Twisted Descent

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Twisted Descent

Chapter 1 - Kumiko

Today was the day! She would be coming soon. I had waited for what seemed like forever for this day to come. Ever since I first saw her picture on the web, I knew that I just had to meet her. More than meet her, I knew that I had to have her. I had to own her and possess every square inch of her. That first picture of her looking into the camera, with her cute heart shaped face, her small lilting smile and large blue eyes made my heart thunder in my chest. Before I knew it, I had sent the first email inquiring about her status and the rest, as they say was history.

For the last three months, I was in mental agony. Even my co-workers noticed a distinct change in my behavior. I had become jittery, anxious and somewhat more animated than usual. Many of my co-workers had speculated that my behavior must be related to a woman. I didn’t try to dissuade any of the speculations. If they only knew how close and how far they were from the truth!

No one in my family noticed anything different though. Of course, that was because I didn’t have any family. I was the only child to a middle class couple. My parents died the year I graduated from university. I was all alone, with no friends, no relatives, and more importantly, no love life.

I had my job though. At the time my parents died, I had just been hired as a junior programmer in a consulting firm. That job had lasted for a few years. I had impressed my superiors with the way I tended to throw myself into my projects with little or no consideration for socializing. I probably would still be there if the firm had not been bought out by a larger company. I had the option of staying with the new amalgamated firm but I chose a package instead. I had jumped from one company to another for a several years after that. I guess I was searching for something, but I just didn’t know what.

That what, I now know, is companionship. I’ve never had a girlfriend. I don’t even have friends. Casual acquaintances yes, but no one I would really consider a friend. My mind shifted backwards a bit. While growing up, I had a difficult childhood. I had no siblings, and hence, no one I could really talk to. At school, I was the one that everyone bullied. Even the class wimp had bullied me! Looking back, I realize now that it was because I had never fought back, had never joined in in any of the school activities, and had never really cared. That, I guess, was my real problem. I just didn’t care. School was just part of the boring daily routine that I had gotten used to. Once I got home, I would do my homework as quickly as possible while my parents collapsed onto a couch and turned on the TV. Since I got fairly good grades, they felt that they didn’t have to get involved. When some kid stole my lunch money, they never knew about it. I became good at hiding part of my lunch money away so that I rarely went hungry.

High school had been better. There, the kids had mostly just left me alone. Most of the kids were more concerned about getting into a clique of some sort that they hadn’t paid any attention to anyone who wasn’t trying to do the same. I had sat at the back of the class and never volunteered for anything. It worked out for me actually. I just wanted to be left alone, and I was. I had even purposely dumbed down my assignments and tests so that I wouldn’t be in the top of the class, just so that I wouldn’t get noticed. Again, school was just another routine I followed.

University had gotten even easier. I had gone to an out of town university and there, no one cared who you were. Not even the professors. You were just another empty face, just another number. It didn’t matter if you excelled or failed because no one cared. I loved my years in university. I didn’t have to try to hide anymore. I had ended up spending most of my time in the library and in the computer labs.

Everything changed the year I graduated. I had just gotten a letter of offer from DIDO Consulting Ltd when my parents died. They were driving their big brawny SUV across an intersection when their SUV was T-boned by another brawny SUV trying to run the red light. They say that my mother died instantly from that impact and when their SUV was pushed into the path of a tractor trailer, my father died right after.

The funeral was just a hazy set of images in my memory. I vaguely remember the closed caskets, the flowers, the well wishers with their condolences and my own utter lack of emotions. I think my lack of emotion had concerned several people, but again, I didn’t care. My parents and I were never close. I think that in many ways, they may have resented my presence because it interfered with the kind of lifestyle that they wanted to have. As I grew older and better able to take care of myself, they were finally able to live their dreams. I was often left alone when they took their frequent trips out of the country. In the end, I was truly alone when they took that final trip together and I was once again left out.

In their will, I had been left with everything. I had the house, the second car, as well as a large cottage outside of the city. I kept the house and the car, but I sold the cottage at a very decent price. What did I need a cottage for anyway? My parents had left me with enough money that I didn’t have to work for a very long time. The only problem was I didn’t know what to do with that time. So, I went to work for DIDO Consulting Ltd.

DIDO Consulting Ltd was a small company, so interaction with other people was almost a requirement. I guess I got lucky in that my manager realized that I was uncomfortable around other people and had kept me cloistered in my little cubicle, hammering away at one project after another. I rarely participated in any of the company functions, and in fact, when the company closed down, more than one person was surprised to see me when I finally cleaned out my cubicle. Many people didn’t even know that I worked there.

I had changed jobs a lot after that. Even though I didn’t need money all that badly, I had needed some kind of routine to fill my days. A couple of years ago, my manager from DIDO had tracked me down and offered me a lucrative opportunity. I would work for him at the company that he was working at, and he would make sure that I would be left alone to do my job. It was an arrangement that worked fine. I did most of the work on the projects that he had, and he got most of the credit. That was an arrangement that had worked really well for the both of us.

Three months ago though, I saw something that changed my life. My mind shifted forward to the picture that changed my life. The picture of that beautiful flawless face had haunted my dreams ever since. I had taken the day off today because I wanted to be home to properly greet her. I had spent the morning cleaning up the house and I had just gotten out of the shower when the doorbell rang. She was here!

I opened my front door and there was a large brown truck parked on my driveway. A man in brown overalls stood impatiently outside with a large electronic clipboard.

“I gotta a delivery for a Mr. Nelson Doskins,” said the man with a bored tone.

“That’s me!” I said with barely contained enthusiasm.

“Sign here.” The man passed the electronic clipboard over to me and I hastily scribbled my signature.

The man grunted a thank you and then went back to his truck. He opened the back door and hopped up. There sound of whining hydraulics as he flipped the ramp down into a horizontal position and then disappeared into the back of his truck. He reappeared moments later with a large box on a two wheel trolley. He flipped a switch and the ramp lowered to the ground amid more sounds of whining hydraulics.

“Where ya wan’ it?”

I was a bit disconcerted because I had not expected such a large box. I walked into my driveway and punched in the code for my garage. “In here,” I said.

The man pushed the box into my garage and then lowered his trolley with a loud thump. I tried not to wince as I internally hoped that the contents were ok. I had waited too long for something to go wrong now!

The man left without another word after that. I belatedly wondered if I was supposed to tip him, but his truck squealed out of my driveway before I could articulate a question. The box looked forbidding. It was over six feet tall and four feet wide. There was no way I could get this box though my door and into my house. I guess I would have to open it here in the garage. I opened the door that led into my house and pushed the button that closed the garage door. I didn’t need any curious neighbors peeking in when I opened the box!

I came back with an Exacto knife and carefully slit the box along its taped seams. Maybe I was being too careful, but considering what was inside, I didn’t want to take too many chances. There sure were an awful lot of seams though!

When I had finally cut all the seams, I slowly opened the box. A ton of foam packing chips spilled out of the box and onto my garage floor but I barely noticed them. I only had eyes for one thing.

She was wrapped in shipping plastic, but her face was still clearly visible. It was the same heart shaped face with the clear blue eyes that had so captured my attention and imagination. With my knife, I carefully slit the plastic and more of her became clear. Her hair was midnight black and depending on how the light hit it, it looked almost blue. Her blue eyes were rare on a face that was so clearly Asian, but that was one of the things that had appealed to me because they matched my own blue eyes. Her body was slender but rounded in all the right places, such that the rather conservative outfit she was wearing looked sexy and demure at the same time.

There were several retaining straps holding her in place and with hands that were shaking with excitement, I carefully cut those straps too. All of a sudden, she seemed to lunge out of the box and fall into my arms. My knife clattered on the floor as I unconsciously wrapped both arms around her.

So soft!

Oh. My. God.

My heart beat like a steel base drum. Her hair had a soft pleasant scent. Her breasts pushed in against my chest and I thought I could detect two distinct points as well. The garage seemed to be spinning and it was a moment later that I realized that it was me who was spinning around, with her in my arms.

Feeling somewhat dizzy, I carried her over to the back of the garage and leaned her against the wall. Then I turned my attention to the other things that had been packed in the box. There was a stand that I managed to assemble in a matter of minutes without even looking at the instructions – which were all in Japanese anyway.

I brought the stand into the house and set it down in the living room. Then I ran back into the garage and picked her up again and brought her into the house. I had planned this moment for months. I had wanted to carry her in the way I would carry a new bride, but in my excitement, I forgot all those plans. She didn’t weigh much. I remember reading that she was supposed to be almost 50 pounds but I carried her as if she weighed nothing. I propped her up on her stand. She was short, just over five feet, but she seemed to have a presence about her that made her seem larger. Her name was Kumiko and at that moment, she was the love of my life.

“Welcome to my home,” I said formally. All of Kumiko’s joints were designed to be able to hold poses. I raised her arms up and bent her elbows. Every time my fingers touched her skin though, I felt as if a small electric shock was jolting through me. I leaned in and put her bent arms around my body and hugged her tightly. It was the single most wonderful moment in my life. I found that just holding her like that had finally calmed my nerves down. My hands no longer shook and my heart slowed to a more standard beat. I could still feel those two little hard points in the centre of her breasts though and when I finally realized what I was feeling; I began to feel a different sort of excitement.

I pulled out of her embrace and glanced down at the front of my pants. “I’m sorry,” I said sheepishly. “You’re so beautiful that I just can’t help myself!”

Kumiko didn’t say anything but her lilting smile forgave me of my unintentional indiscretion. I looked her up and down and really noticed her outfit. She was wearing a demure white blouse and a black skirt that reached down to mid-thigh. Silky black stockings covered her legs and her feet. That was when I noticed that she did not have any shoes on. I picked her up again and sat her down on my leather couch. Then I ran back into the garage. I unloaded the rest of the box. When I had ordered Kumiko on-line, I had made sure to order all the available accessories for her as well. Some of the things had made me blush, but most of the items were standard clothing. I knew that I could always go out and buy her more clothes in the future, but I wanted Kumiko to have everything that she needed right away.

I carried everything into the living room and sorted through the accessories until I found what I was looking for. I picked them up almost reverently, knelt down at Kumiko’s feet and slipped the black leather high heel shoes onto her feet. She was perfect!

 

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My stomach growled just then and I belatedly remembered that I haven’t had a bite to eat all day. I put a frozen pizza into the oven and while it was cooking, I carried Kumiko into the kitchen and sat her down on one of the chairs. I sat down opposite of her and just looked into her mysterious eyes.

The oven dinged and I was shocked to discover that twenty minutes had passed and I hadn’t even realized it. I took the pizza out and carefully sliced it. I took out two plates and placed a slice of pizza in front of Kumiko. Then I virtually attacked my piece. I ate three pieces before I realized that Kumiko had not touched her piece.

“Not hungry?” I asked her. “I’m sorry for eating like a pig. I hadn’t eaten all day because I was just too excited. I promise to be neater in the future.”

Kumiko didn’t say anything but her head had tilted to the side and her smile seemed broader. I was relieved. Kumiko didn’t seem to be offended by my apparent lack of table manners.

I got up and started to move all of her things upstairs. I had prepared one of the empty rooms for her, but as I looked in the barren room, I realized that it was unfair for her to stay in it all by herself. So, I carried her things into the master bedroom and moved my essentials out. Then I went back downstairs and carried Kumiko up and placed her in a sitting position on the bed.

“You can stay here from now on,” I said to her. She just smiled at me but didn’t say anything.

I don’t know why but I was suddenly feeling a bit nervous. I tried to hide my nervousness by turning on the plasma TV and then sat down on the bed to watch it with Kumiko. I don’t know what we watched but eventually, my eyes grew heavy. That was when the reason for my nervousness became apparent.

“Um, Kumiko, it’s time to go to sleep. Would you mind if I changed you into your pajamas?”

Though Kumiko didn’t say anything, her eyes seemed to say yes. With shaking fingers, I started to undress her. As my fingers unbuttoned her blouse, I tried to ignore how soft her breasts felt. I tried my best not to touch them, but it was impossible to avoid them entirely. Under her blouse, she had a lacy white bra. I had to reach around her to unclip them, and it took me several tries before I managed it. Her skin was so soft! As I pulled the bra off, her breasts came into view. I tried. I really really tried to not look, but I failed. Her breasts were in a word, beautiful. I had seen lots of pictures of naked women, either in magazines or on the web, but they were nothing compared to Kumiko.

I finally managed to pull my eyes away from her breasts and looked into her eyes instead. In her eyes, I didn’t see any mocking, and she didn’t seem offended. I gave her an apologetic half smile and then pulled her pajama top over her.

Somehow, and I’m not sure how, I managed to take off Kumiko’s skirt, stockings, garters and shoes. The last article of clothing to remove was her pearly white panties. That was when I stopped. Did women wear their underwear to sleep? I had no idea. I reached down to remove her panties but my hands stopped on their own accord as soon as I touched them. I couldn’t do it! I looked up into her face and again saw no sign of mocking. Instead of removing her panties, I gently laid her down on the bed and pulled the comforter over her. Her eyes closed automatically. I remembered that this was one of her features. Her eyes would automatically close when she was lying down, but would instantly open up again under certain other circumstances. I quickly pushed that thought out of my head. I couldn’t bring myself to think of those circumstances just yet!

I got up and said, “Goodnight Kumiko. Sleep well.”

I turned off the light and closed the door. Then, I washed up in the main bathroom and before I turned in for the night, I cleaned up the kitchen. I would leave the garage clean up for another day. I was suddenly feeling too tired. As I lay down in my bed, I realized that I was feeling something that I had not felt very often in my life. I was feeling happy! The loneliness that had so permeated my life seemed to have lessened somewhat. It was nice to have someone else in the house. I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

 

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Chapter 2 – Lonely no More

I’m not sure at exactly at what point it was that Kumiko changed from a house guest into a friend. Maybe it was because she was the first person that I had felt really comfortable with. She was really easy to talk to and never seemed offended by my lack of social skills. She instantly forgave me of all my indiscretions and it got to the point that I could spend an entire night with her without my body embarrassing me too much.

After Kumiko came into my life, if felt as if color had suddenly been added to my world of grey. I woke up every morning, eager to face the day because I knew that my night time separation from her was over. I was a little reluctant to go to work, and a little resentful as well, but as I said good-bye to Kumiko, I realized that the sooner my work day was done, the sooner I could come back home to be with her. That first morning, after she arrived, I almost called in sick, just so that I could be with her longer, but something in her expression convinced me that we would have all the time in the world. The last thing I saw as I closed the front door behind me was Kumiko dressed in a traditional Japanese kimono, her right hand was held up in a un-Japanese-like wave, and her face had a small demure smile. When I came home that day, she was exactly in the same spot, her right hand was held up in a greeting, but her smile seemed broader somehow.

We spent every evening together. Sometimes we would just sit amicably and watch TV, or I would go and rent a movie and we would watch that. Other times, we would just sit on the couch together in companionable silence.

One night, about a week after Kumiko came into my life, she somehow got me to talk about myself. This was something I had never done, not to anyone.

“My parents never loved me,” I said, out of the blue. Kumiko looked surprised at that, and I think my face must have shown my surprise too. Where had that come from?

Kumiko’s head was tilted to one side and she was looking at me with an inquisitive expression.

I sighed. I guess I was going to have to explain that comment. “My parents never wanted me in the first place.”

Her expression was a little scandalous. I then remembered that with Kumiko’s Japanese background, parents were revered and respected above all else. “How do I know? I know because my parents told me. Not only that, it was in their actions. When I was little, they would often take trips together and leave me with a nanny. As I was growing up, their professional and personal trips kept getting longer and longer. I never got to play catch with my father, and my mother never comforted me when I was scared. I got used to it though. I probably could have forgiven them if they hadn’t gotten rid of my nanny. I cried…oh how I cried. All they said was that my nanny was an illegal alien and that she had been deported back to where she had come from. When I angrily threw a tantrum, my father spanked me with his belt and my mother starved me for two days. Looking back, I realize now that they probably had no idea that my nanny was here illegally. It probably shocked their posh sensitivities to find out that they had been unwittingly supporting something illegal. I think they reported her themselves. I just wish that I was old enough to remember more of her. I wish I remembered her name.”

