The Obdurate Avidity
Chapter 32
TurtleBoy
My thoughts were scrambled and racing in a synchronization of confusion, I didn’t know what to do; what the hell have I done? Not only have I betrayed the person that I loved, the one person that was important to me in this entire stupid world, but I have also done something horrible to this poor unknowing boy! Had I somehow infected him with the same monstrous disease that had been plaguing me all summer? Maybe it was temporary, like a side affect from him ingesting my blood. What the hell had come over me? Why would I even do that? Why the hell would I sleep with…
“Kevin? Are you alright? Are you sure?” I struggled out, still seeing the pain hiding from behind his harshly reddened eyes; veins swollen and blue, appearing as if they could burst at any given moment. Sweat oozed thick and foggy beads of some kind of infected liquid which squeezed from his pores and slowly made its way down his panicked face.
“Yea…” He struggled out in a tone that told me otherwise, “I think so… That was so messed up, what the hell happened?” His voice seemed to be slowly recovering to a form of its original tone but still remained slightly staggered.
“Dude you scared the hell out of me! What the fuck did we do?! … You sure you don’t want me to call a doctor or something? No, never mind, I WILL, you need a doctor! There’s no way that that’s normal. Shit! What did I do to you?” My nerves had been shot and deafened all at once; I was consumed with guilt and overwhelmed with worry, so much that I just couldn’t settle myself with one appropriate emotion. Was there even such an emotion? One powerful word in which could some up this horrible feeling that I was attempting to cope with inside? Was there anything that could possibly describe this moment… this feeling?
“I swear, I’m okay now. I think it’s over, I’m fine see?” Kevin climbed back to his feet and put himself on display before me, he used the support of the door knob, than leaned up against the wall, only showing me that he was definitely not alright, “I am a little dizzy though.” He chuckled softly as he tried to keep his eyes from spinning, but failing horribly. The redness in his eyes seemed to be fading and the thickened sweat decreasing; he was with out a doubt recovering from whatever had happened to him, but the horrifying ordeal of the event forced me to remain skeptical and paranoid.
“I don’t think we should have done that… Why did we do that? Shit! I’m so screwed. We’re so screwed!” Involuntarily I began to pace back and forth, circling in front of Kevin who was sitting calmly on the bed only a couple of feet away. Grabbing my temples with my fingers and pressing the palms of my hands into my cheeks, I felt as if I could easily pull my face right off, right than and there, somehow that would work and cause all of this anxiety and fear go away all at once as if it had never happened.
“Hey! Calm down Adrian, no one’s gonna find out, I promise. This isn’t really one of those things a guy would go around bragging about in the open. Besides, I can tell how important James is to you… I was just… curious, I think… I dunno, we don’t have to do it again if you don’t want to. I’m sorry.” Kevin dipped his head down towards the floor and pushed himself upwards to stand up on his feet; slowly he approached me, looking as if I were the one that needed an apology, or to be comforted. He carefully spread out his arms and wrapped them around my shoulders, “But… I did like it… like a lot.” He smiled up at me, as if he figured this display of affection would some how calm me down. I pulled away, backing up towards the television, making sure to keep some distance between us.
“That’s what scares me…” I began through sore watery eyes, “So did I.” Dropping my eyes towards the floor in shame, I felt tears gather in the corners of my eyes and slowly make their way down my cheeks and drip to the floor between my feet. I covered my face in attempts to hide my guilt, I felt dirty all over and disgusted with myself. It wasn’t just about James; I also toyed with Kevin’s emotions… What happens if I mess up his head from what I did to him? Shit, I’m such an idiot, Kevin may really like me and there is no possible way that we could ever be together; I love James and that is the end of it… How could I have been so selfish?
“Okay, just stop man so what if you liked it, aren’t you supposed to? Isn’t that why we did it? Its cool isn’t it? I don’t know what else to say, I mean… I’m sorry we did that I guess, but it’s done and way too late now, we can’t just take it back… Should I go? I think I should go.” Kevin stood back up again and walked over to the doorway. He reached out and grabbed the door knob and pausing for a brief moment in contemplation. I was sure that he must have been waiting for me to say something to him, or even follow him to the door or something, but I couldn’t think of anything to say and it was probably best that I just let him leave.
