Thereafter the men retreated from the cabin and no amount of shaming or coaxing could get them inside to assists us with looking for the patient. After many hours and a scouring of the mountaintop, we gave up and returned to the asylum. Professor Ward has still not been found, and many of us believe he has run off for good. Thus with a heavy heart do I close this file and pray for his disease mind.
Tony shuddered and closed the folder. The tale ended, and yet it hadn't. Amanda and he was still just as doomed as the professor unless they could find some way of defeating the creature. They had the upper hand against the professor in that they weren't committed to an asylum, but they'd need to figure out some way to dispel the creature from within themselves.
Tony was startled from his thoughts by a drop of rain on his hand. He glanced up and realized a great deal of time had passed in his search through the folder. Quickly he picked up the file and dashed to his car. Since there was nothing left to investigate and plenty to tell Amanda, he drove off down the road out of town.
As Tony glanced back through the rearview mirror at the sparse buildings, he made a promise to himself that he would never return there.
Amanda anxiously fiddled with her pencil. It was Wednesday, the same day Tony found himself investigating the town, and she was back at work in her small cubicle. She was glad the stress of the sleepover was lifted from her shoulders, regardless of how much fun she'd had, but not glad to be going back to her job after almost a week of vacation.
"So you stir-crazy yet?" The voice of the question belonged to Sylvia who had one of the cubicles beside her.
"Almost..." she grumbled. The four walls, filled with the maximum posters allowed, her calendar and a clock beside that, were very confining after her two trips into the open mountains.
She was supposed to be typing out a report, but all she could focus on was Tony and his current adventure. He'd called a few times just to say he was safe, but she'd missed every single one of his messages because of her fun with Sylvia. She couldn't hear anything over her acquaintances laughing voice and constant chatter. Just knowing he was okay, though, was some comfort, but he hadn't been able to gather any information except a few tidbits from the old man. She hoped for both their sakes he was going to find something to help them. Much as she enjoyed her night rendezvous with the creature, it stilled terrified her to be in the grips of such a thing.
Then again, it was erotic how those tendrils touched and penetrated every inch of her body.
Amanda blushed and quickly resumed her work on the report. She didn't need to be thinking such thoughts, not when she was at work. Even that slip of her mind was enough to turn her on and she glanced at the cock. It was only eleven o'clock, meaning she still had several more long hours to get through before freedom and home. She wished there was some way of getting out of work early.
That's when her eyes looked over the calendar, and she noticed there was an appointment scheduled for one o'clock. She was both pleased and terrified by this reminder, because she would be leaving work to go see her psychologist about her child-bearing problem. Sylvia peaked over the wall that divided them and noticed the mixed emotions on her friend's face.
"You look like you've found out some bad news that might be good news," she guessed. Amanda sighed and slumped over her desk in front of the calendar and clock. "Praying to a god to reverse time back to your vacation or something?"
"Sort of. I have to go to my shrink today."
"Is that all? People go to those all the time," Sylvia pointed out.
"Well, I guess I'm not everyone," Amanda replied. She didn't want to spill out her heart to some person who was practically a stranger, but the hospital had insisted on her attending a few sessions. At least it was on the dime of her insurance company. "I just don't like talking about problems to some guy I hardly know. Why could I have at least gotten a woman or something?"
"I guess those are all booked. Women have a lot more problems up here, you know." Sylvia tapped the side of her head. Amanda turned her head to glance at her strange friend.
"That's not a very nice thing to say about our sex," Amanda scolded.
"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is. Most of my girlfriends go to one, but the men just laugh it off and move on."
"Now you're wishing I was a guy and could get away with just laughing everything off." Amanda thought about her boyfriend and his serious attitude toward the creature and the mountain. He must be the exception to the laughing rule when it came to serious stuff. Amanda groaned and leaned back in her chair. "Well, I guess I'd better go remind the boss I have that scheduled. If I've forgotten there's a good chance he has, too."
