Read Online Dance Of Desire by Sweet and Special Books - Free Book Online

“magic man” with his possibly too magical drinks to her mother because that might lead to her blurting, without anything to support her theory that, I think we’ve fucked, Mom, but I can’t figure out how he could have gotten in and out of my place. And I’m sore, bruised, and am having a hard time pissing. She could not prove that. Or maybe she was just going crazy? “How’s Dad?” she asked instead. And her mom transferred her to her father.
    “Hey, Dad. Yeah, I don’t stay out too late and I walk strong, not timid, like you taught me.”
    Before long, she’d said goodbye to Mom and Dad. They reminded Cassie to always have cab fare. Her Dad said that he didn’t care what she said; he was going to buy her a new car to make certain she didn’t ride with any oddballs on the bus, dangerous men with cars or motorcycles, or evil cabbies.
    That made her smile. She knew her Daddy. He was serious.
    After her call, she prepared a healthy meal and sat to eat it in front of her internet-linked TV monitor. There was a new episode of a show she liked that she’d wanted to see. But Cassie didn’t absorb any of it. It proved to be a distraction, though, something to keep her from thinking about what lurked in the back of her mind. She was merely whiling the hours away until bedtime.
    After the show, she did some homework. Then she decided she could not put off going to bed. All the lights were left on, no matter how bright.
    She slipped into her pajamas, closed her bedroom door, and locked it behind her. Not that she had any concerns that someone might get in. Of course not. She laid down in her bed, pulled her blanket up to her chin, and tried to relax, to drift into sleep. She normally would do so within five-to-ten minutes, tops.
    Not tonight.
    The bedroom light was directly above her and despite her self-assurance, she was still terribly afraid. Could anyone come inside a locked door? It’s hard to sleep when you’re too afraid to even close your eyes, or that you’re used to sleeping in a nearly pitch black room. But the lights were all on and it was so damn bright.
    Cassie opted instead to place a pillow above her head to get a little relief from the relentless light shining into every corner of her room. It seemed better, instead of lying on her side or turning off the light altogether. This was just some adjustment her inner little kid had to go through, she assured herself. A night or two of this and she’d be fine.
    But she tossed and turned and became more tensed. In fact, her body was more at full alert lying tensely curled up in her bed than she’d been all day on the street or in class. Her heart would not stop racing and her thoughts would not stop chasing her heart’s racing beat.
    So she took several slow and deep breaths. She opened her eyes wide. Maybe keeping her eyes open until they’d close on their own would work. She stared into the dimness under her pillow that was blocking the bright light. And, for a long time nothing happened.
    Finally, as she stared at her fluffy pillow, her tension slipped, and dropped little by little.
    Cassie began drifting through pleasant imaginary scenes and happy half-memories, as if escaping from her current plight of nameless fears. And, finally, without noticing it, Cassie slipped into the arms of sleep.
    Her last thought after a glance at the time was: It’s the Witching Hour somewhere.
    The clock’s mechanism made a slight swish, which she didn’t hear, just as it struck three a.m.

Chapter Ten
    AACK! Aaack! Eeeewww!
    She opened her eyes in a place that had no pleasure, no sun and fun. This place reeked of blood, both old and new, and of decaying flesh. Human flesh, she knew. There was no cold or even cool here.
    Dim lightings shone… faint, reddish, and glowing, as if from distant, unseen flames bouncing off the irregularly shaped walls of the cave. Or an underground cavern?
    Where the fuck is this? How’d I get here?
    Lava, there is lava here, too,