Soul Mates

"You! Fuck you! How could you! Asshole! How did you! Shit!" she ranted. I let her blow off steam, blushing and looking sadder and more ashamed than I ever had.

"I'm sorry," I said when she took a breath.

"You're sorry?" she yelled, then repeated her litany of insults and curses.

"Should I stay here, or should I go so you can get dressed?" I suggested when she temporarily ran out of expletives.

She had been too agitated to notice that her nightwear had been removed, and the sudden realization triggered another minute of vocal rage.

"Get out! Get the fuck out!" she ended. As I rose to leave, she reconsidered, "No, wait." She shook her head, mumbling to herself. Halfway to the door, I waited patiently as she looked at me, looked around the room, stared at the bed, and lifted the quilt to glance at herself. Anger had cooled to befuddlement.

"If you don't want to be alone, I'll blindfold myself," I said, picking up my sweatpants. I sat down and wrapped them around my head, facing the wall as well.

"Okay," she said quietly. I heard her moving about, opening her suitcase, apparently getting dressed. She talked to herself as she did, but not distinctly enough for me to know what she was saying. Then she was silent. The minutes dragged on.

"Alright, I'm dressed," she said finally.

Uncovering my head, I saw her sitting at the foot of the bed. We just looked at each other for a while.

"Julia, I have known you--and cared about you--almost half my life," I began. She seemed willing to listen, so I continued. "Whatever happened or seemed to happen last night, you know in your heart I would never do anything to hurt you."

"It wasn't real. Let me show you," I said, standing up. Julia reacted, moving to the door as if to escape. I kept my distance, going to my side of the bed to pull back the bedclothes.

"Look at these sheets. Feel them. Smell them. Do they have any trace of the lovemaking we supposedly did last night?" I knew it hadn't felt like lovemaking to her, but I was trying to lessen the trauma.

"I assume that somehow you had the same dream I did. Remember us both fighting them on top of us? Trying to pull ourselves free? Then somehow merging them into each other?" I prompted. Her eyes grew wide and teary at the memory.

"I came three times and my penis stayed as hard as a statue's the whole time," I said. Posing like Michelangelo's David, I continued, "Is there any way this forty-something body did that? Even at my fittest and horniest, I was never that much of a stud."

I knew I had hit home when I saw her hand move toward her crotch. She didn't have to touch herself to realize that her genitals would be at least a little sore from that workout if it had been real. Frowning, she shook her head, trying to make sense of the nonsensical.

Balling her fists at her sides like a kid throwing a tantrum, she bellowed a long "Aargh!" in frustration; I hoped no one else heard it. With that catharsis, she came over and hugged me, saying, "I'm sorry."

"I understand," I reassured her. "It was horrible for me, too. Maybe not the same way, but I knew I was causing you pain, and I never want to do that."

I had been coming up with a plan for that night. "Tonight, we'll sleep in shifts. If either sees anything happening, we'll wake the other person. I'm a night owl, so you can sleep first. The truck should be ready at noon and we'll get the hell out of Montana!"

That afternoon, the sun was warm as we paddled and drifted down the river in our rented canoe. Out in nature, the sounds of wildlife and the flowing water settled us both. I let Julia broach the subject of the night before.

"Does it actually say 'Thank you'?" she asked.

"Yes," I laughed. Whatever these dreams were, they had all the details right. I had never told Julia about it. How could she have known?

"When I was with Madison," I explained, "we both got tattoos just above our pubes. Hers said 'Please' and I got 'Thank you'. Although we were drunk when we got them, in the fifteen years since it has served me well!" It was so good to hear Julia laugh.

That night, I watched her sleep, planning to wake her at four, playing a game on my phone to keep me awake. It was almost that time when I saw the glow appear in the room. The spectral couple stood at the foot of the bed, embracing lovingly. I shook Julia gently to wake her. She sat straight up, blinking her eyes as she stared at the shimmering pair. Jumping out of bed, she stood next to me.

We watched as they slowly turned in a silent dance, their naked bodies in the full flower of youthful sensuality. There was no aggression like we had experienced. I reached back to unlock the door in case we needed to escape, but Julia couldn't take her eyes off them either.

