A Triple Scoop of I Scream by Gabrielle Holly Page B

legs wrapped around his narrow waist and her arms around his neck. Her skirt was pushed up past her thighs, revealing his hands cupping her bare ass.
    Toni knew that she should quietly back out of the alley, but she couldn’t take her eyes from them. Other than in the movies, she’d never watched two people fuck before. This was so hot and so intimate. She was mesmerised and thought she could almost feel what they were feeling.
    Each time the man thrust into his lover, Toni’s pussy throbbed in empathy, as if she were the one being screwed against the brick wall The man’s tempo increased and Toni thought the woman’s back must have been scraped raw by the rough brick. The thought of that sting heightening the pleasure was surprisingly enticing. The woman broke free of the kiss and, with her eyes still squeezed shut, she laid her cheek against her lover’s and opened her mouth wide. Toni’s breath quickened as she watched the woman in the throes of orgasm.
    “My God!” Toni gasped.
    The woman’s eyes flew open and locked on Toni’s.
    “Can you see me?”
    The woman’s lips hadn’t moved and the words seemed muffled, but the question had clearly come from her. The man did not respond at all to Toni’s presence and kept thrusting away.
    Toni was frozen with fear. She realised instantly that these were not actual people. These must be ‘residuals’, ghost events that had generated so much energy in their first instance that they replayed themselves far into the future. Her ghost-hunting friends had told her all about these apparitions, but she had thought they were just like movies playing on a loop—not conscious spirits who could ask questions of the living.
    “Well, fuck me,” Toni muttered.
    “Language, please!” the ghost woman communicated.
    “Really?” Toni asked, pumping as much sarcasm as possible into her voice.
    Then they were gone. There was no fanfare. There was no blinding flash of light. They didn’t dissolve away or get swallowed up in an ethereal puff of smoke. They were just no longer there.
    “Who are you talking to?”
    Mike walked up the alley towards her, spinning a key ring on his index finger.
    “Hm?” Toni asked, stalling for time.
    “Just now, you said, ‘Really?’ Who were you talking to?”
    Just tell him! He’s a ghost hunter for Christ’s sake!
    Toni ignored her inner sane person and lied.
    “Oh, that? I was talking to myself. I was like, ‘Really? It’s a hundred degrees in the shade and ninety-five per cent humidity and you’re taking your own sweet time getting the fucking keys to the fucking upstairs apartment so I can get into this wreck of a building and out of this hellacious heat. Really?’”
    Mike’s forehead scrunched so hard that his eyebrows nearly met in the middle.
    “Uh. Okay. Sorry to keep you waiting. The apartment keys were stuck down between the seats of the truck. It took me a while to find them.”
    Toni nodded and was fully aware that her nod was far too exaggerated, cartoonish even, but she was already committed to this crazy approach and she was going to see it through.
    “Well, all right, Mike. You know how I get when I’m overheated. Let’s just get inside and get cooled off.”
    “Yeah, let’s do that.”
    Mike’s patronising tone wasn’t lost on Toni. She followed him up the rickety staircase and stole a glance down the boxes while he worked the key in the lock.
    Why had the woman, but not the man, responded to Toni? Was he a residual and she…something else?
    The chill from the shock of the ghost encounter had left her and Toni could think only about getting out of the heat. She hoped that the darkened brick and stone building would offer some respite. She let out a sigh of relief when Mike turned the key and she heard the thunk of the deadbolt sliding open. She followed him into the upstairs corridor and blinked to adjust to the dim interior. A sheet hung across the window at the far end of the hallway, letting in diffused