Lucid Ending

"Yes fuck me. Fuck the shit out of me," she shrieked and Adrian was only too happy to comply. Soon, he was plunging in and out of her with sharp, quick thrusts.

His orgasm surprised him. It came faster than either of them anticipated, rocking his body. Load after load of hot cum shot deep inside her. He leaned over on her, catching his breath.

Pulling his softening penis out of her, he gave her a quick slap on her posterior.

"Payback." * *

Completely hairless, paralysed from the waist down and now blind. Not to mention the convulsions, seizures, bouts of bleeding and persistent raging fever.

Karen's heart broke into little pieces seeing her love suffer. He was asleep beside her as she steadfastly held his hand. She was never especially religious, but she prayed fervently.

This time though, her prayers were lost in her tears.

She swallowed her sobs, not wanting to disturb him. Their whole world seemed so dark and desolate. Her body softly shook with her sobs.

"Please. Let the pain stop," she whispered to a nameless deity. "Make him feel better."

Her prayers went unanswered, as they had all week long.

"I wish somebody could help him. Somebody, anybody... he doesn't deserve this."

A frail voice penetrated the murky despair of her mind. It was so weak, that at first she thought she had imagined it.

"You can help me."

She turned to see his eyes opened, looking at her. The treatment had taken a terrible toll on his face. His skin was gaunt and his cheeks were hollow. His eyes had lost their spark and he seemed to have the lost the will to live. His thin, wrinkled lips parted to repeat his words.

"You can help me."

"How..?"

It took a monumental amount of effort for his weak throat to squeeze out any words. His voice was barely audible, but each word was deafeningly loud to Karen.

"Kill me. End it for me."

The words hit Karen like a truck, driving all the air from her lungs. She stood up, petrified and put her free hand over her mouth.

"No," she gasped.

"Please, Karen. You are the only one I can ask for this. Please don't let them hurt me any more. Take me to a place far away. So far away that they can't reach me."

She felt a splitting pain in her heart. He had asked her for the ultimate sacrifice- of her soul. This act would scar it in ways she could not imagine.

"Fight the pain. Tom will force them to stop treatment. Just keep fighting till then."

Adrian began to cry. It was heart-wrenching for her to see tears flood out of his dead eyes.

"I've fought and I've fought and I've fought. I have nothing left to fight with. I can't take it any more."

"Baby," said Karen, choking up herself. "Please. I can't do it. I love you too much. Don't you see that?"

"That's why I am asking you. You are the only one in the world for me. You are all I have. Do it because you love me that much."

"I love you more than anything, but I can't. I just can't."

Tears streaming from her face, Karen rushed out of the ward and kept running. Orderlies, nurses and others gaped at her as she jostled people out of her way and just kept running. She did not know what she was running from or what she was running towards, but she dared not stop. Her mind dimly guided her through the streets as she kept running, somehow, somewhere searching for answers. * *

Twenty four year old Adrian was sick. He had gone on to inaugurate a charitable venture in a remote South American village and returned with a bout of scarlet fever. His face was inflamed and a rash appeared on his back and shoulders.

Karen nursed him religiously. The drugs would heal him in a few days, but until then, he had a raging fever. She placed ice packs and cold towels on his forehead, giving him his pills at regular intervals. No one else was allowed to tend to him.

The fever brought with it vivid nightmares. He shook from side to side in his sleep. His parents appeared in them, laughing at him while he was too weak to defend himself. They swirled around him in a ghastly collage of psychedelic colours.

"Please, go away. Don't hurt me," he wailed in his sleep, thrashing from side to side.

The laughing continue as they faces became larger. He desperately looked around his dreamscape for a sign of Karen. She would save him, but she was nowhere in sight.

Adrian jerked awake and sat upright, straight into Karen's comforting arms. She held on tightly to him, burying her face in his shoulder and telling him how much she loved him.

"I'm right here. Right by your side," she said, rubbing his back.

"Don't let me fall asleep, or those dreams will start again," he implored, delirious with fever.

"What did you dream of?" asked Karen kindly, brushing a few stray tears from his face.

He looked at her face, trying to find an answer. Finally, all he could say was one word.