I opened eyes that I hadn’t realized I had closed. Somehow, my head was in Kumiko’s lap and her hand was gently resting on my head. “After that, they never got me a long term nanny again. Instead, they relied on babysitters to come and watch me whenever they went away. That also meant that they couldn’t take longer trips, and they never hesitated to show their resentment to me. When I graduated from high school, they chose an out of town university for me. They told that they could now finally live the way they wanted to. They told me that I was accidentally conceived and that my mother didn’t even know she was pregnant until other people realized that she was pregnant and an abortion at that time would have scandalized her friends.”

I cried then, as the words I was saying sparked memories that I thought I had long buried away. I remembered my tenth birthday. The first and only attempt my parents had ever made to host a birthday party for me. I had no friends and my parents had to bribe several of the neighborhood kids and many of my classmates with expensive party favors. There were clowns, tons of balloons, and even a couple of those big blow up structures where kids can jump up and down in. Everyone had a good time. All the kids received wonderful toys and had a blast either swimming in our pool or popping balloons. My parents socialized with the parents of the kids. The party came to a crashing halt when someone pointed out that they couldn’t find me. That sparked an instant hunt that ended when my parents found me locked in my room with my comic books. They wouldn’t listen to me, no matter how hard I tried to explain. They just didn’t understand. It wasn’t my party anymore! It was theirs! I didn’t know any of the kids that came that day and I had felt even lonelier than I have ever had. My parents ‘punished’ me by telling me that they would never throw me another party. I almost laughed in their faces because that was just fine with me.

My crying left me emotionally drained and before I knew it, I was asleep. I woke up in the middle of the night to find that I was sleeping under the covers with no memory of slipping under them. I looked to my right and saw Kumiko lying on her side facing me. Her eyes were closed and she looked so peaceful. I carefully slipped out of her bed so that I wouldn’t disturb her. I was relieved to find that all my clothes were still on. Whew! I didn’t want Kumiko to think that I was trying to take advantage of her kindness!

I quietly left the room and padded over to my current bedroom and flopped into my bed. Though my room was smaller than the master bedroom, it felt much emptier. I realized that I missed Kumiko’s presence and the small bed I lay on felt cold and barren. I forced myself to relax and tried to sleep. I knew that the sooner I fell asleep, the sooner the morning would come and I could once again see Kumiko’s smiling face.

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One month after Kumiko came into my life, I decided to celebrate. I had just finished off a large project at work and my manager had given me several days off as a reward. The month had been a busy one, both at work and at home. However, seeing Kumiko wave bye to me every morning, and seeing her smiling face greet me every night made it all bearable and worthwhile. I had bought a large bottle of champagne and a dozen red roses. I had even bought a diamond encrusted necklace that I was going to surprise Kumiko with later.

Kumiko’s smile was even brighter than usual when she saw the roses but it was nothing compared to the look on her face when I presented her with the necklace. We were in the living room, enjoying the roaring fireplace and the bottle of champagne when I got up, moved around behind Kumiko and clipped the necklace around her neck. I had to brush her hair to the side and my fingers received the usual electrical jolt I felt every time I touched her skin.

Maybe it was the romantic moment. Maybe I was feeling brave from the champagne. Whatever it was, I tilted her head up and I leaned down and kissed her on her lips. The kiss was warm, soft and passionate. When I finally broke the kiss, I was breathless. I looked into her eyes and we shared an intense gaze. She knew what I wanted. What I needed. No words were necessary as I picked her up and took her upstairs to the master bedroom.

I laid her on the bed and then I removed the formal dinner clothes I had worn for tonight. I suddenly felt rather shy, disrobing in front of Kumiko but she made no comment when I left my briefs on. I slipped under the covers and pulled it over Kumiko. Once under the covers though, I was brave enough to take off my briefs. She was still wearing her black silky dress and with shaking hands, I proceeded to remove it. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly open, as if she were expecting something. I leaned in and kissed her again. This time, the kiss was hungrier and even more intense. I had dreamt about this moment for so long and I really wanted to savor it. However, my body seemed to have other ideas.

Kumiko’s dress melted away from my groping hands and I reveled at the rich soft skin that had been hiding underneath. Her breasts were soft yet firm and they retained their shape as my hands cupped them. Her hard nipples dug little points into the palms of my hands.

My hands traveled downward, towards her panties. They were the same pearly white panties that I had been unable to remove that first night. Emboldened by the champagne and pushed by my rising lust, I pulled the panties off and my right hand reached up greedily to the junction between her legs.

I paused. Something was not right. What was wrong? The moment was perfect, but something was wrong. The website where I had purchased Kumiko had bragged that this was one of her most realistic features. As per my order, everything should have been preinstalled…

Then it hit me. I rolled over to my night table and retrieved a small tube of lubricant. I squeezed out a large pool and then rolled back under the covers. I cursed my own impatience and feared that the magical moment had passed. However, as my lubricant covered fingers entered her, Kumiko’s eyes suddenly opened and I knew the magic was back. Her eyes closed again when I withdrew my fingers but I knew that they would open again when her body welcomed me.

I rolled on top of her and her legs spread out to accommodate me. I tried to line myself up the way they did in porn movies, but it was harder than it looked. Eventually, I found the spot and as my erection made contact with her, her eyes sprung open once more. They invited me to push in, and I did. The sensation was almost too much for me. I closed my eyes and didn’t open them again until my thighs made contact with hers. She was looking at me with an expression of welcoming approval that encouraged me to keep going. I pulled out almost all the way and then pushed back in. That felt just as good as the first time so I did it again and again and again. Her body rocked in time with my thrusts and never missed a beat, even when I started to push in and pull out faster and faster. I felt a tidal wave building inside of me and my thrusts became more frantic. Like a tsunami reaching critical mass, I reached my peak. With the fury of giant waves crashing over soft sandy beaches, I released myself into her.

Through it all, her eyes never left mine, but I had to finally break eye contact as I collapsed panting and exhausted on top of her. Her body supported my weight without any problems.

I rolled off her and whispered into her ear, “I love you Kumiko.”

I was right. The moment had been utterly magical. Kumiko’s eyes were closed and I closed mine as well and fell into a peaceful sleep. Sometime during the night, I woke up, and the magic started again. Kumiko was ready this time, and the magic was even grander than the first time. I did not feel lonely at all. Not even once.

 

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Chapter 3 – Cassie

Life couldn’t get much better than this! Every morning when I left for work, Kumiko would wave good-bye to me, and every night, she would greet me the same way. We would have a nice quiet dinner, maybe watch a movie or even just sit and talk, and then we would go to the master bedroom and make love before falling asleep in each others’ arms.

Even my manager noticed a change in me. One day, about a month after making love to Kumiko for the first time, he called me into his office and said, “Nelson, how’s life treating you?” He was indulging in his usual habit of flipping his gold plated pen back and forth, back and forth around his thumb. The pen was one of his prized possessions. It even had his name engraved on it.

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I couldn’t tell him what was happening at home! “It’s fine Chad.”

Chad leaned back in his leather chair and smiled at me. “I can see that. You seem much happier these days. I’ve known you for several years now, and I’ve never seen you this happy.” The pen flipped around his thumb clockwise.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Things have been good at home lately, that’s all.”

He raised an eyebrow and said, “New girlfriend?” The pen flipped around counter-clockwise.

“No, not really.” Chad had known me since my days at DIDO, so he knew that my parents were dead and that I had no living relatives. I had to be careful with what I said from now on. I didn’t want Chad prying into my business.

“Well,” said Chad with a long drawl. “As long as it doesn’t affect your work, which I might add, has always been top notch.” Flip…The pen flipped back. I tried not to follow the movement.

So that was it! The bastard was afraid that my new happier outlook was going to affect my work performance. He had been taking credit for my work for years and now he was afraid that the standard of my work will slip. He would probably be happy if I remained sad and lonely for the rest of my life just so long as I kept turning out products that earned him his yearly bonus. What an asshole!

Of course, I didn’t articulate any of what I was thinking. Instead, I said, “No need to worry about that. Work always comes first.”

Chad nodded his head approvingly. “Good to hear that!” He passed a thick folder to me and said, “Here’s your next project. Give me a rough time and budget estimate before the end of the day, ok? I’m meeting with the client tomorrow so I need to prepare.” Chad finally missed a catch and the pen dropped to the table.

I took the folder and walked out of Chad’s office. I sat down at my cubicle and stared at my computer screen. I was trying to get a hold of my angry emotions. What was wrong with me? I never cared in the past whenever Chad got credit for my work. It was the way I wanted it, right? Somehow, I wasn’t so sure that it was how I wanted it anymore.

“I saw you in the boss’s office Nelson. What bee got stuck in his bonnet today?”

I looked up at the sound of the voice and saw Cassie Brown smiling down at me from behind my cubicles short partition. Cassie was on my team and we had worked on several projects together over the last couple of years. I had never really noticed her appearance before, but now I realized that she was rather pretty, in a fresh breezy sort of way. She was a couple of years younger than me and had never failed to voice her appreciation whenever I helped her out on our projects.

“Who knows?” I said with a shrug. “You know how it is.”

“Yeah, he loves to crack the whip and then reap the rewards.”

That surprised me. I hadn’t realized that anyone else had noticed how Chad operated.

“Don’t look so surprised,” said Cassie. “Don’t think that no one has noticed how he exploits your skills. We all know who does most of the work around here and who gets the actual credit and eventual bonus.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that so I just shrugged and said, “That’s how it is, right?”

Cassie narrowed her eyes and said, “That’s how it is now, but that doesn’t mean that’s how it should be. I’ve spoken a lot with the rest of the team and they’re all very impressed with the work you did on the Honeywell account.”

“Really? That was no big deal.”

“Yes it is!” said Cassie vehemently. “You managed to compress six weeks of hard work and finished the bulk of the programming in less than a month. Everyone knows that you carried the team on that one.”

I smiled blandly and said, “Just trying to help.”

Cassie brushed off that comment with a small wave of her hand. “Anyway, we’re headed out tonight after work for some drinks. We’d love it if you could join us.”

Today was a Friday, and I knew that my team often went out for drinks after work on Fridays as a way to unwind and relax. They hadn’t done so for several weeks because as Cassie and pointed out, our last project had everyone working extra hours. Now that it was complete, they could afford the time today to go out. This was not the first time that they had asked me to join them. In the past, I had always politely refused and hinted at issues at home. I was about to refuse again when something in Cassie’s expression made me hesitate. I could have been mistaken, but I thought I saw a hint of pleading on her face. That was when I realized that she really wanted me there!

“I’ll be there,” I said simply.

Cassie broke into a dazzling smile and said, “That’s great! We’ll leave the office at 5:00pm, ok?” She turned to walk away but then said, “By the way, have you been working out or something? You look great!” Her cheeks showed a dash of red before she rushed off.

---

It was after 9:00pm when Cassie pulled into my driveway. She was driving my car while I was in an alcohol induced stupor in the passenger seat. I’m not used to alcohol, and the drinks had been flowing somewhat freely tonight. I glanced up at my house and instantly wished that I hadn’t. The house seemed to spin around in my vision.

The next thing I knew, Cassie had opened the passenger door and helped me out of the car.

“I’m sorry for buying you so many drinks tonight Nelson,” said Cassie apologetically. “I didn’t realize that you weren’t used to drinking.”

“Thash ok…” I stumbled a bit and Cassie slipped her arm around me to help me up my porch steps. We paused at my front door as I fumbled for my keys. Suddenly, my foggy brain remembered who was waiting for me inside of my house. Somehow, I knew that I couldn’t let Cassie see Kumiko and vice versa. I fumbled for my keys some more and then dropped them onto the ground.

“Here, let me get it.” Cassie bent down to retrieve my keys and that was when I heard the sound of an approaching car.

I turned to look and swayed unsteadily on my feet as a taxi pulled into my driveway. Cassie noticed it too and said, “Oh, my ride’s here. Good!” She stood up and handed my keys back to me. “I called for a cab while I was driving. Let’s get you inside before I leave, ok?”

I started to panic and then said as steadily as I could, “No, that’s ok Cassie. You’ve done a lot for me already. Thank you. I can take it from here. It’s getting late and you should be getting home yourself.”

Cassie frowned but didn’t argue. “Are you sure? Maybe I should make sure you get in alright.”

I waved her off and said, “No, I’m fine, really. Thank you for getting me home when I was obviously in no condition to drive.”

Cassie grinned impishly. “No problem Nelson.” She made a show of looking at the face of my house. “This is a really nice looking house. Maybe one day, you can show me how it looks inside.”

“Maybe. Here, let me give you some money for the taxi.” I tried reaching for my wallet but I couldn’t seem to pull it out of my back pocket.

“You’re sweet! But that’s fine. I don’t live all that far away anyway. Besides, it was worth it just to see you finally loosen up a bit!”

Cassie surprised me by giving me a kiss on my cheek. It was more of a peck really, but her lips left a warm impression on my cheek.

“See you Monday!” said Cassie as she ran for the taxi.

I waved bye to her and stayed on my porch until the taxi pulled out of sight. I unlocked my front door and stumbled into my house. Kumiko was sitting in her usual spot but with my bleary vision, I couldn’t tell if she was smiling at me or not. I stumbled into the living room and abruptly tripped. My head hit the hardwood and I think I blacked out for an instant. When I looked up at Kumiko, my breath caught in my throat.

She had a disapproving look on her face and both of her hands were folded in her lap. I always left her right hand in a waving position so that it always appeared that she was greeting me whenever I came home.

“What’s wrong Kumiko?”

Kumiko didn’t answer. She just looked at me with those crystal blue eyes. I staggered to my knees and touched her hands. Her skin was cold to my touch. “I’m sorry Kumiko. I was invited out for drinks with some co-workers. I know I should have called to let you know that I would be late but I forgot. Please forgive me?”

Kumiko didn’t answer and she didn’t blink. I managed to get to my feet but a broiling sick feeling in my stomach made me run for the powder room in the hall. I threw up violently into the toilet. I wiped my face with a wet towel and flushed the toilet.

When I felt more or less human again, I went back out to the living room. Kumiko was still sitting on the couch with her hands folded demurely in her lap. Apparently, she was still mad at me. I sighed and carefully carried her upstairs and laid her down on the bed. I debated on whether or not I should sleep in the other bedroom tonight but then decided that whatever issue we were having right now, Kumiko and I had to work through it together.

I got ready for bed and turned off the light and slipped under the covers. I fell asleep almost instantly. Some time in the middle of the night, I was startled out of my sleep. There seemed to be a pressure of some sort on my right hand. My sleepy mind sudden surged awake when I realized that it was Kumiko’s hand on mine. She wasn’t mad anymore!

I reached over and pulled her to me. After our first night as lovers, we had started to sleep in the nude. It was easier than having to take off and put on clothes all the time. Her body slipped on top of mine like a glove. Her legs spread to either side of my body and my sudden erection slipped into her moist slippery warmth. Her eyes popped open and I could see that Kumiko was asking forgiveness for her temper tantrum. I kissed her on her lips and forgave her and she forgave me for my drunkenness at the same time.

We made love slow leisurely love and when we finished, we stayed coupled and fell asleep.

 

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Chapter 4 – Ascent

I began to see a lot of Cassie after that. Every morning, we would meet for coffee before heading to our cubicles. Sometimes, other people from our team would meet up with us, but most of the time, we were alone. We would have lunch in the cafeteria everyday, and we always chatted amiably like old friends.

Friends. That was such a strange concept to me. I never really had friends, and here I was becoming closer to another human being. We talked about everything. Cassie opened up about family and her ex-boyfriend, and I opened up about my parents. I told her things that I had told no one else except for Kumiko.

Kumiko. That was another strange thing. Before Cassie and I had started to hang out together, I would think of Kumiko almost constantly throughout the day. These days though, I hardly thought of her at all, especially when I was with Cassie. It made me feel very guilty sometimes, and there would be times when I wouldn’t be able to look Kumiko in her eyes. Was I being unfaithful to Kumiko? Was it possible to be unfaithful to a doll? I knew that Kumiko wasn’t real. I knew that she was just a life sized doll that I had bought off a Japanese website. I knew that my relationship with her, and my treating her as a real person was not exactly healthy. However, that didn’t stop the fact that my feelings for her were very real.

