Chapter 1

Chapter

One

T he last thing I remembered was an explosion of feathers flying through the passenger side window of the car my husband was driving to the lawyer’s office. I instinctively caught it in my hands as the car veered wildly into the oncoming traffic.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting on a beautiful beach, surrounded by azure waters and silver sand. I was holding a large bird. It was quite calm, looking at the sea in front of us.

It was a big seagull, and it slowly turned to look at me. Its hooked bill seemed non-threatening, its eyes unconcerned.

“Where am I?” I asked it, not expecting an answer.

The gull looked back at the azure water. “I don’t know. This was your dream, apparently.” Its voice was squawky, but quite distinct. “Have you often dreamed about beaches?”

Hmmm. I had often dreamed of beaches and… gorgeous men who…

I dragged my mind back to the car ride and remembered... almost nothing. Just the shock of the bird flying through my open window, automatically grabbing it, and seeing our car swerving into oncoming traffic. Remembering that, I unclasped my hands from around the big bird, and he hopped onto the sand next to me.

Looking around at the beach and the sea, it looked almost... too perfect? It was like one of those Thomas Kinkaid paintings where the colors are a little too intense. Then, I remembered I had probably just been in a car accident and wondered that I didn’t seem to be in any pain. Oh! And where was my husband? I stood up and looked around, but the seagull and I were quite alone on the beach.

I brushed the sand off of my bottom. “I wonder where my husband is?” I said.

“He probably had a very different idea of what the afterlife is like,” said the gull. “Anyway, he probably didn’t dream about beaches.”

The bird was right. My husband and I had very different ideas about most things. But, ‘afterlife?’ That meant... I was dead, right?

“So, you’re a seagull, correct? Some sort of magic seagull who can talk?” I asked my companion.

“It’s not so much magical that I can talk as it is more magical that you can understand me,” said the gull. “I’m a herring gull, actually.”

“I don’t understand. Am I really dead?”

Somehow, I didn’t expect the afterlife to look like this! I kept looking around. It was a bit eerie, as there was no sign of human habitation. Maybe we were in the Maldives? I’d always wanted to go there, but now I wasn’t so sure.

The scene was flooded with sunshine that caught the foamy tips of the small waves breaking on the beach, but there didn’t seem to be an actual sun. It was warm, but not hot. Some palm trees lined the rear of the beach, but beyond them, there was just more sand – silver sand that glistened as far as the eye could see.

The seagull continued to gaze out at the water. “Well, yeah. You’re dead. For that matter, so am I, but that doesn’t really matter. What happened was, you died when your car hit another car head-on, and in the minutes just before it happened, or at some other point in your life, you were dreaming about going to a beach where you could relax and not have to do whatever you were going to do.”

“But you flew in my window and... caused the wreck!”

“Cause and effect are subjective. Maybe it was just fate.” The seagull sounded bored. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. You’re here now. Living the dream.” It yawned.

“But will we have to stay here forever?”

Shit! Why did I have to be dreaming about something so... boring? I mean, it was pretty, but there didn’t seem to be any people around; the seagull was nice enough, but he was a bird. There should have been a handsome man, not a seagull, for company. At least, that was what my best dreams always featured. And why hadn’t I been dreaming of Paris? I’d always wanted to go there, but now that looked to be out of the question.

The seagull spoke up again. “As I understand it, you can’t change the original location you dreamed of, but you can add to it, or even leave it for another you’ve always desired. But, be careful what you wish for.” The gull walked down to the water and put one webbed foot in it. He followed it with the other foot, then stood there, gazing out at the waves like an old sea captain.

“Like, can I wish for my husband to join me?”

I had no idea why I said this. My husband and I had been on our way to sign our divorce papers when the feather-bomb detonated. I didn’t exactly hate him, but still, I didn’t really want him here with me if there was anyone else available.

“No. It has to be something you conjure up with your imagination. Frankly, you imagining this beach doesn’t give me much confidence. It’s pretty, but rather boring,” said the bird.

I was insulted but determined to think of something wonderful to add to this... dream? Afterlife?... Whatever it was. A man? Should I wish for a man who wouldn’t or couldn’t be my husband?

“I wish a man would rise up out of the sea, and... Hey, wait! Do I get more than one wish?”

