Traversal

"... I know your face

Your connection is broken, boy

Nothing is new

Remember? I've got no time

Are you real?"

~ Gary Numan ~

"Are You Real"

I

I am, by any modern measure, a normal, secure, stable and responsible man. Sober in habit with odd moments of gleeful abandon tossed in just to keep me interesting. I have friends, family, acquaintances and colleagues, I listen to contemporary music from classical to cyberpunk along with everything in between and I have firm, unshakeable, beliefs and manners that have served me well through my life.

I'm not what you might call a "ladies man" but I've had my share of romances, flings, a couple of marriages and the odd "dalliance". This being said it was no surprise to me that I caught her eye on that first day. Finding myself with a "day off" from any commitments I had chosen to head to the beach and was strolling along the boardwalk. I turned onto the pier, even though it was somewhat crowded I just felt the need to immerse myself in humanity, join in the general hustle and bustle of relaxed and happy people. The vendors on the pier were doing a brisk trade, they were happy. The sun was bright and warm but there was a faint breeze stirring from out on the water that prevented any overheating. It was the sort of weather that puts people in a good mood and there was an air, in the throng, of an almost 'holiday' mode.

I had paused for a moment to lean on the pier railing and look out over the sparkling blue waters, just drink in the calm swell of the tide and listen to the faint lapping of wavelets at the base of the pier's columns. I let my gaze drift out from the shoreline, along the length of the pier and I saw her, standing much the same as I was, also gazing out to sea. She was wearing distressed jeans of a fashionable cut over casual sandals and above this a black top that bared one shoulder before falling away to the opposite hip to form a sort of half-cut skirt side. I found, curiously, that I couldn't tear my eyes away.

Quite suddenly her head turned slowly toward me and our eyes locked. Her dark, lustrous hair was cut in an angled bob that half obscured one side of her face and left the other completely visible. I couldn't tell what colour her eyes were from this distance but they held mine so completely that my breath caught in my throat. I had to speak with her, I don't know where the thought came from but it so completely encompassed my thoughts that as I stepped away from the railing I collided with a young man who was strolling arm in arm with his lady friend.

"I am so... so sorry..." I stammered. "I didn't.... I'm so sorry..."

"Hey, no harm, no foul man" he replied brightly, his lady friend smiled radiantly and they made their way on.

I looked back along the rail and she was gone.

I went about the day in a most careless and enjoyable fashion and yet my thoughts kept drifting back to the morning. I was thoroughly intrigued and I resolved, I prepared to sleep that night, to visit the pier again the next day to see if she might be there again.

Morning arrived and I found we were again to be blessed with fine and clear weather as we had been the day yesterday. I ate a hurried breakfast and set out for the boardwalk. I had cleared my schedule for the day not really caring too much for the demands on my time that list represented. As I turned onto the pier I allowed my eyes to scan the crowd, minutely, for any sign of her. At first I drew a blank but, presently, I caught sight of her at the far end of the pier slipping in amongst the crowd. It seemed like there were an awful lot of folks that had little to do but enjoy the day. She kept appearing and then disappearing in the throng of people and I, as directly as I could, made my way toward her. It was approximately half way there when a group of tourists abruptly stopped to take group photos. I was, for a moment, distracted in trying to navigate the "congestion" they presented and when I cleared the confusion, and looked up, she was nowhere to be seen. I admit to feelings of frustration. It felt as though all the other people on the pier had a sole purpose in mind, to keep me from approaching her. I looked, intently, for her when I reached the spot where she had been but to no avail. I left the pier that day, somewhat later, in a frustrated mood bordering on annoyance.

I woke the following morning, day three, and found I had urgent requests waiting to attend two faculty meetings via online video hook-up. Reluctantly I agreed, donned suit jacket and tie over pyjama bottoms and signed in to the online meetings server.

"Well" said the convener, the head of department, "Glad you could join us, been a bit off the last day or so?"

"Rather ill" I replied in a measured and even tone, "something viral..."

"Mmmm, lot of that going around." She responded, unconvincingly.

The meetings took the best part of the morning and, in retrospect, resulted in very little of concrete worth. I excused myself on the pretext of illness at around lunchtime and, after swapping suit shirt, coat and tie for casual t-shirt, I headed for the pier. The sun was dipping in the western sky when I arrived and I made my way directly to the spot where I had previously seen her. I waited, one, two, three, four hours but there was no sign of her. I was left with a feeling of irritation, an unreasonable feeling I realised but, nonetheless, there it was. At sunset I made my way back to my apartment, my feelings morose.

