The Obdurate Avidity

Chapter 23

By TurtleBoy

 


            Getting in to the house, dinner wasn’t quite ready.  So instead I helped mom do some clean up while everything finished cooking.  Luckily I had dried off sufficiently before coming inside so that I didn’t get into any trouble.  Well, mainly.  My shoes were pretty soaked and so were my socks.  But that was easy to solve.  I placed my shoes over a heater and tossed my socks in the laundry.

 
            The kitchen was becoming filled with wonderful dinner smells.  It was to be roast pork and mashed potatoes mixed with a mushroom sauce.  Smelt really good!  The kitchen was now spotless and the dinner table was set and ready to go.  Dinner being nearly ready to go I realized that dad was no where to be seen again.

 
“Hey Ma, where’s dad been?”  I asked in a bit of confusion.

 
“Ummm… Hard to say exactly.  Last I heard he was in Edmonton seeing the plans to some building being revised.  He was pretty angry when he had to go.  He was going on about how no one ever follows the plans right.”  She explained to me.

 
“Oh wait… That sounds familiar.  I thought he would be home by now is all.”  I replied.

 
“Well, all things considered he’s really enjoying the new job.  I can’t understand a thing he shows me.  But his boss keeps going on about how gifted he is.”  Her face drew up a lonely gaze.

 
“Awe mom, it’s okay.  Looks like you’re beginning to miss him huh.”


“Yea well.  He was off on the road quite a bit in Ontario, and with school we barely saw him.   I just really hoped that now that everything was all set and done, we’d have more time together.”  Her eyes were beginning to become red and watery.

 
“He’ll be home soon.  They started him on a few really big projects.  Once he’s done this it’ll calm down.  I mean, how many big ol’ buildings can they build right?”  I attempted to assure her… not really knowing for sure.  But to seal my sincerity I comforted her with a long warm hug.

 
“Awe, you can be the sweet little guy I remember sometimes.”  She teased wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

 
“Funny mom… And you wonder why I don’t do this so often.”  I said as I let her go and put away a couple of glasses into the cupboard.

 
“Well guess it’s just me and you again for supper.  Wish I was thinking earlier.  We’ll never be able to finish all this.  Too bad James isn’t here…  Should have invited him for dinner.”  She began to ramble.

 
“He’s already off eating dinner now.”  I said while going over to finish whipping the potatoes.

 
“Well, too little too late.  Or in this case too much too oblivious.”  She giggled.

 
“Yea well.  We can eat this again tomorrow and save you some cooking time.”  I suggested.

 
“You hate leftovers.” She returned as a matter of fact.

 
“Yea, but this stuff reheats pretty good.  I can make an exception this once.”

 
“Oh!  I forgot to tell you.   Your dad has the fifteenth to the twentieth off, we’re going to go to Edmonton for the weekend.”  She announced quite happily.

 
“Really!  Awesome!”  I replied in excitement.  Almost directly after finding a haze of slight depression and anxiety after.

 
“Don’t worry about James.  We were going to invite his family along over dinner.  If they can’t go, that will ease them into letting James come along.”  She smiled,  “I wouldn’t want you to be stuck and board with me and your father all week.”

 
“Right on!”  I said as if having a huge burden of worry taken off my shoulders.  Geeze, I’m such a drama queen…

 
“Well go wash up dinner should be ready now.”  She demanded with a smile.

 
“Okay.”  I replied running to the washroom to clean my hands and face.  God… this washing thing was becoming a routine.  We never once did this back in Toronto.  Huh… I kind of like it.


“Come on Adrian!” My mom yelled sarcastically from the dinner table.

 
“Oh wow!  I’m coming!”  I smiled while drying my hands and heading back to the dining room.

 
“So what did you and James do outside?  You guys were awfully loud.”  My mom inquired.

 
“Haha, him and his brother filled up two wagons worth of water balloons and attacked me.  It was so unfair.”  I giggled.

 
“Oh, I didn’t even know James had a brother.  How odd.  We really don’t talk that much.  I feel like I should have known that.  How old is he?”


“He’s eight I think.  His name is Austin.  He’s a little brat, but nice enough.  Seems like a handful though.”

 
“Eight year olds always are.  Did you know that James Dad works with yours?”

 
“Really?  James never mentioned what his dad did actually.  I don’t think I can remember even meeting his dad yet.  His moms a nut haha, she’s got that house looking like a Picaso.  It’s great.”  I explained maybe a little too fast.


