The Empath Cycle: 1949 In The Beginning

"What do you mean 'conscious moments'?"

"Because most, and I really mean most our time was spent on the island in my subconscious. You should see how the girls have remodeled it. Ari should have been an engineer and Jules has a delirious imagination."

"Once Cat explained more fully the..." "Parameters of the island and..." "Its reason for existence," "We had some fun."

"Fun? Yes, I would say we had fun. Ari wanted to build a medieval castle and Jules an Arabian night palace. We settled for a dream mansion Jules had seen in a magazine. We built it on the beach."

"Can I visit?"

"We aren't sure, baby, but since we've had such a close rapport for years, it may be possible. That's just one of the many things we have to study."

"Also when you showed me those dream/memories why was everything so stilted. Neither of us speak like that?"

"You have to remember that we aren't telepaths or anything of the kind. When we are meshed, we communicate in concepts because we are essentially one mind, so there is no imprecision possible and no lag. That's why we said that what one knows, all know. When one needs to know something, all of our memories are tapped as a single one. Since we were linked to you and inadvertently called through you for Sarah, it seems as if we have opened a channel we can use to send emotions in a more precise way to you. You know I can only project emotions and they're diffuse at that. Well, we can project focused emotions to you regarding some memories we share or that are closely focused on us as a couple. That's why I was in every memory you 'felt/saw'. You could say we stimulated some memories with our common emotions."

"That doesn't explain the stilted language."

"We did not send so precise thoughts or any thought at all, for that matter. We only brought selected memories forward. You supplied the language and details for yourself as you interpreted them."

"But I don't speak like that."

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about because we couldn't 'hear' you. We could only direct the memories/emotions and go by your emotional reactions. You provided the details yourself. We suspect that the inconsistencies such as the different language were due to your lack of familiarity with the form of communication. Maybe it will improve in time."

"One other thing, why does the over-mind keep calling me 'little one'?"

The three women looked at each other for a moment and laughed.

"It's a sort of inside joke, baby. When we were linked with you, you tried to reassure us, but we perceived it as what could best be kindly termed as 'baby talk' and when you 'speak' to us, it's the same. Ouch. That was uncalled for."

"You may be this big shot super empath now, but you're still my Cat and you don't get to tell me I talk 'baby talk'."

"Yes, I'm your Cat and you're my Martine. Does the form seem familiar?"

Martine frowned. 'This sounds important to her, but what can she mean? She knows she's my...' Her eyebrows shot up. "It's how Jules, Ari and Sarah talk about each other."

"Yes it is, baby. They have explained how their special family works to me and we would like for you to join it."

"What do you mean, join it. We are a couple. Sure we play with a few others, such as Sarah, but always together because you are afraid to hurt them if I wasn't around to remind you not to project. Then we always went back to our own bed, just the two of us. Look where it got you to have sex with strange women behind my back."

"Sarah was there and these two were already bonded so tightly that any 'leak' from me couldn't hurt them or attach them to me. What happened did because I love you so much. Now I am irrevocably linked to them, bonded you might say, and we ask you to join our family. If you don't want to, we will understand. You and I will still be a couple and I won't love you any less. I don't think I could anyway. But we would all be sad that we could not be a family since they love you just as much as I do because of our shared memories and of what you did for us."

"I understand, darling. I felt it each time you 'spoke' to me. I thought it was coming from you only." She turned to Jules and Ari. "Do you really feel so strongly toward me?"

"Yes, Martine. It's like..." "We have loved you for many..." "Years. Since you first met..." "Cat. If you do not want to..." "Join us, we understand and Cat..." "Will be your only mate, but..." "You will have to accept our bond."

"Also, you will have to remember that they will be silent participants in the part of my life that is with you."

"You mean that they will be making love with us all the time because they will be in your mind?"

"No, baby, when we separate, there is only a faint echo in our minds of our link, but each time we will mesh, it will be as if they had been with me all along because of our shared memories. That's why they love you and why I love Sarah so deeply."

