Dark Romance

Prologue-Final Edit

Ana laid there under the covers tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable. Once again she suffered insomnia, wishing she could sleep.

         She remembered when she was a child, it had been a problem. In high school, the dreaded curse of insomnia plagued her. But now it had returned and with it, strange dreams.

         Only one dream really plagued her. Night after night, it remained the same, never changing in content. The only thing that changed was how it made her feel at the time. 

         It was a dream that felt like a past memory, something from the present and something of the future, depending on her mood at the time. It was so strong that it took up residence within the core of her being. It also excited her in every way possible.

         After having this dream, the way she saw herself changed and she vowed to make changes in her life. But life muddled on as if oblivious to this. But above all, there was one thing that was a constant.

         The feel of him…

         He felt warm and inviting, like a summer’s day, bright with sunshine, inviting you to sit and bask in its delighted rays. A day where the temperature was so hot you could not stay out in it for more than five minutes. To her his arms meant safety and made her feel comfortable, as though she cuddled in her favorite blanket.

         Through the years, these dreams became a source of comfort for her. They could never frighten her and yet they did. Because deep down inside of her, an intense desire dwelled… For what? She did not know.

         She tried to convince herself that it was just a fantasy. But try as she might, her heart kept arguing with her head.

         This visitor touched her, mentally and it sent her skyrocketing on a high that left her drained. Afterwards, when she woke up or thought she was awake, her emotions ranged all over the map.

         At times, she had a sense of a hand upon her, as though he had been there with her. And her skin prickled in a certain area sending shivers creeping down her spine and her heart raced. She could, physically, feel the touch and her brain went into shock at the sudden sensation of physical contact she got from her body and it made her tremble with fear.

         She did not know what to think of the event. Are they real or just wistfulness? Am I showing the signs? Is it schizophrenia? she wondered.

         Never did the dreams freak her out, as they would most people. Why would it? Or him, for that matter? He was so familiar, as though she knew him her whole life and had these dreams forever. In fact, she had them as long as could remember. 

         A sense of peace suddenly came over her. It came from deep inside; touching her in places she had no words for.

         For twenty years, these dreams had subsided. But, now the insomnia had returned and the dreams plagued her anew, now worse than before...

                                                 **************

         Ana got out of bed and went down to the den and turned on the Television, flipped until she found an old movie and watched that for a bit. Then, she casually looked through the channels, found a modern romantic love story she liked.

         She looked at the clock on the wall in the den, 1:45 A.M. and she was wide awake. Boredom snuck up on her with          a sense of being incomplete. The movie she was watching grew stale and no longer held her attention, so she changed the channel.

         As she dismissively flipped through the various channels, an item being presented on one of those home shopping channels caught her eye. It was a gorgeous one and a half carat solitaire with smaller diamond accents down the sides of the shank.

         She slipped into a dream, leaving reality in the dust. Her vision blackened…

         The darkness began swirling in a spiral and a man with short brown hair and blue eyes appeared, silhouetted against the pitch. He wore black, skin tight pants and a matching turtleneck shirt. The shirt was not sweater material though. She couldn’t tell what the material was. It gave him the illusion of great height.

         Slowly the pitch formed into the break room of the department store where she worked… her first job. He looked just about as old as she was, at the time. Consciously she remembered nothing of it, just that the job had bored her nearly to tears.

         She saw a long table opposite the door with a coffee maker, jugs of various soft drinks, Kool-Aid, even tea sitting at one end. Next to that platters of sandwiches and next came platters of pastries.

         Ana looked at the table, trying to decided whether or not try one of the pastries. They looked delicious but she did not need the extra weight on her hips, so she opted for a sandwich.

         Ana walked to the table, poured a cup of hot java, reached to her left for the milk substitute, Coffee Mate. He approached the table at the same time and reached around her for the coffee pot just as she reached for the creamer. Their arms got tangled up and she pulled her arm back, waiting for a chance to get the creamer. His chest brushed her as he leaned over her. Her body reacted to the touch, sending impulses up and down her spine, making her shiver.

