Chapter 72

“OK Sunny, so here’s the plan,” I said, sitting in the front seat of the Diplomat with my body turned so I could face Sunset in the back seat. “Flutters and I are gonna get out here, and we’ll take the cash and all the weird stuff in case they search the car when you cross. You take the car across the bridge with your passport, then meet us at the Oakes Hotel down at the far end of the strip.”

Sunset nodded, signalling that she understood her part. “How are you guys crossing?”

I grinned. “We’re gonna cross the river.”

It was mid-afternoon on Saturday, October 22. The remainder of our drive to New York State was uneventful after the attack on the desert road in New Mexico, and Fluttershy was still a mess, having refused to stop anywhere during the drive to get a motel so she could shower. She had continued to become more withdrawn and stoic as time went on, to the point where she hadn't said a word for the past 24 hours, which had Sunset and I becoming fairly worried about her. Even when Sunset and I told her about the phone call to one of the owners of ‘Us’, she responded only with utter indifference and simply turned her head to look out the window.

My girlfriend and I had exited the car and were now crossing the bridge to Goat Island on foot, carrying the bags of items with us that we didn’t want to leave in the car. I held her hand as we walked, thinking about how I’d always wanted to bring her here: the honeymoon capital of the world, Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, the circumstances that led us here were not what I would have preferred, and we still had a job to do, which was to get Fluttershy back into Canada without her passport.

The place wasn’t overly busy, even for the time of year -- which was advantageous for us -- but there were still plenty of tourists around who seemed to have no problem with gawking at the shy girl’s dishevelled appearance as we made our way to the edge of the Horseshoe Falls. She had Sunset’s red T-shirt on still, as well as a pair of spare shoes that the red-head had brought, which was an improvement, however she was still wearing those rough-looking gray pants from the facility, and her skin and hair was still smudged with dark filth.

“This is why I wanted to stop and clean you up,” I said, leaning over to whisper to her over the roar of the falls. “You stick out like a sore thumb. People are looking at us.”

She silently glanced up, noticing a middle-aged couple who were leaning against the fence along the edge, looking over their shoulders at us as we passed. Her face became flushed immediately, and she looked back down to the ground.

“It doesn’t really matter anyway,” I continued, “we’re here now, but when we get into the hotel room you have to have a shower and clean up.”

Fluttershy glared at me for a moment as though she was going to protest, but she seemed to give up quickly and returned to eyes to the ground.

“I know you just want to get home,” I said, giving her hand a squeeze. “But the drive to BC from here is another three or four days, and you look and smell like shit.”

She huffed quietly.

“Relatively speaking, of course,” I pointed out as we stopped at the fence at the outermost point of the island. “I mean, you’re still prettier than everyone else here, even after being locked up and tortured at the bottom of the ocean for almost a month.”

I leaned on the fence next to the shy girl and put my arm around her, giving her shoulder a gentle rub as we gazed out over the scene before us. I always forgot how colossal these falls were until I was right next to them.

Even Fluttershy’s attention was roused by the massive curve of flowing water stretching out before us, continuously dumping it's shimmering blue contents into the deep river below; literally millions of gallons per minute, sending a massive cloud of mist into the air, the ground perpetually vibrating under our feet with the constant roar of water crashing down at the bottom.

“Maybe the water will wash some of the dirt off,” I said in a half daze.

She looked at me suddenly. “Y-you mean that water?” she quietly asked, pointing to the waterfall.

I gave her a frank nod.

She furrowed her brows as she looked across the water, then back to me. “Goldie, are we gonna…?”

“Yup,” I replied with a smirk. “We’re gonna do what quite a few of people have done, but only a handful have survived.”

Her eyes widened. “We’re gonna go over the falls? Why?”

“Not quite,” I replied. “We’re gonna jump down into the gorge in front of the falls.” I pointed across the river to a small platform. “You see that landing there?” I asked, to which she nodded. “That’s part of a tour called ‘Journey Behind the Falls’. They’ve basically tunneled out that rock so you can walk under the falls and see them from behind, and that platform is there so you can view them from the bottom. Now, there’s an elevator that takes you up to that building right there.” I raised my finger to the street at the top of the cliff, beyond which there was a large building. “The entrance to the tour is in that building, as well as the exit.”

