Oh God!” she cries out sharply.
“First I’m a devil. Now I’m God.” I trace her other pair of lips with the tip of my tongue. “Make up your mind, sweetheart.”
I push my tongue back inside her.
She tugs at the pegs.
“Travis!”
She is shaking even more now. Her hips start to jerk. Then she arches against me and lets out a sound that is a blend of a soft cry, a long moan and a loud gasp.
I pull away and look at her face. She has her mouth wide open, her head thrown back and her hair flowing past her shoulders.
Beautiful.
I want to push her to her knees and stuff that wide open mouth with my leaking cock, but I just stand and wait for her to recover from her orgasm. When she does, I take her wrists off the pegs and bend her over a desk.
I free my aching cock and push inside her with one thrust.
I grab Grace’s shoulders and lift them off the table as I pound into her. The desk rocks and creaks beneath her, its legs squeaking as they move across the floor.
She grips the edge of the desk and pushes back against me.
My nostrils flare.
“Oh, you’re loving this, aren’t you?”
“More,” she begs. “I want more.”
I pull out and turn her over. Then I pull her hips towards the edge of the desk and enter her again.
She lifts herself up and leans back on her arms as she wraps her legs around me. Her body shudders as I continue to pound into her. Her hair sways and the blindfold falls.
I tear the necktie off, then place one hand on her nape and kiss her fiercely as I manage a few more thrusts. Finally I bury myself deep inside of her.
She grips my shoulders as she throws her head back to let out a
silent cry. She squeezes me, milking me for all I’ve got.
Our bodies tremble as one.
Then she lets go and crashes down on top of the desk. Her arms grow limp and her hands dangle over the edge.
I pull out and tuck myself back in, then sit on another desk as I catch my breath.
“That was… amazing,” Grace says breathlessly as she stares at the ceiling.
I know. It was for me, too. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
I was supposed to give her the utmost pleasure, but I sure got mine in the process.
“No, not amazing.” She shakes her head. “That’s not the word I’m looking for.”
“Mind-blowing?” I suggest.
“Explo…”
I don’t hear the rest of her word because a bolt of lightning crackles in the distance and illuminates the sky. I jump off the desk and in the next moment a thunderous explosion rocks the ground.
“Travis.” Grace runs to me.
I wrap an arm around her but keep my gaze fixed on the horizon.
Another explosion. A larger one. And I know exactly what it means.
I swallow the lump in my throat.
“Travis?” Grace asks, concerned.
“The dome is broken,” I mutter under my breath.
“What?” Grace asks.
I ignore her and walk to the door. “Get dressed. This is an emergency.”
I walk out of the room and the building and look up at the sky with a frown.
I went to all that trouble to keep the true state of Hope Creek hidden from Grace, but there’s no hiding it now.
The bubble has burst.
Chapter 18
Grace
“What the…?”
My jaw drops as I lift my head and see the ocean of luminous hexagons above me. It’s like some bizarre beehive.
No. Not a beehive.
A dome.
Now I understand what Nancy was talking about.
It’s a marvel, to be sure. I have to blink several times before I believe I’m seeing it clearly. I have to pinch myself once just to know it’s not a dream.
No, not a dream. A nightmare.
As I realize what it means, the strength leaves my hands and the bunch of blue fabric I’ve gathered in my haste slips out of my fingers. My knees turn to mush and I fall to the ground.
I’ve been living under a dome, in a prison.
Since when? Why?
Silk rustles behind me.
“Grace?” Nancy puts her hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright?”
I look at her with tears of confusion brimming in my eyes, and hers grow wide.
“Please,” I beg her. “Tell me everything.”
~
Everything has been a lie.
I sit on the edge of the bed in Nancy and Phil’s guest room and run my fingers over the fresh sheets. I gaze at the old dresser in the corner and sigh.
I was here in this room just weeks ago. I woke up in this very room confused and thinking that I was twenty-one, that it was 2038, that I was single and working as a waitress at a cafe.
And then I met Travis and everything changed. He said I was his wife. He said that we moved to Hope Creek after we got married to live a simple life. He said I fell from a tree and hit my head so I can’t remember a thing.
All of that was a lie.
Well, not the fact that I can’t remember a thing. I still can’t.
But now I know I’m not Travis’s wife. Now I know about the catastrophic event that threatened humanity’s existence and changed it drastically. I know that Hope Creek is possibly the last remaining town on earth, and that it will be gone soon if the dome isn’t fixed. I know that I only arrived here weeks ago.
I’m not from here. And no one knows where I really came from, or who I’ve been for the past seven years.
I bury my face in my hands.
God, I’ve been living a lie and I couldn’t even tell. I feel so stupid, so deceived, so betrayed.
And the worst part is that I don’t even know who I am anymore.
The door opens.
“Grace, are you alright?” Travis asks.
I stand up, lift my arm and let my hand fall across his face. The crack of my palm against his cheek fills the room and lingers in the air for a few seconds.
“How dare you!” I tell him after the sound has died. “How dare you lie to me and make me think I’m your wife! How dare you feed me all those lies!”
“That was actually my idea.” Phil comes forward. “We thought Hope Creek would be safer if you stayed, and we needed to give you a reason to stay. Obviously, we couldn’t tell you about the Icebreaker, either.”
I turn to him. “Because if you did, you’d have had to tell me about the dome, and you didn’t want anyone else to know about it, did you? Especially not an outsider like me.”
“I’m sorry, Grace.”
“Come, honey.” Nancy grabs his shoulders. “Let’s leave them alone.”
She glances at me as she ushers Phil out of the room and then closes the door.
I sit on the chair and run my hands through my hair. “How could you play God with me and toy with my life, my very being? Didn’t you think I’d be upset to be given a fake identity? Didn’t you care at all?”
Travis leans on the wall. “Like Phil said, it wasn’t my idea.”
“You agreed to it!” I shout at him. “And you played the biggest part in it. You… made me believe we were married. You made me…”
I stop talking as I fail to bring myself to say the rest. My gaze drops to the floor and my head shakes in exasperation.
“I don’t see why you’re complaining so much,” he says softly.
I lift my head and my eyebrows. “What?”
“You were dying and we saved you, Grace.” Travis looks into my eyes. “You had nowhere to go and we took you in. We gave you a home, a place to belong. You were no one, and we gave you a family. You had no life and we gave you one, free of worries about the future and pain from the past. Don’t you think you’re being a little ungrateful?”
“I don’t have anything, Travis!” I get on my feet. “All of this, Hope Creek, none of this is mine. This life isn’t mine, and I… I don’t want it!”
He falls silent as the lump in his throat moves.
“It’s not mine, Travis,” I continue in a softer voice as I shake my head. “It’s not real.”
He nods slowly. “You hate married life that much, huh?”
“It’s not that. I…”
Travis steps forward. “What bothers you more, Grace? That you had a fake husband, or that this fake husband made you shudder and gasp and scream at the top of your lungs as you writhed in the throes of ecstasy?”
My jaw clenches at that smug grin and I lift my hand to slap him again. This time, he stops my wrist.
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to think of me as your husband anymore. In fact, you might even never see me again.”
My eyes grow wide. “What?”
He drops my hand and walks to the window with his hands in his pockets. “I’m leaving ASAP.”
“Leaving?” My eyebrows crease. “But Nancy said…”
“That it’s a wasteland out there? That it’s hell?” He looks out the window. “She’s right. But I still have to go. I have to get to City Q to get parts for the dome. We managed to reroute some of the energy so that the dome is still invisible from the outside, but it’s just a cloak now, not much protection.”
“Does it really need protection?” I ask. “Hasn’t it been three years since the flood? Why is Hope Creek even hiding?”
Travis turns to me. “Because Hope Creek is the only place where the soil is still good, where plants and animals still exist, where there’s enough food. It’s a paradise compared to everywhere else, and the moment other people know about this place, what do you think they’ll do?”
I don’t answer.
“They’ll destroy Hope Creek. Just like the
y’ve destroyed every piece of paradise there was on earth before.”
I draw a deep breath. “Alright, so Hope Creek needs its cloak, which it still seems to have. But why does it still need a shield?”
“The earth hasn’t recovered,” Travis replies. “Humanity isn’t stable yet. Until then, we don’t know what could happen. Wars could break out. Someone could launch another nuclear warhead. Another flood could come, another cold spell or a large storm. Hiding isn’t enough to keep you safe, Grace.”
I nod. I guess I understand Hope Creek’s desire for survival. No, not just survival. For preserving their way of life in a world which according to Nancy has descended into destruction.
“Why should you be the one to go?” I ask him.
“Because I know which parts are needed,” he says. “Martin told me everything about the dome.”
“Angie’s father.”
“Yes.”
“She really was your wife, wasn’t she?”
He nods. “And she died along with the baby when she gave birth.”
The sole truth among the lies, and even that was something he tried to keep from me.
“Now that he’s gone, I’m the expert on the dome,” Travis says. “Aside from Phil, that is. Besides, I probably have a better chance of survival out there than anyone else.”
“You’ve been out there before?” I ask curiously.
He nods. “But not to a city.” He walks towards the door. “I better go get ready.”
“I’ll go with you,” I blurt out.
He gives me a look of surprise, then shakes his head as he opens the door. “You can’t.”
“Nancy said I probably came from City Q, and you’re going there,” I tell him. “I want to go there, too. I might find a clue about who I was, who I am.”
“She has a point,” Phil speaks from beyond the door.
Travis opens it wide and he enters, looking at me.
“We’ve given her a place to belong, but if she wants to find out where she’s meant to be, she has that right.” Phil pats Travis’s shoulder. “Take her to the city.”
Travis sighs. “Is this another matter where I have no choice or say?”