"I bet that old Snitch has told him. She at least keeps him in line with what we're all doing," Sylvia replied, but still the other woman stood up from her chair.
"I'd better go check anyway. I'd hate to leave and get fired for doing it. Besides, I should probably leave a little early for lunch and get something around the doctor's office. His place is clear across town and it take a long time to drive through the lunch traffic if I don't go now."
Amanda left her cubicle and stepped down the hall to her boss' office door. There were actually two offices inside, one for the secretary to screen the plebeian masses and the inner sanctum of the tough manager. She put her hand on the knob, took a deep breath and dove into the cavernous lair of Ms. Busybody, a.k.a Tiffany Humbert. The middle-aged woman was seated on Amanda's left side behind a large, imposing desk. Amanda swore it was larger than the one their mutual boss owned. Ms. Busybody turned to the intruder into her lair and looked over the top of her glasses.
"What can I do for you, Miss Stenser?" Her voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Grating on everyone's nerves except her own.
"I was wanting to speak with Mr. Faulkner about leaving early. I have an appointment I told him about a week ago and just wanted to remind him." Ms. Busybody scowled, but took a look through a large, black calender book on her desk. She traced the day's date and the current time, and her pointed fingernails landed on some words written there that Amanda couldn't make out.
"Your appointment has been noted, and should Mr. Faulkner ask where you've gone I will inform him."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to go to all that trouble. It'd be much easier if I just went in and reminded him myself." Amanda didn't trust the mean secretary to forward on the message, even if Mr. Faulkner asked about her whereabouts.
"I'm afraid he's in a conference call right now and can't be disturbed." Amanda glanced down at the phone which showed the lines into their boss' office, and none of them had the red light showing he was talking on the phone. However, the young woman wasn't up for a fight with her bitchy coworker, so she muttered a thankless thank-you and went back to her cubicle. Sylvia was there waiting for her.
"So how'd it go? Did he remember you telling him?"
"I didn't get to see him, the witch kept me from going into his office." Amanda didn't care about it, and instead just closed down her computer and made ready to go.
"You sure that was all right? What if he asks about you?"
"Then you can tell him I told him last week about it and it's on his calendar. Even if Ms. Busybody tries to erase it she can't do a perfect job when it was written in ink, and in her handwriting." Amanda swung her purse over her shoulder and sighed. "Well, I'm off. See you tomorrow."
"Later."
Amanda went downstairs to the underground parking, a place she had always hated. The false lighting overhead hardly provided any light and because she lived so far off she always got some of the worst spots, which were those farthest away from the elevators and stairs leading down to the parking. Now with her recent adventures she both dreaded and eagerly anticipated the long, shadowed walk to her vehicle. There was no one around, and there wouldn't be for another hour when the lunch hour struck the building. Her low heels tapped against the pavement as her eyes roved around the shadows beneath the cars and around the columns which hel
d up the roof.
She rummaged through her purse for her keys ahead of time just to make sure she'd be ready when she spotted her car. That's when something pricked her on the finger.
"Oh!" she whispered. Amanda stopped and opened her purse to find out what had punctured her skin. There was the usual car keys, miscellaneous tissue and chap stick.
There was also something small and dark buried deep in the corner of the bag. She brushed aside the known items and pinched the object between her fingers. It was heavy and familiar, and when she pulled it out she was only half surprised but very amazed to find it was the shard of the black rock. She thought it had been lost forever in Tony's apartment.
"How in the world...?"
The young woman wasn't sure whether she was feeling thrilled or scared at finding the missing item. She also couldn't quite figure out when the thing had crawled in there, but she was stuck with it for now. There wasn't any time to drop it off before her appointment unless she skipped lunch, and her grumbling stomach vetoed that idea. She stuffed it back into the depths of her purse and hurried to her car.