“Wait,” she interrupted. “Won’t they think it’s weird that two people just showed up out of nowhere?”

“Doubtful. The tour isn’t really monitored,” I explained. “All the tour guide does is run the elevator. They’re not gonna suspect anyone to try sneaking into the country that way, mostly because people tend to die when they go over THAT.” I pointed to the massive waterfall in front of us.

The shy girl stared inattentively into the massive white cloud of mist that loomed over us, and I watched her for a second before continuing to explain the plan.

“OK so, this is what we’re going to do. You’re gonna get on my back, and I’m going to jump as far across as I can, then we’ll have to swim the rest of the way. Now, the current’s gonna carry us past that platform pretty quickly, but we can still make it to the other side, so we’ll have to backtrack once we get over there. I’m actually going to jump into the crook of the waterfall to the left of the platform, that way we won’t lose as much ground to the current before we get across.”

I pointed my index finger down into the river, moving it along slowly as I showed her the flow of the current. “See that? Because of the slight curve in the gorge, the current will carry us along the far side, so it will take us more-or-less where we want to go, even if it is a bit too far downstream.”

She looked down silently into the gorge for a moment, then reached up to clear some frazzled hair from her face as she turned to me.

Seeing the gesture made my heart flutter. It had been so long since I saw her do it, and even though her hair was so unkempt and her face dirty, seeing her sweep her it aside reminded me of the innocence she possessed when I first met her. It’s funny how the little things are what you miss the most about a person when they’re gone, and you don’t even realise it until you have them back.

“Um,” she had started to say while I daydreamed, “have you done this before?”

I snapped out of my Fluttershy-induced daze and brought myself to reality. “Uh, what? Oh! No, I haven’t.” I nodded towards the Rainbow Bridge further down river, past the Bridal Veil Falls. “Usually, I would take that across. It’s a bit easier,” I said with a chuckle.

She glanced at the bridge for a moment, then gave me a blank expression.

My smile faded when I saw her reaction, and I let out a defeated sigh. “Listen,” I said, pulling her close so I could rest my cheek on the side of her head. “I’m sorry I said you smell like shit. If it makes you feel better, even though you look the worst I’ve ever seen you, you’re still a solid drunk-nine.”

She pulled back a bit and glared at me with her brows furrowed for a few seconds, then sighed slowly as she returned her eyes to the waterfall. “Um…thanks.”

“Nice one…” I scolded myself. After taking a deep breath, I apologised. “Sorry, Flutters. I’m not trying to be mean to you, it’s just that I’m used to hanging around with Sunny after these past few weeks, and she and I tease each other a lot. It’s just for fun. I’m just trying to be playful with you, but I guess I forgot you’re not like Sunny.”

She remained silent for a minute or two before finally saying something in return. “It’s…it’s OK. I know I’m not my usual self either.”

“What’s bothering you?” I asked. “Is it your friend that helped you out of the base?”

She nodded in response. “But...i-it’s not just that.”

I could sense that she wasn’t ready to open up about her experience yet, so I reluctantly decided to let it go. “Whenever you’re ready, Flutters, we’ll talk. And I get that you’re a little off after what happened. I’ve been through sucky things before that made me super-fucked up, so I know how you feel.”

Fluttershy paused for a moment as if she wanted to say something, but instead she rested her head on my shoulder, much to my relief.

I cleared my throat. “So, going back to what I was saying before: no. I haven’t jumped off these falls before. I’ve been here lots of times over the years, and It’s something I’ve always wanted to try, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t want to do it alone. I always thought such an experience is something that should be shared, but making someone come with me for something like that would be considered…uh, cruel?” I chuckled. “But now I have you here, and there’s no one else the world I’d rather have take the plunge with me.”

She didn’t say anything, and I couldn’t see her face, so all I could do was hope she smiled or responded positively in some way to my remark.

She finally decided to speak after a few moments. “So what are we waiting for?” she finally asked.

“Uh…” I looked around the area. There were a few couples and a family of four quietly walking around, enjoying the scenery. “I’d rather wait until these people clear out of here. I don’t want to freak them out, you know?”

She nodded.

I looked down river towards the bridge again. “It’ll probably take Sunny a while to get across anyway. Because that old car doesn’t belong to her, I can pretty much guarantee they’ll search it.”

