Author: Travis E. Pugh
Date: 2016-02-06T13:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Juvenile Fiction; Lgbtq
Description: West Covenant is a town that's too relaxed. At least, according to Alx. He over thinks the small, inevitable things in life, like puberty. Ok, so maybe puberty is not such a small thing. To his friends, it's nothing. To him, it's the emotional changes, not the physical, that cause him the most anxiety. That is, until euphoric dreams and a mysterious, honey haired boy who moves in two houses down, enters his life.
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

A God Among Boys

By Travis E. Pugh

© 2015 Travis E. Pugh

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved worldwide. This work may not be sold, manipulated, or reproduced in any other format without express written permission from the author.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 1

West Covenant is an interesting town. It was always dark early, usually by five in the afternoon. I never understood why, even when daylight saving times came around. Whether we had to turn the clocks forward, or turn the clocks back, it didn’t change a thing outside. Night just came early. The town was very woodsy, plenty of oak, plenty of pine. Cedar and maple lived here too. Our cul-de-sac rested on a hill hidden above the main part of town. It was just two miles downhill and another two to reach the central populace. The isolated town was a lovely, obscure area: plenty of family businesses, bars, restaurants, some department stores, a Chubby Cheese, etc. You also have your choice of standard chain eateries to eat from, mainly for those passing though on the highway. These passerbys never stayed longer than a quick meal and a fill up at the gas station.

There’s a beautiful square downtown. West Covenant’s first courthouse, built in 1884, rests in the center of the four-street crossroads on a nice, green plot of land with flowers, benches, and trees that have lights strung around their limbs, for a pretty display at night every night. Boutiques, cafes, a comic book store, a used bookstore, which used to be an insane asylum, some more shops, and of course Bonnie Bray’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream. It’s one of West Covenant’s most popular places to chill and eat at. Currently, Sara, my best friend and the folks, plus I were eating our favorite amaretto cheesecake, double-scooped in a fresh and heavenly crafted waffle cone. We sat at a wooden booth in the back, in between the jukebox and restrooms. They didn’t stink today. They never do on Tuesdays around 3:30pm. Besides being Ice Cream Tuesday for us, it was Bowlin’ Alley Tuesday as well. My folks, who owned the well-reviewed, but highly underrated Muse’ick Shop around the corner, left work early at noon, letting Derek oversee the remaining four hours of operation.

If a problem did arise for some reason, we were hanging around town between 12-4. Also, we lived just four miles from town. The folks leave at twelve and come straight home to pick us happy kids up. Sara always hangs out with me because she always has permission. She lives with her grandfather. Every time she asks if she could go to town, he says “Sure.” When she asks if she can come over to my house for movie night, he says “Sure.” When she asks if she can go spelunking in Athena’s Deep, he says “Sure.” Ok, so maybe we’ve never gone spelunking, but he does say “Sure” a lot. He’s a pretty cool guy.

“I bet I can demolish your high score from last week,” said Sara.

“I doubt it. A 54 avg. from all three games? Try counting higher.”

Both of us had barely turned twelve last month, and yet our clever and sometimes harsh quips towards each other quickly established a sharp and unbreakable camaraderie that might have passed over from another life, a much longer one.

“Oh, just noose it,” she shot back. Noose it. When we didn’t feel like sending witty insults at each other anymore, you would say, “Noose it.” That’s that, I’m tired; you won for now, let’s go, etc. I heard a honk and turned around to see my parents pulling into the hood. Don’t get me wrong, this neighborhood had some nice houses, including mine, but the abundance of trees made it cloggingly claustrophobic. It almost felt like one big tree house.

We sat there enjoying our ice cream, me with a smug expression and her with an irritated one. Ninety-five baby, Ninety-five to forty. I heard glass break behind the counter and turned my head to look with curiosity. I didn’t even feel the warm, flaky mass leave my hand. I shook my hand, wiggled my fingers, and even held them up to the light. No, it was impossible. I was robbed blind. I looked at Sara with envious spite. It was she who now held the smug expression, along with the last bit of my delicious treat. My poor waffle cone, I still wanted to enjoy your lower half. As lean as she was, Sara had a voracious appetite. Was it a tomboy thing?

On the way home, I lightly pressed my head against the backseat window, briefly acknowledging the passing buildings and scattered vegetation outside town towards home. For the most part, I was daydreaming conveniently, pondering about change. How old was I? Twelve, right? Yes. Doesn’t something peculiar happen around this age, or was it thirteen? It was the male body. I’m a male. My body did start to feel different in areas. I felt hairier. Not bear hairy, just mouse hairy…I think? Very light, very, very, very light around my armpits and private area. It was puberty. It was normal. Sara knew about it too. She grew quite a bit since last year. Her height that is, not her chest. Those didn’t show any improvement.

I do understand these physical changes in my fragile body, which is why I have no intention of fighting them. I need them. But the non-physical changes bothered me. Boys like girls and girls like boys. We don’t care about cooties anymore. We want the cooties. The flirting and teasing become a desired ritual. I don’t know. It didn’t really interest me at all that much. Did all boys have to think about girls all the time? No, I didn’t think so. A friend of mine, Kyle, has a girlfriend at school. He brought her over one time when we rode our bikes through the woods behind our house. She was pretty enough: Blonde, pale, lean and funny. But I didn’t “desire” her. I just wanted to be her friend, just like Sara. I looked over at her in the adjacent seat. I wonder if she thought about these things too? She must’ve felt me staring at her because she turned around to meet my inquisitive glance. She smirked, and then proceeded to lick invisible ice cream off her “sticky” fingers. At that moment, no, she probably wasn’t.

As we pulled into the driveway, a huge moving truck swung into the street behind us. It stopped three houses down, next to Sara’s, but on the other side of the entrance into the woods. My dad filled us in.

“They arrived earlier than expected huh, honey?”

“Looks like you’re right, maybe we should go give them a quick hello,” said Mom.

They walked over to an exhausted, middle-aged couple exiting the truck.

“Long drive?” Dad began. The rest of the conversation became a blur. I picked up a green Frisbee lying lazily on the bottom porch step and tossed a few with Sara.

“So…what do you think?” I asked.

“The new neighbors? Eh, doesn’t bother me. It shouldn’t anyways. Grandpa will attempt to be friends at some point, when and if he finds the front door.”

“Yeah, then he’ll forget he had friends.”

We both laughed.

“True, true.”

After a couple easy throws, I took it up a notch and launched a slick, curve ball. It whooshed past Sara and headed dead center for the back of Mom’s head.

“Hey Mom, look out!”

She didn’t hear me. Almost there, almost there, and…huh? It stopped in midair. A small, slender hand held onto it, a boy’s hand. Where’d he come from? Mom finally turned around ten seconds later. She looked at me and smiled, oblivious to the danger that had passed, then returned to the droll conversation.

“Hey, nice catch!” Sara gave a thumbs-up. “Can you toss it back?” The honey haired boy just stood there, looking at the Frisbee in his hand like it was a foreign object. Surely, he’s seen one before? “Yoo-hoo, you there?” I doubt he heard her. The folks were still sloshing words with each other. Oh well, guess it’s my turn to try.

“Hey, kid!”

He looked up from his reverie and made eye contact with me. It was a quick reaction and somewhat unexpected. My voice had immediately pulled in his complete attention on me. All of a sudden I didn’t want him watching me anymore. Those piercing, light brown eyes…looking right at me…through me.

“Uhh…could you maybe give us back our Frisbee, please?”

He smiled. His teeth were nicer than mine.

“Never mind, you can keep it. I have plenty.”

“No you don’t,” slipped Sara.

“Sara, please. It’s ok, really. Let’s just go inside and watch TV. I think they’re showing The Chicken from Outer Space again.”

She looked back at the boy, and then turned back to me.

“Sick! I love that one. They should really make it into a show.”

“Yes! I agree completely.”

After TV time, we ate some leftover lasagna. Sara had to head back home. We would talk again later anyways, window to window, from our adjacent bedrooms.

“Hey, look at this,” she said.

“What?” I followed her out the front door. There was the Frisbee, all by itself, left on the porch step unharmed. “Oh…that.”

“Maybe he got an allergic reaction from your cooties and decided to give it back.”

“Ha, yeah.” I tried to shrug off the harmless jibe. Something had distracted that boy, and it probably wasn’t that plastic, piece of junk. “Yeah, if they were your cooties, he would’ve been in the ER by now.”

We shoved each other playfully until Sara grabbed me forcefully by the shoulders and slammed me to the ground.

“Hey! What the---”

“Shh! Look, it’s him,” she whispered.

The large, white wicket chair sitting on the porch hid us well enough. I looked in the direction she was pointing. It was the boy from earlier. He slid out from the back of the moving truck and turned around to slide something out from the dark space. It was large and covered by a sheet. It looked like a birdcage, a big one. He lifted it easily and carried it away towards the house.

“That looks like a birdcage.”

“Or a cellblock. Those can be very heavy. That one looks like it weighs over fifty pounds,” said Sara. “Depending on the bird, that may include an additional several pounds.”

“But he’s not much bigger than us, and we’re quite average. How can he carry that all by himself.”

“Sheer will and determination?”

“Heh, maybe for some situations, but not in this one.”

“You’re right, this is quite a feat of Herculean strength.”

“What kind of bird do you think he has under there, if a bird is what it is?”

“Umm…ostrich, maybe?”

“I was thinking pterodactyl.”

“Good guess, I was thinking more along the lines of a---“

“What are you two doing down there?”

We both jumped up in surprise, knocking our thick heads against each other.

“Uhh…I was just saying goodbye to Sara that’s all! Goodbye, Sara!” I shouted right into her left ear, thinking she had made her way down the steps already. She turned confusedly and skipped down the steps and across the yard, tripping over a sprinkler head. I held in the urge to laugh. She got up and ran towards her door.

“Too-da-loo!”

Mom just shook her head.

“I swear you two are a pair of monkeys.”

***

As I was brushing my teeth, I heard a sharp thwack! on my window. It’s probably Sara tossing rocks. She must’ve finished brushing early. I looked at the clock by my bed. It was 9:28pm. I still had two minutes. I can brush and walk at the same time. I tiptoed over to the scene of disturbance and peered through the curtains. The light was off in her room, and the window was shut tight. Hmmm…might’ve just been a tree branch. A good-size maple stood tall between our houses. It has very long branches that occasionally tap their fingers on the glass when it’s windy. But it wasn’t windy today. Whenever it is windy, rest assured I always know it’s just Grandfather Maple tapping at my door. As for right now, he was dead asleep.

It had to be Sara. She sure pulled a quick retreat. I went back to the bathroom to spit. Clang! Here we go again. I checked the clock. It said 9:30 now, and Sara made her appearance.

“Hey, why’d you knock two minutes early?”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I had just barely begun brushing when I heard a loud thwamp! on my window, but your window was still closed and the lights were out.”

“Nope, wasn’t me. Promise.”

“Oh...ok. Well, I believe you then, for now.”

She wasn’t all that great at lying and her ‘no’ didn’t sound like a lie.

“You still swinging by the shop tomorrow after school?”

Sara was taking summer school for General Math, which she didn’t do so well in last year. She concentrates better in a less populated environment.

“Yep, Kyle’s coming to meet us there too. He wants to show us his new pet iguana.”

“An iguana? Where did he get an iguana, the pet shop?” It was a rhetorical question. We did have a local pet shop, but it didn’t have a live reptile section. It had postcards of reptiles by the register, but no actual reptiles.

“Nah, he found it in his backyard.”

“We have iguanas?”

“Apparently. I know some lesser species live in the United States.”

“Huh, crazy.”

“So…does that sound good to you? You know his mom makes those awesome coconut brownies.”

“True, true. A very good plan indeed.”

“Hey, Sara Doll. What you doin’ up so late?”

Her grandfather peeked his head around her door.

“Just having my nightly chat with Alx. We were just about to say goodnight, if that’s ok with you?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll catch you tomorrow, Sara.”

She waved goodnight.

Chapter 2

I didn’t do too much out of my physical and mental capacity at the store. I helped on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8-12 in the morning. It put $25 in my pocket every week. Wednesdays were shipments. I would check the packaging slip to make sure the item quantities matched. I then logged the items into our inventory. After that, I ask Dad where they should go. Let’s see, ocarinas and flutes are all stocked up. Marissa is well equipped at the register. Mom was giving a violin lesson in the one of the practice rooms, and Dad remained in his office.

Our assistant manager Derek, a student at the local community college, comes in at 12. I heard tiny bike bells ringing outside. Sara and Kyle had just pulled up. Just look at Kyle, his long Aussie curls reflecting the sun’s shimmering rays. It’s like there’s a halo hidden there somewhere if you look hard enough. His mom has supposedly never given him a haircut. His hair was nice, resting there above his shoulders. He pressed his face against the store window. I sprayed cleaner on his face. I ran to the back real quick to let Dad know I was heading out.

“Have fun, Alx,” he said, without looking up from his desk.

I waved through the practice room window. Mom winked, then continued with the lesson.

“Enjoy the days of youth,” said Derek. He was dropping off his backpack behind the register. I stopped at the door.

“Aren’t you like, twenty-three or something?”

“Yes, but I’m starting to become a man, in body and mind. I’ve changed.”

Oh boy, here we go.

“Well, I work and go to school. Doesn’t that make me an adult too in a way?”

“No, that just makes you a responsible kid.”

“And…?”

“And what?”

“You work and go to school. How is that different? What makes you an adult?”

“I’m twenty-three. I see things differently than you.”

“Yeah, maybe an extra shelf or two.”

He took in a deep breath and let it out slower than a cow doing math.

“You don’t understand.” He exhaled loudly again, uselessly shaking his head in a stupid manner. I could hear Sara dinging her bell manically outside.

“Well, I have an iguana to see. Have fun with your new outlook on life!”

I made it outside at last to be greeted by an impatient Sara and an indifferent Kyle.

“Sheesh, finally! Was Derek holding you up again with one of his philosophical babbles?”

“Yeah, although I wouldn’t call it philosophical, just white noise.”

“He’s sure getting a lot of stomach aches recently. Some herbal tea should help,” said Kyle. Kyle loves tea.

“Hmm…maybe,” I replied.

We took a left from the store in the opposite direction of downtown. This road left the square and curved south around town to Evergreen Estates, our resident trailer park. Besides the common stereotypes, this mobile home community was actually quite nice. Well-kept hedges were lined up around the perimeter. The grass was green inside too. There was a pool, a little clubhouse for the arcade, which had a pizza counter, and a decent golf course. I’m not sure what audience the golf course was aimed at since I wouldn’t classify most of the inhabitants as “recreational.” Besides the overall clean look of the place, there was still your share of suspicious looking homes.

Towards the back by Raccoon Valley, much older home models were congregated: different shapes, sizes and color. It looked like vomit. The same description applies to the people in this sub-community. Not vomit as in “disgusting,” but vomit as in “colorful.” Kyle’s home consisted of a small camper stacked on top of a much larger camper. A makeshift fire escape provided access to the 2nd floor from the outside. Depending on your preference, you could enter the 1st floor by the front door of the large trailer or make your way up haphazardly to the 2nd floor, then take the fireman’s pole down into the kitchen. How they managed to install that is beyond me. In this little Hoover Ville was a tiny, community lake pond. Most of it lied on Kyle’s property. He gleefully took advantage of the boundaries. Five frogs, four geckos, two snapping turtles, and one baby alligator made their home here.

“Kyle, are you sure you want to keep the alligator?”

I was only being rational, and somewhat considerate.

“Please, call him Gilles.”

“You named it?”

“It’s a him, not an it.”

“Sorry, but he’s not going to get…you know…really big?”

“Gilles shows signs of improvement around others. He’s only eaten one frog in the past week. It used to be three in a week.”

Sara stepped in to clarify my point.

“I think what Alx meant is that it won’t attack your neighbors?”

“Don’t be silly, I’ll teach him morals.”

“It’s an alligator.”

“That’s enough you two. You’re not giving him a fair chance. He deserves an opportunity to learn like everyone else.”

“You can’t rule out instincts.”

He glared at both of us then walked off to the other side of the pond. He’s not angry, just disappointed. Kyle has a soft heart for both his reptilian friends and human ones. He doesn’t like to argue. That’s probably why Kayla likes him so much. She’s quite popular at school. “Well-liked” is probably a better word choice. It doesn’t have a conceited tone to it. She was exhausted by all the distasteful approaches and taunts by the Jr. High jocks, but finally found her escape with the town’s local herpetologist in training. I still think we’re all too young to be dating anyone, but if it makes Kyle happy, then I guess that’s fine with me. Sara’s nonchalant about the subject.

“Should we head inside?”

Sara nodded. I saw the fierce gleam of hunger in her eyes. It was the brownies. They would be waiting for us. As calmly and respectful as possible, we crept professionally towards the front door. Sure enough, there they were piping hot on the stovetop. Next to the treasure was a bowl of white chocolate ganache for dipping. It was sick, this sorcery, but it casted its spell masterfully over our weak-willed minds. Which is exactly why I had six brownies and Sara had seven.

Ms. Dunn, Kyle’s mom, came around the corner to tally up our score. She was pleased since we ate two more than last week.

“A fine performance you put in this week! I think you two can match Gilles’ appetite.”

“Maybe now, but I’m not sure if we can once little Gilles is older.”

“And larger.”

She frowned.

“Oh, I know how you kids feel about Kyle’s enthusiasm for things wet and scaly, but it makes him happy. It keeps him from thinking about his father. That’s the relief I get from it. I’m sure Kyle will know when to let Gilles go. If the rain keeps a normal schedule for once over the next few years, perhaps Gilles can stay in Raccoon Valley. It would be nice, if possible.”

Raccoon Valley was a rocky, cavernous gorge five miles below and behind Evergreen Estates. Kyle had direct access to it from a path about a mile down the road. If the rain provided enough water year to year, a river could form and connect with Musket Lake twenty miles northeast. The chance of consistent rainfall for even one year was a long shot. Something along the lines of ten years or more was basically a lost hope. Ms. Dunn was right. Hopefully, Kyle would figure out a plan beforehand.

“I’m guessing Kyle is out by the pond?”

“Yeah, we sort of made him mad about the whole pet alligator situation. He’ll come in shortly, happy again.”

“Yes, my baby boy can’t stay mad at anyone for long. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. That pretty Kayla girl is head over heels for him. I can see it. But being too soft can open him up to all kinds of hurt he won’t like. But you know, we all experience those hurts and we feel the pain all the same.”

Sara and me sat respectfully in silence. Our steady demeanor was mostly a result of a full stomach, but we were also sort of interested in the point she was making. Ms. Dunn does tend to worry too much sometimes, ever since the situation with her husband. She’s been very motherly not only to Kyle, but to all his friends too. I heard the back door click. Kyle came into the kitchen with his shirt bundled over his hand.

“Oh no, what happened now?”

Ms. Dunn brought Kyle over to the sink to see his fresh wound. The bite wasn’t deep, but deep enough to cause a decent amount of blood to dribble out.

“Mom, it’s ok. He didn’t mean to. It was my fault. I waited too long to feed him. I should have done it before heading into town, but I forgot. He’s fine now. I can tell he’s sorry.”

“Kyle. This can’t keep happening. Sooner or later you’ll come walking in without a hand, or a leg, or a p---”

“Mom, please. Not in front of my friends.”

She sighed heavily, trying hard to keep her words inside. She cleaned the wound then wrapped it snugly. We followed Kyle out of the kitchen. Each of us took a turn climbing the rickety stairs lest our combined weight should send us crashing down.

“I see you changed the carpet,” noted Sara. The bedroom floor was covered in artificial grass.

“I found it by the golf course.”

“Umm…were they still using it?”

“No, it was sitting by the dumpster. No use throwing it away.” I looked at Sara. She shrugged.

“Hey, your bonsai tree is looking pretty sweet. That’s great you’re keeping up with it.”

“It has a very calming presence. The leaves never fall off.”

“Where’s that awesome iguana you wanted to show us?”

“Right over here!” He picked up his pet from a large aquarium behind his bookcase. She looked about 3ft long. “Meet Dr. Connors.”

“Wow,” I said. “Just hitchhiking behind your house you say?”

“Yep, I found her during an afternoon walk, just sitting on the cliff face about two miles down into the valley.” Sara was holding Dr. Connors with glee.

“You’re like some homing beacon for these animals.”

“You could say that. Unfortunately, as you already see, I don’t have much to offer them in terms of natural habitat. Space is lacking. My mom said no more after this one.”

It was my turn to hold her.

“Here Alx, give her some of these dandelion greens.” She took her sweet time with the snack.

“So, you may or may not have heard about our new neighbor,” said Sara. Most likely my mom kept Ms. Dunn up-to-date. Either way, it’s good to keep the conversation going.

“Oh, the one who’s staying in your neighborhood right? I saw Marvin leaving the library with a boy as I was heading to the music store. He had honey hair.”

“Yeah! That’s the one. What’s he doing with Marvin?”

Marvin was Kayla’s cousin. He’s a nice guy who runs a pretty good time for the mile at our school. A couple track coaches from our two high schools have already talked with him about future training goals, and choice of school. He’ll be in 8th grade this year.

“They probably just met while looking at books or magazines. Marvin loves his sci-fi. I’m glad he’s making a friend. You know how shy he is.”

“Did it look like they were talking?”

“Huh?”

“Well, I was only asking because of awkward introductions with him yesterday as Sara and I were tossing a Frisbee. I threw a rough pass, which soared past her and into the hands of the new guy before it almost clocked my mom. It was quite a save. Sara asked if he could send it back, but he just stood there looking at the Frisbee. Just looked at it like it was something he’s never seen before.”

“Maybe he was just timid.”

I handed off Dr. Connors to Kyle. He put her back and filled her bowl with water.

“Sara couldn’t get his attention, but when I spoke, he immediately looked at me and… smiled.”

“Oh…well that’s nice, don’t you think?”

“He was smiling at you?” Sara asked.

“Yeah, he was looking right at me, smiling real sweet-like without blinking. It was so sudden, didn’t you see?”

“Huh, I must’ve missed it. But I agree with Kyle that it was a nice gesture. He showed some emotion at least and Kyle saw him hanging out with Marvin, who needs a good friend just as well. He’ll come around. He’s new, remember?”

“Heh…yeah, you’re right. I’d be the same way too if I had to start over in a new town, especially this one.”

“What’s wrong with this town?” Kyle queried.

“Oh, you know, nothing bad of course. It’s just so…relaxed. It can be so quiet sometimes. Infallible peace can be so nerve-wracking.”

“Don’t worry, surprises will pop up sooner or later for all of us. As for me, I’m quite content at the moment.”

“Hey, you know what sounds good right now?” I glanced at Sara. She raised an eyebrow knowingly.

“What?” Kyle didn’t catch the exchange.

“Some more of those scrumptious brownies.”

“But didn’t you guys already have like, eight apiece?”

“Nope, Sara had eight. I only had seven.”

“Actually, I had seven. You had six, sissy.”

“Whatever.”

“Wait, what about me? I want my share too.”

No one was listening as he finished his last words. Sara and I were already heading down the hall towards the fireman’s pole.

