Dream World (2 page)

Dilemma

Ever since she was a teenager Kate had always loved getting dressed up for a big night out. She deliberated long and hard about what underwear to choose, eventually settling upon a lacy black bra and matching panties. After slipping into them, she then applied her make up. She half hoped that by parading around in her skimpies Alan might take notice of her. Alas, she was destined to be disappointed yet again as he didn't even make a passing comment. Determined not to give up without a fight, after donning her little black dress and heels, Kate went into the front room in order to try and tempt Alan one last time. ‘Well, what do you think?'

Alan grunted a non-commital reply. He seemed more interested in the football on television, but did manage to mutter, ‘Are you out for the duration then?'

‘Pardon?'

‘Tonight,' he said. ‘Is it just a few drinks or are you going clubbing afterwards?'

‘Clubbing of course. It's every girl's right to have a boogie on a Saturday night. Why, do you fancy joining us later?'

Alan actually smiled. ‘Yeah, might do. Drop me a text and let me know which club you'll be in.'

‘OK.'

Kate gave Alan a peck on the cheek. She barely managed to graze his skin as he craned his head to one side in order to keep his eyes firmly fixed on the television. Feeling the anger rise in her chest, Kate bit back the scathing comment that was on the tip of her tongue. She knew that if she said anything they would only start to row and she was determined not to let him spoil her night out. As she left the apartment she thought to herself, ‘There's no way I'm going to text you later, mister'.

After a couple of drinks Kate did her best to forget about her miserable boyfriend and Sylvia cheered her up no end by filling her in with all of the latest gossip from the squash club. Sylvia was like a real live walking talking version of the internet in many ways - all you had to do was ply her with the right amount of cocktails and the information came flooding out.

As the evening drew on Kate enjoyed herself more and more. Sylvia was clearly having a good time too, although she did initially keep the flirting to a minimum as a concession to her friend. When Sylvia suggested that they go to a club, Kate was more than happy to agree. Thankfully, their timing was perfect and they got in just before the eleven o'clock queue started to form. After downing a quick shot, the girls took to the dance floor and strutted their stuff. Given Sylvia's lithe, lissom legs and outrageous dance moves, it didn't take long for her to attract attention and pretty soon she found herself at the centre of her very own fan club. Initially, Kate played along and even flirted a little with a lad who introduced himself as Gary. She drew the line at letting him buy her a drink though.

After half an hour or so of dancing, Kate retreated to the bar and bought herself a soft drink in order to take a breather and rehydrate. Much to her surprise, Gary followed her.

‘You should have let me get you that,' he said, indicating the drink.

Kate decided to nip matters in the bud straight away. ‘Look, it's only fair to let you know, I'm in a relationship.'

‘So?'

‘So I can't do this,' she said.

‘Do what? We're just talking. There's no harm in that is there?'

‘It's not talking I'm worried about, it's where it might lead to that bothers me.'

‘And where's that?'

A cheeky grin accompanied Gary's last remark and Kate had to fight hard not to give in to the smile that was tugging at the corners of her own mouth. ‘Nowhere.'

‘Then there's definitely no harm,' he remarked, before pulling up a stool and sitting down next to her. ‘You're very beautiful.'

Kate eyed him coolly. ‘Thanks.'

‘Seriously.'

‘Seriously thanks.'

‘You don't mind me telling you that, do you?' Gary said. ‘It's just that it strikes me that no one has said it to you for a while.'

Kate nearly did a double take and looked at him sharply. Was he a mind reader? Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Sylvia, who was with Gary's friend, Clive, at the bar. Sylvia winked. Bloody Sylvia.

‘Would you mind waiting here a second?' Kate said to Gary.

‘I'll wait for you all night if I have to,' he replied.

With that rather cheesy line ringing in her ears, Kate made her way over to Sylvia, tapped her on the shoulder and said, ‘Can I have a word.'

Sylvia turned to face Kate, but kept her left arm draped over Clive's right shoulder. ‘Of course.'

‘In private,' Kate added.

Sylvia shrugged, gave Clive a quick peck on the cheek, then the girls retreated to the quietest corner of the club they could find. Once there, Kate rounded on her friend. ‘What the hell do you think you're playing at?'

‘I don't follow,' Sylvia replied, as innocently as she could muster.

‘What have you said to Gary?'

‘Nothing.'

‘Hello. It's me, Kate, remember. I know all your tricks, so don't try and play the innocent with me.'

Sylvia sighed and decided to come clean. ‘Alright, so I might have mentioned that you aren't very happy at the moment.'