"Monsters...."

Karen held him tightly to her chest. His tears stained the front of her dress and she nuzzled his hair softly. The bond between the two was so powerful, that no force could ever break it. It transcended all descriptions of love and marriage and had manifested as an intrinsic want of a scorching intensity.

"Always remember this. I am here for you. No monster will ever hurt you as long as I am here. I won't let them," she said, firmly.

These words helped stop his sobbing to some extent. Neither of them let go.

Still delirious, he said weakly, "Promise? Promise me you will be my saviour. That you will save me whenever I need it."

She looked down at his big, brooding eyes, tired from the fever and smiled.

"Yes. I will always save you from monsters."

Latching onto her torso weakly, he drifted off into a tranquil sleep. The monsters were still there, but he wasn't afraid of them any longer. * *

There were too many thoughts in Karen's mind to describe as she rushed into her house on the Upper East Side. Adrian had just asked something of her that her mind could scarcely process. He had asked for release.

She rushed up to her bedroom, past all her startled servants and slammed the door shut behind her. Holding her head in her hands, she paced the length of the room. Her brain had gone numb from the magnitude of thoughts burning through every neuron.

Karen knew he was suffering, but his request was completely unexpected. It shocked her right to the very core of her soul.

"How can he ask me that?" she gasped inwardly.

Unable to restrain herself any longer and sank to her knees in a flood of tears. Her beautiful face was marred by wet streaks of tears flowing down her cheeks like a waterfall. Her body was racked by her copious sobbing as she struggled to come to grips with what had just transpired between them.

"No. This can't be happening to me," she firmly said to herself.

Someone with as much zeal for life as Adrian would not want to die. He was in too much pain at the moment, but would surely be feeling better soon.

"He doesn't want to die. He's just saying that because he is in pain. It will pass."

This phony rationalization sustained her for some time as she tried to get some rest. Each time she closed her eyes, she saw a flashing image of Adrian asking her once more. She just could not get him out of her head. Her heart ached to return but she dared not be in the same room with him any more.

"It isn't fair," she said angrily, "Why me?"

As if by telepathy, Adrian's voice spoke up in her head. It was weak, but distinct and the words ricocheted against her skull, digging deep into her conscience.

"You are the only one in the world for me. Do it because you love me that much."

"NO!" she said forcefully, albeit only to herself. "There has to be another way."

Money was not a question. Her brother was a billionaire. Surely there was something money could buy to lessen his pain.

"Yes!" she said aloud, hope rising in her chest. Their vast wealth would be a way out for him.

Immediately, she called up Adrian's current doctor and all of his consulting physicians. Her mood sank a notch after each call. Different voices, a unanimous opinion.

He was already getting the best treatment in the world, and an extremely potent dose of painkillers. There was nothing better to be had. Period.

Karen was spiralling into a deep depression. Her mind simply could not digest what was asked of her. She opened a cabinet under her bureau and took out a bottle of single malt. There was no need for a glass as she uncorked it and took a gulp straight from the bottle.

She reclined into the chair and wanted to scream at the cruelty of fate. There was so much they had not done yet. So much they still had to explore. She wistfully looked down at her body and remembered their decision to have children only after they were past thirty.

The time had come, but....

Unfulfilled promises. Lost love. So much had gone wrong for them. Ten years of holy matrimony ending in a saga of pain and tears. If there was a God, he surely had a wretched sense of humour.

Soon, she was not steady enough to lift the heavy bottle. She poured out a glass and gently ran her fingers over the rim. Taking a quick gulp, she cried. Her tears just would not stop. She drained her glass with the next gulp.

A framed photo on the dresser caught her eye. It was of them with their arms around each other on a sunny beach in Barbados. The sun bathed them and shone off her flawless skin while Adrian's tanned arms were wrapped around her neck and shoulders.

Karen forced a smile as she reminisced on that trip. It seemed so far away when he lay with her in that hammock between two coconut trees on the beach. She was wearing a skimpy bikini and kept playing with the straps while she lay in his loving arms. Her other hand was interlocked with his as they gazed idly into each other's eyes.