“Hey…” I raised my gaze towards him, “Seeya later?” I asked, a little unsure why and instantly regretting my choice of words. I can’t see him later! What was wrong with me? How was I even supposed to see him ever? I couldn’t, not after this…. Could I?
“Yea, probably… I should be over at the creek with my brothers all afternoon if you feel like some company or something.” He replied without looking back at me.
“Yea, sounds good… Later.” With that, Kevin left. I didn’t follow him to the door, I needed some space, a bit of time to think and get my head in line. I had to tell James, I mean… If I didn’t, I’d feel like more of an ass later and probably never feel worthy of his trust again. But how was I gonna do that? How could I ever expect him to look at me in the eye again? Much less remain my boyfriend.
What have I done? I had love, a shared love; what do I do with it? I toss it aside and throw it out with out thought or regard to anyone else, just like it was yesterday’s trash. How could I have done something like this to James? How could I have been so weak and disrespectful?
I dropped myself onto my bed, burying my face deep into my pillow. Breathing in deeply and exhaling… Taking deeper and longer breath’s, something smelt good… My head spun with delight, Shit! It was Kevin’s scent! What’s wrong with me? I can’t even put him out of my mind… Maybe it was possible that it was the way he smelt that caused me to act like I did. My actions didn’t seem like something I would do, there had to be something about the way he smelt that caused me to act like that. Great! Here I am being too much of an ass to even accept that I had screwed up all on my own, always looking for something else to blame it on. Sure, it was possible that my heightened scent had contributed to my actions, but I still had my free will, I could have stopped it, I could have said no, I could have said nothing and just never started with Kevin to begin with. I had to tell James! I can’t live like this; I can’t… be like this.
The phone rang several times, then again and again. Eventually I got transferred to the McDowell’s machine, yea right, like that would work out. I hung up the phone and sulked my way over towards the kitchen. It appeared that Ma had gone out somewhere and Dad was at work by now. It was at that moment I really wished I had someone to talk to about all this. It would really be handy to have an outside person that I could confide in for advice, or even just someone who could sit and listen.
There was nothing else that I could do; patience seemed to be letting me down. Instead of nervously waiting around for James to get back home, I slid on my shoes and decided it best for me to go and wait for him outside of his house for when he got home.
It was uncomfortably hot out, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was unbelievably humid, not even the mosquito’s dared to fly around in this muck, not that they could anyway. The air was so thick with moisture that it felt like I was attempting to breathe warm gravy, the birds chirping seemed to get distorted and muffled as it travelled with the light breeze and the trees in the distance looked like they were steaming. When I arrived at James house, for the hell of it I rang the doorbell a couple of times then turned around and made myself comfortable on the porch; which wasn’t so much a porch, rather a large concrete block that allowed you to step up to the side door.
Sitting there was bordered and compared only to hell itself, the thoughts and scenarios that I allowed to play out in my head were destroying me. The wait was my punishment, one that I had created for myself, a punishment fit for a slime like myself. I couldn’t think of a more worthy torture to inflict on someone. Well, it was… until reminiscent flashes of Kevin laying before me in those soft feeling briefs, the inviting horizontal stripes of his GAP underwear, the way he felt under my fingertips, the warmth of his body against my lips… FUCK! Stop it! I felt the swell between my legs and the guilt’s burden return to me, I couldn’t even punish myself properly! Was I really sorry for my actions? Or was I just doing this as a head game… I could no longer trust myself, I was sure to do it again. I had to get this out of my head, let it fade away into a deep pit of forgotten nothingness.
