Read Every Touch for Free Online

Oliver was sitting to the left of the door when he got there, back leaning against the glass of the window, watching the world pass by on the street.  Denny tapped on the glass, or rather the barrier beyond the glass, to get his attention.  He sat down cross legged on the floor on the other side of the window from his new friend.
       Oliver turned to see him and grinned, pushing his sunglasses up onto the top of his head.
      “Hey, man.”
       “Sorry,” Denny said, “I fell asleep.”
       “Oh yeah, I did a lot of sleeping when I first woke up.  Like a newborn baby, I guess.  Your soul is adjusting.  You’ll need less of it after a while.”  He chuckled.  “At least you have a bed.  The first few times, I used that bench down the street.  Not too uncomfortable, but believe me, you never want to know what it’s like to wake up with your head in someone’s butt.”
       “So where do you sleep now?” Denny said, baulking at the image that brought up. 
       “The park mostly.  It’s just in my zone.  Well, some of it.  The grass isn’t too bad to lie on and it’s nice waking up to the birds singing, even when it’s summer and they’re getting you up at four in the morning.  Kind of like camping without a tent.”
       “Don’t you get cold in the winter?”
       “Not if I keep metaphysical.”
       “Metaphysical?”
       “Yeah, you...”  He stopped, looking at Denny.  “Okay, maybe we should begin at the beginning, or you’re going to get all this stuff all swirling around in your head all mixed up.  You have questions.  Fire away.”
       He sat up straight, giving Denny his full attention.  He was reminded of Cassie, a girl he dated when he was twenty-six who was a primary school teacher and had developed a habit of listening to him intently when he spoke, staring straight into his eyes as she would with her pupils.  It could be a little disconcerting, especially during foreplay.
       His brain was still feeling a foggy from the sleep and he struggled to remember what he had wanted to ask, wishing he could have written it down. 
       “Okay,” he said, “first, what day is it?”
       Oliver laughed.  “ That’s your first question?” 
       Denny shrugged. 
       “It’s Thursday.”
       He nodded.  “Will I need to shower?  And how can I wash my clothes?”
       “No and you won’t have to.”
       “What, never?” 
       Denny raised an arm and sniffed.  He didn’t seem to smell bad and he’d been wearing the same clothes for a day and a half, but still, he found it hard to believe that could last indefinitely.
       “From what I can gather, this,” Oliver waved his hands up and down at himself, “this is like a memory of our bodies, like it’s etched into our subconscious mind what we should look like, so we do.  But all the usual stuff isn’t really going on inside.  So we breathe because we’re used to it, but we don’t have to, there are no lungs working and we don’t need the oxygen.  We don’t need to eat, which is handy because we can’t anyway.  We sweat, but it’s not real so we don’t get rank.  And when we, shall we say, indulge in some self gratification...  Well, you get the picture.”
       Denny did.  He had wondered about that.  He was relieved to hear he still could and that he hadn’t lost all of life’s little pleasures. 
       “Will I be here forever?” 
       It was the question he’d been most afraid to ask, not really sure what he wanted the answer to be.
       Oliver suddenly looked uncomfortable.  “Short answer, no.  Long answer... are you sure you want to hear this?”
       Now Denny was nervous.  “No.  But tell me anyway.”
       “Okay.  I’ve spoken to quite a few spooks since I left the land of the living, the ones who have zones around mine, and this is what I’ve been able to learn.  We have a certain amount of time here, how long is different for