Chapter 3

I threw up in one of the freshly cut hedges by the entrance. Sara threw up in an actual toilet in Kyle’s bathroom. Kayla was coming over in a half-hour and Sara wanted to stay and say hi. I had to get home for dinner. Bleh, I can’t even. It wasn’t just dinner I had to race home for, but also a TV marathon of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Season 1. It’s one of the best things ever to come into my life recently. It started this morning, but I only needed to see the last three episodes. I missed them during their original airdate. Mom made curfew an hour early because I was having a hard time getting up for school. It’s not like staying up an extra hour caused the excessive drowsiness. Heck, I wouldn’t even call it drowsiness, just an extreme, loathing discontent towards school.

But now my mind and soul will be at peace finally. My unsolicited thirst for blood will soon be quenched. My life will reach full circle at last, until Season 2. The show is perfection. There’s action, drama, horror, not to mention the amazingly witty and snarky sense of humor. Tell me if there’s something better than this show. This Buffy girl is quite the heroine. She’s definitely up there with Wonder Woman. I put my bike in the garage then ascended the porch steps with renewed gusto. Slayer, slayer, slayer…stake, stake, stake…Angel, Angel, Angel…Angel? Oh yeah, because he’s a badass too. I plopped myself on the living room sofa with relief.

“Hi, honey!” Mom was in the kitchen. “How was the iguana?”

“It was neat. Is it ok if I have some ginger ale? I had too many---”

“Brownies?”

“Of course.”

“Well, ok. I’ll just put your plate in the fridge next to the other one.”

The other one? Oh, Dad must be working late or catching up with friends at the pub. Don’t worry; he’s not an alcoholic, just a social drinker he said. Sure is a bummer considering he likes the show too. I clicked the TV on and checked the clock. I still had ten minutes. I heard Mom come around the corner with my drink. She set it on the nightstand. I took raised the cold, bubbly drink to my dry lips. I let them soak first before tipping the glass further to let the cool liquid trickle down my tongue and into my parched throat.

“Is it good?”

The voice took me by surprise. I spat out the drink immediately, soaking my pants and the coffee table. The moment was gone, replaced instantly with shock and confusion. I looked up at my intruder. It was him, the boy next door. Where did he come from? Mom came back into the living room with a wet rag to wipe up my mess.

“I’m sorry, Alx. I guess it would have been better if I warned you first, but I wanted it to be a surprise, for both of you. I asked Eron’s parents if he could come over for dinner. They were very nonchalant about it.” Surprise indeed.

“You scared me, Mom. My stomach shot up into my throat for the second time today.” Eron offered a quick apology.

“Sorry, Mrs. Sombre. Maybe I could come back at a better time?” He had soft, tiny voice.

He was looking back at the front door, most likely hoping to escape the awkwardness. Mom raised her eyebrows in my direction. She was trying to hand the situation over to me. I took the initiative reluctantly.

“Hey, umm…Eron?” He turned his gaze back around. “Would you like to watch some TV with me? There’s this awesome new show I’m into and they’re replaying the last few episodes of Season 1, which I’ve yet to see, in several minutes. There are vampires, demons, and a whole lot of butt kicking.”

“Alx loves the show so much. He got his father hooked too. Be careful, he’ll suck you in too.”

Eron smiled.

“Sure, I’d love too!”

“Awesome.”

“Would you boys like your dinner later?”

“Later will be fine, Mom. Thanks.”

“I’ll be upstairs if you boys need anything.”

Eron sat down on the sofa.

“Wow, your mom is real nice. My parents don’t talk much.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Well, maybe not to some kids, but they’re away a lot. Work keeps them traveling and occupied.”

“Wait, so you’re left alone by yourself?”

“I’m not entirely alone. I have Himeros.”

“Who’s Himeros, your pet?”

“How do you know that?” I detected a rise of panic in his voice. How dumb of me. He doesn’t know about the eavesdropping last night.

“I’m sorry. It was just a lucky guess. Who’s Himeros?” He still looked nervous. “O-oh, uhh…nothing, he’s nothing. Just a friend. A babysitter my parents hire a lot.”

“Oh, ok. Cool, cool.” My clothes were still damp and sticky from the ginger ale. I should change. “Hey, do you mind if I change my clothes real quick? They’re kind of…wet.” I stood up, so did he.

“I…uhh, cool. I’ll wait here.”

He sat back down, blushing.

“Yeah, you do that. I’ll be right back.”

How weird. He sure was jumpy. Must be that “new guy in town” syndrome. I raced upstairs to my room. I might as well put my pajamas on since it’ll be time for bed once the last episode is done. I rummaged through my drawers and found that the only clean pair available was the blue silk ones by mom got me last Christmas before my second growth spurt. They still fit fine, just more fitted in certain areas. Well, like I said, it’s not like I’m going anywhere else tonight. The shirt and bottoms slipped on smoothly. I raced back downstairs into the kitchen to grab dinner: steak, asparagus and a baked potato. Looks good enough.

“Hey, Eron?”

“Yes?”

“Would you like me to bring out your dinner? I’m eating mine.”

“Sure! I’m starving.”

I wasn’t that hungry, but I needed an extra distraction besides the TV in case conversation gets awkward…again. I should ask Eron about his hobbies and interests. I carried both plates into the living room. The first thing he did was stare. Not at my face, but below it. Don’t tell me that sauce stain is still there from last week’s spaghetti? I set the food down and pulled my shirt up to look at it. Nothing. What was he looking at?

“Is everything ok?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Of course.”

“The food looks good. I was admiring the asparagus as you walked in.” I’m so stupid. He was looking at the food, not me.

“So you like asparagus?”

“Oh, yes. It’s a favorite of mine.”

“Same here! My mom says I’m an addict.”

“At least you’re addicted to something that’s very good for your body.”

As soon as I sat down, the best-TV-show-theme-intro-ever kicked in.

“Cool!” Eron said as the electric guitar fizzed out. A complacent smile stretched across my face. He’ll be won over. He stayed until the end, when the always-resilient Buffy prevented the Master from opening the Hellmouth. Wow, what a finale! I can’t wait for Season 2.

“Eron, what did you think?” His eyes were wide with excitement.

“That was amazing! This is a new show?”

“Yep, it premiered earlier this year and it got picked up for more seasons.”

“That’s great, I’ll have to find a way to watch the other episodes I missed.”

“Good idea, although I don’t recommend watching the movie now that you’ve seen some of the show.”

“There was a movie?”

“Yep, a very crappy one. Just pretend I never said anything.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll try to avert my eyes if I ever see it for sale somewhere.” He gave a wry smile.

“That’s good to hear.” We both laughed. I looked over at the clock. It was 9:05. It was getting late. “Umm…”

“It’s getting late, huh?”

He read my mind.

“Just a bit. Do you have to get home soon?”

“Yeah, it probably would be best. My parents are pretty relaxed about curfew, but still, I think it’d be good behavior on my part if I got home early.” We both stared quietly at the ground. Well, at least I was. I wasn’t sure if he was. I felt him staring at me. I looked up and saw that I was right. He looked away quickly. I should get up first. He did so too at the same time again. We both laughed nervously as he walked over to the front door.

“Thanks for having me.”

“I think my mom is the one to thank, but either way I’m glad you came over.” He smiled at the simple gratitude. He sure likes to smile a lot. I waved goodbye as he let himself out. I took the dinner plates back into the kitchen and placed them in the sink then looked at the freezer. Hmm…it wouldn’t hurt to have a little bit of ice cream before brushing my teeth, would it?

***

“So…how was your evening?” Sara was twirling her hair absentmindedly while dangling her right foot outside her window.

“Guess who came over? Well, guess who came over without my permission, courteous of Mom?”

“Your psychiatrist?”

“No, I directed him to your house. Your new next door neighbor was the answer I was looking for.” She stopped playing with her hair and gave me her full attention.

“ Cool, how was that?”

“Well, he brought me some ginger ale first. I didn’t know it was him though.”

“I bet that was a nice surprise.”

“Yes, it sure was. Not sure if was the surprise my mom intended.”

“Ugh, you’re lucky you even had ginger ale to drink. Ms. Dunn offered me prune juice for my ‘digestive issues.’ I drank it out of politeness. Sure enough, my so-called ‘blockage’ cleared up about two hours later.” I laughed heartily at this breaking news.  She gave me her best “I hate you” glare. “Anyways, back to your evening. What happened after the ginger ale?”

“Lucky for you, none of it made it into my stomach, but plenty of it made it onto my t-shirt and favorite green shorts.”

“Did he laugh?”

“No, butthead. He felt bad and thought about visiting another time, but with the ‘look’ from my mom, I asked him to stay and watch Buffy with me.”

“How nice of you. Encouraging yet another victim to be sucked into your new show.”

“Well, it is an awesome show.”

“That it is.”

“And he loved it.”

“Of course he did. Everyone does.”

“Everyone should.”

“True.”

“And that was it. I got to finish the last three episodes of an all around wholesome first season of what’s going to be a television classic, and he was there to witness that beautiful moment.”

“Where’s he at now?”

“At home, duh.”

“Sorry, I figured he’d be staying the night in one of your newly dug graves behind your house.”

“Ha. Ha.”

“What do you wanna do tomorrow? Remember, only three days until our annual, back-to-school trek through Bowie’s Woods.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember. We’ll have to get supplies soon.” The usual group presently consisted of Me, Sara, Kayla, Kyle, Ben from the pet store, and sometimes Marvin.

Cool. So what about tomorrow?”

“What about it?” She rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, smart aleck. What do you want to do?”

“Well, I definitely don’t want to come to class with you, that’s a giveaway, but I could grab a donut at Riley’s.” Riley’s Café served a delectable array of donuts and coffee drinks. My favorite is the Pumpkin Pie Crumble, served early fall until the end of January. In the mean time, I usually just get the Pomegranate Jelly Twists.

“I guess you can eat there without me, if that’s what you really want,” she dragged out.

“Don’t worry, dear, I’ll get you some of those Cinnamon-Honey Éclairs you like so much and bring them obediently outside your classroom door.”

“I like that first part. However, instead of waiting like a footman, why not go say hi to Marvin at the track? He likes to do his sprints there on Thursday mornings. That’s what Kayla told me since I saw him there the last three weeks.” I haven’t spoken to Marvin in a while. I could ask him about this Saturday.

“Ok, I’ll do that. Maybe I’ll get a couple pointers on my running technique.”

“Or on your running mouth.”

“Touché, sweetheart.” I feigned an air kiss.

“Sara, honey. Have you fed the dog?” Grandpa again.

“Grandpa, we don’t have a dog. Mr. Dickens passed away thirty years ago, remember?”

She looked at me and shrugged.

“Goodnight, see you tomorrow.”

She saluted then lights vanished.

***

I closed the window and slid into bed. I think my stomach finally stopped its tantrum. I rolled over onto my left side and stared at the clock. 9:50pm. What did Eron say? Something about it being best to get home early? It was around nine o’clock at the time. I know it was summer, but I wouldn’t consider nine to be that early. Nine would be my curfew when school starts Monday. I think Mom is trying to raise it to ten for next year as a celebratory reward for reaching the big thirteen and my last year of Jr. High. I closed my eyes. Something hard hit the window. I shot up and looked. Sara, c’mon. I hopped out of bed and opened my window. Her lights were out and the curtains were drawn. There’s no way she could have closed the window so quickly without partially slamming it.

“Sara,” I whispered, loud enough for her to possibly hear, but not so everyone else could. “Sara! What are you doing?” No response. I hope she’s not giggling on the floor. Just wait, no Cinnamon-Honey Twists tomorrow until I get a confession. I closed the window again and turned around. As soon as I did, a large shadow swept by the window behind me. My whole body tensed. What was that? I squatted and crept carefully along the floor until I was under the windowsill. I pulled myself up slowly and peaked left and right through the glass. Nothing. Ok, so that definitely wasn’t Sara. Grandfather Maple was twitching slightly, but his branches were still too far away to reach my window. My body felt warm. I wasn’t scared, just confused. I think I’ll just head to bed and ignore any further disturbance. I unbuttoned the top of my pajama shirt and fell back on cool sheets. I fell asleep several minutes later.

Chapter 4

I was lying in the sand. I pushed myself up and looked around and saw that I was in sparse woodland. I looked through the trees ahead and saw an ocean. It was calm and unmoved. I looked down at my body. My pajamas had been replaced with a light, airy tunic. Nothing remained underneath. It felt nice and comfortable. For once, I could feel the breeze as it was meant to be. The breeze brought a pleasant scent with it. I inhaled it slowly, pleasantly. It was sweet, like oranges. I looked up at the trees again. They were bundled much more closely this time, their foliage intertwining with each other. I saw orange berries appear beneath the leaves. But they weren’t actually berries, as I soon saw. They grew much bigger and more bulbous. The soft skin hardened as the fruits hung heavy from the branches, two by two. They looked delicious. I waited for one of the lower branches to be weighed down closer to my reach. I held both hands, palms up, to receive the sweet fruit. I cradled it, retracting my arms gently to break off the stem. The small snap echoed around me.

I bit gently into the orange to create a slit. I licked the bitterness of the skin from my teeth and savored it. I peeled the taut skin away slowly and appreciatively. There were eight halves to be eaten. I took one and placed it in my mouth. I bit down, causing the juice to leak inside my cheek. I swallowed the juice. The sugary fluid trickled down my throat and throughout my entire body. I felt a tingling sensation along my arms and legs, extending into my toes and fingertips. The breeze picked up its pace and carried me up into its arms. I was taken somewhat closer towards the ocean, and placed back down into the sand. The gentle hands that held me tucked me back in the golden soil. I closed my eyes and fell asleep fully satiated.

***

I pulled my soaked sheets away and raced to the bathroom, barely managing to reach the toilet before pissing myself. Phew. Next time I should make sure to go before falling asleep. I washed my hands and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I was wet: my hair, my pajamas. Surely, it couldn’t have gotten that hot during the night. If anything, it should have gotten cooler. I must’ve had the blankets pulled up over my face. I took my shirt off and walked over to my window. I threw it open, and stuck the top half of my body out to feel the cool air refresh my moist skin.

“Hey, Rapunzel! Are you finished daydreaming or can you let down your hair so I can yank you down here? I’m going to be late if I have to wait any longer.” I looked down at Sara, still half-dazed by the euphoric feeling of the fresh morning air. I snapped out of it immediately.

“What the…” I began confused. “Uhh..sorry! Just woke up! Go ahead and get a head start. I’m going to shower and head out in ten minutes.”

“Whatever you say, Rambo. Put those guns away before you shoot my eyes out.” I looked down at my pale flesh. I suddenly felt self-conscious again. I blushed and closed the window immediately. I showered, got dressed, and whizzed on over to Riley’s for breakfast.

I grabbed a book off the shelf by the register to skim while I ate and stared out the window in the back of the cafe. Riley’s had a tiny library for customers who wanted to read something while they dined casually. The books were all used, donated or bought from other vendors. I looked at the book I picked out. The spine read Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. It was missing a jacket and the pages were yellow and crispy. I had no clue of what it was about from lack of a cover. I opened it to a random page and read a marked line.

“It was when I was happiest that I longed most…The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing…to find the place where all the beauty came from.”

I flipped over to another random page.

“As for all I can tell, the only difference is that what many see we call a real thing, and what only one sees we call a dream.”

I skipped one last time.

“Are the gods not just?”

“Oh no, child. What would become of us if they were?”

The book had a lot of small notes scrawled in the margins. The style of handwriting appeared to be consistent throughout the pages, so it most likely belonged to one avid reader. The lines I had just read had stars next to them. There weren’t many stars from what I saw skimming through. I shut the book. It’s no Narnia, but I’m sure it’s an interesting read. I looked out the window towards the school. There was only one Jr. High in the town so it was quite large. It was in the center of town. The two high schools were located north and south. I lived closer to North Covenant, so that’s where I’ll be going the year after next. My dad said something about the north campus having a more “liberal” approach to teaching, which seemed to satisfy him. I’m not entirely sure what he meant by “liberal,” but the word sounded a lot like “liberty” and I like that word.

The middle school was five miles south of downtown. Being in the central part of town, it had the benefit of being next to a lot of the town’s popular establishments: Riley’s Café, Coppola Cinemas, Myrtle’s Bowl 4 Less, Flo-Mart, Smokey’s Steakhouse, Artichoke Garden, and many other numerous eateries and shops. Riley’s was my favorite because it was the only place on this street that served fresh donuts and pastries.

My watch told me it was ten-thirty, which means I had an hour until Sara was done. I got up to throw away my trash and headed towards the front to pick up Sara’s éclairs. Melanie was there. She was the youngest of Christopher’s three daughters, nineteen if I’m not mistaken. Christopher was the café’s owner. Her older siblings were half-sisters. Christopher’s second and current wife, Melanie’s mother, was a beautiful woman from Colombia. Melanie got her mom’s gorgeous long, black hair and rich, bronze skin while getting her stepdad’s hazel eyes.

“Hey, Alx,” she said with a sugary smile. She had a crush on me and never failed to remind me on several occasions such as this one. “If only you were several years older, mi querubín!” She would say, over and over. Still, it didn’t keep her from pinching my rosy cheeks until they burned like lava. She was pretty, and I can’t deny that she had an alluring affect on my inexperienced inhibitions. But alas, I was too young.

“Hi, Melanie. How are you?” She rested the side of her face against the palm of her hand. Several strands of her luscious hair fell across her face. She blew them gently away.

“Better, now that you’re here, Mr. Peck. When are we going on our European getaway?” I blushed. My wit could easily get me out of this rut, but it could not keep me from becoming embarrassed by my underage euphoria.

“O-oh?” My voice cracked. I coughed hoarsely to fix it. “T-that’s great. Glad to hear…uhh…it.” I cleared my throat again. “May I pick up my éclairs? You know how feisty Sara gets if I don’t have them nice and warm.” She giggled coquettishly and reached for the bag behind her.

“Just made them not five minutes ago, Honey. Your girl will thank you, papi, and me as well for helping you out.” I made a grab for the bag, but her hand retreated just as fast. “Hey, slow down, Niño.” I frowned hopelessly. “I just wanted to tell you that I put an extra bag of donut holes free of charge inside with your girl’s treats. Usted no tiene que darles a ella.” This gypsy was too much for me to handle much longer, especially when she spoke frequently in her mother’s native tongue. “Usted puede darle a otro amante si lo desea. Give it to another friend of yours.” She winked.

“Uhh…thanks Melanie. Have a good rest of the day. I should…umm…go.” She laughed. Why does she always laugh?

“Usted lo tímido. Be careful of love, Niño. It will fright you at first, but calm you after. Then it will fright you again!”

She cackled as I hurried out the door in a rush, eager to get away, across the street, past the tennis courts, and up the home bleachers all in a matter of minutes. I could see Marvin down on the field stretching, with his back facing me. I don’t think he heard me come up. I remained silent, observing his routine with some curiosity. It was very light stretching. I remember him explaining to us during lunchtime on why it was bad to stretch too much, if at all, before a workout. Just a good warm-up is fine to get the blood flowing. I watched as Marvin jogged twice around the pink stippled ring. He worked up a light sweat and decided to pull of his sweatpants. Beneath them he wore a very short pair of running shorts. His legs were unsurprisingly tan, long, and muscled. I felt self-conscious again, being lanky and unattractively toneless compared to Marvin. Of course, I’m the only one to blame for that. Maybe I should join a sport soon. Baseball players are pretty strong and they have nice…

“Hey, Alx!” I jumped, striking my foot out against the hard, aluminum seat in front of me painfully.

“Oops! Sorry, Alx. I didn’t mean to frighten you a second time. You’re probably getting tired of the routine.” Yeah, maybe just a bit. Eron sat down next to me. He too wore short shorts. His legs weren’t as dark as Marvin’s, but carried a nice, light olive tone to them. He wasn’t as tall either, but his legs had more definition.

“How did you get here, Eron?” By the looks of it, he probably ran, but that’s crazy since we lived eight miles away (if you took the short cut down Begley Rd). Otherwise, it was ten.

“I ran here,” he said cheerfully.

“What? But that’s too far. Surely, you rode a bike or something?”

“Nope, I don’t own a bike, unfortunately. It wasn’t too far, really. The weather is great today! My legs were restless and couldn’t stop once I got going.”

It was a cool, windless 55º at the moment, but I was still bundled in my grey hoodie.

“Wow, that’s crazy,” I said. “Makes me feel lazy.”

“But you rode your bike here, did you not?”

“I did, but eight miles on a bike is nothing compared to eight miles running.”

“Is it really only eight miles to get here?” I nodded. I couldn’t tell if he was subtly trying to brag or not. “You ride your bike a lot. That requires some level of fitness so don’t worry. I bet you have nice legs too.” I coughed a little too loudly. Marvin looked up from the field. Eron waved, Marvin waved back.

“C’mon, let’s go meet up with Marv!” Marv? I got up reluctantly and followed Eron down to the field. Marvin seemed nervous as ever, usually more so when I’m around him without Sara.

“Hey, Marvin.”

“Hi, Alx. What are you doing out here by yourself?”

“I’m just waiting on Sara to get out of class. She asked me to tag along today and suggested I come say hello. Oh, and to get her breakfast too.” I held up the white, paper bag. “Then I ran into Eron. Well, technically he ran into to me.”

“Have you two met already?”

“Yep,” replied a happy Eron. “His mom invited me over yesterday evening and we watched this new show. It was so cool!”

“Oh, that sounds neat,” said Marvin. He seemed out of it like he was trying not to care too much. He probably just wanted to start his workout already. “Did you run here?” He was looking at Eron.

“I sure did.” Marvin looked impressed.

“I thought you said you only go for light jogs every now and then?”

“I did! I thought that was a light jog? It took me a whole hour to get here. I figured I was late since you were already warming up.”

Marvin looked over at me. I shrugged and discreetly checked my watch again. I still had a half-hour left until Sara could rescue me.

“Is Sara almost out?” Eron asked.

“Yeah, just about. Not much longer.” Marvin was scraping the heel of his shoe on the track. It was kind of annoying. Maybe I should just leave them be and go to Sara instead of waiting for her. If she wants to ask Marvin about Saturday, then all power to her. I cleared my throat. “I think I should get going. Probably be best if I waited by the classroom early.” Marvin stopped the pointless scraping. Eron looked slightly disappointed.

“Are you sure?” He seemed eager to hang out with both of us, but that wasn’t going to happen with Marvin’s sudden indifference to my presence.

“Uh huh. See you guys later.”

I walked away relieved, doing my best to not go too fast. Words are just not coming out right whenever Eron is around. Marvin wasn’t helping matters either, standing there all shy and annoyed. Annoyed with me, perhaps? Probably, but I didn’t do anything wrong. As I neared the school, I chanced a glance backwards. They were both staring at me. Eron waved, grinning like a clueless puppy. Marvin, instinctively uninterested again, turned his head towards the clouds. Probably to watch pigs fly.

Sara didn’t get out early, but I needed some excuse to leave. Her éclairs were most likely cold by now, not that she would care. The classroom door opened with her striding out confidently.

“Hello, there,” she said.

“What are you so happy about?”

“Mrs. Scottsdale cancelled tomorrow’s class and made today our last day.”

“Wow. What about a final test?”

“Nope, not one. Well, we did go over everything we’ve covered with random problems on the board that everyone worked together on. She was pleased. We did good.”

