By the time I saw another house on the horizon, the light was waning and so was my strength. I’d left the path of destruction, cut by the storm behind long ago. And there’d been nothing but emptiness ahead of me.

But this house stood solid and whole… like a sign of hope. I trudged my way up the narrow dirt drive and saw a pair of sleepy dogs resting on the porch. I could hear a television and the sound of a child laughing…

“Please…?” I knocked at the door. “Is there anyone there?”

I almost fainted at the sight of her. A tiny, grey-haired woman opened the screen door and caught hold of my arm. The delicious smell of cooking made me lightheaded, and I leaned against the doorframe. The woman’s face began to swim in front of my eyes and I felt my knees start to buckle underneath me… “Oh, heavens…,” I heard her cry out. “I need some help…”

“I love you, Maggie,” Joe said, as his body moved against mine. My flesh was hot and I could feel trickles of moisture running down my sides and soaking the bed underneath me. His cock was inside me and he was moving… in and out… in and out… He held my face between his hands and filled me… and emptied me… filled me and emptied me…

“I found you…?” I asked him, as I felt the deep, humming energy building inside me. The rhythm of his thrusts made me dizzy… we seemed to be weightless… moving…

“I was never gone, Maggie,” he answered back. His voice was warm and his breath hot against my ear. He reached one hand down between my breasts and put his hot palm in the center of my chest. “I’ve been here all along… right here… I never left you, my love. I never could…”

I felt his cock swelling inside my tender flesh. He was deep and hard… heating from inside until I threatened to burst. “Can you feel me?” he whispered. “When I do this…?” He thrust inside, stopping my breath. “When I do… this…?”

His cock churned inside me, and my lips clenched to hold him. Every muscle in my body seemed to burn with the need to hold him. Every time he filled me, I touched the limit of pleasure and pain… every time he withdrew, I ached with emptiness and loss. I rode the movement of his body as he pushed me closer and closer to the edge. I felt my flesh as it dissolved and became part of him… I reached out to touch him, and never let him go…

“Always, Maggie,” he whispered. “Always…”

Together we exploded in a fury of love and desire. I felt his seed pump hot and deep. Lightning flashed behind my eyes and I squeezed them tight. The climax seemed to go on forever, with wave after wave of heat and pleasure. Our bodies were slick, drenched with our passion. Every pulse of his come seemed to heat my body… I was burning… burning… wet with sweat…

“... Joe…,” I gasped out weakly. My voice seemed so far away… “Joe…”

“There, honey… it’s all gonna be okay…”

I felt a cool, wet cloth on my aching forehead and struggled to open my eyes. They ached deep into the back of my skull, and the daylight burned…

“What’s your name, honey?” the old woman asked. I blinked, working to focus on her face. She was the woman at the doorway… I remembered…

“Maggie,” I croaked. “Where is he…?”

She lifted my head off the pillow and I felt sweat drip down my neck. She put a cup to my lips and I drank greedily. ‘My name’s Elsie,” she said kindly. “Bill went for the doctor again as soon as your fever started to spike. They should be back by evening.” She patted my shoulder soothingly. “Looks like you got caught in the storm, too.” She clucked her tongue. “Poor old Doc’s never made two trips in less than a day. But I think you’re past the worst of it now.” She rested the cool, papery skin of her hand on my forehead. “I think it’s broken now.”

She pulled a dry sheet over my damp, cooling body. I was dressed only in my underthings. She tucked it around my shoulders as I began to shiver. “I’ve got soup on the stove, honey. You need it to get your strength back.” She gave me such a kind look, I could feel the tears sting at the back of my eyes. “I’ll just be a minute, honey… I promise… I’ll be right back.”

As she left the room, I rolled onto my side and curled into a tight, painful ball. For a moment, I was numb. My feelings and thoughts seemed to float up above me somehow… They lingered a second longer and came crashing down all at once. The tears came flooding out, in a wave of pain and anguish that promised no end. The sound of my own racking sobs filled my ears… the sound of a heart breaking… a heart wrenched in two…

I was alive… but I was alone. Joe was gone…

and it was more than I could ever hope to bear.