Strange Dominions: a collection of paranormal short stories (short story books) by David Calvert Page B

condition, she would not require a visual connection to her other self. Like a child with its comforter she felt safe in its presence. Her ability lay at an unconscious level and no doubt she would wake in the morning to recount her night’s wanderings as nothing more than a dream.
    Although I had already exercised my skill to pass through solid objects, I’d never once ventured beyond the physical environment. I was aware from my studies that several other planes of existence were said to exist; subtle counterparts, each interpenetrating the other, each invisible and equally intangible to all except certain ‘sensitives’ and those travelling in astral form. I personally had yet to visit them. That night my education was to reach new dimensions, in more ways than one.
    Without knowing exactly how, I suddenly found myself standing on the edge of a yawning abyss, in an alien world of freakish proportions. To the west the rays of a dying sun struck the landscape at an oblique angle, casting elongated shadows across a lifeless terrain. It was a place that any sane person would actively seek to avoid. Had I not been so distracted by it all I might not have been caught out so easily by Monique.
    “Appropriate, isn’t it,” she said.
    I turned to see her gracefully descend to my level and immediately went on the defensive.
    “Appropriate?” I fail to see what’s so damned appropriate about it.”
    “Look at it. This place is a living hell. Isn’t that what we’ve made of our lives? It only seems right our dreams should reflect the same.”
    “Why have you come
here
, of all places?” I asked.
    She moved closer to me. “Because it’s only here in my dreams that I can tell you the things that need to be said.”
    “Such as?” I asked, knowing full well what her answer would be.
    “I’ve met someone else, and I love him very much,” She looked away, unable to return my gaze.
    With utter contempt I spat the word back at her. “
Love!
Jesus, stop deluding yourself and see it for what it really is. It’s the one thing I can’t give you anymore so you go out and seek it elsewhere, like the bitch in heat you are!”
    She turned on me like a wildcat.
“You pathetic shit!”
She stretched out her words for emphasis. “You think I went out looking for sex elsewhere because of your accident? Christ, you really are dumb. The affair began long before then!”
    There was no stopping Monique when she was in full flow. She let me have it with both barrels. I was
“immature”
,
“inconsiderate”
,
“stubborn”
, and generally an
“all round bastard”
.
    Okay! I’ll admit it. There were times when I was inconsiderate. Who hasn’t been at one time or another? It was hardly grounds for getting laid by the first guy who happened to come along, and I told her as much.
    “Think what you like,” Her words were barbed and full of venom, “One thing’s for sure though; you’ll never screw me again.”
    “And neither will Roger,” I assured her, “I’ll see you fucking dead first!”
    I couldn’t believe it! The bitch just stood there smirking. Then she smugly told me that because this was her dream there was sod all I could do about it.
    I grinned wryly, asking, “And what makes you so damned sure you’re dreaming?”
    Once again that same maddening haughtiness crept into her voice, “What else could it be?”
    Suddenly realising what I was alluding to, she laughed, “What - you’re trying to tell me that there’s some truth to those dumb experiments of yours?”
    I assured her there was and went on to describe in detail everything that had transpired since her phone call.
    “How else”, I quizzed, “could I possibly know the name of your lover?”
    There were a few brief seconds there when I thought I had the bitch stymied. Then she explained as to how it was possible for me to know everything.
    “Because this is
my
dream. You’re just a product of it. You’re only reflecting what
I
know.”
    Her