Paranormal Research Club Ch. 02

We were both trembling. I couldn't believe that I had just heard those words come out of her mouth. Sweet, innocent, responsible Heather, who didn't like to go to parties and who had just gotten into graduate school with a 3.9 overall GPA, was willing risk everything for unprotected, forbidden, incestuous sex with her own cousin. She looked at me with wide, frightened, doe-like eyes, as though afraid of being rebuked or laughed at. Instead, I pulled her closer to me.

"I love you, Heather. And soon we will make love. I promise. But can we use some sort of protection? I'm not sure that our mothers will be as happy to have us make grandchildren for them right now as they seemed about the idea in our dream." I chuckled lightly.

She flashed her brilliant old familiar smile that I have seen a million times before and always loved. "Sure we can use protection. But you had best get some soon if you want us to use it. I've always been in love with you, but I thought that because I was your cousin you wouldn't have me. I've waited my whole life for this, and I don't want to wait another minute if I don't have to."

I could see in her eyes that she had told the truth. She would have let me make love to her then and there, without protection and while her body was at its most fertile. I knew that everyone else was waiting for us back at the van and would soon be wondering where we were, and I knew that if I made love to my sweet, beloved cousin there would almost certainly be serious, life-altering consequences for it. But I remembered what it had been like to make love to her two nights earlier. I remembered her beautiful, soft, chubby body as she gave herself to me, and I wanted nothing in the world more than to have sex with her then and there, to plant my seed deep inside of her and make her my own forever. I pulled her closer to me, savoring the feeling of the woman I loved in her arms. After a lifetime of seeing each other almost every day and sharing a million innocent and happy memories together, suddenly getting just a few more minutes alone with my cousin seemed like the promise of heaven. But I couldn't let myself get her pregnant. She would let me, but I couldn't do that to her. We had to go back to the van now, while we still had the willpower to stop this.

"I love you, Heather," I breathed quietly into her ear. I couldn't resist kissing her soft lips again. I doubt that I could ever get tired of kissing her lips. "But everyone else is waiting on us."

"OK," she whispered. But we still clung to each other, neither of us moving. Again, we moved to kiss one another on the lips. In soft, slow, sultry movements our moist lips moved together. My cock was straining hard against my pants as Heather's tongue and mine slowly caressed each other, and her hand reached down and gently stroked my hardness through my pants. I raised my hips to avoid crushing her hand between us as I gasped into her mouth, and she increased the pressure of her hand against my manhood. Then I felt her fingers on the zipper of my pants as we kissed even more passionately, our saliva being freely shared as our tongues writhed together. I heard and felt my zipper being slid open, the cool air greeting the hot flesh of my cock. Then, I felt my cousin's soft fingers gently reach inside my pants to caress the skin of my penis.

Our kisses became sloppy and animalistic as Heather freed my cock from my pants and ran her soft hand along its length. I didn't care if it was wrong. I didn't care if it was incest. I didn't care that people were probably waiting on us, and I didn't care that neither Heather nor I had any protection available to us and we weren't in a position to raise children together at this point in our lives. The thought of pulling out of her once we began to make love was unthinkable. All that mattered at that very moment was our all-consuming need to consummate our love, to feel myself bathed by the sexual fluids of my beautiful cousin as we expressed our desire and passion for one another in the most natural way we could.

As my beloved cousin stroked my naked cock in her warm, soft hand, I had two choices. I could end this now and protect both of our futures, or I could reach for the button of her pants. Once her pants were unfastened, I had no doubt what she and I would do together, and my heart leapt into my throat as I imagined what that would be. My hand seemed to move of its own volition towards her waist, and I felt the crotch of her jeans beneath my trembling fingers as she sighed sweetly into my mouth. Even through the thick denim, I could feel the heat and humidity rise from her excited sex as my fingers fumbled with the button at the top of her jeans. Those jeans were separating my cousin and I from what we wanted most in this world at that moment, and she raised her hips to give me easier access to the button and zipper that held them on her.