“That’s good to hear. Do you feel ready for pre-algebra this year?”

“I should be fine. Today’s participation should give me enough credit to pull a B+ from the class. Still trying to transition those results into the school year.”

“You know you can’t keep taking summer classes for math. Wouldn’t it be a nice change if you could just adapt to a large classroom of students? No one wants to take summer school.”

“It’s not that bad really. Keeps my brain working.”

“Sara.”

“Yes, Alx, it would be nice, but I am trying, you know that. I don’t know what’s missing. I need something to make me feel secure amidst the chaos.”

“Maybe we’ll finally have math together this year.”

“I hope so.” She saw my goodie bag and her eyes lit up immediately. “Ooh! Is that for me!” She snatched the bag in a flash. .

“Hmm…maybe. You know how Christmas is coming around the corner in four months, but I decided to get you your only gift early.”

“Yum, my favorite.” She dug her hand into the bag, pulling out another much smaller one. “Huh? Stocking stuffer?”

“Oh! The donut holes, I almost forgot about those. They were a gift.”

“I already know from who.”

“Yeah, I know you do.”

She submerged her hand back in and found her éclairs. She gobbled them up in seconds. “Shoot, I wish there were more.”

“You’re going to get fat.”

“Impossible. Tomboys never get fat” She licked her fingers clean. “Did you see Marvin?”

“I did. I saw Eron too.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, he ran here. Now he’s running with Marvin.”

“Coincidence?”

“Nope, they were meeting together.”

“Did you ask them about Saturday?”

“Them?”

“Yeah, would’ve been impolite to just ask Marvin if Eron was present too.”

“So, it’s ok to invite him as well?”

“It is now.”

“Well, I didn’t because I didn’t expect to see Eron there and Marvin didn’t look or sound like he wanted to talk.”

“Isn’t Marvin always like that?”

“Yeah, but not that bad.” She rolled her eyes, exhaling gruffly.

“Boys, boys, boys…so hard for your kind to converse with one another. Looks like I’ll have to ask them.” I was hoping she would say that. “C’mon.”

“Huh?”

“I said, c’mon. Let’s go ask them.”

“I thought you said you were going to ask them.”

“I did doofus, but you’re coming with me.”

“No, it’s okay.” She gave me a funny look.

“Are you for real? Where do boys get their logic? C’mon! And bring those donut holes with you.”

“Why?”

“For your new friend.”

“But what if he doesn’t like d---”

She hauled me by the front of my hoodie and I obeyed. Marvin and Eron were busy chatting and stretching. Marvin looked exhausted while Eron remained chipper. I hope he’s not on medication. Sara made her way across the grassy field.

“You must be Eron. I know we sort of met two days ago, but my name is Sara. I’m Alx’s friend.” She stuck her hand out with an easy smile.

“Nice to meet you, Sara! Sorry about the other day. I was sort of nervous. That’s something me and Marvin have in common.” Marvin gave a weak smile.

“Alx brought you something, Eron.”

“Really?” He stared at me eagerly. “What did you get me?” Marvin looked less enthused. I avoided eye contact.

“What Sara meant was we brought you something. These donut holes, free of ch-”

She elbowed me hard in the ribs.

“Hey!”

“What he meant was ‘free of charge’ for you, money spent from us.” Eron took the bag and poked his hand inside, pulling out a donut hole.

“Cool, these look good! I’ve never had one before.”

“For real? Where have you been?” I gave Sara a look. She mouthed an innocent what? Eron popped one in his mouth, mulling it around gently. He looked pleased.

“These taste good! I’ll be happy to eat the rest. Thanks, Alx!”

Sara looked at Marvin, who was currently unscrunching his face.

“Are you coming Saturday?”

“Coming where?”

“Our annual, back-to-school hike through Bowie’s Woods, silly! You missed last year and the year before as well, I think.” He looked indifferent.

“Eh, I don’t know. Probably not.”

“Why not?” It wasn’t Sara who said this, but Eron. .

“I-I don’t know. I just thought…”

“Can I go?” Eron asked.

“Of course you can,” said Sara sweetly. “And so can Marvin.” Everyone focused their attention on the runner. He matched my gaze for a second. I gave him a tiny smile of encouragement.

“Okay,” he mumbled.

“Huh, what was that?” Sara needed a louder affirmation. She cupped both ears. Eron joined in too.

“Yeah, Marvin. What was that?” I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

“Fine, you guys. I’ll go, okay? Stop bullying me.” Sara was pleased for now.

“We’re all good to go then!”

“Who else is going?” Eron asked.

“Kyle and Kayla. Kayla is Marvin’s cousin. She’s going out with Kyle.”

“That’s cool. What’s Kyle like?”

“He’s a nice guy. Interesting at times, but nice.”

“Like weird?”

“Well, if you mean ‘weird’ in a cool way, then yes; if you mean ‘weird’ as in weird, then yes.”

“Is it true love?”

“What, Kyle and Kayla?”

“Yeah, is it meant to be?” I couldn’t tell if Eron was trying to be cynical. Sara didn’t seem to catch anything, so I chimed in.

“Don’t you think we’re all a bit young to be ‘in love’?” I couldn’t help myself, but it’s the truth. Eron looked baffled. The other two said nothing.

“I believe in true love, Alx. It exists.” Was he joking? Surely, he couldn’t think that. None of us know what love is.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it doesn’t exist, just that it’s something we haven’t experienced yet. It’s more of an adult thing. We’re kids. We shouldn’t worry about something so above us.”

“You don’t think about it? If it will happen to you in the future?”

“No, I don’t. Sorry.”

“Well, that was fun!” Sara chimed. “ Catching up on business and what not. Alx and I should really get going. We have some grocery shopping to do for the trip.”

Sara and I walked off towards the bike racks by the front.

“That couldn’t have been more uncomfortable.” Sara looked over at me.

“What do you mean?” I gaped at her, disbelieving.

“Are you serious? Did you not witness how uncoordinated and uneasy that conversation was?”

“Aren’t you overacting just a little?”

“No, of course not! The body language was terrible. It was obvious how tense everyone was.”

“Except me.”

“Ok, maybe except you, but---”

“And Eron.”

“Okay! Marvin was acting funny and Eron was too. Somebody wanted to say something but couldn’t. Didn’t.”

“You think one of you three was hiding something?”

“Yes. I mean no. Not me, that’s for sure, but Marvin perhaps. He was acting so strange. He kept shooting me these odd looks, like I was a distraction or interference.”

“Alx, that’s how all conversations with Marvin go, or did you forget all of sudden? You know how he’s not a talker.”

“Well, he’s definitely an expressionist.”

“A what?”

“Nothing, stupid choice of words.”

“Are you ok, Alx? Your day seems a little off. You woke up this morning flashing your peachy nipples to the world and now you’re all self-conscious and paranoid about Marvin acting like Marvin.”

How could I say, “I’m fine” without lying or sounding too defensive? It wasn’t possible, so I didn’t say, “I’m fine.”

“I’m just nervous about school starting up again. You know, another new year with new teachers and new students.” She observed me quizzically. No doubt she could smell the bullshit, but I could tell she wasn’t going to push the subject much further.

“At least we’ve already met one new student.” She was referring to Eron. Happy-go-lucky-yet-strange Eron.

“True, but we don’t know what school he’s attending yet. We shouldn’t get too carried away.” I realized how stupid the words were before I even said them.

“Alx, there’s only one Jr. High here. Where else could he go?”

“Home school? Also, we don’t even know his age.” It was easy to read Sara. Right now, she was close to exhaustion from my talking.

“Negative to both. He’s thirteen and will be attending our one and only middle school this Monday.”

“What? How do you know this?” I was being a little overdramatic, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Chill lava lamp. You were probably still playing Tarzan in your sleep when he came over this morning. He wanted to know where the school was. Marvin forgot to give him directions and he forgot to ask. I asked him if he was going to our middle school and he said yes. That was that and he left.”

“That was it?”

“Yes, until five minutes later when you majestically made your appearance.” I decided it’d better if I change the subject.

“We should probably head over to Flo-Mart while it’s not busy.”

“Sure thing.”

We grabbed our bikes and rode down a couple blocks to our destination. I grabbed a small basket on the way in.

“He is kinda cute,” said Sara.

“Who?”

“Eron, silly.”

“So you do think about boys!” I said it too out-loudly.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing, ignore me. You were saying?”

“I was just saying he’s adorable, that’s all. He has a nice smile, pretty hair, and cute puppy dog eyes.”

“Why don’t you ask him out then?”

“Jealous much? Don’t worry, he’s not my type.”

“Then what is your type?”

“Openly straight.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, come on Alx. You know exactly what I mean.”

I sort of knew what she was talking about, but I’ve never heard her or anyone else bring it up for discussion.

“You’re saying he doesn’t like girls?” We walked through the cold meat section to grab some bacon and ham. I always get goose bumps from the chill.

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“No, you maybe are.”

“Fine, you caught me. Let’s grab a bag of those fun size snickers.” We passed through the Halloween aisle, which was set up the day after July 4th, per usual.

“How do you know exactly? Did you ask him?”

“No, of course not. That would be rude. Girls have a sixth sense for these kind of things.”

“Girls say they have a sixth sense for everything. Sometimes I wonder if they live in the spiritual world more than the real one. It would explain a lot.” She nudged me with her shoulder.

“Funny, but no. It’s more of a radar system. Mine beeps when he’s around.”

“Is ‘radar’ supposed to be code for ovaries?”

“Alx, this is obviously new to you. All I’m saying is he likes dudes and it’s not a bad thing. Except for the part where I think he’s cute and I can’t do a darn thing about it.”

“I’m glad you’re taking the initiative on that. But I guess that would explain why he stares a lot and acts nervous around me.”

“Who, Marvin?”

“No, Eron.”

“You think he stares at you?” We picked up some half and half. I don’t know why since none of us drink coffee.

“I don’t ‘think,’ I know. I’m pretty sure he was gawking at me yesterday after I brought out the dinner plates Mom prepped. He said he was looking at the asparagus, but I was holding the plates out to the side. He was looking directly in this general area.” I made a motion with my hand in front of my lower, lower abdomen.

“What were you wearing?”

“Huh?”

“I said, what were you wearing that night?”

“My blue silk pajamas. The same ones I wore while talking to you.”

“The ones that don’t fit anymore, right?” We grabbed a box of fortune cookies.

“They fit. They’re just a bit snug.”

“Well, there you go. Problem solved. You decided to wear some tight fitting garments, which happened to accentuate certain parts of your body, which happened to catch your new friend’s attention.”

“Our friend.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m trying not to get emotionally attached, remember?”

“But you don’t know for sure if he’s g-a-y,” I whispered.

“Why are you talking so low?” She said it loud enough to make my cheeks burn a bright red.

“Shh…not so loud. You’re being very candid today. And you thought I was having a nice change of pace.”

“Hey, I’m not being dirty or anything. I’m just stating the obvious, for me. These are things that have to be discussed. Our bodies are changing for better or for worse. Worse because my boobs are still flat, but better because my mind is gradually maturing and I can feel it.” She’s starting to sound like Derek. Is she going crazy or am I just behind on this whole puberty thing?

“Are you referring to p-u-b--?”

“Alx, stop whispering and spelling out these ‘taboo’ words. Just say them. And yes, I am talking about puberty. It’s happening, to all of us. Didn’t you pay attention in P.E. last year when they went over the whole spiel on lady parts and man parts?” There was nothing to remember because I was never told or shown.

“No, I didn’t have Mr. Snyder for P.E. last year, I had Ms. Clemmons.”

“Oh, that’s right.  The conservative old crow, I remember now. Supposedly, she ‘accidently’ skipped over the whole sex ed thing because she had a lot to make up from all the sick days she took.”

“But she never misses a day of class.”

“Exactly! She thought her students were too young to be learning about this hobble-dash nonsense. She used to be a Sister you know.”

“Like a nun?”

“No, like from the hood. Yes, I mean nun! The point, Alx, is that these bodily changes we’re going through are inevitable. There’s no way around it. It’s not just physical changes, but mental changes too. You need to prep your mind as fast as the growing hairs in your secret garden.”

“Sara!”

“What?”

A couple of people looked in our direction.

“That’s gross, you can’t say things like that in public.”

“You’re gonna have to talk about it eventually, Alx: who you like, your prom date, your manhood. We’re going to be 8th graders next year. After that, it’s High School. You can’t afford a blunder in that type of environment.”

“This is West Covenant we’re talking about. Nothing exciting happens here. People aren’t intrusive.”

“No, that’s what you tell yourself. Kyle is right. Surprises will come. You have to be ready.”

This was too much for me to handle, this new side of Sara. She was never like this before. Those nasty things coming out of her mouth, I can’t believe it. Eron’s orientation, her breasts, my manhood, and bodily changes; it’s like a switch spontaneously flipped on inside her. My switch is off. I’m still the same because I don’t feel any different. It was everyone else who felt different. We passed by the produce on our way towards checkout. I saw a display of oranges. They were on sale: large, seedy navel oranges for $0.69/lb. They looked real good today. A part of me said to grab some, but another part of me said no, you should pass. I continued onwards. Sara hopped on a new topic.

“Hey, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure, as long as it’s not crazy.”

“It’s not.” Shocker. “I was wondering if you could take the groceries home? I need to go to Bobby’s for some bait and hooks. I’m also meeting up with Kayla after for some back to school, girly shopping.” Sounds easy enough.

“I can do that. Are you going fishing soon?”

“Yes, tomorrow with Grandpa and some old friends of his.”

“Is he driving?”

“Ha, no way. They’re coming to pick us up.”

“Where you fishing at?”

“Innsport.”

“Where?”

“It’s thirty minutes north of Alpsmith.”

“Oh, I think I know where that is. It’s a small bay area, not much people.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“You can fish there?”

“Apparently. Grandpa’s friends own a cabin and boathouse there. They brag all the time in letters on the ‘hoards’ of fish brought in by the local fisherman. He wants to see if their small talk has any truth behind it.”

“That sounds fun. Are you just going for the morning?”

“Unfortunately, no. Sorry, pal. I’ll be gone all day. I should be back before 9:30.”

“That’s some relief then. Be careful out there in the water.”

“No way am I going on those wobbly boats. I like keeping my feet on steady ground. I’ll probably just stay on the dock. I heard it gets quite foggy out in deep waters. No thanks!”

I guess tomboys do feel fear after all. We said our farewells. I don’t really fancy the idea of lugging these bags all the way home by bike. We definitely overbought snacks: Muffins, bacon, ham, skittles, snickers, creamer (no coffee), ranch dressing, and pickles. Looks like we need to look up the definition of “camp food” at some point. I might as well head over to the shop since I’m in town. Mom can take me home later. Dad is out of town for a couple of days on business. Mom told me some time ago that the word “business” is a very broad term with many meanings. Barely had I walked through the front doors when she asked, “Is something wrong, honey?” Moms typically know when “something” is wrong.

“Well…”

“Well…?”

“Well, it’s just Sara said some weird things today that made me think that she was out of her mind, because everyone is starting to seem out of their mind and it’s making me think I’m out of my mind. You know?”

My mom took one hard look at me.

“Alx, don’t tell me you and Sara got a hold of some alcohol. I always knew her grandfather held a secret stash somewhere in the basement. I can’t believe--”

“Mom! What are you talking about? I did not get drunk. Neither did Sara. That’s not the reason I can’t take myself home.”

Was she crazy today too?

“Okay, okay. Forget about what I said. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“I can’t, it’s horrible.”

“Honey, whatever Sara told you can’t be that bad. Whatever she said was probably something she learned from school. I hope.”

“It was something she learned from school, that’s the problem.” She showed no signs of concern. This is not normal. I needed to say it, those three, sinister syllables.

“Then what’s the big concern?”

“Pu-be-rty.” It was hard. The words were thick and heavy on my tongue, easily choked on if I had swallowed them. How horrendous that would’ve been to read about in the morning paper.

DEATH BY TESTOSTERONE: BOY AFRAID TO GROW UP CHOKES ON BIG ‘P’ WORD!

“Puberty?” She said it so calmly. Why isn’t she freaking out?

“Yes. It’s…terrifying.” She started laughing.

“Mom, what are you doing? Why are you laughing at me ?”

Her cheeks cherried.

“H-honey…” It took her a moment to compose herself. “Alx. Its just puberty, it’s normal. It’s completely normal.”

“But how, Mom? Sara told me crazy things. Boy and girl things. Prom dates.” Her face softened.

“Would you like your father to talk to you about these things? I feel like we got off to a rough start.” I sighed, dissatisfied.

“No, Mom. It’s okay.” I took another deep breath. “I’ll leave it alone for now.”

The drive home was quiet. I could hear the bike’s joints creak in the trunk. I couldn’t keep my mind down to earth. Maybe I was overreacting. It would’ve helped immensely if Ms. Clemmons hadn’t been ignorantly snobbish towards sex education. Look at what it did to me, putting me out of the loop with my friends and family. Sara’s life seems all the more merrier and carefree with the newfound knowledge.

I didn’t do much once I got home. I put my bike away and headed straight for the living room couch, clicking the TV on.

“Oh, darn it.” Mom came into the room, rummaging through her large purse.

“What is it?”

“I forgot to give Derek his check. I’m surprised he didn’t catch my mistake.”

“I know, he’s usually money hungry.”

“I swear this purse eats almost anything you put in it. Good luck to finding your favorite lipstick in one of these black holes.” I just stared back, unconcerned. I did not own a black hole or a tube of lipstick. I switched my gaze back to the colored screen. “Hey, how about I pick up a couple of those amazing brisket sandwiches from Ol’ Yeller’s Deli on the way back? My growing boy needs good quality meat to get strong and twice as handsome.” I smiled at the offer. Those sandwiches were worth dying for. Expensive, but worth it.

“Sure, Mom. Thanks!” I smiled. The juicy, grain-free meat will no doubt take my mind of things.

There wasn’t much on TV. True, there was a good selection of cartoons to choose from, but they were re-runs. I let them play. It was already getting dark outside. I looked over at the clock. It was 4:45. Not early at all for the Sun to clock out. The evening sky would be vacant until the Moon arrived later in the night. The Sun turns on some of the evening stars before heading home to provide intermediate assurance to West Covenant’s residents. They’re dim compared to their nocturnal counterparts, but they do their part. I started dozing, resting my head against the couch arm. A dog barked several houses down. It didn’t bother me, not now. Sleep took over.

***

My feet weren’t resting on solid ground, but on a floorless cloud. Only a few floated in the late, morning sky. An orange glow glistened far off to the west behind the vast reach of the blue waters. I looked down to the east. It was the island. Nothing moved except for a calm, lithe breeze. I could see its wispy patterns trickle through air above the trees. It was a peaceful sight. I wish I could set my feet down on those sandy, sifted sheets, but sadly, I could not move from my perch. I was held still. The island was off-limits for now. I had to wait it said. The breeze picked up, causing a portion of sand to shift its position, revealing a pale shape fast asleep.

I focused on the breathing form, seeing at once that it was a boy. He looked familiar. What happened to his tunic? I recognized the not unfamiliar shape below the boy’s navel. It matched the shape I saw this morning after my shower. It was slightly paler than the rest of the body’s surface. The boy moved in his sleep, rolling over onto his left side, revealing the second half of the stark whiteness. He looked beautiful, the way he lied there undisturbed and free of the day’s worries. I looked away from the unperturbed scene and back towards the Sun’s position. He still had a ways to go. Soon, the cloud said to me. Let’s come back later when you are awake. Before we departed, a dark, winged shape flew past our field of vision.

“Honey, wake up.” She shook my shoulder gently. “Sweetie, dinner is ready.” I grumbled something inaudible. The nap had been a heavy one. It was not easy to pull myself out of it. My mom ran her fingers through my hair. It felt nice. “My handsome boy,” she nurtured.

“I’m awake, Mom,” I mumbled.

“I know, dear. Would you like to eat with me in the kitchen or would you like me to put your sandwich in the fridge for later?” I slowly raised myself up to a sitting position.

“It’s okay, I’ll come eat with you.”

We sat down across from each other at the kitchen counter. I saw that she brought three sandwiches. She noticed my observation.

“It’s not for your father if that’s what your thinking. I thought maybe you might want it for lunch tomorrow?” I nodded approvingly. “Or you could give it to Sara later. She might like that.”

“Oh, I know she would.” Sara appreciates food. “But she may have already had dinner with Kayla. They did some back to school shopping today, girls only.”

“You could always give it to her tomorrow.” She reached for a napkin to constrict the flow of the meat’s juices along her chin.

“She’s going fishing all day tomorrow with her grandpa.”

“Hmm…that sounds fun, but I guess it leaves you without a sidekick for the day.” One of the many things I appreciate about my mom is that she doesn’t question why I don’t spend as much time as I do with Sara with my other friends. Don’t get me wrong, I like all my friends for various reasons, but I wouldn’t consider them day-to-day companions. Sara and I never get tired of each other, even though we’re neighbors. With the others, it’s understood when we allot space and time between us to diminish the boredom factor. Time away from them only makes the times we do hang out with each other that much more fun. Like this Saturday for example, in which this pattern is crucial. You can’t screw up a once in a year event. It would completely catapult the wonderful summer we’ve just had into a burning castle. Even the new school year wouldn’t start right.

“It’s okay, I’ll see everyone on Saturday.”

“That’s right, the annual hike through Bowie’s Woods. You’re not going into Athena’s Deep are you?” She asks this every year and the answer is always:

“No, Mom. It’s too hard to climb down there. No one even knows where the entrance is.”

“But that one poor boy did from your school.” A kid from my 5th grade class was found mangled at the bottom of the cave. Apparently, he slipped on the descent. Even then, it’s surprising that he fell inside unless the rocky slide curved into the cave’s dark gates.

“There was never any camera coverage of the incident. We still don’t know the exact location of the entrance. We don’t know how a random, old hermit stumbled conveniently upon the boy’s body. You can’t exactly stroll through the area, according to the basic knowledge we have of it.” My mom remained quiet. I think she knew it was pointless to keep bringing this subject up, but facts are facts. No one knows where the old man came from or how he managed to free-climb his way back up the steep, mountainous surface with the mangled boy in tow. There might’ve been another way out, but it’s unknown.

“Well…” She paused momentarily. “I guess we just don’t know at this point.” We were both finished with our sandwiches. There was nothing left to distract our hands with.

“Are you sleeping in the room tonight?” I asked her. She scratched absentmindedly at her neck.

“I might. You know, the patio isn’t all that shabby. The fresh air is nice. There’s always a nice breeze coming in from the woods.”

“Alright, I was just wondering.” Neither of us said anything for several seconds. My mom took the initiative this time.

“I’ll go ahead and clean up our mess. Why don’t you go watch some TV?”

“There’s not much on tonight.”

“I guess I’ll use the TV then. Why not head to bed early? You seem tired today.”

“Ok.” I headed for the stairs. My mom interrupted me halfway.

“Tell Sara I said hi.”

“Ok.”

Alx’s mom watched as her son ascended the last few steps until he disappeared completely down the hall. She shook her head quietly.

“Something is on that boy’s mind.” She rubbed her tender shoulder gently. “I wish he would tell me.”