Fluttershy looked at me with sudden concern. “Do you think they’ll take the kitties?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “They won’t care about that. We have all the questionable stuff here with us, and we made sure there was no blood left on the car, so Sunny should be fine.”

“You think, um…she’ll handle it OK?”

I nodded. “Oh yeah. She’s handled plenty in the past month. She’ll just make sure she touches the customs officer’s hand when she hands over her passport, and she’ll tell him exactly what he wants to hear.”

The shy girl nodded as I looked around again, hoping everyone else was going to clear out and give us a chance to make the jump without any witnesses.

***

“OK Flutters, they’re gone. Now’s our chance!”

After close to an hour of patient waiting, the last lingering couple we were watching had finally left sight of the observation deck, so Fluttershy and I wasted no time in making our move before anymore people showed up.

“You have the bags?” I asked quickly, to which she nodded as she slung them over her shoulder. “OK. Get on my back and hang on tight.”

Fluttershy silently went behind me and wrapped her slender arms around my shoulders, pulling herself up onto my back. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and I hooked an arm under one of her knees while grasping one of her arms with my other hand to ensure I wouldn’t lose her in the violently churning water at the bottom.

Before starting the run, I turned my head to look at her. “Ready?”

She paused for a second, then planted a tiny kiss on my cheek before giving a small nod of approval.

“Here it goes.”

I took a quick breath, aiming myself towards the space in the middle of the falls, then I took off running. We had been holding our position about fifty feet from the fence at the edge of the cliff, which gave me plenty of space to accelerate to a speed that would gain us plenty of distance once I leapt over the edge. As I approached the fence, I brought one foot up and leapt onto the fence rail, then launched myself and the shy girl over the edge and into the roaring abyss below.

We were suddenly weightless as we soared over the edge of the waterfall, which met with the shoreline next to where we had just departed from. It wasn’t long before were we below the brink of the falls; continuing our descent downwards, the air around us getting colder, the mist quickly dampening our clothes as we disappeared into the giant cloud of mist that rose from the bottom.

We found ourselves in the dark soon, surrounded by the roaring water, unable to see below us as we plunged unreservedly into the unknown. Fluttershy held onto me tightly, undoubtedly nervous about the deafening roar that pounded our eardrums, which only got louder as we advanced deeper and deeper into the gorge.

I wasn’t sure how far across we had made it by that point, and even though I had worked up a good momentum before the launch, this was a very expansive stretch of water to cross, and the cloud of mist was now serving only to hide our progress.

We were prepared for the cold shock of soon plunging into the water at the bottom, and we had our breath held in anticipation of the impact, unsure of what it was going to be like, how violent the current would be, or how far across we had gotten. The mist was so thick that both Fluttershy and I were practically soaked already, and the roar of the water splashing down at the bottom had reached a volume that neither of us could fathom, indicating that we must be close to impact.

It wasn’t happening, however. I would brace myself every few seconds, using the sound of the water around us, as well as the increasing splash-back as a guide to judge when our imminent touch down would be, but it never came.

“Holy shit, where the hell is the bottom?” I wondered, perplexed by how it could have been possible for our surroundings to become any louder, wetter or colder. I turned my head to look at my girlfriend, who was clutching me tightly; keeping her face nuzzled into my shoulder, her eyes squeezed shut with anticipation.

Perpetually weightless, Fluttershy and I descended for an endless period of time into what I was starting to suspect was nothing more than a portal into a dimension of deafening nothingness. Evidently, we as humans had forgotten yet again how small we are in the face of nature, not realising how deep the gorge actually was until we experienced the fall for ourselves.

Finally, after bracing for impact several times, having been faked out by the intensity of our surroundings repeatedly, our bodies splashed into the churning depths at the base of the falls. The water was heavily aerated, which reduced our buoyancy and caused us to plunge deep into the water like a rock, making our return to the surface a very slow one.

It was even louder below the surface. The sound of hundreds of thousands of gallons impacting all around us hammered our eardrums relentlessly, and the water itself cavitated and vibrated against our skin, tickling and numbing our bodies as we clambered upwards toward the surface, which was having the same time delay effect that we experienced on the way down; each time I anticipated breaking through and taking in a breath of air, it didn’t happen.

I could feel the current pulling us along by that time, and without being able to see where we were or which way we were facing, all I could do was pray that it was taking us in the direction that we wanted. The last thing Fluttershy and I needed was to get trapped against the rocks behind the massive sheet of falling water.

Without warning, we were bathed in sunlight again, signalling to me that we were heading in the right direction, away from the falls. I turned by head to see where the current was taking us, and as we finally broke through the final layer of mist I could see the Canadian rock-face to our left. The old generator plant was a little way ahead yet, and I turned back to look for the tour platform. Finding it quickly, I realised that we had already passed it.

The roar of the water was rapidly fading in volume as the current took us swiftly down river, prompting me to begin frantically swimming towards the rocks on our left. Luckily, the current did help as I had hoped, pushing us towards the Canadian side, giving me a boost of speed so we could reach the shore quickly.

I grabbed onto a rock on the shoreline no more than fifty feet from the power plant and pulled myself and my girlfriend and onto solid ground once again. We sat facing each other on the shoreline with the rock cliff towering above us, our hearts racing after the experience, staring at each other in disbelief of what we had just done together.

Of course, I was the first to speak. “That was…WAY more intense than I expected,” I chuckled between breaths.

Fluttershy's face was almost completely hidden by her soaking wet hair. Only one of her eyes was showing through a single opening in her locks as she watched me in a silent daze; her mouth open, breathing heavily from the excitement of it all.

I reached out to hook her hair with my index finger and peel it to the side, revealing her dirty, yet beautiful face. “You OK?” I asked, to which she nodded. “Do you think anyone saw us?”

Fluttershy shook her head and shrugged, signalling that she wasn't sure. I chewed my bottom lip, taking a moment to reflect as I listened to the roar of the falls behind me, and just as I looked up at her again, she suddenly lunged forward to wrap her arms around me.

It caught me off guard, given how distant she’d been since the attack on the road, but it was nonetheless a welcome sign of affection from her. She buried her face into my shoulder and squeezed me tight, letting her cold, slender body press against mine. Her heart pounded in her chest against me, and I realised then that the experience was probably much more intense for her as it was for me, given that she most certainly hadn't been through some of the things I had in my past.

“That was pretty crazy wasn’t it?” I said, wrapping her up in my arms to return the embrace. She nodded against me in reply, without saying a word.

After a few moments, we released each other, and I turned around to face the way we came, locating the observation deck that was part of the tour we were planning on sneaking into. It was well-over four hundred feet behind where we had landed, barely a hundred feet from the edge of the waterfall.

We began our backtracking, clambering over rocks and rough terrain along the bottom of the gorge, hoping to reach the platform before the next ‘Maid of the Mist’ passed by, the passengers of which would almost certainly see us as we made our way over the rocks toward our goal. While it was unlikely that they would suspect us of sneaking into the country, having made it across the river from the American side already, we certainly didn’t need the publicity or the demand of coming up with the reasonable excuse for how we ended up where we were.

We also had to be extra careful as we approached the observation deck so as not to be seen by tourists, but luckily most of them were looking in the other direction, towards the falling water. There were a few rocks for us to hide behind, as well as a hill with some light vegetation which led right up to the small metal fence that surrounded the platform, allowing us to get right up close without being noticed. We ducked down just beyond the fence and waited for the tourists to clear the deck, however the emptiest it would get was a pair of couples who leaned on the far side of the fence, watching the falling water hand-in-hand.

We seized the opportunity and jumped over the fence quickly, landing on the observation deck, the floor of which was soaked by the mist that perpetually floated all around. It worked out well actually, given the fact that we were completely soaked after the jump. I quickly noticed that everyone else on the tour was wearing yellow plastic hooded-ponchos, which were provided at the start of the tour to keep their clothes protected from the mist.

Luckily, the water seemed to have washed away some of the dirt from Fluttershy’s skin and hair, and what was left was obscured by the water that was still on her. Fluttershy and I stood quickly, holding hands, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible just as the one the couples turned around and headed for the stairs, intending to return to the tunnels inside the cliff.

They were an older couple, likely close to retirement age, and the man locked his eyes on my girlfriend and me quickly, cocking an eyebrow as he looked us over.