The drive to the psychologist's office was uneventful, and she managed to catch a bite to eat at a small restaurant not far from the tall building which houses her mental doctor. When the time came close to her appointment, she rode the elevator up to Dr. Gerber's office and was shown into one of his large consultation rooms. This was only the third time she would be meeting with the doctor and she nervously glanced around the room.
There were the large windows looking out on the street below and the area was sparsely furnished to avoid any distractions for either of them. There was only a few seats and a couch situated around a small, square table. The couch was the stereotypical piece of furniture with a single curved end and no back. She set her purse down on the table and sat on the couch just like the last two times she'd come there. The clock above the door behind her ticked away the time and her fingers fidgeted in her lap. The doctor was late.
Since she had nothing to do, Amanda scooped her hand into her purse and pulled out the black shard. The stone was just as she remembered it, but with one important difference. The thing now radiated heat like the larger piece she'd given to Tony for him to toss back onto the mountain. Her hands trembled as she hugged the fragment to herself and shuddered at the feel of the soothing warmth flowing through her arms and up into the rest of her body. She was delighted enough to almost laugh out loud, but a sudden noise in the hall interrupted her paradise.
Amanda hastily hid the stone in her pants pocket and turned in time to see the door open. Dr. Gerber, a gentleman of about forty with friendly, bespectacled eyes, came into the room and closed the door behind himself. He had a wide, calm smile on his face while he strode over to her.
"Good afternoon, Miss Stenser. How are you feeling today?" He held out her hand which she shook.
"I'm feeling much better," she lied to him. Right then she felt awful. All she wanted to do was go someplace quiet and clutch the fragment to herself.
"Really? You don't look so well, you're far too pale," he commented as he took a seat opposite her. "Was the trip up to the cabin too much for you?" he asked her first up. This was going to be a long interview with him.
"To tell you the truth, while I was up there I had this...this dream," she carefully explained to the doctor. She wasn't about to admit it really did happen and risk getting herself locked up for treatment. "I haven't been able to sleep well since it happened." Sleep was definitely not forthcoming, not when that thing inside her kept interrupting her with its insatiable lust.
"Could you explain it to me?" That was the question she most dreaded him asking.
"Um, I'm not really sure. It's all kind of fuzzy right now." She was horrible at lying, and he was good at seeing through lies. Dr. Gerber put on his best scolding face. She hated that he looked so cute when he did that. It made her shift uncomfortably in her lounging seat.
"I'm sure you can recall enough of it for me to help you through it, especially if it's been bothering you this much."
"Oh, it's just about the dark. Maybe I'm terrified of it now." Amanda shifted and the stone poked the side of her hip. She winched at the prodding until she felt the heat flow into her from the point the fragment touched her. Then she shuddered, and her psychologist noticed.
"Is something the matter, Miss Stenser?" he asked in his best concerned voice.
"What? Oh, no, nothing's the matter." She had to get a hold of this lustful emotion that was seeping through her body, so she sought to break the contact with the fragment by laying down on the couch. Unfortunately that only reminded her of the compliant position she always took when the creature was upon her, and the physical connect with the stone wasn't broken. She managed a smile for her worried doctor. "I just thought I'd get more comfortable."
"I don't think you're being entirely truthful with me, Miss Stenser," he scolded, and he even wagged his finger. "You're very upset about something, and I have a feeling it stems from your vacation to the cabin. Did something physically or mentally happen to you up there?" She needed an option for both, and she really needed for the heat from the rock fragment to lessen. Instead it increased with every second they touched each other, and she thought her entire body would be consumed by a fire of lustful need.
"It's just, well, it's just-" Amanda was finding it hard to breath, much less focus on what he was asking her. She quickly sat up and cradled her head in one hand. "Is there a private bathroom I can use? I don't think I'm feeling too well."
"Certainly." He got up and she stood with him. Then he set a gentle hand on her back and led her to a side door where lay a small bathroom. "This is generally only used for emergencies, but from your pale face I believe this counts as one."
