Ever After

This started as a story about The Crane Wife, but it got too long so I cut it. It was meant to be for the poll I did on twitter on a story about an obscure fairytale. Perhaps I’ll come back to this and do the rest of the tale.

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Out in the woods, there are many dangers, but rarely does anything good ever happen to me. Before I met her, I hunted, I kept my shack from fallin’ to the ground, and I slept.

Then she appeared.

I’d gone out hunting deer that morning, saw a beautiful doe on one of the fields. A healthy deer will supply me enough meat to last a few weeks. I’ve learned to use everything in order to survive. Times were too tough to reject something that would keep you alive.

When I got back from the hunt, there was large white bird strewn across my doorstep. It was enormous with wings that stretched from end to end of my little shack. It was obviously injured though I couldn’t tell how badly.

There was a part of me that thought wondered if it would be edible. My daddy always said when food fell on your doorstep, you picked it up and you ate it. I even went as far as lifting my shotgun, determined to at least put the damn thing out of it’s misery, but something stayed my hand at the trigger.

Intelligence was in it’s eyes. It stared at me dead on, waiting for me to make my move and end its life. It felt wrong all of a sudden. So, even though my stores were low and winter was coming, I lowered my gun and went to the bird. I’d loved birds when I was little, and as I gathered the bird up careful to fold it’s wings in as I carried it inside, I remembered what it was.

The red-crowned crane.

I’d never liked schooling and my daddy pulled me out early, but I’d loved to read the big picture books about birds. That one had always been my favorite, but I knew it was pretty far from home. A Japanese bird and pretty damn rare, how it landed on my porch I’ll never know.

It tucked it’s head against my shoulder as I brought it into the house and something turned over in my heart. It may not survive whatever injury it had, but I’d certainly try my hardest.

I found a large wound on it’s chest that I cleaned up as best I could and then laid it on my tiny kitchen table.  The night was already falling and I just laid a hand on it’s head and hoped it make it through the night. I was astounded to find it alive and flapping around my kitchen, that hole in it’s chest all healed up. Guess luck was on its side.

Unsure of what to do with it, I did the only I knew to do; I let it go.

It didn’t fly away like I expected. Instead it stood out in my dead yard and gazed back at me. Was it possible to feel an animals gratitude? Because it’s stare seemed to warm my insides. I hovered in the doorway, wondering what it was thinking and what great things it had seen in it’s life. It certainly was far richer than I was by far.

The crane stayed there so long, I was starting to wonder if I should get the sheriff or animal control. Just as I was stepping off my porch, the bird spread its great wings and flew off with a loud bugling sound.

Strange how bereft I felt to see that bird disappear, but shook it off. Perhaps it was time to see if I could trade a little meat for a hunting dog to keep me company. I shook off the feeling and tried again to go out and find some game.

It took all day, but I did manage to bring down a young buck. My relief was palpable because things were already scarce. Returning to my shack I got my second surprise in less than twenty-four hours, this time in the form of a beautiful red-haired woman standing on my doorstep. She was clothed in a long white robe that billowed around her body.

Her smile was as luminous as her glossy red hair and for a long moment I stood stunned. She was stunning and she as she stepped closer to me, the outline of her body beneath the robe revealed a lean body that my arms longed to wrap around.

“I was lost trying to get through the woods and spotted your house. Is there anyway I could stay the night?” Her voice, low and silvery, danced along my nerve endings.

Of course. Of course I had room for her. I ushered her in, excusing the state of my tiny kitchen. There wasn’t much room as the shack was just the kitchen, a little living room, and a space for my bed. She didn’t seem to care as her eyes were glued to mine.

I wasn’t a looker at all. My daddy had called me plain, which is fair. I should’ve been a boy and my daddy had done all he could to make me his little boy. My hair was short, my limbs gangly and long, and my face broader and plain. My hair was a drab brown and my clothes were simple as that was all I could afford. But the way she looked at me, I felt like the man I felt like I was inside. I felt her look deep in my cunt.

“You can take the bed…” I licked my lips and tried to keep my eyes off her breasts.

She unlaced the tie on the front of her robe and let the fabric fall to the ground around her feet. The way she crawled into bed, her ass pointing in my direction. My mouth dried up and my cunt plumped between my thighs.

“No need for that.” She patted the space beside her. “There’s plenty of room.”

I debated for a moment. Something told me my decision would change some many things for me, and I wanted to make the right decision.

When she parted her thighs, revealing the wiry bush of hair that covered her vulva. I swallowed when she placed her hand there to stroke at the hair, letting me see the wetness that glistened lower on her labia as she teased me.

“Please, it’s bad luck to sleep alone after being lost. I don’t want my soul to fly away.”

I didn’t want to wish bad luck on either of us so I moved closer to the bed to climb in.

“No, take off your clothes. So we can keep each other warm.” Even as she spoke, her fingers were moving lower to circle around her clit.

My clothes were off faster than I’ve ever removed them in my life. Her little gasp of pleasant surprise as my clothes fell away made my nipples go painfully tight.

“You’re so beautiful,” she breathed as she reached over to touch my side. “Come to bed with me, please.”

I’d barely climbed on to the mattress when she kissed me. Her lips tasted of cherries and something else so sweet that made me take control of the kiss. Her hand, wet with the slick juice of her cunt, found its way between my thighs. She seemed to know exactly how to touch me, thrusting her fingers inside in a way that made my head drop to her shoulder.

“So soft.”

I wasn’t sure who uttered the words, her or me. All I know is I couldn’t keep my mouth from going to one tight nipple and sucking it into my mouth. She sank her free hand into my hair and drew me closer.

I could’ve stayed like that, with her hand so deep in my cunt I couldn’t think straight, but I wanted to taste her. I let her breast pop free and put a hand on her sternum and pushed until her back met the bed.

She was a feast. Her red hair spread out on my pillow, her eyes soft as she stared up at me. I could’ve dined on her forever.

When I tired to push her thighs apart, she stopped me. “No, like this.”

Grasping my thigh, she moved me so I straddled her face. Her breath fanning against my wet skin made me shiver, but her mouth latching to my clit made my whole body shake. She parted her thighs for me and I had enough brain left to dive between them.

Her cunt tasted of the same sweetness I tasted on her lips. I devoured her, holding her thighs open wide so I could lick and suck at every inch of her. Lapping at her clit, I felt the fine tremors start that mirrored my own. Desperate to feel her clenching around me when she came, I thrust two fingers into her cunt and sucked hard at her clit.

God, when she came… It was like her whole body bloomed. The room seemed to brighten for a long moment. I felt her grip my thighs harder, her face buried in my cunt as she cried out her pleasure, which sent me careening into my own orgasm.

I rolled to her side, curling into her body. The warmth of her skin as we lay in each others arms gave me comfort.

“Stay with me,” I whispered into her neck. “Please.”

There was no response, but I knew she’d be with me in the morning and ever after.