‘That's none of your business,' Kate said, somewhat angrily.

‘I beg to differ. You're my best friend, I hate to see you unhappy and I consider that very much my business.'

Kate's temper cooled as quickly as it had flared. ‘You're right, I'm not particularly happy at the moment, but this,' she glanced across at Gary, ‘would only complicate matters.'

‘What's the matter, don't you fancy him?'

‘I suppose so, but that's not the point.'

Sylvia shook her head. ‘What are we going to do with you, Miss Phillips?'

Kate shrugged.

‘Damn that Catholic up-bringing of yours,' Sylvia said.

‘I'm sorry,' Kate said.

‘Don't be silly, it's me who should be apologising.'

The two girls hugged, then Kate said, ‘Would you mind putting in an apology for me? Only I'm going to get off.'

‘Of course not.'

Kate was just about to leave the club when Sylvia added, ‘By the way, are you doing anything tomorrow morning?'

‘I don't think so, why?'

‘Because I'm booked in to visit Dream World at eleven o'clock. I've got to know Richard Hampton quite well, I'm sure if I had a word with him he'd squeeze you in.'

Kate smiled, but didn't bother to answer. They both knew what she would say if she did.

‘Have fun,' Kate said.

‘Don't worry,' Sylvia replied. ‘I will.'

As a consequence, Kate ended up grabbing a taxi much earlier than she had planned. During the journey home she half thought about texting Alan to let him know her change of plans. After having tapped in half the message, she changed her mind and deleted it. When the taxi pulled up outside their house, Kate paid the driver of the cab, made her way up the front garden path, then fished the front door key out of her handbag. Slipping the key into the lock she eased the door open. Darkness and silence greeted her. She assumed that Alan was still out in town. Kate sighed. She had been hoping to find him home because, after the compliments Gary had paid her in the club, she was feeling much more confident about herself and had been looking forward to giving Alan a sexy treat. Alas, it wasn't destined to be.

Closing the front door behind her, Kate went and made herself a drink. Feeling far too restless to turn in she decided to log onto Facebook and see if any of her friends were on-line. Making herself comfortable on the sofa Kate turned the laptop on. The instant the screen kicked into life a picture of rather a pretty girl posing in her underwear popped up. Though he had denied it several times, Kate suspected that Alan looked at adult websites when she wasn't around. Although it didn't overly bother her, finally, it looked like she had found the proof. Kate stared at the girl rather enviously, given that she seemed to be the object of Alan's affections. Annoyingly, the girl didn't look unlike Kate, which made Alan's recent disinterest in her all the more frustrating. There was also something vaguely familiar about the girl, although Kate couldn't put her finger on what.

With a shake of her head Kate closed the image down. Upon doing so, to her surprise, she found that the picture was a jpg on Alan's e-mail - that he hadn't signed out of - and not just some random image of a girl on the Internet. The picture wasn't a solitary one either, but part of a set. Kate's heart began to beat faster as she realised the full extent of the dilemma that she was faced with. Should she open up further images or should she log off Alan's e-mail? Sensing that to close his account down was the right thing to do, she was just about to log out when she realised who the girl was. It was one of the receptionists at the garage where Alan worked. Given that this made Alan's betrayal much more personal, Kate made up her mind to look through the rest of the images in order to assess the extent of his indiscretion.

As she clicked on each picture in turn, the girl shed the scant clothing that she was wearing until she was naked. Kate expected the sequence to end once the girl had fully exposed herself, but, rather disturbingly, there were still half a dozen images left in the file. With a deep breath Kate continued to click through the pictures. The final images proved to be as damning as she suspected as Alan joined the girl on the bed and the pair started to have sex. Only when she clicked on the final image did Kate recognise the location of the hurtful photo shoot; it was the master bedroom upstairs. Momentarily, Kate found herself transfixed by the tangle of limbs in the picture as the two bare bodies intertwined in a scene of illicit passion. Her lower lip trembling, she finally closed the file as a tear formed in the corner of her right eye. With a great effort she managed to keep her emotions in check, turned the lights out and waited for her errant boyfriend to arrive home.

It was well after three when he finally returned. When he entered the living room and clicked the light on he jumped in surprise to find Kate on the sofa.

Puzzled, he asked, ‘What are you doing sitting here in the dark?'

With an accusatory finger Kate pointed at the laptop.

Through the alcoholic haze a tiny spark of alarm registered deep in Alan's brain. ‘I can explain,' he said.

Kate folded her arms. ‘This should be good.'

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He tried again. Still no luck. Then, rather meekly, he admitted, ‘Actually, I'm not sure I can.'

‘I didn't think so,' Kate said. ‘Now get out.'

‘What!'

‘You heard me, get out.'

‘Hang on a minute, can't we talk about this?'

‘I've been trying to talk to you for the past few weeks only you haven't wanted to, and now it's too late.'

‘Look, I can see that you're angry. Tell you what, why don't I go and stay at my brother's tonight, then come back in the morning and we can try and sort this out then.'

Ignoring him, Kate glanced at her watch. ‘I'll give you five minutes to get a few things together before I call my cousin.'

‘Ritchie?'

Kate nodded. Ritchie was built a Russian shot putter and had never liked Alan. He'd always told Kate not to hesitate to give him a call if there was any problems with the ‘horrible little twerp'. Kate reached for her mobile phone.

‘Alright, alright,' Alan blustered, ‘I'm going.'

Four minutes and fifty seconds later, with Alan still trying his best to persuade her to give him another chance, Kate closed the front door on him. For a brief instant she felt an overwhelming sense of relief that matters had finally come to a head. Sadly the feeling quickly passed, to be replaced by one of sadness and emptiness as she made her way back upstairs and into the spare bedroom. Cuddling her childhood teddy bear tightly Kate settled down to a fractured night's sleep. A tangle of limbs haunted her nightmares as her subconscious replayed the images she had inadvertently stumbled across over and over again.

Dream World

When Kate awoke the following morning she did her best to put a brave face on things. The instant she turned her phone on a dozen texts pinged through, all from Alan. She hesitated, briefly, then deleted each and every one without reading any of them. The events of the previous night had been the culmination of endless weeks of misery as far as she was concerned. Hurt though she was, she was determined to try and make a fresh start.

She was fine until she got into the shower. She couldn't help thinking back to when they had installed it, not long after they had moved in to the property. Whilst Alan had fitted the unit, Kate had worked on the tiling. At the end of a long, hard day they had taken a shower together to celebrate. Kate clearly remembered how Alan had kissed every inch of her body, as the water had cascaded against her skin, and made her come by licking her out.

As the memory came back to her, Kate decided to cut her shower short that morning. Unfortunately, there was no avoiding entering the scene of the crime, the master bedroom. Try as she might, Kate couldn't help but glance at the bed as she entered the room. In her mind's eye she saw her boyfriend and Jackie - the receptionist - making love, their limbs locked together. As she stared at the crumpled sheets the image changed and, rather than Jackie lying there, Kate pictured herself and Alan on the bed. She shook her head in order to dispel both images, grabbed a pair of knickers, bra, jeans and top and retreated downstairs into the kitchen, hoping she would be safe there.

Alas, she was wrong. The memories that assaulted her in the kitchen were even stronger. It was the first room in the house in which she and Alan had made love. She clearly remembered him coming up behind her as she'd been unpacking a box full of crockery. When he had grabbed her bottom Kate had been so surprised she had dropped the box. Her dismay was soon forgotten as he had proceeded to kiss the back of her neck. Kate had always found the back of her neck being kissed a huge turn on. She'd put up very little resistance as he'd slipped her top off, unfastened her bra and massaged her breasts. Looking back she was almost ashamed of how she had encouraged him; slipping out of her jeans and wiggling her bum provocatively. With pure animal lust Alan had undone his flies, taken his cock out, bent Kate over the kitchen work surface and slid it inside her.

The kettle came to the boil, snapping Kate out of her trance. Realising that she had to get out of the house she snatched up her phone and called Sylvia.

Sylvia answered on the third ring. ‘Sylvia Simmons, sultry sex kitten.'

In spite of everything she had been through, Kate couldn't help smiling. Taking a deep breath she said, ‘Your invite, last night, to join you at Dream World this morning. Does it still stand?'

‘What do you think,' Sylvia said.

‘I'll take that as a yes.'

‘Kate Phillips, what on earth has gotten into you?'

‘Meet me for coffee at Gino's in half an hour and I'll tell you all about it.' Adding a hasty goodbye Kate rang off before she had time to change her mind.

Half an hour later, as Sylvia sipped her Latte, she shook her head and said, for the umpteenth time, ‘What a bastard.'

Kate didn't disagree.

Sylvia glanced at her watch. ‘Hey, we better drink up. Can't keep the good doctor waiting.'

‘Doctor?'

‘My nickname for Richard.'

Kate giggled. ‘Why do you call him that?'

‘Because, dearest, darling, best friend of mine, his invention is a cure for anything.'

‘Even a really bad case of the blues?'

‘Especially a case of the blues. I guarantee you, by one o'clock this afternoon you'll have forgotten all about that rotten Ex of yours.'

Kate tutted. ‘Dream World can't be that good.'

‘Want a bet?' Sylvia replied.

As they approached the dream centre Kate couldn't believe the size of the queue. Glancing at her watch she remarked, ‘We'll never get in on time.'

‘Don't worry,' Sylvia told her. ‘There's a VIP entrance around the back.'

‘I'm not going to ask how you found out about that.'

With a twinkle in her eye Sylvia replied, ‘I have my means and ways.'

‘I'm sure you do,' Kate said, but left it at that.

As the two girls marched past the lengthy queue Kate took a good look at the building in which Dream World was housed. The construction looked like an extremely large golf ball, complete with huge dimples. It was painted brilliant white and yet somehow had a reflective quality that captured the sun's rays and bounced them off at a multitude of different angles. Kate was rather impressed by the design.

Circling the side of the building, Sylvia led Kate up a short ramp at the top of which stood two huge security guards. The guards frowned. Sylvia flashed her brightest smile and withdrew a special pass from her handbag. Though the guards' manner didn't change in the slightest, one of them punched four digits into the security panel to the left of the door. The door glided open and Sylvia and Kate stepped inside.

The girls found themselves in a dimly lit corridor. Sylvia took a second to get her bearings and then marched off, confidently, Kate following in her wake. They hadn't gone more than a few yards when they came to another door.

‘Ready?' Sylvia said.

Kate nodded. Sylvia swiped her pass across the security panel. The door glided open and the girls stepped into one of the private dream chambers.

Kate marvelled at the scene inside. The chamber was much smaller than she'd expected, probably only about half the size of a tennis court. Around the outer edges of the walls was a dazzling array of circuitry that wouldn't have looked out of place in a science-fiction film. The centre of the room was what really caught Kate's eye though. Four therapists' treatment tables lay at right angles to one another. At the head of each table was a monitor, about the same size as a portable TV. Headsets, which had small pads as opposed to earphones, were attached to each of the monitors. Sylvia began to explain how things worked.

‘You simply lie back on one of the tables, attach these to your temples,' Sylvia indicated the pads, ‘pop a tablet, then away you go.'

‘A tablet?' Kate asked.

‘They're completely harmless. Just something I designed to help you relax and tap into your sub-conscious,' a suave voice replied.

Kate turned and found herself face to face with the most handsome creature she had met in a very long time. Around six foot in height, the owner of the voice had wavy jet black hair, dark hazel eyes and looked as if he had just stepped off the set of an after shave commercial, so strong was his jaw line.

‘Kate,' Sylvia said, ‘meet Richard Hampton.'

Richard offered Kate his right hand. As she went to shake it he surprised her by lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it.

‘Charmed,' he murmured.

Usually, Kate would have laughed at such a gesture, but she was too lost in his unbelievably dark eyes to do so.

‘Hope you don't mind, Richard, only I brought a friend along,' Sylvia said.

‘Why would I mind when she's this beautiful?'

Kate blushed.

‘I was just explaining how the place worked,' Sylvia continued.

‘And doing an excellent job from what I heard,' Richard said.

‘Why don't you take it from here,' Sylvia said.

‘I'm not sure I've got much else to add. You pretty much summed it up.'

‘It can't be that simple, surely?' Kate said.

‘Well,' Richard replied, ‘I could bore you with all the scientific mumbo-jumbo if you wish, or we could skip the boring details and you could take a dream trip and see for yourself.'

‘It's definitely safe?' Kate asked, eyeing the monitors somewhat dubiously.

‘Absolutely. You have my personal guarantee,' he said.

‘Alright then,' she replied.

As Sylvia clambered onto one of the tables, Richard crossed over to the far wall, opened a draw and withdrew an A4 size electronic pad, similar to a Tablet. He beckoned Kate towards him and handed it to her.

‘What's this?' she asked.

‘It's a short questionnaire I've designed,' he explained. ‘I ask everyone to fill one in before they take a dream trip. I feed the information provided into the programme. The more honestly you answer, the more pleasurable your experience will be.'

‘What kind of questions?'

‘You'll see,' he said, with an enigmatic smile. ‘Tell you what, you make a start and I'll go and tend to Ms Simmons.'