"Thank you, I'm sure I'll only be a moment."
Amanda quickly stepped inside and was frustrated to find there was no lock on this side of the door. The heat inside of her was almost unbearable, and she feared what she might do if the darkness broke out of the stone and overwhelmed her. She looked around and noticed a door jam near the doorway. This she quickly and quietly stuffed beneath the door, and then she turned her attention on a single, unbreakable mirror above the narrow sink.
Her face was ghastly pale, but the cheeks were slowly brightening with the intense need welling up inside of her. Her hands gripped the side of the sink counter and she tried to take some deep breathes. She felt a little better with more air into her lungs, but the heat wasn't going away. Amanda wracked her mind for some escape plan, and reached up to run her hand through her hair.
That's when she froze. She'd raised her right hand, the one that had been pricked by the stone a few days prior. To her horror the wound was again opened, but blood wasn't spilling out. Instead tiny little tendrils crawled out and slithered along her skin. They were a few inches long and less than half an inch thick, but there was a half dozen of the things. She staggered back against the wall in front of the mirror and held out her hand as far as she could manage. There was no pain from her finger, but she could feel every twist and turn of the tentacles. Her heart beat so fast that she clutched at her chest with her good hand. She feared it would jump out and kill her.
Amanda frantically looked around and her eyes fell on the sink. She rushed forward and turned on the hot water. Then she stuck her finger beneath the scalding fluid and winced when the painful heat struck her skin. The tentacles writhed and whipped about, but they didn't fall off nor did they retreat back into her skin. Then she grabbed the towel for drying and wrapped it around the tentacles. Her plan was to try to suffocate them back into her skin, but they broke through the flimsy cloth and nearly grabbed her other hand.
They were getting dangerous, and that meant she had to get out of there before she hurt someone other than herself.
"Miss Stenser, are you all right?" Dr. Gerber called from the other side of the door. She heard the knob turn and the door push in, but the jam stuck hard with the force of his
own efforts to get inside. "Miss Stenser, let me in right now!"
"O-one minute!" she called back. She shoved her hand into her pocket and kicked aside the jam. The door flew open, and the doctor stumbled inside and fell on the floor. Amanda took this chance to scurry passed him and grab her purse that was still on the table. Before Dr. Gerber could recover from his fall she was at the door and waving to him. "I-I just remembered something I have to do, I'll reschedule later, bye!"
"W-wait!"
Amanda didn't wait because she was out of there in a flash. She sped by the secretary and down the hall to the elevators. The doors were just closing when she saw Dr. Gerber rush into his office and glance down the passage toward her. She waved again to keep up a little bit of a calm appearance, and then the doors shut. Amanda leaned back against the rear of the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief. One escape was done, but soon she would have to deal with the things twitching and twisting in her pocket. The only solution she could figure out was to cut them off, and for that she'd need the privacy of her apartment and a lot of bandages.
The elevator opened to the ground floor and she scurried out to her car out on the street. She slipped inside and started the car, all without the use of her mutated hand. Amanda slid out into traffic and tried her best to hurry to her apartment, but she was distracted by a sudden change in the tentacles' movements. Their twisting and turning was at first frantic, but then they found something very familiar. The fragment of rock she'd put into her pocket before her meeting with Dr. Gerber.
Amanda was along one of the busy roads stuck in traffic when the tentacles wrapped themselves around the fragment. The feeling of warmth she'd felt before with tentative contact was nothing compared to when the tendrils connected with the stone. She gasped when wave after wave of sensual heat flowed through her body. Her skin shivered and her body trembled with the almost-overpowering force of warmth and lust which emanated from the stone. Every part of her heated to a nearly unbearable temperature and was made worse when the rock was pulled against the skin of her finger. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened in shock and awe as an orgasmic wave caught her off guard. She arched her back in her seat and groaned into the silence of her car.