“Oh man, you two look terrible! Didn’t you get a poncho to wear? They hand them out at the entrance for free, you know,” he informed us, after which he glanced suspiciously at the churning river beyond the railing.

To my surprise, Fluttershy spoke up. “Oh noo, we didna think t’was going to be this wet dewn here,” she said in a perfect Irish accent, turning to me before continuing. “Could we please head up, luv? I need to go to the loo for a wee bit.”

It shocked the shit out of me at first, but it quickly made sense to me why she did it; if the old couple thought we'd come here on a plane from somewhere else, then surely we didn't just cross the river. Why would we do that when our flight would just take us where we wanted to go in the first place?

The man’s eyebrows rose suddenly, and he and his wife looked at us in surprise. “Ah, you two aren’t from around here, eh?” he chuckled.

Fluttershy and I shook our heads and gave them a friendly smile in return.

“Well,” he continued as he gave us a quick wave, “we’d better let you go, little lady. I hope you two enjoy your visit here, and next time, remember to get a poncho.”

“We will! Thank ya kindly, luv,” she said with a quick nod, after which, she and I quickly headed hand-in-hand towards the stairs that headed into the tunnels, listening to the sound of the old couple giggling together behind us.

“Ooh! She was soooo cute!” I heard the wife say as we entered the dark tunnel and left their sight.

Once inside, we were met with cold, damp walls and dim florescent lights mounted on the low ceilings. The walls rumbled constantly, resonating with the roar of the falls from outside as we made our way through the passage, the floor of which had a steady incline as it headed towards the elevator.

I turned to speak to my girlfriend, who was glancing at the plaques mounted on the walls with little informative bits for tourists to read. “Hey, where the hell did that come from? That was perfect!”

She simply shrugged and shook her head before looking back to the posters on the wall.

"Feel free to talk like that anytime," I continued, while giving her hand a squeeze. “That was fuckin sexy!”

She glanced at me only for a second, then forced the tiniest of smiles before turning away again.

“What is the matter with her?” I wondered, shaking my head. “Does she know about Sunny and I getting it on? Could she be pissed about it?”

We finally reached a fork in the tunnel. Straight ahead lead to the elevator, and to the left lead to two openings in the rock-face where you could see a small section of the waterfall from behind.

I stopped her to ask if she wanted to go have a look. She seemed reluctant at first, but I was able to talk her into it by reminding her that we were right there, and that we might not have a chance to come back for a long time. She fidgeted nervously with the bag that was slung over her shoulder; which was filled with roughly fifty-thousand American dollars and the pistol from one of the bikers that had approached Fluttershy in the car after the tire was shot out.

After spending only a few minutes at each of the port holes, which really didn’t offer a whole lot of visibility due to the mist, we made our way back to the elevator. Once inside, we were greeted by the operator, another couple and a family of three.

As the elevator made its ascent, the operator was looking inquisitively at the shy girl and me. “You guys didn’t get ponchos?”

I shook my head quickly. “No. We wanted to tough it, you know? It’s part of the adventure, right?”

The operator chuckled. “Haha, yup. We get you adventurous types here all the time,” she said, before speaking to everyone in the elevator. “I hope you all enjoyed the tour and hope you return to ‘Journey Behind the Falls’ again soon.”

You could tell by how the operator spoke that she had to go through that little spiel a hundred times a day, which made me smile a bit as I thought about someone living and working so close to such an amazing landmark, but were completely bored to tears by the shitty work created by it.

I shifted my thoughts to the next step in the plan, which was to meet up with Sunset in the hotel parking lot. I was just beginning to wonder how she made out with crossing the border when I noticed the young kid in the family beside us. He was probably fourteen or so, wearing a pair of thick glasses and had some unfortunate acne issues.

What really caught my attention however, was the size of his eyes. He was perfectly still, staring intently at something next to me, piquing my interest. I dropped my eyes to find out what he was looking at, then I almost laughed out loud.

I should have known. Fluttershy was still wearing Sunset’s red T-shirt with no bra underneath, which was soaking wet and stuck to her skin, showing off her breasts with stunning clarity, complete with hard nipples from the cold water.

I watched with amusement as the kid gaped at the shy girl, unbeknownst to her and his parents as well, surprisingly. When he finally realised I was watching him, he made eye contact with me, clearly nervous about how I might react.

I gave him a free pass, just because he was young and it was probably the best thing he’d seen all day, so I gave him a quick wink, along with a little smirk.

After reaching the top, we exited the elevator and walked out of the building away from the falls, heading up the hill to the row of hotels that lined Fallsview Boulevard. I pointed to the small, silver hotel that stood between the larger Embassy Suites and the Fallsview Casino Resort while turning to Fluttershy to speak.

“That’s the hotel I told Sunny to meet us at. We just have to walk around that way and up the hill,” I explained as we started to make our way to our destination. We walked for a few minutes in silence along Niagara Parkway, passing by the large bank of spotlights that shine onto the falls at night, before turning left to head up the hill.

Unexpectedly, my girlfriend decided to speak to me. “I take it I made that boy’s day?”

I laughed out loud at her unexpected quip and turned to say something in return, only to find her staring blankly at the sidewalk, watching as it passed by under our feet. Her inconsistency frustrated me slightly; every time I thought she was finally coming out of this funk she was in, it seemed like she would suddenly get worse instead.

I sighed as the smile disappeared from my face. “You know, Flutters, we’re gonna have to talk about whatever it is that’s bothering you eventually. It’s not going to go away on its own.”

She didn’t respond.

“I don’t want to force it,” I continued, “We can talk about it when you’re ready, but it’s gotta happen sooner or later. Sunny and I are here for you whenever you’re ready, OK?”

This elicited no more than a small nod from her.

“You know,” I said after a short pause. “I’m glad we’re here together. I wish the circumstances for us ending up here were different, but I’m glad you’re back safe with me, and I’m happy to be with you here in this city.”

It took her a few seconds to respond, during which I was worried she would be silent yet again, but to my relief, she did finally reply. “I’m glad too.”

At the top of the hill, we turned left again and headed along the strip to meet Sunset.

Hopefully.

Our destination was on the left, just past an Applebee’s that was attached to the hotel that I had planned on staying at with the girls for the night, after which we would take on the last long leg of our journey home across Canada.

As we rounded the corner, I was relieved to see the Diplomat parked out front as the parking lot came into view with the distant roar of the falls still audible in the background.

Evidently, Sunset saw us coming, and she quickly got out of the car to walk around to the trunk so she could meet us sooner, her face plastered with a look of amazement. “Holy shit, you guys! Did you see those big fucking waterfalls??”

I chuckled back to her. “Yeah Sunny, we got a pretty good look at them.”

“Now I see why you wanted to bring us here,” the red-head continued.

"Haven't you ever heard of this place?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well yeah, I mean, I've read about it, but I never really thought about how fucking crazy-big those things actually are," Sunset said excitedly. “This place is amazing! There’s so much to do and see, I wanna go and-“

“Hang on,” I said, “We’ll get to that, but we’ve got some things to look after first.” As I spoke, I tilted my head to gesture towards Fluttershy, indicating to Sunset that we needed to get her cleaned up and looked after.

“Right,” Sunset nodded, trying not to look disappointed by the reality check.

I opened the trunk and took the bag from the shy girl to lock it inside. “They’re not going to let us bring those cats into the hotel,” I said to Fluttershy. “Will they be OK in the car?”

She glared at me for a moment before speaking. “Why do we have to stay here? Can’t we just go home?”

Sunset answered for me. “You seriously need to have a shower, Flutters. Like, seriously. Plus, I need a break from riding in the car. You have no idea how much time we’ve spent driving over the past month.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah Flutters. I’m pretty sure we both smell like fish now, too. Now will these cats be OK in the car or not?”

She sighed, and then nodded reluctantly. "Just leave the windows down a smidge."

We entered the lobby of the hotel, noticing the smell of chlorine immediately as we approached the counter, indicating the presence of a swimming pool nearby. I checked us in, asking for a specific room that I knew had a great view of the falls so Sunset would be able to see them whenever she wanted.

The receptionist was giving me and Fluttershy strange looks because of our soaked clothes, so I came up with a half-assed cover story. “Damn water pipe broke in our house and the basement’s flooded.”

The receptionist cocked an eyebrow. “Oh...well, thank you for choosing us for your…um, emergency housing needs…”

I nodded and waved her off. “I know, I know. There are cheaper places to stay at, but...” I pointed to Sunset with my thumb, “our friend here is visiting from out of town, so I figured a room with a nice view would be cool.”

