[https://www.notion.so/image/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fsecure.notion-static.com%2F4debd62a-44f1-4421-aee8-92ad6b10f6e2%2F0305_-_The_Ava_Incident.png?id=201f9b8e-15a7-475b-b89d-e9735e10c4fc&table=block&spaceId=f09d9062-a9bc-4da6-9afb-72d7e1f8e975&width=2000&userId=3d37b3c3-d3fe-4560-b719-cd3545b1354e&cache=v2][https://i.postimg.cc/cCxYHKmN/The-Girl-who-could-taste-time.gif]
[https://i.postimg.cc/LskxKrQr/0305-The-Ava-Incident.png]
Nona was petrified inside her bedroom, completely frozen, the orange cat was back, but it was not one nor two. There were hundreds of ginger cats meowing and looking at her. Each one of them tasted the same.
Behind her, a bang on the door could be heard with him asking: 'Nona, are you mad?'
'Go away!'; her vision burned blurry turning the cats into orange patches around her room. Shit! Shit! Shit! He is going to freak out. Her brain flipped a coin as she suddenly landed on her feet.
'Can I come in? Please?'
'Baby, please stay where you are.' Why do you need to be so stubborn? Please, not now.
'Nona, I'm coming in!'
'No!'; she yelled, leaning against the door, throwing her weight against it: 'I'm fine. Everything is fine, love.' Please, baby, don't play the hero. Not now.
'Let me in, baby. Is not fun!'; he tried the door handle, but realised she was blocking it. He didn't insist, worried it could hurt her: 'Baby, come on, let me in. You are really freaking me out.'
'All is okay! Really, go to your room. I'll join you in a bit. You don't want to see this.' Fuck! They are hundreds, and they do look freakishly cute. I wish I had more visions like this. Look at that one rolling his belly up. So cute!
'What could possibly be there that I can't see? Nona, please open the door before you get hurt. Come on, love of my life, please!'
'Can you hear them?'; she asked with a hand ready on the handle.
'Hear what?' He put his ear near the door as if trying to listen through. Then said: 'I can't hear anything.'
'I open, but please close your eyes!'; she pushed down the handle and looked at him. It was easy to understand that even though he couldn't hear the hundreds of kitties in her room, he could definitely see them. 'Baby, close your eyes.'; she said, placing her hand in front of his gaze.
He closed them tight and didn't protest, neither tried to play the hero. Nona closed the door behind her, so he wouldn't notice how the hoard of cats tried to run away from the room. 'Is okay. They are not real.' I got you, baby. You are safe with me. No adorable kittie will get close to you, but dammit, how can he be so scared of so much fluff?
'You woke up?'; he asked, trying to distract himself. 'You know who I am?'
'Yes, I do.'
'How?'
'I don't know. I think... maybe because... I realised you would need me. I don't know.'; Nona said, holding his cold fingers. She never saw him shaking like this and repeated: 'They are not real, baby. Nobody can hurt you here.' I would never let anything happen to you. Those are just adorable fluff monsters. I wish I could close the door and pet them before they disappear. Just 5 minutes…
'I can't help it.' His voice trembled. The sight of the ginger-coloured animals made him feel sick to his stomach and stiff his lower back like stone. 'I really wish I could..., you know..., not be a..., pussy.' Eske dropped a chuckle: 'The pun was not intended.'
'I know.'; she kissed his lips and placed his arm around her waist. 'Keep your eyes closed. They are coming back to me, okay? Don't play the hero.'
Eske nodded, held Nona firmly on her waist, and placed the other hand behind her head: 'You're good, I gotch you.'
Nona looked above Eske's shoulder, and the cats darted at her as if expecting the right moment to jump. She breathed deeply, and as she inhaled, an intense metallic flavour scratched her throat until the point when she only could lose consciousness.
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Nona woke up with her nose sinking in his smell. She was surrounded by pillows and his fingers brushing her head. 'Hello, love of my life.'
He gave her a short smile, with his eyes on the screen: 'It's still night, baby. Sleep.'
'What are you doing?'
'Scrolling through social media and emails. Can't sleep.'; he turned back to look at her as she sat up. 'Today was really a bad day. Shit, the whole week was… shitty. I think I failed at all levels.'
'Do you want to talk about it?' Nona asked, rubbing her face into his shoulder.
'The candidate's name is Ava.'
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
'That is a really pretty name.'
'Yeah, it is, and she is..., she seems like a really nice and good person. I can't explain, is one of those people you meet and trust.'; he said with a mixture of sadness and disappointment: 'She actually reminds me of Marie Sue.'
'Marie Sue is awesome! Not even a grain of evil.'
'Nona, I think she is going to refuse.'; he sighed. 'I know this sounds irrational. She said she had to think about it. And I don't see anything that could stop her. But she needed to think about it. Thinking about what?'
'Did we miss something?' Nona asked, pulling herself away from him to sit facing Eske.
'No,' he answered. 'No, everything was exactly as Vihann's report, and he has been obsessed with her.'
'Oh.'
