Sweet Dreams

After much indecision, she decided to remove the tights she had put on. Mike would like that, and a voice in her head kept telling her bare legs worked better. She then arranged her long blonde hair so it fell nicely onto her shoulders. She skilfully applied her make-up, mostly to make the best of her big blue eyes. Finally satisfied, she nodded at her reflection. She would do.

When she was carefully walking down the stairs it occurred to her, that when she had got up at two a.m. to put on her nightshirt, the bedroom door had been open. When she had woken from her nightmare at three a.m. it had been closed. She had not closed it. She debated if she could be mistaken, but there was no doubt at two it had been open and at three closed. She felt a chill of fear spread down her back; strange things seemed to be happening.

Perhaps Mike had gone to the bathroom between those times, he had drunk a couple of beers before they made love. He had said many times; he could not make it through the night without a bathroom visit, if he drank alcohol. She was sure if he had got up she would have known. However, Mike had not disturbed Carla all night, which made the closed door seem very weird. Maybe he had just been very quiet.

By the time she reached the hallway she was relieved she had not fallen, high heels were hard to walk in when you were not used to them. This and finding Mike stressing about being late for dinner, meant she put the whole episode of the bedroom door out of her mind.

Carla felt Edmon's eyes wander up and down her body as he greeted them. He made no attempt to hide the fact he was appraising her. She blushed at little at this and more so when he took her hand and kissed it. She wished now she had refused to wear her new dress and had picked something more conservative. This feeling was not helped by Edmon's next comment.

"I love your dress," he said, with a twinkle in his eyes. He placed a hand on the top of her arms and then reached down and lifted the necklace up with one finger. Carla felt a twinge of excitement as his finger lightly brushed against the top of her chest. "And doesn't this suit you?" He added.

She watched him step back, continuing to admire her curvy figure and then again he stared deeply into her eyes. Again, she felt he knew everything she was thinking. He is amused that I am feeling uncomfortable she thought. Finally, he looked away, but it was a few moments before she could relax again. To her horror Edmon had used the time to remove her little black jacket. To be fair she had not resisted or even noticed. Carla felt very exposed, without the jacket the dress left too little to the imagination.

"Wow." Edmon said, "that's better." He stepped back to admire Carla. She felt once again his eyes wander up and down her body. Self-consciously she crossed her arms across her chest. Edmon turned to Mike with a big smile. "Please both of you come in." He said.

He knows I hate this dress thought Carla. He knows.

Carla spent the whole evening feeling unhappy, partly because of Edmon and the way he kept staring at her, mainly though because the boys just rambled on and on, not including her in the conversation.

It was getting very late before the boredom led Carla to finally comment that they should go home. Edmon stared hard at Carla on hearing those words. She wished he would speak and look away, but he continued to study her. Finally, he broke the silence.

"Gosh it is late isn't it?" He commented. "We did not even get the chance to talk about my idea."

"Idea?" said Carla, instantly alarmed.

"Yes, I need some help in my shop and Mike here mentioned you needed a job Carla," he said, staring at her once again. A voice in her head told her to be quiet and she found herself unable to respond.

To Carla's intense displeasure she watched helplessly as Mike and Edmon enthusiastically debated the idea. Under that stare she was unable to talk for herself. Mike seemed so keen, he did not even notice that Carla was not speaking, or that Edmon was still staring at her. As she watched in silent horror Mike said Carla would be delighted to take the job. When they stopped speaking, both men looked at her. It felt to Carla like both were daring her to disagree.

Annoyed she considered making it clear that she had not agreed anything and did not want Edmon's job. However, it would make a scene and although appalled at the way Mike had treated her, she decided not to embarrass her husband in that way. If nothing else, it felt to her that Edmon might like to see the two of them at each other's throats.

There was more chatter between the two men, before Carla, who wanted to go home right now, decided she needed to act.

"Come on Mike," she said impatiently, "let's go home."

"Yes, you should take this sexy woman home," Edmon said. "I'm sure you'll want to make babies or at least practice." He nudged Mike playfully on the arm.

Mike put an arm around her and steered her towards the door; this was a clear warning from him not to respond. As he did this Mike laughed at Edmon comments. Edmon though stepped into their path, lowered his head, and Carla with gritted teeth allowed him to kiss her on both cheeks. As he pulled his head away, his eyes seemed again to lock onto hers and she felt like he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Don't worry," he said. "My customers will love you." His smug smile did little to make her feel better. To be honest though Carla was not listening. To her horror, her mind was filled with images of making love to Edmon. They finally headed out into the night air.

It was late when Mike and Carla finally drove back to their small house. The drive was completed in silence with obvious tension hanging in the air. Carla could not believe Mike had accepted a job on her behalf, but she blamed herself for not speaking out. What on earth had possessed him to do that? In the brooding silence she began to get angrier and angrier with Mike.

As they pulled up a man was letting himself into one of the other cottages, but Carla did not notice. She marched ahead and went straight into the house; Mike struggled to keep up and wondered why she seemed so annoyed. He felt the evening had been a great success. When they were in the house they rowed about the job, and most of all about the fact Mike had spoken for her. She referred to her new dress as tarty. She hated the idea of having to work with Edmon. The idea struck her that Mike had just done what Edmon had ordered him to, with those eyes of his.

"You should have let me speak," Carla moaned at Mike. "Instead you go off and agree something without even consulting me."

"You need a job. I thought you would be pleased," said Mike in a wounded voice. "Anyway if you didn't want it, why didn't you say so?" After a long pause he rallied and added, "Look we have had a lovely evening, so don't spoilt it."

"Fuck off," said Carla. The silence in the air was palpable when those words were said. Carla never swore and once the initial shock subsided for Mike the look of hurt was clear for Carla to see. She felt guilty, but she was in too deep to stop now.

"I said fuck off," she repeated. The words had been spoken without Carla even thinking about repeating them.

"I heard you the first-time Carla," Mike said, with mock calmness, "It would have been impossible not to," and he turned away and slowly walked up the stairs.

"Bastard," cried Carla at the retreating Mike, shocking herself again at her bad language. Mike ignored her and continued to walk up to the bedroom. Carla wishing, she had not spoken like that stood, open-mouthed, staring at the stairs. She willed Mike to come back, but could not bring herself to go after him.

Carla decided to lie on the sofa and think things through. She needed to calm down. She was so angry. Upstairs she heard the bedroom door open and then it slammed shut. Any hope that Mike was coming back down the stairs now seemed to be dashed. Carla lay on the sofa feeling very sad and frustrated. Despite this she found herself feeling very sleepy. Her tiredness seemed to come from nowhere and quickly overwhelmed her. She told herself she should take off her shoes. They were hurting. However, she fell into a deep slumber before she could remove them. She was half way through muttering to herself that they would damage the sofa and then instantly she was asleep.

At 3 a.m. she awoke, initially confused by where she was, Carla eventually remembered the fight with Mike and that she had crashed out on the sofa. After lying looking at the ceiling for a while, she decided it was time for bed. She went to get up, but that just made her head spin. Feeling a little giddy, she swivelled around instead to a seating position and slowly removed her jacket.

Carla shivered, and went to reach for her jacket, but as she did it slipped slowly off the sofa onto the floor. It was as though someone had pulled it out of her reach. The waves of feeling giddy got stronger and stronger and she quickly forgot about picking up the jacket. Carla flopped back onto the sofa. She tried to call out for her husband to come and help her, but the words just would not come. Carla immediately fell asleep once more.

When she woke again she was not sure if she had slept for a few minutes, an hour or days, but this time she was lying on her front. Obviously, she had been fidgeting around on the sofa, because waking on her front was very unusual. Carla could not believe how weak she felt.

She lifted herself up, causing her necklace to drop down as she used her arms to rest on; this was so she could cautiously look around the room. Her nerves were on edge again. It felt like someone was watching her and she kept very still, looking and listening, straining to see if someone was there. Slowly the right strap of her dress slipped off her shoulder, followed immediately by the left one. Carla wanted to pull them back up, but she was unable to get her arms to move. She remained in the same position. Gently the straps fell away and the dress slipped down, uncovering her breasts. As her tits were bared it felt like invisible hands cupped and squeezed them. For several minutes, she was unable to move whilst her breasts were fondled.

Suddenly it seemed she was free to move and she managed to sit up. Carla pulled her dress back up and crossed her arms in front of her, so her breasts were covered again. When she went to get up however, something seemed to push her back and then her arms were pulled down and the dress fell away again. She could only sit there. Her hands held her dress, but it was now around her waist Her wide-terrified eyes looked from side to side but there was nothing to see. She was alone.

There was no one doing this to her. Carla could not move or scream, although she was trying very hard to do both.

She was suddenly lifted to a standing position and her hands forced to her sides. She could feel the zip at the back of her dress being lowered. All Carla could do was close her eyes as she felt the dress slipping down her body. Once it was undone it fell slowly to the floor. All Carla could do was look helplessly at it laying there, her new shoes poking out from underneath it.

"No," Carla said out loud, but there was no one there. Hands seemed to grab the sides of her knickers and they were pulled sharply down, leaving them halfway down her thighs. She felt cold hands stroking the top of her thighs and her ass.

"Please let me go," she begged, but to whom she was pleading she had no idea.

A hand seemed to touch her face, moving all over her face and cheeks. Carla felt a kiss placed on her lips, it was gentle, but deeply erotic, sending electricity all around her body. The kisses began to work down her chest and stomach, before her hands were once again pushed to her sides. Her knickers seemed suddenly to be grabbed, and with a sudden tug they were split in half and dropped to the ground. Carla gasped, as a gentle kiss was placed on the top of her legs and then another, the kisses travelling up and across the bottom of her stomach.

There was a pause. She was still unable to do anything, but stand there and wait. Her hands still at her side. Suddenly she felt a mouth locked over hers and like before she was kissed enthusiastically, her mouth being devoured by an invisible one. She began to struggle. Finally, with her terror growing she managed to get her mouth free, but she was still being held. She redoubled her effort encouraged by the sense she was winning. If she could not scream or shout perhaps she could escape.

When she awoke, light was streaming through the window and she lay on the sofa fully clothed. She sat bolt upright the second she awoke. As she realised where she was, she put her hand to her head and cursed the strange dreams she kept having. Slowly she sat up, seeing her jacket on the floor she reached for it. Her whole body felt exhausted and her muscles ached.

As she reached down she stopped and stared. Her shoes were on the floor lying neatly side-by side, just as though she had taken them off, and placed them there.

She knew she had not taken them off. What was happening to her?

She must be imagining these things. She must be. Carla told herself to pull herself together, she had been through a lot of changes and it must be messing with her head, she thought.

It was then she finally picked up her jacket and discovered her knickers lying underneath it. They were ripped in half. The realisation hit her hard that she could not be imagining all of this. At that moment, a voice asked her if she was feeling better and Mike came down the stairs.

She jumped at the sound of her husband's voice. She did not know how she would explain the fact she was not wearing any knickers, despite being fully clothed, let alone them being ripped. She quickly stuffed them into her pocket.

She wondered if she was going crazy.

But how did a dream rip a pair of her knickers and leave them on the floor under a jacket? Or remove her shoes when she did not take them off?

Mike spent the day sorting out everything they had unpacked into order. For him it was fun, but Carla just sat and watched. She was both exhausted and terrified. Her mind going over and over the events of the past few nights, Mike assumed his wife was still mad at him. He worked hard getting lots of things sorted out. He hoped this might win favour and make her feel better. The television was set up; their music was unpacked and the media centre wired up. This helped lift Carla's mood a little, when they could fill the house with her favourite tunes. The more she listened to the music the more normal the world seemed. She tried to stop worrying about her dreams and her strange nighty experiences. They were dreams they had to be.