Cassie had this uncanny ability to lift up my spirits. If she was talking to someone else whenever I walked by her cubicle, she never failed to draw me into the conversation. I managed to meet many new people that way. Many of the people whom she introduced me to were surprised to know that I had been working at the company for a couple of years. It became an inside joke between Cassie and I. I was the ‘New Guy’ even though I had been working in the company for a while.

As for me, it was as if a whole new world had opened up to me. People started to recognize who I was, and in turn, I began to recognize individuals as well. There were a lot of very nice people who worked for the company. Where the heck have I been?

It started innocently enough. The Friday night drinks started to turn into Friday night dinners with the gang. The other people on the team were Dana Hartley, Steve Willis, Gary Stein and Lisa Wilson. They were all in their early to mid twenties with Lisa being the youngest. I, I found out, was the oldest of the bunch.

One Friday night, about two months after that first night of drinks, we were having dinner at the Keg restaurant, and we were doing our usual shit shooting about the company in general and our manager Chad Fong in particular.

“Damn it!” exclaimed Dana. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take!”

“I know what you mean,” said Gary. “If Chad comes over to my desk with yet another scope change, I’m gonna friggin slam my keyboard over his head.”

“You’d think that Chad’s never run a project before, the way he keeps changing the scope so many times,” said Steve.

“What do you mean?” asked Lisa. “What does changing the scope have to do with running the project?”

Gary rolled his eyes, but Cassie answered Lisa seriously. “It means, as our manager, he’s supposed to look out for us. Scope changes increases the length of a project because it means we have to go back to a prior step and re-evaluate and re-analyze.”

“Chad keeps changing the scope but not the deadline,” said Dana.

“Oh, I see,” said Lisa.

“In the end, it means more work for all of us,” said Steve.

“Or more work for Nelson over here,” said Cassie with a slight dig in my ribs with her elbow.

“I don’t really mind,” I protested. “It’s not a big deal to me.”

“But it is a big deal,” insisted Cassie vehemently. “Every time Chad plays yes man, it’s you who bears the brunt and he takes all the credit.”

“Yeah I’ve noticed that too,” said Lisa. “Why do you take it Nelson? You’re a hell of a lot smarter than he is.”

There was a chorus of “yeahs” around the table and I looked around at everyone nervously. They had a point, I see that now. But I didn’t know how to respond.

Cassie came to my rescue. “Lay off him guys,” she said seriously. “Dealing with pushy users and demanding customers is what Chad gets paid to do. Nelson just can’t be bothered to deal with people like that.”

I gave Cassie a grateful smile. “Thanks Cassie.” I looked around the table and realized that they didn’t really know what I was like on the inside. “Look, you guys probably don’t realize this, but I’m not that comfortable around people. Until I started hanging around you guys, I was a virtual hermit.”

“We’re trying,” said Cassie with a grin, “and I think we’ve almost gotten rid of the ‘New Guy’ title from you. Cassie laid her hand upon mine as she said this. A round of laughter chorused around the table. When it ended, Cassie still had her hand on mine.

This drew several looks from both Dana and Lisa, and I thought I saw them exchange meaningful looks with Cassie. I know for sure that Steve gave Cassie a thumbs-up sign when he thought I wasn’t looking. What was going on? I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable but I made no move to withdraw my hand.

The evening eventually came to a close and we all paid our portions for the dinner. As we exited the restaurant, Dana turned to Cassie and asked, “Is your car still in the shop?”

“Yeah,” said Cassie. “They still don’t know what’s wrong with it. I’m gonna have to call a cab.” She grimaced as she said this.

“Want me to give you a lift?” asked Steve.

“That’s nice of you to offer Steve, but you live on the other side of town.”

“I can drop you off.”

All heads turned to me, and I don’t know who was the most surprised: them or me. Still, the words were out and I was committed. “You don’t live that far from me after all.”

Cassie looked at me intently and said, “Are you sure?”

I nodded and Cassie and I said our goodbyes to the group and walked towards my car. We got in and we drove in silence for a while.

“This car is really nice,” remarked Cassie. She stretched out her legs and said, “I’ve always wanted to sit in a Bimmer. I couldn’t tell in the dark, but is this a Z3 or a Z4?”

“Z3, I think.”

“You think?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “I didn’t buy the car. It was my parents’ spare car. It costs a ton to maintain and I’ve been thinking of getting rid of it. I just can’t seem to be bothered by all the fuss it entails though.”

“Well, if you do decide, talk to Gary.”

“Gary?”

“Yeah, his brother is a sales manager at a BMW dealership.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“There’s a lot about out team that you don’t know.”

“True.”

We drove in companionable silence for several minutes. The radio station that the car radio was tuned to was playing soft rock songs.

“We have a pretty cool team, eh?” said Cassie brightly out of the blue.

“They’re good people,” I agreed. I glanced at her and realized that at twenty-eight, she was only two years younger than me and easily the second oldest person on our team next to me. “They seem rather stressed lately.”

“It’s this project we’re working on. All the scope changes are really killing us and the deadline is looming ever closer. We still don’t even have a working prototype yet.”

“Maybe I should talk to Chad about it.”

“I think you should. He’ll listen to you.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s afraid of you Nelson.”

“Afraid of me? Why?”

Cassie let out an exasperated sigh. “Hello! Earth to Nelson! Don’t you think Chad understands that you pretty much carry this department on your shoulders? If you suddenly left the company, we’d all be sunk – including Chad.”

I shook my head negatively. “No way. I think you’re wrong. I’m not that important.”

“Yes you are!” insisted Cassie.

We pulled onto Cassie’s street and I stopped in front of her house. “When are you going to wake up? You’re important to this department, you’re important to the company and most of all, you’re important to me!”

I looked at her in amazement. Cassie had a fierce expression on her face. She glared at me for several seconds and then her expression melted. She leaned over to me and kissed me on my lips. It was a quick kiss, but it was full on my lips. She opened her door and ran up the path to her house.

I watched dumbfounded as she went into her house. When I saw that she was safely inside, I drove off. I was still in a state of shock. I could still feel Cassie’s lips on my own. It was as if their imprint was burned directly onto me.

When I walked into my house, Kumiko was sitting in her customary seat, but her hand was not waving a greeting. My mind struggled with several revolving thoughts all at once. Wasn’t her hand raised this morning when I left for work? Maybe she’s still not happy about my Friday night outings. We never talked about it, but I had thought that she had come to understand my necessity to interact with other people.

I shook my head like a dog shaking water off its coat. Wait a minute! What am I thinking? Kumiko is a doll! A life sized, realistic doll! Why do I keep thinking of her as if she were real with real emotions? My own emotions for her had stabilized somewhat. Having her in my house, talking to her as if she were real, all had a positive impact on my life. I was no longer quite so shy around people. A part of me will always be grateful to Kumiko for that and I part of me will always love her as well. But was I still in love with her?

I carried her upstairs to the master bedroom and got ready for bed. I changed Kumiko into her pajamas, and then I got into my own pajamas. Tonight was the first night in several months that we were actually wearing clothes to sleep. I turned off the light and lay down beside Kumiko. We didn’t make love that night.

---

On Monday, Cassie greeted me a little shyly. She kept looking at my face for something. I’m not sure, but I think she was trying to see if I was going to treat her any different than the way I have always treated her. I think she was both relieved and disappointed when I greeted her exactly the same way as I have always greeted her.

The week passed quickly because everyone was extremely busy and no one had any time to socialize. On Friday, everyone finally relaxed because we had finally completed a working prototype. That morning, I took everyone’s pieces, joined them together, and compiled the combined code into a single entity. Everyone gathered around my cubicle as I fired up the executable and launched the application that we had written as a team.

There was a small cheer from the group as the logo screen flashed. Gary thumped Lisa on the back because she was the one who had designed the logo and written the code for it. The rest of the application loaded and we tested it out by running bogus numbers and entries into the database. So far, so good. There were no error messages, and no sudden crashes. We had written a good solid application.

Chad suddenly appeared by my cubicle and said, “I hate to break this up, but I just got back from a meeting with the sales team and the client.”

There was a low moan from the group and Chad lifted up his hands in a placating manner. “Now, now, it’s not that bad.” He passed around several identical folders and the groans grew louder as the team took in all the changes that had to be made. “Really folks, it’s just a few link changes, a couple of formulas – “

“And a whole new set of security protocols!”

There was silence as everyone turned shocked gazes at the person who had spoken up. Me.

I looked up from where I had skipped ahead in the documentation and held up the new proposal for everyone to see. “Chad, if we revamp the security protocols, there’s no way we can meet the deadline. We just finished a prototype based upon the last changes and it’s ready for User Acceptance Testing.”

“I talked it out with the clients,” said Chad. His voice was becoming a little bit testy. “It’s not that big a deal. It’s only a few minor changes.”

“A few –“ I felt a warm soft hand on my shoulder. I glanced up and Cassie was giving me a warning look. It calmed me down somewhat, but not enough to drop the issue. “Chad, I need to talk to you right now, in your office.”

Everyone, including Chad, looked shocked. It was a surprise because this was the first time I had ever spoken back to Chad. I led the way into Chad’s office and closed the door when he had taken his seat. Then I really lay into him.

“This is not a simple change and you know it. To change the security protocols, we have to strip everything down right to the basics and rewrite the code from the ground up. That is a month’s work right there for the whole team and the deadline is two weeks from now. We should be in UAT mode right now, not starting over from the beginning!”

Chad tried to calm me down with some more words, but suddenly, all those years of working for him and allowing him to take the credit crashed down upon me. I realized that I really didn’t like Chad, and I really hated the way he took advantage of me. Years of pent up frustration came out as I verbally lashed him. I don’t think I used any explicit language. It’s not my style. But I told him that I, in no uncertain terms, would not continue to work as his personal slave anymore. I told him that if he had half a brain and half a heart, he would have realized that we have already worked our collective asses off for him and his clients, even though they kept changing the requirements on us. His face grew redder and redder as I spoke.

When the eruption came, I don’t know who was more surprised.

“You ungrateful ingrate! I gave you not one but two jobs! Where would you be right now if I hadn’t hired you all those years ago? Still crying about your Mommy and Daddy! I taught you everything you know. Who shielded you from silly assed users? Me! Who pushed you to work harder? Me! Who gave your miserable life purpose when you parents died? Me! You’re nothing without me! Now get out of my office and get to work!”

 

[ERecTile]

We glared at each other for a long time. Finally, I said, “I quit!” Then I stalked out of his office and began cleaning up my cubicle. There wasn’t that much to clean. I had no personal decorations and the only thing of mine was a picture of Cassie and I that someone had taken on one of our nights out with the group. I picked it up and looked at the picture for a long time. I realized that the thing I would miss the most about this place was Cassie.

Chad came barreling out of his office. “You can’t quit! You’re still under contract! If you leave now, I’ll make sure the company sues you for breach of contract!”

I stared him down and said in a very quiet voice. “My contract ended a month ago. If you ever bothered to check with HR, you would have known that. Not only have I not been paid in a month, I also only stayed on because I knew the team would need me on this project. They don’t need me now. The application we wrote is solid and it goes above and beyond what the client was asking for.”

I left him sputtering inanely, amid raucous cheers from everyone in the department. I looked for Cassie, but only managed to catch a small glimpse of her. I walked out of the office without another look back. My car was in the parking lot and I got in and drove off.

---

I didn’t go home right away. My mind seemed to be in a sort of fog for the rest of the afternoon. Sometime during the afternoon, I think I stopped by a bar for a drink or two. When I finally pulled into my driveway, it was after 6:00pm. There was another car in my driveway and Cassie was sitting on my front porch.

“Cassie?” I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had thought that I would never see her again.

“Nelson! Where were you! I’ve been trying to call your cell phone all afternoon!”

I pulled out my cell phone and looked dumbly at it. There were twenty-two missed calls on it. “Why?”

Cassie stood up and hugged me tight. “You left too soon! After you left, Dan Green, the Senior VP of Operations called Chad into his office.”

“So?” Where was she going with this?

“Nelson! They canned him! They fired Chad this afternoon! Not only that, they want you to take his place and salvage the project!”

“Me? But I don’t know anything about being a manager!”

Cassie snorted and said, “And you think Chad did? Nelson, he was an absolute loser and everyone knows it!” She shivered because the autumn evening was getting chilly.

I absentmindedly took out my keys and opened my front door. As soon as it opened, I suddenly remembered Kumiko. Oh no!

But it was too late. Cassie gratefully stepped into the house and exclaimed, “Wow! Your house is beautiful!”

I looked around puzzled. Where was Kumiko? She was not in her usual spot on the couch in the living room. I had a brief moment of panic when I thought that someone might have broken in and stolen her. But the security in the house was fine, and when I punched in the code, I was rewarded by an ‘all’s well’ beep.

Cassie was looking at me expectantly. “Are you going to give me the grand tour?”

I didn’t know what to say so I took her hand and showed her around the house. She was impressed and she wasn’t afraid to show it.

“Oh my God! Look at that piano! Do you know how to play?” In the kitchen, she exclaimed, “Look at that island! Wow, the things you could cook in here!” In the family room, she really went nuts, “Look at the size of that plasma TV! Nelson, they must pay you pretty damned good!”

“Actually, everything here was left over from my parents – except the TV of course!”

“Oh my God! Nelson, I’m so sorry! I forgot all about that!”

“That’s ok. Come on, I’ll show you upstairs.”

As we reached the top of the stairs though, I suddenly experienced a flash of panic. Where was Kumiko? I couldn’t let Cassie see her. She would think that I was a complete freak! As we checked out each bedroom though, my anxiety grew. Kumiko was not in any of the bedrooms. If the security was fine, and Kumiko was not in anywhere else in the house, then there was only one place that she could be.

I stopped the impromptu tour just shy of the master bedroom. “What’s wrong Nelson?” asked Cassie.

I nodded in the direction of the master bedroom and said, “That’s the master bedroom. I’m sorry, I can’t take you there.”

“That’s where your parents used to sleep?”

I nodded but couldn’t think of something to say.

Cassie cupped my chin with her hand and said, “That’s sweet Nelson. Leaving your parents’ room untouched all these years.”

I didn’t try to correct her misunderstanding. I didn’t have a chance. She leaned into me and raised her face. Her lips touched mine in a kiss that was at first tentative, but quickly grew in strength and hunger.

We fumbled our way into the bedroom I had used when Kumiko first came. It was still neat and untouched. Cassie’s fingers were busy unbuttoning my shirt. “Do you have a condom?” she asked in a breathy voice.

I shook my head. I never got any condoms because I never needed them with Kumiko.

“That’s ok,” said Cassie throatily. “I’ve got a couple.”

Cassie body was like wildfire in my arms. It was constantly in motion. It was like holding a bundle of soft yet raging fire in my arms. Whether she was busy taking off my clothes or hastily stripping hers off, she never stopped moving.

She finally paused after she shoved my naked body onto the bed. Her hands lovingly caressed my erection and she had a dreamy expression on her face. “God, I’ve been waiting for this moment for such a long time! She lowered her face and her mouth engulfed me.

I arched my back as my senses went into overload. The feelings caused by her mouth and her tongue were simply indescribable. I came with a sudden intense explosion that shocked both of us.

“Wow!” exclaimed Cassie. You must have cleared at least four feet!

I gave her a sheepish grin but said nothing. She rocked back onto her heels and playfully swung my softening member back and forth. “I’ll give you a few minutes to rest and then it’s on to round two!”

I didn’t need to rest though. “Come here!” I grabbed her upper arms and swung her down onto the bed. She let out a playful whoop that turned into soft urgent moans as I worked over her body. She was beautiful. Her body was nowhere near as perfect as Kumiko’s, but it was real flesh and hot blood. Her breasts, though firm, did not retain their shape when she was lying down. However, I found this to be strangely appealing. Her nipples were really sensitive and as I licked and sucked on them, she grasped my head in a vice-like grip. I eventually moved my way down though and she let out a soft regretful sigh. She giggled when I licked her belly button and then purred when I kissed the insides of her thighs.

Though I never did any of this with Kumiko – there never seemed to be a point – I had read a lot of erotic literature, and I had watched a lot of porn movies. My fingers gently spread Cassie open and my first lick made her stiffen as if shocked by an electric prod.

“What? What’re…Nelson you don’t have…oh…don’t stop!”

Something in Cassie’s natural musky scent drove my senses wild. I just couldn’t get enough of her! I gently inserted my index finger into her wet hot tunnel. There was no need for any artificial lubricant. Cassie’s internal muscles squeezed my finger and I carefully added my middle finger into her raging furnace. As I continued to lick, I began to thrust my fingers in and out. There was a soft squishy tissue area just at the tip of my fingers. I curled my fingers upward and suddenly, Cassie screamed! Her body bucked like crazy and her thighs were threatening to squeeze my head flat as she came.

“Where did you learn to do that?” exclaimed Cassie in wonderment.

I shrugged and quipped, “I watch a lot of porn.” I had a silly assed grin on my face and I didn’t care.

“Porn? You smart ass! Come here! I need you now!”

She tugged on my shoulders as I fumbled with the condom packet. Cassie must have been impatient because she snatched it out of my hands and ripped it open. She slipped the condom onto me. She gave me a sexy saucy smile and said, “All preparations complete Captain! Begin the insertion procedure!”

I couldn’t help laughing. I had always thought that sex was supposed be a serious matter between two consenting adults. I never thought that it would be fun or funny.

All traces of laughter left Cassie though was I slowly entered her. Her eyes rolled back and she said in a husky voice, “Oh…so good…”

I started to thrust in and out with long slow strokes. Thanks to Cassie’s earlier oral ministrations, I was nowhere near my peak. Cassie was very vocal. When she told me to go faster, I did as she instructed and was rewarded with a tightening of her internal muscles and an increase of her vocalizations.

She came with a loud scream that reverberated throughout the room. After she had calmed down a bit, she pushed me onto my back and then got on top. “You’re incredible, you know that?”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I had never made love to a real woman before. Everything I was experiencing now was new and exciting.

She leaned forward and then sat down. I slid into her effortlessly, but that didn’t make the experience any less erotic. Then, she leaned forward again so that I could play with her breasts as she moved her pelvis up and down. It didn’t take long for her to reach her peak, and this time, I was right behind her. Our bodies mashed together in manic fury and we shared a single volcanic moment of shared pleasure that seemed to last for an eternity.

As we came down from our plateau, Cassie rolled off me and we cuddled on the bed. After several minutes, Cassie sighed and rolled herself out of my arms. “I’m sorry, but I have to get going. My parents are going to be wondering where I am.”

I knew Cassie had been staying at her parents’ house ever since she had dumped her ex-boyfriend and had stormed out of their apartment. “They don’t know you’re here?”

“They don’t even know I’m seeing anyone,” retorted Cassie. Her expression became vulnerable as she said, “Um, Nelson, you know I really like you…and um…I’m not asking for a commitment or anything…but…I need to know if this meant anything to you.”

I leaned over and kissed Cassie on her cute nose. “Cassie, I’m crazy about you. You pulled me out of my shell and you make me feel more alive than I have ever felt.”

Cassie squealed in delight and kissed me hard. I had to gently push her away because her kiss was beginning to arouse my body once more. She glanced down at my rising reaction and grinned impishly. “Down boy!” She helped me pull off the condom and then placed a kiss on my erection. “Save it for next time big boy!”

We got dressed after that. Our clothes were scattered all around the room and in the hallway. We couldn’t find Cassie’s panties though and she laughingly said that it wouldn’t be the first time she had to go commando.

I waved bye to her as she drove out of my driveway. After she was gone, I went back into the house and made my way upstairs. That was when the guilt hit me. Making love to Cassie had been unplanned and sudden. It was impulsive and passionate and fun. I tentatively opened the door to the master bedroom. Kumiko was sitting in the dark. She was wearing one of her kimonos and her hands were folded in her lap. She was staring at an empty space on the floor in front of her. There was something in her lap, under her hands. I looked closer and realized that it was a pair of panties. They didn’t look familiar. I picked up the panties and then it hit me. These were the panties that Cassie had been wearing! What were they doing in here? Why did Kumiko have them? I carefully looked at Kumiko’s face without looking into her eyes. Her expression didn’t betray any secrets. Had Cassie brought these panties in? Had I?

I sighed. I couldn’t think of an answer. My mind was spinning around in circles. I showered in the main bathroom and climbed into the bed where Cassie and I had just made love. I could still smell her scent. What was I going to do? How could I have betrayed Kumiko like this? Did I still love Kumiko? Do I love Cassie?

Right then, I made a decision. Kumiko was a doll. No matter what kinds of emotions I had projected on to her, it didn’t change the fact that she was a doll. I would forever be grateful to how she had changed my life for the better, but at the end of the day, she was a piece inanimate silicone, plastic and metal alloy made by ingenious Japanese engineers. Cassie was flesh and blood, combined with an active mind and a fiery personality. It wasn’t really much of decision after all. I resolved to pack Kumiko back into her shipping box – which I never ended up recycling – and I would place her reverently in the attic. I would also clean out the attic and surround Kumiko with all the things that had come with her, as well as all the things that I had bought for her. Inanimate doll or not, Kumiko had changed my life and she didn’t deserve to be cast aside just like that.

With my mind made up, I turned off the light and closed my eyes. For the first time since in several months, I slept alone without the feeling of loneliness.

 

[ERecTile]

Chapter 5 – Peak

The following Monday, I went back into the office. Cassie gave me a bold wink as I walked by her cubicle. We had spent some of the weekend together but we hadn’t made love again. Instead, on Saturday, we had caught a romantic movie in the theatre followed by a leisurely dinner. On Sunday, we had bundled up and taken a walk in the park that was close to my house. It had all been very very pleasant. The topic of sex had not come up. It was almost as if each of us had shared such an intense moment, that we were reluctant to do it again so soon.

When I wasn’t with Cassie, I had made good on my resolution. Even though I knew Kumiko was a doll, I still found that I couldn’t look her in the eyes as I packed her up and moved her into the attic. I had also scrubbed down the attic until it was spotless. The only thing I didn’t do was move my things into the master bedroom. As crazy as it sounded, I found that the master bedroom still had Kumiko’s essence. I knew it was all in my mind, but I just couldn’t seem to help it. The memories clung stubbornly to my mind.

All that Monday, I rode an emotional high. I sat down with Dan Green and he made me an offer that was extremely lucrative. He offered me a permanent position as senior manager of the Product Development Department. This included not only Chad’s team, but two other teams as well. The managers of the other two teams would report directly to me, and until Dan could fill Chad’s position, Cassie and the rest would report to me as well. The salary was much more than what I had made while under Chad. There was also a significant signing bonus too.

I gave the offer serious thought. I really did. Then I surprised Dan by turning down the offer. Dan looked very disappointed but I quickly made my counter proposal.

“Dan, here’s what I propose. I will accept a permanent salaried position as a team lead for my team. You will give me a ten percent increase from my previous contract and I will get all the benefits that a regular permanent employee would get. Depending on the team performance, I will receive up to two bonuses a year which I will share with the rest of the team. I want twenty days of vacation a year and I want to report directly to you.”

It took Dan several minutes before he could respond. “I don’t understand. You’re turning down the senior manager’s job for a lower position? Why?”

I took a minute to really think over my answer. I wanted to make sure that Dan understood me fully. The higher pay didn’t attract me and I was never really that ambitious anyway. Besides, it wasn’t as if I really needed the money. “Look, I like what I do and I’m good at it. I have a great team that works well together. I respect both Brian Atworth and Margaret Fowles. They’ve both done a great job in managing and building their teams and they don’t need me to look over their shoulders. I appreciate the signing bonus but I’d rather you share that with the team instead. I don’t know how much you know about me, but I don’t exactly have to work for a living. I just do because I like what I do and I like the people I work with.”

As I spoke, Dan’s face went from incredulous to open amazement. “Don’t have to work?” That was all that he could say.

I gave him a nonchalant shrug. “I’m not rich, if that’s what you mean. My parents left me their entire estate when they died. I live alone and I have a very simple lifestyle.” There was more but I didn’t tell him because it was very personal. Besides, how do I tell him that something had been missing from my life up to now, and I think I’ve finally found it?

Dan pondered that some more and finally said, “Ok Nelson. If that’s the way you want it. I’ll make sure the signing bonus is distributed and that the team knows that it came from you.”

“No, don’t do that!” I exclaimed. “Just tell them that it’s the bonus from this project that we’re working on.”

“But there’s already going to be a bonus once it’s complete!”

“Then tell them it’s for all the scope changes that the client put us through.”

Dan nodded his head in agreement. “About that. Now that Chad is gone, you don’t have a manager to interface with the client and with the Sales team.”

“Give it to Cassie,” I said. “She’s got a great personality and a sharp head on her shoulders. And more importantly, she cares about the people on her team.”

“Cassie, eh? I’ve had my eye on her. I’ve been thinking of grooming her for a managerial role eventually.”

“Make her a project leader. Create a title if you have to.”

“I think I’ll do just that!”

“Good,” I said contently. I got up off my seat and shook Dan’s hand. “If that’s all, then I’ll get back to work.”

“But we haven’t got the paperwork done yet!” protested Dan.

“That’s ok.” I walked out of Dan’s office and headed back to my cubicle. The team cheered when they saw me.

“So what’s the word Nelson? Are you going to be our new manager?” Lisa’s face was bright as she asked the question.

There was a chorus of similar questions and I held my hands up to quiet everyone down. “I’ve accepted a new permanent position as your team lead.”

“WHAT?!” exclaimed everyone.

Cassie shushed everyone and looked straight at me. “What do you mean? They should be making you manager or something like that. You deserve it!”

I shook my head and said, “But it’s not what I want to do. There are too many headaches in a position like that. “I’d rather let someone else more qualified to take the lead.”

Cassie snorted derisively. “Who’s more qualified than you?”

There was the sound of a clearing throat and we looked up to see Dan waiting expectantly. “Cassie, if you have a minute, can I see you in my office please?”

There was a stunned silence as Cassie timidly followed Dan. Dana found her voice first. “You think?”

“Really?” asked Lisa.

“That’d be cool,” said Steve.

“I could live with that,” said Gary.

The group looked at me but I just shrugged my shoulders. They would get the official soon enough.

“But we went through so much trouble to get rid and Chad and put you in his place!” exclaimed Lisa.

I looked at her in amazement just as Dana clapped a hand over Lisa’s mouth. “Shhh!”

It was too late though. Gary sighed and after glaring at Lisa for a moment, turned to me and explained. “After you left, we all trooped into Dan’s office and officially complained about Chad and about his treatment of us and his treatment of you.”

“Really? You did that for me?” I was deeply touched. They had all taken a risk for me.

“Yeah,” quipped Dana with a grin, “Chad didn’t even have time to fully clean out his office.”

“Hey, you were willing to go head to head with Chad to get him off our backs. It was the least we could do,” said Steve firmly. The rest of the group all nodded in agreement.

I was saved from having to say anything else when Cassie came back to the group. She gave me a long look before addressing the group. “Well, it’s official. Dan’s willing to let me finish off this project with Wells Fargo Bank as the project lead. Depending on my performance and the performance of this team as a whole, he might make the assignment permanent.”

Dana and Lisa squealed in delight and rushed over and hugged Cassie. Gary and Steve were right behind and they clapped Cassie on the back in congratulations.

“Thanks everyone. The celebrating will have to hold off though. We have a lot of work and not a lot of time to do it.” While she spoke, Cassie’s eyes never left mine. “I’ve got a meeting with the Sales team and the team from Wells Fargo Bank in about ten minutes. Nelson, as team lead, would you mind coming to this meeting and helping me address the issues we’ve been experiencing?”

“Not at all,” I said with a mildness that I didn’t feel. My throat felt constricted for some reason and my heart thundered in my chest.

Cassie led the way to the conference and I followed. When we got there, we were the only ones there. Cassie made sure that all the blinds were shut and then she closed the door. As she turned to face me, I suddenly found my arms full with a beautiful woman. Her lips sought mine and she kissed me fiercely.

After several minutes, she pulled away. Her face as slightly damp from tears. I wasn’t sure yet if those were tears of joy or anger.

She pulled a Kleenex from the box that was on the conference room table and wiped her face and blew her nose. When she was more presentable, she said, “Dan told me everything. He told me how you turned down the job that we pressured him to make for you. Then he told me that you would only come back if I was the project lead. How could you do that?”

“Because you deserve it. Because you wanted it. And most important of all, because you can do it.”

Cassie almost melted back into my arms. Instead, she gave me a fierce hug and said, “Don’t tire yourself out today because tonight, I’m coming over and I’m going to rock your world.” She licked my earlobe as she said this and then pulled away.

The conference room opened at that moment and various representatives from both the Sales team and the client came in. I had to turn away slightly and casually hid the growing bulge in my pants with my portfolio.

Cassie quickly called the meeting to order and made the necessary introductions. As I watched her speak, I knew that I had made the right decision. Cassie belonged there, at the head of the conference table. She easily captured everyone’s attention and she spoke with authority. I don’t think I would have enraptured people the way she did.

Cassie called upon me several times during the meeting as the Subject Matter Expert. I carefully explained the issues and made my recommendations. My heart wasn’t it though. I kept thinking about Cassie’s promise!

---

We kept our relationship as secret as possible. While the company didn’t forbid office romances, they did look down upon them – especially if those involved were in the same reporting structure.

Despite coming over to my house several times a week, as well as spending most of her weekends with me, Cassie never spent the night. I’d often wondered about it but I never asked. I was still really new to the idea of having a talking walking girlfriend and I didn’t want to push or rush anything.

By the time I figured out that Cassie had been waiting for me to ask her to spend the night, she had already taken the bull by the figurative horns. One Saturday, about two months after we started dating, she showed up at my front door with a small overnight bag. Her face had a little bit of a challenge but I didn’t make an issue. Why would I? This was exactly what I wanted but had been too scared to bring up!

That night, when we made love, we really took our time. After all, we had all night, right? It started with a candlelit dinner which I had spent most of Saturday preparing. Then, after a couple of glasses of wine, we threw some heavy robes on and trouped out into the backyard and into the bathhouse. It took several minutes for the bathhouse to heat up because I rarely used it. It was ok though. We spent that time clinging to each other and kissing each other until our lips grew numb. When the Jacuzzi was ready, we slipped off our robes and stepped into the tub. We made small talk as the jets played over our bodies. As we talked, our hands would casually caress each other. Nothing passionate…just caressing…

We got out of the tub before we got too wrinkly and rushed back into the house. I was definitely going to have to do something about building an enclosed path between the house and the bathhouse!

Once in the house, we had some more wine and then reclined on the sofa and watched a movie that neither one of us paid much attention too. We couldn’t seem to keep our hands of each other though, and the simple caresses soon turned into heavy petting. Before we knew it, our heavy terry clothe bathrobes were on the floor and I was kneeling behind Cassie as she rested her elbows on the couch. I was just about to reach for a condom when Cassie stopped me with a breathtakingly sexy look.

“You won’t need the condom anymore!”

“You mean?”

“Yes! Now come on! I need to feel you inside me!”

I put my hands on her waist, lined myself up and pushed slowly into her. I had found, to some chagrin, that sex with a condom had a tendency of de-sensitizing the feelings in my penis. There was also a bit of intimacy lacking because of the thin layer of latex separating me from Cassie. Now, however, I was sliding into Cassie for the first time without any kind of separation and the sensations I was feeling were indescribable.

Cassie must have felt the same way because she let out a long raspy breath and moaned, “Mmmm, so good!”

I had no breath to agree as I started to pump in and out of her furiously. All that casual teasing we had been doing all night had finally caught up with me. Cassie must have been close to her peak as well because she started screaming. I don’t know if I was screaming too but I know that by the time I collapsed over her back, my throat felt a little sore.