'Yeah, if she says no, it's gonna break him. And not only that, you had to see for yourself. In a question of seconds, she outlined my whole profile. Like... I didn't like everything I heard, but it was true. As if she knew me. I never saw such a talented profiler. She even understood I could hear numbers.'; Eske looked at his wife with a defeated gaze: 'I lost her. I failed in giving her a home.'
'You'll try again tomorrow, and if it fails. You'll try again.' Nona said, hugging her husband tight around the neck. 'You are the most stubborn person I know. You will reason with her, and she'll be among us.'
'What if I really fail? She will disappear. I explained that to her.'; Eske said, looking down. 'She'll be gone.'
'I know.'
'And then I failed you.'; he placed a hand over her cheek, kissing her forehead. 'I'm so sorry.'
'Nothing happened. It was just... hum..., what I mean is I wasn't in danger.'
'How do you feel? Any pain?'
'None. I am fine.'
'Good.'; Eske kissed her lips, moving to her neck: 'Are you sleepy?'
'Not at all.'; Nona said, pulling him closer. 'Why? Any ideas?'
Eske gave her a long kiss before answering: 'Might have one or two...'
'Show me.'; she whispered close to his ear.
Eske lifted one of the corners of his lips, placing a finger under her chin: 'I'd like that.'; he said, lifting it. He kissed her, savouring her lips. His mouth closed upon hers again, feeling how soft and warm her flesh felt, tasting the saltiness of her tongue. He ran his fingers through her hair, caressing its silken He pulled her body against his own, pressing their bodies together tightly.
His hands went beneath the hem of her shirt, touching bare skin as they moved upward until he reached her breasts. There was a faint quiver in his fingers when they touched them, and he murmured: 'I love you.' Each time he kissed the line of her neck, he would whisper it.
His lips parted over hers with an eagerness that startled her, an ardent hunger which seemed to have been up too long against all common sense or decency. His kiss grew more eager by breadths, its intensity increasing till it became almost savagely carnal. He drew back from it at last and then seized her wrists with a mischievous grin. He let something hard press into her abdomen through the thin cotton of her panties. His eyes glinted fiercely upon her skin as he leaned forward again towards Nona's soft lips. Again there came a brief pause, but this time it lasted no longer than two seconds before the Eske's mouth descended on hers once more like some hungry beast devouring flesh. Her arms dropped helplessly about his neck, feeling his muscle strength and the full weight of his body pressed itself heavily onto her own. For one wild instant, Eske thought he was going mad with passion because he had crushed her breasts between his palms while still holding himself tightly against her with his knees wedged firmly against each side of hers. But sanity returned quickly enough: 'Am I hurting you?'
'No! Don't stop.'
They clung together, laughing, pressing themselves closer and tighter against one another. Nona's leg enclosed his waist, and he found himself bending down further over her without being conscious of having done anything except respond to stimuli coming directly out of his subconscious mind. Their mouths opened wider, kissing passionately until the last gasp. 'Again?'
'Again.'
There was something about Nona that night that Eske would never be able to explain. Something that left him famished that made him want more. Something that didn't satiate him, and again he wanted more. Way more.
That night they didn't make love once or twice. It was until the first rays of sunlight touched their faces that they stopped, and the bed broke.
[https://i.postimg.cc/c6q3JJrT/0306-The-Ava-Incident.png]
When she finally woke up, she found herself lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to understand what had happened. Nona remembered nothing of the previous night except the taste of peppermint on her lips.
'Good morning, love of my life!'; Eske came into the room with a huge breakfast on a tray and a bigger smile on his face.
'Morning... huh...Eske.'; Nona replied, sitting up in the bed, confused.
His smile faded away: 'Hungry?' He set out plates filled with fried eggs and bacon, toast, orange juice and coffee.
'Yes, please.'; Nona answered, taking the plate he offered her. 'This looks wonderful. So did we...'
'Have sex? Made love? Yeah!'
'I'm so sorry. I was probably too drunk.'
'You don't remember?'; Eske tried to hold his grin with a bite of the bread. 'We were fucking like ...'; he paused and looked at her: 'It was undoubtedly one of the best nights of my life. So don't feel bad.'
'I'm feeling so ashamed right now...'; she tried to hide behind the coffee mug the huge embarrassment she was feeling. 'I don't know what to say, and I should get ready to work.'
'Hey, don't worry about it.'; he took the cup from her hand, setting it aside: 'I called them and said you were sick.'; he leaned forward and whispered: 'I can't leave you like that without…, remembering.'; he smiled mischievously.
'What does that mean?'; Nona felt her cheeks turning red. 'Was I that good?'
'You have no idea. So, let me see if I can show you all the little things of last night.'; he grinned wickedly. 'Do you mind?'
'Not at all.'; she whispered back.
'Good.'; Eske stood beside the bed, sliding an arm around her waist as he kissed her gently on the lips. ‘But, let’s try not to break your bed too. Otherwise, we will need to move to the couch.’
Again, Eske would never be able to explain in words what happened in that timeline or how he felt that would explain why he never had enough.
But that is how and when the first Ava Incident started.
[https://i.postimg.cc/6q9LFb4w/The-Girl-who-could-taste-time-2.gif]