***

Sara’s window remained dark at 9:30, 9:45, and 10:00. I wasn’t too sleepy yet, but I didn’t plan on sitting by the window all night. This isn’t the first time she’s been M.I.A. I kind of figured she would be spending the night at Kayla’s. It’s a common outcome when the two hang out together. Maybe it’s a good thing. Normally, 75% of our nightly chats consist of that day’s shenanigans, which means the puberty thing undoubtedly would have popped up again. Some subjects never die. A change is going to come. My body knows what to do. My mind, however, doesn’t. I don’t know what’s right for me. I just feel so anxious lately. I was fine the whole summer until…you know…he came. The new kid: Eron; the one with the soft, brown eyes. They said more than the words trailing from his mouth. I could probably read him like a book if I tried. He didn’t seem the type to hide his feelings in. But something was holding me back. Fear, anxiety, self-esteem, I don’t know. It didn’t feel right and I couldn’t understand why.

This puberty thing felt like it played a part in the matter. You have physical changes and then you have emotional changes. The latter I was unprepared for. Is it just me? Sara seems to be quite complacent. I’m a boy; I shouldn’t have these “emotional” issues. It’s a girl thing. As a male, I’m supposed to know what I want. It’s supposed to be simple because men are simple, but there was an underlying issue in that stereotypical simplicity, something unique to me and perhaps for others.

***

At some point, my thoughts carried me off to a deep sleep because here I was on the island again. I shifted my body slightly; stirring it from the sleep I was in. Lying in the sand, I felt both warm and cool. I reached a hand past my waist and realized I was naked. My skin felt smooth and clean as I gazed up at the clouds. Something twinkled behind one. I thought nothing of it. I felt free and peaceful in my new circumstance. As I got up, the remaining sand trickled from my body’s gentle creases. I walked along the shore at an easy pace, unafraid and unembarrassed of anyone who might be observing my activity. The shoreline began to curve inwards, creating a small inlet big enough to welcome several, small boats or two large ones. I heard a soft humming from the trees to my right. I peered through the branches as best I could. A clothed shaped moved light-footed towards me. As it came closer, I saw that it was a woman: not too old, not too young. Her beauty made her appear ageless and unmapped in time.

She was setting a good pace with her long, effortless strides. Along her route, she randomly picked from the branches above and below her head, placing these pickings in her woven basket. She continued to hum tranquilly as she did this. She was aware of my presence for she occasionally looked my way as she stepped over thick roots and small, inhabited mounds in the ground. I did not attempt to cover myself. Why should I? It felt natural to not be alarmed here. When she looked at me, it was not with a downward glance, but one designed for my face. Her interests did not lie in my better half. She broke free of her wooden confine, passing by the edge of the salty pool. She smiled then turned to engage my company full-heartedly.

“Hello, young one. How has your morning been?” I smiled back.

“Very calming. I woke up not to long ago from a most comforting rest.”

“Ahh…I see. Zephyr went out of his way to make sure you were at full ease.”

“Zephyr?”

“Yes, he was the one who carried you to your bed and tucked you in.”

“The breeze?”

“Yes, he is the west wind.”

“Just the west?”

“There are three others like him, but he is the only one who ventures here. It is part of his route. He will be back shortly. He is needed for her arrival.”

“Her?” She smiled again.

“You will see, don’t worry. She will be happy to see you and us. She will bring a special gift.”

I had no guess of who would be visiting us, but I was pleasantly expectant nonetheless. I rubbed my right hand against my bare thigh. She noticed the movement.

“Would you like something to wear, cherub? I have extra fine cloth with me. The same kind I used to make my own lovely dress.”

“I feel comfortable presently, but clothing would be respectable if we are expecting a special visitor. I did have a tunic before, but I woke up without it.” I looked behind me to where my bed lay. “Did Zephyr remove it when he laid me down?” She shook her head gently.

“It was I who stripped it from you. I knew you would be warm once you woke. Besides, as you said, we are expecting an important visitor and I want her to see you at your most handsome.” I blushed at the comment.

“You think I am handsome?”

“Don’t you see it? Here, look at your image in these lucid waters.” She took me by the hand and softly led me to the shallow position. The image was as clear as any mirror. She ran her fingers through my hair and along my face, sculpting its frame.

“Your hair is black like coal, yet your face white and clear as fresh snow; a blessed contrast. Below these groomed arches,” she traced a finger along my brow, “are the most precious gemstones I have ever laid eyes on: gray on the surface, but blue in its core. You’re the makings of a young god. If not a god, surely an angel who deserves to stand in the presence of one.”

I looked away, embarrassed and shy. No one has ever spoken to me with such frankness before. It was a high honor coming from such a picturesque woman.

“If you step a little closer, the water’s surface will illustrate you in all your beauty.”

My face burned a fiery crimson. It was then that I covered myself from all. The woman sensed my sudden discomfort. She unshouldered a small, bulging sack, undid the ties and pulled out a piece of fine, vibrant material. It was another tunic, but one much thicker and fuller, lavender in color and scent. She slipped it over my head. It was slightly shorter and much more fitted around the waist. I looked at my reflection and began to see more of what she saw. It was hard to balance humility and pride in this one glance, but is it so wrong to appreciate one’s beauty every now and then? As if reading my mind, she answered my thought.

“You’re a sight to see, that part is certain, but do not use your own appearance as a weapon against the appearance of others. Compliment yourself in your own time and mind, but compliment another in their presence. If done right, they will do the same for you.” I nodded.

“What were you gathering from the tree’s branches?” She held up the basket, which was full with berries, leaves, and twigs.

“Materials to make you a wreath, my young Apollo.”

“To wear for her?” She nodded.

“To wear for her. I will need time to make it, of course. Come, let us sit on those rocks.” We walked over to a wide seat of stone resting atop smaller stumps. “Zephyr will join us shortly.”

She busied herself with her hands while I took up the humming.

“Apollo indeed, you are appreciating the most simple and sweetish sound of music.”

A soft wind danced around our spot on the rocks. The woman did not look up from her work, but nodded at the new disturbance. The airy entrails flowed into a sequenced course several feet away above the sandy flooring. Soon, the sand, abandoned foliage and tiny stones gathered together with the sky’s breath. A lofty silhouette formed, genderless, but not for long. Flesh, color, and garment appeared soon after, topped off with a large pair of stark gray wings that sent the sun’s rays shooting back towards its source. The man’s muted-green garb flowed winsomely around his towering, tight frame.

He was a sight to behold, in looks and stature. However, just like the woman, he remained unintimidating in my presence. Thick, chestnut curls fell across his neck with a glistening effect. He blew a stray curl away from his cheek with lips that parted ever so gently from their perch. Some greater God was overtly kind and charitable in his creation of this lesser god. He was but a small reflection of his Maker. While the man was covered, the cloth’s constant sinuous movements revealed, in time, all parts of his tanned and masterfully carved body to Alx. The youth brought his gaze downward out of respect and adolescent modesty.

“Don’t worry yourself,” spoke the woman, “he appreciates the observations of all.” He was the one who laid me down. I had only seen and felt him in his abstract form. The angelic god glided forward to greet us.

“Good weather, Alx?” He turned his head. “Pomona, nice to see you as well.”

“Likewise, Zephyros.”

He sat down behind us on the large, rocky-smooth surface. His wings settled down not too calmly. Pomona held on to her shawl, shooting Zephyr a look.

“Do you mind, O’Graceful One?”

“My apologies, my beautiful hyacinth.”

“You should be more careful with your sweet words,” she smiled smartly. “Don’t mislead the boy either. False paths lead to bad endings.”

“You worry too much Pomona. I feel the boy knows what path to walk on. He just needs to find the start.” I felt a large hand ruffle my hair.

“What is this place?” I had to ask at some point even though it wasn’t crucial information. If I never found out, it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

They both looked at each other, trying to non-verbally communicate as to who would like to speak first. Zephyr nodded to his lady friend.

“It is somewhat new,” she began. “I have not been here long myself. With help from Zephyros, I have cultivated this place with the time I’ve been allotted, filling it with trees, fruit, streams, and few species of animals. Man has not touched this place yet, but soon they will. At that point, this place will become an important crossroads for trade. Right now, it’s an important crossroads for us. The three of us have other places we inhabit, but right now we’re here together to witness something beautiful, a birth of something incredible for us all to cherish and share; an awakening.

“What kind of awakening?”

“Something you were born with, but have yet to unlock fully until now. We, on the other hand, have felt it through teachings, but still, it is not the same as experiencing it through feeling.”

“I, for one, am looking forward to this arrival,” said Zephyr amiably. “It’s time for the people, and gods, of this world to experience a new form of expression...and affection.”

“You speak as if we are in the past,” I remarked, perhaps naively.

“Well…” began Pomona. “You are half right. For you, this place is an ancient time and space; the condition it is in now. For us two, however, it is very much present and always will be.”

“Because you are gods, correct?”

“Yes, that is correct. We still exist in your time, just not in the way you see us now.” I thought about these words for a small fraction of time.

“Have I seen you two before…where I’m from?” Zephyr scratched his skin, thinking.

“Well…without spoiling anything, I can say with certainty that it is not I or Pomona that you see around you, in your space.”

“But you can’t say who it is that I do see?” He nodded.

“Yes, that is correct. It is not our business to mettle in the affairs of other gods unless the situation requires our skills, when they are needed as a solution or instigator. That’s the way it is, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately?”

“Yes.” I looked downtrodden. Zephyr must’ve noticed my change in mood for he tried to boost my spirits once more. “But…here’s the thing. Our visitor? The one we’re waiting here together for? She will help you. That I can say for certain as well.”

“How much will she be able to help me?”

Pomona interceded.

“You are clever in that you are aware that she will not be able to cure you of all your setbacks. That is for you to figure out on your own. However, the predicament you find yourself in now, the one concerning your heart’s true desires, will be aided for the better. Of course, it is you who must make the complete journey inside you, but she will set you on the right path first. Walk it right with confidence and soon you will see life become much easier, filled less with regrets and doubts, and more with self-confidence and eased reassurance.” This was a lot to take in, but when she spoke these words, they felt like a possibility because she made it sound so.

“It may not be easy at first,” began Zephyr, “but the awakening inside of you will come as a welcome surprise and benefit if you remain calm and self-assured. Don’t worry about those who surround you with hate and malice. The ones who truly love you will love you still.” He ran his hands though my hair again, but much more gently this time. I turned my cheek into his cool palm. He let it rest there for a few moments longer. I started to feel sleepy again. They both noticed my altered disposition. Pomona looked over at the airy god. She nodded before going back to her hands. My lower half was lifted from the hard seat and carried with the rest of me further inland, but still in sight of the foamy waters. Shade covered my face. It felt good; a relief for my newly pink skin. The hefty, yet light god, once again tucked me in. This time, he was in his full form, with large soft hands against my soft, undeveloped frame. He lowered his head next to my ear. A loose curl tickled it.

“Sleep, angel. Tomorrow will be a good day for you and another. Take it for what it is. This will be just one step towards a greater time in your adolescent life.” He blew gently into my ear. White noise filled the canal, making its path towards the center of my head and out the left. My vision clouded quickly before an immediate darkness fanned over, enveloping my last waking conscious into a deep slumber.

Chapter 5

My neck was slightly warm from the early morning light refracting through the window. I rolled over onto my right side, eyes still closed, to hide in the sheltered half of my bed. As I brought my left knee up, it brushed against something hard: my groin. I felt the area with my left hand. Using the less dominant hand to explore the unfamiliar, left me alienated yet curious. This hardness wasn’t new. It has happened occasionally before at random, forgotten intervals. But this time I associated it with something more than just immediate absence. The second part of that dream; I was at complete ease, more so than my first visit. The nakedness, the warmth, and the freedom I experienced. It was rapturing. Without thinking, I pushed down my bottoms and let the bare sheets comfort my slightly damp skin. I kept my breathing to a minimum, forcing the inhalation and exhalation through my nose. This was a sacred moment for me and me alone.

I turned onto my back and spread my knees apart like wings. The sheets fell into the newly opened division. My lips parted in a soft sigh at the new variation of the touch. I brought my knees in, closing in on the sheets, bundling the fabric and my anatomy together. This left my rear bare and vulnerable. I opened my eyes to gaze at the heightened whiteness of this part of my body. I traced a finger along the hemline of my hips where the waistband of my briefs left their print. I strayed from the path towards the upper part of my raised thigh, right before it rounds outwards along my cheek. The hardness twitched then centered itself. I’ve never explored this part of my body with my hands. I’ve always seen my lower half when I stand naked after a shower, but I’ve never known what these sacred areas with their delicate nerves offered when approached by the caress of a finger or a hand. It was not the same as touching my ear, or my shoulder. It was something foreign yet very close to home. I was starting to enjoy myself, letting the uncertainty fade away at once.

I heard a door close downstairs along with the sound of my mother’s voice. I snapped out of my reverie and pulled my pajamas up in melancholy. Who was she talking to? I slid off my bed and quietly made it look undisturbed until I would come back to it tonight. As I headed for the bathroom, a knock at the door stopped me halfway. I looked at the door, which still didn’t have a lock on it unfortunately. I’ve lobbied for one aplenty within the past several months to no avail.

“What if someone comes through your window at night? What if I can’t get the door open in time?”

“There’s not going to be a spare key, Mom. Only I will have the original, no copies permitted.”

“What if you pull your sheets over your head while sleeping? You’ll suffocate. What can I do then if the door is locked?”

“Mom…”

“No.”

I looked at my bed. The sheets were well hidden beneath the safety of the comforter; unlike me, they have a hiding spot. My share of the morning’s guilty pleasures has to be hidden from my face, which is not easy. I wear a face everyday. The knock returned a second time. If it was my mom, she would’ve came in after the first knock. If it were Sara, she would’ve climbed through the window. If it was my dad…well, he doesn’t come in here all that often. Besides, he’s not even stationed in this house at the moment. Whoever this new visitor was, Mom let them through the front door. Was it friend or foe?

I pressed my ear against the door. I could hear stifled breaths on the other side of the barrier. I grabbed the doorknob, letting it crackle in my purposely-spastic grip. The presence took a step back. I gently peeled the door open and placed my head into the gap unafraid. The bravado was shattered immediately, replaced by anxiety and surprise. Eron stared attentively at my crumbling composure, I held myself together as best as I could. He had his hands clasped in front of his zipper.

“Hi, Alx,” he said not too assuredly. He must be as shy and unprepared as I am right now.

“Uh…hi E-Eron.” Damn the unbreakable and persistent stutter. “This is a surprise.” I looked down the hall.

“She’s in the kitchen making us breakfast.”

I met his gaze.

“Us?”

“Umm…yeah.” He scratched at his wrist. “Your mom invited me over. I was playing outside by the path into the woods looking for twigs and small branches to fashion arrows out of. She was getting the newspaper out front when she must’ve heard me shuffling about.” The paper? It comes at 6:30 am sharp each day at the sun’s first wink.

“You must get up early then.”

“I know. It’s because I have to feed Himeros.”

“Himeros?”

“Yeah, my pet.”

“The one you were carrying inside on Tuesday, right?” He looked surprised.

“You saw me?” Déjà vu. I might as well confess.

“Yeah, sort of. I didn’t mean to pry. It’s just that as I was saying bye to Sara, we happened to see you pop out of the moving truck with the big birdcage. Is Himeros a bird?” He looked a bit unsure at forming an answer, but gave one anyways.

“He is. An owl, to be exact.” I smiled, relaxed at the honesty. He was taken aback by the new expression.

“What?” He looked down. “It’s nerdy, huh?”

“No, no, no, of course not. That’s not why I was smiling. It’s just when I asked you about Himeros the other night you seemed keen on keeping him a secret.” He managed to put together a small smile as well.

“I guess you’re right. Sorry about that.” He gave a casual laugh. “I guess not too many humans have owls as pets. I assumed most people would find it boring compared to a dog or cat.”

“Well, I have to say you assumed wrong. The fact that not many people own an owl as a pet makes it cool…and unique.” He smiled at that. I could smell the food cooking below. My stomach stretched its limbs, excited to be up at last. I looked back at Eron. “So you said my mom was cooking breakfast for the both of us?”

“Yeah, for both of us! That is…if, you know… it’s ok with you if I can stay?”.

“Of course you can stay. Why not?” He seemed relieved at the response. Zephyr said today would be a good day and the fact that he knew that ahead of time meant that my decisions, for the most part, would play a role in that impending outcome. “Do you mind if I take a quick shower? I’m a bit sweaty.”

“Is it warm in your room?”

“It was for a little while.” My face warmed at the subtle confession.

“Alright, I’ll go ahead and wait for you here.” I glanced at my just-made bed.

“You can wait in here.” He looked over my shoulder into the room. “There’s a door for the bathroom, you’re fine,” I reassured.

“Okay! That’ll be cool.” He examined the bare essentials of my room as I came in.

“Your room is sort of like mine.”

“Empty?”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t say that. You have all that you need for a room. Although, I can’t say that I have a bathroom in my own room. Must be nice.”

“It’s not bad.” He hopped onto the bed. “Make yourself comfortable.”

He bounced up a couple of times until satisfied. It was an obvious kid thing to do. I walked into the restroom, closing the door behind me. I ran the hot water before removing my clothes. I observed my naked body until the mirror fogged over, censoring the image.  After the shower, I dried myself quickly before realizing that I had forgotten to bring in clean clothes. I opened the door just a crack letting some of the steam exhale into the room. Eron was sitting at the window, distracted by something outside. Sara? She might’ve left already.

“Hey, Eron?” He turned his head. I couldn’t read his expression.

“Yeah?”

“Can you toss me a couple of things from my drawer?”

“Sure, of course.” He slid of the sill and walked over to my dresser. He rested a hand on the top drawer. I delivered instructions.

“First drawer: briefs. Second drawer: shirt. Third drawer: jeans. The fourth drawer is socks, but I can get those in a second.” He grabbed all three items without complaint. He went back to the window and fixed his attention outside. I grabbed my stuff off the floor. Before closing the door, I glanced at Eron. He was craning his neck sideways to look up at the sky. His eyes were following something. I changed promptly and reopened the door. He was facing my direction.

“Ready to eat?” He nodded a grateful assent.

“Yup!”

***

“Hi, Mom. I found someone lurking about upstairs. Do you know him?” She looked over her shoulder from her spot by the stove.

“Hi, honey. No, I must’ve missed our guess as he snuck in.” She winked

“You guys are funny.”

“We have our moments,” I said. Mom brought us our plates of waffles and chicken sausage as we sat down.

“The usual, Alx?”

“Yep, OJ for me.”

“And you, dear?”

“I’ll have the same, please.” After pouring the glasses, she came back to my side.

“I hope you don’t mind, Alx. I figured you could use the extra company since Sara has her own plans.”

“Is Sara not hanging out with you today?” Eron asked.

“No, she was kidnapped by her Grandpa. She’s being held captive at an abandoned, fishy cabin.” Eron looked lost at the sarcasm.

“Alx is just in an extra good mood today. No doubt excited for school to start up soon.”

“Ha.”

“Oh yes, school starts Monday,” said Eron.

“Have you got a good look around the campus besides the football field?”

“No, I haven’t checked out the rooms where my classes will be.”

“Marvin didn’t show you that day?” Eron just stared at his food. I felt a slight smugness in the silent answer.

“Maybe I could show you around?” Mom scratched my shoulder affectionately.

“Good idea, honey. Looks like your plans for the day have gotten off to a good start.” I slipped a glance at the kitchen clock.

“Hey, Mom. It’s 7:30. We have to finish breakfast fast, so we can get to work. Don’t want to be late for my last shift of the summer.”

“I have my food packed. You boys take your time. Honestly, Alx I think you should just take the day off. It’s a special occasion. You have a new friend and neighbor. If you just take the time, I’m sure Eron will be like a brother to you.” Why does it sound so creepy when she says it like that? Too much at once, maybe?

“What will it be? Stay home or drag Eron with you to work?”

“Uhh…”

“I don’t mind! I can tag along with you guys to the shop. I have nothing better to do today. The school tour can wait until afterwards.” It’s always convenient when someone else makes the choice for you. Mom smiled.

“How sweet of you. You see, Alx? Isn’t that a good friend? Willing to sacrifice his own free time for your gain.” I looked up at her.

“Mom, it’s only a couple of hours. No one’s losing their sanity here.” I thought about those words for a second. “Well…”

“No more of your sarcasm. We’ll be late.”

We brought our bikes. I have my own. Eron is still borrowing Marvin’s old one. Most likely Marvin will let him keep it. Mom parked in the reserved spot that she and Dad were allotted for the store. Early or late, we were always guaranteed a spot. It’s the small, appreciated conveniences in life. I enjoyed the fact that Eron had no qualms about joining me for my last shift of the summer. It probably made no difference to him. It’s just another nice way of escaping the house. Besides, since I wasn’t forewarned of a visitor today, I had every right to retain my original plans for the morning, which was working. There’s nothing wrong in that. Eron and I had plenty of time to hang out afterwards. The thing is, I could still work at the shop during the weekends once school started, but Dad insisted on saving the extra work for high school slash college students who needed the money more than I did. No doubt I’ll have a fixed position in two years time. He was right that I didn’t really need the extra money, but it didn’t hurt to have some either. It was I who asked my parents if I could help around the shop for extra allowance during the academic off-season. Dad liked that.

“What’ve we got today, Mom?”

“Special delivery. I’ll let you two have the first look.”

Eron and I headed towards the back where we keep fresh shipments. There were a couple of boxes present. The typical flutes, ocarinas, and some violin strings. However, right behind this forgettable pile, was a box that stood out from the rest. Not for its shape, but it’s packaging.

“Quite ornate, don’t you think?”

“It’s the flag of Greece,” said Eron. “The stamp right there on the top right corner.”

“I never would have guessed. Then again, I’m not too familiar with some of the international flags.”

“Same here, but my parents are from Greece, so that’s how I know.” This was an interesting fact.

“Really? What part?”

“My mother was living in Lemnos before my father came along and eloped her. I’m not sure where he is from. My mother told me it was a faraway place that no longer exists.”

“A town that no longer exists?” He looked unsure at the question.

“Well…the way my mother phrased it made it sound as if the “place” itself still stood physically, but the people who inhabited it have left it long ago.”

“Political collapse?”

“Could be.”

I looked at the foreign shapes printed on the package.

“Those are letters?” Eron nodded. “They’re quite cool; almost like hieroglyphics, but not so alien. I think it’s beautiful.” He looked pleased with my fascination.

“You really like them? The letters?” I nodded my head. He smiled. “I could teach you the alphabet sometime. That’s if you want me to. It’s no big deal if you don’t want to.” I could tell he really wanted to.

“Yeah! That would be great! Could you read out the sender’s address to me? That could be a start.” .

“Of course.”

He delicately ran his finger under the letters. “Delphi…Music…Company. Unnamed Rd, Delfi…33054, Greece.”

“Is Delphi another city in Greece?”

“Yes, one of many. The temple of Apollo, god of music among other things, is located there.”

“Is it still there?”

“Mainly ruins. I’ve never been there, but my mother has. She watched something called the Pythian Games there. Similar to the Olympics, but kept open mainly to local athletes.”

“That sounds exciting. I bet it’s a whole other experience compared to the events of our Olympics.”

