The Dark Stranger

7. Afterglow

I walked home in a daze. I had done some reckless things in my time, but nothing so reckless as this. Sex in a public place with a complete stranger in the middle of the night was right up there with driving while shit-faced or skinny-dipping in shark-infested waters. To make a bad situation worse, he had planted his seed in me! Of all the dumb ways to spend an evening...

He'd only spoken three words to me afterward.

"Use it wisely," he said.

"Sorry? Use what wisely?" I was struggling to stand after being so thoroughly shafted, and I clutched the car's side mirror to help me stay upright. When no reply was forthcoming, I repeated the question, only to find I was speaking to no one.

The man wasn't there anymore. Neither were the veils. I was standing alone in the dark alley. I might have thought it was all a dream if I hadn't been stark naked. My dread of being watched and judged was rekindled, so I hurriedly gathered up my clothes, pulled them on, and got the hell out of there.

Now, I was halfway home and my head was spinning. A strange euphoria had overtaken me. It was a familiar feeling at first, like that afterglow you get after climaxing, that delicious moment when you are spent and satisfied, and you snuggle with your lover.

But this was more than post-coital warm fuzzies. What started as a contented glow swelled in force and intensity until it consumed my entire body. I could barely walk straight. My vision went haywire. Headlights of passing cars became trails of gold and pink and silver, intertwining with each other like luminous serpents. The trees along the sidewalk glittered, their leaves fluttering like a million butterflies taking flight, while the pavement itself became a long strip of lush purple velvet. The lights of the surrounding buildings became a galaxy of multi-colored stars. Somewhere in the background, sensual, sinuous music was playing. It crossed my mind that the man in the alley might have drugged me, but I somehow knew that this sensation wasn't chemically induced. At least, not an illicit kind of chemical. No, this had to be a direct result of our coupling.

"Jeez, does this guy come rainbows or something?" I mumbled to myself, goggling at the psychedelic landscape.

Waves of joy cascaded through me. It was like I was having a spontaneous orgasm twenty minutes too late. I grabbed hold of a lamppost to steady myself. My thighs involuntarily clenched and flexed, my pussy throbbed, and my whole body shook.

"Fuck," I panted. "What is this? Oh, fuck."

Some young guys spotted me from a passing car and hung out of the windows, cheering at me and making lusty, gorilla-inspired noises. On any other day, I would have been mildly disgusted at their lewd behavior, but tonight it set something off inside me, a chain reaction leading to something extraordinary. I went beyond orgasm. A detonation, a physical explosion launched me off the ground and shot me out of the atmosphere, out of orbit, and for a delectable instant, I was convinced that I could reach out and warm my hands on the stars.

Back here on Earth (I didn't really leave the ground, obviously), a hot gush spread through my crotch and liquid trickled down my legs. I realized I had squirted.

Okay. This was new. I'd never squirted in my life.

After that, the feeling quickly diminished, and I slumped on a bench to recover. A bus pulled up, and the doors swung open. I realized I had unwittingly sat down at a bus stop.

I apologized to the driver and waved him on, fully expecting him to be irritated at the inconvenience. Sure enough, he opened his mouth to say something, then took a second glance at me. His eyes traveled up and down my body. He shifted in his seat. Was he checking me out? He was about to say something again, but he couldn't find the words. With a snakelike hiss, the doors closed and the bus moved off.