Day four, I arose and, over coffee, answered a couple of emails from students of mine with rather perfunctory, and somewhat curt, replies before donning my casual wear and hurrying to be at the pier early. I made a bee line for the spot I had seen her before and waited, leaning back on the rail, watching the pier just beyond the last vendor stall. It was about three hours later that she appeared. I watched her carefully, she had her back to me. Her hair was lustrous, a rich, deep brown colour tending to an almost nutmeg hue. She was dressed as she had been the first time I glimpsed her, the black top taut over her skin with no lines, nor wrinkles to mar its sheen. Her jeans, that were meant to be casually loose in appearance followed the gentle flare of her hips and travelled, with slight wrinkling, down the length of her long legs. I was in an agony of indecision. Approach her and risk her dismissive contempt? How to break the ice? What could I possibly say that wouldn't come across as "creepy" or desperate? All of this and more flashed through my mind while I remained paralysed. I dug deep, I summoned up all the courage I could muster, swallowed hard and started forward. I had almost reached her when a very large, florid man, with his equally large wife and three querulous large offspring barged in front of me babbling with loud voices. I was distracted, momentarily. They passed, I looked up and she was gone.

I stood stunned. How could this be? I looked up and down the pier but could see her nowhere. One moment she was there, large as life and within a split second she had vanished, virtually right before my eyes. I strode, urgently, up and down. Backtracked. Waited. Strode again, searching but it was to no avail. I stood, eventually, blinking in the bright day, shaking my head. Was I seeing things? Was I imagining her? Was my mind, the mind of a habitual loner, playing some sick trick on me? I felt an immediate headache and my eyes became dry and sore. With no other option I turned for home.

The following day I could not get up. I felt exhausted, weak, sick, and the headache throbbed behind my eyes. I simply lay in bed, staring out the window at the leaden sky with a deep sense of longing. Through my dreams of the previous night she had haunted me, being everywhere I went and try as I might to reach her I could not. She would always, just before I got to her, either fade away in my view or dissipate in thin glowing mists. Toward lunchtime I managed to rouse myself enough to check in to work. I found I had missed another departmental meeting, for which I sent an apology citing continued illness. I answered several student emails, a little more gently and fully than I had on the previous occasion and even found enough strength to make myself a bowl of soup, a little later on, before going back to bed. Again she haunted my dreams.

I awoke the next morning to a bright, clear day and although I knew I should probably drive in to work and attend to some matters I found myself pulling my casual clothes on and stepping out into the bright sunshine with thoughts of her, and the pier, in mind. I shook my head, with a slight smile. 'You really are going crazy' I thought but I continued on nonetheless. I discovered the pier to be less crowded today and it filled me with hope that there would be no impediments to my plan to meet her. Turning onto the pier I strained to see the far end, to examine the people there. She was nowhere in sight but I was not perturbed, I was convinced she would be at some point. Heading for the end of the walk I kept a sharp watch about me but she was nowhere to be seen, yet. I stopped for a coffee along the way and took up a position at the very furthest end so I could see everyone that passed in front of, or to the sides of me. Thoughts collided in me with mixed emotions. Was I stalking her now? Had my intrigue become an obsession? I had so many questions and no answers. My eyes darted ceaselessly as I mulled over the thoughts trying to discern some sort of pattern in them. For a Professor of Psychology the "not knowing" was akin to losing one's surety, perhaps even his sanity, and I didn't want to do that.

There she was! Quite suddenly in plain view, at the other railing, gazing out across the ocean. I tossed my half-finished coffee in a bin and made a beeline toward her. I was adamant that if anyone got in my way today I was going to trample right over them and not even waste an apology. Closer, mere feet separated us.

"Good morning" I said brightly. She turned toward me and her hazel eyes locked on mine. My legs threatened to turn to jelly, my stomach tightened and my breath caught in my chest but I kept going.

"I am sorry for the intrusion but I couldn't help notice that you have been here quite a bit lately. Are you a local?"

She appraised me, coolly at first but then a slow smile spread across her face. ""You might say that."

I held out one hand, from a respectful distance and introduced myself. She took my proffered hand and that first contact, as they say in the classics, was electric. My skin tingled at her touch. She introduced herself. 'First contact' I thought elatedly.

"If you're free I would love to buy you a coffee." I said.

Again she looked into my face to see whether I was genuine or just some sleazy pick-up artist, then she smiled again, "That would be nice but I'll have tea if you don't mind."

"Of course." I nodded.

We accompanied each other to a hot drink vendor, ordered, and seated ourselves at a small café table nearby.

"So," she asked casually, "How long have you been watching me?"

"Oh, I... I... it's not...." I felt the embarrassed flush rising. She laughed a little, a bright melodic laugh that was, quite literally, musical. I swallowed the lump in my throat and said, "Perhaps several days but every time I tried to come over something happened and I was distracted for a moment, I'd look up and you were gone."

"I noticed you on the first day," she said, "watching from the far end of the pier by the boardwalk..."

"And every day since I've been trying to speak with you." I said lamely, "I was almost convinced you weren't real..."

She laughed again, "As real as you are."

We chatted for some time, I told her about my work as a Professor of Psychology and she asked me some questions, rather knowledgeable questions, about that. I discovered she was a Doctor of Cybernetic Engineering but when I asked her questions she evaded them by saying "I'm sorry, I'm in government research and I can't really say anything about it."

"Fair enough", I replied, "National Secrets and all that... never mind."

"You asked me if I was a local," she said, "I take it you are?"

"Yes, I have a place just along the boardwalk"

"I would love to see your place" she replied. 'Wham... straight outta left field as they say' I thought. I don't consider myself an Alpha male by any means but that one caught me by surprise. "Well, err... yes, yes sure, if you're sure?"

"Typical bachelor pad?" she asked.

"I, um, keep it pretty well... I'm kind of a neat guy."

She rose from her seat, a delicious, sinuous movement and offered me her arm, "Show me."

I won't lie to you, strolling down the pier with my 'girl' on my arm, I felt like a million bucks.

II

I opened the door to my apartment a stood aside to let her pass. Wandering about the main room she let her fingers drift along the furnishings, she strolled into the kitchen and smiled. Walking over she opened the doors to the small balcony and nodded.

"Nice" she commented, "and like you said you keep it well".

"Thank you" I murmured with more than a little pride as I closed the door. She walked slowly past the floor to ceiling bookshelves and lingered to examine some of the titles, and my framed "Professorship".

"Well, at least I know you're an honest man" she quipped with a broad smile.

I grinned back, "Would I lie to a pretty lady?"

"And what's through here?"

"Bathroom first on the right and main bedroom. It's a pretty small place but it suits me well."

"Why aren't you married?" she asked.

Wham, right between the eyes again. "Well... I... I'm not..." I stammered. She laughed at my discomfit, I pulled myself together, scratched the back of my head and said, "Y'know what, I don't rightly know", I admitted.

She was still standing in the doorway to the bathroom and bedroom area, side on to me. She cocked her head to one side, smiled and reached down to strip her top off in one, graceful, sinewy movement. The sight was breathtaking. Her breasts were large, round, high on her chest with dark nipples. She turned away from me and casting a look over her shoulder she said in a calm, sultry voice,

"I think I can find the bedroom".

I think I may have stumbled a little in my rush to find my way there.

She was standing by the bed, her belt loosened, jeans no longer cinched at the waist. As I appeared in the doorway she slowly eased them down her legs, without needing to undo them. She was bent over with her back to me now and as she stepped from the jeans, the delicious bulge that the g-string made between her thighs came into full view. From this position she looked over her shoulder then crawled onto my bed. She rolled on one side, facing me, her head cradled in the crook of one arm and her long smooth fingers of her free hand slithered along the top edge of her underwear before sliding down into the sheer, taut fabric. Her eyes drifted shut and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth as those fingers started to work.

I was rooted to the spot simply drinking in that vision when she murmured, "Anytime you're ready...!"

It was as though someone lit a fire under me, I tore my shirt off and dropped my pants while kicking my flip-flops away. I darted forward and slid onto the bed, right up against her. She smelled incredible, so fresh, and so sweet, my senses reeled at the combination and I could already catch the faintest odour of her sex as it began to grow slick. I reached up, cradled her face and kissed her gently, at first but soon the kisses grew more ardent, they were tinged with a sense of urgency. I kissed her throat, her shoulders, worked my way down her chest and took her nipples, one by one into my mouth to suck on them and flick my tongue across the rapidly swelling teats. For her part she had clamped herself to me, I could feel her fingers working feverishly against herself then quite suddenly her head went back and he gave a sharp gasp. I realized she had pushed one, or more, of her fingers into herself. Her hips started grinding which jammed her fingers even harder against my thigh. I was, in a de-facto sense, helping her to fuck herself. I reached down and shed my shorts. Completely naked now I jammed my cock between myself and her firm, flat belly to begin my own "grinding" movement in a time with hers. She was speeding up, I sped up. She gasped again and a gentle moan escaped her. Was that another finger going in? My mind was filled with lurid images of those fingers slicing between her lips, perhaps in conjunction with her thumb thrashing her clitoris. She was shuddering, on the verge of losing herself to an orgasm.

I pushed my hand down between us, past my cock and pressed against her manipulating hand, hard. She gasped again and began bucking her hips toward me. She was in deep, I was pressing firmly and quite suddenly her body shook into a rigid position, she cried out and her g-string was abruptly soaked with her juices. She continued shuddering for what seemed the longest time and her juices leaked through the thin material to make my hand slick. I leaned back and reached down to strip her underwear away, three fingers and her thumb, that had brought her to a breathtaking, moaning climax. I hoped, with a little help from me. She let her fingers slip free and then wrapped them around my solid cock. Her touch galvanized me, I have never really understood the meaning of the term "aching cock" before but mine was definitely aching now. She stroked it firmly letting her fingers work its length and circumference. She pulled back my foreskin and flicked her thumb against the underside of my head. I strained to push it toward her and she brought her second hand down to cup my balls, gently squeezing and massaging them until they were painfully tight.

Abruptly she slithered down my body and allowed me to roll onto my back. I reached up and grasped the uprights of the bed head while her face lowered its self and with her hair brushing my groin her tongue lashed the tip of by dick.

"Fuck..." I growled.

"In time..." she murmured and took me in her mouth. Gently at first but then with increasing fervor.

"Look at me..." I demanded.

She tilted her head back and I looked straight into her heavy lidded, lust filled eyes. I watched her mouth stretch, her cheeks swell, as she engulfed me and as she continued she was driving her head further and further down. Continuing this sensual drive she eventually had, with the odd little gaging sound here and there, my entire length thrusting into her mouth and throat. I knew I was on the verge of bursting, my body shaking, balls contracting. My dick started a strong pulsing and I was lost. Just as I started to cum, strongly, she pulled back and took my load across her face and breasts laughing huskily. She leaned back on her haunches and spread her hands through my cum to smear it across her magnificent breasts, face and belly. She smeared it down between her legs and her fingers slithered between the lips of her sex. She was covered, at the front, in me and was delighted.

I reached for her and my fingers clawed into her trim, smooth hips. "C'mere goddess...!" I pulled her forward onto me and she grasped my dick, positioned it just right. I pushed down on her hips and drove up into her pussy in one, swift, deep thrust. Her back arched, her arms went up over her head which tipped back with a throaty groan. I clamped my hands on her ass and started pulling her onto me hard. My cock slammed in and out of her tight wet tunnel faster and faster as I fought to make it grow and get deeper inside her. She flopped forward and planted her palms on my chest, her eyes locked with mine.

"YESSSS... YESSSS.... Fuck me now, fuck me hard, HARRRRRDER...!"

Her cries and demands drove me to heights I didn't even know I was capable of. Her vagina clamped me tightly and she started a small grinding motion at the deepest point of each thrust. She was going to try and wring me dry but I didn't even feel half spent as yet. She took over, she was forcing me deep into the mattress and bucking wildly. Her hips slammed against me from the position of me being almost outside of her. I let her take, take whatever she wanted, or needed. My turn was coming, if you'll pardon the pun.

"OHHH, OHHHH, OHHH MY GOD.... YESSSSS, YESSSSS I... I... OHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHH...!!!!" She climaxed violently and her juices gushed out over my groin and the inside of her thighs. She soaked both of us before falling against me shuddering greatly. "Oh Fuck... Oh Fuck.... Oh Fuuuuuuck...!" she chanted.

"If you insist" I answered darkly. I turned her, I placed her hands on the top rail of the bedhead and pushed her legs apart. I positioned myself and before she could say or do anything I slid deep into her again. I clamped one hand on her left hip and one on her right shoulder and began a deep, full length thrusting, slow and hard. She angled her face over one shoulder,

"YOU FUCK THAT THING NOW...! Fuck me hard you son of a bitch.... Make Me Your SLUT...!"

I felt a wild laughter building in me but I clamped down hard on that and instead I growled softly as I increased the tempo. Her hands slipped from the bed rail and her arms shot out to her sides, her fingers clawing at the sheets. Her cries, half muffled by the pillows, became shriller. I drove her forward until her body was being forced into an almost doubled up position. She started slamming back against me and her throaty wails came more frequently. I was building toward an amazing orgasm, I had never felt such a buildup before. Suddenly I was the one crying for release.

"AHHHHH.... AHHHHHHH.... FUCK, OH FUCK, OH FUCK... Take it, take it allllllllllllll...." I exploded into her. She was so full of my cum from the previous that my juices spurted out past my shaft. She snatched my cock out of her and let its last shots spray hit her ass and back. There was so much of it I wondered where it had come from. I fell back on my haunches and leaned forward to grasp two handfuls of the sheets. My head was down but when I looked up she was laying on the bed, her top facing up, and her hips on the side. She was smiling a sly smile and using one hand she was scooping my cum in between her ass cheeks and circling her rear entrance with two fingers. I gazed at her, wide eyed. She slid two fingers into herself then and groaned deeply. She was playing with her breasts smearing more of me over them.

"Lie down!"

There was nothing I could do, I was completely in thrall to her. I lay back against the bedhead, she slid, back to me on top of me, spread her legs wide and drew her fingers from within her ass. She grabbed my shuddering dick and pushed it against her, a firm push, she relaxed, the physical grasp of her muscle giving way and she pushed herself slowly down along my body. She put one arm around my shoulders, her mouth sought mine hungrily and still she continued sliding down my pole. The velvet, tight, slippery tunnel squeezed against my cock and I felt as though I were actually growing inside her. Finally her ass hit my belly. She let her head fall back against my shoulder and began a gentle rotation of her hips.

I felt as though I had died and gone to heaven. The delicious clamped feeling, the warmth and the slick grip of her had me completely. My head fell back and all my senses fled leaving me with only the sensation of her incredible ass. She was completely in control, I could do nothing, I didn't want to risk ruining the moment. She increased the rotations of her hips and began to work herself, a small distance, along my cock.

"Ohhhhhhh God yesssssss.... I love the feel of you there....! I want you to fill me, fill my ass with your cum. I want to feel you dribbling out of me...!"

"Anything..." I murmured in a dazed voice, "Whatever you want... it's yours...!"

She started moving more dramatically. Sliding further up and down my swollen dick. It was building again. I had never gone this far, for this long, with any woman before. I was so completely lost in her that I didn't care about anything else in the world except being buried, to the hilt, in her as I was now.

Her movements had grown in pace and energy and quite abruptly she raised herself up, clamped her hands on my thighs and started pumping her hips up and down faster and faster. In this reverse cowboy position she had me trapped, I couldn't do anything except reach out and spread her wide so I could watch my cock sliding in and out of her faster and faster.

"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK... YESSSS, YESSSS, NUH, YESS... MORE, MORE.... CUM WITH ME... DAMN IT CUM WITH ME....! NOWWWWWWW...!" she shrieked.

I was more than ready, my cock was straining, reaching for that deepest part of her.... "YESSSSS... NOW, YES NOWWWWWWWW...!" I gasped a long drawn out breath and started to fill her.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH..... OOOOOOOOH..... GOD, GOD, GOD, YES.... FILL ME UP....!!!!" Her back arched, her hips slapped down one more time and I felt her cum squirting across my thighs.

She slumped back against my heaving chest. Her breasts pumping up and down as she fought to draw breathe. We sank back into the bed and let the aftershocks make us tremble. At length she slid off me and curled into my side, one arm thrown across my chest. I sank, my head hit the pillow. I remember mumbling something to her and she replied, "I can feel you everywhere."

III

That was three months ago. I woke sometime in the evening and she was gone. I dragged myself from the soaking wet bed and padded through to the front room but she wasn't there. I was still a little dazed by the afternoon but I got myself together enough to go down and speak to the apartment block doorman. He told me that no, the lady I had arrived with hadn't left the building, certainly not by the front entrance anyway.

I went to the pier every day, I waited for long hours anxiously scanning the people coming and going to see if she were among them but I caught no sight of her. I sat down at my computer and after several hours of painstaking cutting and pasting, and a conversion to a sketch, I had a pretty good representation of her. I went to the police and although I had a sketch, which an exasperated desk sergeant took a copy of, I only had her first name. He looked at me pityingly and said that I could fill out a missing person report but it probably wouldn't get far.

I made flyers and haunted the boardwalk and pier handing them to anyone who would take one. Some looked at me suspiciously, some with pity, some with a blank expression. I left flyers with all the pier vendors. I pasted flyers up for blocks and blocks around the pier.

My work suffered, I had to take a "sabbatical" from my job. My health suffered. My friends, and family, became more and more worried and tried to get me to go and talk to a professional about it. They stopped inviting me to places. My head was filled with one vision, one thought, and one desire.

Then, one evening, my best friend Jeff came around. He was a man of science also, a physicist. He came to the apartment, the now mostly trashed and uncleaned apartment and after he found his way carefully to a seat he looked me in the eye.

"Dude, you've got to let go of this. It's killing you...!"

I clamped my hands to the sides of my head, "J, I can't let go... don't you understand, it's, it's more than..."

"Than what?"

"Than everything..."

He looked at the floor then steepled his fingers, looked at me calmly and asked, "Have you ever heard of the theory of parallel universes?"