“Huh, makes sense.  Your dad says she paints.  She must have been inspired.  But, yea…  His dad is the General Contractor to the builds your dad designs.”

 
“Oh wow.  So weird.  Dad used to be a Contractor.  What are the odds of that?”


“I’m guessing pretty good.  The company that hired your dad is locating all of their major employees in this town for some reason.  The deals on houses here are amazing.”

 
            There wasn’t much more said after that.  We both became absorbed in our dinners.  And felt no need to speak.  I hadn’t eaten much all day so I couldn’t really hear if she had said something.  I think…

 
            After helping with the normal dinner clean up I retreated to the den upstairs to watch some television while waiting for James to call.  There wasn’t too much on as usual.  Maybe I was too picky, who knows.  The sun was becoming a nice red and orange tone, and the heat of the day was beginning to fade.  It must be getting late…. Huh, James never called.  In a bit of sadness and maybe some induced worry, I picked up the phone to see what was going on.

 
“Hello?”  Answered the voice of James mother.

 
“Hi Mrs. McDowell… Uh..  Is James around?”  I asked shyly.

 
“Of course dear, hold on I’ll grab him for yea.”  Her tone was always so lively, it made me smile.

 
“JAMES!!! ADRIAN’S ON THE PHONE!!! PICK UP NOW!!!” I heard her yell, as she snapped the last few words at him and returned to the receiver, “He’ll be right with you hun.”  She said calmly.

 
“Okay, thanks Mrs. McDowell.”  I replied trying not to laugh.

 
“Hello?”  James had picked up the phone.


“Hiya bud.  What’s going on?”  I asked trying not to sound too pathetic.

 
“Oh hehe Sorry I was supposed to call and got distracted.  Time got away on me.”  He replied.


“It’s okay, uh… guess it’s getting too late to do anything huh.” I said sadly.

 
“Nope, we’re gonna have a fire out back soon, I was gonna call and see if you could come outside, but forgot to do it before we went to the store.”  I could almost see his excited cute little body just by hearing his tone of voice.

 
“Oh that sounds awesome!  Do I need to bring anything?”  I asked toning myself down a bit.

 
“Umm nope, But you’re meant to ask your mom to come too.”  He returned.

 
“Oh, well okay.  I think my mom would like that.  She’s been weird since my dads been gone.”  I explained.

 
“Yea my mom too.”

 
“Oh hey! Did you know that our dads worked together?”  I questioned with some excitement.

 
“Really?”

 
“Yup, my dads the architect and your dads the general contractor.  That’s so weird, my dad used to be a contractor too.”  I explained.

 
“Gee… Why didn’t we know this?  We really got to talk about things more hehehe.  So weird.”  James tone seemed confused.

 
“Yea no kidding.  We’ve been so stuck on our inner monsters and our outer ermm… fun…  That we don’t talk about anything else.”

 
“Not true, we’ve just had better things to talk about other than our boring families.”  He replied sarcastically.

 
“Haha, I guess.  But I’m gonna round up my mom and ummm… What time should we be down?”  I asked.

 
“Uh… Give us about fifteen minutes we should be ready soon.  My mom’s likes things perfect…. Which is scary, you’ve seen her idea of perfect.”  He giggled.

 
“Haha, I’m gonna tell her you said that!”  I teased.


“FINE!  Go ahead!  I’ll make up some awful lie to tell your mom when you guys get here.  And because you can’t see me… I’m poking my tongue out at you right now!”  He assured me.

 
“Well… Ummm… I’m mooning you right now!  Take that!”  I smiled.

 
“Umm… Already did.  Haha but thanks for the visual, see you in a bit.”  He then hung up.

 
“Hey MA!!!”  I half yelled.

 
“WHAT!?!”  Her voice was a little louder than I thought it would be.

 
“Uh… Want TO COME TO A FIRE WITH ME?”  I yelled… that was a bit abstract, guess I should go downstairs and talk hehe.

 
“What!?  Come here!  You’re NOT MAKING SENSE!”  She finished yelling and turned her head to see me enter the family room where she was sitting on the couch.

 
“Mrs. McDowell Invited us to a fire in behind their house, want to come?”

 
“Oh how nice, when did they want us there?”  She replied with a smile.

 
“In about fifteen minutes heh… James was supposed to call a while ago and forgot.”

 
“Wonderful… Yea, okay.  Let me just grab something to bring.”  She said as she headed towards the kitchen.


“He said we didn’t need to bring anything.”  I attempted to assure her.

 
“Well, it’s rude to go somewhere empty handed.”  She told me as a matter of fact… Mothers seemed to know everything in the matter of fact ways…

 
“Okay than.  Well uh… I’ll just wait here.”  I flopped on the couch and changed the channel to the cartoon network.

 
“Hmmm.. Well we got some hotdogs…. No marshmallows though… Do you know if she enjoys a drink?  I could bring some wine or something…”

 
“Geeze Ma, it’s only a fire…  Nothing fancy.”  I giggled.

 
“I know, but I wouldn’t mind a drink or two…  I was just kinda hoping she would join me, other wise I would feel silly drinking on my own… Might look bad too.”

 
“Wow… it’s looking bad just listening to you worry over nothing.” I teased.

 
“Oh shut up!”  She snapped with a smile.

 
“OOOOOKay than… Hurry up, we’re gonna be late… and you’re gonna end up bringing half the kitchen.”

 
“Funny.  Well this should do, let me just grab my shoes.”  She placed a bottle of champagne on the counter and a dozen frozen wieners.

 
“Mom… You’re a nut, who brings frozen hot dogs and warm liquor to a fire?”  I teased; god this is going to be interesting.

 
            We finally left the house towards the James house, my mom was muttering something about looking like a bum while trying to sort her hair and balance her unique party selections at the same time.  Austin was scurrying back and forth with the little wagon filled with wood like the energetic bugger that he was.  James was squirting a pile of logs with some fire starter stuff.  While his mom sat in a chair beside him telling him to take it easy and that they weren’t launching a rocket…

 
“Hi James, Hi Mrs. McDowell.  This is my mums.”  I pointed trying to stand in front of her gifts.


“Nice to finally meet you Mrs. McDowell.”  My mom said while clumsily shifting the hotdogs to the other hand and extending the now free one towards James Mom.


“Please call me Lyn.  I don’t think I’m that old yet.  Besides I hate formalities.”  She said standing up and giving my mom a hug instead.


“Sorry, I get nervous meeting new people… Well officially any way.”  Mom explained,

 
“I’m Patty, short for Patricia.”  She announced herself, it was so weird to think that moms actually had names…  It’s not like they are actual people; I’m so glad she can’t read my thoughts.

 
“I would have guessed hehe, Lyn is short for Lynda if you didn’t guess that.  Now sit down and relax.”  She demanded with a friendly smile.

 
“Oh, here, I didn’t know what to bring… so, this is what happened.”  My mom smiled while handing Mrs. McDowell the frozen wieners and the warm Champagne.

 
“Gee heh, umm thanks.”  James mom smirked. “I could use a drink.”

 
“Oh good, I was a little apprehensive bringing that, I wasn’t sure if you were religious or anything.” I could see the relief sweep across her face.

 
“Geeze mom, if perspiration had a solid form… it would be you.”  I teased, making sure to sit out of reach of her swings.

 
“Adrian!”  My mom popped her arm on reflex towards me.


“Hehehehe, Nice Adrian, you’re gonna die before the end of the night.”  James giggled

 
“What’s perspination?”  Austin inquired.


“It’s sweat dear.”  Lyn replied.

 
“I suppose I am a bit drenched.  It’s quite humid out here.”  My mom admitted shyly.  I love the way she got so nervous in front of company.  She never acted like herself, and ended up embarrassing herself over stupid things…  Of course, guess I didn’t help all that much.

 
“James, can you throw these hotdogs in the microwave for a few minutes and bring out some glasses and a bucket of ice?”  Lyn asked James in more of a demand.

 
“Sure thing Mother dearest.”  He replied, smiling at me.

 
“I’ll come and help.”  I offered.

 
“Alright, well since you’re both going bring out some soda and those marshmallows.”  Lyn suggested… ish. Hehe.

 
            Me and James scurried inside and turned toward the kitchen.  The room was filled with all sorts of weird paints and brushes along with a few empty bottles of beer.  The smell of oil based paint and turpentine filled my lungs, and caused my eyes to water a bit.

 
“Oh wow, gotta love that smell.”  I thought out loud.

 
“Yea, my moms attempting to remodel her art room so she decided the kitchen would be a perfect place to stash all of her supplies.”  James explained while rolling his eyes.

 
“Hahaha nice.”

 
“She can be a bit strange sometimes, her bipolar disorder makes it worse this time of year.  But it’s not too bad, she seems to have it under control quite well.  The meds don’t hurt either.”  He giggled.

 
“Bipolar?  What’s that?”

 
“It’s a disorder lots of people get, it’s mainly genetic though.  Ummm, how do I describe it.  Some times she’s really depressed and anti social, and other times she’s really happy and hard to keep up with.  It seems to be seasonal haha.  Right now is a middle faze where she is normal, near the fall she gets all down and winter, normal again… finally in the spring it gets weird and she’s all hyper and happy.  That’s when she decorated the house…”  James explained.

 
“Wow that’s weird.  I get a bit depressed near the end of fall I guess but it only last a couple days till the cold goes away hehe.  Guess it’s not quite like that.”

 
“Actually that’s pretty close, it happens to everyone, it’s just people with bipolar disorder can’t shake it off as easily.  Well that’s how I look at it anyway.  I wouldn’t quote me on it really.”

 
“Hmm, okay, I don’t quote that much anyway.”  I giggled a bit.

 
“Where did she put these stupid marshmallows anyway.”  James pondered while spelunking through the pantry.

 
“Ummm, they’re right here James.”  I said picking them up off of the counter.

 
“Oh well…  Alrighy.  Good Job sir.” He then turned and grabbed a small cooler and chucked a bag of ice in it, followed by some soda.

 
“Nice… Oop!  Here.”  I took the wieners and placed them in the microwave and turned it on for three minutes.

 
“GAH!  Aren’t you supposed to take off the plastic!”  James panicked and opened the microwave door.

 
“Umm… Nope… It says Microwaveable…” I giggled while I ran my fingers under the label stating its packaging was microwaveable.

 
“Shut up!  I can’t keep up with all your fancy new age real world food.  My mom shops here in OakPoint.”  He returned the hot dogs to the microwave.

 
            With that now done, I wrapped my arms around James giving him a nice long hug, followed by a yummy kiss on the lips.  His arms quickly found their way on my hips and one even against my butt.  He ran the palm of his hand gently on my behind, the silky feeling of my shorts caused me to sprout and instant erection.  James giggled a bit while kissing me gently.

 
“You bumface!  We got to get back out there right away!”  I announced while stepping back and showing him what he had done.

 
“I can’t help it.  Those shorts are awesome.”  He giggled, “And they show all the right parts so well.”

 
“Oh really,”  I said feeling myself go a bit red, and pretending not to know how well the shorts looked on me… I’m not conceited, “Well, maybe we can get alone a bit later.”

 
“I hope so.” He smiled at me, while stepping back and grabbing the cooler and the wieners from the microwave.

 
“Oh yea, the glasses.”  I said, as James pointed at them on the counter near the sink.

 
“Now come on, are you decent to go back outside?”  He smiled looking down at my shorts.

 
“Yea I’m fine, now shut up let’s go!”

 
“Oh wow Demanding, I think I like it.”  James teased, and hopped out of the kitchen.

 
            We hopped out the door and ventured off to the rest of the crew by the almost fire.  James had forgotten to light it…  My mom and James mom seemed to be getting along quite well.  Austin however was looking board, as he had finished collecting all the wood and was now stuck listening to the adults talk about things he didn’t care about.

 
“It’s about time you guys got back here.” Austin snapped.


“Sorry the hot dogs were being stupid.”  James giggled faintly.


“Yea, and James was scared to melt the microwaveable packaging…”  I teased while glancing at him sarcastically.

 
“Shut up!”  James giggled.

 
“You want to light that heap of abomination you boys call a fire?”  Mrs. McDowell asked.

 
“Oops sorry Mom.  I forgot.”  James smirked, grabbing the matches from his pocket.

 
“Good job genius.”  Austin teased.

 
“You’ll have to excuse him, he’s not all here.”  I added nudging Austin’s shoulder.

 
“Yea, I know.”  He giggled.


“Hey!  You two!  Am I gonna have to separate you?”  James laughed.


“Maybe later, but now right now.”  I stated.

 
“Well… Okay than.” James finished, swiping a match and tossing it onto the logs.   The wood nearly combusted with an eruption of out of control flames which  startled everyone and caused James to jump back several feet.

 
“AHHH!”   James yelped.

 
“I told you to ease up on that stuff you nut.”  Mrs. McDowell laughed.

 
“I know, but it was fun at the time.”  He replied while checking to make sure he still had all of his hair.


“Good job genius that was awesome!  Do it again!”  I suggested sarcastically.

 
“Are you kidding?  I was almost a marshmallow!”  He smiled, showing me the tiny singed hairs on his arm.


“You really should be more careful.”  I replied with actual concern, but more sarcasm.

 
            I found my mind kept allowing my vision towards James.  Everything he wore looked so good on him.  Like right now for instance; He was wearing a blank white t-shirt with some loose fitting carpenters jean shorts… go figure hehe.  They just caressed his butt so nicely and bulged in all the right places hehe.  Not to mention his smooth perfect legs with the bunched down socks over his ankles resting over the tops of his black skater shoes.  The shirt clung to his chest nicely showing everything just partially, you know the kind that shows just enough to keep you wondering.  I was then snapped back to the real world by the high pitched tone of Austin’s voice.


“Hey, when the sun goes down are we gonna tell ghost stories?”  asked Austin excitedly.

 
“We’ll see Austin, you know how you get when you’re scared…” Mrs. McDowell answered.

 
“I know, but I wont get really scared this time!  Promise!”  Austin said in hope to be even partially convincing.

 
“Adrian could tell you a few horror stories of his very own.  He’s had the most freakiest few weeks possible.”  James added.

 
“Yea, but let’s not get into that anymore.”  I replied.

 
“Wimp.”  James teased.

 
“Hey!  I spent half my summer in the hospital, I want to forget all that.”  I stated truthfully.


“Well alright, but I think it would be a great story.  But I guess this place has enough stories.  Hey mom, you should tell them some of those legends you read about OakPoint Bay.”  James suggested.

 
“Maybe, We’ll see how the night goes.”  She replied returning back to her conversation with my mom.


“Why don’t we make some smores?  I could go for something yummy!”  James suggested.


“That’s a good idea, the chocolate is in behind the cooler James.”  Mrs. McDowell told James.

 
“Cool, and maybe after the moms are all drunk and stupid we can go sneak a couple of beers in the back Adrian.”  James rolled his eyes from side to side waiting for the repulse from the mothers, but there was none.

 
“James, if you think you can stomach a beer be my guest.”  Lyn giggled.

 
“Really?” James looked confused.

 
“No I just like to speak.” She said.

 
“Don’t do it James it’s a trap!”  I attempted to save him.

 
“He wont drink it.  And if he did he’d spit it out as soon as it touched his tongue.”  Lyn giggled.

 
“Don’t be so sure, my husband did that to Adrian a few years back, he ended up liking it.”  My mom added.

 
“Really?  Wow, most kids hate it, especially their first billion tries.”  Lyn said shocked.

 
“Is it that bad Adrian?”  James questioned.

 
“Nope, well I didn’t think so.  It was a bit weird the first couple sips.  But it wasn’t too bad after that.  But I wasn’t aloud to have anymore after that hahaha.  I think it scared my dad more than anything.”  I explained.


“Haha, that’s great.  Reverse psychology isn’t for everyone I guess.”  James replied.

 
            Everyone fell into an awkward silence as we waited for the logs to start to coal a bit more.  The fire kept destroying our marshmallows.  Crickets started to chirp their strange noise throughout our surroundings.  The sun had crept away and the moon was beginning to shine brightly.  The glow of the fire beat off our faces shading our skin a warm orange.  The stars broke out as the cloud diminished, they scattered across the sky in a frenzy of seemingly random clusters.  Which always made you wonder, was it really random?  Or was there something else?  Guess I was right, the country sky is what inspired mankind.  Just one glance and a persons mind wonders to oblivion and back.  It made you think that anything was possible and given the events over the last month that wasn’t so impossible.

 
“Wow, this stuff goes straight to the bladder.”  Lyn giggled, excusing herself for a moment and tip toeing towards the house.


“So mom, having fun?”  I asked.

 
“Yes actually.  That woman is remarkable.”  She said excitedly.

 
“Oh god, please don’t tell her that.”  James said slapping his forehead sarcastically, Austin mimicked James and did the same.

 
“Yea don’t.”  Austin giggled.

 
“You little bugger.”  James laughed

 
            My heart began to race, as the moonlight shone down on me.  There was a high pitched sound ringing in my ears which ended in a weird buzzing noise.  The world around me became blurry and unreal.  Every ones voices seemed to be raised to a horridly high frequency.  The ringing was becoming more defined; it was the sound of wolves howling off in the distance.  It seemed to beckon me, but I couldn’t move.  Feeling the sweat reach my brow and the once blurred vision become a vivid red.  My mothers body was replaced with the blue wire like obscurity, as a strange yellow blur radiated from her body.  Soon everything became dull and out of focus, the howling was getting louder.

 
          My attention was diverted to a strange figure standing at the end of James yard by the trees.  His eyes glowed of an eerie red, but the rest of him was unidentifiable.  My heart raced even faster then before as whispers flooded through my mind.  Pains began to throb in my sides, while my head began to pound.  I could feel the change begin its course.  But I couldn’t do it here!  I couldn’t take the chance of what may happen.  I pushed my eyelids tightly shut, while trying not to make too much movement; so that I didn’t draw too much attention to myself.  With the feel of panic ready to take over, I thought of James and those wonderful shorts he was wearing.  I crammed my head with thoughts and memories of everything about him.  The whispers soon seemed to become muffled as the rest of the world began to return to normal.  I think I beat it!  Looking over toward the trees the figure was no longer there, and the humming sound was now just the faint howls off in the distance.

 
“Hey, listen to that!”  I held out my arm for no known reason.  Everyone grew silent, and turned their heads to listen.  The crickets were still squealing and a few birds were rustling in the trees.  That’s when it happened again, a blood chilling howl.

 
“Oh wow! Wolves!”  James said excitedly.

 
“There are wolves out here?”  James said nervously.

 
“Yea, but don’t worry, they stay far away from people.”  I assured him.

 
“They better, I don’t like wolves.”

 
“What are you talking about I thought you loved wolves?”  James looked partially confused.

 
“I did before, but not tonight.”  Austin giggled.

 
“Oh well okay, I’ll go ask them to come back tomorrow.”  James returned sarcastically.

 
“Shut up.”  Austin smiled.

 
            I kept noticing James staring at me, it was so distracting.  Every time I glanced in his direction he was looking at me!  It was so awesome, made me feel so sexy.  Which was weird, I didn’t usually look at myself in that manner.  At one point I even spread out my legs and subtly rolled the leg of my shorts up just enough for James to be able to see the leg of my grey boxer-briefs.  He shifted slightly in his seat smiling at me, when dear old mom had to ruin everything!

 
“So, do you go to the same school as Adrian, James?”  My mom asked.

 
“Yup, we just never got to see each other there, he’s in grade ten I was only in grade nine.”  James answered.

 
“Oh, that’s too bad, Adrian could have used a friend at that school.”  She replied.

 
“Well, we’ll be back there in September, so I’m guessing we’ll see each other there now that we know the other exists.”  He smiled.

 
“Unless mom home schools again.”  Austin shuddered.

 
“Heh, I don’t think I can go back to that.  It was so boring.”  James face grew blank.

 
“Wow, that expression say it all.”  My mom giggled, “Your mom mentioned she used to teach.”

 
“Yea, she wants to start an art school in the next town.  She likes to teach but loves to paint even more.”  James explained.

 
“Well that would be great, than she can have both.”  I added.

 
“Yup, but finding an empty space around here is hard.  And having it at the house would just be inconvenient.”  Lyn said as she returned to her seat.


“Hi mom.”  Austin said with a smile, “there are wolves in the woods!”


“There are?  Cool!  Let’s go see if we can find them.”  Lyn smiled at Austin.

 
“Mom NO!  They aren’t happy wolves!”  A look of fear and panic struck across Austin’s face.

 
“I’m just teasing silly, make a smore.”  She smirked, tossing him the bag of marshmallows.


            The rest of the evening was filled with laughs and giggles a few stupid partially scary stories along with the inevitable crashing of the adults.  We said our goodbyes and James tapped my wrist and quietly told me he loved me.  I grazed his crotch slightly; giving him a calm but serious look.

 
“I’ll see you tomorrow?”  I inquired.

 
“Of course.”  He replied.

 
            Upon turning our separate ways and entering the confines of our homes, the rest of the evening was quiet and eerie.  Mom went to bed almost immediately, and I was still wide awake.  Eventually I settled on watching some stupid movie on movie central.  Something about a Minotaur taking over the world, cheesy with bad acting but it did the trick.

 
            I awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and giddy.  I stretched out feeling something scratching against my arms.  There were crackles and crunches below me.  Hmmm  that was odd… Did I fall asleep on a bag of chips?  I rubbed my eyes as they adjusted to the bright light beating down from the sky.  The birds chirped and squirrels ventured curiously past my feet…  Wait… What?


            Coming into focus, I looked around.  I was surrounded by trees and little critters.  I could hear the buzzing of what seemed to be insects flying around my head.  Jumping to my feet in a panic, I found myself naked in the forest;  Damn it!  Not again!  My attention was diverted to the sounds of the buzzing bugs.  My jaw dropped as I felt nausea take over my insides.  There on the ground beside me was the remains of something left unidentifiable.

 
“Fuck.”



Chapter 24