“I’m not sure, but it wouldn’t hurt to try,” said the gull. “I got a quick tutorial on our way here, but I didn’t listen very carefully.”

“Okay, so, I wish a man would rise up out of the sea...” I paused, hoping for a miracle. But nothing happened.

“You have to say ‘please,’ and you might need to make it more specific, like ‘a handsome man’ or ‘an intelligent man.’” The seagull sounded totally bored. Was it rolling its eyes?

“Okay,” I sighed. “I wish a handsome, intelligent man would rise up out of the sea. Oh! And kind. He should be kind.” I took a deep breath, “Please?”

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, I saw a change in the sea, as though something was approaching the shore, forming a V shape as it approached, swimming very swiftly underwater.

The seagull and I watched as the V came nearer and nearer to the beach. A fin appeared above the waves, and shortly thereafter, a dolphin leapt out of the water before crashing back into it.

“That’s not a man!” I told the seagull, who gave me a look that said it thought I was a moron.

“Just watch, and quit jumping to conclusions,” it said crossly.

As I watched, gawping (probably unattractively), a form emerged from the water about five yards off the shoreline. It was tall and shaped like a man, but small blue and green sparkly scales covered his body. The scales were only from the neck down, though. Above that line, his skin was tanned, his eyes were green and his hair was longish and dark. He was definitely handsome, even with scales... but the jury was still out on “intelligent” and “kind.”

The man seemed to be waiting for me to speak, so I boldly walked up to him and introduced myself. “Hi! I’m Audrey.”

The man smiled a nice smile and held out his scaly hand. “I’m Marcel. I’m sorry about the scales. I was the only man-shape available today.”

Standing in front of him and shaking his sparkly hand, I looked more closely at his body and realized belatedly that he was nude; the scales had hidden his cock from a distance. Then, I realized I was nude, too. My hands flew up to cover my breasts, and I attempted to cross my legs to hide my pussy.

“Don’t be shy,” Marcel said softly. “Please, may I look? I haven’t seen a human pussy in ages, and mermaids have great tits, but their tails... well, you know. Lovely... but different.”

My face was hot, and I knew it wasn’t sunburn. Fuck! I couldn’t stand with my legs crossed forever, so I slowly changed position and dropped my arms from my breasts. I wondered how I compared to the mermaids he was used to?

Marcel knelt before me in the sand and gently parted my thighs. “Beautiful,” he whispered. “Did you ever dream of being a mermaid, Audrey?”

I stared at him. How did he know?

“Well it’s not quite the same, but I saw a show in Florida once where there were girls dressed as mermaids. They were swimming in a big tank in a restaurant. I wanted to do that so bad, but my husband laughed at me, and...” The bad part of the memory silenced me.

“And what, Audrey?” Marcel’s voice was kind, but insistent.

“And he told me I was too fat to be a mermaid, and that I’d sink to the bottom and never come up,” I whispered.

“Shame on him! You’re perfect in every way,” said the big, scaly man. He sounded so genuine, I was tempted to believe him for a minute.

“So, are you a merman?” I asked.

Marcel’s eyes roamed over my body in a very flattering fashion. “I am, indeed. My tail reappears when I reach a depth of four fathoms — that’s about twenty-four feet, by the way.

“When I’m off duty, I usually go back to being a dolphin. I’m only here because there’s a shortage of man-shaped beings on hand right now. There was one pirate available, but you specified ‘intelligent’ and ‘kind.’” He looked a bit embarrassed.

“But... where am I? Is this Heaven?” I asked him.

“Heaven is what you make it, Audrey. Rather like Hell, I guess. Actually, neither of those places exists. When a person dies, they get sent to a place they’ve always dreamed about. If you’re a good person, you get sent to a good dream. If you're bad? Well, your nightmares may come true, or your dreams may get twisted so that you suffer instead of enjoying yourself. You have dreamed about being stranded on a beach, am I right?”

Oh god. My favorite fantasy was being shipwrecked on a desert island with a handsome man — who was usually a pirate — and having amazing sex with him. On many occasions, there had been more than one pirate.

He read my mind. “I’m sorry, I’m not a pirate, but you could wish for a parrot next, if you want. There’s something of a surfeit of parrots.”