It was so calm, so peaceful, so tranquil. They were all that mattered to each other. In their moments together, the world ceased to exist around them.

Finishing the entire bottle, she made her way to the shower. Turning the water to lukewarm, she curled into a ball on the cold floor. The jet of water could not wash away her pain, neither could it put out the image of Adrian pleading for his death that was etched into her mind.

But it did wash away her tears.

Nothing else mattered to her. Her dream was falling apart faster and more viciously than she had imagined. Her tired eyes closed and she gave in to the irresistible pull of sleep on the floor itself.

Her eyes opened to a void. Adrian stood in front of her, disconsolate and alone.

"Adrian, honey..." she started, but he began to move away from her.

She followed him through the empty backdrop of her dreamscape. His eyes were fixed on her, but he kept going further and further back towards nothingness.

"Adrian, wait...."

His lips parted and he spoke in a sepulchral voice, "I can't wait any longer. I have to go. My mother misses me."

She stood, speechless as the distance between them increased. Abruptly, he stopped with a jerk and fell down.

She walked up to his supine form and looked down. His face was bathed in tears.

"You promised you would save me from them. You promised," he bawled.

Karen couldn't say a single word as he kept sobbing. His skin began to glow an unnatural shade of red. It was very red now and glowed brightly. His sobbing gave way to a searing cry with emanated from the deepest pits of his stomach and echoed far and wide into the abyss they stood in.

"You promised...." were his last words before he disappeared.

She woke up with a start. Her body was drenched by the continuous stream of hot water cascading from the shower all over the marble floor, but her mind was clear. Her thoughts had a remarkable lucidity. The jumbled chaos in her mind had settled and formed a distinct course of action.

She had promised to protect him from monsters.

Monsters were real. They did not hide in nightmares and horror movies any more. They were in boardrooms, in offices, in hospitals, in courts, everywhere. They wore suits and ties to hide themselves but their actions gave them away. They had conspired to make Adrian suffer and she stood by doing nothing.

That was going to change.

She was going to keep her promise to her brother. She was going to save him.

Even if she did not know who was going to save her after that. * *

Karen lay naked by the crackling fire, wrapped in Adrian's powerful arms. It was their tenth anniversary and they were in a cabin nestled by the snowy Alps. Their private jet flew to Geneva in record time and a private car had driven them to this expansive log cabin.

She got up and went to the window. The scenery outside her window was like a Christmas card. Snowflakes fell in teeming masses, carpeting the slope and town outside with a pure white layer. Each small house had a sloping roof with a sheet of snow on it.

A warm arm came over her breasts from behind and pulled her back towards a firm, sculpted chest. She smiled as she felt a rough stubbled chin press down on the nook of her shoulder and his cheek press against hers.

"What are doing so far away from me? I missed you the moment you left my side," said a deep baritone into her ear.

"I was admiring the scenery. Like I admire you."

Adrian took a few steps back to admire his gorgeous step-sibling against the backdrop of the soft snow falling outside his window. It was close to dawn.

"Why are we wasting our time here when we can be curled up by the fire?" he asked, pouting.

"In just a moment, dear. Let's see the snow fall here. I'll give us some background music."

She aimed the remote at her iPod connected to the home theatre and pressed a button.

"I know you like this song. It's the only one you listen to."

The wondrous tune of Bridge Over Troubled Waters filled the room. Adrian listened to this song on the lonely nights when his father was out, rutting like a beast. It had a calming effect on him, temporarily making him forget his sorrows.

He closed his eyes, letting his mind fall into the ocean of bliss inviting him. His senses slowly numbed, one by one, rendering the outside world banal. Irrelevant. An avalanche down the mountainside could not break his trance.

Three words however did.

"Dance with me."

His eyes snapped open and he looked up to see an outstretched hand. His eyes followed the flawlessly textured skin up the arm, leading to a Cheshire smile. She was curtsying expectantly, on her toes.

His hand found hers and locked together as she pulled into him. Her hand wrapped around his neck and nestled over his shoulder. She brought her sumptuous lips to his ear and her tongue came out, searching for his earlobe.

They waltzed slowly to Paul Simon's wonderful song. His lips softly pecked at her neck. It was slender and graceful, and he peppered her skin with kisses. Her eyes closed and she drew him tighter to her.