'That's certainly food for thought.' Martine thought. "The sequence of memories you showed to me, was there a purpose to it?"

"Yes, baby. We wanted to remind you how you grew as a person over these first years. How you came to accept that you could be such a close friend with a person for the first time in your life, and that person a woman you had thought was so remote from you that you couldn't possibly have anything in common with her. Then, before you came to accept that friendship, how you felt so bad when you thought you had hurt my feelings. That's when you slapped me on the ass, if you remember. All the way to the day I told you I was a lesbian."

A blushing Martine replied. "It did take me a long time, didn't it? I guess I hadn't realized I was such a loner even if I had had relationships with boys, then men. I have tried very hard to forget the slap incident because I felt so bad afterwards."

"But the very next day, you brought me a solution. Not everybody would have done that. You were, and still are, a caring person always trying to find a way to help others. Sarah and Karen saw that in you and that's why we kept pushing you to realize your potential in the following years. In fact, I was feeling so bad at seeing you that miserable, I asked Karen for her help. She's the one who suggested what to do. She laughed so hard when I told her about how you had slapped my ass and your reaction to my comment about my teats and the potential for black eyes that I had to tweak her nipple hard a few times to snap her out of it. By the end of that first week, I had one of those sports brassieres and it took me three weeks of hard training to be able to match your running level so I could smack your ass. That last part was her idea."

"I will have to thank her properly then." Martine replied with a smirk. "I suppose the next sequence was to be the next day."

"Yes, baby. It was the best day of my life and the blossoming of our love, even if it began on a sour note."

"I know. I feel the same, darling. I often think of it when we lie in bed, cuddled."

"Would you like to finish this journey and then we will ask you again, for the last time if that's you want?"

"I'd like that very much since you enhance the memory and make it so vivid, it's like I'm living it the first time."

"Then let's make us comfortable with what's left of the bed."

"And I'll show you 'baby talk'." Martine was heard to grumble under her breath. The three women looked at each other and grinned, but didn't comment to spare the feelings of their Martine.

Martine is laying on the couch, her head on the folded blanket. She has barely moved from her position in close to twenty four hours.

The evening before she had cried for a long time as every breath she took reminded her of her friend and inflamed her senses. Once had she cried herself out, she fell in an exhausted sleep, at the end of her emotional rope. She remembered the vivid dream.

She was with the man of her dreams. He smelled heavenly and it excited her very much. For the very first time, she had found a man that was not repulsed by her desire to inhale deeply of his manly scents. In fact, he had felt the same. He had moved along her body, from her feet to her hair, taking deep breaths to capture her every natural emanations. He had even lifted her legs so he could better smell her anus. She had been so turned on by this action that, when he was smelling her sex, she had an orgasm when his nose lightly brushed her clitoris.

She had just finished smelling his feet and had even licked them which had him squirming. She was on her way up, stopping along the way to breathe in the sweat behind his knees and lick it to add the taste to the smell. Her hands were massaging the smooth shaved skin of his calves, then his thighs. She loved the sensation. 'He is the perfect man.' She thought. When she came to the juncture of his legs, she thought she would surely pass out so powerful was the effect of his manly aroma on her. She was tempted to use her mouth again, but she refrained, not wanting to risk causing him to ejaculate and not be able to satisfy her needs later on. So, she only ran her hands on his blood engorged labia, scooping some of his cream on her finger and licking it clean. She rubbed her nose on his clitoris as he had done and felt him shudder. 'Is he also experiencing a sweet orgasm as I did?' She wondered.

She lifted his legs and, gripping his well-rounded plump cheeks, kneaded the soft flesh as she pulled them apart and pushed her nose on his anus. She tried to penetrate it so she could catch even more of his earthy scent. She felt empowered by his acceptance of her special desires and she dared to lick his ass hole, finding that she liked the texture of wrinkled skin and the peculiar taste.