After we caught our breaths, we made our way upstairs. I had a little surprise of my own for Cassie. Instead of taking her back to the room that we had been using, I led her to the master bedroom. She hesitated and asked, “Are you sure?”

I just gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her in. As soon as she walked into the room though, she gasped, “Oh my God!”

I earlier that day, I had decorated the room with dozens of candles and hundreds of rose petals. “Oh Nelson! You did all of this?”

“All for you Cassie. I love you.”

Cassie hugged me tightly and said quietly, “I love you too.”

I carefully lit all the candles and then we lay down on the bed. Even though our passion was recently exhausted, we continued to gently kiss and caress each other until our passion started to build once more.

The rest of the night passed in a seemingly endless cycle of making love and resting. We must have fallen asleep at some point because sometime in the middle of the night, I was suddenly startled out of my sleep. I was halfway out of my bed before I realized what had woken me up. There had been a loud bump directly over the bed. I listened carefully to see if there would be further bumps, but the only sound I heard was the slow heavy rhythmic sound of Cassie’s breathing. My heart was pounding in my chest but I couldn’t pinpoint the source of the fear I was feeling. After several minutes, my heart slowed and I wrote off the bump as nothing more than a dream. I lay back down on my side and spooned Cassie’s body with mine. She murmured something in her sleep and snuggled her body into mine. I fell asleep thinking that tonight had been the most wonderful night in my life.

 

[ERecTile]

Chapter 6 – Descent: The First Step

Cassie ended up spending most of Sunday with me. It was well after lunch when we regretfully hugged each good-bye and she pulled her car out of my driveway. We knew that we would see each other again in less that twenty-four hours, but seeing each other at work was sometimes painful because we had to maintain a professional image there.

As I cleaned up the master bedroom, I heard a bump from the ceiling. I frowned because the memory of waking up to a loud bump the night before suddenly came back to me. What was the bump? Did an animal get into the attic somehow?

I went into the large walk-in closet and pulled the rope that released the drop down extendable ladder. I climbed up and opened the attic door and pulled myself up into the attic. As I looked around, I saw something that nearly made my heart stop. Kumiko was lying on the floor face down!

The shipping box that she had arrived in was still standing up, but the box flaps were open. What the hell had happened? I could have sworn that I had tied Kumiko securely! I walked over and picked up Kumiko. She was heavier than I remembered – or maybe it was because I was no longer so enraptured by her. I chanced a quick glimpse at her face and nearly dropped her in shock.

Her eyes were glaring at me!

There was no other way to describe it. Those crystal blue eyes that had once held so much mystery, compassion, and love now glared at me in anger and hatred. I blinked but the glare was still there when I opened my eyes again. Kumiko’s lips, which once were turned up in a lilting smile were now tightly flat. There was a dark smudge on Kumiko’s left cheek from where she had hit the floor. In an effort to avoid those glaring eyes, I examined the dark smudge. The outer layer of the silicone skin was scuffed.

I pulled a chair over and sat Kumiko down. Then I retrieved the silicone repair kit from the shipping box and proceed to clean the scuff mark. I managed to get most of it off, and only upon a close inspection could I detect the faintest of faint scratch.

Still avoiding Kumiko’s eyes, I carried her over and propped her back into the box. I had set up her stand inside the box and I had tied new restraining straps to the stand. As I tied Kumiko back up, and I noticed that the straps had no damage. They were not frayed and they had not been cut. That means that the only way Kumiko could have come loose was if the knots I had tied had come undone. Maybe I didn’t tie the knots securely?

I closed the box flaps and looked around the attic. Everything else was normal. I checked the large window by the front of the house. It was closed but the lock was not engaged. Was it possible that I had had an intruder? Was someone trying to steal Kumiko? Was that why she was so angry at me?

I shook my head violently. How could she be mad at me? She was a doll! I locked the window. This window was not tied in with the security system because it was assumed that since there were no convenient ledges that a thief could use on the outside of the house, it would be very difficult for a thief to get in through this window. Of course, someone could have used a long extendable ladder…

I decided to call the security company tomorrow to arrange to have this window secured. As I passed Kumiko’s box, one of the box flaps swung open as if blown by an errant breeze. I caught a glimpse of one of Kumiko’s glaring eyes. I shivered and headed back down the ladder. I better get some packing tape and tape up that box!

---

That night, I took a long hot shower. The house seemed somehow empty without Cassie. I exited the shower stall and fondly remembered some of the fun that Cassie and I had that morning in this very stall. Steam permeated the bathroom. Damn! I had forgotten to turn on the fan!

The main mirror was fogged up, but that didn’t bother me. I wiped part of the mirror and then froze when I saw the vague image of a figure behind me.

I snapped my head around. There was nothing there. What had I seen in the mirror?

I rinsed my face with cold water. Feeling a little bit refreshed, I took a cloth and wiped down the entire mirror. Maybe I was just tired? Or maybe I was still feeling guilty at packing Kumiko away like she was nothing? Maybe I should decorate the attic a bit so that Kumiko wouldn’t feel so lonely and discarded?

Have I discarded her? Was I tired of her? What was she to me anyway?

I got ready for bed and lay down on the large king sized mattress. It had felt so nice to have a warm living body to sleep next to. I found that I really missed Cassie. I couldn’t wait until next week when she could sleep over again.

---

My sleep was disturbed by sounds of bumps from the ceiling. There was even sounds of something metallic being dragged across the floor above me in the attic.

I literally jumped out of bed and looked at the clock. The display read 3:35am. What was that sound I heard?

Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to have disturbed Cassie. She was still sound asleep on the bed. The covers were pulled over her head and she looked as if she were sleeping on her back.

Wait a minute…

Cassie had slept over last night!

Who was that in my bed?

With trembling fingers, I pulled the covers back…

Kumiko was lying in my bed!

What the hell was going on?

Her eyes were closed and her hands were folded on her chest. She had her pajamas on – which looked normal, except for the fact that I had packed her away in the outfit that she wore when she was first delivered to me.

There could be only one explanation! Someone else was in the house and was playing games with me!

I turned on the overhead lights, feverishly hoping that Kumiko was just an illusion created by my sleepy mind and the dark.

She was not.

In the harsh glare of the overhead light, Kumiko was still in my bed. I splashed cold water on my face from the ensuite bathroom. Kumiko was still on my bed. Damn it! This can’t be happening!

I rushed out of the room. As I entered the hallway, I turned on the overhead light. The hallway was empty. I stopped at every room and turned on the light. There was no one in any of the rooms.

I managed not to fall down the stairs in my haste. I turned on all the lights in the living room, the dining room, the pantry, the kitchen and the family room. There was no one in the house.

That left only one place: the basement.

The basement was dusty and dark. It was the only place that had not been finished. I grabbed a flashlight from the pantry and opened the door leading to the basement. It was almost pitch black downstairs. I turned on the overhead light, but it shone weakly and only provided dim lighting.

I powered on the flashlight and started walking down the stairs. I felt an unreasonable fear grip me but I had to do this. The steps creaked under my weight and I panned the flashlight beam in wide arcs in front of me.

Nothing.

There was nothing but old furniture and piles upon piles of old cardboard boxes.

As my foot touched the cold hard concrete, an icy hand of fear gripped my heart. What the hell! I was a grown man! I’m not afraid of a silly basement!

But I was afraid. I couldn’t explain it but I had an unreasonable fear of the basement. Why?

I panned the flashlight around the basement and called out tentatively, “Hello?”

There was no response and the flashlight beam didn’t touch anything that looked remotely suspicious.

There was an ominous rumbling sound that caught my attention. I swung the beam towards the sound and saw the furnace and the water heater. My imagination was certainly playing tricks with me!

I climbed back up the stairs and tried to ignore my shaking hands and feet. I closed the basement door and some lingering traces of fear made me bolt the door shut. I went back upstairs and turned off all the overhead lights as I went. Back in the master bedroom, Kumiko was still where I had left her, which was of some relief. I left her there and went to sleep in the other bedroom. I resolved that would put Kumiko back in the attic in the morning before I went to work.

---

I got out of bed to the sound of an irritating beep. I reached up and my hand felt around for the alarm clock. Not only did it not find the alarm clock, it didn’t find the night table! I raised my heavy head up. That’s right… I wasn’t in the master bedroom…

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. The sun was starting to rise and the events of the previous evening seemed like a distant dream. Was it a dream?

I stumbled down the hall and entered the master bedroom. The alarm was louder in here but the normally irritating beeping was suddenly pushed into the back of my mind. The bed was empty.

What the hell?

I smashed the Snooze button and then flicked the alarm switch to off. I splashed cold water on my face and then took another look.

The bed was still empty.

What the hell was going on? Was last night just a dream?

I pulled the rope in the walk in closet and climbed up the ladder. The attic was still dim but there was enough ambient light for me to make out the tall box in the centre of the attic. The box flaps were closed.

With hesitant steps, I walked over to the box and pulled the flaps open.

Kumiko was standing inside. She was held in place by restraining straps that tied her to her stand. She was wearing the demure white blouse and the mid-length skirt. Her head was cocked to one side and her face looked innocently inquisitive. Maybe it was all a dream?

I went back downstairs after double checking that the attic window as securely locked. I still didn’t know how Kumiko had gotten out of the box yesterday, but now I wasn’t sure if finding her in my bed last night was real or not.

---

I found Cassie waiting for me in the coffee shop in the main floor of our building. She greeted me brightly with a big smile.

“Good morning sleepy head! You look like you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!”

She handed me a cup of coffee and I took a zip from it. “Good morning Cassie. Ugh, I feel as if a truck ran over me.”

“What’s wrong Nelson?” she asked with obvious concern.

“Nothing. Just couldn’t didn’t sleep that well.”

“Aww…miss me already?” she quipped with a twinkle in her eyes.

I felt a little better and said, “Maybe. The bed did feel awfully lonely.”

Her expression grew serious though. “I’m sorry Nelson. I loved staying over with you on Saturday, but I don’t know if I’m ready for more than that.”

I cupped her hand in mine and reassured her, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll take it one step at a time, right?” I certainly wasn’t ready for her to move it either. I still had unresolved issues to work out.

She gave me a light kiss on my cheek. “You’re so sweet Nelson. How did I ever find you?”

“Easy. I only sit like ten feet from you!” We had both decided that neither of us would move into Chad’s old office. Instead, we used it as a small meeting room where we could gather and brainstorm. Chad’s desk had been pushed to the back of the office and a circular table was put in the front of the office. A lot of Chad’s personal stuff was still there, but no one seemed inclined to do anything about it. Under Cassie’s leadership, we had finally nailed the client to a specific set of requirements. Anything other changes that the client wanted would require additional time and money. Cassie still sat in her old cubicle and I sat in mine. We couldn’t really see each other but that was ok. We saw a lot of each during the course of the day anyway.

We chatted amiably for several more minutes before heading up into the office. We greeted several people in the office and finally made our way to our cubicles. We greeted the other members of the team and got down to work.

As for myself, I quickly found myself lost in my work. Ever since Cassie pulled me out of my shell, I had discovered that I really did enjoy my work. Before, it had just been a routine that I followed. These days though, I found that I actually enjoyed the challenge of working on new problems and coming up with different approaches and new solutions. Life was pretty enjoyable!

 

[ERecTile]

Chapter 7 – Descent: The Second Step

I smashed the alarm clock with a closed fist and the irritating beep finally stopped. God, I just need to get some decent sleep! I opened my eyes and was relieved to discover that the bed was empty. Ever since that Sunday night, I had awoken to find Kumiko in my bed several times during the week. It was always the same routine. I would dream of bumps coming from the attic, as well as an odd squealing sound that sounded like something metallic being dragged on the floor of the ceiling. I would always awaken from that dream to find Kumiko in my bed. Sometimes she would be wearing her pajamas. Sometimes she would be wearing her kimono. Once, she was naked.

Every time this had happened, I would explore the house from top to bottom but would never find anything. The only place that I didn’t explore in detail was the basement, but that was because there was no entrance from the outside to the basement. The casement windows in the basement were too small for anything to crawl in. Besides, crawling around in the basement in the middle of the night, after awakening to a nightmare and then finding that the nightmare was partly true, was not something I was overly eager to do.

What the fuck was going on?

Every morning, I would wake up, and Kumiko would no longer be in bed with me. Whenever I checked in the attic, she would be back in her box, and she would be wearing the same outfit that she wore when she first arrived. I had to do something. I just had to. I called the office and left a message on Cassie’s voice mail. I told her that I wasn’t feeling very good and that I was going to stay home. Today was a Friday and our project was going along ahead of schedule, so my presence wasn’t mandatory.

I grabbed some tools and went up into the attic. Sure enough, Kumiko was back in box. She had an impish expression on her face, as if she were keeping a funny secret. I taped her box shut and moved it over to the attic trap door. I never did get around to calling the security company this past week. So, I nailed the attic window shut. No one would be using that window to sneak into my house from now on!

After that, I lowered Kumiko’s box down through the trapdoor and pushed the box out of the master bedroom. Down the hallway, then down the stairs, I pushed that box. I had a destination in mind and I had to get the box there before I changed my mind.

Once in the basement, I pushed Kumiko’s box into the farthest corner and left it there. Then I removed the old light bulbs and installed newer ones. The basement wouldn’t be quite to dark and gloomy after this!

At the top of the stairs, I closed the basement door and slid the bolt home. I don’t why I did that though. It seemed rather silly, but after what had happened this past week, I wasn’t going to take any chances!

I heated up some cold pizza for breakfast and then pondered what I was going to do for the rest of the day. I felt an odd sense of freedom. I actually had most of a day to do anything that I wanted. I decided to do something spontaneous.

I drove off in my car and headed for the closest BMW dealership. Cassie’s car was back in the shop today and I knew that it was starting to drive her crazy. I walked through the dealership and casually browsed through their collection of cars. I didn’t really know a lot about cars and I guess it must have showed. The first salesman to come up to me was all smiles. He must have sensed a newbie and seemed eager to take advantage of me. His smile disappeared when I said, “May I speak with Bernard Stein please?”

“Why? I can answer all of your questions,” said the salesman with a slight crease in his forehead.

“I’m sure you can, but I was told to ask for Bernard. May I speak with him?”

The smile dropped from the salesman’s face. “I don’t know where he is.” He turned his back on me and stalked off.

That didn’t bother me. I went to see the receptionist and I gave her my name and asked her to page Bernard Stein. Within a few minutes, a man who bore a striking resemblance to Gary from my team showed up at reception.

“Mr. Doskins?” he asked tentatively. “What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for a car,” I said amiably.

“Well, you certainly came to the right place. Would you like me to call a representative to help you out?”

“Actually, Gary asked me to ask for you if I ever dropped by.”

Bernard’s face brightened up instantly. “Nelson? Gary talks about you all the time! I’m sorry I didn’t recognize your name earlier!”

He extended his hand and shook my hand firmly. “That’s ok. Do you have a minute? I really don’t know anything about cars and I was hoping that you could help me out.”

“Of course, of course!” Bernard didn’t have any of that first salesman’s hungry expression or attitude. He was helpful and he answered all of my questions with complete honesty. He took me through the dealership and explained the pros and cons of each type of car. He never tried to push any one model over another one. Instead, he just presented me with the facts and left it at that. That suited me just fine.

Eventually, I made my decision and we sat down to do business. He made me an offer that according to him was very good. I took it. What was money to me anyway? We shook hands and I asked, “So, you’ll take care of the details, right?”

He nodded his head emphatically and said, “Yup, I’ll call Cassie’s shop as soon as we’re done here. Are you sure about this?”

I appreciated his concern, but I was quite sure. “Yes, I’m sure. I just hope she likes it.”

“Trust me my friend. She’s going to love it!” He passed me my new set of keys and walked me out to the lot. I got into my new vehicle and drove off.

I didn’t have a destination in mind, but before I knew it, I was in the parking lot of the local shopping mall. My stomach growled so I went into the mall in search of the food court. Along the way, I passed by a store front that sold jewelery. I don’t wear any jewelery and I don’t know much about it, but one particular ring caught my attention. It was large and the central diamond was surrounded by several smaller diamonds. Even to my untrained eye, it was breathtaking.

What was I thinking of? Was I ready for this? Cassie and I haven’t even discussed living together yet.

Ready or not, I knew that today was the day to do spontaneous things. I walked into the store and was greeted by a smiling saleswoman. We talked and exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes before I got the courage up to ask about the ring. Fifteen minutes later, I had the ring safely boxed up in my pocket. That was when I realized that I still hadn’t gotten anything to eat!

---

I greeted Cassie as she left the office. “Nelson!” she exclaimed. “What’re you doing here? I thought you weren’t feeling good today. I was just about to call a cab so that I could come see how you were doing.”

I gave her a hug and a kiss and said, “Sorry about that. I hope it wasn’t too busy today.”

“No, it was pretty standard actually. Everything is proceeding as planned. Dan called me into his office today and he’s going to make my posting permanent.”

“Congratulations!” I was sincerely happy for her.

“But seriously Nelson. How are you feeling? I was worried about you.”

I felt a little guilty about that but brushed it aside. “I feel much better. You shouldn’t have worried. By the way, what’s up with your car?”

She sighed theatrically. “The shop called. They said that it’s going to cost a bundle to fix. I told them to not bother. I guess my raise is going to go into buying another car. I hate car shopping. You never know what you’re going to get with used cars these days.”

I suppressed my grin. “Well, I finally got rid of my car today.”

“You did?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “So that’s what you were doing today!”

“Well that and other things.”

“What other things?”

I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I had been walking towards the spot where I normally parked my car. As arranged, a brand new BMW Z4 was sitting in the spot. Cassie didn’t fail to notice it.

“Oh my God! Is that your new car?” She touched the car reverently. “It’s beautiful!”

“Umm…actually, Cassie, it’s not my car.” Cassie pulled back her hand as if she had been stung.

“It’s not? Oh crap. And here I am drooling over someone else’s car!”

I pulled the two sets of keys that I had picked up at the dealership after my trip to the mall out of my pocket. “Actually Cassie, this is your car.”

“What?!” She looked at me incredulously. “I think I just heard you say that this is my car.”

I grinned at her and said, “You heard right.” I passed her the keys. She took them from me numbly. “I hope you like it.”

“Like it? Like it?!” She threw her arms around me and yelled, “I love it! But Nelson, how could you? Do you know how much these things go for? Oh man! Nelson, I can’t take this. It’s too much!”

“Think of it as an early Christmas present.”

“I can’t…oh…I can’t Nelson. You’re so sweet, but I can’t take this. It’s too much.”

“Cassie, it’s not a big deal ok? Come on; let’s have a seat in your car.”

Still in a state of shock, Cassie unlocked the car door and got into the driver seat. I opened the passenger seat and sat down. We both closed our respective doors at the same time. Her eyes were practically glowing as she took in the leather steering wheel, dramatic dashboard and the new car smell.

“Nelson, this is beautiful. You’re beautiful…but I can’t…it’s too much! I mean, if we were married and we bought a car like this together is one thing…but…”

“Funny you should say that Cassie.” As casually as I could, I reached into another pocket and pulled out the small box. Her eyes seemed as big as dinner plates as she saw it. She seemed to be having some problems with breathing. I opened the box and showed the ring inside to her. “Cassie Brown, will you marry me?”

---

It was past 2:00am when I pulled my new BMW X5 into my driveway. I should be feeling tired, but the euphoria of the night was still high in my mind. She had said YES! I was going to get married! She said yes!

After that momentous event, we had gotten out of the car and made our way to the restaurant where the rest of the gang was waiting for us. As we walked, I had casually pointed out my new X5 but that moment had been somewhat anticlimactic. We had entered the restaurant amid loud cheers. Bernard, as planned, had called his brother Gary and together, they had arranged this impromptu get together. Most of the people from the Product Development Department had turned out. Of course, this meant that our relationship wasn’t a secret anymore, but then again, I think most of the people had already known.

The impromptu engagement party had lasted well after midnight. By that time, only the members of our team were left. Cassie and I had carefully kept our alcohol consumption down so that we were able to drive ourselves home. I was a little disappointed that Cassie was not able to spend the night with me tonight. She had some pressing family issues to deal with tomorrow, but she had promised me that she would visit when she got the time.

I opened my front door and let myself in. That was when I suddenly remembered everything that had happened in this house over the past week. I half expected to see Kumiko sitting on the couch in the living room with her right hand waving a greeting. I sighed in relief when I didn’t see her there. As I walked past the basement door on the way to the kitchen, I took satisfaction in noting that the bolt was still in place. Good!

I poured myself a glass of water and drank it down. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the simple pleasure of the cold water going down my throat.

Thump!

I almost choked on the water.

Thump!

What the hell? What was that sound?

Thump! Thump!

Whatever it was, it was getting louder.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sounds seemed to be coming from the direction of the basement door. Suddenly, there was a loud THUMP!

I put the glass down and walked over to the basement door. My hands were shaking and a shiver of fear was running down my spine. What was going on? The door creaked slightly as if a weight was leaning on it from the other side. I had to find out what was going on!

My hand was shaking so hard that it took me several tries to unlatch the bolt. Then, my other hand slowly turned the knob. I couldn’t take this! I just couldn’t! I suddenly flung the door open and stepped back in shock and fear. Kumiko lunged at me through the door and as I reared back, my head cracked against the wall behind me and my vision went black.
---

My head hurt. I felt as if my head were split open and a million bugs were swarming into the crack. My mind was foggy but it slowly started to awaken and register things.

The first thing that my mind registered was the pain. Not just the pain in my head, but on my back, and my arms and on my legs. What the hell had happened? I slowly opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was the hardwood floor of my living room. The next thing I saw was the Persian rug. Then I saw two leather booted feet standing on the rug. As my eyes traveled upward, I saw two shapely legs, topped by a rounded leather-clad pelvis, followed by a bare stomach, and then by a pair of leather covered breasts. On top of all of this was Kumiko’s beautiful face staring down at me.

Behind Kumiko was her stand, which explained how she was standing over me. There was a whip in her right hand and a riding crop in her left.

She had whipped me!

That thought surged through my pain filled mind. But how? She’s just a fucking doll for God’s sakes. A low rasping chuckle rose from the depths of my chest. A fucking doll. That’s all she was! A fucking doll. She only existed for me to fuck her!

But now, she had fucked me good. Somehow, she had worked me over with a whip of all things! I didn’t even know where the whip had come from. One of the dominatrix type accessories I had ordered for Kumiko had been the riding crop. But it was just a cheap plastic prop though. Not the real thing. Where had the whip come from?

 

[ERecTile]

Anger surged past the pain and curiosity I felt. That bitch! What gave her the right to whip me? I lunged to my feet and snatched the whip from her hand. It was a short whip, only about three feet long. I reared back and the cracked the whip forward. The tip caught Kumiko in the face on the right side. It cut right through her silicone skin and left a gaping scar on her cheek. I could see a hint of a glint from her metal alloy skeleton. I snaked the whip forward and left a similar cut on the other cheek. “BITCH! “

I dropped the whip and sank to my knees. The pain from the cuts to my back and arms were really clearing up my mind. What had I done? Of course Kumiko couldn’t have whipped me! She’s just a doll! I almost cackled maniacally as my mind almost said: a fucking doll.

Someone had to have broken into my house and set this up. A spasm of pain spiked through my brain. No. It couldn’t have been! I checked the security. No one else could have been in here! It had to have been her!

Fresh anger gave me strength. Play with fire would she? Make me have nightmares will she? Keep climbing out of her box will she? I suddenly realized the squealing noises I had been hearing from the attic must have been from her metal stand that she somehow dragged behind her.

I’ll teach that bitch a lesson!

I grabbed Kumiko and lifted her off her stand. I thought I saw an expression of fear on her face. Ha! Let her be scared! She won’t get away with this! I owned her! I could do whatever I wanted with her!

I dragged Kumiko downstairs into the basement and set her down. Another of Kumiko’s accessories had been a long silky rope, presumably for bondage fantasies. I looped the rope over one of the steel beams in the ceiling of the basement. I tied it securely and then picked Kumiko up. I tied the other end around Kumiko’s neck and then let go. Kumiko hung helplessly from the end of the rope. I took another length of rope and tied Kumiko’s hands together behind her back with one end and then tied the other end to her feet.

Ha! Let’s see her get out of this one!

I examined my handiwork. Kumiko swayed gently was if from a small breeze. She slowly swung around until I could see her face. Her once beautiful face had two ugly gashes and her eyes stared pleadingly at me. Too late bitch! Her mouth was a little open so that her lips formed a small O. I ran up the stairs, turned off the light and then closed and bolted the door. Kumiko was alone in the dark where she deserved to be!

 

[ERecTile]

Chapter 8 – Descent: The Third Step

I as dreaming…There were voices…It was a woman’s voice, but I didn’t recognize it. It was smooth and silky…

“What’s wrong little boy?”

“Are you scared?”

“Aww…poor baby…”

“Come over here…”

“Come…let me look at you…”

“Oooh…does that feel better?”

“Come on…just like how I showed you…”

Suddenly, my father’s voice intruded…

“What the fuck is going on?”

“Nelson! Get your ass over here!”

“You! What are you doing to my son?”

I suddenly snapped awake out of my dream. The details were already starting to fade, but I still remembered the silky softness of the woman’s voice. It contrasted sharply to my father’s gruff and angry tone.

I shook my head vigorously. What was that all about? Who was that woman? The only person I had ever associated with in my youth for any length of time was my nanny, but I didn’t remember very much about her. I have vague images of dark hair and that’s about it.

I looked around the master bedroom. It had been about three weeks since I proposed to Cassie. I had managed to explain the wounds from the whip as an accident with a falling vase. I had felt guilty at lying, but Cassie believed it. During the last three weeks, she had actually spent several nights at my house. Now that the cat was out of the bag, things were moving along much smoother than they had before. I had met her parents, and I had been introduced to the rest of her family. I even got to spend Christmas with her and her extended family. It was quite a new experience for me, having so many people around. Normally, I would have felt extremely uncomfortable, but Cassie had managed to settle my nerves and had taken my uneasiness away. God I loved that woman!

We had agreed on a long engagement to help us ease into our new relationship. She had been burned before in the past and that made her cautious. I was fine with that. One side of me was impatient, and craved her company. However, there was still that lingering side of me that was a little scared of the whole thing. I was confident though, that we would be able to resolve all of our issues together.

The only issue that I didn’t think we could resolve together was Kumiko. I honestly didn’t know what I was going to do. I knew what I had to do, but I couldn’t seem to take that final step and actually throw Kumiko away. Maybe it was the residual feelings I had for her. Maybe she was actually possessed or something. That last thought made me shiver. Could it be? Did I even believe that that kind of stuff?

Kumiko was safely tied up in the basement. Since that night, I had never once found Kumiko in my bed again. I had, however, had the eerie feeling whenever I was alone in the house, that I was not entirely alone. It wasn’t anything I could put my finger on. There would be furtive movements out of the corner of my eye, or the hairs on the back of my neck would suddenly stand on attention as if someone or something was glaring at my unprotected back.

Maybe I should just sell the house? Unfortunately, Cassie seemed to love the house. I guess I never really thought about it, but it really was a very large house, ideal for raising a family in.

No, whatever was plaguing me, I would have to fix it myself, hopefully before Cassie moved in!

I looked at the clock display. It read 6:33am. It was a Monday morning and I had the week off. Cassie and the rest of the team had flown to Iowa to meet with the client and to present the final product. I was supposed to go but had come down with flu-like symptoms over the weekend. Cassie had offered to cancel the trip, but I knew how important it was and had persuaded her that I would be fine. There really wasn’t much to do at the office so I had decided to take a well deserved break.

There didn’t seem much point to go back to sleep so I brushed my teeth and went downstairs to get some breakfast. The house was quiet and still rather dim, so I turned on the overhead lights as I went along. As I passed by the basement door though, I thought I heard something. I paused and listened…

It sounded like crying…

What the hell?

“Nelson…”

I spun around in a circle. Who said that? There was no one behind me.

“Nelson…”

I shook my head and slapped my palms against my face. Has someone called my name? Had Cassie canceled her trip after all?

I ran to the front door and opened it. There was no one there. I ran to the back patio door and turned on the outside light. There was no one there. Maybe in the backyard? I went into the backyard and scanned it. There was no one. The bathhouse’s door was locked as well. Maybe I was just imagining it?

I went back into the house and started making some coffee. Coffee. That was what I needed!

“Nelson…help me…”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end. It was that voice again. The voice sounded smooth and silky…a chill suddenly ran down my spine. It was the voice from my dream! Was I dreaming still?

I pinched myself on my arm. Ouch! Definitely not a dream.

“Please Nelson…help me…”

There was no doubt about it. The voice was coming from the basement. I felt an unreasonable fear grip me. NO! I can’t go down there! Some force seemed to have taken control of my body though. As if on its own accord, my body walked over to the basement door and unbolted it. The door creaked on its hinged as it swung open.

The darkness in the basement was thick, but my eyes quickly adjusted it. I tried flicking on the switch but the light wasn’t working. At the bottom of the stairs, I thought I could see something…it was a body!

My God! Had Cassie come over and fallen down the stairs!

Shit!

I started down the stairs. Each step creaked and groaned as it took my weight. When I was halfway down though, the darkness parted and I could see that the only thing at the bottom of the stairs was an old rug…

What’s going on?

I paused and looked harder. Definitely not a body. Whew! I almost went back upstairs but new sound caught my attention. It went creak…creak…creak…

Goosebumps shivered all over my body. The creaking sounds were coming from the centre of the basement.

I went all the way down the stairs and looked in the direction of the sounds. In the centre of the basement, a figure was hanging from one of the ceiling beams. It was swaying back and forth. Creak…creak…creak…

Though I was still somewhat spooked, I felt a little bit relieved. It was only Kumiko!

“Nelson…please…”

What the fuck?!

I walked over to the swinging body with fear gripping my guts. What the hell was I afraid of? She’s just a doll! There was a light bulb close to the centre of the basement. I pulled the string attached to it and the light came on. The sudden harsh while light made me squint but the expression on Kumiko’s face made almost made my heart freeze.

She was pleading with me!

“I am sorry…”

Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes were wide. Her lips hadn’t moved, but as irrational as it sounded, I just knew that the voice had come from Kumiko.

I shook my head. NO! It can’t be! She’s just a doll! I squeezed my eyes shut for several seconds and then opened them up. Kumiko was still looking at me with that same pleading expression.

Damn it!

I pulled over a stool and stepped on it. I untied Kumiko and gently let her back down to the ground. Then I completely removed all the ropes and stood her back onto her stand.

Her mouth had closed and her eyes weren’t nearly so wide anymore. The beauty of her face was marred by two gaping wounds on her cheeks. Was I just imagining all of this?

I suppressed a shiver and virtually ran back up the stairs. When I got to the top, I belatedly remembered that I had forgotten to turn off the light downstairs. I almost went back down...almost. I just couldn’t do it! I shut the door and bolted it.

No!

This can’t be real! She can’t be real! It took am almost supreme force of will, but I managed to unbolt the door. It’s all irrational. It had to be.

Despite all my self assurances though, I couldn’t bring myself to do more than unbolt the door. I had to get out of the house!

I grabbed my jacket and went into the garage. Both my X5 and Cassie’s Z4 were there. I got into my X5 and pressed the button to open the garage door. When the door was open all the way, I pulled out of the garage, closed the door, and then accelerated quickly away from my house.

---

 

[ERecTile]

It was late when I finally returned to my house. I had spent the day cruising around the city but eventually, my exhaustion had forced me to come home. There was an unknown car in my driveway.

I pulled up beside it and a man with a slight build got out of the car. It was Chad Fong! What the heck did he want?

Chad looked a bit haggard. It had been several months since he had been fired. I had not heard from him in that time but I assumed that he had found another job.

“Hi Chad,” I said hesitantly. I didn’t offer him my hand.

He smiled a little smugly as he said, “Hello yourself Nelson.”

“What can I do for you?”

He chuckled a bit and said, “Actually it’s what I can do for you…or rather what I can do to you!”

“What’re you talking about?” Could it be? Maybe Chad was the one who was breaking into my house and moving Kumiko around?

“Maybe we should go into your house to talk about this.”

“Maybe we should just stay right here!” I was starting to get a little pissed off.

Chad didn’t look fazed. “Have it your way.” He pulled a large thick envelope from his car and brandished it like a weapon. “I know things Nelson. I’ve been busy and now I know things. Things about you that you had thought you had hidden away. If you don’t start paying me some of the money that you got when you stole my job, I’m going to go public with this. Then you can kiss your happy life away.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded. I was confused. I thought Chad was going to say something about Kumiko but this was entirely different.

“This!” cried Chad triumphantly. “I’m talking about this! You thought you were so clever! You thought you had buried your past! But it’s not buried! It’s there for anyone who’s willing to spend a bunch of time and money to find!”

The winter air was starting to make me shiver. I started walking towards the house. I was getting tired of this conversation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Go away Chad. You’re disturbed.”

“Ha! That’s what you think! You’re the one who’s disturbed Nelson! You’re a real sicko, you know that?” Chad followed me up. “I know all about you now. You and your little friend!”

That brought me up short. What little friend?

Chad laughed triumphantly. He thrust the envelope at me. “Think it over Nelson. I want a hundred grand up front for keeping my mouth shut. After you pay that, we’ll talk expenses!”

Still laughing, he got back into his car and drove off. What the hell was he talking about?

I let myself into my house and sat down on the couch in the living room. I opened the envelope and the first thing I saw was an admittance form of some sort. The name of the form was Nelson Doskins, aged 8 and the hospital in question was the Children’s Care Hospital.

When the hell was I ever in a hospital? I flipped through the next few pages. They showed more admittance forms and such. Then, I got to page filled with notes. I scanned through them; my body grew colder with every line.

Nelson is a very disturbed boy.

Nelson is insistent of the existence of his imaginary friend.

Nelson’s parents have complained that things get moved around the house but when questioned, Nelson claims innocence.

Here in the centre, we have observed nothing of the sort, even though we have observed Nelson talking to someone who isn’t there.

Nelson’s parents claim that this behavior started last year after his nanny was dismissed.

Nelson refuses disclose the name of his imaginary friend, but our cameras have recorded him calling his friend Kumiko.

My heart thundered in my chest. I kept staring at that last line. Kumiko. The web site that I bought Kumiko from didn’t have names for the dolls that they sold. Where had I come up with the name then? Was it from my subconscious? Why couldn’t I remember any of this?

I skipped ahead. I stopped on another page. It was a photocopy of an arrest warrant. The name on it was William Doskins. There was another one for Marie Doskins. The charge for both was manslaughter.

What?! My parents killed someone?

Then, I came upon yet another arrest warrant. The name on the warrant was Tadayoshi, Kumiko.

Kumiko!

Again!

This time, the charge was sexual abuse of a minor. What minor?

Like a great explosion, memories suddenly started flooding back into my mind. I saw Kumiko – the nanny – and she was kissing and hugging me. I remembered her sweet scent, and her beautiful Asian face. Most of all, I remembered her eyes. She had blue eyes. It was a heritage from her American mother. She loved me. And I loved her. But our love and relationship had not been a normal one.

My parents had come home early from one of their frequent trips. They had found Kumiko and me engaging in…activities. There had been a fight, and my father had thrown Kumiko out of the house and then called the police.

I had thrown a tantrum and my parents had locked me in the basement and turned off the lights. I don’t know how long I had been down there, but the darkness and the solitude had been broken by voices.

“What the hell are you doing here! We have a restraining order against you!”

“Where is he? Where is Nelson?”

“Don’t you come near our son again you bitch!”

“You don’t love him! I do. I must see him. Where is he?”

“Get out! I’ve called the police!”

“No! I must see him!”

I had looked up as the basement door opened. I saw Kumiko framed in the doorway. She started to come down and then seemingly tripped. She tumbled down the hard wooden stairs and landed heavily at the bottom of the stairs.

Kumiko had died in the basement!

I set the papers down on the coffee table. Now I knew. Now I understood.

I closed my eyes as more memories flooded my mind. Memories of happier times. Memories of a flesh and blood Kumiko. Memories that had been buried deep until now.

I went down into the basement. Kumiko the doll was waiting for me expectantly. I caressed her face tenderly and frowned at the gaping wounds in her face. In her shipping box, I found a silicone repair kit and carefully applied the glue to the insides of the cuts. After I was done, the wounds were closed and only under close scrutiny could I see the thin lines of her scars.

I picked up Kumiko and took her upstairs. I didn’t have a specific destination in mind. I just wanted to get Kumiko out of the basement. I felt that she had suffered enough. In the end, I brought Kumiko back to the attic.

My mind was swirling with thoughts and images. There were still things that I wasn’t sure about. Was Kumiko the doll real? Was she possessed? How had she moved around if she weren’t? I decided that it didn’t matter. Kumiko the doll had helped me unlock the memories of Kumiko the nanny. If for nothing else, then at least for that, Kumiko the doll deserved to be treated better than the way I had been treating her the past several weeks.

There was some old furniture in the attic. I arranged these around to give the attic a semblance of a real room. There was even an old futon and I placed it in the centre of the attic. I even found an old rocking chair and I placed that by the attic window. Then I sat Kumiko down by the window so that she could look outside. I drew the sheer blinds down so that Kumiko could have a little privacy and so that she wouldn’t be visible from the outside.

When I was all done, I kissed Kumiko tenderly and left the attic. I knew I had to deal with Chad somehow. I don’t know how Cassie would react if she found out about all of this. With Chad blackmailing me though, I knew that it was only a matter of time before she found out. I had to find some way to tell her myself.

 

[ERecTile]

Chapter 9 – The Pit

It wasn’t going well. To say that Cassie was distraught was an understatement. She had read through the contents of the envelope and her face had grown whiter and whiter. When she had finished though, she surprised me by hugging me tightly. She had whispered loving words into my ear and told me that everything was going to be fine.

Then it had gone downhill. Maybe I should have stopped. Maybe I shouldn’t have shown her. It was too late now. Cassie had been compassionate and understanding about the contents of the envelope. She had freaked out when she saw Kumiko in the attic.

“What the hell is that?!”

“That’s Kumiko –“

“You mean like your nanny?”

“Not quite like that.”

“Then what the hell is it like Nelson? Did you…did you fuck that thing?”

“I…”

“Did you?”

“Yes, but only until you and I got together.”

“What, so I was your replacement doll?!”

“No! It wasn’t like that…Kumiko…well…she helped me – “

“You named that thing after your dead nanny? That’s not healthy Nelson!”

“No! You don’t understand!”

“What’s not to understand Nelson? You’ve been fucking a doll!”

“It wasn’t like that! Please, you’ve got to believe me!”

“Ok fine, I believe you. You say that you stopped fucking the doll after you and I hooked up? Then why the hell is it still here? Why have you decorated the attic like its some kind of room for it?”

“She was lonely! I had to take her out of the basement. I hurt her and –“

“Stop talking about it as if it were alive! That’s not a her! It’s an IT!”

“I know she’s not alive…Cassie…please –“

“Oh my God! Nelson, you need help. Oh my God! Nelson, I love you, but you need help. You keep talking like its alive.”

“She’s not…but sometimes it feels like she is! I know I need help. That’s why I’m telling you. Cassie, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and she’s there in bed with me! Then in the morning, she’s back. I have no idea how she’s doing it!”

“Well, I know how to stop it. I’m going to help you right now Nelson. I’m going to get rid of it!”

“Wait –“

Cassie stepped past me and before I knew it she had grabbed Kumiko and picked her up off her stand. Then she half carried, half dragged Kumiko towards the attic entrance in the floor.

“Cassie wait!”

“Wait for what Nelson? Wait for it to come alive for you?”

I stepped forward and that was when it happened. Kumiko’s hand had been in a raised position, as if she were waving. Cassie was dragging Kumiko and Kumiko’s hand was resting on Cassie’s chest. Suddenly, Cassie stumbled backwards. She released Kumiko and wind milled her arms out to the sides in a vain effort to get her balance. She took another step back, but there was suddenly nowhere for her to step on. Her right foot passed through the trapdoor and she fell through. Along the way, her head cracked on the edge of the trapdoor and then she disappeared from my sight.

“CASSIE!”

I dashed for the trapdoor. Along the way, I tripped on Kumiko and fell to the ground. I dragged myself to the edge and peered over it. Cassie’s crumpled form was lying on the floor. “Cassie!” She didn’t respond. Suddenly, there was a flash of pain in the back of my head and I blacked out.

---

Images and sounds... Sounds and images…

I looked at myself in the foggy mirror, cleaned a bit of it off and saw Kumiko behind me…

Thump…thump…screeeeeccchh…thump thump…

Kumiko lay dead at my feet in the basement…

Thump! Thump thump! Thump! The basement door shook from the force of the impacts coming from the basement side.

I slowly pulled back the covers to find Kumiko lying in bed with me…

A soft silky voice calling: “Nelson…Nelson…come here baby…”

I peered over the edge of the trapdoor…Cassie lay in a crumpled unmoving heap…

“CASSIE!”

I sat straight up, completely disoriented. What happened? I looked around frantically. I was alone in the master bedroom.

Cassie! I jumped out of bed and squinted at the bright sunshine streaming from the window. When did it get so bright out? It was dark when Cassie and I were arguing! Cassie!

I ran to the walk in closet. What happened to Cassie? Is she all right? I looked into the closet, half afraid to see Cassie’s dead body in there.

There was nothing.

But…

She fell…

Where is she?

I pulled the rope release and lowered the ladder. I climbed up and opened the trapdoor and pulled myself into the attic. I didn’t see Kumiko right away. I looked around and finally spotted her sitting on the rocking chair by the window. There was no sign of Cassie.

Where was Cassie? Was she all right? I left the attic and began to look around the house. Cassie was nowhere to be found. I even looked in the basement, but Cassie was not there.

Then I looked in the garage. Cassie’s Z4 was not there. Relief mixed with confused concern filled my mind. She’s ok! She went for a drive! But was she mad at me? We were arguing right? She fell down through the trapdoor, right? Right?

The phone rang and I ran to the kitchen. Maybe it was Cassie!

“Cassie?” I asked as I picked up the phone. I pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table.

“Hello Nelson?” asked the voice on the other line. It was a man’s voice.

I frowned. The voice sounded familiar. “Mr. Brown?”

Cassie’s father sounded tired and weary. I could vaguely hear sounds of crying in the background. “Nelson, are you sitting down?”

“Mr. Brown? Is everything alright?”

“No Nelson…” Mr. Brown sniffed loudly. It sounded like he was barely holding back tears. “It’s Cassie, Nelson.”

“Cassie? What about her? I can’t find her anywhere!”

“Nelson…Cassie’s dead.”

“What? But…I was just with her! She can’t be dead!”

“I’m sorry son,” said Mr. Brown softly. “The police just left our house. They came late last night to tell us.”

“But…”

“I know you loved her Nelson. That’s why I had to call you as soon as possible.”

“But…What happened? How? How did she die?”

“The police aren’t sure of all the details. They found her under the Highway 404 overpass. At first they thought she might have jumped, but there’ve been a couple of witnesses who’ve come forth and said that they saw her with someone else. Her car is missing too.”

“But who could she have been with?”

“We don’t know Nelson. I was hoping you might be able to shed some light there.”

“I…I don’t know. She was here with me for a while last night and then she left. She didn’t have any plans to spend the night because she had something to do today.” I rubbed my head, trying hard to remember the details.” Then it really hit me. Cassie was dead!

A fountain of tears sprang from my eyes and my head dropped to the table and the cordless phone dropped from my hands. Cassie was dead!

---

Later, much later, I crawled into my bed. The police had come to my house and they had taken my statement. I told them as much as I could remember. I left out the fight though because now I wasn’t sure if it had happened at all. Was the fight all in my mind? Have I been dreaming?

Cassie was dead! I couldn’t bear the thought. I curled up into a fetal position and cried myself to sleep.

I woke up to the feeling of having someone’s arms wrapped around me. Cassie!

I struggled awake and turned over. Kumiko’s clear blue eyes looked back at me.

“Ahhh!” I jumped out of bed. What the hell was Kumiko doing in my bed? How had she gotten there?

Kumiko looked up at me. She seemed to have a sad expression on her face. Her arms were held up from where she had been hugging me.

“Come back…”

Had Kumiko been trying to comfort me?

“Poor baby…”

All of a sudden, it didn’t matter how Kumiko had gotten into my bed. I didn’t care how she had done it. The important thing was that she was here now, when I needed her the most.

I lay back down and hugged Kumiko tightly. I cried Cassie’s name over and over into Kumiko’s shoulder. Kumiko’s arms held me tightly and never let go.

---

A week later, I dragged myself back into the office. I had to. I needed to be around people that I knew. Cassie’s funeral had been almost too much for me to bear. My parents’ funeral was just a set of hazy images and memories. Cassie’s funeral was crystal clear in my mind. I remembered every heart wrenching moment of it. Cassie looked as if she were only sleeping in the casket. I had managed to present a brave face right up until the moment they lowered her casket into the ground. That was when I had finally broken down.

I got a lot of shocked stares as I walked through the office. I was met at my cubicle by my team.

“Nelson! What’re you doing here!” Lisa came right up to me and gave me a hug.

Dana was right behind Lisa and gave me a hug too. “You shouldn’t be back to so soon Nelson!”

Both Gary and Steve came over as well and they each squeezed my shoulders.

I almost lost it right then and there. “I couldn’t stay cooped up in my house anymore.” That was the truth. Every night, no matter what I did, Kumiko ended up in my bed. It had gotten to the point that I didn’t even try to lock her up anymore. I just left her to her own devices.

Dan Green, the Senor VP of Operations came over to our area. He cleared his throat and said in a serious tone. “I just got off the phone with the detective in charge of the case.”

That got all of our attentions. We waited patiently as Dan tried to focus his thoughts. When he spoke, it was obvious that he was choosing his words carefully. “They are upgrading the case to murder. None of the witnesses got a good look at the person who was with Cassie when she…”

Dan coughed and cleared his throat. “They found Cassie’s car in a bad area of the city. It had been stripped but they found something under the driver seat. It was a gold plated pen with Chad Fong’s name engraved on it.”

“Shit!”

“No way!”

“He wouldn’t!”

I waited patiently until the rest of the team had finished voicing their disbelief. “There’s more, isn’t there?” I was surprised at how level my voice sounded.

Dan looked grim as he said, “The police checked Cassie’s phone records. She had calls from Chad’s home number on both her home line and her cell phone. There was even a recorded message requesting that she meet with him.”

“Do the police suspect him?”

“Right now, they would like to question him. They weren’t able to lift complete prints off the pen so it’s not enough to make him a suspect. When they went to his house, there was no one there.”

There was a collective gasp but it was clear to me that Dan wasn’t quite finished. “The detective has asked me to ask all of you to not go out alone, especially at night. I was told that you all should go straight home from work, and try to have someone else with you at all times.”

The team looked worriedly at each other for several moments. Then, Lisa suddenly turned to me and said, “Nelson! You live alone right? Oh no! Chad knows where you live!”

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. I didn’t care if Chad came for me. Let him try!

Dan looked at me with concern written all over his face. “Nelson, do you know anyone that you can stay with for a while? Maybe Cassie’s parents?”

“No Dan. This is a very difficult time for them. I can’t do that to them right now.”

“Want one of us to stay with you?” asked Lisa brightly. She seemed to have a hopeful expression on her face.

I looked into Lisa’s eyes and cursed myself for my blindness. Why hadn’t I seen the attraction before? I had been too preoccupied first with Kumiko and then with Cassie. I gave her a reassuring smile and said, “Thanks for the offer Lisa, but I’ll be fine.”