Part four

When Carla awoke the next morning, she was well rested having been undisturbed all night. It was incredible what a good night's sleep can do for you. She sat up in bed and stretched, her nightshirt lifting as she reached up. Slowly she stood up, stretched again and adjusted her knickers so they were more comfortable. Where was that husband of hers? They had not made love for two nights and now she was feeling rested she was horny. It was time they made up anyway; all they seemed to do was fight at the moment.

A glance out of the window told her that Mike had gone. It was then she remembered that this was his first day back at work. Clearly he had decided to make an early start. After everything that had happened, she had spent yesterday barely talking to him and had forgotten all about it.

"Oh well," she said out loud. "If sex is out of the question I must make do with a cup of tea." She laughed and then stopped abruptly. She remembered that talking to yourself was the first sign of madness. As she spoke Carla had walked to the window. She turned back and looked into the empty room when she thought she had heard a noise.

When she turned back to the window some movement outside caught her eye. She noticed two men were leaving two of the other cottages at the same time. They walked smartly towards a car. Each one paused to look back. It seemed to Carla a kind of nervous glance, suggesting that maybe they were up to no good. It seemed odd they had come out of different houses but were leaving in the same car.

She remembered the idea of putting the kettle on. She quickly had the water boiling and was just flicking through a magazine, when the doorbell rang.

Taking a very deep breath, she opened to the door to find a smiling Edmon waiting on the doorstep.

"Hi," Carla said, without enthusiasm.

"Morning," said Edmon brightly. "I was passing." This was ridiculous as you could not just be passing the cottages, but Carla pushed away her irritation at his comment. Those eyes once more were boring into her mind and so she probably could not have said anything anyway. "And I wondered if it was a good time to have that chat about the job." He added.

This was Carla's moment to back out, but she could not do it to Mike and so she heard herself agree, invite Edmon in and offer him a cup of tea. Edmon stayed some while talking with her. There were moments when she could have backed out, but she never did. So, Edmon left with a smile and an agreement she would start tomorrow.

The rest of the day she spent aimlessly sorting out the house. The clock got to six, and then seven, and finally Mike phoned to tell her he would be very late. First day back at work and all that. The conversation was short and tense. She was not happy.

The rest of the evening was boring and so she ended up going to bed early to read her magazine. Suddenly Carla was woken by the bedroom door slamming. She screamed and sat up in a panic, about who had come into the room. There was no one there.

"Hello," she yelled. "Mike is that you?" Suddenly she screamed again as she was pushed back onto the bed and her arms forced above her head. Carla tried to fight, bending her legs to try and give more leverage. It was hopeless she was not strong enough.

This was no dream though and therefore the others were not dreams either she thought.

"Oh not again." she screamed. "Oh god someone help me."

She watched in horror as the material of her nightshirt lifted and very slowly button-by-button it was undone. Whoever, or whatever was doing it, was taking it's time, as though wanting to savour every moment. When the buttons were undone, the shirt was gently opened. Carla willed her arms to move, to protect herself, but they remained lying on the bed above her head. An invisible hand seemed to run over her right breast, and then down to her waist. Gradually something began to kiss her right nipple. Again it was very slow and gentle. Carla gasped realising that she was beginning to be turned on by the sensations, as she lifted her head, she was kissed on the lips. Before she could stop herself she returned the kiss.

As the kissing ceased, two hands began to caress all over her body. Gentle fingers massaged and caressed her breasts, making her writhe a little with pleasure and she began to moan. Carla knew she should be fighting whatever it was, but to her horror she continued to be more and more aroused. Again, she received soft, gentle kisses on her nipples, followed by them being licked. The attention to her tits seemed to go on forever. Carla lay there getting more and more horny as something did whatever it wanted to her.

The interest in her breasts intensified, the pressure on them getting harder. They were lifted and squeezed, hard enough to excite her, but not enough to hurt. She then felt her body being stroked repeatedly, sharp nails running across her skin. Carla began to get some movement of her body back, her head moved from side to side and her legs could stretch out. She felt two hands go around her neck and thumbs pushed hard into her skin as they ran up to her chin.