         He moved closer to her, reaching for the packets of sugar. This time, as he reached over her, his whole body touched her.

         Her skin crawled with delight, screaming at her to keep him from moving away from her. She shook so hard that she was shaking the coffee out of the mug she held.

         He quickly grabbed the mug from her hands, whispered in her ear… “Are you alright?” Put the mug down on the table, reaching over her once more to get the coffee pot. He poured more into the mug, filling it to the brim and asked, “Crème?”

         “Crème?” she repeated flirtatiously, as her hands wrapped around his hips, pulling him one step closer to her. Her voice was thick with desire that begged for release. “Yes!”  More than you know! She thought as her lips spread in a mischievous grin.

         “Sugar?” he graciously asked.

         He felt her hands sliding around his hips, coming to rest on his butt. He straightened up, stopping mid-motion with his hands poised in mid-air, reaching for the packets of sugar.

         Slowly she replied, “Two please?” Her voice came out in a low, lazy tone. He had to lean down a little to hear her.

         Motion renewed he picked up two packets of plain white sugar.

         “NO! Sweet-N-Low, please?”

         He dropped the sugar packets on the table, picked up the Sweet-N-Low, ripped them open, and dumped them into the hot liquid. Reached for a stirring stick and noticed she had her own spoon sitting next to the mug. Picked it up and stirred the coffee, blending both the crème and sugar into it.

         The crowd at the table cleared a bit and he sidled over three or four steps to stand beside her.

         “Thank you.” she said to him as she turned to leave.

         He looked up shyly and nodded a reply. She noticed his eyes were blue like crystal clear water but they had clouded a bit, as if he was immersed in some fantasy that had not yet faded. Once again her body reacted, this time with her own flight of fancy creeping slowly up her body.

         She looked into them and became lost in them. His eyes drew her in as though they were magnets. They spoke volumes and yet told her nothing at the same time. To her, it seemed as though they were bottomless vortexes.

         The power his eyes exerted over her grew beyond words causing her heart to flutter in rapid successive beats. The very air Ana breathed choked her and her knees grew weak. All the blood in her body had run to her head, causing imbalance. To her it felt like a heart attack as she grew faint and collapsed.

         Her vision faded to black, as if she had actually fainted. The sudden blackness and lack of strength scared her. As the darkness deepened, it grew within her, a true reflection of herself.

         Her vision cleared and she wondered… Is it true? Am I so empty? She searched her feelings and found it to be true. She was as empty as that darkness had been. Through this dream she had found that something or other that she lacked.

          But that was the problem. It did not feel like any other dream or wondered musing she had before. This felt real! She could still feel his touch, the forceful power of his eyes drawing her into him, the excitement and desire he produced in her that would not dissipate, most of all the sense of peaceful completion she found.

         She saw things with new eyes, as if she had never seen them before, and everything held new meaning. She found new wonder in old things. A movie she loved brought new hope she never thought possible before. Somehow her emotions had also changed.

         As she watched a movie on Lifetime, one she had seen many times before, the hours flew by and when she looked at the clock again, it was nearly 4  A.M. She had lost all track of time and now had begun to feel the effects of the sandman’s visit… Or rather his visit, as she began to nod off.

         Half asleep, Ana lazily walked out of the den and up the stairs; she was not looking forward to sleeping in that big bed alone. It was lonely since she had no one to warm it for her.

         As she lay restless under the covers, she could not get past the sense of something familiar about him. Part of her wanted him to be the man to fill that void, the one Mick created in her when he left.

         She had begun to feel like a ghost of the person she had been. She thought that everyone could see she was broken and hollow inside, a shell of her former self without him. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, she lay in the dark, as a sudden feeling of relief swept over her.

         She felt a presence in the room, like something taking up space. Something ephemeral that cast shadows in her mind, made real by the darkness. Something of a vague, fluttery nature, fading in and out of sight. It seemed to be made up of the darkness itself and blended with the pitch of the room. A vague outline was the only evidence of this spectral visitor.