I had never wanted anything more in my entire life than to make passionate love to Heather then and there, consequences be damned. And if we had a child as a result, then we would love that baby and raise it as any couple would. But I couldn't stand the thought of her promising future going out the window. I loved her far too much.

After I broke our long kiss, I looked deep into her pleading, sparkling blue eyes. "We need to go back to the van, Heather," I said breathlessly.

"All right," she replied. Her voice was quiet as I sat up and tucked my manhood back into my pants As I looked into her sad eyes, I could almost see reflections of what we both wished could have happened between us there in that beautiful forest.

We held hands for a bit while walking back to the road.

"I'm glad that we did that, John. I've been wanting some time alone with you for the last two days, and I feel better now that you feel the same way towards me that I feel towards you. I was afraid that things between us were literally just a dream on my part."

"I'm glad, too, Heather." We smiled at each other, and squeezed each other's hand.

"You know that things are never going to be the same between us," Heather whispered. "But I hope that you know that, no matter what happens, I'll always love you more than anyone in the world."

"I'll always love you, too, cuz." I said with a grin.

Heather and I arrived back at the campsite just as everyone was finishing up a walk-through of the area to ensure that we hadn't left any belongings or garbage behind. Satisfied that we had left our campsite the way we had found it, we hit the road.

We still had several hours of driving ahead of us. I sat in the van in the back, between Diane and Heather. As the van made its way down the road, it gently rocked back and forth. Erin was driving, and from the front of the van some quiet Christian instrumental music was playing. We had scarcely driven for an hour when Heather lay her head on my shoulder and drifted into sleep. Her soft, warm body against mine and the soothing sound of her gentle breathing soon had me nodding gently in my seat. Diane glanced over at Heather and I with drowsy, heavy-lidded eyes. Without saying a word, she rested her head upon my other shoulder. Why were we so tired? Didn't we get enough sleep last night? And those were the last thoughts I had before I drifted into blissful unconsciousness.

I found myself with Diane and Heather in the familiar clearing, but now it was daytime outside. Brilliant yellow beams of sunlight filtered down through the green needles of the fragrant pine trees and danced upon the soft carpet of verdant grass. At the edge of the clearing, the massive trunks of pines the size of California redwoods towered up to the sky. Among the trees I saw tendrils of wild grape vines and ivy. The woods seemed full of a dense fog. Diane ventured towards the forest and stepped into the greenish-gray mist.

"Are we where I think we are?" Heather asked me with nervous excitement.

"I believe so!" I replied with a wicked grin.

Heather's soft blue eyes met mine as her mouth curled into a wicked smile. 'We're dreaming again, so you don't have to worry about getting me pregnant," she whispered quietly enough that Diana wouldn't hear her. "at least not in real life. Here, I'm probably already carrying your child!" She smiled giddily. "And, now, nobody is waiting for us." Looking around and seeing Diane's back disappear into the woods, Heather kissed me.

"Holy shit, this is the thickest fog I've ever seen!" Diane's voice came from the fog.

"I would not go much further, if I were you," came a deep baritone voice from nearby. "Diana, would you mind if I led you back to your friends?" I turned and saw the muscular, white-bearded form of Acratophorus gently leading Diana out of the woods by her hand. "In this world, you really can fall off of the edge of the planet into oblivion. Oh, don't look so alarmed. You're native to a different reality, and would simply awaken back in the van if that happened."

"Who are you, and where is this place?" Diana asked him.

"Forgive me," the god said with a dramatic bow to the ladies. "My name is Acratophorus, the Giver of Unmixed wine. You might have heard me referred to as Dionysus? Bacchus? Yes, I can see that you've heard those names before. Regardless of what you call me, I'm the god of wine and revelry. Never mind. I'm a god that hardly anyone worships anymore, despite the fact that your culture would be well-suited for it. There are mortal musicians that have been dead for several generations and still have more followers than I do, and there are far more people that have heard of the latest celebrity gossip in your world than have heard of me." He said the words with a merry twinkle in his eye and a good-natured chuckle at his own self-deprecation. "It's nice to meet you, Heather. Anyone beloved of my friend John is dear to me as well. And it's a pleasure to meet John's other best friend as well, Diana. That's a lovely name, by the way. That's what the Romans called one of my half-sisters. She always preferred being called Artemis, but I think that Diana sounds much prettier."

"And this place? You should ask the local deity that I put in charge here what he wants to call it." Acratophorus gestured towards me. "I made this little reality just for John, and here he has powers second only to mine, which effectively makes him the ruling god of this world since I have no intention of doing much with it. He can will things into and out of existence and do whatever he likes here, in exchange for a few tiny favors that I need him to do for me some time soon. This place is his, and the reason it's so small is because he hasn't yet had the opportunity to add on to it. As the god of this world, he can construct it in whatever manner pleases him. In just a moment, I'll leave you all alone to go explore... anything here that needs exploring, I suppose. But first, may I please talk to John in private for a moment? Here, John, follow me into the woods, but first I would like for you to think of a bench beside the ladies here. Any kind of bench. Get a picture in your mind of what you want. Yes, what you're visualizing will work wonderfully. Don't look so surprised that I can see what you're thinking, I'm a god! You know that. Now, just will the bench to exist."

Diana and Heather looked on in amazement as the silhouette of the bench that I had been visualizing appeared on the ground near them like shimmering, sparkling liquid gold. I gasped along with Diana and Heather as the ornately carved marble bench I had been visualizing appeared precisely where I had imagined it!

"Good, God, John! How the fuck did you do that?" Diana exclaimed gleefully.

I was just as surprised as the ladies and I looked behind myself and shrugged to my friend as Acratophorus took me by the elbow and led me off into the mist of the woods. We wandered through the ancient pine trees as the swirling gray-green mist closed thicker around us. Soon I could hardly see anything more than a foot away from myself.

"Yes, this should be far enough." Acratophorus stopped. Here, half-obscured by the mysterious fog, the ancient god regarded me gravely as he appeared to mysteriously float in nothingness. It reminded me of the primeval chaos of some ancient pagan creation story. "John, may I borrow your pocketknife for a moment?"

I gave him a questioning look, but seeing that no explanation appeared to be forthcoming I whipped out the large folding lock-blade that I had carried since I had been in the Army, and I flicked the long, meticulously-honed blade open as I handed it to him. He took it from me and held it in both hands for a long moment, looking intently at the blade and murmuring quietly in some strange foreign tongue. He most certainly wasn't speaking in English, and I doubted that he was even speaking in ancient Greek. For a moment the blade glowed a bright, yellowish white that seemed to radiate a rainbow-like aura through the mist around it like sunlight shining thorough a prism. As I watched in surprise and confusion, my knife gradually returned to its original appearance.

Acratophorus tested the edge with his thumb. "You certainly do like to keep a blade sharp. I haven't held a knife with an edge like this in quite some time." I smiled at the compliment. "Be careful with this thing," he admonished as he deftly flipped it into the air and caught it by the flat of the blade, handing it back to me. "Consider this the first of several treasures that I'll bless you with. Among other things, the blade can't break or get dull, here or anywhere else. You'll find that your knife now has other magical properties as well, but I'm afraid that I can't tell you about them at this point without the risk of causing both of us a great deal of trouble. I wish that I could tell you more, but I hope that you will come to understand everything soon. I can tell you to take good care of this knife and keep it close to you, because you're going to be doing a lot of good with it very soon. In particular, I can think of a few souls that have been suffering in darkness for a long time that are counting on you to help them, and your friends will need you as well."

The muscular old god looked at me grimly as he clapped me on the shoulder. His manner reminded me of some of my old Army buddies before dangerous missions. Some of them had clapped me on the shoulder just like the ancient god just did before we loaded into our vehicles and headed out. And some of those brave young men were now resting in military cemeteries. Taking me by the shoulder, Acratophorus led me back from the misty forest and into the sunlit clearing.