“Ah,” the receptionist nodded, looking at Sunset. “Where are you visiting us from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Uh, BC,” Sunset replied, with an awkward nod.

The receptionist’s eyebrows went up with interest. “Oh nice! You’re a long way from home, eh?”

The red-head cleared her throat. “Yup.”

“OK,” the receptionist continued after a minute of typing on the computer and going through some papers. As she began her spiel, she stood up, sliding some papers and three cards across the counter to me. “Here are your room cards. The fallsview room includes a king size bed, living area, Jacuzzi tub and a TV with basic cable and pay-per-view movies. The package also includes a dinner and breakfast voucher for the Applebee’s next door. Parking is around the south side of the building; just use your room card to get through the gate, which is located at the far end of the restaurant parking lot. Enjoy your stay and thank you for choosing the Oakes Hotel.”

“Thanks,” I replied, smiling as I took the cards and headed towards the elevators to the right of the reception desk with the two girls following behind.

I sent them up to the room while I went outside to move the car to the parking lot, after which I came back inside through the back door and headed up to join the girls in the room. The elevator had one glass wall through which one could see outside, giving a great view of the city as ascended to our floor.

After making my way down the hall to the room and swiping my card to get in, I was met by Sunset as soon as I opened the door.

“Holy shit, dude! The view…fucking AMAZING!”

I smiled. “You’re welcome, Sunny.”

“Thanks for all this,” she said. “It’ll do us all good to take a little vacation on the way home.”

“No problem. Anything for you," I said with a smile, before looking around the corner to the main part of the room. "Where’s Flutters?” I asked.

The red-head looked down the hall towards one of the two large bay windows. “She’s at the table by the window. Hasn’t said a word, either.”

I scratched my head, letting out a long sigh as I ruminated about what to do with my girlfriend.

“There’s something else,” Sunset said in a quieter voice.

“What’s that?” I asked as looked at her again.

She inhaled deeply. “It’s back.”

I groaned. “Damn. You mean your magical sexy-time?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah. It’s been a few days now since you and I…you know, did the deed. I think your stuff is all gone from me now and my magic is looking for more.”

I shook my head and looked down at the carpet. “Was it gone while you were alone in the car? How’d that go by the way?”

“I was fine in the car,” she replied. “No wet pussy syndrome whatsoever. And they searched the car at the border because it wasn’t mine, just like you said.”

“What’d you tell them?”

“I said I had a rental that broke down, and my friend’s grandpa loaned me the old car,” she explained. “They actually found his number through the license plate and they called him to confirm my story.”

“Really? Did he answer?” I asked.

“He did, as a matter of fact,” she nodded. “And he knew who it was, and he covered for us.”

I grinned, thinking about the old rancher. “I knew that old fella was a good shit.”

"You're a good old fella too, Golds," Sunset replied, returning the smile. “They didn’t care about the cats at all, by the way.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, no they probably wouldn’t. It would be different if it was something that doesn’t belong in our ecosystem, but cats; not so much.”

“Yeah,” she mumbled, folding her arms across her chest.

It was then that noticed her body language, and it quickly became obvious that she was back to her aroused state once again. We'd earned ourselves over a week of freedom after she and I decided to relieve ourselves of it, but now that it was back, I recognised the symptoms immediately.

“Hey,” I said, coming up with an idea, “how about you do us favour? You can get away from me and give yourself a break from your curse; that way you can-“ I stopped to see if Fluttershy happened to be close by, which she wasn’t, so I continued: “-kill two birds with one stone.” I always had to be cautious using that metaphor around the shy girl; it was an expression that she wasn’t particularly fond of.

“Sure.”

“Take some cash from the trunk of the car and go buy us all some clothes. Flutters especially. That way you can go out and see the sights and you’ll be away from me for a bit so you can cool down. I’ll stay here and get her cleaned up.”

Sunset rubbed her chin for a second before nodding her approval. “Good idea. Will they take American money here though?”

“They should,” I replied. “There’s lots of tourism here so I think most places will take both.”

“OK.” Sunset opened the door to leave, but turned back once more. “Good luck with her,” she said with a hopeful smile.

“We’ll be fine, Sunny. Now go have fun.”