Almost swooning at the experience, she forced herself to continue her journey. She smelled and licked the sweat that beaded on the smooth skin of his abdomen and in the crease under his big soft breasts. She noticed that his brown nipples were hard and so were the little bumps surrounding his large areolae.

When she reached his armpits, she lifted his arms so she could burrow her nose in the shaved flesh, inhaling deeply of his manly smell and licking his sweat. She did the same, on his neck, concentrating on the fold behind his ears where sebum accumulated. She took his beautiful silky auburn hair in her hands to rub it all over her face.

Straddling him, she noticed the perfect bow of his full lips, but her gaze was arrested by his deep brown eyes. 'I could lose myself in those and never want to escape.' She thought. Putting her hands on his breasts and pinching his hard nipples between her fingers, she lifted her hips and lowered herself on his manhood. She began a slow movement, rotating her pelvis, grinding her pubic bone on his to stimulate their clitorises until she could take the slow copulation any more. She accelerated the rhythm until she was riding him for all she was worth, her head thrown back, her spine arched.

As the glorious sensations coursing through her body culminated in an explosion of passion, she heard his sultry voice 'I love you'.

Her eyes snap open and she finds herself on her own couch, her face is flat on the soiled blanket. Her hand is under her and she is furiously grinding on it as her fingers are deep in her vagina.

"Catherine!" She wails at the empty apartment. When the orgasm releases its tight grip on her body, she sobs in misery.

The night has gone by. So has the day. She is still on the couch. She has barely left it at all and then only to attend to the demands of her body, swallowing a glass of water mechanically after she has washed her hands. She is sweaty, her hands, her thighs and the crack of her ass are sticky with her cream from the multiple orgasms she has had. She can't close her eyes without the image of the naked Catherine appearing before her, alluring, sexy, provoking her immediate arousal.

She has cried the last tears from her body, but she still sobs piteously, unable to stop as her emotions are a jumble of conflicts.

She hears banging on her door. At first, her heart soars as she thinks that her friend has come back, but she slumps back on the couch as she realizes she would not be banging and shouting at her to open the door.

Eventually, she rises and, feet dragging, she goes to open it, unmindful of her nudity. She comes face to face with a very angry Doctor Grisholm, who shouts. "What the hell did you do to her?"

Martine is perplexed by the outburst. 'What did I do to whom?' She is standing still in front of Sarah, slack-jawed, blood-shot eyed, filthy and smelly.

Sarah takes in the woman in front of her and the smells eventually register. "What have you done? Do you have another woman here? Have you been fucking all day long while she has cried herself into near catatonia? She is projecting her pain all over the place and we can't reach her." The harangue continues as Sarah, her strong hands on her shoulders, is shaking Martine hard.

Eventually part of the message filters through. Her friend Catherine is in pain. But what is this 'projecting'? She is confused.

"What are you saying? Is she hurt? Was she in an accident? Is that why she didn't come back like she promised she would?" Martine asks anxious for her friend's safety.

"The 'accident' is you. What happened here yesterday? She arrived at my place in tears and I couldn't get her to make sense. She was so unhappy that she began to project and I couldn't stop her. I think she is caught in a loop of misery of her own making. I was afraid of something like that which is why we created the program to train support therapists, but we are still months away from any being up to making rapport with her."

"Wait a moment, what is this 'rapport' you are talking about? That reminds me of something she said in passing but did not elaborate on."

"We have a small cadre of empath therapists but we feared they may suffer ill effects from being so close to sick patients. So we devised a program to train support therapists to enter in a rapport with them and help stabilize them. That's the point of your special classes, but we were to start the next level of training when you all had finished your first internship and had begun working at the clinic."

"Then I can help her. She has been teaching this next level to me and she says I'm a natural. Take me to her, please."

Sarah is dubious about the idea. It's a big risk to take without even knowing if their idea would work. Yes, they have already invested years in it, but it is still untested. She weighs the pros and cons and comes to the inevitable conclusion that they must try something if they wish to help Catherine in her time of crisis and since nothing else seems to work, they might as well give this wild idea a shot.

