Falling for the Wrong Man (Mature 18+)

Chapter 12 - First night out

Jess spent hours inside the world of the entertainment system. Not only did everything outside her viewer melt away, she found that she could also manipulate things, in a limited way. When she went into a café with a character, she realised she could sit down at an adjacent table. She could even order a coffee and drink it. The weirdest thing was that when she drank it, there was no taste, but she could feel air rush down her throat.

After a while, Miriam tapped Candace and Chloe on the shoulders to begin to get ready. She also pulled Jess out of the system because she had ordered food and wanted her to eat. Jess felt like a few minutes had passed, but when she checked the timer, she saw the sand at the top was now very small.

Soon enough, Jabez came sweeping back into the room. His cheeks were flushed, and he was laughing a lot. Jess thought he looked slightly drunk. He wheeled about the room calling to his wives to get ready for some fun. He grabbed Jess around her waist and smiled into her face.

"Not this time my sweet, but maybe next year." Jabez chuckled madly as he released Jess from his grip. Miriam looked uncomfortable with his behaviour. Jess also moved to sit back down, wondering what was to come. Only Chloe and Candace looked thrilled. They couldn't wait to get out of the room. To get out of all the rooms that they had been living in for such a long time and see some place different.

Jess waved them off and pretended not to care as they left. Secretly, she wanted to go and see everything, especially now because Miriam had closed down and was not talking. On the other hand, she was also delighted to be able to go back into her movie world. As Jabez had been so giddy with happiness, he had forgotten to close Jess into her quarters. Jess liked the freedom to explore the suite and Miriam didn't seem to care that she was spending all her time on entertainment.

In the new, movie world Jess realised there was so much strange stuff to discover. She had found a place where the characters were buying clothes and she was thinking about whether she could also try on the strange garments with them.

She spent a few more hours in the movie world enjoying the old films. There was one thing she couldn't understand. The characters had communication systems. Some were fixed on walls, some of them were portable and others were embedded in their skins. Yet, try as she might, Jess could not use a device. She could pick up the portable ones, but when she listened to it, there was nothing. She saw the characters dialling buttons, so she tried but there was still no sound. Sometimes, symbols flashed up on the screen, but she didn't know what they were or what they meant.

She was staring at a portable device when some characters came and sat next to her. They were talking about meeting someone and one of them held up a device and read out a message. Jess realised she was looking at a message. She tried to ask the characters to read the message for her, but they ignored her as they always did. She felt increasingly frustrated and eventually left the world.

When she came out of the system, the rooms were quiet. She tiptoed into her room and found Miriam already asleep. There was a soft glow from the sand timer. A sun was glowing from the base of the timer as it counted down the time to morning. Jess lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

The next morning when Jess attended breakfast with Jabez he was like a bear with a sore head. The room was still, and it felt ready to explode. Chloe sat quietly, eating her food. Miriam glanced at Jess before turning away. Candace was no where to be seen. Jess wondered if she was sleeping in her quarters. That was strange. Wives were not usually permitted to sleep when a husband was eating in their presence. Jess thought Jabez was being very kind to let her rest.