Message-ID: <17200eli$9811170425@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: From: "Phil Stevens" Subject: NEW: Rachel's Curse 12/12 (tg MF rom) Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="x-user-defined" Path: qz!not-for-mail Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam Approved: X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded X-Story-Submission: X-Original-Message-ID: <000401be1098$aa148ee0$180a883e@anonymou> Here's the final part of Rachel's Curse. I hope you like it. Phillip Stevens phil_stevens@bigfoot.com ======================================================= Rachel's Curse ============== Chapter Twelve -------------- "R-R-Rachel," Paul repeated breathlessly, feeling the intense pain of the bullet wound. Rachel suddenly stopped. She was completely shocked. He called her Rachel. No one except Paul had called her Rachel since their wedding. "What did you say?" she said sternly pointing the gun at him once more. She was quite prepared to put more than one bullet in him to make sure she killed him. "Rachel. It's me. It's Paul," he said looking around blindly because he still had tape over his eyes. His voice was already faltering as he fought the immense pain. In that instant, Rachel felt a level of shock that she had never felt before. She just stood there frozen, unable to move or speak. "R-Rachel," Paul repeated, "It's me, Paul. Come on let me go." Rachel was finally shaken out of her trance. "He's trying to trick me," Rachel thought, "He knows about the curse and now he wants me to let him go." After spending days grieving, she was utterly convinced that her lover was lying in a coma and the man responsible was sitting right in front of her. She raised the gun again, with the emotional side of her saying that she should kill him before he tried to fool her anymore with his lies. That had been another reason why Rachel gagged him in the first place. She didn't want Jeff Morton to play any mind games with her stating that Paul begged for it, or something like that. "Paul's in hospital. You put him there," Rachel yelled at him. "N-No. We switched. Rachel, listen to me. I've got your curse as well," Paul replied, "I got it when we got married. That's why we didn't switch. Rachel, I've been looking for you for weeks. Rachel, I love you." Rachel sought to internally ignore what he was saying. She tried to raise the gun again, but she knew straight away that she would not be able to shoot him if there was even the slightest possibility that he could be her lover. She toyed with what she should do. Finally she could stand it no more. She walked up to the man in front of her and ripped off the tape around his eyes. He gave a soft cry in pain. His forehead was already hot and he was beginning to sweat. She had trained as a nurse years ago and she knew his wound was serious. After all, she was trying to kill him. Paul blinked his eyes open slowly. He was already beginning to fall into shock. The light hurt his eyes because his irises were so dilated from the dark. He squinted his eyes as he looked up and saw Rachel standing over him. It was the most welcome sight he had seen in weeks. But what wasn't so welcoming was the fact that Rachel was holding a gun to his face with both hands. Paul opened his eyes wider as his eyes adjusted to the light. When he could open them completely, their eyes locked. Rachel looked deep into his eyes, "Oh my god," she said as her jaw dropped. A part of her had still been thinking that this was a trick. She was expecting to be looking into the eyes of a murderer. But as their eyes locked, she saw the soul of her lover behind the face. She slowly lowered the gun and it fell from her hands. Rachel quickly pulled off the tape around his arms and his legs. She wanted to throw her arms around him, but instead looked at his chest and saw him bleeding profusely. She brought her hands up to her head as she began to realize exactly what she'd done. Instead of shooting her lover's attacker, she just shot her lover with what could be a fatal shot. Her nurse training kicked in instantly. She ripped up some clothes and made a makeshift bandage and tied it around Paul's chest. Although she looked calm, internally she was in a state of absolute panic as the consequences of her actions were beginning to sink in fully. When she finished the bandage, she quickly inspected the wound. Her aim had been lousy. She had been aiming for his chest, but she had hit him in the abdomen and the bullet had passed right through him. Rachel knew this would give Paul at least a fighting chance. Even so, she recognized that such a wound was very life threatening if Paul did not get urgent medical treatment. He needed to go to a hospital right now. Rachel paced up and down the room a few times "What could she do," she thought to herself. She couldn't take him to a hospital because he's in Jeff Morton's body. She was going to have to take care of him here. But she was no surgeon, only a nurse. Still, she knew she had no option. She walked over to Paul and dragged his chair over the bed. Although she was in a strong male body and Paul had lost some weight in Jeff Morton's body, he was still too heavy for Rachel to lift so when the chair was beside the bed, she did her best to push him onto the bed. There was blood everywhere. She removed her gloves and then set about doing everything required to save Paul's life. Paul had remained silent until now as he slipped deeper and deeper into shock. But despite his condition, he opened his eyes and forced a smile as he watched his lover tend to his wound. "It's good to see you," Paul croaked, his voice faltering. Rachel stopped for an instant and looked over. She tried to answer back, but she couldn't speak so she just smiled. Tears were rolling down her male cheeks. How could she have been so stupid? Her rage and her hatred had blinded her any other possibility. As far as she had been concerned, there was absolutely