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The Last Night

Once we arrived at my parent's house, I enlisted Dad and Arnold to help with the move. The men packed the heavy stuff while I packed my books and clothes. Eventually, the only thing remaining in my room was a bare mattress. Jim sat and watched me as I stuffed the last few paperbacks into a box full of clothes. Dad and Arnold were fitting all the boxes into our two vehicles.

"Bombs away!" I yelled from the top of the staircase. I flung the box from the top of the stairs and watched it perfectly sail to the floor, bottoms on the bottom and tops on top. I shuffled back into what used to be my room, and sat on the mattress.

"Say, Regina, I've been wondering about some things." Jim started.

"Tell me what you wonder. We don't get to chat with each other very much." I said.

"What's it like, being a mother?" He asked. I sat in stunned silence.

"Stressful, at first. Then you get used to the idea that you're creating a human being who will be roaming the planet, saving lives or making a difference. It's terrifying and joyful at the same time." I said, slowly.

"Do you enjoy it?"

"I love the feeling."

"Regina, if something were to happen to me, what would you do?"

"What do you mean, Jim?" I asked, getting significantly more worried.

"Nothing. I just want to know what would happen if I had to leave forever. What would you do with our child?"

"I'd raise it myself, all the while looking for you. I will never give up on you. Our baby will know its father before they grow up. Jim, you can't ask me these questions without me getting worried. Why are you asking me to answer questions like this?" I asked.

"I guess I'm just scared of the future." Jim whispered.

"Jim, I have a story to tell you. It's the story of Uncle Ted and Aunt Jasmine. Once upon a time, there was a couple named Uncle Ted and Aunt Jasmine. They weren't my aunt and uncle; they weren't anybody's but they were still everyone's aunt and uncle. Uncle Ted's life was once threatened by an evil man, so Aunt Jasmine took action. She kept an eye on him at all times. Uncle Ted was beginning to feel like a little kid again, due to the fact he was being followed everywhere. 'Why do you follow me everywhere, woman?' Uncle Ted yelled. 'So that you aren't killed, my dear' Aunt Jasmine replied. Uncle Ted hadn't taken the threat to his life seriously, but now he was scared every moment of his day. Uncle Ted began carrying a gun everywhere he went. A few weeks after the threat had been made, Aunt Jasmine forgot the key to the house she shared with Uncle Ted. She went around to the back door, which was always unlocked. Uncle Ted was really on edge that day. When Aunt Jasmine went to the room where Uncle Ted was sitting, she accidentally startled him. Uncle Ted shot her dead. Realizing his mistake, Uncle Ted decided he didn't want to live without Aunt Jasmine, so he shot himself. The threat of the evil man had come true even though Uncle Ted never saw him again." I said.

"Why did you want me to hear that story?" Jim asked. He had backed up a little over the duration of my story.

"You're scared, just like how Uncle Ted was. I'm scared that you'll take things too far. Don't worry about your past. If you never did anything wrong, your past will never come back to haunt you." Jim smiled.

"And to think, when we first met, I was the philosophical one." He commented.

"Here's another one: hear no evil, see no evil, feel no evil. If you ignore the fact that a person like Jackson Hoidar exists, then he doesn't exist."

"I'll do that." I suddenly got the urge to do something.

"Jim, stare into my eyes." One of his eyebrows dropped, and the other one raised, but he followed my directions.

"Keep staring, but take off your shirt." I instructed. Jim pitched his tight t-shirt to the other side of the room.

"Lie on your side, on one elbow." Jim struggled to contain eye contact while he shifted from sitting to lying down.

"Rest your face, like how you usually look if you aren't smiling." Jim's face calmed.

"It's when you look like this that I truly believe you are an angel sent from heaven to fix my messed-up life." I whispered.

"Maybe I am. Maybe I've been an angel this whole time. An angel on Earth for almost twenty years. But how would you ever find out?" Jim asked, mysteriously.

"I think you are." I said, leaning closer to him.

"I think you're right." Jim whispered, slowly working the fingers of his right hand into my hair, to prevent me from escaping. He pulled my head forward. I threw the 'slow and sexy' idea to the wind and leaped onto him. Both my hands burrowed into his thick mane. I started munching on Jim's face, then invaded with massive amounts of tongue. Jim had no holds barred, either. His tongue played with mine. I pulled out my tongue first and got off the ride.

"You are a bizarre woman, Regina Harrison. You're a cobra one second, then a leopard the next." Jim said, staring at the ceiling.

"You were being too slow. I can do slow, but not when you were looking like that." I complained.

"My apologies. Next time, I'll pull out all the stops." Jim said.

"How about now?" I asked.

"If you want." Jim grabbed every part of me he could, all the while kissing me like never before. After a few brief moments, he lowered me back to the mattress. I hadn't even noticed I wasn't touching it any more.

"How was that?" Jim asked, eagerly.

"Jim, where did you learn how to do that? What did you do?" I said, trying to regain breath.

"It's a combination of analysing what you desire, and applying the correct touches. Either that, or I know you so well, that I know you want to have fun." Jim answered, after having regained the position I had put him in.

"Well, don't do it too often, or I'll expect nothing less." I said.

"Regina, do you want to go to sleep now? We've got a big day tomorrow. It probably won't end until 24 hours from now." Jim asked.

"Yeah, we should probably go to sleep." I said, a twinge of disappointment in my voice. Jim lowered his elbow and pulled on the comforter that we had left behind to keep us warm during our last night. Troubled thoughts crossed my mind before I drifted into unconsciousness: Jim was scared of someone. This person was related to my boss, but she hated him, too. He was an unstable person, one who might do dangerous things. It's okay. He won't come after us... were my last thoughts before I fell asleep.