“I don’t remember a parrot in my fantasies. And, besides...” I was about to say that you can’t have sex with a parrot, but I closed my mouth just in time.

“The next available pirate, then? There may be an intelligent, kind one available any time. But I should warn you, it’s a common fantasy, and the pirates are kept very busy. There’s quite a waiting list!”

“No! You’re great. I mean, you’re very handsome and smart, and... nice?”

“I hope you think so. The only available pirate was pretty mad he didn’t get chosen, but he couldn’t do ‘intelligent.’ He also isn’t very nice, but a lot of girls want someone who isn’t. Nice, I mean.”

The seagull strutted over to us and looked at Marcel. “Greetings, merman. My job is done here. I’ll leave you two to get better acquainted.” And he rose into the air and disappeared over the palm trees.

I gazed after him. “Where is he going?” I asked Marcel.

“Wherever the place is he’s dreamed of, I guess. Probably a landfill. Were you holding onto him when you died, do you suppose?”

“Yes. There was a car crash. Actually, he caused it. He flew in through the car’s window when it was moving in traffic, and I caught him. That’s all I remember.”

“That explains it. He caused your death, so he had to accompany you to your dream destination.”

“But where is this? Are there other people here? Um, restaurants? Houses? Where am I going to sleep?”

“No to all that. And you won’t need to sleep, really, although you should rest and digest after you’ve eaten.”

“What will I eat? There doesn’t seem to be much here.”

“You can wish for things, right? Well, you can wish for food, but you won’t ever be hungry.”

Wow! That would make a change!

“So, what will I do all day?”

“You can swim, right?” asked the merman.

“Sure – in fact, I was an Aquette in high school.”

He looked puzzled.

“That means I did water ballet.”

“Ah! Yes. I’ve heard of that. Girls doing acrobatics in a circle in a swimming pool?”

“Yes. I won a medal.”

“Excellent. So, you can swim, and you’ll be able to breathe underwater now, and no need for those eye coverings.”

“Goggles?”

“What an odd word. Yes, that must be what I mean.” Marcel smiled at me. Kindly. “And of course, we can fuck as much as you want.”

I perked right up! “Wow! Where?”

“On the sand, in the water, holding onto a palm tree. Your choice.”

Suddenly, the beach ceased to be boring. But what if he left me here? Did I get to ask for multiple men who would stay for a while, then leave me alone?

“Will you stay here with me? I mean, I don’t have anyone else, and I’m not really good at being alone.”

“I’m assigned to you because of your wish. You can wish for another creature or thing, but I will stay until you wish me to leave, or until you want to leave with me.”

I hoped I hadn’t hurt his feelings. “I didn’t mean I wanted anyone else. I mean, you’re gorgeous and... kind! I really want you to stay. But how many wishes can I have? Is there a limit?”

“There are no limits here. You can wish for anything, at any time.” The merman smiled, and gently touched my cheek with his scaly finger. Suddenly, a vision of what that finger would feel like on (or in) my pussy made me tremble, and Marcel seemed to know exactly what I was feeling.

I looked around, and though the sand didn’t feel hot on my bare feet, I wasn’t sure I wanted to have sex on a beach without at least a towel under me. I closed my eyes and wished for a towel, remembering to say ‘please.’

Nothing happened for a minute. Then, an object fell swiftly down from out of the skies and landed at my feet with a thump. It was a large, blue and white-striped beach towel, rolled up and tied with a red ribbon.

Marcel laughed, and it had to be the sexiest laugh I’d ever heard. “That was a great wish, Audrey. Sand is a lousy lube. Of course, fucking under water is best.”

“I won’t drown?”

“You definitely won’t drown. Remember? You’re already dead.” Marcel was on his knees, untying and rolling out the beach towel. It was quite large.

When it was fully unfurled, he held out his hand. When I took it, he guided me down so I was sitting next to him on the towel.

“Lie down, Pet. I need to examine your beautiful pussy.”

Oh. My. God.

Marcel up close was even more beautiful than I’d thought at first. His scales caught the light and seemed to shimmer, and those on his cock looked as though they would tickle and scratch, itches I’d only dreamed about!