"I wish that I could stay and chat for a bit longer, because there's a lot that I do need to tell you and soon, but I am desperately needed elsewhere if my plans are to succeed. After centuries of boredom, I've suddenly found myself without a moment to spare. Well, I'll leave you, your friend, and your cousin in peace. Take all the time you want. Erin won't stop to refuel the van for another three hours, and the rest of your friends will be content to allow you and the ladies to sleep."

Diane and Heather both looked at Acratophorus as though they were about to ask him questions or say something when he began fading from sight. With a smile like the Cheshire Cat, Acratophorus disappeared into nothingness.

My friends looked at where the ancient god had stood and gaped at the empty space where he had stood only seconds before.

After a long moment of silence, Diane spoke rapidly to me in her excitement. "So, that guy is some ancient Greek god, and he gave you the powers of a god as well? What the fuck, buddy? You became a god in an alternate reality and didn't think that this was something that you should mention to your best friend? I shouldn't have to save up my beer money when you should be able to turn water into wine, right?" She chuckled gleefully. "So you just created this bench by willing it into existence, and that guy says that you can actually build an entire world just like that?"

"Well, Diane, how do you propose that I should have started a conversation with you on the whole 'I'm a god in another world but here it's all I can do to keep my car running' thing?"

Diane and Heather both laughed. "You know that I'm just messing with you, buddy!" Diane said.

"I suppose that I did make the bench there," I said thoughtfully, "but I've never willed a world into existence before. I would kind of like to put some thought into exactly what I would like to add on to this place before I do too much," I replied.

"As far a what to create, maybe a pretty little woodland stream with a cozy little cabin beside it?" Heather suggested. "Kind of like that painting that I've got hanging up in my room? Please? Think of it as a gift to me, and practice for whatever you feel like adding on later. And I wouldn't stress too much about the pressure of creating your own little world. I'm pretty sure we're all dreaming, which means that momentous decisions aren't something to worry much about. Plus, if you really are the ruling god of this place, then if you screw something up too badly I'm sure you'll be able to fix it, right?"

Diane chuckled. "While you're making the land, just remember to keep the volcanoes and earthquake-ridden fault zones to a minimum. When you're working on the flora and fauna, go light on things like mosquitoes and poison-ivy. And if things get too badly out of hand, remember that there isn't much that a nice cataclysmic flood can't fix. So, Heather, you really think we're all dreaming? I've never been in a dream that felt this real before! Everything around us looks, sounds, feels, and smells real to me, and we wouldn't really all be able to share a dream together, would we?" Diane walked over to Heather. "Can I pinch you?" she asked her playfully.

Heather never responded to the question, because we were interrupted by a brilliant flash of golden light that exploded from the woods. Old habits die hard, and both Diane and I dropped into low crouches at the sudden brightness. You can know on an intellectual level that you're in a safe pace, but it's hard for anyone that has been a veteran of close combat to ever truly feel safe again. Only Heather stood to feel the refreshing rush of warm air that flowed over us from the beautiful forest. There before us, we could see that the mist had receded from the woods. And, through the trees, just as I had envisioned it, was a merrily bubbling stream and a picturesque little stone cabin that was weathered and moss-covered as though it had been there for centuries. Diane and I followed Heather as she ran giddily towards the cabin. I couldn't help but watch her perfect butt bounce as she ran and remember our interactions from that morning.

Heather pulled the weathered oaken door open into a cozy single room with a large bed in one corner, not far from a large old-fashioned stone fireplace that had a crackling fire burning merrily in it. A small oil lamp flickered on the wooden table at the edge of the room. Herbs were drying in bunches that hung down from nails in the rafters, lending a fragrant smell to the room. I walked into the cozy, dimly lit space.

"Well, welcome home, cousin!" I said with a smile, hoping to distract myself from my wicked thoughts. Here I was, with god-like powers and in the company of two beautiful women, both of whom I cared about deeply and both of whom cared deeply about me. I wouldn't use my powers to seduce them. But what if not using my powers to seduce them involved not visualizing what it would be like to make love to them or wishing for it? That would be easier said than done under any circumstances. And deliberate efforts to not think about seducing them had roughly the same effect as the old joke about "Try not to think about a pink elephant.".