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Message-ID: <56873asstr$1194527402@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Shalon Wood <dstar@pele.cx>
Subject: {ASSM} Prudence, TX Population 1276 62 (Mff ff Mm rom)
Lines: 163
Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:10:02 -0500
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
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Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

Standard disclaimers apply; this story may or may not contain, in any
given part, graphic depictions of lesbianism, homosexuality, group sex,
bdsm, underage (teen) sex, magic, occultism, violence, and biting 
sarcasm.  If you're underage, or if for any other reason it's illegal 
for you to read this, or you're disturbed by the content, please don't 
read it.

Archived at http://prudence.pele.cx, and we've got a web-forum at
http://playground.pele.cx/forums as well, for discussion of both
Prudence and our other stories. Send an email to velvet@pele.cx and
I'll add you to the mailing list to be notified when Prudence
updates. 

Comments *greatly* appreciated.

Enjoy,

Velvet
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Angie was quiet and reserved the next morning, and prone to frequent
blushing from the time she woke up, right up to when Mark and Kristen
dropped her off at her own house before heading to school. Mark would have
thought that maybe she regretted her actions of the night before, except
that, several times, he caught her watching Kristen with an expression that
went well beyond tender. Adoring, awed, and full of wonder, it bordered on
worshipful at times, and while her attempts at showing the girl her
feelings were hesitant and somewhat awkward, their sincerity was impossible
to doubt. He just wished she was more comfortable with him, and with the
other parts of Kristen's life-- if she couldn't bring herself to accept
them, to try and fit in, she'd only make herself miserable. Despite all
that had happened, Mark didn't want that for her. Even if he had still been
angry, Kristen was happier now, more complete now that the gaping wound on
her soul had been healed. He wouldn't take that away from her for anything,
much less something as petty as revenge.

Kristen seemed perfectly fine that morning. More than fine. She bounced
around the house with even more than her normally obscene amount of bubbly
energy, smiling constantly and occasionally singing sweet, happy love
songs, and once twirled around in pure joyful exuberance, giggling like a
little girl. No... he wouldn't do anything to take that away from her. As
happy as he was to see _her_ happy, though, it scared him. If Angie
couldn't adapt to the lifestyle that Kristen needed, he was afraid it would
hurt her badly-- and Angie had already hurt her quite enough.

The thought of just how badly his young wife had been hurt, and how close
he'd come to losing her, still terrified him. One moment, he'd be watching
her as she smiled sweetly at her new lover, or as she danced happily around
the kitchen, and then the next he'd be reliving that horrible moment in the
ICU. The shrill scream of the heart monitor, the doctor and nurses
surrounding her, blocking her from his view as they worked frantically, the
jackhammer thud of the defibrillator... and then the words that had torn
his soul in two. _We've lost her._ He could hear them just as clearly as he
had then, every time he thought about it-- and he couldn't keep from
thinking about it-- and every time he did, it felt like a kick in the gut.
His breath would freeze in his throat, and pain would shoot through his
chest, like a hand of ice crushing his heart. In that moment of memory, he
could hear nothing else, could see nothing else, and it was all he could do
not to fall to his knees and sob. It was no wonder, then, that he hated the
very thought of letting her out of his sight.

Even when she smiled understandingly at him, and assured him that she was
_fine,_ and gently chided him for "needless fussing", he still couldn't
quite believe, on some level, that she really was safe now. Besides, had he
spent the past day at the bedside of a young wife who'd nearly died from an
allergic reaction, he'd be just as worried, so it didn't hurt anything for
him to walk her to her first class, feel her forehead, or stroke her hair.
It would be expected that he'd worry about her relapsing.

Kayla and Aaron hovered and fussed just as much, but fortunately that was
also understandable. It was well known that they were her best friends, and
the school was starting to consider them a "couple", as well, so only the
dirtiest of minds would see something untoward about Aaron's quiet, gentle
worry about "his girlfriend's best friend".

He hated to leave her to her first class, but knew that Kayla would watch
her like a hawk for any signs of distress, and wouldn't hesitate to come
get him if need be. He still lingered longer than he should, until finally
Kristen laughed and pushed him out the door. A quick, sweet kiss, stolen in
the hallway during a rare moment of emptiness, and then he finally found
himself on the way to his own classroom. 

He sat down with a sigh, and got to work grading a stack of papers that he
really should have finished with a couple of days ago. Boring work, and
reading the handwriting of teenagers was, as usual, tedious, so he didn't
mind too terribly when a hesitant knock on the doorframe interrupted him.

Chastity stood there, wringing her hands nervously. "Hey, can I talk to
you?"

He nodded, frowning, and waved at a chair. "Sure. What's up?"

The girl was jittery and anxious, perching on the edge of her chair and not
meeting his eyes. "I talked to Karen," she said. "Um. She's not planning on
pushing Kristen down the stairs anymore. She kinda thinks something like
that is what happened last night. We all know that's bullshit, of course,
but if she can't just see that, I don't think I can teach her, y'know?"
When she finally looked up, she still looked worried, though, so Mark
doubted that that was her only news.

"What's she planning now?" he asked.

"I don't _know_. I don't know if she is, not for sure." She looked at him,
her face twisted with misery and confusion. "But if you'd threatened
something like that, and then it actually happened, shouldn't you feel,
y'know, _guilty?_ At least a little bit, even if you don't like the
person?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. It's not what happened, and she'll hear that soon
enough. I think it was an allergic reaction to something, but the doctors
didn't know what." The explanation was a lie, of course, but that didn't
stop the memory of what _had_ happened from making him shudder as he gave
it. "It was... scary."

Chastity looked at him sympathetically. "Most people don't believe such
dumb rumors, anyway. But Karen... she kept going on about _God,_ of all
things, Mr. H. How God always punishes sinners and shit like that. I mean,
sure, we've all had it shoved at us, but she never cared about that kind of
crap before." She sighed and shook her head. "Anyway, here's the tape. It
really freaks me out. It's like she's been possessed or something."

That wasn't entirely out of the question, given some of the things Mark had
seen since he'd moved to Prudence, and he frowned grimly. Even if it wasn't
anything unnatural, though, a psychotic teenager fixated on 'punishing' his
wife was quite bad enough. He wasn't about to dismiss the girl as harmless,
not when he could still hear the scream of the heart monitor every time he
closed his eyes. Not when he knew how easy it would be for her to have an
'accident'. "What's on here exactly? Any threats?" he asked.

"No, she seems to think that God will do it all on his own. Personally.
It's _weird!"_ Chastity said, tugging nervously on one of her ponytails. "I
think she needs to be locked up in the loony bin."

Direct threats or no, it was still completely unacceptable. Besides, too
many people over the centuries had got tired of waiting on their god to
punish the 'sinners' and had taken it into their own hands. Or stirred up a
witch hunt to help them out. In Prudence, he couldn't quite rule out the
possibility, either. They might not do anything blatant, but to the person
in the fire there wasn't much difference between being burned at the stake
or burned in your own home, as the Wilsons had been. "Screw this," he
muttered. "This has gone far enough. Where is she at this time of morning?"

"Um. She has band practice, over in the music building. Why?"

"I'm going to go talk to her, I think."

The girl looked skeptical. "Well, I guess it might help, but I doubt it.
She needs drugs or something."

"Maybe. I'm going to see what I can do, anyway."

"Well, good luck," Chastity said. "Gotta get to class and finish my
homework before the bell rings. See ya in Chem."

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If you like this, you might want to take a look at Strange Love, an
e-zine of sf/fantasy/paranormal erotica. The first issue is on sale
now for $2 at:

http://strangelove.pele.cx

Take a look!

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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