He gently parted my thighs, my knees bent and quivering, and his face was inches from my cleft. The scaly fingers I’d wondered about ran up and down my furrow, the roughness arousing me to the point of clenching, drenching madness. A finger entered me and scraped over my g-spot, and fireworks exploded behind my eyelids.

“Good girl,” said Marcel, his blue-green scales all aflutter. Obviously, I’d arrived with a manual.

“Um, is that... all?” I asked him when I finally came back to earth. “I mean, it was great, but can you... um...”

“Can I fuck you? Is that what you mean?”

I felt my face get hot and wondered that I could blush when I was dead. “Um, yes?” I told him.

“Baby, I can do anything to you that you can imagine, so be a little careful. I don’t want to make you cry. I’d get in trouble with the boss if I make you cry. Well, unless it’s good crying. Like screaming while you’re orgasming. You already did that!”

“I want to do that again, Marcel. Only, with your... is it called a cock when it’s scaly?”

“Cock, dick, staff, joystick, prick, heat-seeking missile. I don’t care for ‘one-eyed lizard,’ though.”

“Okay, I get it.” I eyed the towel and flipped myself over, so I was on all fours, and raised my ass. “Is this okay?”

I heard a groan from behind me and felt a pair of rough hands clasp my waist.

“Quite okay. Ready, Audrey?” Marcel whispered.

“Please...”

And he thrust the biggest cock I’d ever imagined into my wet pussy.

I wish I had words to describe what it feels like to be fucked by a merman. The silken slip and slide of the entry, and the grating, grinding, rasping, scratching of the erect scales as he withdrew... were so much more than I can express. It was instantly addictive. My pussy loved it so much, I was afraid she’d desensitize if he ever stopped, and I’d never feel anything down there again.

After a few minutes, I was so drunk on the feelings his cock... no, his heat-seeking missile... engendered in my body, I felt as though I was floating; yet every muscle was engaged in giving me the most amazing orgasm I’d ever heard of. I’d read a lot of wonderfully smutty books, and this surpassed the best of them.

Finally, I collapsed onto my tummy, and Marcel withdrew from my pussy with one last, blissful scrape.

“Thank you!” I gasped.

“Any time, sweetness,” he said, proudly. “That was good, yes?”

“Oh my god. It was life-changing!”

“Um, you’re not alive, so maybe it was eternity-changing?” Marcel was obviously a stickler for veracity.

I was still throbbing from the orgasm and, to my dismay, I felt tears filling my eyes. I gave a little sob, and Marcel looked very concerned. “Please tell me what’s wrong, Audrey? Did I hurt you?”

I rubbed my eyes and looked at his anxious face. “No! Not at all. I just realized I haven’t had an orgasm for so long, I’d forgotten what it felt like.”

“Not with your husband?”

“Definitely not with my husband. When the accident happened, we were on our way to a lawyer’s office to sign our divorce papers. He was probably speeding so he could sign them and marry his girlfriend.”

Marcel looked at me with such sympathy in his eyes, I almost started crying again.

To stop the tears, I looked around at the technicolor beach and decided it was a great improvement over my life for the last several years.

Derrick and I had been married for seven years when I found out about Bitsy, his platinum-blond, giant-breasted playmate, just a couple of months ago. Actually, I walked in on them together – on our bed, with my husband’s prick pounding her ass. The strange thing was, I wasn’t really surprised. Derrick and I hadn’t had sex for six months at that point, and it wasn’t because of me. He had never wanted sex if I initiated it, only when he did – and he hadn’t. At all.

“Do you feel like a swim?” said the beautiful, scaly merman, dragging my thoughts back to the present.

I stopped thinking about the past and focused on handsome Marcel, who had given me the orgasm of my life. This was definitely Heaven, not Hell.

I looked at the sparkling deep blue water and was a bit surprised I hadn’t thought about getting into it until just that minute. “Yes, please, Marcel. Are you sure I can breathe under water?”

“Of course, I’m sure. Here, take my hand and walk in with me. When we submerge, just take a deep breath, and it will feel as though you’re breathing air.”

I was a bit nervous, but I trusted my beautiful, scaly friend, and it was just as he said. I took a deep inhale, and it felt as though I was breathing clean mountain air. Swimming was always easy for me, but I discovered I was even better at it with Marcel swimming beside me. I noticed he didn’t use his arms much, but I continued with my breaststroke.