“Oh yes, there were chariot races, gymnastic competitions, including singing and dance, and music. Art and athleticism combined in one. It was more festivity than physicality.”

“And you’ve never been to one?”

“Sadly, no. They ended long back when my mother was still a child.”

“I bet I could find something about the games at the library.”

“You can, but it’s probably books about the glamour and spectacle of the games and not so much about the participants, rules, and glory significance. The cultural impact is sort of lost in that presentation, but you still get a good picture of the grandiose aspect.”

“Bummer. I wouldn’t have minded reading up on the some of the top athletes from the games.”

“A lot of the history records were either lost or destroyed, unfortunately. One thing you can find good documentation on is how the games first started. The story of how Apollo killed the dragon Python, which led him to set up the oracle at Delphi. The singing and dancing came before the athletic events. Those came later on. A special hymn was sung to the god at the start of the games. The art and dance portions were meant to serve as a sign of respect, gratitude and remembrance for the god who gave them the gift of music and art.”

“I bet there was a lot of good food.”

“Oh, yes. An assortment of Greece’s best offerings: marinated meats, cheeses like feta and goat, olives, wine, fresh milk, cultural delicacies like baklava, spanakopita, and moussaka.” A small growl escaped my lower abdomen. “Am I making you hungry?”

“You are.” I laughed. “Sara rubs off on me sometimes. Her appetite that is.”

“She likes to eat?”

“Definitely. Some say you can buy kindness with food. She is a perfect example.”

“What about you?”

“Food is good, but I take a little more convincing sometimes.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well…you know… I just…like…other… things.” I could feel the heat brimming under the surface of my skin. I’ll have to change the subject soon if I don’t want to hit boiling point. He kept his eyes locked on mine. I shifted them towards the floor. “I don’t know,” I said defeated.

“You don’t know?”

“No.” He took a step forward. A hand rested on my shoulder, causing my breath to drastically slow down. “Wha--?”

I looked Eron in the eyes. Their intensity caused mine to freeze in their current position. Time stopped for a moment, just for a moment. Neither of us blinked in that moment. I just stared. Something moved behind those warm, coffee eyes. They made me feel vulnerable. I could feel my heart beating warmth into my constricted veins. They became larger, normal again. Slowly, my body began to function as one unit. The heat made its way up my spine, through my neck, stopping at my head. The nerves sparked awake: One, then two, and then all of them together. My eyes twitched; blinked once, twice. The hand was gone. Eron was still looking into my eyes, but without the intensity from before. They only held normalcy.

“Eron?”

“Yeah, Alx?”

“Should we go ahead and open the package already?” He smiled his cheery smile.

“Yes, I think we should.”

Chapter 6

“To be honest, I’m sort of jealous.” We kneeled down in front of the gold-tinted box. “I’ve been stuck in this town for twelve years. On rare occasions I’ve gotten the opportunity to venture out of its green gates, but these moments have been so forgettable that I’ve forgotten about them. Greece sounds like a place found only in dreams.” Eron shifted on his knees

“I can relate. While I was born in Greece, I didn’t stay long enough to remember it. My parents moved around a lot. I stayed in Greece maybe for two years after birth. That’s not long enough to remember it through my eyes.”

“Besides the stories your mother shared, you haven’t retained any memories of your own?”

“Well, I…” He paused briefly. “Just…random images that blur into one another: an ocean…and a palace? Or was it a castle? There is a lot of white light surrounding these temporal images. They’re full of positivity, except for the last image I see. I call it the Pavilion of Shadows. I don’t feel malice when I see this place, but I don’t feel happiness either. It’s a strange limbo.”

“Is that all you see?” He nodded.

“Yes, just those. It’s not much, but strange nonetheless.”

“The ocean, were you on an island?” He eyed me curiously.

“Lemnos is an island, so maybe the ocean I saw was the Aegean. It’s a sight to see, I know that much. Why do you ask? You seem curious.”

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“Of course not.”

“The only reason I ask is because I’ve been having this dream for the past two nights; the same one both nights. Last night continued on where night one ended.”

“Does this dream take place on an island or near a body of water?” I nodded.

“Yeah, it’s weird. Well, it’s actually kind of cool…great, actually. I’ve met a couple of amazing peo…” I let my voice trail off. I didn’t want to tell Eron that I met two gods. It’s a juvenile fascination.

“Who did you meet?”

“It’s nothing. I met some random strangers, flew around like superman, typical dream stuff.” He kept his eyes on mine. They told me they were not fooled. The smile revealed it all.

“OK. You don’t have to talk about it. It was just cute seeing you excited and all about a ‘trivial’ thing.”

My lower jaw twitched, taken aback by the frank remark. Is he messing with me or does he know? I know Sara has her assumptions made, but I’ve yet to reach my own conclusions on Eron’s real interests. If she was right, can he sense other people like him? I regained my composure quickly and ran my hand across the package.

“Let’s get this darn thing open.”

I slit the box along its middle and two ends. I opened the flaps and began removing the several layers of bubble wrap, tossing it to the side near the trashcan. I can’t stand bubble wrap or the sound it makes. Eron grabbed a sheet and popped a few. I grabbed the sheet from his hand and tossed it behind me. Under the bubble wrap was another sheet of cardboard, supported by thick fabric.

“Is this a sheet?” Eron smoothed his hand over the material, massaging it tenderly.

“Not quite. It’s very fine wool. Goat, I think. Don’t throw it away, it is very good quality.” He laid it off to the side. I returned my focus back to the now bare package.

“Whoa, what is this?” I stared at the foreign instrument with awe. “It looks like a cross between a guitar and a harp.”

“Not a bad observation. This is a lyre. It’s a very old instrument from the golden ages of my birth country.”

“I’ve never seen one before. It looks so…archaic.”

“But beautiful, yes?”

“Absolutely.”

“They are still available to buy from well-learned craftsmen, but this lyre specifically is not from this time.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is made from tortoise shell. The hollow chest here where the strings cross.” I ran a hand under the base.

“What are they made of now?”

“Wood. Very fine wood for those who look for quality, but not tortoise shell. The practice of using their shells ended a long time ago along with Ancient Greece.”

“You’re not telling me that this lyre is that old?”

“That’s the interesting part. From history, it is a fact. Tortoise shells have long been abandoned with the practice being classified as unethical. But maybe someone chose to ignore those boundaries. Or perhaps someone with a lot of love for classic and unrivaled beauty has went out of their way to preserve this one of a kind crafted treasure of old.” I stood up, knees wobbly from being pressed into the floor for so long.

“Hey, Mom?” She peeked her head around the office door, a tired look about her face. “Did you order the lyre?”

“Oh, is that what it is? Those are tricky to find. The high quality ones, that is. I guess your father has good taste.”

“Dad ordered it?” She nodded assent. “Just the one?”

“Yes. Apparently, it was a gift from a ‘friend’ of his. Some female colleague he met on his last trip. She’s a Cretan; ‘exotic.’ Your father always had a taste for the foreign.” She said all this with an underlying bitterness in her voice.

“Umm…where would you like me to put it?” She had already retreated back into the office before I finished the question, so she gave her answer without looking back again.

“Just leave the darn thing there. I’ll have Derek and Marissa set up the display for it later.” I heard a drawer slam shut. “I have a piano lesson at nine. Can you go make sure the piano is tuned and that the room is all nice and tidy for our paying student?”

“Of course, Mom.”

We quickly made our way over to the practice rooms. The rental piano always stayed in the left room. I grabbed the tuning fork from a cabinet by the door and sat down at the bench. I tapped each key individually to test resonance and clarity. Eron found the push vacuum in the corner and got to work. After he finished, he took a seat on the floor ten feet away on the ground.

“Marvin likes you.”

“What?” Eron got back up.

“To be honest, he should be the one to tell you, but if I let him do it, nothing would kick into motion.” My lips parted slightly, but not enough to express complete shock.

“I don’t understand.” He smirked.

“I think you do, actually, it just hasn’t registered yet.”

“But I…” He looked at me curiously.

“You…?”

“I didn’t know Marvin was like…like that.” It sounded stupid the way I said it.

“What, like you?” I looked up at him.

“I’m…”

“Yes.”

“N-no.”

“You are.”

“No, but…”

“I’m not going to judge you.”

“I…”

“He really does like you.”

“Does he?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“He’s afraid.”

“Like me?”

“Yes.”

“Both of us are afraid.”

“It’s understandable.”

“But…”

“Yes?”

“How do-”

“I know?” I nodded.

“Well, let’s just say I’m glad you asked,” he said smiling.

“Why?”

He walked towards me. Wait, he didn’t walk. He glided towards me. His feet hadn’t touched the ground. Now that I mention it, I don’t recall him using his feet at all since we entered the room. Most of my concentration had remained on the piano, but subconscious side-glances ebbed an improper image in my brain of a boy with honey hair gliding with a vacuum in his hand. The same boy lowered himself on the seat beside me. He kept smiling his warm smile.

“I had previously introduced myself as Eron, but that’s not my true name, although you’re free to use it.” I didn’t take my eyes away from his as he spoke. “By my parents and birth land, I am called Eros. In your books, I am known as--”

“Cupid.”

“God of--”

“Love and Desire.”

“But most importantly, ‘Requited Love.’”

“What are you doing here?”

“Helping you.”

“With what, my love life?” He laughed.

“Yes, that is a factor, but there’s something else too. Your town, West Covenant, is in danger.”

“I don’t understand.” I could hear a police siren outside blaring a free path down Main Street. Eron broke his stare for just a second to acknowledge the invading sound.

“I see,” he said firmly. “It’s already begun.”

“What’s begun?” He held his gaze on me fixedly once more.

“An abduction.”

Chapter 7

“Your town just happens to be an easy target,” said Eron. He was trying to explain, in the most vague terms possible, as to why my town would be a hotspot for mythical shenanigans.

“Why? Because we’re in the middle of nowhere?”

“Pretty much.” That is vague.

“You said abduction, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Of what?” He pointed at me.

“Young boys such as yourself. Specifically, those who are still classified as virgins.” An intense rush of blood hit my cheeks.

“Who says--”

“You’re a virgin.” It wasn’t a question.

“You don’t have to rub it in.”

“I’m not,” he said with both hands up in mock innocence. “It’s no big deal, especially for a boy your age.”

“You’re a boy,” I pointed out stupidly.

“Only in form. I am quite old, you know.” Sounds like the pinnacle definition of a pervert.

“How convenient. I bet you have loads of experience,” I emphasized. It was his turn now to wear the red visage.

“Hey now, don’t be silly. My job is to help others make…I mean fall…in love.” I raised an eyebrow in response, not entirely convinced.

“And not against their freewill?”

“Oh no, of course not. When I see a match, I ‘intervene,’ so to speak, in a very subtle manner.”

“So, what you’re saying is that Marvin and I are a ‘match’?”

“Yes.”

“A match made in Heaven, meant to last for eternity?” He frowned at the jibe.

“Not exactly. Sometimes these matches don’t always work out long-term. That isn’t my doing though. I work in a temporal manner. I see a viable match and help them sail along. Whether it lasts or sinks, it’s not my problem. It’s an uncontrollable aspect of my job, yes, but it doesn’t affect or reflect off me.”

“Fair enough, but for a match to work, don’t both parties have to at least be slightly interested in one another?” He smiled coyly.

“Well…one already is.”

“So you say.”

“And I’m right.”

“Because he told you.” He sent me a curious look.

“Are you doubtful? Would it make you feel better if Marvin told you himself?” There was a knock at the door. My heart two-stepped into my throat for a brief stanza. It couldn’t be him, that’s too much of a coincidence. I looked back at Eron. He was smiling fiercely, all teeth. Then again, this was a god I was dealing with; one with tricks up his sleeves. “It seems we have a visitor. I wonder who it could be?”

“No way,” I said, more to myself than to Eron.

“Yes way. It’s only a coincidence to you. I, on the other hand, invited him here.”

“Impeccable timing.”

“True love can’t work without it.” He called towards the door. “Come in!”

The door clicked and swung open slowly, revealing Marvin behind it. He made eye contact with Eron first then looked over at me.

“Hey, Alx.”

“Hey, Marvin. Nice seeing you here.”

Eron flicked his eyes back and forth between us, stopping at me.

“You can call him Marv if you want, you know.” My throat dried up quicker than a California drought. Marvin blushed crimson. He looked at his betrayer.

“You told him didn’t you?” The lofty-headed boy responded with an innocent shrug.

“Don’t worry yourself too much. We’re sort of short on time and it was either you or me who had to tell him. Heaven knows you would have taken ages.”

“I can’t help it if I’m shy,” said Marvin, clearly offended. “Besides, it’s not like I can be as frank as you about these things. You don’t live down here. You can escape.”

“Who says you can’t escape?” Marvin looked confused.

“Because I’m thirteen, because I don’t have a car…or wings. Why would I run away from free food on the table and a roof over my head?”

“And yet, you’re still unhappy.”

Marvin snorted.

“Of course I’m unhappy. I don’t fit in the normal way.”

“Because?”

“You know why,” said Marvin.

“I do. So do you, but you won’t say it.”

“It’s not right.”

“Who says?”

“Everyone else.”

“But what do you say?”

“I don’t kn--”

A loud crash outside interrupted the conversation. Sirens continued to whine, no longer able to move without proper mobility. I got up from my seat.

“What’s happening?” I thought nothing of the sirens earlier, but now innate caution and curiosity took place of adolescent indifference. Marvin also had a look of concern and confusion on his face. Eron, however, remained calm.

“I somewhat briefed Alx on the situation,” he began, “but now that you’re here, I can elaborate somewhat more.” The sirens continued to cry for attention outside. Eron pushed off the ground lightly and drifted slowly to the piano. He turned around and sat on the edge. I looked over at Marvin to see his reaction. He remained passive.

“He knows I can do that,” Eron pointed out.

“It’s true,” said Marvin. “Freaked me out though.”

I nodded slowly, still muddled in my comprehension of this whole thing. Eron continued on.

“So…” he said half-sighing. “Where to begin?” He scratched his chin and gazed up at the ceiling. “Oh! The owl. Let’s clarify that.”

“Himeros?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“I’m guessing he’s not a real owl?”

“Yep, just like how I’m not a real boy.” He shook his head. “Well, technically I’m in the shape of a boy, but I’m not a boy, boy. You follow?”

Marvin and I shook our heads no.

“Getting to the point, he’s a god just like me. Same line of work too, but with a slight variation.” He paused for dramatic emphasis. “You can break love in two parts: requited and unrequited. It’s common knowledge that I, Eros, am all for love returned on both sides. My brother, however…”

“Your brother?” Marvin asked.

Eron gave him a weak smile.

“Yes, but that’s not even the worst part of it. One, he’s the god of unreciprocated love: Brutal desire, selfish passion, whatever you choose to call it. He’s not interested in making sure his victims return his ‘affection.’”

“Victims?” I questioned.

“He doesn’t care as much as I do in setting others up. He’s more interested in setting himself up, regardless of the consent of others.”

“Sounds disgusting,” said Marvin.

“It is, it is,” remarked Eron uncomfortably, “but what can I do? One, he’s family, and two, I’m not meant to meddle in the affairs of other gods unless it interferes with personal business.”

“So, what does that have to do us with us?” I asked.

“Good question. Great question, actually. I said I’m not supposed to meddle in the affairs of other gods. However, this is no small affair. This town, your town, will come to a bittersweet end if we do not stop my brother’s plan. He is not alone in this. Hypnos, the god of sleep, is a major right hand.”

“What’s going to happen, if what you’re saying is true?” Marvin didn’t sound convinced.”

“A deep sleep; permanent sleep until death, once the body’s resources are depleted. Not only that, but the kidnapping of all the virgin boys who reside in West Covenant.” Marvin’s face reddened at the frankness of Eron’s words. He rubbed at his eyes then ran his fingers through his dark hair. I couldn’t tell if he was shocked or bewildered by the bizarreness of this out-of-nowhere dilemma. I took over again.

“Why is your brother doing this?”

Eron sighed.

“One, it’s in his nature. Two, he’s sick, but that can be blamed on Hades, who plugged filth into his mind. Filled it with the dark side of passion. The uncontrollable side of intense lust and hunger.” He paused in remorse. “We used to be a team, my brother and I. When true love and passion could work in tandem with each other.” His lips tightened. “Then that fiery devil from Tartarus came along. He took advantage of my poor, sweet brother and fed him the dark side of sexual desire. Instead of bringing mortals together, he took advantage of them. Just like he had been. Zeus was angry. He has no love for his brother or for those who choose to side with him. He banished my own brother from Olympus.”

Small, silvery tears pooled forlornly at the corner of Eron’s eyes. He blinked, which caused the pearly pools to leak morosely down his rosy cheeks. It was a beautiful and sad sight

“And you’ve followed him down here. Did Zeus send you to stop him?” Eron shook his head softly.

“No,” he said affirmatively. “I chose to follow him.”

“But why, if you don’t agree with his present actions?”

“Because he’s my brother and I still love him. I can’t help but love. Being of the same blood makes that love twice as strong and twice as unbreakable.”

“What did Zeus think?” Marvin asked.

“Brothers or not, he did not approve of my innate loyalty and sympathy for Himeros. I too was banished. I was allowed to return if one, I came back alone, or two, changed my brother’s ways and bring him back to Zeus’ feet with an apology. With the latter, he’ll be punished greatly, but at least he would be allowed to roam Olympus again.” Eron rested his face in both hands with a sigh. “This is my chance to bring him back before his heart is completely immune to change. But…” He took his hands away from his face and sat upright. “I need help.” He checked a glance at both of us. “From the both of you.”

Alx and Marvin gave each other imploring stares, each trying to read the thoughts of the other, but failing to do so. Alx nodded at his friend.

“Marvin?” His friend didn’t respond. “Marvin, what do you think?” Marvin let out a sharp cough mixed with a stifled laugh. It was one tinted with incertitude.

“Gee, Alx. If I knew what I was getting in to, I…I don’t know,” he said shaking his head. “I’m so confused at the moment. This could all be a dream and we don’t even realize that yet. And if it is a dream, I’m not sure if it’s even mine. Could be yours, could be his.” He gestured at Eron. “One of us is the unconscious manipulator.” Alx thought for a moment. His friend had a point. Eron spoke.

“What you need is proof. Evidence. You want and need evidence.” He hopped off the piano. “Follow me.”

We both followed Eron outside. The sight I saw next was even more unexpected than Eron’s identity reveal. This was on a shockingly new level. There were bodies. Everywhere. Strewn about in uncoordinated heaps. Mothers passed out on each other’s shoulders on the square’s benches, their children face down in the grassy lawn, some with toys still in hand, and others with ice cream cones still lodged in their mouths, the sweet cream trickling from the corners of their parted lips, melted. Further down, at the corner of Robin Jay’s Hardware and Chainsaw Repair, a mastiff laid stiff sideways by a fire hydrant, back right leg still angled upwards, marinating in still-warm urine. A mailman looked half-eaten with one arm, shoulder and head stuck inside a muddy green drop box. Stoplights continued to flicker shades on their own, while the cars in the streets remained still, their drivers completely immobilized inside. The sirens were still bellowing loudly to the right. A police car was lodged between a steel lamppost and a station wagon. Airbags muffled the identities of both the vehicle’s owners. In the backseat of the station wagon, an infant car seat remained upside down. All other men, women, and children around the square laid crumpled along the sidewalks, crosswalks, and storefronts like used dolls. I looked up.

The sky. It was gone.

“Oh my God.”

Chapter 8

Purplish, veined smoke billowed out from two menacing, silvery yellow eyes in the sky. Huge pink tentacles with thousands of accompanying suckers lengthened like serpents towards the earth. Once they reached ground level, they wrapped themselves around the town’s buildings and surrounding landscape. The oozing pores of the sickly beasts coughed up a mucousy, green sludge, which smelled of burning vomit. The stench entered my sinuses causing nausea to grip my stomach. My lungs felt heavy and strained when I attempted to breathe. I could hear Marvin wheezing painfully next to me. Lightning and thunder boomed within the blanket of thick fumes. The eyes wandered back and forth in the sky, searching intently for any conscious, living beings.

“I-I can’t….br-eathe,” I choked.

An urgent hand grabbed a hold of my hair and pulled back. Another hand hinged my jaw open and tossed something floral and meaty into it. Before I could gag, the hand closed my gaping jaw and held it shut tight, leaving enough mobility to chew the foreign substance and swallow. Once I managed to do so, my breathing became much easier and less haggard. I rested, bent forward on my knees, still trying to re-catch the cardiac rhythm of my breath. I looked over at Marvin, who was lying on the pavement, both hands clasped around his throat. Eron pulled them away and shoved what appeared to be a wilted flower into his mouth. He helped Marvin chew forcefully until the suffering youth swallowed. I ran to his side to help him up. He looked up at me with terror and shock. I could see my own fear in his eyes. I hooked my arms under his shoulders and pulled him up. I let him rest on me until he too could catch his breath again.

Eron kept a safe distance away. He had a sad, guilty look on his face, as if to say this was all his doing. Night, or darkness, whatever you want to call it, was coming into full cycle now. I could not see much around me. The bodies slowly became outlines, which slowly turned into solid blackness. The only light left was Eron. A soft aura surrounded his youthful frame. He floated near to where Marvin and I held on to each other. We both looked up at him as he rested his hands on our shoulders.

“Please…” he began. “This is not the end, unless you give up now. While I’m with the both of you, at this moment, the spell won’t harm you. But I can only do so much against the power of two.” Marvin cleared his throat.

“At this moment?”

“I’m with you at the beginning of this journey and I’ll be with you for the end, but I cannot follow you down the middle.” He gripped our shoulders with more firmness. I felt a small feeling of warmth fill my body. I regained some of my fading strength. A tiny tint of red reappeared in Marvin’s left cheek. “You two will need each other. The flowers I fed to the both of you: Passiflora. It’s a relaxant and perfect for sleep.” My heart began racing instantly.

“Sleep? You said we weren’t going to be put under a deep sleep like the rest of the town.” Marvin tried to back away into the shadows, but I pulled him in closer once I saw the color draining again in his face. We were in a small bubble of light inside the vastness of the dark world around us, a far cry from help.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry. No, not a sleep like everyone here is in. My brother and Hypnos; they are operating elsewhere far from here, outside of this world.”

“What is this place?”

“Athena’s Deep: The Land of Nightmares and Dreams. There’s one way in, and one way out.” My mind became alert at the familiar name.

“Far from here? Isn’t it just outside this very town deep in the woods?” He shook his head.

“No, that’s what you’ve been told, but tell me, has anyone seen it?”

“Well, not exactly; just that old hermit who found that dead boy a couple years ago. He called it--”

“Athena’s Deep.” Marvin gave Eron a quizzical look.

“You know this old man?” Eron nodded.

“Yes, he is one of us, a ‘messenger’ of sorts in disguise. He disappeared of course, as protocol calls, after delivering the boy’s body to the police. That was that. He was never seen again. We sometimes call him the ‘swift one.’”

“Where is Athena’s Deep exactly?” I asked.

“Sleep.”

“What?”

“The Land of Nightmares and Dreams. You get there through nightmare and exit by dream.”

“So you’re creating a passageway, a ‘bad’ dream, for us to pass through?”

“Oh, I’m not creating anything. I am simply using one of your own nightmares, specifically Marvin’s.” Marvin went stiff. I felt his skin turn wet and cold, goose bumps trailing along the nape of his neck.

“W-what?” He said weakly. “Which o-one?”

Eron gave him an expressionless look.

“I can’t tell you.” The sirens began to scream at a much louder pitch. The shrieking continued for a good ten seconds until stopping completely. I heard a trashcan tip over down the street. It wasn’t windy. I felt something watching me behind my back. I looked over Eron’s shoulder and saw something move. I gasped. Marvin looked at me.

“What?! What is it?” His breathing picked up. Eron looked over to where my eyes were focused. He squinted then peeled his eyes open quickly.

“There’s trouble. Quick, lay down. Both of you.” Neither of us moved. “Now!” I felt my body drop to the ground. Marvin fell right beside me. Our shoulders were still touching. Eron pushed me onto my side so that I was facing Marvin. Eron fixed him in the same manner. The honey-haired boy took my left arm and draped it over Marvin’s back. Marvin’s right hand was laid over mine. In the soft, angelic glow of Eros’ aura, I looked into Marvin’s eyes. He did the same. In that last split second of consciousness, we both fell asleep.

PART II:

ATHENA’S DEEP

Table of Contents

Chapter 9: Alx

Chapter 10: Marvin

Chapter 11: Alx

Chapter 12: Marvin

Chapter 13: Alx

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16: Marvin

Chapter 17: Alx

Chapter 18: Marvin

Chapter 19: Alx

Chapter 20: Marvin

Chapter 21: Alx

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 9: Alx

I woke up alone under the starless night. It wasn’t completely dark. A dirty, old lamppost was rooted behind me. The weak and brittle flame inside the metal cage coughed and hacked on a somewhat consistent rhythm, allowing me a murky glimpse of my surroundings; nothing but a wall of darkness on both sides. The ground beneath me was covered in grey moss and thickly capped mushrooms. I poked one with my shoe. A wet, blue mist wheezed out. I didn’t know if Marvin was nearby or impossibly far away. Finding him would be my first priority.

I needed portable light. I looked up at the lamppost, the only source of light visible and within reach. I scanned my surroundings again. Something brown and gangly caught my eye ten feet away. I crawled towards it and touched it. It was a long, thick root. I grabbed it and pulled. The rest of its snaky body surfaced. It had not been embedded deep. The thick, earthy vein narrowed out towards my waking spot. I inched closer, put my foot down on the root and twisted backwards. An audible crunch chimed success. I now had a good-sized stick to use as a torch.

I patted the mossy ground. It wasn’t wet. I stuck the sharp end of my stick into the fleshy ground and traced out a square patch. I peeled the layer off and wrapped it around the root’s head. All I needed was fire. I inserted the stick’s end into the warm, metal pane. The moss immediately caught fire, producing a beautifully timid orange glow.  Satisfied, I turned around and marched forward.

Chapter 10: Marvin

My father wanted a girl, not a boy. He was angry about it for a long time. Had beaten my mother constantly for her inability to produce a daughter.

“How hard is it? What’s so goddamn difficult about it? I do the work while you just lay there like a greedy, fat pig!”

He struck her across the face.

“You disgust me.” He grabbed her jaw and yanked it against his. “You didn’t give me what I wanted. You failed me as a wife and a woman. You’re nothing to this world or me. What a waste.” He slammed her head against the doorframe. Her vision blurred as she fell to the ground. He kicked her in the stomach hard. She held herself weakly to no use. He leaned over her and gripped her skinny neck with both hands and squeezed. She remained still in passive shock. He was too unpredictable and she could never prepare.

“Why does God make whores?” He said with hot breath. Her eyes were tiny slits looking into his. “God made lots of things that served no purpose, and whores are one of them. Just like a filthy insect, they feed off others to live.” With barely enough oxygen inside her brain to produce one thought, she tells herself that her husband has finally gotten what he wanted since eight years ago, when the doctor first gave her the news: revenge. A week later she overdosed herself on Valium.

Without a daughter and wife, my dad locked himself away in solitude. He rarely acknowledged me anymore and refused to be in the same house as me on most occasions. Sometimes he worked, just enough to feed himself and keep the house away from evictors. I found comfort and food from the old lady that lived next door. Her name was Ms. Clemmons. When my dad wasn’t home, which was often, I walked over to Ms. Clemmons’ pink and yellow home. She was very sweet to me. She talked to me, read to me, fed me, bathed me, and dressed me. She took great care in all these tasks, especially the last one. Collecting dolls was her prime hobby and she had a lot of them. No room was left unpopulated, not even the bathroom. Ms. Clemmons grew up in Germany and so most of her dolls are from there.

A third of her dolls belonged to her as a child. Most were handmade due to lack of funds on her parent’s part, but it did not bother her one bit. Being self-sufficient, the other two-thirds of the lot were manufactured and remained in mint condition. Her house was not a big one, so Ms. Clemmons stored her precious children away in unconventional places. If she had any sort of company over, no doubt she would be required to create space for them to sit, but with the thick layer of dust perfectly visible on all seating surfaces, it would seem company was not an issue or a want.

Ms. Clemmons thought I was a very beautiful boy. “Angelic” in both facial features and body frame. She had trunks full of old clothes that her daughters used to wear as children. Antique in style, they fit me perfectly. With a little blush and powder, I became a shockingly good, life-sized replica of the many dolls living in the house. Dress up was an activity we both enjoyed. We would spend hours changing my outfits and walking stiff-like around the living room. Dressing up like the pretty dolls made me happy. I was used to it, having dressed up in my mother’s clothes many times before she passed. I can’t anymore since my dad burned all her belongings, leaving me with no memento but my memory.

I made a mistake one afternoon. I forgot to change back into my regular clothes before heading back home. When my dad came home that night, he walked into the kitchen and saw me sitting at the table wearing a yellow bonnet and petticoat, my face full of rouge and powder. When I looked up, I froze in cold terror, the blue crayon breaking in my right hand from surprise. I closed my eyes as my dad took a hold of my arm forcefully and yanked me towards his room. He slammed the door hard behind him without taking his black eyes off me. I backed away slowly towards the foot of the bed where I was trapped. My dad followed my steps and leaned down in front of me. He cupped his rough hands with much force around my red-stained cheeks.

“So…” he said quietly.  “You’re a sissy boy.”  It wasn’t a question. Tears began to trickle down my smeared cheek. He looked me up and down.

“Who gave you these clothes?” I closed my eyes. He shook my head hard until I opened them. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” He pushed his thumbs against my eyelids to keep them from closing. It hurt. “Answer the question, queer. I said…who gave you these fucking clothes!” I started to whimper like a hurt puppy. My father growled in anger. He stood up, brought his hand up and smacked me hard across the face. The force threw me sideways on the hard floor. Before my vision cleared, a hand ran through my hair and pulled my neck back with a near snap. I cried out in pain. He put his teeth against me ear and spoke the question again.

“Answer me Goddamnit.” He shook my head back and forth like a doll.

“G-Girl!” I screamed.

The word brought his fury to a temporary pause. I raised a hand to my neck. He slapped it away with disgust.

“Toughen up,” he said pitifully. “You said a girl?”

I nodded.

“A little girl?”

I shook my head.

“An older woman.”

I nodded. I was afraid of telling him about Ms. Clemmons because I didn’t want her to get hurt like me. Luckily, my dad didn’t guess. “A prostitute took advantage of you?” Without knowing why, I nodded yes. He sighed with disgust.

“I knew it/ I knew my son didn’t make himself a queer by himself. It was a woman, a filthy godforsaken animal who changed my son.” He spat venomously at the ground and began pacing around the room fitfully. He ran his fingers through his greasy hair, pulling it. He punched the door, causing me to jump. He punched it again…and again. He was building himself up into a rage. I was scared. The pain would only get worse if I don’t escape. I carefully walked towards the door where my father stood with bloodied knuckles. I waited for him to tire out. He laid his head against the dresser, leaving me with enough space to open the door and run. As soon as I laid my shaking hand on the doorknob, my father placed a firm hand on my frail shoulder.

“Where are you going, Marvin?” I kept my eyes on the doorknob. The foreign hand turned me around to face the dark eyes of its master.

“Were you trying to leave?” Unbearable silence. “Huh? Were you trying to leave this room without my permission?” I looked down at my feet without response.

He grabbed my shoulders and led me towards the bed. My knees brushed the dirty mattress. It reeked of sweat and smoke. A rugged hand trailed along the curve of my back until it reached the ties of the yellow skirt. He undid them slowly, stopping at the last one.

“Do you know what happens to sissy boys when they try to make friends?” One hand remained on my back while the other grabbed my hip. I was hinged forward onto the smelly bed, my knees fully pressed into the mattress, stomach laying flat. My feet hovered slightly above the ground. Hands ran up my bare legs and into the skirt, pushing it up against my shoulders and neck. My briefs were pulled back in the opposite direction. As the waistband hit my toes, I held on to it tightly for some security. The cooling sweat on my body caused me to shiver uncomfortably. A hot breath hit my bare cheeks. The beast’s hands pulled them apart to expose me.

A wet, hot tongue entered me. The tears came fast and stung my eyes red. I tried to close my eyes, but the salty liquid filled my lids regardless. His tongue moved around uninvited, searching, drooling, invading. Once satisfied, it left. For a moment, there was only violated silence. A belt was removed; a zipper came undone, as a pair of pants slid to the floor against my heels, causing me to drop my briefs, my last comfort. The yellow bonnet slid down over my face. The dim light of the room filtering through the material created the appearance of a setting sun. I closed my eyes and tried to envision the last image of light as the beast entered inside me once more, this time with renewed strength and a new weapon.

Chapter 11: Alx

As I walked, I saw that I was passing through a hallway of redwoods. The trees were quite tall and intimidating. As bright as my torch was, it could not illuminate the full height of these still giants. I trekked on, knowing that I would hit an exit at some point.

I thought about what Eron had said in those final moments downtown. How we would be entering through our own nightmares. He said it would be Marvin’s. So far, I seem to be in an ok predicament. I’m not so sure about Marvin, since he did not wake up next to me. I have a small fear that he’s not in such a tranquil place as I. For now, I tell myself he’s fine. As evil and cold-hearted nightmares tend to be, they’re not real. They’re temporary illusions that haunt you in your sleep. Sleep is temporary also. Both have a stopping point.

I feel less terrified here than I did in those last creeping moments of West Covenant Square; all those people who were dead asleep, and soon to be permanently if we don’t fix this mess. Now that…was a nightmare. That’s the best word to describe it. Although, the odd thing is that it all happened in one waking moment. I never woke up from it. I woke up here and this place is not real, I think. I guess it’s not untrue to say that dreams and reality are blurring together. One does not exist without the other and frankly, it’s really throwing my biological clock off.

As I kept going along, I noticed that the trees were thinning out in numbers. I was counting the empty spaces until a flicker of light caught my eye. It wasn’t the flame from my torch, but something else, a photon. I quickly ran ahead. The path abruptly descended, throwing my footing off haphazardly. I found myself half-skidding, half-running downhill until the ground evened out into a large clearing. In the middle of this clearing were three houses, side by side, with a broken street in front. This street ended on the last house on the left and the last house on the right. It did not lead in or out of this wild vista. The silence was broken from a loud, shattering noise that echoed from the middle house. A light came on in the right window. It was not very bright, but the smudged radiance revealed two shadows inside: One small, retreating, and the other, large, advancing. An adult and some sort of youth I’m guessing. The bigger shape reached out and struck the smaller one. It fell off to the side, out of view. The larger being was fumbling with something around its waist. A belt. I didn’t wait any further.

Chapter 12: Marvin

He charged in like a crazed warrior with flaming spear in hand. He lunged forward, driving the hot point into the beast’s backside. It cried out in ferocious pain and horror, causing the very foundations of the house to quake. The black beast convulsed inside its blistering skin. The room became increasingly hot as the predator huffed and howled for another few moments until it exploded entirely, flinging ghostly chunks around the room. A part of me remained frightened, while another part tried to restrain a smug grin off my face. The room was unbearably hot and increasingly so. I tried to look for Alx, but my vision fogged over. I tried to speak, but words became ash in my throat. I closed my eyes and let my consciousness find its own exit.

Chapter 13: Alx

Marvin had already fainted before I ran to his side. His skin was boiling. I had to get him out of this room. It was hard to think, especially after seeing what had taken place. Jesus, Marvin. Out of all the possible scenarios I could have played out in my head on the way here, this one would have never, ever entered my train of thought. Good grief, Eron. You didn’t have better options to choose from? I lowered my head next to Marvin’s. Good, he was still breathing. I heaved him up and began dragging his limp body towards the door. Even I was growing faint from the heat. Is that lamp moving? The house shook out of nowhere. The lamp fell off the dresser and crashed into the wooded floor. A flame caught immediately.

I dragged Marvin as quick as I could. Luckily, the small, but slowly building fire began working its way around the opposite side of the room. Still, it was moving very fast. I took a deep breath and charged forward in short bursts. I reached one hand out to grab the doorframe and forced both of us out. Before shutting the door, I looked into the room one last time. My stick. It was still lying in the middle of the room where I dropped it. Without hesitation, I ran forward and grabbed it just as a loose flame licked my wrist. I turned around and rushed out the room, grabbed Marvin and rushed out the front door with renewed gusto.

I collapsed onto the damp grass outside, heaving tremendously. My lungs were working a lot harder and a lot faster than the rest of my body. Inhales and exhales came sporadically and painfully until I eventually settled into I rhythm I could control again. I rolled over onto my side and looked up at the house. Flames had already consumed the bedroom. They were now bent on taking over the rest of the house. Soon, this piece of hell would be consumed in its own breath.

***

He woke up minutes later. The house stood black and hollow, a brittle skeleton of its previous, useless existence. He just stared at it.

“Hey, Marv.” He shifted his head to look at me. His eyes were wet. “Some nightmare, huh?” He didn’t respond. I picked up the stick and started tracing random shapes in the grass. He mumbled something.

“Huh?” I said.

“It was real.”

“What’s real?” I got my answer in silence. “Oh.”

“That was me…that…that was my dad.” He looked away.

“But…”

“A nightmare, I know, but sometimes nightmares can be based off real things, things that you see in real life, stuff that actually happens. Bad memories I can’t forget.” He rubbed his eyes then brought his knees up and hugged them.

“Did you want to talk about it? More I mean,” I offered gently. He didn’t respond right away, but eventually nodded his head in assent.

“My dad was crazy. When I was around at least. I don’t know if he was always like that before around my mom. He hit her though, mainly because he wanted a daughter. As you can see, he didn’t get one. And so…he lost it. Came home one night from work pissed, mumbling on and on about how annoying his boss was. How his boss, day after day, kept bragging about his little princess, about how pretty and smart she was, how proud he was. It just set something wild off in my dad. He punched my mom in the face and wrung his hands around her neck. Usually, he would let go not long after, and he did but almost too late.” He paused.

“And did…” I cleared my throat, which was still dry from the smoke. “Did she…”

“A week later. She died.” I cupped one hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp.

“Murdered, you mean.” Marvin ripped a chunk of grass from the ground and threw it behind him.

“Yes, you could say that.” He repeated the motion of ripping the grass. “Then he just started taking the anger out on me…as you saw. Unfortunately, he never killed me.”

“Marvin! Don’t say that.”

“What?” he said bitterly. “You’d wish it too if you had been treated the same. Have your mother killed; kill herself. Have your own dad drool all over you like a hungry pig. It was sick. At least in death, you feel no pain. Just…peace.”

I remained silent. I felt guilty in a way for actually having a decent childhood. I also felt guilty for not being a closer friend to Marvin these past couple of years.

“You’re the only one I’ve ever told,” said Marvin quietly. “Not even Aunt Corinne knows.

“Well, I’m sorry I had to find out without your permission. If I had known ahead of time what to expect, I might’ve…I don’t kn--”

“Oh, come off it, Alx. You couldn’t have known. Eron planned it that way.”

“You think so? Is Eron the bad guy then?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. Who knows who’s the bad guy or good guy anymore? Life’s fuzzy at the moment.”

“Like lint.” Marvin gave me a queer look then smiled weakly.

“Sure.”

The night was dark. When I first arrived, there had been a small half moon lighting the sky. It was gone when I pulled Marvin from the burning house. That fire had been the last light we had.

“Alx?”

“Yeah?”

“What do we do now? Or where do we go that is. It’s pitch black. I can’t even see you.”

“Good question. Far from here would be a good start. Without proper light though, I’m not sure how successful we’ll be.” Then our answer came.

“Hey! Your stick, it’s glowing!”

It was, just a small muted, pink glow. But in this setting, it was bright enough to illuminate our bodies and part of the houses in front of us.

“Hmm…it’s not much, but it’s something,” I sighed.

“Where did you get that thing?”

“Ripped it from the ground over that way. You can’t see it now, but I came out of the woods. I woke up in this dead end spot full of grey moss and blue, wheezing mushrooms. It was weird.”

“I’m jealous.” I reddened with guilt.

We both got up and looked at the two remaining houses.

“Do you think we’ll find anything in either one?” I asked.

“In Ms. Clemmon’s house, you find hundreds of dolls littered everywhere. I’d rather not go in there at this time of night.”

“Did you say Ms. Clemmons?”

“Yes, the ‘crazy, old crow’ from our school.”

“Ms. Anti-sex Ed.”

“Yes, that one, but she had her reasons.”

“And she was your neighbor before you moved in with your Aunt and Kayla?”

“Yes. She helped me. She was the one who called the cops when she heard all the noise next door. They came and took him away for good. I owe her a lot.”

“I feel bad now for ever thinking mean things about her.”

“No harm done. She was just a little bit ‘crazy.’”

I looked at the house on the far right.

“Who lives in that one?”

Marvin shrugged his shoulders.

“No one, as far I know. It was always vacant. Look, there’s a sign on the ground next to those dry bushes.” It read:

GOVERNMENT PROPERTY: KEEP OUT

“Should we heed the warning?”

“Nah, I don’t think the government has power here.”

And with that we walked side by side up the creaky steps to the door.

***

It was bleach-white, with something drawn on in yellow crayon. Stars, maybe? The door wasn’t locked. Inside, the huge living room was empty except for a shattered green mug in one corner. There were two doorways leading out of the room. One led to the kitchen, the other to a hallway with two bedrooms. Those spaces were also completely void of commodities. We made our way back to the living room. I sighed disapprovingly.

“Well, that was anti-climatic.”

Marvin scraped his heel on the floor. “Dang. Looks we’ll have to check Ms. Clemmon’s place after all. Ugh…those dolls.”

“That bad, huh?”

“I mean… they were sort of neat when I was younger. But you know, when you get older, just one doll staring at you with its life-like eyes is enough to set your blood curdling. Multiply that by a hundred? No thanks.”

“Yikes, now you’re giving me the creeps. Let’s hope they’re gone.”

I opened the door and stepped back outside into the cool, night air. Before I took another step, an unseen force rammed me straight into my gut, lifting me completely off the ground and sending me flying back across the room.

“Alx!”

The attack had taken me completely by surprise.

“Alx, are you okay?” I felt Marvin’s warm hand against the back of my neck. He was trying to arch my head up, so I could breathe easier.

“J-Je-Jesus!” I gasped. “Wh-what w-was that?”

“Hell if I know, you scared me half to death! One second, you’re standing outside, the next, you’re flying across the room like superman.”

I reached for my stick and shined it around the room. Marvin looked anxious.

“Please, don’t tell me it’s my turn. ”

“Well, I have some good news for you then. The front door is missing.”

Chapter 14

“Where’d it go?”

“Beats me,” I added with similar confusion. “It was there, now it’s not there.”

“OK. Well…there’s at least two other doors leading out.”

I shined the light in both directions.

“Umm…”

“Let me guess, spoke too soon?”

“Yep, we’re in a complete box now.”

Marvin took a seat next to me on the floor.

“Does your stick do any tricks?”

“As of right now, you can use it as a light and you can stab people with it.” I saw Marvin’s jaw tighten. “Sorry, bad joke.” He waved it off with his hand.

“It’s ok. I was actually thinking about something else. Something I haven’t really addressed since our talk with Eron in the shop.”

“Oh?” I don’t remember Marvin saying much during that conversation.

“It’s about what Eron said. About me lik---“

“AHH!” We both said in unison as we were flung unexpectedly across the room in opposite directions.

“What gives?!” Marvin protested in pain.

“That’s what happened to me at the door! Just out of nowhere, BAM!”

As soon as I said it, a shockwave underneath the ground threw me back across the other side of the room again.

“Ou-ouch!” I said with a tight face.

“O-okay, so no more loud words like B-A-M,” Marvin said carefully. The floor growled silently.

“Fair enough, but I think you started.” I massaged my right ear. “By the way, what was it you were trying to say? You were cut off.”

“The stupid house started it, actually,” he countered. “Anyways, what I was trying to say was I like—“

The house really exploded this time. Both Marvin and I were cannoned back to another corner where we collided head on. The dizziness distracted my vision so I couldn’t witness the on goings of the house over the next half-minute. When the fog was gone, I looked at the new living room floor. It was no longer uniform and even. Looking to my right, the first section of floor perpendicular to me edged downwards. The next section, across the room from me continued the descent. I stepped forward and looked down to see where the last bit of floor led. A tunnel.

“Looks like we found our way out,” I said.

“If it’s a way out. But yeah, it’s the only way out, so I guess we follow.”

“Right.”

We carefully made our way down the newly formed ramp. With light in hand, I saw that we were in a small quarry. Some old and rusted mining equipment lied in one corner near an excavation tunnel. Wooden tracks led inside. Next to us there was a blackened mine cart. There was a creepy eye sketched in white on the side.

“How eerie.”

“Should we hop in?” Marvin offered.

“You’re joking, right?”

“Well, it’s either through here or back up there,” he pointed out.

“True, and we do have to keep moving forward. It’s just…”

“What?”

“I’m not much of a fan of roller coasters.“

Marvin laughed.

“This,” he said, acknowledging the dirty cart, “is no roller coaster. It can’t even move on its own. Miners had to push them manually.”

I looked at one of the wheels. It was chipped in some areas, but holding its own. The whole thing appeared ancient. Maybe it wouldn’t do much.

“Alright, we’ll go in,” I forfeited.

“In the cart?”

I nodded.

“Yes, in the cart.”

“Awesome!” Marvin swung himself over the side in one go. “Hop in!”

“Doesn’t one of us have to push?”

“Just use the stick. It’s sturdy enough.”

“Alright then.” As I got in, I tried by best to keep my gaze up to avoid looking at the eye again. I adjusted myself in the back and placed my wooden friend outside the cart in the ground. “Ready?”

“C’mon conductor.” Honestly, Marvin seemed a bit too excited for this little ride. He probably thinks he’s on an actual coaster. Oh well, as long as his mind is on happier things, I’m happy too. I gripped the stick tight in both hands and pushed hard into the dirt. I’m either really strong or this cart is quite light and mobile, because we had a smooth start, crossing the room and into the tunnel in one go.  I was about to give us another good push, but soon realized there was no need. We were already picking up speed…fast.

“Woo hoo!” Marvin yelled. “It’s getting faster!”

“Oh, great,” I said, doing my best to hide the creeping anxiety in my chest.

“Come on now, cheer up. Here, sit next to me in the front row.” Marvin scooted over some, allowing me to reluctantly take the spot. As if we weren’t going fast enough, the cart unpredictably hurled itself ecstatically down the increasingly steep slope. The blue-gray walls, gold-speckled dirt, shimmery cobwebs and even the muted yellow lamps that were hanging overhead along wooden frames blurred furiously together into a stationary patchwork of messy gradient. If the mixture didn’t look so much like vomit, I might’ve better characterized it as a paint splattered galaxy, and we were travelling at the speed of light. Unfortunately, all I could think of was vomit, so I closed my eyes to better subdue the increasing uneasiness in my stomach.

“This is AMAZING!” Marvin hollered. He looked over me. “Alx, isn’t this great?

I had my head squeezed in between my shoulders. I refused to speak since I was sure that words wouldn’t be the only solids coming out of my mouth. Marvin must’ve noticed my terrified state because I soon felt a hand reach over my left shoulder and rest over my arm. The tiny warmth cooled my anxiety somewhat. It felt like a whole hour had passed by.

“You can look up now, Alx.”

Marvin said it with calmness. He was no longer screaming with excitement. The cart had stopped shaking violently. My hands, however, were still clenched on it. I let them drop in my lap, pulsing with renewed circulation. I sat up, back straight, and opened my eyes to a wondrous sight.

Stars! Millions of them!

Above us, around us, and…below us. There was nothing under us but vast space for that is where we were. The tracks ahead simply continued on through this infinite bright matrix of light. I didn’t see any planets, moons, or other space remnants in the ebony expanse though.

“Wow!” I said, much happier with this view.

“Feeling much better, huh?” Marvin smiled. He had already removed his hand.

“This is much better,” I affirmed. Some of the stars, now that I observed closer, had very thin lines drawn between them. They looked like silvery cords. I turned to Marvin. “Do you see any constellations?”

“You see the lines too?” He said. “Hmm…I know most of our constellations, but I don’t see them here. Which, I guess makes sense since this isn’t our sky back home.”

“Let’s make up names for them.”

And so we did for a good amount of time. The black sky turned into a warm magenta, while the stars faded out in unison and in their place, purplish clouds. One near us shuddered, releasing a fragrant yellow mist into the air. Marvin swayed into me.

“Hey, what was that for?” He wasn’t listening. His eyes were half closed in a daze. He was rocking back and forth in his seat in a gentle motion. “Umm…are you ok?”

He smiled sheepishly.

“I’m…I’m so…so…sleeeeeepyyyyyy…..”

And with that he fell against my shoulder completely knocked out. He was still smiling pleasantly.

“Marvin?”

I shook him a little, gave him a pinch on the arm. Nothing. I picked an arm up and let it drop motionless like a toy. He was officially out. For how long, I didn’t know. Did the smell put him to sleep? Thick fields of the purplish-white clouds surrounded us as the cart scooted along. All were doing a similar shuddering motion before sneezing out a hazy, wet mist. Were they sick or something? I barely smelled anything, maybe a little lavender, but not much.  I slapped Marvin on the cheek a few times. A voice interrupted me.

“Why wake him?”

I froze immediately, hand still in the air. I quickly scanned my surroundings for the source of the voice, but saw nothing. These clouds were thick and huge; a perfect hiding spot for any being, small and large.

“Let him be in bliss.”

This time as I listened, I realized that the voice did not come from just one spot. It was everywhere at once. It was a woman’s voice. That I knew for sure. Sharp, but even. Authoritative, but gentle.

“Who’s speaking, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“A woman.”

I gave a short laugh.

“Yes, I know that of course, but what’s your name?”

“Nyght.”

“I like it.”

“Thank you,” she replied softly. “I have other names too, some not so good, but this one is common.”

“Why ‘some not so good’”?

“Oh, such long and old stories. They’re not important now. What is important is I’m not here to hurt you. This is where I reside, so that’s why I’m here talking to you.”

“I’m not intruding am I? I didn’t know.”

“No, no. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a young boy. Now, we have two here. A nice change of pace. Such handsome ones too.” I cleared my throat.

“There’ve been others before us?”

“Oh, yes. Many. Each with their own journey to take.”

“And were they successful?

“No.” There was sadness in her voice as she said it. “I’m afraid not.”

“But nothing bad happens right? I mean…this is just one big dream or nightmare. They, and we, would just wake up as normal.”

“Some lose their minds here. They can’t overcome their own fears that haunt. Life becomes an increasingly difficult obstacle they can’t overcome, so they end it. Like that boy from your town.”

“From my school.”

“Yes. And for you two, it is a bit different.  The lives of a town are at stake. Believe me when I say that what you saw there before you came here is very real.”

“But why? Why us?”

“It could’ve been anyone. It has been. Many times before your town. Evil exists everywhere. Your world, my world. There will never be peace as long as human nature is allowed to run free on its own doomed course.”

“But certainly that can’t affect you. You’re here while reality exists on a whole other plane.”

“Unfortunately, it does. Dreams and terrors are a by-product of the human mind. Even I am a by-product of a civilization long ago. Books, speech and mind have kept me and dozens of others very much alive and strong. Strong enough to allow us to pass through your world at times and vice versa through your own imagination and beliefs.”

I didn’t say anything for several moments. I was thinking about what Nyght had just said. It made sense, but it didn’t feel right. More importantly, the existence of evil in the world and how human nature intertwines so well with it when it naturally chooses too.

“There are several ways evil works upon people,” she said. “Besides feeding upon sin and greed, evil is attracted to fear and anxiety. A greater concentration of either one of those things produces a larger outcome. This leads me back to you two. Whether you want to admit it or not, both of you are very special.”

I gazed over the expanse of the twinkling, violaceous valley of clouds. The wheezing had stopped. Instead, the soft, billowing mass, in unison, began to inhale and exhale in one continuous rhythm. A soft, dry current rose around me. It was comforting.

“Beautiful, don’t you think?”

“It is,” I said.

“The calm storm is always better than the wild one. It’s unafraid as well, but with less reckless intentions. Tell me, isn’t that much more desirable?”

“It is.”

“Look at your friend there. Sleeping soundly against your shoulder.”

I glanced down at Marvin. It was true. He was still lying peacefully asleep against my side. I hadn’t given it much thought, since I was busy admiring the beauty around me while talking to Nyght.

“I’m sorry. I should have moved him earlier.” I reached gently under his head and chest and began to lift him.

“Stop!”

The outburst startled me.

“What is it?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout, but please, put your friend down. Do not worry.”

“But doesn’t it bother you, the way I let him lay on me?”

“No, why should it?”

“Because it’s wrong for me to let someone…a boy…to be so close to me. I should have known better.”

“My dear, what do you mean by wrong? I do not understand well what you humans judge as wrong and right. It is so confusing sometimes. If what you’re getting at is to say two boys together happy is wrong or some sort of…sin, then I disagree completely. Believe me when I say that I am no saint either, but I do know the true definition of wrong and unadulterated love does not fall within it.

And do not forget you are still just a guiltless boy who has yet to truly define himself in the world. You’re naïve, you follow what others put in your mind because to you that is the ‘right’ way. Right now, you’re best at making simple choices from your heart or better yet, your soul, whether you realize it or not.”

“I tried telling my dad once.” I paused for moment. I hadn’t told anyone about this yet. But she, I could trust her. I think.

“Go on.” And so I did.

“By accident, while we were out fishing. I was sitting in the back of the small fishing boat we rented that day, leaning against the motor half-asleep. I never cared much for fishing, but I went every other weekend with my dad to make him happy. I guess it worked, too well, since he always asked with a big smile. He brought up Sara.”

“You two sure love hanging out with each other a lot, don’t you?”

I nodded sleepily.

“Yeah.”

“You like her a lot, don’t you?”

I was thinking ‘like’ as in friend, so I said, “Yeah” again.

“I thought you had other friends.”

“I do.”

“Marvin, is that right? The runner I keep hearing about?”

“Uh-huh.”

He nodded.

“A good one too I’ve heard. Bit of a queer fellow too. Doesn’t seem to admire the girls too much.”

“I guess not.”

“His cousin, Kayla. She’s going out with your friend Kyle, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Lucky boy. Who knew he’d strike gold with that one. He’s an odd one.”

“Sure is.”

“And who knows, if things keep looking up, my boy might just snag the girl next door for keeps.” His remark left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Eww, Dad. She’s my friend.”

“Ok, ok. I didn’t mean to rush ahead of myself. Just thinking of my boy’s future with one very lucky wife in the future.”

And because I was half-asleep and ready to go home already, I didn’t think before saying the following words.

“Besides, I don’t even like girls.” It was too late to take it back. I had blurted the words out.

“Excuse me?” My dad said with slight anger building in his voice. I didn’t turn around to face his gaze, but I felt his hot stare at the back of the neck. I knew it was a terrible one.

“N-nothing. I didn’t say anything.” Apparently, that wasn’t good enough, because I felt him close the small distance behind me and grab the hood of my jacket, twisting it back roughly.

“That better have been a joke,” he growled through clenched teeth. “Otherwise, I’ll drop you overboard right now and leave you behind. I’ll have no queer son of mine staying in my house.” And with that he let go. I rubbed my neck gently. My jacket zipper had pressed into my Adam’s apple when my hood was yanked back.  I touched the small cut. A little spot of blood came away with my finger.

“Clean that up with some lake water. I don’t need questions from your mother when we get home and she doesn’t need answers from you. Got it?”

I didn’t argue, but did as he asked. I kept my head low when I walked through the front door, gave my mom a small hug and told her I had fun. My dad forced a tight smile, then went to the kitchen and pulled out two bottles of beer out of the fridge before heading out back. I heard my mom calling out after him.

“Do you want me to call up Joe and have him over for dinner?” Joe was a poker buddy.

“No,” he replied stiffly. “All of us are going out for drinks tomorrow after work.”

“Third day this week, huh?” she said disappointed.

“After today, probably a fourth.”

She shook her head then looked over at me.

“No fish today?”

“No, they were hiding, scared of all the mean fishermen.”

She pinched my cheek playfully.

“Oh, stop it. You know he likes his fishing with you.”

I couldn’t help but snort in response. She ruffled my hair.

“Ok, so maybe he likes the fishing more than you do. Just give it time. Maybe you two will find something else you can equally enjoy your time with.”

I didn’t reply. I grabbed a banana off the counter and headed up to my room. My mother called after me.

“Dinner will be ready in an hour!”

I cried for that following hour in my bed as quietly as I could.

“And that was that,” I ended.

“Sounds like you father is an alcoholic.”

“He really isn’t. I mean, yes, he drinks quite often, but he’s still functional.”

“Does he love your mother?”

The question took me off guard.

“What?”

“Is he faithful to her. Does he see anyone else?”

“Just her.”

No reply. I could feel invisible eyes on all sides narrowing in on me.

“No.”

“What was that?” She asked.

“No, I…I’m not sure. He…” I took a deep breath. “I think he might be seeing other women. But I don’t know for sure. My mom thinks so.”

“Oh. That is interesting.”

“How so?”

“That’s adultery. You know what that is, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“It’s a sin,” she emphasized. “That, my dear boy, falls under the definition of wrong.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Listen,” she continued. “You are nearing your destination and I must let you be. But please, remember what we’ve talked about. Know what is truly right and what is truly wrong. I…have just given you an example.”

I nodded.

“I have no control over the decisions you make for yourself. But I tell you this truthfully. You are special. At times, you will feel alone. It will seem like you are the one that everyone else is fighting against. But you’re strong and determined and will fight each and every time to prove yourself different. Remember to always keep love in your heart. Don’t hide what you feel all the time. Just let your heart speak at the right moments.”

And with that, a large ripple of thunder boomed in the distance. A gust blew in, separating the field of clouds and muting the magenta sky. The cart carried on through the storm and out onto a vast, dark ocean. Straight ahead I could just make out the shadow of an island shrouded in smoky, green fumes. A slightly red-tinted half-moon provided the only illumination upon the vast coal sea. The blood-red haze reflected off the water’s surface, creating a brooding ambiance. I hugged Marvin a little closer.

Chapter 15

Marvin, after a brief time, finally woke up. As soon as I felt him moving around, I removed my hands from his waist. He didn’t seem to notice as he sat up weary eyed.

“Did you have a nice nap?”

He stretched his arms and yawned deeply.

“Hmmm…? Oh yes, it was good. Weird though. I only remember seeing mountains of bluish clouds or something surrounding us. Then some flowery smell and bang, fast asleep.”

“It surprised me too.”

“How long have you been awake?”

I didn’t want to tell him about the conversation with Nyght. I also didn’t want to make up a whole other story either, so I lied.

“Not long I think. Maybe ten minutes or so?” He nodded, satisfied with the answer. He finally observed our new surroundings.

“What’s with the eerie glow?” He scratched his chin. “It’s so…red. Kind of depressing if you ask me.”

“I agree. There’s an island straight ahead of us. You see it?”

Marvin squinted through the red haze.

“Uh huh. With all that smog covering it.”

“Yeah. I think it’s the end of our journey.”

He looked over at me.

“What makes you say that?”

“Just a feeling,” I lied. “The vast ocean, the faraway island. We’re hitting the other side, so to speak.”

“Huh…that’s an interesting way of looking at it.” He started drumming his hands on the cart. “Well, I can’t say if I’m sorry or happy to see this place to go.”

“Happy, obviously. No one wants to relive his or her past like that. It’s horrible.”

“True, but maybe it was a good thing. You know, a little something about me that no one else knows. We’re close buddies now, huh?” He said, elbowing me playfully in the side.

“I don’t know. I still don’t think it was right. You didn’t decide to tell me, it was just shown to me. It might’ve been better if you had been given the chance to tell me or someone else. The opportunity was taken from you.”

“True, you’re right. It’s embarrassing, but hey,” he said smiling. “The good news is that not only did you get to know a little extra piece about me, but you also got to see a piece of me. If you catch my drift,” he winked. My cheeks burned from his bluntness.

“Marvin, come on. That’s not funny. Besides I didn’t even look at you when it was happening. My sights were set on stopping your dad. Or his ghost, or whatever, that is.”

“Whatever you say, handsome,” he said frankly. I was taken aback by the remark. Something was off, because this didn’t sound like Marvin.

“Marvin, I think that nap made you a little wonky.”

He laughed.

“Oh Alx. Alx…Alx.” He emphasized that last one, edging closer to me as he did so. “Maybe it’s you who needs a little extra sleep.” He leaned in towards my face. Scared, I backed off towards the back of the cart, which was quite large now and seemed to be growing larger and longer still. Marvin looked slightly hurt by my retreat. He stood up and sat against the cart’s side. Even though the cart was spacious, it was neither tall nor very stable. As he leaned against it, the cart tipped to the right.

“Marvin, be careful.”

He waved me off.

“I don’t care what anyone thinks of me anymore.”

He turned around to face the ocean.

“I’m a free boy!” He threw is hands above his head and leaned forward recklessly over the side. The cart began to tip dangerously.

“Marvin! Stop!”

I ran forward and pulled him back by his shirt collar. I pulled harder than I meant to. Marvin swiveled around and fell into me. I fell onto my back, hitting my head painfully against the cold steel. Everything remained blurry for several seconds. I could feel Marvin’s breath against my chest. He giggled.

“Aww…my hero. You saved me from falling in.”

I tried to blink away the fog clouding my eyes.

“Marvin, you—“

He cut me off with a kiss. It took me by complete shock. He bit my lower lip down and began to stick his tongue forcefully into my mouth. I shoved him off immediately, disgusted and confused. Marvin’s initial reaction was surprise, but soon the surprise turned to anger, which then turned into a raging fury.

“What the hell, Alx!”

“I…” I tried to begin.

“NO!” He lunged at me. I shielded my hands in front of my face, but that wasn’t his target. He reached around and took a hold of around my throat. I grabbed his wrist and tried to force him off. He retaliated my banging my head against the cart’s hull. My eyes glossed over again in pain. Marvin let go and yanked me up by my arm. I tried to speak again, but he slapped me across the face. Tears formed in my eyes.

“M-Marvin, what gives?” I said in fear.

“Don’t talk back to me, boy.” A different voice said this, a familiar one, someone older and angrier.

“D-Dad?” I said scared.

“I’m not your ‘dad’ anymore and you’re not my son,” he corrected. I managed to regain some consciousness from the earlier blow. Marvin still stood in front of me, grinning madly. His eyes gave him away because they were not his. They were colorless, except for the white-gray veins streaking across the surface. They were wild eyes; untamed.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m here then,” he continued, “since I don’t give a shit about you anymore. Even though I’m no longer faithful to your mother, I thought after our twenty five years together, I’d do her some kind of favor.” He looked directly at me. “Can you guess what that favor may be?”

I shook by head.

“No guess?” He taunted. “Ok, well how about a little refresher? Look around you.”

I did and I saw that the cart was no longer a cart but a large rowing boat.

He took one step towards me.

“Remember that day we were fishing, just us two? That one very, specific day? You know which one.”

He took another step.

“The one you, nor I, have forgotten. Something you said that changed everything.”

Another step.

“Ruined our lives completely, caused me and your mother to separate like this.”

He was right in front me, fangs unsheathed in his filthy grin.

“All… thanks… to you.”

I refused to back down, as hard as my body trembled. This was just another apparition. He remained unmoved by my frail resolve.

“There was something I wanted to do that day out on the lake. I wanted to do it so badly, because the feeling was so strong inside.” He twisted his hand around my shirt collar and pulled me close to his decrepit face. “I wanted to drown you in that lake.”

My throat clenched so tightly I couldn’t breathe. I could feel the blood rush to my head uncontrollably. I couldn’t even fight back if I had wanted to. I was powerless.

“Hmm…” He turned his head to look at the island, then straight down at the cart. “This cart is not going very fast, is it? Maybe it’s all the extra weight we’re carrying. Let me fix that.”

I was lifted off my feet and levered over the side of the cart, where my feet dangled over the sable water. The cart began to tip over again in my direction. I looked at my enemy. Marvin’s face was long distorted. His abused appearance broke my heart.  My dad’s voice spoke once more.

“Well, it’s been a nice run,” he said in a mocking sad tone. “It was nice knowing you and now I’m glad and most proud to say how nice it is not to anymore.”

He cranked his arm in slightly.

“Happy swimming.”

I was launched out past the moving cart, past the wooden tracks, and out into the black depths of the ocean where I began to sink unwillingly. Because of all the important things my dad could have chose to teach me as a kid, swimming was not one of them.

Chapter 16: Marvin

“What did I do!”

“Alx…Alx!”

After recovering control over my body, the first thing I saw was Alx falling into the water. My memory was vague, but I knew that I was responsible for it. I knew he couldn’t swim well. The cart was still moving, so I had to think fast. I threw myself over the back of the cart, landing hard on the tracks. I pushed myself up and ran back to where I saw him go under. I took a deep breath and dived in.

Chapter 17: Alx

I kept sinking deeper and deeper into the bottomless pit. Was I dead? Did I already drown? If so, why am I still in this black sea? Maybe this is death. My own fear put against me…forever. I guess I deserved it, for how I was, for what I am. Dad was right. Nothing but bad comes from it. It’s disgusting. I wish I could have chosen different, but I’m glad I didn’t. I deserve this. I should be a man and take the punishment I earned. A disgrace to God is what I came to be.

“Don’t say that.”

It was a woman’s voice.

“Who’s there,” I said. I noticed I could speak. How was that possible?

“You’re still alive. See.”

A luminous ball of light suddenly surrounded me and I was in the center of it. It was a giant bubble of air shimmering in its watery form. I could breathe even though the feeling of being in a body of water was still present. Every time I breathed in, I couldn’t help but expect water to immediately fill my lungs.

“What is this?”

I could see strands of what looked like red hair trail along the bubble’s exterior. Something green sparkled as well.

“Life.”

A delicate hand pressed against the surface. I reached out to touch it. All I felt was the bubble’s gelatinous interior.

“Nyght?” I asked.

“No.”

“Then who?”

“Something unborn.”

“Can I see your face?”

“No, not yet.”

I was slightly disappointed, yet still enraptured with the woman’s unformed presence.

“Will I reach the surface again?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Your friend.”

“Marvin?”

“Another boy your age. He has just entered the water.”

“He’s coming after me?”

“Yes, he will run out of air soon. I must go to him.”

And with that she disappeared. I was scared. Marvin had dove in right after me. After he threw me in. Was it the real Marvin or the fake one? Hopefully, the former. Surely, this woman who came to help me would not go and help someone who wished to do me harm. It would have been a pointless act. Besides, I wanted my friend back. I had to tell him something.

Chapter 18: Marvin

Good planning, Marvin. Now, you’re going to get yourself killed. But what could I do, leave him? No, even if I don’t save him, at least I know I tried. Maybe Alx could somehow know or feel that too. I know I had no control over what I did, but I still wanted to say I was sorry. How I was going to do that in this situation, I don’t know, but my lungs are telling me to figure that out now.

Something brushed my elbow. I opened my mouth to shout, forgetting that I was deep underwater. Expecting to have seawater completely fill my lungs and nostrils, they were instead filled with fresh air. I was shocked and looked around me. I was enclosed in some sort of bright bubble; it’s color a glistening pink-gold. What was this some sort of air sac? Where’d it come from? A voice appeared next to my ear. It was sweet and low.

“You’re friend is near. Don’t give up, you’re safe now.”

Not knowing who and where the voice I came from, I immediately took off again towards the bottomless depths.

Chapter 19: Alx

I could see something. A light. A tiny dot of light gradually getting bigger. The glow belonged to another bubble like mine. There was no question of who was inside. I wanted to smile in joy, but I couldn’t help but feel the fear ingrained from our last encounter together.  Please, let it be my friend.

Chapter 20: Marvin

I saw the look of apprehension on Alx’s face. Can’t say I wasn’t expecting it. He’s not moving away from me, so that’s a good sign. Then again, he can’t swim. As I reached him, our bubbles touched and became one. The two of us shared one, large airspace now. I kept my voice calm as I spoke to him.

“Hi, Alx.” I put a hand out. “Ready to go up?”

He hesitated at first, but slowly reached out a hand to hold mine.

“I can’t swim.”

“I know, but this is different…and easier now with oxygen ready. I just want you to help me kick all right? I’ll guide us with my free hand.”

He nodded and gripped my hand tighter.

“Are you…?”

“Going to hurt you? No.”

The answered seemed to satisfy him and we kicked off towards the surface. It wasn’t too far away, but the silence that followed made the swim back seem much longer.

Chapter 21: Alx

Once we pulled ourselves back onto the tracks, we collapsed onto our backs, mentally exhausted from our nightmarish dive. The sky was still a blood red and the island was still smothered in industrial fumes. Marvin spoke first.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to say other than sorry. I can’t speak for whatever took over me, but from my own heart I am deeply, truly sorry Alx for what happened.

This was the real Marvin speaking. I felt it. And I believed his apology completely. That nasty illusion was not Marvin. Just a horribly exaggerated version of my own father. I guess it was only inevitable that my turn for attack would come eventually. Still, I could never compare it to the pain Marvin endured with his own dad. That’s something you can’t pull yourself away from. At least, not alone. Right now, Marvin and I still remain in this ungodly place. We’re the only things real in this ‘world.’ I keep forgetting this is all just a horrible dream. The real danger lies outside of it back home. Supposedly, once you know you’re dreaming, you become the conductor. Because I had let every unexpected turn of events frighten me, I in turn lost my self-control. Without it, you’re helpless until you wake up.

Since we’re not waking up by luck in this case, the next best thing is to take charge of the situation. I have to be comfortable with myself before I can start making a change. I got up and crawled over to where Marvin lay. I leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. It took him by complete surprise for he did not say anything for several moments. He put a hand to his cheek.

“W-What was that for?” He said softly. I could see a bit of color rising in his cheeks.

“Eron was right, Marvin. I really do like you. I can see that now. As a friend, I was never sure. Mainly because I was unsure of myself, what I might’ve liked. It didn’t completely terrify me. Mostly because I never talked about it and so I left it alone. But being around you always brought the feeling back even as I tried to hide it again. It made me frustrated sometimes. And I guess that’s what caused the occasional, unfriendly behavior towards you. But after being on this little adventure with you, I see that hiding my feelings for you was only holding me back in being truly happy, because honestly, when I’m around you, I’m really happy inside.”

Looking up, I saw that Marvin was grinning ear to ear. It was truly a genuine smile and one that I’ll probably always remember.

“That’s what I was trying to say to you back at that empty house, before it collapsed; that I liked you very much. I guess the house having an earthquake was a signal to simply say that the timing wasn’t quite right. I’m glad that the timing is finally right now. It was worth the wait.”

He leaned in and hugged me. I pressed my face into his neck and wrapped my arms around him in return, relishing the contact between our bodies. I felt my eyes water. Not from sadness, but from sincere happiness. This moment was something I’ve never experienced before.  I didn’t want it to end, but it did because of what started happening around us.

“Look at the sun!” Marvin said with excitement.

I turned around and saw that the sun had reintegrated its warm, yellow shine. That wasn’t the only change either. Beginning from where we stood, a burst of blue swept over the ink-filled waters, de-polluting the poison that plagued it. By expectation, I turned around and looked at the island. Sure enough, all of the smog had been swept away, revealing a welcoming tropical paradise.

“Well this a nice change of scenery, don’t you think?” said Marvin.

“Definitely, even the air seems fresher and clean.”

“It’s the most normal thing we’ve seen all day…I mean night.”

We both laughed.

“You know something,” I said. “I feel good.”

“Me too. I have a feeling home is just around the corner.”

“Let’s finish the mission!”

“Onwards!”

Chapter 22

A few things met us as we touched ground: sand, a cave, and a high wall of tightly knit and very thick palm trees. This naturalist wall stretched left and right, leaving no noticeable opening beyond them.  The tracks led into the cave.

“Looks like that’s where we’re going,” I pointed out.

We walked in, expecting it to be dark, but it wasn’t. There were holes in the rock above us, allowing the sun to peek in at intermittent spots. The cave walls were blue. As the sunlight hit them, a green hue was projected. It felt like we were in some sort of grotto. It was a cool effect. Onwards we went for a good distance until we ended up at a dead end. That’s where the cart was. To our right was an empty platform. On one side, in the far left corner, was a set of stairs.

“Hey, do you want your stick?”

Marvin picked it up from inside the cart and held it up. It looked like any other stick.

“Nah, I think I’m good from here on out without it.”

Following the staircase, which was much steeper than I expected, we came out into a small foyer. Two great doors stood on the north and south side of the room. One was the front door, while the other pair must’ve led into a bigger room of this house. I was right. The space we entered was enormous. High, vaulted ceilings, marble flooring, pretty and delicately cushioned sofas and chairs, a pool with stone figures set in it, with a goat man standing taller than the rest. Behind it sat a wide staircase leading to a great window draped by rich curtains. A great hall extended both ways. Two huge archways on either side of the great room opened into spacious, green balconies. Shouts and laughter could be heard from the left entryway. Upon investigating, we saw a small group of boys parading about in their underwear, their street clothes strewn about the grass around them. Two boys were caught in a heated wrestling match on the ground, while three others cheered on with zest on the sidelines. One, brown-haired boy was tip toeing across the balcony’s stone railing, clearly unafraid of the high drop to his left. These were probably some of the boys who were kidnapped.

“Hello!”

They didn’t turn around or show any signs of hearing me.

“Hey you guys!”

Marvin’s attempt faired no better than mine. He began walking towards them, but stopped underneath the archway.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I have no idea. I tried to walk outside, but some sort of invisible wall stopped me.”

“Let me see.” I walked to where he stood and put an arm out. It pressed against something invisible, but solid. “How strange. It’s like some force field or something.”

“It’s either keeping them in or us out.”

“Probably both. No surprise though. It obviously wasn’t going to be that easy.”

“Giant house,” he said. “Or castle, whatever. I wonder how many rooms or floors it has. I didn’t even see it when we arrived.”

“Me neither. Those trees were so darn high. Who knows what else is here.”

“We definitely won’t make progress here. Let’s go upstairs.”

We began to head for the grand staircase, but a terrible growl stopped us in our tracks. Marvin pulled me behind a pillar.

“What was that?” He whispered.

“Lion, maybe?” Sounded worse than a lion.

The ceiling above shook mildly. The sound hovered across the room and could be heard over the staircase. It moved to the right and descended along the wall. It was coming down. We edged around the column and crouched beneath a potted plant. The hallway leading right upstairs became dark. Shadows creeped in and created the illusion of a black hole. Out from this hole came no animal, as far as I can see. A thick, creeping mist that held many yellow, searching eyes appeared. They scanned the room as the mist travelled down the stairs and across the illustrious room. The dark mass stopped in the center. I was hoping the thing wouldn’t see us or come in this direction. I held onto Marvin’s arm.

The blackish-purple vapor started wheezing, growing large and then small, like it was trying to retch. A hissing noise commenced and grew louder as the mass grew quite large and started splitting in half. Since the gap was opening towards the front of the room, I could not see much from the side. What I did see was frightening enough. Multiple, rotting hands reached out of the opening and placed themselves on the ground like anchors. A huge, wet pink tentacle, the size of a small tree trunk, snaked out several feet and reared its head up. A bluish sucker, larger than the rest, opened up, revealing razor sharp teeth. A huge bulging mass passed from under the cloud and along the insides of the thick member until it reached the sucking mouth. After three sickening heaves, the alien limb purged up the large green, smoking mass inside it stomach. The mess spilled all over the nice clean floor. The thing hacked a few more times until it retreated inside its vapory shell, hands soon following. The eyes reappeared once more and searched the room. Thinking it would surely come this way, the body of haze instead headed towards the archway opposite us and dispersed into the outside air.

We waited several minutes to make sure the coast was clear. We checked out the acidic waste piled in the middle of the room. Most of it looked like radioactive road kill and innards. I was ready to walk away, but Marvin held onto my shirt.

“Look at that.”

I glanced down reluctantly at the steaming waste and saw something gold and shiny in it. As the intestinal liquid slowly dripped off the object, I could see the shape of a-

“Lightning bolt.”

“That’s interesting,” said Marvin. “Think we should pick it up?”

I saw the smoke still rising from it.

“It’s probably still boiling hot. We can come back later.”

“If we come back this way.”

We went up the stairs, being careful not to step in the small, sizzling puddles of intestinal juice along the way. Down the hall were many rooms on each side. The doors were shut on most, but the others were bedrooms plus a restroom and bathing area. A door at the end of the hall led us up a spiraling section of steps that took led onto a sky bridge connecting to a lone tower in the center. At this height, we could see the entire island. It was tropical delight littered with two great rivers, several waterfalls, beautiful lagoons with caves, and a small but magnificent mountain range secluded in the far south. Thick canopies capped most of the island’s surface area. A lot more things to see was undoubtedly hidden under these sprawling, green rooftops. It was an incredible sight. Marvin agreed. If only we didn’t have a serious mission to finish, we might’ve been easily tempted to explore the welcoming paradise.

But then I remembered that ghastly beast we saw earlier and thought better of it. We continued towards the tower doors and found them unlocked. We took a deep breath and made our way in. This was, without question, the master bedroom and main centerpiece of the whole estate. The domed ceiling wore a beautifully crafted mural of angels with spears attacking black three headed wolves amidst a burning landscape. Hundreds of fresh and wonderful-smelling flowers, all varying in species, blanketed the whitewashed walls like ivy. A grand, Victorian-styled four-poster bed sat confidently and unashamed in the far corner, drenched completely with red silk cushions and yellow muslin bedding. Great curtains concealed the bed like a tent, leaving a small partition for habitants. The rest of the room held expensive-looking sofas, chairs and wardrobes.

In the center of the room, however, was a fountain in the shape of a one-winged angel. At the base of this statue, with one hand lying in the clear pool, was a young, deeply bronzed man clothed in crimson and ivory. His other arm was holding his side. He was breathing quite deeply. He looked up at us as we walked closer. His face had a deep cut running along his left cheek. The blood glistened in the sunlight entering the windows to our left. It was a fresh cut. His eyes shifted slightly and looked past us at something else. I turned around to look in time to see the great doors close. Guarding them was Eron, with a great bow in his hands. An arrow sat ready on the taut string.

Chapter 23

“You can relax now you guys,” said Eron as he lowered his weapon. “I was making sure Hypnos didn’t come back for a counter attack.”

“That thing was Hypnos?” asked Marvin, surprised.

“Oh, did you two meet?”

“Thank goodness no,” I said contently. “We watched him from a distance. He’s an ugly one.”

Eron laughed.

“Ohhh…you saw his other form. The non-human one.” He shuddered. “I don’t blame you. It’s not the most attractive thing to admire. Was he feeling well?” Eron said this with a smirk.

“He threw up,” I said. “There was this lightning bolt inside the goop.”

“That was my doing. When I left Olympus, I convinced Hermes to sneak me one of Zeus’ bolts. Had to wrap it in nightshade to cool it down so I could carry it. Figured it would come in handy and it appears I was right.”

I finally noticed Eron’s face. It also had cuts on it along with some bruises that were beginning to color. He noticed me staring.

“Oh, these nasties? Nothing to worry about. They’ll heal up nicely soon enough. You can thank my brother over there and his little sleep thief of a friend.”

“That’s Himeros?” I asked, referring to the older boy behind us.

“The one and only. Doesn’t seem so threatening, does he?”

I shook my head. He was actually quite handsome, like his younger brother.

“Well, couldn’t have said the same before you two got here. Two against one is entirely unfair, considering the fact that I’m no fighter. But the intention was to hold them off with a fifty-fifty chance you two would succeed.”

“And did we?”

“You sure did! The minute you two joined hands. The moment you cast your fears aside and shared your true feelings with one another. That, my friends, was the turning point. The land changed for the better and the darkness was chased off. My brother became distracted by the sight. I took my chance and shot him with one of my arrows. You see, they are not as effective when true love is not present. When it is, love’s poison subdues all.”

“Is that why he’s slumped over by the water?” Marvin asked.

“Yes. Having an arrow in your side will do that.”

Himeros went into a fit of coughing. A red liquid trickled down his side and down his leg. A bit of color left his cheekbones.

“Are you sure he’s ok?” Honestly, Himeros didn’t look so well to me.

“Yes, yes. Don’t worry. It’s impossible to kill each other. Can’t have one without the other. Just got a taste of Cupid’s arrow, that’s all. Since he is a love god, the arrow had a cancelling-out affect on his aura. He’s extremely mellow. And yes, the arrow I would’ve have pulled out by now, but I need him incapacitated until I get him back home.”

“Those boys downstairs. Are they…?”

“Yes! They’re the ones. I put them under a little hazing spell, to keep them calm while I finished business.”

“That’s it? Just that group down there? Surely there’s more boys in West Covenant than that.”

“That’s what fooled me too until I found out what kind of boys they actually were.” Eron placed a hand on each of our shoulders. “Let’s just say they’re not much different than you too,” he smiled.

Marvin and I looked at each other, presumably thinking the same thing. Eron winked at us.

“Anyways,” he said. “I’m sure you boys are ready to head back home, aye? And I’m sure everyone else is ready to wake up as well.”

We nodded. He led us over to the big bed in the corner. He placed a hand on the curtain and turned to look at us.

“Well, then. As you know, the rules of this place is ‘enter by nightmare, leave by dream,’ and in order to wake up, one must go to sleep. Marvin, since you went first, you will pass through Alx’s dream on the way back.” He nodded and climbed onto to the bed.

“Wait,” I said.

“Yes?”

“What’s going to happen with you when we’re back home? We’re neighbors remember?”

“Oh…that. How about this proposition: I can talk to some colleagues back home and have it arranged so no one remembers a single thing about me, as if I never existed. The Amnesia Effect. It’s the most traditional method in these sorts of situations. How does that sound?”

I smiled.

“Sure, Eron. That sounds good.”

“I’ll make sure you two remember me, if you would like that.”

I looked at Marvin.

“I would like that.”

“Me too,” I agreed.

Eron kissed me on the cheek.

“Your wish is my command. All right, you two. Same positions as before.” We got ourselves adjusted on the wonderful bed. “I can tell you two won’t be as nervous as the first time. You know, since you’re used to each other now,” he added with a mischievous grin.

My cheeks flustered. Marvin was smiling, cheeks red as well. Eron walked down the end of the bed to close the curtains, returning to stand over us.

“Alrighty then, boys! On my count of three, you’ll fall asleep. I just want to say it’s been a real pleasure doing business with you, even though our time together might’ve felt short. Thank you very much for helping me out in my time of need. I want to say also that I am very happy for you two and I hope that it works out in the long run. What’s ‘true love’ on the surface may not be true love underneath, but forget all that for now. That’s a whole other topic in itself! Phew! Ok… THREE…TWO…oneeeee.”

And with that, I immediately nodded off to a deep sleep with Marvin in my arms.

Chapter 24

I woke up to a familiar scent of citrus. Sitting up amidst the orange grove, I could see I was wearing my lavender tunic from last time. I dusted the sand off it and got up. Being in familiar territory, I made my way to the beach. I could see the small inlet up ahead. The pretty woman with nice clothes was there waiting. I saw her look up in my direction. I waved eagerly. She stood up and waved back. I ran to meet her.

“My dear boy,” she said while holding my face in her hands, ”How are you?”

“Wonderful! Thank you!”

“Ready to go home?”

I nodded with enthusiasm.

“Good, good. She’ll be here any minute now to take you. Here, let us have a seat, while I smooth out your frock.”

As she did so, I asked about Zephyr.

“He’s on his way. Just picking up a lone traveler along the way.” She let the hem fall down against my leg. “There you go, much better. So, how did you enjoy your little adventure?”

“It was rough at first. Well, more so for my friend Marvin. We found out a little more about each other along the way. Some good, some bad, but in the end it brought us closer.”

“It’s had a good effect on you. You look so much more happier.”

She wrapped her arm around me and hugged me close.

“I kissed him on the cheek though, not the lips.”

“Of course, of course. Still a bit young to get serious. That’s normal.”

She clapped her hands together.

“Oh, how delightful! I love change. Makes life richer and much more interesting.”

I smiled at her kind words. A small wind broke through the trees behind us.

“Good tidings, here he comes.” She tightened the shawl around her face and hair. The handsome air god gracefully glided through the parted trees. In his great arms was a sleeping boy. The boy was naked, but Zephyr’s great limbs guarded his loins. As he came closer, I saw that is was Marvin.

“Marvin!” I almost ran forward, but remembered his naked state. “Oh,” I blushed, looking down at my feet.

The woman came up behind me.

“Don’t worry, dear. I’ll take care of it.”

She picked up her bag and walked forward to meet Zephyr. He laid the boy on the ground at her feet. She unstrapped her bag and started searching through it. Zephyr glided by with a saucy grin on his face.

“Good day, Alx. Nice to see you’re still in one piece. Like the view?” He nodded his head towards the ocean, but I knew what he meant.

“Hey there, Zephyr. Nice to see you too.” I elbowed him playfully. “I see you met Marvin.”

He winked.

“I did. And judging by the way you were admiring him, I’d say you two are good friends.” He put two of his fingers together. “Two peas in a pod?”

“Very funny.”

“Oops, I think I got my shapes mixed up,” he grinned.

The young woman stepped away from Marvin, who was finally awake, albeit groggy. Like me, he was dressed in a rich tunic. His was a creamy, cerulean blue, like a nice cloudless sky. Beautiful, yet simple. He smiled when he saw me.

“Hi there, Alx. Nice place you got here. One step closer to home.” He examined his new clothes and seemed pleased with them.

“It’s a pleasure to have you,” the woman began. “Alx and I have met before on two separate occasions. This is a resting spot of sorts. Not quite limbo though. Evil does not lurk here. Nothing but peace and innocence. Very much reflective of our Alx here. I think this little journey he took with you helped him become stronger and more willing to conquer his insecurities.

You, on the other hand, my dear Marvin. You have dealt with troubling issues early on in your young life. I have much sympathy for you, but it unfortunately cannot fix what has happened already. However, having Alx here, someone who has yet to face real danger, is a good asset and companion for you. A counter balance, so to speak. Someone like you needs him, and someone like him needs you. Come; let us sit on these rocks here. I can hear something move in the water.”

The gentle waves began to gather in more force and height as they came inland. Foam left on the wet sand bubbled and popped excitedly, refusing to disintegrate. The water’s current left and right converged on our spot, causing the water level to rise and graze our feet.

“Is a storm coming?” I asked.

“Oh no,” replied Zephyr. “The winds are calm. I can hear them sleep still. This is the ocean’s doing.”

“Is it her?”

“She is the reason for it, but it is mainly Neptune who is making the preparations for her arrival.”

He was right about the storm. The sky remained clear, but the water level continued to rise. It touched our knees. The water smelled very sweet and pleasant.

“Look!” said Marvin. “There are flower petals in the water. How interesting.”

Out past the incoming waves, towards the somewhat calmer depths, a great bubbling and fizzing commenced followed by a great horn.

“Here she comes!” said the woman.

Great bubbles surfaced at the fizzling spot. They were very large and came in a multitude of colors: indigo, magenta, sunshine, lime, and cherry. Some broke the surface and floated colorfully into the air. After several feet in elevation, they popped. Some released flowers, while others released small fruits that fell back into the sea, scenting the waters with their sweet, oozing juices. The blue bubbles released hummingbirds that immediately took off into the trees. The yellow bubbles released buzzing honeybees that searched about for flowers that caught their eye in the water. With their catch, they fluttered happily after their winged brethren. All the suds produced in this fanatic outburst began to separate and spin in a circle.

It was a whirlpool. The seawater churned rapidly in a counterclockwise direction, bringing with it something huge and pink. Once the mysterious object appeared, I could see that it was a giant, pink clam. Another round of bubbles appeared. They were blue, but when they popped, they released a group of woodpeckers instead of the hummingbirds from earlier. They flew around the closure line of the shell and began pecking in a simultaneous effort at the tight lips. They drilled through successfully after a good thirty seconds. They chirped in delight and flew off. The top halve of the mollusk began to hinge open. A blast of white light shot from the opening. The lolling waves became still instantly. We all watched in wonder at our new visitor. As the shell continued to open, the beam of light became brighter and brighter until a tremendous charge of light surged outwards, covering the world in one blinding color. But we were not blinded by it. As the radiance diminished, we could see a woman sitting elegantly inside, brushing her hair with a coral comb. If everything before was a spectacle to behold, the beauty of this woman was surely something unmatched in any world.

She was naked, being just born from the sea. However, her long, ravishing red hair draped over her breasts and pubic region. She was aesthetically pleasing to the eye, an unmatched artistic creation. Her skin was spotless and infinitely more pure than a newborn’s. Her eyes were crafted from the finest emeralds. They looked at us with unworldly clarity. She smiled. That is where the pearls laid, in her teeth. The gesture shot pains of ecstasy throughout my entire body. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Neither could anyone else. Zephyr was the first to finally break the spell.

“Let me guide the goddess to the shore, for she appears to be immovable on her own in the water.”

The winged prince took off with his great wings and positioned himself behind the woman’s pedestal. He spread his strong arms and great wings out to their full span, taking a deep breath as he did so. He cupped both hands in front of his mouth and blew with godly strength. The great shell sailed easily and quickly over the rise and fall of the waves until she reached shore. All of us got off our perch and ran down to meet this beautiful mistress.

Chapter 25

Zephyr hovered beside her. She raised a hand out to him. He took it in his and helped her down. She thanked him graciously. The winged god was at a loss for words, his mouth curved in a goofy, love drunk smile. Marvin and I laughed. The goddess spoke.

“Demetra, do you have anything I could wear?” Her voice resonated sumptuously and sweet to the ear. One could not help but do as she asked when spoken to.

“Yes, my lady, I have just the thing.” She flipped her bag inside out and flicked it in the air three times. The bag itself had turned into a beautiful peach toned gown. She handed it to the goddess, who pulled it delicately over her head. She smoothed it over her soft, lithe limbs before untucking her lustrous hair. She looked very pleased.

“Thank you, Demetra. This is wonderful material. It feels like a second skin to me.”

The maiden bowed deeply.

“Only the best for you, my lady. It suits you well.”

“That is does.” She looked down at us, for she was very tall. “I’ve heard about you two quite much. Eros has told me so much about you. Now I see why. You are quite handsome and easy on the eyes. I’d be more than happy to share my blessing with you, because that is why I came here. That, and for many other things too, but let this be known. This will be my first great act upon entering this world, so this moment is very special. Here, come closer to me.” We did as she asked. She leaned down and kissed each of us on the forehead. A warmth and sense of renewal passed through my body. I felt most of the sensation in my chest.

“There,” she said. “Let this gift of love and wisdom rest in your hearts for many years to come. It will always guide you from wrong when you think you are lost in the sins and despairs of the heart.”

We nodded and thanked her greatly. She wrapped her arms around us and guided us towards the shell from which she came.

“Are we going home?” I asked her. She turned her head.

“Yes, cherub. I’m taking you home. Say goodbye to this dream of yours for you may not see it again, or at least in the same way.  As you age, the imagination can dwindle somewhat. Appreciate the liberties a young mind like yours can bring before solidarity hits.” I leaned into her chest. Zephyr helped us up onto the soft bed. He bid us each goodbye and told me not to forget the talk we had a while back about gods roaming our own world occasionally in forms we recognize, but don’t always think twice about. Not everything is what it seems. I waved at Demetra. She waved back.

“Take care my dear, and take care of your friend! I shall miss you!”

I lied back against the rising chest of the beautiful woman. She wrapped both of us in the fabric of her long gown. Zephyr turned us around to face the seemingly infinite ocean. I heard him spread his great wings once more.

“Let’s sail away boys.”

And so we did.

THE END

Table of Contents

- Chapter 5
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 9: Alx
- Chapter 10: Marvin
- Chapter 11: Alx
- Chapter 12: Marvin
- Chapter 13: Alx
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16: Marvin
- Chapter 17: Alx
- Chapter 18: Marvin
- Chapter 19: Alx
- Chapter 20: Marvin
- Chapter 21: Alx
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- THE END