After a few minutes, the newlyweds moved onto the bed. She got on her hands and knees and he knelt behind her, his hard cock sticking straight out. He moved into her and they fucked, slowly at first, then faster and harder. She lowered her head to the bed, taking him fully as he grabbed her hips. We could see but not hear the impacts on her ass.

"He's really giving it to her," Julia whispered.

"She seems to love it," I replied.

They began to brighten. He flashed first, but she joined him moments later, the light almost filling the room. It lasted a minute, then he collapsed on top of her and they rolled to their sides, spooning. Julia and I watched as the glow diminished back to when they first appeared, then faded until the room was completely dark.

"That was... beautiful," she said after a search for the right word.

Their final appearance seemed to change both our interpretations of the dreams we had shared.

As planned, she let me sleep for a few hours before we packed, retrieved the truck, and got back on the road. Driving separately, we kept each other company with our hands-free cell phones while the miles slipped by. Neither of us had ever believed in ghosts, but from what we had heard, spirits linger because of unfinished business.

For these two, we decided that they must have died before they could consummate their marriage. What had seemed like aggression in our encounters was their passionate desperation to be able to join with each other. By merging with them, we had allowed them to do that.

I helped my friend find an apartment in the Bay Area. It took a few months to put that strange confounding adventure behind us, but we refreshed the camaraderie that had sustained us over the years and across the miles. Over time, we laid to rest the traumatic intimacy of that weekend, which allowed a genuine romance between us to blossom.

Perhaps because of long years of simmering or the extreme events that brought us together, when our passion ultimately emerged, it burned as brightly and hotly as those ethereal newlyweds! We would muse and laugh about whether we had finally brought them together or they had finally brought us together.

It was our fifth anniversary of that weekend. I don't recall which of us first suggested it, but we discovered that both Julia and I were intrigued and excited--if somewhat apprehensive--about the idea. We decided to return to that cabin motel. When we checked in, Jake recognized us.

"I remember you two. Your truck broke down, right? And you saw the ghosts," he said, pointing at the picture on the wall. "You know, I haven't heard a complaint about them ever since."

His grin piqued our anticipation of seeing them again, and we entered the cabin as if we were on our own honeymoon. The food and wine we enjoyed around the campfire were better than last time, but we had the traditional s'mores.

Our excitement grew as the stars speckled the darkening sky. We waited until the full moon rose above the trees before we doused the fire and scampered inside. Our plan was to watch them and try to merge with them whichever way they were positioned. Wanting to save ourselves but still be ready for the hoped-for appearance, we settled into an easy sixty-nine. With our practiced techniques and responses, we edged and calmed as we waited, inventing and discussing detailed back-stories for the pair.

Julia had closed her thighs around my ears to warn me she was getting too close when I felt a tingling down my neck. Lifting my head, I noticed the room had lightened.

"They're here!" Julia squealed.

I turned to look at the face over my shoulder. It flickered brightly, and his smile and nod seemed to show recognition.

"I think they know us!" I sang. We had no idea if they could or would remember.

Rather than us mimicking them, they each moved behind us. It was weird to feel the icy male presence against my back and ass, then slowly soaking into me. I shivered as the chill penetrated every part of my body. Julia's skin against mine took on the cool heat of menthol.

My cock was suddenly engulfed by a hot mouth. A core of cold steel seemed to give it extra length and rigidity. The earlier teasing licks were replaced by a demanding suction while fingers strummed every adjacent nerve. By instant consensus with my interloper, I gobbled the banquet spread before me, lips and tongue devouring every tender morsel. The amalgam of fire and ice, familiar and strange, voluntary and involuntary actions and responses drove us far beyond our highest peak.

Four souls merged in perfect love and pleasure as time stopped. Our bodies blazed as we floated above the bed, morphing through countless positions, tempos, and intensities. We throbbed and twisted in ecstasy without biological constraints until, overflowing and overwhelmed, our minds somehow found sleep. I opened my eyes to Julia opening hers, my delirious grin no doubt mirroring hers as we lay, arms and legs entwined. Sunlight leaked around the shades confirmed our earthy, earthly location.

"I wonder how much Jake would want for this place," I chuckled. "We could fix it up, make this cabin a honeymoon suite. Maybe let other couples enjoy the experience, and let our spirit-friends have some variety."

"I may be willing to share," laughed Julia. "But I wouldn't change a thing!"