no doubt in her mind as to who was responsible. But she was wrong, and now her lover is dying because of it. Rachel continued to work tirelessly using anything she could find as a surgical bandage or implement. Neither Paul nor Rachel spoke. Rachel struggled to keep her focus. She knew that in order to concentrate, she had to put everything she's just done out of her mind. Eventually she knew she had done everything she possibly could. It was up to Paul's body to do the rest. Then she knelt down beside the bed taking Paul's hand in hers. Rachel reached up to put a hand on Paul's face. As she did this, she covered his face in his own blood. The sight of this caused her emotions, which Rachel had struggled to hold back, to finally break through. "I'm sorry," Rachel sobbed, before breaking into a cry. "It's not your fault," Paul gasped out trying to reassure Rachel. Although Rachel had shot him, none of that mattered. He was finally reunited with his lover. "I-I-I thought you w-were..." Rachel fought to explain. "It's okay," Paul said as he coughed slightly, "You're not to blame. I forgive you," he coughed once more. Paul was feeling so sleepy. He closed his eyes. "Hey, wake up," Rachel shook him. He was in shock and she couldn't allow him to sleep right now. Rachel succeeded in waking him up briefly, but he just looked at Rachel, smiled and said "I love you", before closing his eyes again. He could feel Rachel shaking him as he completely lost consciousness ************** Paul's mind seemed to drift for hours as he slipped in and out of consciousness. He felt a floating sensation. It felt like he was floating underwater, being forced to go where the current took him. One minute, the current would take him one way, then the next minute the other way as the different tides fought for ownership of his body. After a complete eternity, he felt could see a light above him. He guessed this was the light that people see as they are about to die. "Am I dead," Paul thought. He felt his body rising through the water. He soon saw that the light wasn't a single point of light, but was all above him. As his body rose throughout the water, he realized he was rising to the surface. A few seconds later, his body reached the surface. Paul opened his eyes slowly. The first thing he could see was that it was daylight as the sun shined brightly through the window. The second thing he saw was Rachel leaning over him in his old male body. He could see the joy on her face was as clear as the day. "I'm still alive then," Paul spoke softly. Paul tried to sit up, but his body protested. "Hey. Don't sit up," Rachel stopped him, "You won't be moving for a while. Here, drink this," she said as the placed a glass of water at his mouth. Paul drank from the water slowly. "You're gonna be fine," Rachel told him grinning wide, "But I'll have to go and get some medical supplies soon. You did lose a lot of blood and we need to make sure that wound doesn't get infected." "Rachel, I'm also cursed..." Paul struggled to explain. Although it probably wasn't the most appropriate thing to say, this had been the first thing Paul wanted to say to Rachel, to explain whom he really was. He had rehearsed what he would say so many times that his mind was just on automatic. "I know, I know," Rachel said stopping him, "During the night, I found that letter. Then I finally managed to get into that computer over there. I read your story. I know what happened to you," Rachel kissed his hand, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." Paul tried to shift into a more comfortable position, but the pain of his wound stopped him from moving at all. "Ow," he cried as Rachel helped him move. "Hey. How close did I come to... dying," Paul said remembering his weird dream about floating in water. "Close," Rachel replied, but she didn't tell him that it was quite literally at death's door just after he passed out. Several times during the night, Rachel thought she was going to lose him when he would get better one minute, then deteriorate the next. But as the sun began to rise, Paul finally started to pull through. But it had been the longest night of her life. She felt feelings of guilt and anguish on a scale that she never thought possible. She couldn't even imagine how she could possibly live with herself had Paul died. Paul looked up at Rachel. Her male eyes were red from crying and she clearly needed sleep. He knew that Rachel never did that much crying when male, so she'd clearly been making up for it recently. The nightmare they had both been living these past few weeks was finally over. But Paul's mind was instantly turned to the future. He realized that it wasn't all over yet. In fact, there was still a hell of a lot to be done. They were both currently in male bodies and he was still in the body of a wanted serial killer. "Rachel. What are we gonna do about..." he started to say. "Shhhhh. Don't worry about that. First, you need to get better. We're together now. We can worry about the all that later. I'll take care of everything. I'll never let anyone hurt you again," Rachel reassured him. Although they were both in male bodies, Rachel was still playing the male role, partly because she had been male for so long, but also because she still felt blame for the whole situation. However, Paul relented. It didn't matter at all which body they were in now. They were together again and that was all that counted. Rachel reached down and gave her lover a long hug. Paul did his best to return the hug given his debilitating position and the two lovers remained in this embrace as they both cried in happiness. ************** ONE YEAR LATER Paul and Rachel relaxed on the sofa as they continued to watch the newscast. "...and so nearly a year to the day after he was arrested, Jeff Morton was sentenced to Death by Lethal Injection by Judge Franks. This brought to a conclusion a bizarre sequence of events. The judge also paid special thanks to Rachel