"Okay. I'm willing to try if you are. Push comes to shove, we can sedate her and hope to break the cycle of misery. Now, go take a quick shower. You stink like a whore after a busy Friday night."

Martine reacts automatically to the tone of command and is on her way to the bathroom when she halts. Her back rigid, she thinks furiously. 'What if?' She runs to her room and puts on a kaftan, her shoes and returns to the living room.

"I told you to take a shower. You stink of sex and I don't want her to know you've been playing around behind her back. She cares about you and I won't let you hurt her."

"Trust me, Doctor. I know what I'm doing. This is for the best." 'I hope.' She amends silently. "That's the reason I put this on instead of regular clothes."

She grabs her keys and pushes an angry Sarah out the door. "You trained me and pushed me hard for a reason. Trust me and let me do my job. I don't know the specifics of your work, but I know how to use all the tools available when a patient needs me. So move your ass and take me to her."

Sarah allows herself to be bullied along. She grumbles, but inwardly, she jubilates. 'I knew it. I was right with this one. Karen will owe me a five course meal at my mother's place.'

They have driven to this mostly deserted industrial area and parked in front of a decrepit apartment building. A single light shines at a second floor window.

They rush up stairs, taking them two at a time. As they near a door under which Martine can see a strip of light, Sarah pulls her up short and says. "Steel your resolve. Remember that you have a patient in there who needs you. Take deep breaths and calm your mind. Center yourself. You know how, you've been doing it for years now. It should be second nature."

She feels uneasy for no reason. It takes her a moment to find her center, but she is ready now. She steps forward, but when she touches the door handle, the uneasiness increases. Something is wrong, very wrong. When she opens the door, a wave of sadness, guilt and hurt hits her. She reels and is about to retrace her steps when two strong hands grip her shoulders. A soft yet commanding voice slices through her confused thoughts. "Martine, Listen to me. Listen to my voice. You are strong. You can do this. Remember who you are. Your friend needs you."

'Catherine needs me. I've been trained for this. I can help her. I will help her.' She repeats to herself.

Her friend lies on the bed, a woman she does not know sits on a chair at the side of the bed, haggard under the onslaught of negative emotions and her impotence to be of help. Catherine is curled in a foetal position. She can smell her soiled clothes from where she stands. Her mind shifts to professional mode. She turns to Sarah and orders her to get a washcloth from the bathroom or, failing that to wet the end of a towel in hot water so she can clean her friend. She then turns to the woman who must be a nurse and snarls in low tones. "Couldn't you at least clean her? Why did you leave her like that?" Her eyes shoot sparks she is so angry.

Wild eyed, the woman answers. "I tried, but she got so agitated when I tried to remove her clothes, I was afraid she would hurt herself."

Martine pulls the woman out of her chair and pushes her away, taking her place. She leans over her friend and whispers. "I'm here, darling, everything will be all right, but first I must get those soiled clothes off you. No need to get so agitated. See, I'm also naked and I want to see your beautiful body again. Would you let me, please?" So saying she stands and removes her loose garment.

When Sarah returns with the requested items, she sees a naked Martine who is in the process of cutting away Catherine's clothes. 'Why didn't we think of that?' She muses. When the dirty clothes have been thrown to the floor, Martine turns to her, takes the wet washcloth and dry towel and snarls. "Get that useless bitch to get rid of the clothes, preferably to burn them." Then calmly, crooning softly, she proceeds to clean her friend.

Outside the apartment, Sarah gently tells the bewildered nurse to throw the clothes in the first garbage bin she sees and then go home. She thanks her for her help, assures her she has done a good job under trying circumstances and that she will call her later. When she re-opens the door, she can feel the difference. Most of the tension is gone, but there is still a strong undercurrent of guilt and hurt in Catherine's projections. She is proud to see that none of this phases Martine. Once she has finished summarily washing her, she rolls her this way and that as she pulls the bed sheet from under her and throws it as far as she can.