Rainy Wood

Much later that night, when the house was quiet and long asleep, Robert switched off the lights in his office. He headed upstairs, intending to go directly to bed, but he turned right instead of left at the top of the landing, going straight to Helen’s room. Robert knew he shouldn’t be anywhere near his ward’s bedroom in the middle of the night, but that didn’t stop him as he turned the knob anyway and stepped quietly inside. He stood there for several long minutes, watching Helen while she slept. “Helen Flower!” The name escaped from Robert like a soft caress. He marveled at how young and childish she appeared to be in the moonlight and the endearing way her tiny hands were folded upon the coverlet, delicate and pale against the dark material, a clear symbol in his mind of her innocence and purity. He gazed in wonder at her smooth cheeks, which he imagined to be as sweet and fresh as spring blossoms. Then there were her lips, those full, delicious lips that made him ponder salacious forbidden things. He pictured them kissing him, tasting him, taking his hardness into her soft mouth, and the image brought an ache to his crotch and a stab of guilt to his conscience, causing him to blush hotly with shame. “What am I doing?” Robert whispered into the darkness, even as he cursed himself for being a fool. When Helen stirred slightly, sighing in her dreams, he stepped back out of the room as silently as he had entered.