She was not disappointed as she saw increased movement from her sister’s chest, as fingertips began caressing where formerly lips had been kissing. “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?” Paulette said.
“I don’t know what you think they’re doing,” Robin replied, “but there are fingers and lips working over my breasts, and hands massaging my feet and shoulders and rubbing my sides.” Robin opened her eyes to look at her sister and saw movement around Paulette’s shirt collar and in her hair, though her hands were nowhere near either. She couldn’t see the hands massaging Paulette’s shoulders, or the fingers that were combing through her hair and tracing the edges of her ears.
“Looks like you’re getting the treatment, too,” Robin said with a grin. “Why are they trying to comfort you?”
“They’re not,” Paulette said. “At least I don’t think so. They’ve been at it ever since I woke up this morning.”
“Do they know about our buddy Bryan?”
“Yeah, of course,” Paulette said.
“Well, maybe they think you miss him. You *do* miss him, don’t you?”
“Of course I miss him! If anything happened to him I’d be lost without him!”
“Why didn’t you go with him, anyway?” Robin asked dreamily, as an unseen finger began rubbing her earlobe.
“We’ve been just about *everywhere* together ever since I got here. We both thought we needed a break.” She saw the question in her sister’s face and added, “That’s not why he went away, that’s just why I decided not to go with him. Things are fine with us, don’t worry.”
“So how did these hands and… lips get here?”
Paulette said, “Bryan and a friend of his made them up.”
“Huh?”
“When I first went to Subreality to hang out and find out what it was all about, I met Havik’a, a character made up by one of Bryan’s friends. He writes about these invisible ticklers that aren’t human and usually aren’t solid. I guess when I went the second time, they decided to follow me back.”
“OK,” Robin replied, letting it sink in. “But how does Bryan figure into it?”
“He tried writing some invisible-visitor stories too. He even kinda put himself in one of them. I’m guessing their being here has something to do with me being his ‘muse.’”
“But you said invisible ticklers,” Robin said. “How come they’re not tickling us?”
Paulette’s eyes went wide. “Hey, believe me, that’s something you do *not* want. Their tickling is more like ‘tickle-torture.’ They like to push way beyond what their, um, ‘victims’ think they can handle.”
The unseen kissing lips began slowly making their way upwards from Robin’s chest towards her neck. After they softly kissed all around the base of her neck, she felt a tongue begin dragging its tip around the underside of her chin.
“They’re licking me,” Robin said evenly.
“And that bothers you?” Paulette asked. Before Robin could answer, yet other unseen lips began pressing against hers. Her eyes shot open, somehow expecting to see eyes looking back. She saw only the room in front of her, yet lips were gently pressing against hers. She marveled that she didn’t hear or feel breathing near the mouth kissing her or from the one licking and nuzzling her neck. After a few moments a tongue emerged from between the invisible kissing lips at her mouth and began parting her lips. “NNNN-nnn,” she grunted, pulling her tongue back, out of range of the invisible invader.
It withdrew, and as it did Robin distinctly sensed someone pouting, even though there was no pouting face to be seen. “No tongue,” she said. “That would only start something that can’t be finished… or can it?” That was a distinct moodbreaker, she realized, as most of the invisible ministrations stopped, except for the foot and neck massages.
Once she was able to collect her thoughts, she turned to her sister and asked, “What did you do to, um, draw their attention this morning?”
“I woke up,” Paulette answered. “Evidently that was enough. I did try a couple of things once I’d taken my shower, but they started with me first.”
Just then they both heard the sound of the ironing board closing. Robin looked surprised, while Paulette’s expression hadn’t changed at all. Momentarily a bundle of clothes floated into the room, headed for Paulette’s bedroom.
“Um, what’s this, sis?” Robin said.
“I had them iron my clothes while I ate,” Paulette replied.
Robin looked at the plate of by-now cold eggs and said, “You didn’t do much eating.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, “and I asked them to make it, too. Oh well.”
The tan top and jeans Paulette wanted to wear pulled themselves from the floating bundle of clothes and draped themselves across Paulette’s lap. Robin noticed them and said, “That’s a cute top, sis. When did you get it?”
The top and jeans floated up from Paulette’s lap, filled out to Paulette’s dimensions, and began turning in place for Robin’s inspection. “Nice,” Robin said. “I wonder if I can ‘borrow’ your friends for a few days?”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Paulette answered. “They just might follow you home.”
“Well, if that happens, at least we’ll know for sure that there’s more than one, right?”
Paulette nodded in acknowledgement, excused herself, and made her way to her bedroom behind the floating clothes, with the top and jeans following close behind. She was met with the sight of the ironed clothing either hanging themselves on hangers which would then return to the closet, or else folding themselves and depositing themselves in dresser drawers, which would slide closed when they were no longer needed.
As the bedroom door closed behind her, Paulette said aloud, “I don’t want you to see me either, Mr. Narrator, wherever you are. I know you’re telling the story, but you don’t have to see everything.” With that she disappeared inside her clothing.
The sash untied itself and the robe fell to the floor, leaving a pair of lace turquoise panties floating in midair. The tan jeans deflated and positioned themselves as unseen legs stepped into them, after which the tan top also pulled itself down over an unseen form. The filled clothes walked over to the full-length mirror behind the bedroom door and began turning this way and that as if inspecting themselves. As they stepped away, Paulette reappeared. She turned and looked towards the center of the room and smirked at no one or nothing in particular. The narrator took the hint.