         Ana dismissed it as a figment of her imagination, a trick of her sleep deprived mind. Her desires that had taken form and played havoc upon her senses.

         Then suddenly she jumps, nearly falling out of bed because of the sudden movement. Something touched her and caressed her, raising goose-bumps all over her body. It excited her.

         Her breasts were being fondled, licked and sucked on. A hand caressed her abdomen, and then slowly traced lines down from her chest to her pubic hair and a tongue glided down along those lines lightly touching her skin.

         It was arousing her so quickly that she writhed in ecstasy. At every perceived touch of ghostly hand, she trembled with a gasp of air. Then someone’s lips brushed her cheek, and someone’s tongue tickled her ear, next her ear lobe being sucked on. Then, in her ear, a whisper… “Ana”.

         She thought it was just a ghost of memory of the foreplay with Mick, and at this point she was ready to explode. It brought out her desires, making them grow until she could not control them.

         Then she got a real sense of the darkness solidifying. It scared her and she couldn’t think to move. She lay there afraid to move as it took the form of a man of at least six foot in height, with short hair that looked slightly lighter than a mousey brown and blue eyes that looked as deep as the ocean.

         She stared into those eyes and a numbness washed over her, separating her into many pieces, like breaking a mirror. Because he or it allowed and even encouraged the breakage she found her fractured self roaming through every landscape within. She found none to be that place where she wanted to be, that place that resonates within and is always part of you.

         Then suddenly, a new door formed out of thin air or so it seemed. She carefully opened this door and behind it found a world where she was whole and all her desires had been fulfilled. This place was peaceful and she did not want to leave this place but reality called incessantly. She had finally found that peace she searched for.

         She felt a sense of freedom and explored this new world and herself. She also found confidence within herself that she had been lacking, and a completeness of spirit that made her glow in such a way that turned heads.

         Her hands were running along the lines of memory upon her skin, as something deep inside her screamed silently. Something brushed against her pussy. She gasped and every muscle in her body tightened, begging for the release that was imminent. Pressure on her pussy made her move a fraction of an inch as she felt something separate her labia and push between them.

         It felt good! So good… It sent impulses up her spine, making her shake as if she were ill. Her breathing immediately quickened as she was filled both physically and spiritually.

         As orgasm built with each perceived thrust, so did that spiritual fullness. When orgasm exploded inside her, that fullness burst like a ripe melon, slowly spreading its essence through her every fiber. Almost like it was viral. Its’ infection invading places she thought nothing could touch. In other places it simply pushed things out to give itself a home for the night.

         Ana sat up in bed, lazily propped up on the headboard. She felt such a sense of calm that it was downright peaceful, her entire body tingled with the flight of ecstasy and she trembled violently. She felt light as air, as if she would float away at any minute.


         She convinced herself that this was a dream, only a memory of what she missed with Mick. She thought these dreams were enough. But she found her heart wanting more than these mere images…

         There was no way in hell she would be able to sleep now. She turned on the light on the nightstand and grabbed her book. Opened it to where the bookmark sat, keeping her place within the pages. The book was a paranormal romance but she couldn’t concentrate on the pages.

         She kept flashing back to his eyes and that look. She couldn’t resist the pull of those wonderful blue eyes. They drew her into another world. A virgin world waiting to be explored, to be known. But she was lost in the ecstasy she just experienced and shivers ran through her body, making her hands shake so badly she couldn’t hold the book.

         She drifted upon calm seas that lulled her into that peacefulness that filled her like she was its home and without realizing she was actually tired, her eyes slowly closed.

         That night her dreams were full and complete. In her sleep she remembered those eyes, and that fullness returned and would not leave her, even after she woke the next morning. She felt mended, like she had never been fractured in the first place.

         These feelings and this event raised questions she had no answers for. What is it about him that feels so familiar? What is it about him that affects me so? Why does he make me feel like this? Who is he?