There were just two people in a room, engulfed with a passion strong enough to burn the cabin to ashes.

Karen's breasts pressed against his skin, her nipples grazing his chest. Involuntarily, his hand crept down to her luscious ass. He did not grab at it or squeeze, just kept his hand on it, affectionately patting it from time to time.

Her brow furrowed and her eyes remained closed as her tongue feasted on his earlobe. Adrian was especially sensitive there. She even let her teeth play along the ridge and her tongue just poked at the interior.

Wrapped up in each other, the naked bodies elegantly glided to the centre of the room. She opened her eyes and drew her face back to look at his face again. Her brief interlude on his shoulder had him aroused.

"This is our song now. Something just for the two of us."

She directed them towards the fire, hoping to snuggle with him once more. Adrian coughed loudly and she shot him a concerned look.

"It's nothing. Just a small fever and slight pain in my chest that's been troubling me lately. I called Dr Parker and he seemed concerned I might have inherited my mother's cancer."

Karen's face was now ashen with worry.

"Don't worry. These doctors are constantly hyping up things. Probably just a small infection. I'll go over to his clinic tomorrow and get it checked out. You go on ahead and oversee that acquisition in Chicago."

They held each other for a long time while admiring the snow capped mountains and the pines blanketing the horizon in a cony layer. There was a remarkable lull to the whole scene. The lull before the storm. * *

It was early morning when Adrian heard the footfalls in the corridor. They were not the hurried kind of doctors and orderlies rushing around. Neither were they evenly paced. They were tentative, as if each step had a lot of thought behind it.

He listened expectantly as they stopped near his door. He turned his sightless eyes towards the door-frame and smiled.

"You came...."

Unknown to him, she had spent the whole night awake. Her eyes were blood shot and her mind reeling from the enormity of the decision she had taken. There was still a part of her that refused to believe that she could do it. It weighed heavily on her, hanging like dead weight in her gut.

Karen stood at the doorway for a few long moments, her face devoid of emotion and her eyes empty. Every breath was slow and laboured as she surveyed him. He seemed to instinctively know who it was.

"My guardian angel has come to save me," said Adrian, with a weak smile playing on his withered lips.

It took her an eternity to walk to his side. Each step was slow, measured and stilled her heart for an instant. Every fibre of her being screamed in denial, but her mind steadfastly guided her forth. She sat by his side and caressed his scalp.

"She has."

"Thank you. I won't even try to imagine how hard this is going to be for you, but you are the only person who can do this for me."

She stifled a sob, determined to do her duty with a straight face. Adrian was not quite as strong and let a few tears slip by his defences. A comforting finger wiped them from under his eyes.

"No more tears. They hurt me too much."

An IV strapped hand came up and held hers.

"Hold me please. One last time. I want to remember your touch in my afterlife."

Tentatively, she placed her arms around his neck, unsure how hard to hold him. He had just about enough strength to shift his head to the side till it rested on her shoulder. Passers by felt blessed as they witnessed a tender moment too few ever get to experience. Karen wrapped around him, still keeping her faucets in check. She was determined not to cry near Adrian, lest he hear her sob.

"Will you sing our song one last time for me?"

"Yes," she cooed softly in his ear.

The occasional passer by stopped to smile for a moment at the heart-warming scene unfolding on the other side of the glass door. An elderly man clutched his wife's hand tightly. A new mother in a wheelchair kissed her baby once more. A young boy held on to his sister who was being led away for appendicitis. For an instant, all of them loved each other a little bit more.

Hatred eats you from within. Love engulfs you, envelopes you and makes you feel warmer, even if just for a while.

"When you're weary
Feeling small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all."

She stopped when she saw a tiny rivulet of tears snaking down his cheek. Leaning into him, she blew across her cheek and dried his tear. Her heart grew even more resolute to do what was needed.

Karen had never honed her singing, but her voice had a natural melody to it. Adrian never got tired of hearing it. He could spend his entire life lost in the soulful rendition from her. He could not see the sensual siren, enchanting him, but his hearing compensated for it.

"I'm on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down. "