Copyright © 2006 Zinnia Hope
All rights reserved, Freya's Bower.
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Later, huddled together in their coats, Randy walked Beth to the edge of the icy lawn. The wind swirled over the knoll where the trailer sat, taking Beth's breath away. She gasped, turning her back to the wind, and stood on tiptoe, offering her lips to Randy. He kissed her.
"I love you," he said.
"Really?"
Chuckling, he nodded.
"I love you too." She smiled, feeling as though she were about to burst with happiness. "You're all I think about." Gasping, she shuddered as the wind buffeted them.
Pulling her tightly to him, Randy said, "You better get inside."
"Will you come to Cincinnati with me?" She stared up at him, terrified he'd say no.
The nearby security light showed the indecision on his face as he said, "I'll think about it, Beth. I love you, but a good job is so hard to find nowadays, and I can't support anyone on a minimum wage job."
"What are you saying?" A thrill wriggled through her. Could he actually be suggesting marriage?
"I'm saying that I want to be with you, but if we do stick together, I want to take care of you." He pulled her hood more snuggly around her face. Beth heard his sigh meld with the sighs of the snowy pines lining the yard. "I just want to think things through before I make any decisions, okay?"
"I know, but I need you to realize that going to art school and building my career are important too." Beth studied his face, noting that she had his undivided attention. "I'm tired of being poor, Randy. I've watched my parents struggle, watched my mother worry because I needed a new pair of sneakers and supplies for school. There's been a few times that Dad has been out of work and we ate peanut butter and bread for days." She shook her head. "I'm not going to raise any children I may have that way. You don't need to support me because I'll support myself, and when I reach my goal in commercial art, I won't have to fret about money anymore."
"Just give me time to think about it," he said. "Is that fair?"
She nodded, feeling both uncertainty and excitement. "Yes, it's fair," she replied, the cold sending a shiver through her body and into her voice.
He kissed her again, and nudged her toward the house trailer. "Get inside before you come down sick. I'm going back to the camper to think about how that cute little ass of yours wiggled under me."
Laughing softly, Beth blushed as a hot flash of desire warmed her loins, making her panties wetter than they already were. She waved to him and walked briskly to the trailer and around back.
Ice crystals blew into her face as she rounded the back end of the trailer. She gasped, turning her face away from the biting gale. Pausing, she stood at the corner of her room, waiting for the blowing snow to settle before walking the last few yards to the sunporch. She saw Petey waiting for her, his tail wagging expectantly, his pale blue eyes glimmering pink in the glow of the porch light.
The snow finally settled, and Beth stepped out, taking a few steps towards the porch. Petey backed up, barking furiously the entire way to his dog box. Startled, Beth stumbled sideways, her heart slamming painfully in her chest. Climbing inside his doghouse, Petey lay down, whimpering.
A soft crack in the undergrowth sent gooseflesh rippling over Beth's body. She pulled the flashlight from her coat pocket and turned it on, playing the beam into the darkest regions. Large amber eyes reflected white. She whirled and raced for the back door.
Inside, she slowed her movements, trying to be quiet. Not that her parents would hear her, but she didn't want to take the chance of waking them. Although the amber eyes probably belonged to a raccoon or maybe even a deer, Petey's reaction told her that he sensed differently, so she wasn't going to press her luck. She shut the door leading to her bedroom, locking it behind her, and stepped into the semi warmth of her room. Leaving her boots on some newspaper, Beth wrapped up in her fuzzy robe and crept quietly out into the hall and into the living room. She opened the woodstove, finding enough red embers to start some paper and kindling burning. Once the flames licked the small wood sticks, she added larger ones, then filled the woodstove with logs.
She watched the flames, thinking of Randy's body straining against hers, the way his cock felt seated deeply inside her. The need to feel him inside her again became overwhelming. Although a little sore, she knew that it would go away the more they made love. She hoped he would go to Cincinnati with her, but understood his hesitation. Most of the plants were laying off workers and folks were turning to minimum wage jobs to get by until the economy in the valley picked up again. Still, the thought of being so far away from the man she loved sent an arrow of worry and emptiness through her soul.
Once the fire had caught and the logs had begun to burn well, Beth closed the doors on the stove and shut it down for the night. She returned to her room and changed her nightclothes, tossing her blood-stained panties into the clothes hamper. Gathering clean underwear and an oversized tee shirt, Beth slipped into the bathroom, washed up, and returned to her room to climb under the mountain of covers on her bed.