Lisa looked disappointed but didn’t say anything. Dan cleared his throat again and said, “In light of these developments, I have reassigned the project you were working on to another group. I’m giving you all a few days of paid time off. Go home everyone.”

That got a very positive response from the group. Within a few minutes, they had all grabbed their coats and were headed for the door. I was a little slower than the rest and didn’t miss the look that Lisa directed at me. I sighed. There was no way in hell that I was ready for female companionship. I missed Cassie so much. I grabbed my jacket. Looked like it was going to be another night with Jack Daniels again!

---

 

[ERecTile]

I groaned at the splitting pain in my head. I managed to sit up in my bed but almost threw up the contents in my stomach – not that there was anything in there to begin with. A half empty bottle of Jack Daniel whiskey lay on the floor. Damn it! I overdid it again. I had found that in drinking to drown your sorrows, there is a fine line between drinking enough to forget and drinking too much and get sick. Most of the time, I could drink to the point where I became oblivious but not enough to actually throw up. I must have just barely crossed the line last night.

Kumiko was sitting cross legged on the bed. She was looking at me with a disapproving expression. She hated it whenever I drank! I ignored her. That was her problem wasn’t it.? Damn doll can’t even have the decency to stay in the attic!

The doorbell rang and it sounded like church bells going off in my head. Who the hell would be coming at this hour? I looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:36am. Thank goodness I had the rest of the week off?

I managed to stumble down the stairs without actually falling. The doorbell rang again and I muttered, “Alright, alright, I’m coming!”

I opened the door and immediately squinted at the harsh sunlight.

“Hi Nelson!”

“Good morning Nelson!”

I blinked. Lisa Wilson and Dana Hartley were standing on my doorstep. “May we come in?” asked Lisa brightly just before she pushed her way into my house. “Wow, your house is beautiful! Just like how Cassie described it!”

“Lisa! Hush!” exclaimed Dana.

Lisa looked chagrinned and apologetic. I gave her a small smile and said, “What are you guys doing here?”

“We thought that you might need some company so we came to cheer you up!” Lisa held up a large plastic bag and said, “We even brought you some lunch!”

I shook my head in amazement. Although I hadn’t felt quite ready for company, I had to admit that having the two women in my house, chattering away amiably, was kind of nice. I excused myself and let them do as they wished in the kitchen. In the master bedroom, I pushed Kumiko up through the trapdoor and into the attic before taking a brief hot shower.

When I went back downstairs, Lisa and Dana had the table set. Lunch was lasagna with a tangy meat sauce and Caesar salad. It was nice. It had been a long time since I saw any of my team in a social atmosphere. I found that I actually enjoyed talking and reminiscing with Lisa and Dana. At one point, we all broke down crying as we remembered Cassie. But it was better than crying alone.

At one point, Lisa presented me with a hand braided bracelet. She had taken the time to braid blue, green and red into a single bracelet. I took it from her and looked at her inquisitively.

“It’s a friendship bracelet!” she said. “Look!” She lifted up her left wrist and showed me a similar bracelet. Her bracelet was yellow, red and blue.

Dana lifted her left wrist up too and said, “See! Lisa made me one too!” Dana’s bracelet was orange green and purple.

I was touched. I wrapped my new bracelet around my left wrist and clipped it. “Thank you Lisa.”

After several hours, both Lisa and Dana had to leave. They invited me to go to a club with them that night but I declined. “I’m sorry ladies,” I said. “I’m just not up to that yet.”

“Well, if you change your mind, we’re at the Socialite Club in Richmond Hill ok?” said Lisa hopefully.

I nodded and said my good-byes to the girls. I was grateful for their visit, but I really wasn’t ready to tackle a social atmosphere as energetically charged as a dance club. After I closed the door, I went back into my kitchen to look for another Jack Daniels bottle.

---

The clanging of church bells woke me from my alcohol induced slumber. What the fuck! Who is it now? I glanced at the clock and immediately wished I hadn’t. I just barely saw the time as 5:30pm before I threw up. Most of the vomit landed on the bed. Kumiko was sitting cross legged on my bed again. This time, she had her hands up to her mouth as if she were shocked at my behavior. I snorted and turned away from her. Didn’t like my drinking eh? Well fuck her! I almost laughed at that thought. Despite our history, I doubted very much that I would ever fuck Kumiko ever again. Once I had the love of a real flesh and blood woman, it was very hard to go back to silicone and plastic.

As with yesterday (was it only yesterday?), I stumbled down the stairs and opened the front door. I was confronted with two policemen. “Can I help you?” I managed to croak.

The policemen tried to hide their disgusted expressions. I guess I wasn’t exactly presentable but who gave a fuck?

“Mr. Doskins?”

I nodded and immediately wished I hadn’t.

“We’d like to ask you a couple of questions please.”

“What’s this about?” I asked.

The policeman on the right was taller than his companion. He was recovered from his disgust first. “Where were you last night?”

Last night? Huh?

“Well, my friends from work, Lisa and Dana dropped by around noon and they left…oh shortly after five…I think. I’m sorry, I haven’t been very good with time lately.”

The shorter policeman spoke next, “So, you would say that you last saw Ms Lisa Wilson around five in the afternoon yesterday afternoon?”

“Yeah. Is everything alright?”

The policemen looked at each other and checked their notes. Then the taller one said, “Ms Lisa Wilson was murdered last night.”

“What?!” The world spun and I had the distinct sensation of falling. The floor hit my butt and drove the air out of me.

“May we come in Mr. Doskins?”

I nodded numbly. Dead? It couldn’t be! She was so alive yesterday afternoon!

The two policemen let themselves into my house. We sat down in the living room and for the next fifteen minutes or so; they asked me all sorts of questions. Most of them dealt with what I knew of Lisa: Her family, her friends, and her mood yesterday. Towards the end, I finally said, “Look, officers, I’m sorry, but I really didn’t know her all that well. She was my co-worker. She was on my team and she was a very hard worker. I know that she was fairly close to Dana Hartley.”

The taller policeman – they had given me their names but I had forgotten them right away – said, “We’ve already spoken to Ms Hartley. In fact, she was there when it happened.”

“How did it happen?”

The policemen looked at each other and came to an unspoken agreement. “You’ll probably be hearing this in the media anyway. At around midnight last night, Ms Hartley and Ms Wilson were at the Socialite club.”

My blood went cold. Oh no! Could I have saved her if I had been there?

“Ms Wilson went into the ladies bathroom while Ms Hartley waited for her outside. Ms Hartley says that she was distracted for several minutes by some ‘hot guys’ but then realized that her friend had been in the bathroom for a long time. She went into the bathroom and found her friend in one of the stalls. Ms Wilson’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed multiple times.”

I almost threw up again. I clapped my hand to my mouth until the feeling passed. “Do you have any leads?”

“The young men who were talking with Ms Hartley claim that they saw several women enter the washroom while Ms Hartley had her back to the washroom.” The shorter policeman consulted his notes and said, “There was one woman who seemed out of place to the men. They described her as having dark hair and wearing what looked like a bathrobe or a tight fitting dress of some sort.

Bathrobe? Tight fitting dress?

The taller policeman took up the narrative. “We’re checking into all possible leads but no one else remembers seeing this woman. One of the young men said that the woman seemed out of place because, and I quote, “She walked like a man.”

Chad Fong! The thought raced through my mind.

As if the policemen could read my thoughts, the shorter one said, “Have you seen your former co-worker Chad Fong lately?”

I shook my head slowly. “No I haven’t. Is he linked to this somehow?”

The taller policeman leaned forward and there was a look of concern on his face. “Two members of your company have been murdered. The only one with the remotest of motives has now been declared missing.” He didn’t say more than that, but his tone basically implied yes.

After that, the policemen politely excused themselves and left. I downed a couple of Tylenols and a tall glass of water. Poor Lisa! What happened? I started to feel guilty. I should have been there! I might have been able to do something. Chad didn’t have the guts to face me one on one. He would never have tried anything if I had been there.

Or would he?

Am I next on his list? First Cassie and now Lisa. What about the rest of the team?

I slowly climbed the stairs. Random thoughts kept swirling around in my head. I kept seeing Lisa smiling brightly at me, along with Cassie giving me loving looks. Damn it! Tears streamed down my face. I’m going to miss them. Damn that Chad! The next time I saw that bastard, I was going to punch his face in!

I was about to flop into my bed when I heard a thump. Not again! Then there was a screeching sound right above my head. That bitch! She was at it again!

I stormed into the walk-in closet and pulled sharply on the rope. The ladder came down and I climbed up. Kumiko was on her stand. Her posture though, looked as if she was in the process of walking across the attic. Both of her feet were on the floor and the stand was inclined and dragging behind her. Her left hand was held up in front of her as if she were running in slow motion. She had a look of surprise on her face.

“What, you didn’t think I would catch you red handed?” I walked angrily over to her and grabbed her leading hand. “What the hell are you doing? Can’t you stay in one place?”

I shook her arm and something on her wrist flashed in my peripheral vision. I focused on it and gasped. It was a bracelet! It was a hand braided friendship bracelet. The colors were yellow, red and blue. My God! This was Lisa’s bracelet!

 

[ERecTile]

Chapter 10 – Kumiko Lives

Then I knew. No matter how much the sane part of my mind wanted to deny it, I knew.

“You bitch! How did you get this? You killed her didn’t you?” Then I remembered. The witnesses at the club had seen a woman who was wearing a bathrobe or a tight fitting dress. I looked at Kumiko. She was wearing a red and pink kimono. I backhanded Kumiko across the face. “You killed Lisa!”

A dawning sense of horror crossed my mind. “Did you kill Cassie?”

Kumiko didn’t answer. She just stared at me impassively.

“Answer me! Did you kill Cassie?”

An image flashed in my mind. I suddenly remembered the day I tried to explain Kumiko to Cassie. Cassie had dragged Kumiko over to the trapdoor and was about to throw Kumiko away. Then Cassie had fallen. It hadn’t been a dream! Kumiko must have pushed Cassie! Damn it! What had happened next? I remembered rushing over and then tripping. I remembered looking down at Cassie’s body and then I blacked out.

I stared accusingly at Kumiko. “You killed her! Then you knocked me out and then you dumped her body over the highway! How could you? I loved her!”

“I love you Nelson…”

“Don’t give me that! You’re just a fucking doll!”

I knew what I had to do then. This had gone too far! No matter what feelings I had felt for Kumiko. No matter what kinds of residual feelings were left…Kumiko must be punished for her crimes. There was no way I was going to let her get away with this!

I dragged Kumiko towards the trapdoor. She seemed to be resisting me somehow. There was a loud screeching sound and I looked back to see her stand dragging across the ground. Not today bitch!

I untied Kumiko from her stand and let it drop. It fell to the floor with a metallic thunk. I carried Kumiko roughly in my arms and dropped her down the trapdoor. She landed in a crumpled heap and I took perverse pleasure in noting that she landed in almost exactly the same position that Cassie had.

I climbed down the ladder, scooped Kumiko up and thundered down the stairs. How should she be punished? I had already tried hanging her and that hadn’t worked. She hadn’t learned her lesson. I had cut her face, and that had given me a sadistic satisfaction at the time. No. This time, the punishment must fit the crimes!

I placed Kumiko in the centre of the Persian rug in the centre of the living room floor. Then I rolled it up so that Kumiko was lying helpless in the middle. I picked up the whole package and grunted under the weight. I dragged it to the patio door, opened it and threw the rug with Kumiko in it into the backyard.

Then I ran into the garage and scooped up the carton of gasoline that I kept for fueling up the snow blower. I took the carton through the house and into the backyard. I poured the gasoline all over the Persian rug, making sure to douse it fully. All the while, Kumiko was staring at me with a pleading look in her eyes. I ignored her.

Once the carton was empty, I lit the Persian rug with a BBQ lighter. The rug flared like a Roman candle. The rug burned and I glared at Kumiko as she caught on fire as well. The intense heat of the fire melted her skin and her fake hair sparkled as it burned. There was a loud pop and one of Kumiko’s eyes popped out of her socket. Ha! Burn bitch! Burn!

The other eye melted instead of popping out. Just before it melted completely away, I thought I saw a triumphant gleam. I shook my head and shivered in the cold. What the hell?

I ran into the house and grabbed my fire extinguisher. I pulled the pin, pointed the nozzle at the fire and pushed the lever. Thick fire-quenching foam spurted out of the nozzle and I played the stream of foam all over the rug. In a matter of minutes, the fire was out. A think plume of smoke wafted upwards but there was nothing I could do about it. If any firemen showed up, I would just tell them that I was getting rid of some household pests. Kumiko’s face was just a blackened lump of melted plastic. She was gone.

I went back into my house. My stomach growled and I realized that I hadn’t had anything to eat yet. I opened my cupboard to get a box of cereal when I heard it…

Creak…creak…creak…

It was impossible! I killed Kumiko! How could it be? She was dead! Ding dong, the witch is dead!

The creaking sound was coming from the basement door. I swung it open turned on the light and rushed down the stairs. The basement no longer held any fears for me! At the base of the stairs though, I found the source of the creaks.

In the centre of the basement, exactly where I had once hung Kumiko, there was a body swinging from a length of rope. The body had a slight build and as it swung around, I could see the face.

It was Chad!

His face was blackened and purplish and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. It was obvious that he had been dead for several days. There was scratches on his face and neck, as if he had fought for his life by trying to loosen the noose from around his neck. He had been still alive when he was hung…

Oh my God!

Something burbled its way up from my stomach. It rose from my stomach, into my throat and burst from my mouth. It wasn’t vomit, and it wasn’t cries. It was laughter.

I covered my face with my hands and cackled maniacally. It hadn’t been Kumiko! I must be crazy to think that a life sized doll could kill people. I am crazy! I ran up the stairs, laughing all the way.

It was me!

It had always been me!

Images flashed through my mind. I saw myself getting out of bed in the middle of the night and moving Kumiko around. I saw myself getting home early from work and changing Kumiko’s position ever so slightly. I saw myself buy a short whip and whip myself with it before placing the whip in Kumiko’s hand. I saw myself carrying Cassie’s dead body and driving her to the highway and dumping it over. Then I saw myself putting Chad’s gold plated pen under the driver’s seat and driving the car to a shady part of town. I saw myself, abducting Chad from his house and bringing him back here and hanging him from the beam until he died. I saw myself, dressed in one of Kumiko’s kimonos as I followed Lisa into the washroom at the night club. Despite my simple disguise, Lisa had recognized me.

“Nelson? What are you doing here? Why are you dressed up like that?” she had said, moments before I slit her throat. Her eyes pleaded with me as I stabbed her again and again. I saw myself taking the friendship bracelet from her dead wrist and putting it on Kumiko’s wrist when I got home from the club.

I heard myself say, “You’re attracted to Nelson and Nelson is attracted to you. I will never let Nelson go again.”

However, it wasn’t me who had said that. It wasn’t me who had done all those terrible things.

My mind remembered certain lines that I had read:

Nelson’s parents have complained that things get moved around the house but when questioned, Nelson claims innocence.

Nelson refuses disclose the name of his imaginary friend, but our cameras have recorded him calling his friend Kumiko.

I ran into the powder room, still laughing like a crazy man. I am crazy! My sanity hung by a frail thread that was being stretched beyond the breaking point. I rinsed my face in ice cold water and I could feel that thin thread snapping.

The laughter stopped. I calmly dried my face with a towel. I looked in the mirror and Kumiko stared back.


The End…

 

[Madman]

Holy FARK.....dude how am I going to read all this?

 

[God]

AWESOME reading material Praise-Bowing

 

[Bubba]

Erec, you left her at just the right time :biggrin2:

 

[ERecTile]

AWESOME reading material Praise-Bowing

Thanks! This was one of the most fun I had in writing. Images of Psycho, Identity and Fight Club kept running through my head. This was back when I was part of an online amateur writing community that focused on amateur erotica.

 

[Bubba]

Thanks! This was one of the most fun I had in writing. Images of Psycho, Identity and Fight Club kept running through my head. This was back when I was part of an online amateur writing community that focused on amateur erotica.

Shit so it was really you that wrote that :YMAPPLAUSE::YMAPPLAUSE: