Chapter Two

Although shocked by her statement, no one felt inclined to ask Olga to elaborate about what she meant when she said that she’d looked into the eyes of a dead man for a considerable period of time. They were hesitant to learn the truth about why a dead man would contact her.

It was Ari who finally spoke up.

“So, are you saying that if we keep going in this direction we are going to our death?” she hesitantly asked. “Should we turn around and go back?”

“We’ve been walking this way for hours,” Felix said with desperation.  “Rex said that it’s starting to lighten up. I was hoping we’d soon be at the end of this darkness. Now, you want to turn back into it again?”

 “We can’t go back,” Olga muttered. “He said to come forward. We’re almost there.”

“Where?” Kendra asked with concern. “We’re almost where?”

“To the dead man?” Felix asked with a cracked voice. “I don’t have any desire to go join the dead.”

“Who is this dead man?” Rex asked with a voice that sounded far calmer than Kendra’s or Felix’s. “How do you know that he’s dead?”

A brief silence occurred while they waited for the older woman to speak. When she finally did, her voice was shaken with emotion. “His name was Arthur Kennedy.  He was the love of my life.”

“Your fiancé?” Kendra gasped.  Although she’d said very little about her life prior to the war, Olga had mentioned her fiancé once or twice during private talks with Kendra.

“The very same,” Olga managed to eke out.

“I don’t understand,” Ari admitted. “You can talk to dead people?”

Olga took a deep breath to help balance her emotions. “I didn’t think so, but I guess I can.”

“How do you know that he’s dead?” Ari continued.

“He was in the armed services when the war broke out. They had him stationed in Iran,” Olga said.

“That was at the heart of it all,” Ari gasped.

“Exactly,” Olga replied. “I was notified of his truck being blown up just hours before the bomb was set off and we were forced to go underground.”

“Oh, auntie,” Felix said with a compassionate groan. “I’m so very sorry.”

“As am I, son,” Olga said with a heavy heart. “He was, and always will be, the only one for me.”

“Why would he be contacting you here?” Rex said. “Even more so, why is he telling you to continue on to your death?”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Olga agreed.

“Did you ask him?” Ari’s tone was impatient.  Things were getting far too intense and she felt sick to her stomach.

“I was too shocked…,” Olga began.

“I’m sorry,” Ari quickly said. “I’m not feeling well. My stomach feels twisted in knots from the tension and I long for sunlight and fresh air.”

“I can’t imagine we’ll see much of either in the days to come,” Rex said with an apologetic tone.

“If we reach Center Land, we will,” Ari wistfully said.  “I had no idea we were in the earth’s core while growing up. The sun shines almost as bright as it does on the surface and the air is fresh and sweet. Sweeter than on the surface, in fact.”

“It sounds almost too good to be true,” Felix sighed.

“So, do we keep going?” Kendra said as she felt her way up the wall to stand.

Rex moved to her and took the baby from her arms. “I’ll carry him for a while.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking him back,” Felix assured him. “I’m rested now.”

“If you don’t mind,” Rex continued, “I’d like a little one on one with him.”

Felix smiled as he stood up. “I don’t mind a bit. Just tell me when you want to switch.” He felt through the darkness for his wife. “Do you need more time to rest?”

Ari shuddered from the mere thought of staying in that dark, stuffy tunnel one moment longer than was absolutely necessary. “Let’s just get going. Wherever we end up… it can’t be worse than here.”

Rex thought for a moment before turning to Olga. Lightly touching her arm so that she knew that he was addressing her, he asked, “Would you mind terribly if I tried to connect with Arthur’s ghost?”

“Is that something that you do?” Olga asked with surprise.

Suddenly, Olga realized that she was able to differentiate the movement of Rex’s head as he shook it from the bleak darkness. He was right. The lighting was coming back, if only a little.

“I don’t know why, but I was suddenly struck with this overwhelming desire to communicate with him,” he said. “I know it’s odd, but if I don’t try I’ll be plagued by this urge. I’m sure of it.”

Olga reached out to take the baby. “Give me the child and try away.”

“So, should we stand or sit back down?” Ari said with a tone of impatience.

“I know that you don’t feel well, my love, but try to be a bit more amiable if you can,” Felix whispered. “He might be able to shed some light on why a ghost is contacting our aunt.”

“You mean your aunt,” she snipped like a child.

“I mean our aunt,” he said with assuredness. “We’re married, remember?”

She gave a weak giggle. “That’s right. We were married just yesterday. It seems like a dream I had, but it’s not, is it?”

His hand reached toward her voice and he pulled her close. “Happy honeymoon, my love.”

She lifted her face so that her lips grazed his ear and said in a barely audible whisper, “I didn’t expect this darkness. It’s so unsettling. Being in your arms. Feeling your touch. It makes all the difference.”

She sucked in air as his hand slid beneath her shirt and his fingers fondled her suddenly hardened nipple.

“How much touch do you wish to feel?” he breathed with a mischievous tone.

“Felix,” she playfully hissed into his ear. “We’re not alone.”

“We might as well be,” he chortled softly back, holding his mouth so close to her ear that his lips teased her flesh. “They can’t see. Remember?”

“Rex can,” she whispered as she arched her back and leaned in closer.

His soft words burned her eardrums. “Not good enough, my love.”

She pulled his head so that her mouth was almost inserted into his ear and said in a barely audible voice, “Then touch me more.”

His mouth covered hers in  a passionate kiss as he slid his hands down the front of her pants until his long, slender fingers found her most sensitive area.  It was all so erotically exciting. He could tell that she felt it too as she slid her hand down the front of his pants and wrapped them around his manhood. They pleasured each other in a lover’s  bliss while doing their best to kiss through their orgasms without making a sound.

When he was certain that she was satisfied, he positioned her against the wall and parted his lips from hers.  He could feel the rapid beat of her heart slowly go back to normal with the hand that was still toying with her breast. 

She lifted her shirt and pulled his mouth to her other breast.  Like Felix, she found their naughtiness to be delightfully erotic and satisfying. She still had her hand around his manhood and could feel that he was about to burst with pleasure. Since that first day when she’d proved to him that he was able to perform like a man, he’d managed to perform on several occasions. She noticed that it was usually at times when he was particularly aroused, such as when they did role playing.  It was clear that he was just as turned on by their forbidden behavior as she was.

She heard his strong intake of air from the anticipation of what he knew she was about to do when she slid to her knees and hoped that no one else had as well. Fortunately -and she was sure that it was by tortuous will- he managed to remain silent after that.

By the time Rex was finished with his psychic meditation and ready to tell the group what he’d learned, both Felix and Ari were satisfied, smug and smiling.