Minutes later, she'd just started to drift into a deep sleep when a sound outside startled her awake. She sat up, listening. A thud on the outside door sent a dose of adrenaline shooting through her veins. Perhaps the wind had buffeted the screen, pulling it free to bang against the walls. Again, a thump hit the door. Randy must be trying to get her attention! Flinging back the covers, Beth opened the door to the sunroom and hurried to the outside door, the frigid air caressing her bare limbs. Shivering, she shoved open the screen, the thought of his hands on her body quickening her heart.
Icy air soughed through the open door. A black panther blinked large luminescent eyes, regarding her fearlessly. Beth gasped. Too terrified to move lest it attack her, and even more terrified should she not run for the safety of her bedroom, she could only stare into its brilliant gold eyes. The large feline took a step toward her; Beth backpedaled into the bedroom, adrenaline filling her limbs, her breath sticking in her throat like a wad of dried paper.
The animal padded into the sun porch, then into her bedroom. Scrambling onto the bed, Beth's voice refused to work. What good would it do to yell? If she called out, and her parents did happen to hear her and opened the door, the cat might attack them.
The animal lay down, sprawling on its side. Perched on the bed's crazy quilt, Beth shivered in the cold air wafting into her room. The cat's loud purring overpowered the hum of the portable electric heater on the other side of the bed.
Why was the cat purring? If it were afraid, it never would have come up to the trailer, let alone walk right into her bedroom. What had possessed it to come here?
* * *
Beth awoke to find herself at the foot of the bed and an enormous black animal stretched out alongside her.
Somehow, despite her fear and unease, she'd drifted off to sleep with the doors leading outside standing wide open. Too frightened of the panther to shut the door, she'd pulled the crazy quilt around her for warmth. Quiet permeated the trailer, save for the electric heater spewing feeble heat across the floor.
Who had closed the doors? Surely not her parents, they would've freaked if they had found the big cat in her bedroom.
The cat's body heat kept her snug under just the one quilt. Tentatively, her heart fluttering in her chest, Beth reached out a shaky hand and touched the animal's side. Its soft, velvety fur felt wonderful beneath her palm, and the cat's even breathing moved her hand up and down. She stroked the animal's side, unable to come up with any rational explanation for its presence, and not entirely sure she wasn't dreaming. Something glimmered in the cat's inky fur. She slipped her fingers under a chain--no, not a chain, a collar. Frowning, Beth studied it. The collar looked more like a heavy necklace that someone had put on the cat. Black polished stones encircled large gleaming turquoise pieces inlaid in the collar. She recalled the conversation by the roadside earlier that day. Hadn't Harvey mentioned that he thought the cat had been wearing a collar?
She glanced up and found the panther studying her.
Beth gasped, going very still as the cat's deep, golden gaze held hers. Recognition flared within her, a memory crashing through her brain with the force of a hurricane. She remembered being five years old, wandering in the woods, following their two farm dogs as they scouted the deer trails. When the canines had jumped a doe, they took off in pursuit and hadn't returned. Frightened, and night approaching, Beth had hiked the hollows, trying to find the path back to the farm.
Finally, she started climbing a hillside. Upon reaching the top, she had no idea which way to turn. Several trees grew upon a long oval mound that had been the only landmark. Odd, shallow trenches clothed with vines and briers scarred the surrounding area. A black cat padded down the mound towards her. She remembered standing paralyzed with fear as the animal watched her with vivid amber eyes. It slowly approached her, and purring, lay down at her feet. Both thrilled and amazed, Beth knelt and petted the cat. Later, the panther led her along a path that brought her out next to her father's barn.
How could she have forgotten such a beautiful memory? She stared back at the panther. It blinked once and began purring again. Smiling, she lay her head down, draped her arm over the cat, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
When Beth awoke just before dawn, she felt rejuvenated and happy.
"You better get out of here," she said, stroking the big feline's velvety head. Purring loudly, the cat rubbed back. Beth slipped off the bed and opened the door. "Goodbye, free spirit. Maybe I'll see you again sometime?"
The panther padded outside.
Watching him slink away into the undergrowth, Beth noticed that the cat was male. Weren't male cats more aggressive, or was it the females? Maybe it was only when their young were threatened or something startled them. Well, it didn't really matter. He was obviously someone's pet or maybe even an escaped circus animal and had simply been wandering Wayne National Forest for the past few years.
Sadly, she watched the last glimpses of midnight fur meld with the forest and wondered if she'd ever see the panther again.