Wilkins without whom this man might have never been caught." "For those that don't remember, Rachel Wilkins was the woman who escaped from Jeff Morton, but was knocked down by a car as she tried to run away. She was taken to hospital where she fell into a deep coma. Her husband Paul Wilkins disappeared out of grief. When he returned some weeks later, Rachel emerged from her coma the next day." The new Paul interrupted at this point, "Y'know, I sure that witch had something to do with that. The doctors told me that 'you' would have virtually no chance of recovering, but the day after we get back to tidy things up, 'he' makes an amazing recovery. It was too convenient." "Yeah. I think you're right," the new Rachel replied, "Maybe she found out what happened, realized she's partly to blame, so tried to put things right by healing this body." as she gestured to her own body, now fully healed. Paul was going to say something, but the TV program was continuing so they both looked on interested. The newsreader continued. "For the first day, Rachel seemed to be in denial of who she was as her husband comforted her, but the next day, Jeff Morton broke into the hospital despite the police presence. He temporarily overpowered Rachel's husband and tried to finish the job he had started with Rachel. He raped her, but fortunately Rachel's husband recovered and was able to knock him unconscious before he could complete his task and ultimately kill her." Rachel interrupted, "Well, that's the... official version of what happened," she laughed as she thought back to how much of a risk they had taken by sneaking her into the hospital so she could switch back. Switching back with Jeff Morton was not part of the original plan. They had returned to Denver to tidy things up, then they were going to disappear together, find a new female body and live their lives in happiness. But when Jeff Morton recovered, they felt they had to take this opportunity. But had she been caught before they switched back, she could have been the one on Death Row instead of him. Still, everything turned out okay. The newsreader continued, "When Jeff Morton was being dragged away by police, he offered little resistance largely because of a recent gunshot wound. He had to be seen by doctors immediately. Police were puzzled as to who shot him and how well the wound had been tended to." Rachel winced at the memory of how much being shot had actually hurt and how well her lover had tended her for days afterwards. "During his trial, Jeff Morton made wild claims about waking up in hospital as Rachel. Prosecutors dismissed this as a desperate attempt to claim insanity and the jurors agreed." "But the most crucial and damning piece of evidence was the videotape later found. On this tape, he confesses to killing numerous women although he mentions no names. During the trial, Jeff Morton denied ever making that recording, despite the overwhelming visual evidence." Rachel once again interrupted, "Hey, you know, even after what he did to me, I feel a bit guilty there. I made that confession, yet it put him on Death Row." "Well don't," Paul replied, "He's a cold blooded murderer. We saved a lot of other innocent women by making sure he was convicted. He's getting exactly what he deserves." The news item finished soon afterwards and the new Paul switched off the TV with the remote and beckoned his wife to join him closer on the sofa. The new Rachel relaxed into her husband's arms as they cuddled up together. "Y'know, we can switch back whenever we want now with Janet's help. We don't have to wait until our anniversary," Paul said. "I know," Rachel replied, "But we said we'd swap back every two years and we will. That witch was right. I don't mind being Rachel so much now." Rachel comforted herself in her husband's arms as she thought to herself that she would switch back with her husband again. She now had no problems living as a woman, but she still looked forward to when she would be male again. But at this point things were so happy for her. Paul had returned to work and things were back to normal. A few film producers that were interested in making her story into a movie had even approached them and Rachel had started writing about her ordeal. Of course, she had to make some drastic changes to the real version of events, but it was giving her something to do while Paul was at work. There was a part of Rachel that was telling her that they should stay like this forever, now they were settled. They are due to switch back in eight months time at the time of their second wedding anniversary. It will be quite a change for her to be the man again after being the housewife for so long. Returning to work will also take some adjusting. But as difficult as it might be, Rachel thought that they shouldn't ignore the gift they had. For a brief period just before they got married, they considered this curse of theirs to be a gift. After their marriage, it effectively became a curse again, but now they can both finally appreciated it for what it is. Rachel grinned as she finally got comfortable. Although Paul had offered for them to switch back now and she declined because she was happy, there was one extra reason she said no. She didn't know if it would be even possible at the moment. Her period was late, very late although wouldn't tell Paul just yet until she was sure. Her grin widened as she worked out the dates. Their second wedding anniversary in eight months would be perfect timing. She enjoyed being a woman, but she wasn't sure if she could handle being a mother just yet. But compared to everything else that had happened to her in the past few years, maybe being a mother wouldn't be as bad as she thinks... The End. Phillip Stevens phil_stevens@bigfoot.com -- +----------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `--------------+ | | | | Archive site +----------------------+--------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ | ----