The Obdurate Avidity

Chapter 25

 
By TurtleBoy

 
            There were always perks to quiet and boring towns; streets were always empty with no one around to question our hidden love.  James had his hand tightly wrapped around my own while we walked in silence towards town.  There was no need to speak the feeling said more than words could ever produce.  The sun resting high in the blue empty sky shone down heavily causing waves of vapor to escape from the ground.  Even the birds respected the subtle silence; only tweeting when twirped too.  The scent of pine and maple floated in the gentle breeze, I wasn’t looking but could tell that James was smiling.  I wasn’t sure if it was the silence or the fact that I could tell James was smiling or even if it was the entire moment as a whole; but something had set me off.  It started with a very tiny smirk slowly transforming into a quiet giggle.  That’s when it hit… and it hit hard.


“hu hu hu … he he He..   … ha, Ha … HAha… HAhAHa…hu-oooo HAhaHAHAHA..”


I couldn’t control it; the urge was just too great.


“What the hell you Spaz?!”  James smiled as me awkwardly.


“Hehehe.. hehe. Hoooo…  I don…  heheheha.. Know.” I managed to stagger out, feeling myself fall into an outrageous belly chuckle.


“I didn’t do anything!  What are you laughing at?”  James questioned stopping our march, only for me to drop to my knees in a scarce hysteria of unexplained laughter.

 
“Hehehe, you’re nuts… haha.”  He finished with an attempt to remain in control.  But it was too late, anyone could tell.  He had caught the plague.


            Failing miserably, James soon joined me on the side of the street.  Our faces a harsh beat red, tears rolling down our cheeks and our sides about to implode.  We barely took note of a couple dogs barking; when James stopped and became strangely alert when he heard the stern deep voice of a man yelling.  James face grew pale as he stared at me heavily in the eyes, causing me to pause and catch a breath.


“Ahh!  Did you hear that?  Let’s get outta here!”  James screamed and started to run in a panic.


“Wait… What?  What he say?  James wait up!”  I yelled back trying to stop my laughter.


“ADRIAN!  Look out!!”  His tone through me off and I froze in my tracks.


            Out of the corner of my eye a shadow like figure blurred towards me at an alarming speed.  By the time I became aware of what was happening, a huge Rottweiler had its teeth sunk deep into my ribcage.  I could feel the animal shaking its head harshly against me to insure I couldn’t struggle.  My ribs seemed to shatter in the grips of this beasts jaws; my back was grazed and grinded against the jagged limestone road.  My senses had been thrown off by this sudden betrayal of what I had thought to be my own species, the scream of James filling my ears was the only thing that shook me back to reality.  It didn’t really seem like this was happening; the pain was there, but it was dull and seemingly harmless.  Everything was so strange, I was almost enjoying this.  The need to scream in agony wasn’t there, the fear was nonexistent.  Once my mind finally caught up with me and it registered fully what was happening the decision that this had gone on long enough arrived.  Common sense clicked in, snapping out of the blackened state that I was in.

 
            Placing my right hand on the dog’s nape and giving it a firm squeeze the dog released its grip on me almost dumbfounded by my reaction.  Pulling its head away from me and shoving the mutt backwards in a subtle scoot.  The animal just sat down tilting its head to the left letting out a gentle whimper while kicking its front paw out over its muzzle a couple of times.  Without breaking eye contact I removed my shirt and wiped the blood from the animal’s snout and teeth, after which sent it on its way.


“Bad dog! Get in the house!”  We heard the same deep voice yell at the animal, “Are you boys alright?  He didn’t scare yea did he?”


“Yes sir, we’re fine.  I think he was just curious and decided to say hello.  Beautiful dog you’ve got.”  I remarked trying to disguise my sarcasm.


“I don’t know what happened… he’s never done that before.”  The man said with a degree of confusion.


“Apparently I’m a magnet to puppies.”  I joked.


“Is your friend alright?  He looks a little pale.”


“Oh, hehe.. Yea he’ll be fine.  Dogs aren’t really his strong point.”  I giggled while nudging James on the arm.


“Yea… I’m ok.”  James worked up a smile to try and cover his anxiety.


“Well you boys have a good day, I gotta go lock up the bitch.”  With a friendly wave and an awkward smile he headed back to his house.

 
“Freaken red necks.”  I joked.

 
“Holy fuck Adrian!  Are you okay?  What the hell!”  Tears were welling up in his eyes as the panic returned to him.

 
“I’m fine silly calm down.”  I probably could have chosen those words better…

 
“You’re like a magnet for danger!  God!”  His fear seemed to turn to anger, which made me giggle at how cute he was being.

 
“What the heck am I gonna do with this shirt now… That sucks I really liked this one.”  I giggled, while using the bloodied fabric to clean the drying blood from my skin.

 
“That is so gross.  Are you sure it didn’t hurt?  You’re fine?”  I could see the need for assurance in his eyes.

 
“Look for yourself, it’s almost all healed up already.”  Turning myself to the right and lifting my arm so he could see where the dog had grabbed me.

 
“Dude that’s messed up….  On the bright side.. the dog got you and not me.”  He stopped as soon as he said the words and giggled a little at the heartless way it sounded.

 
“Oh thanks.. But yea, I get what you mean.”  Finishing up the cleaning process I began to scout the streets for a place to dispose of my shirt.

 
“Look! There’s a garbage over there!”  James pointed down the street at a large steel bin.

 
“Good job fine sir!”  I replied while marching over to the smelly box.

 
“I really hope I get used to your…. What ever it is soon.  It’ll save me a crap load of panic.  Maybe some day I’ll be able to point and laugh.”  James snickered uncomfortably.

 
“Someday…” I returned while raising an eyebrow of disgust.

 
“Yea know, eventually your mom’s gonna notice you don’t have any shirts… Than she’s gonna start asking some questions.”

 
“You’re probably right.  But in the mean time let’s go grab those burgers I’m starved!”

 
“Sounds good, let’s get going than slow poke!”  James smiled while increasing his speed to a near jog.

 
“You’re such a dork!  I can see the gayness seeping out of your ass crack!” I giggled

 
“That’s not gayness…”  James smirked.

 
“If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about, than yes… it is.”  I chuckled, while catching up to James.

 
“Oh shut up!”  James smirked, while lunging at me and playfully giving me a shove on the shoulder.


            Finally we had arrived at our beloved burger shop, which was the only burger shop in town.  Not many people have such dramatic walks, while going for lunch.  Guess that’s what makes this boring town interesting.

 
            As it turns out, even small town burger shops enforce the ‘No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service’ rule.  So an annoyingly ridiculous story short, James ended up ordering for me and we went to eat by a creek a few blocks from town.

 
            It wasn’t exactly a creek, more like a huge glorified ditch.  But it was nice none the less.  We sat and ate in a peaceful silence, this time without the giggles.  Soaking up the sun for all it was worth and watching a few kids play on the other side of the creek puddle.  It was weird that it grabbed my attention so quickly, it wasn’t everyday that you saw real life people out and playing.  It was truly a rare event, which actually got met thinking that these were definitely town noobies.  Judging by their playful and carefree nature and that fact that they actually looked happy, I figured I was right.  Poor chumps, they don’t know what’s in store for them.

 
            They were definitely related, as their facial features all seemed to correspond with the others.  Same with the way they moved and their general expressions.  That and their ages were obviously all different.  Only families hang out with kids at a different age.  The oldest boy looked close to our ages, maybe a little younger.  For sure a potential friend!  It would be nice to have a third wheel around every once in a while.

 
“Adrian… oh Adrian!”  James sang, while nudging my arm gently.

 
“Heh, sorry.  Got lost for a moment, what’s up?”

 
“What moment… Oh… You better not be checking any of them out mr!”  James joked, followed by him poking out his tongue and making the worst silly face I had ever seen.  It was so horrid and pathetic I just had to laugh at him.

 
“Nah.  Although the older boys got a nice ass.”  I teasted.

 
“Yea, no kidding!”  James replied sounding all too serious.

 
“You hypocritical pervert!”  I giggled, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

 
“Awe is Adrian getting jealous?”  He smiled at me the cutest most pathetic smile yet.

 
“Goof ball… and I wouldn’t say jealous, more like a possibility.”

 
“WHA….!?”  James replied being caught off guard by my tone.

 
“Hehe!  Told you that you’re a perve!  Not like that, he looks cool, we should go make friends with him before the town gets him.  It sucks being alone in this place.”  I explained.

 
“Oh…. That’s what I thought you were talking about…”  James replied with sarcasm dripping out of his ears.

 
“Yea right pervert.”  I teased and poked my tongue out at him.

 
“Well let’s go say hello.” James decided, while climbing to his feet.

 
“Cool.  Now how are we gonna get over this creek?”  I asked all baffled like.

 
“I bet yea that you could jump it no problem!”  James challenged with a devilish grin.

 
“Oh yea?  But how will you get across?”

 
“Ummmm, well I was kinda thinking on using that log over there… it’s just laying there all stretched out on the water… looking mighty lonely.”  He teased.

 
“…Oh, well.  I knew that was there..  Let’s go!”  I chuckled.

 
“Nope!  Humans only!  Besides, I wanna see you jump this thing.” He said while batting his eye lashes at me all pathetic like.

 
“I dunno… It doesn’t always work for me…  besides, what if they see me! That would scare em all off before we could say hello.”

 
“Stop being such a girl and do it.”  He teased.

 
“Shut up!  Alright fine.. I’ll give it a shot… but no laughing when I mess up and fall face first in the water!”  I demanded.

 
“Fine, I promise.”  James agreed while rolling his eyes.

 
            I knew he was full of crap.  He was gonna laugh anyway.  But it was worth a shot just to see if I could do it.  The creek was a good fifteen feet across.. at the very least.  I was nervous; I’m sure even James could see that while he stood on the middle of the log over the creek so that he could get the best view possible to see my courageous sploosh.  I stood against a tree while trying to build up the confidence, or the stupidity, to do this.

 
‘Screw it, enough thinking.’  I thought to myself… shut up.  Taking a deep breath; I bounced upward off my feet and kicked off in a sprint upon contact to the ground.  The run was smooth and successful; I could feel the speed of my steps increasing with every lift of my feet.  As I approached the bank of the creek I tucked my knees to my chest and forced them down heavily at the very edge of the waters mound.  Thrusting forward as hard as I could the world around me slowed; I could hear every sound and feel every heartbeat.  A slight tinge of red flooded the world highlighting every thing that had a pulse.

 
            The wind flowed freely around my body, placing my nerves at ease and relaxing my muscles.  By the time I was able to gather this feeling properly I was forced into a clumsy barrel roll tangling through tall grass and slipping over mucky soil.  Crashing into a few large rocks my mind started to race forcing me into a fit of hysterical laughter of disbelief and unfelt feelings.  All I could hear in the distance was the flutter of angry birds rushing away from their secluded hideouts due to the invasive giggles of which bared similarities to that of a little school girl.

 
“Oh my GOD!  Adrian!  Are you okay?  Shit!  That was… WOW!  Awesome!  You should have seen it… Well you saw it.. But GAH!  Amazing!  …er, what’s so funny?”  James paused in obvious confusion, “You alright?”

 
            Rubbing my eyes to free the welled up tears which were obstructing my vision, while taking a deep breath in an attempt to regain control of my giggles…

 
“I’m fine, that was just so weird.  Unreal even.”   I struggled out through empty lungs.

 
“But you’re okay right?”  James stared with an awkward eyebrow and a slight concern.

 
“Yea, no worries… these rocks broke my fall.”  After realizing what I had just said the giggles came back with a vengeance.

 
“Haha…  Well, that’s good.. I guess.  Geeze your Mom’s gonna kill us when she sees you.”  James chuckled.

 
“Probably.”  I replied, taking not of the muck and guck pasted and plastered across the majority of my body.

 
“Well get the hell up!  We still gotta go say hi!”  James demanded with a cute little smirk.


            With a slight shift of jagged discomfort I climbed to my feet, stretching out my limbs and back with a failed attempt to loosen a few of the sore kinks.  Looking over to the creek that I had just leapt across my eyes grew large with amazement.  I was a good twenty feet from the waters bank.

 
“Wow did I really jump that far?”

 
“Ummm, well no… not really.  You just barely made it… Most of it was rolling.”  James teased.

 
“Oh, hmmm.  Well than.  Still was pretty good though.”  I shrugged.

 
“Hell yea!  You went crazy high though!  I wasn’t expecting that… course you might want to work on your landings.”  James excitement was apparent, but his sarcasm bleed through his tone a little stronger.

 
“Cool.  At least it wasn’t a complete fail.”

 
“It was awesome, don’t worry.”  He smiled while turning his head with some sudden distraction.  I followed James eyes to find that a boy, maybe fourteen was standing maybe ten feet from us, up on a mound of rocks and mud.  He had brown hair which was parted partially in the middle.  His build was thin and his skin was pale.  Wearing baggy jeans and a sweater tied around his waist, along with a shirt that said ‘Boards broke, got Log’ made it apparent that he was a skater.

 
“Hey! Are you okay?”  Shouted a slightly scratchy voice; from the top of a small mound of rocks and shrubs.

 
“Yea, he’s fine.”  James replied looking alarmed with the sudden company.

 
“We saw you fall from way over there!”  Exclaimed an excited younger voice, as a few other heads poked up from behind the first boy.

 
“Hehe, we’re all fine down here… I’m Adrian and this is James.”  I decided to introduce ourselves to avoid too many more questions.


            The first boy we had seen, who was definitely the oldest; slid his fingers through his hair to get a few stray strands out of his direct vision while taking charge of introductions, “I’m Kevin, those two schmucks are Josh and Alex and down over there are my sisters Christine and Joanne.”

 
“Nice to meet yea!  You guys just move here?”  James questioned the obvious..

 
“Yup, just got here last night.”  Josh butted in with a smile and getting a sarcastic glare from Kevin.

 
“Sweet, where you guys from?”  I asked.

 
“Everywhere really… Our last place was in Chicago, but we’ve lived all over the place.”  Explained Kevin.

 
“American’s huh.  Cool.  But what brings you all the way up here?”  James blurted.

 
“Well my Dad’s originally Canadian and we have family up in Edmonton.  When our Mom died last year he wanted to move back home and settle down like she had begged him to do.  We almost moved to Nova Scotia when my Dad received a job offer out of the blue from some dude here in Oakpoint.”  Kevin’s tone seemed kinda uncomfortable with where the conversation was headed, which is when I decided to redirect a little.

 
“So, what’s he do.”

 
“I don’t know exactly, he used to work with the Navy or something.  But I dunno really, he was never aloud to talk to us about work.  He’s going to be in charge of the towns security here though.”  Said Kevin as he watched his brothers running off chasing their sisters.

 
“Security?  Hehe, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there isn’t much to secure here.”  James giggled, “That’s weird actually.  Everyone else that’s moved here have been contractors and architects.”

 
“Huh…”  Kevin shrugged, “Dunno, he’s always so quiet about his work.  For all I know, he could be building something.  So where is everyone in this town anyway?” He questioned with an awkward smile.

 
“We’ve often wondered that…  Everyone here keeps to themselves, or at least all the town people.  They put all us newcomers on the outskirts of town.  So… where are you guys staying?”  said my curiosity.

 
“Oh, well right now we’re staying at some crap Motel just off Route 11.  We had to move here so fast for my Dad to start work that our house hasn’t been built yet.”  Replied Kevin, “So you guys haven’t been here that long than?”

 
“Well, James has been here a while.  But I just moved here a couple months ago now.”  I took the liberty to reply.

 
“Sweet, where you guys live?”

 
“Just straight up main street and down a small dirt road over there.”  James pointed.

 
“Hey cool, that’s around where our house is going to be built.”  Kevin smiled.

 
“Right on!  We’re gonna have some new neighbors!”  Jams replied excitedly.

 
“I hope they start soon though, I don’t wanna be stuck in that Motel for too long.  It’s smells weird and is sooo boring.”

 
“So if you’re way out at that Motel, how did you guys get down here?”  I asked.

 
“My Dad had to go off and work.  He left us with his assistant.  Apparently he didn’t feel like babysitting us, cause ten minutes after my Dad left he said it would be good for us to get a look at the town…  That’s when he dropped us off here and said he’d pick us up at three near the gas station in town.”

 
“What a dick!”  James blurted out, “So you guys have been stranded here all day?”

 
“Yea, but I don’t mind.  There’s a bit more to do over here than cooped up in that nasty Motel with my brothers and sisters.”  He snickered.

 
“How sad is that…. Oakpoint being the better choice.”  I giggled.

 
“Haha, yea true.  So… Where did you fall from earlier?”  Kevin had asked the dreaded question catching me off guard.

 
“Uh… Oh.  I umm…”  I was in an obvious struggle.

 
“He slipped off that branch over there!”  James jumped in to save my skin, maybe a little too loud… while pointing to a huge branch which was overhanging the water.

 
“Really?  I could have sworn you fell from over there.”  Kevin pointed in a completely different direction about thirty feet from where the branch resided, “Guess my angle got all mixed up or something.”  He decided on his own geographical error, with a degree of doubt and confusion.

 
“Stranger things have happened.”  I giggled.

 
“Shh, you’ll scare him off Adrian!”  James snapped with sarcasm.

 
“Uh… Ok.” Kevin’s curiosity seemed interested, “I’ll bite, what things?”

 
“Don’t worry about it.” I rushed in, “It’s something you have to find out for yourself.  You’d never believe us anyway.  This town can get really… REALLY strange at times.”

 
“Yea, wait till you’re here a while.  You’ll see what we mean.”  James added.

 
“Does everyone speak so cryptic around here?”  Kevin giggled.

 
“Nah, only James.”  I said jokingly, “Most other people around here don’t speak at all.”

 
“I’ve seen some pretty strange things, I can take it.”  Kevin dared.

 
“Yea, like guys falling from the sky for instance.”  James teased.

 
“Exactly!” Smiled Kevin.

 
“Hehe, true..”  I began, “But that’s nothing compared to Oakpoint.  For starters everyone has this messed up rule about the forest… just don’t go in them, it’ll save you a lot of trouble later.”

 
“And if you don’t believe in ghosts… you will soon.”  James stated as a matter of fact.

 
“Really…”  Kevin’s sarcasm seeped through his pores, “I don’t think I believe in ghosts, but it would be pretty cool.”

 
“Haha, you don’t believe us!  See!”  James pointed out the obvious.

 
“I didn’t say that.  What would you guys do in my position?”  Threw back Kevin.

 
“Touche good sir.  But you’ll come around… So how old are you anyway?”  I asked, changing the subject once more.

 
“Thirteen, you?”

 
“I’m sixteen and James is fourteen.”  I answered.

 
“Almost fifteen!”  James chucked in defensively.

 
“Haha, ok… Almost fifteen.” I added, while rolling my eyes.

 
“Hehe, you guys don’t look that old.  Guess the air’s better up here or something.”  Kevin stated half jokingly.

 
“You’re more than welcome to hang out with us whenever…  There’s not a lot to do around here… and most the other kids are too stuck up or something..” Offered James.

 
“Cool thanks James.  I’ll take you up on that.  Especially if we do end up being neighbors.”

 
“Haha, right on.  Your bro’s would probably like my little brother Austin, he’s eight.”

 
“They like everyone.  Josh is nine and Alex is eleven.  It’ll be good to get rid of them for once.”  Snickered Kevin.

 
“I understand you completely.”  James replied while rolling his eyes.

 
“Well I guess I better round up the idiots,” Kevin started, “otherwise we’d get in trouble for being late… God forbid…”

 
“No prob, so I guess we’ll be seeing you around?”  I figured out loud.

 
“Yea, for sure!  See yea guys later.”  Kevin finished.

 
“Seeya Kevin!”  Me and James yelled in unity, giving each other a giggle while watching Kevin’s departure over the pile of rocky mud.

 
            We watched as Kevin walked towards his siblings and started yelling to round them up.  James looked over at me as we turned towards the creek to start our way back to town for the ice cream I had promised James.

 
“Perhaps this time I cross the creek like a normal person.”  I suggested with a smile.

 
“Hehehe, that’s probably a good idea.  Wouldn’t want to scare off Kevin before we got a chance to know him.”  Replied James.

 
“Haha, yea.  There’s only so much weirdness a newcomer can take all at once.”

 
“I’m sure he’ll catch on quite fast.”  James added.

 
            We carefully crossed the slick half rotted slime of a log and started our way toward the ice cream shop.  The moment we got to the main street we were bombarded by James Mom, who was up roared in a panic.

 
“James!  Where have you been!  Have you seen Austin?”  She cried.

 
“What?”  James confusion baffled him, “No! We were out by the creek all afternoon.  We left him with you.”

 
“Shit!”  Her tone sent chills down my spine, “I was cooking supper…” she’d pause and stress an attempt to gather her words, “and I heard him scream.. but he was goofing off all afternoon…”  Tears began to stream down her cheeks, “I told him to settle down, but when I went upstairs to check on him…” Her lip trembled as she had forgotten to breath, “he wasn’t there!  His room was empty… Dear god James he’s gone, the door was open and the window was closed… I didn’t hear him on the stairs.”

 
“Mom!  Slow down.  He’s got to be fine.  He’s never gone anywhere on his own.”  James had confused himself with his own words.

 
“HE’S GONE JAMES!  We’ve searched the town, your Dad’s out looking…”


“Wait.. Dad?  He’s home?”

 
“Adrian’s parents are searching the back streets. NO ONE in town will even leave their stupid homes to help us!  Why wont they HELP Us?!...”  Her panic flooded her body sending pulse’s of quivers through out her entire self, “What’s wrong with this fucked up town!  Why wont they help me.”  She sobbed in a tremble.


Chapter 26