The day was ending with a dreadful cumulus battle on the horizon. Studdering flashes of lighting silhouetting the mountains of clouds as they rumbled towards me. Today of all days I found myself alone sitting in the kitchen looking out across the swaying treetops, thinking of days past.

Valentine's Day…a lover’s fabrication. Candy, flowers…maybe even…. maybe even.

I haven’t given my heart to anyone for such a long time and, if the truth be told, I have no desire to ever give it again. It is not so much that there was a lot of emotional distress involved, just disappointment. That feeling of being unmoored, cast aside. Do I still think about her? Periodically, like tonight, as the darkness starts to surround me. All the lights are off and the wind moans at the windows, seeming to whisper her name.

I feel, imagine, the soft touch of her fingers caressing my neck as I sit at the island in the kitchen. I straighten my back, turning in hopes of…the room brightens briefly with a flash of lightning…was that a figure outlined at the window? No, just my imagination working overtime.

The weather consumed the day as it enveloped every glimmer of light, inside and out. Arms encircle my waist and soft lips kiss my neck in brief pecks… I am paralyzed. A voice seemingly from a distant source says, “Enjoy, don’t think, simply enjoy.”.

I am pulled from the chair to the couch. As I lie back, an undefined shade stands above me. My clothes are removed item by item by the shadow until I find myself naked. The shade slowly covers my nakedness in a warm but insubstantial grasp. Wariness is gradually replaced by a growing arousal. My sex lengthens as unseen fingers move along the hard shaft. Can this be? Have I lost all sensibility, rationality, and a grasp on reality? My mind whirls as my body is in rapture.

I feel the fullness of her breasts, the rhythmic thrust if her hips as my sex moves into the core of her essence, the moist tunnel consuming me, holding me tight with her walls. I feel warm breath against my face, but the only sound is my own groans as my arousal grows to an animalistic passion. My hips buck hard and fast until a riveting thrust releases my seed, coating my legs and the couch.

The storm and its fury are at their peak. Rain clatters against the windows as thunder rattles them with a crashing cacophony of explosions and steaks of lightning illuminate the distant trees in eerily silhouetted shapes. I sit naked on the couch, my passion depleted, wondering if I have awoken from a dream or…

Checking the windows as the storm continues, but seems to be diminishing. I head to bed in a quandary about my Valentine's evening.

I awoke around 9:30 am. The world outside was a dripping collection of fallen leaves and broken branches. Wandering into the kitchen, I grind the coffee beans and then put them in the press, waiting for the water to boil. I switched on the local news to discover a small aircraft was caught in the storm and crashed, killing both passengers.

The former landlord of my heart and her lover were the passengers. They died…just about the time the shadow consumed me. Love's last mercy, or…