‘OK,' Kate said.

So, whilst Richard made Sylvia comfortable and prepared her for her dream trip, Kate tackled the form. After filling in basic details - name, date of birth, height, weight - the second section of the questionnaire asked her to note down her favourite colour, her favourite food and her favourite drink. The third section then went on to ask her to list all of the places that she would most like to visit. It was the fourth section that caused her to hesitate though; it posed questions that were a lot more intimate, one or two of which made her blush. She was just debating as to how to answer the question:
What is your wildest sexual fantasy
? when Richard rejoined her.

‘How are you getting on?' he asked.

‘I've pretty much finished.'

‘May I take a look?'

Timidly, Kate handed Richard the pad. As he scrolled down through her answers he nodded approvingly.

Kate felt her cheeks redden when he reached the last part of the form. ‘I didn't realise that you were going to read it.'

‘C'mon,' he said, ‘There's no need to be embarrassed. Now, if you hop up onto the table here, I'll get you hooked up.'

In a gesture that harked back to her childhood, Kate found herself biting her fingernails. ‘Look, I'm not sure about this. Maybe I could come back another time.'

Richard took her by the hand and did his best to re-assure her. ‘Try not to worry. It's perfectly natural to feel nervous before your first trip. Tell you what, how about I come with you, as a kind of tour guide.'

‘Can you do that?'

‘No problem. If you just lie down on this table here,' Richard patted the couch nearest to them; Kate obligingly hopped on it. He then withdrew a small silver case from his right jacket pocket and opened it. The case was crammed full of small blue tablets. ‘Now, if you simply swallow one of these, I'll see you in your dreams.'

Taking a deep breath, Kate withdrew one of the tablets and popped it into her mouth. For the best part of a minute nothing happened.

‘Maybe I'm immune or something,' she said.

‘Don't worry,' he told her. ‘It's probably taking a bit longer than normal because you're nervous. When you are, your body produces chemicals that...'

He broke off. There was no point continuing because Kate was fast asleep.

Kate's eyes snapped open. She found herself standing in a dry, barren landscape. It wasn't quite desert - there were small scrub bushes dotted around - but not too much else, other than a rather plain green door about ten yards to her right. The door looked surreally out of place given the surroundings.

‘Hello,' Kate called out. When there was no reply she tried again, a bit louder this time. ‘Hello, is there anybody there?'

She wondered if something had gone wrong. She scanned the horizon in all directions but, other than the door, there was nothing for miles around. Tentatively she approached the door and knocked. As there was no reply she reached for the handle.

‘Don't worry, you'll soon get the hang of it.'

Kate twirled around to find Richard standing behind her. He closed a red door he had just stepped through. Clicking his fingers the door vanished instantly.

‘What's with all the doors?' she asked.

‘There are three types,' he explained. ‘The green ones are for a major shift in time and place, the blue ones are to wake up, whereas the red ones are staff only. You must never go through one of them.'

Glancing around Kate asked the other obvious question. ‘Where are we?'

Richard snapped his fingers once more. Nothing happened. ‘Sorry, I'm going to need your help here. After all, it's your dream, you're the one in control.'

‘I don't understand.'

‘Would you mind thinking about that questionnaire I asked you to fill in,' he said.

No sooner had the words left his mouth Kate envisioned the electronic pad. Almost instantly it appeared in his hands.

‘Thank you,' he said. ‘Now, let's take a look. Ah yes, here we are. Travel. The questionnaire asked where would you most like to visit in the world, and you answered...?'

‘Australia,' she said.

‘Ta-da.' Richard spread his arms and indicated the landscape around them.

‘This is Australia?'

‘Part of it.'

‘Which part?' she asked.

He squatted down, picked up a handful of red soil, lifted it to his nose and sniffed. ‘Well, if I had to take a guess, I'd say... the middle bit.'

Kate folded her arms. ‘Very funny, Crocodile Dundee.'

‘Sorry, I couldn't resist.'

‘At the risk of doubting the brilliance of your invention, this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I agreed to take a trip.'

‘I hate to contradict you, Miss Phillips,' he said. ‘But I'm afraid it must have been.'

‘So this my fault?'

‘Kind of.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘You need to be more specific,' he said. ‘Now, I'm only guessing here, but when you thought about Australia, I bet that you pictured the country as a whole, in a kind of vague manner.'

‘So?'

‘You need to hone your thought processes and think of exactly whereabouts it is that you wish to visit.'

‘Sydney,' she said.

‘Go for it,' he replied.