Fifty-nine

They slogged on through the soaked forest as the rain drove down, heavier than before, blinding and hard. Their breath fogged in front of their faces as the night turned colder.

Pushing on through it, they walked through the forest that never seemed to end.

Neither of them spoke.

Walking apart from each other and both lost in their own thoughts, they took their own paths through the pines.

Will this ever end? John thought to himself as they continued up the incline.

Lightning flashed, giving him a chance to look ahead. His eyes searched for any sign of the road.

Just more trees.

More and more trees.

He turned to look at Sherrie. She wasn’t too far away. She’d dropped off the pace slightly and was walking behind him now. She didn’t even seem to be trying to keep up.

I hope she’s okay.

Thunder rolled in the night.

John faced forward and kept walking.

“What do you think she’s thinking about?” Richard asked in his head.

You again!

“Pretty girl in the woods…got you all tied up and naked. And horny… She must be wondering about that.”

I was tied up for days! Put through pain and tortured!

“And you enjoyed every moment of it,” Richard said.

Not true.

“Oh, I think it is, pal.”

It’s NOT true!

“Deny it all you want. But I was there. I saw how much you tried to escape.”

I did try!

“I know how much you wanted to escape.”

It was just impossible.

“I know it was the best sex you’ve ever had!”

Zoe’s crazy. I mean, she’s totally lost it!

“Doesn’t matter, pal. Maybe you are too. Maybe that’s why you didn’t try to escape. But any way you slice it, you loved every moment.”

You’re wrong. I escaped! How do you think I got here?

“You got here,” Richard continued. “Because Sherrie rescued you. You didn’t escape. You were rescued! Comprehend the difference?”

You’re talking shit.

“If it weren’t for Sherrie, you’d still be at the church and in Zoe’s power.”

Not true.

“Letting Zoe bend over you and sit on your face until she cums.”

You’re wrong!

“Don’t deny it, pal.”

Not TRUE!

“You can’t re-write this one. I was there, remember?”

You’ve got it all wrong!

“More lies, John? When are you going to stop hiding behind your revisions of history?”

I don’t want to hear this.

“But you need to. Someone has to tell you!”

Go away!

“Lies come back to bite, pal.”

GO AWAY!

“And they bite hard. Especially big ones…”

NOOO!

John shook his head as thunder and lightning clashed.

Sherrie yelped.

John spun around to look at her.

She was running towards him.

John’s eyes darted, looking for the danger.

“That one scared me,” she said as she stopped next to him, a little out of breath. “I didn’t think this storm could get any closer to us.”

He nodded. “I know what you mean. It’s right over us.”

“Is it ever going to end?”

“Eventually,” John said, running his hand through her wet hair. “Just like this night and all our troubles. Eventually.”

She tried to smile, but couldn’t.

“How much further?”

“I have no idea. It can’t be far.”

“Walking uphill instead of down makes it seem so much longer.”

John nodded. “But at least while we’re out here, Zoe can’t find us.”

“I know. But if she doesn’t get us this storm will. Remember the head-cold I had the last time we were out in weather like this?”

John smiled, casting his mind back. He’d forgotten about that.

It would have been six months ago now. They had met at the car park of a local market at Parkhurst one Saturday evening. Helen was working late at the hospital and John had told her he’d be out at a movie.

That’s what their lives had become.

Separate in all ways, but they had still shared the same house. Just like boarding with a room-mate, but with a marriage certificate to make it all legal.

At least you can just walk out on a room-mate…

He remembered the thrill he felt as Sherrie drove up in her car; the smile and wave she cast his way, the excitement and energy in her eyes.

“Hiya,” she’d said as she climbed from the car. “Ready?”

He had nodded towards her and climbed back into his car.

As he watched, she opened the trunk of her car and pulled out a huge picnic basket overflowing with treats. He spotted the two bottlenecks of wine poking out from the top of the basket.

She climbed in his car.

“Midnight picnic,” she said as she closed the door and smiled at him. “You game?”

“I thought we were seeing a movie,” he smiled. “I picked a nice romantic one too!”

She shook her head, “Nope. Let’s go somewhere nice and quiet and dark, and have our own little romance. Who needs films when you can have the real thing?”

He bent forward and kissed her then. Her soft, sweet, full lips sending a charge right through his body. Her smell enveloped him; the smell he craved so much.

When they parted, he turned to start the engine.

“Where to?” he asked.

“Just drive,” she smiled.

And he had done just that, for hours, until they pulled off at the side of the road and found a deserted picnic spot. It was cold and damp but they didn’t care. They ate and drank.

And talked.

They discussed a lot of things that night; the future, their lives together. They laughed and cried. They kissed and hugged.

And on the big red and white picnic blanket they made love before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

It wasn’t until four in the morning that they woke.

Cold and stiff and shivering, they jumped back in the car and headed towards town, laughing all the way.

But they weren’t laughing so much when Sherrie’s head cold hit a few days later and she was off work for a week.

It was painfully hard for John not seeing her in the office; spotting her smiling face and hearing her voice. He had visited when he could, but Helen was keeping track of him then. Watching him and calling him constantly, making sure he was at work and asking him when he would be home.

She hadn’t believed his excuse when he got home that morning after the picnic. She was sitting up waiting for him. He said that he’d worked longer than he thought, time had slipped away, and he ran out of fuel on the way home. He’d told her he had to walk a few miles for the fuel, but she didn’t believe him.

She asked what film he had seen, but he’d forgotten all about his film excuse. She’d noticed the surprised look on his face when she’d asked the question. There was nothing else for him to say. And she was in no mood to believe any story he told anyway.

So then she started checking on him.

He couldn’t risk even a few minutes with Sherrie. And he knew how that made Sherrie feel.

But there was nothing he could do except promise her things would get better and hope beyond hope that they would.

It took some time, but finally Helen’s calls stopped. Eventually she started working late again, and her strange looks and questions ceased.

Finally.

He’d promised Sherrie at that midnight picnic that he would leave Helen soon.

Six months ago. It seems like just yesterday. I promised her my heart six months ago.

But you’re still with Helen!

Yeah.

Or you were…

I know.

If Zoe and Fox hadn’t got involved, would you have left Helen?

I don’t know.

You still love her.

I know.

But you love Sherrie too?

Yeah.

And Zoe as well?

I can’t think about these things.

You have to.

I can’t!

You love her too, don’t you?

She nearly KILLED me!

You loved being with her.

Yeah, I did. But it got too weird.

She turned you on.

Yeah.

She was fast and hard, and so was sex with her.

I know. I’ve never had it like that before.

And you liked it?

Yes, but look what she did to me.

You loved it?

Yes, I did. But she nearly killed me!

“Look, over there,” Sherrie grabbed his shoulder and pointed through the pines to the right.

John followed her gaze, but he couldn’t see anything other than rain and a wall of trees.

“What?”

“The road!” Sherrie continued. “Didn’t you see it when the lightning flashed?”

John shook his head. He was so deep in thought, he didn’t even register the lightning.

Thunder growled once more and the rain eased off momentarily into a shower.

“I’m sure I saw a road sign and next to it the road rising over a slight hill.”

She pulled John in the direction she was pointing.

“I sure hope so,” he replied.

As if in answer to him, the lightning struck again. A double fork lit up the sky and the forest around them.

John peered through the trees.

He saw the sign through a small gap to the right.

And he breathed a long sigh of relief.

REDLINGFORD 3 MILES.