In reality I hadn’t been sitting there very long at all, soon after I gained control of my thoughts, or at least a deceived control was about the same time that the door behind me swung open and released a sudden cool breeze against my back. I involuntarily leaned into it, subconsciously attempting to absorb as much of the coolness as I could. Which was when my nostrils filled with a familiar scent, it wasn’t James… It seemed more like how Kevin smelt, only a little different, a little sweeter. I looked back when I heard a strange grunt like noise, my throat fell dry and pasty at the same time and my heart sunk into my stomach. James was standing at the doorway, next to Caleb who was smiling, but James wasn’t. James actually looked kind of sick and pale.
“Oh!” Said Caleb, “Hey Adrian, how long have you been sitting there?” He asked cheerfully.
“Uh… a few minutes I guess… What’s going on?” I asked, while looking over at James.
“Not much. Me and James were just playing some video games, but now I gotta go meet my brothers at the creek. Did Kevin leave your place yet?” My thoughts froze when Caleb asked me that, he knew Kevin had come over? But… Wouldn’t that mean Kevin knew Caleb was here… and did that mean Kevin had lied to me?
“Nope, he left a little while ago he said he was meeting you and your brothers…”
“Oh.. Guess that means I’m late. I better go James, see yea guys later?” Caleb asked, as he stepped outside the door.
“Uh, yea probably.” Replied James quietly.
“Cool, seeya guys.” Caleb bounced off the concrete step and slid his hands in his pockets while he slowly walked up toward the street.
“Sorry Adrian.” Said James while looking down at me, while I kept my seat on the porch, “You uh… wanna come in?”
“Oh, uh yea… Uh sure.” I managed to climb to my feet and struggled to avoid eye contact with James, at least until I could tell him what I had done. I followed him inside and waited for him to close the door, “Uh, I ummm, need to tell you something, is anyone around?”
James face looked pale and dry, he parted his lips and cleared his throat quietly, “Yea. Oh, I mean no. Mom took Austin into town to pick up some groceries or something, what uh… what’s up.” He looked at me as if he could tell what I was going to tell him was bad, which made it harder for me to struggle out.
“I love you,” I started, “You know that right?”
“Yea, of course I do, I love you too.” He said in an awkward return.
“I umm… I’m sorry, I…. Shit…” I felt tears beginning to well up in my eyes and had to turn my head so that I could continue, “I slept with Kevin.” I said in almost a whisper, I couldn’t make myself say it any louder and only hoped he didn’t find it necessary for me to repeat it to him.
“What?” Said James through a scratchy voice, “Kevin? You… Like… like sex?”
“Yea..” Tears were flowing freely down my cheeks, the shame and guilt were more than I could bare, the look in James eyes wasn’t what I needed. He looked upset, but he didn’t look angry, he didn’t look like he was going to hurt me… or yell at me… or, anything, “I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know why I did it… I don’t know why I didn’t stop it! I’m so sorry James, I didn’t mean to hurt you, and… and I’ll understand if you never want to see me again, but… I couldn’t keep this from you. I couldn’t live with the thought of me keeping such a horrible secret from you. I love you! I really do, and I don’t want anything to be left out of our relationship… I don’t want a secret like that to destroy us… I… You don’t have to forgive me, you don’t even have to look at me again if you don’t want to. I just felt you had the right to know… and I dunno…” James silence was more disturbing than anything I had imagined, “Do you hate me?” I looked into his reddened eyes, as the heavy streams of tears fell from his cheeks and splashing against the floor.
“I don’t hate you Adrian… I wont lie, it really does hurt… I mean… it really fucken hurts,” He had to stop to whip the sniffles from his face, “I probably should hate you, and I dunno a part of me wants to but I’m hating myself more right now… and I love you… and umm…. I just slept with Caleb.” His trembling words stopped, he looked up at me and waited for a reply.
I didn’t know what to say, there were so many things going through my head at that moment that I couldn’t find any words to say. There was one thing on my mind though, one question that seemed to float above it all; what were the odds that Kevin and Caleb would both sleep with the two of us on the same day at the same time? I mean, twins do seem to be interconnected on some higher level than other people, but this just seemed to convenient, it couldn’t have been coincidence, I was almost certain this was planned out. Somehow, or for some reason this was done on purpose, “What… what was it? What did you smell?” I don’t know why I said that, or I did, it was the only thing that I could think of while I was with Kevin. James remained silent, but his expression changed, almost as if hit by surprise. His guilt seemed to fade into anger and confusion and his tears streamed with a new purpose.
“Did Kevin… He smelt like…” His words seemed to explain every thought I hadn’t been able to complete, but it seemed to confirm my inquiry.
“Kevin’s smell, it was like nothing I had smelt before. It was like I couldn’t help myself, all I wanted to do was have more… and when I couldn’t get more, I had to have it all.” I explained it as best that I could, there wasn’t any real explanation that I could put into words that would describe what would happened. But James seemed to know exactly what I was talking about…
“It’s impossible… Isn’t it? Do you really think that they somehow planned this out? Like maybe… Are they trying to separate us?”
I stared into James eyes, he was still hurting and still looked as guilty as I felt, but there was no other explanation, “I don’t know… I don’t think so… Did umm - Did Caleb bite you? Or I dunno, do anything weird like that?”
“Yes! He did! He bit me on my shoulder.” Said James, as he turned around to pull the collar of his t-shirt down so that he could show me the bite, “But, that wasn’t the weird part. When he was getting ready to leave, he collapsed and said he felt like his insides were burning and that smell disappeared and… now it smells like rotten eggs.”
“Sulfur.” I blurted, “That’s just like back at the sanctuary remember? That thing that helped us? It stunk like rotten eggs! Shit! I think I know what’s going on! They’re trying to steal our power!” That had to be it, there was no other explanation. But how could they know? How… Can they do that? Can our abilities actually be taken like that? So easily?
“I dunno… It seems kind of out there, they just moved here, they seemed normal.” Said James wearily.
“Normal? You can’t be serious! Don’t you remember Kevin? He’s been weird as hell ever since we met him, and why would he hide the fact that he had a twin brother? I mean… We don’t really know them at all. If you ask me, there’s definitely something we’re missing. They have to already have some kind of ability, like mind control or something, how else would you explain what just happened to us?” I knew how I was sounding, I knew I had to be wrong to some degree, or maybe just paranoid; but this town has done weirder things to us. “Wait! When… Uh… While me and Kevin were, uh, you know… I heard that voice again, it kept repeating the words, ‘You Must’ faster and faster. Usually I would have been freaked out, but it was different this time. Like I was supposed to obey.” I stopped right there, even I had to admit I was sounding crazy.
“Maybe we should stop guessing for now… You know, let’s just try and figure this out. Without guessing, other wise, we might do something stupid. Not to mention, we don’t know what we are up against. What if they did steal our abilities? That could make them really dangerous, especially considering I don’t know how to work mine yet.” James looked me in the eye, he could tell that my mind was still racing.
“You’re probably right. Let’s just… I dunno… So, we’re good? I mean… Obviously it’s gonna take a while to sort out our feelings… but, we’re cool?”
“We’re cool.” James assured me, “Let’s just make a promise to each other; we’re not to be alone with anyone from that family until we know it’s safe.”
“That sounds like the best of ideas I’ve heard in a while. I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to hang around them at all.” I admitted.
“Hey wait, we’re gonna have to. How else are we going to figure out what they’re up too. Eventually something’s gonna happen, they’re gonna mess up just like we did at the creek and at some point, we’ll know what’s going on. We just got to play it cool and try not to let them know what we’re up to.” James stopped there, he seemed to be satisfied that he had gotten his point across and I had no arguments with that.
“How the hell are we gonna act normally around them now? I mean… Shit, I dunno…”
“Don’t worry about how you act around them, just make sure you act normally around me. Think about it, they’re expecting us to be a little weird around them, we slept with them. But if we act all weird to each other than they are gonna know that something is up. Remember, I don’t know what happened with you and Kevin and same with you not knowing about me and Caleb. Now… Let’s do something else, I really don’t want to think about that right now.” James admitted to the same thing I was thinking.
“I’m hungry… Wanna grab something to eat? Well, not in town, they’re there. We can invade the pantry or something.” I suggested with a smile.
“Hehe, alright… Your place or mine?” Asked James with giggle as he looked back and forth from his kitchen to his side door.
“Uh… I dunno, got anything good?”
“Hell if I know… How about we just go to your place? Your Mom’s always got something good laying around…. Has she baked anymore cookies?” asked James.
“Probably, it’s hard to keep track lately… Would you believe that before we moved here, my Mom never cooked? Well… Not completely true, she tried to cook. She only just got good at it when we moved here; you think she managed to stumble upon one of those abilities too? Maybe a Spell book or something?” James wasn’t even sure if he wanted to laugh, he seemed more confused than anything.
“You know… You can really jump from one mood to another pretty quickly… It creeps me out sometimes.”
“So… where are we on this food thing? My place right?” I asked in an attempt to get back to the subject at hand, or was I proving his theory…
“Yea, your place it is.” Agreed James. He turned towards the kitchen and grabbed a notebook and pen, “I just gotta leave my mom a note to let her know where I am.” He explained, while jotting down his whereabouts.
“Cool.” I replied and watched as James turned and posted the note on the fridge behind him, “By the way, I had the most messed up dream last night!” It was strange how quickly things happened, I had woken up and all I could think about was telling James about my messed up dream, then came Kevin.
“Really?” James kind of stopped and tried to look like he was surprised, “I’m guessing it was another one of those paranormal dreams again huh.”
“Do I have any other kind?” I smiled softly. James guided me out of the house then turning back around to lock the door behind us.
“None that I can remember. So what was it this time? The well thingy again? You know, the one where you were tied to that stone post thingy over the huge hole? Or was it something about floating bath tub limbs… Did you dream about that or was that only in real life so far?” His partial sarcasm kind of put everything into a horrid perspective, one of those moments when it hits you hard on just how messed up our lives have been since we met.
“No actually,” I started while we began to venture towards my house, “This time it was me in my room. Everything seemed real the entire time… there was this voice through out the entire dream and this ghost thing that was floating above me. I couldn’t make myself move no matter what I did, which you would think was bad enough, but the room was filling up with blood.” I stopped for a moment to see if James had any kind of reaction to what I was telling him, but it seemed he was immune to freak show dreams I have, “Anyway, I can’t remember everything, but by the time the room filled up and just before the ghost above me could get me I was dragged out of my bed and right across room until I fell hard onto the bathroom floor and blood was everywhere. That’s when it got weirder, I woke up, but I didn’t at the same time. I had a dream inside a dream, but this time the it spoke to me through my parents, and they were trying to kill me… I may be foggy on everything that happened, but, in every dream I’ve had, even when I’m awake, no matter what, I hear the same voice repeating itself, You Must, it repeats it over and over, but it happened most when Kevin was over earlier. I kept trying to make myself stop what was happening, but those words kept chanting over and over, it made me feel like I was supposed to do it… I don’t know, what do you think? Am I nuts?” We were now standing outside my back door, James had his hand reached out towards the doorknob while carefully listening to what I was telling him.
“Honestly? I don’t know what I think, today has been weird enough not including your dream, but now… I don’t know, it seems like you’re supposed to do something. Whether or not sleeping with Kevin was it or not, it sure sounds like that had to be part of it. I’m more confused than anything, I mean, if you were supposed to do what you did with Kevin, how does that play in me and Caleb. It seems like that was supposed to happen too. But going by that, why aren’t I getting any dreams?” James opened the Kitchen door and held it open while gesturing for me to enter ahead of him. With out any words, I walked inside and headed directly for the fridge.
“That’s a good question.” I replied awkwardly belatedly, “Maybe your head works differently? I wonder if Kevin or Caleb are having any dreams, maybe that’s what made them do what they did.”
“How do we even know that this voice that your hearing is a voice that we’re supposed to listen to? I mean, there seems to be a lot more bad than good around here. What if listening to that voice is not such a good idea? Or, what if us sleeping with those two was a really bad thing? If they did get our abilities, than we could be in a lot of trouble. If they aren’t bad, than we could still be in a lot of trouble. From what I’ve seen your kind don’t seem to get along very well.” James sat himself down on at the kitchen table and stared down at his hands which were resting in front of him.
“Strudel?” I asked randomly.
“Huh?” Replied James who looked incredibly confused.
“Strudel? You want a couple? They’re good.” I explained to him, while holding out the box of toaster strudels, James looked up at me awkwardly but with a smile.
“You’re so cute, you know that?” His face perked up at the same time his body did. He sat up and made him more comfortable, “Let’s make a promise to each other. No matter what happens, no matter what the circumstances, we wont give in to this again. I can’t get it out of my head, we both slept with someone else… and if you didn’t tell me what happened with you and Kevin, I’m not sure if I would have told you. That makes it worse! I mean… we technically cheated, I feel like crap. So no matter what, we will not give in again, I don’t want to feel like this anymore, do you promise?” James looked up at me, his eyes welling up again.
“Of course I promise. I don’t ever want to be with anyone else. I love you, you’re my friend, companion and most of the time, my hero.” I turned from the counter and walked over to James and slid the chair and himself backwards to that he was away from the table, turning myself around I sat down on his lap and wrapped my arms around him. He instantly found my lips and threw his arms around me. His cheeks were damp from a couple of fallen tears. He seemed to show some relief, which helped give me some as well. “So… was that a yes to the Strudel?”
James dropped his hold on my and let his head fall passed his shoulders, a wisp of muffled air escaped his lips as he began to giggle faster than his body would allow him to register and react, “Yea… That’s a yes to strudel.” He giggled and placed a warm kiss on my cheek.
“Cool,” I began, getting distracted by the strange look in James’ eyes. He seemed kind of out of it like he had detached himself from reality which left his face expressionless and his eyes glazed over, “Hey? You alright?” I asked with concern.
“I uh… I don’t know… I feel really weird all of a sudden.” He explained through short breaths.
“You want some water or something?” I suggested, not knowing what else to do.
“No, uh… just give me a… AHHH! FUCK!” His scream pierced my ears, James fell from the chair that he was sitting on and hit hard against the floor, his screaming increased as he braced his sides with his arms.
“JESUS CHRIST! JAMES! What’s going on?!” I screamed and dropped to my knees and scampering across the floor to his aid.
“I FUCKEN HURT! … SHIT! …” He pleaded to me in tears.
“Where? Where do you hurt? Should I call someone?”
“NO! NO! I… FUCK!” He screamed.
I attempted to pull his head into my lap, but he was hot; really fucken hot! His skin was scolding. A scent of burning salt was evacuating his pores followed by a strong stench of rotten eggs. “Shit James! I think… Shit! We gotta cool you off! You… I think you’re gonna set on fire!” I knew how weird that sounded, but it seemed to be the only thing that made sense at the time, especially knowing what he was. Attempting to prepare myself for a lot of pain, I grabbed James by the armpits and pulled him towards me until he was cradled against my chest by my arms. I jumped to my feet and turned towards the stairs as fast as I could manage. His screaming became louder with every step I took, I could feel the flesh of my arms blistering and beginning to burn, the odor was becoming stronger by the second. “Hang in there James!” I yelled, pumping my legs like hydraulics while climbing the stairs towards the bathroom.
I kicked the bathroom door open and ran towards the tub, dropping him inside as carefully as I could, I attempted to release him. My arms had been holding him for so long that the skin of my forearms had fused between his clothing and his skin; in an attempt to separate us I tore my arms from his body as quickly as I could. Feeling the flesh tear away from my body and watching James helpless state drop to the bottom of the empty tub as he screamed in pain, I snapped myself over to the other side of the bath and turned on the cold water at full blast nearly forgetting to drop down the plug.
“FUCK! Adrian! AM I gonna die? Shit! I don’t wanna die! GOD, DON’T Let me DIE!” I couldn’t reply to that, I didn’t know how to, all I knew is the tub wasn’t filling up fast enough.
As the water pored, steam began to rise and fill the room. The windows fogged up and so did the shower stall. I ran and turned on the shower and switched the tap to cold, then ran to the windows and threw them open as fast as I could. Running out into the center room to open the sliding door I could hear whispers that were sounding at the same time as James was screaming. There was no way it could be him… but the voice, it sounded so familiar. Running back to the bathroom I began to hear with more clarity. The whispers were repeating the same words, but by two different voices…
~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~
With every moment the words seemed louder, I couldn’t tell if James could hear the voices, or if he could, I doubt he’d be paying much attention. The entire room was now filled with a foggy cloud of steam; I could barely see the tub where James was lying. But the smell of rotten eggs was definitely stronger. “James! Are you alright? Say something!” I screamed, but there was no reply.
I bolted across the floor towards him, but slipped on the slick surface and fell towards the shower stall. The ceiling was dripping with water, the floors were pooling with water and the walls were soaked and stained. The whispers invaded my head disorientating my mind, a strange bluish green glow began to shine from where I had left James and the room became hotter than ever.
Suddenly, the room fell silent and the whispers disappeared. Waves of steaming water evaporated before my eyes and the pools of moisture on the floor began to boil and sizzle, “JAMES!” I screamed as loud as I could, the only form of reply I got was the harsh smell of burning wood. I heard glass smashing and a heavy fog of smoke consumed the room. As I struggled to clear my lungs from the thickness that had consumed them, the room began to clear up. A pitched squeaking sound squealed from all directions and the whispers started once more.
As the room cleared and the noises stopped, all that was left was a huge hole in my bathroom wall, James wasn’t there… The floor and walls were stained and marked, the floors scratched and creased, the words “You Must.” Written over and over again through out the room. My head now completely crushed and destroyed I stared off in the distance, through the massive hole in the wall, passed the trail of smoke and ash, all I could hear were the sounds of the running faucets…
“Oh my god! Adrian! What happened!” I heard a voice from behind me, with out looking towards it I replied.
“James… He’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean he’s gone?” Asked my mother through a stressed and confused tone, “What happened here? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything! James was really hot! He was boiling hot! I tried to cool him off in the tub.. And… The voices! He disappeared and I think the voices got him!” I didn’t know what I was saying, I knew I couldn’t explain to her what had happened, not properly anyway.
I could see my Mom’s head whipping around in all directions as if she couldn’t work out where she was meant to be looking. She appeared to be trying to rebuild the events that had occurred before she arrived. In frustration and worry she began to cry and cradle her face with the palms of her hands, “How did this happen Adrian?” She said softly through a muffled voice.
“I told you! And the window smashed… than he was gone.” I dropped my head between my knees and stared at the floor, the writing was still engraved all over the place… there was no way that this was going away, there was no way my mom hadn’t seen this… This wasn’t going away.
“I… I think I should call the police… OR… Who do I call?” Stressed my Mom, as she turned towards the door. She stopped and gazed up at the ceiling, “You must… Adrian? You, you didn’t do this?”
“NO! It was the voices… I think.” I was sick of trying to explain everything, tired of wasting all this time when I should be out trying to find James. I jumped to my feet and drove myself towards the gaping hole which had only moments ago been a window. The wall was still hot and the glass which was spread throughout the bottom of the tub was still steaming as the cold water attempted to cool it off.
“Stay away from there! Don’t move, I’m calling the town’s police station.” She demanded herself be heard and I felt I had no other choice other then to listen. Stepping back from where I stood I walked towards her as she stood at the door. The moment I got to her, she turned and headed towards the stairs.
“Mom?” I said quietly, “This wasn’t me.” She stopped and placed her hand on the wall at the top of the stairs, turning towards me with a pale face and reddened eyes,
“I know Adrian…” She then lead herself down the stairs towards the phone leaving me alone and empty.
The silence was creepy, even more creepy then the voices that had consumed the room only moments ago. Every thought I had, no matter what it was, lead me right back to thinking about Kevin… Even now! After all this crap that has happened, I still floated right back to that moment with him! I looked down at my arms, they were stinging and sore, the healing had finally began to kick in, the blood had dried and I could literally see my skin regenerate and form itself back to its original state. Why hadn’t my mom noticed my arms? Was she so messed up with everything going on that she just didn’t see? She had to have seen… How could someone miss those burns spread up my arms and across my torso?
“Adrian! Come downstairs! Mr. Peters says we should wait for him outside!” She yelled up the stairs at me.
Mr. Peters? I thought she was calling the police, wasn’t he just security or something? “Adrian! NOW!” She screamed again.
“Alright!” Was all I cared to say, I turned around and forced myself to the stairs, but with every step I felt less and less willing to comply with her demand. About half way down a new smell hit me hard, the smell of rotting flesh. I didn’t think, I couldn’t, something was definitely not right. I jumped over the banister of the stair well and landed several feet from where my Mom was standing still cradling the phone in her hands. I turned to her briefly, she looked different; her eyes were two different colors, one brown and the other red, her stance was uneven and lanky and her smell… was the source that plagued the room. “Who the fuck are you?” In a scarcely calm tone.
“Adrian? What? What’s the matter? What are you talking about?” She looked confused and betrayed.
“WHO ARE YOU!” I screamed almost psychotically.
“Your MOTHER! What’s wrong with you?!” She replied, stepping towards me at a quickened pace.
“LIAR!” I screamed at her and without so much as another thought, I turned for the front door and ran through it as fast as I could. My emotions were confused all on their own, never mind the thoughts that were building upon them. I jumped down the several steps that led off of the veranda, making a sharp turn towards the back yard. There was only one place that James was likely to go to; I sped up as I thought to myself, the world became toned in red, my heart began to pound even harder than it had before, my lungs felt as if they were going to burst…. There’s only one place that makes sense, one place that holds all the answers and has yet to give even one…
The Sanctuary.
Chapter 33
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Chapter 32
TurtleBoy
My thoughts were scrambled and racing in a synchronization of confusion, I didn’t know what to do; what the hell have I done? Not only have I betrayed the person that I loved, the one person that was important to me in this entire stupid world, but I have also done something horrible to this poor unknowing boy! Had I somehow infected him with the same monstrous disease that had been plaguing me all summer? Maybe it was temporary, like a side affect from him ingesting my blood. What the hell had come over me? Why would I even do that? Why the hell would I sleep with…
“Kevin? Are you alright? Are you sure?” I struggled out, still seeing the pain hiding from behind his harshly reddened eyes; veins swollen and blue, appearing as if they could burst at any given moment. Sweat oozed thick and foggy beads of some kind of infected liquid which squeezed from his pores and slowly made its way down his panicked face.
“Yea…” He struggled out in a tone that told me otherwise, “I think so… That was so messed up, what the hell happened?” His voice seemed to be slowly recovering to a form of its original tone but still remained slightly staggered.
“Dude you scared the hell out of me! What the fuck did we do?! … You sure you don’t want me to call a doctor or something? No, never mind, I WILL, you need a doctor! There’s no way that that’s normal. Shit! What did I do to you?” My nerves had been shot and deafened all at once; I was consumed with guilt and overwhelmed with worry, so much that I just couldn’t settle myself with one appropriate emotion. Was there even such an emotion? One powerful word in which could some up this horrible feeling that I was attempting to cope with inside? Was there anything that could possibly describe this moment… this feeling?
“I swear, I’m okay now. I think it’s over, I’m fine see?” Kevin climbed back to his feet and put himself on display before me, he used the support of the door knob, than leaned up against the wall, only showing me that he was definitely not alright, “I am a little dizzy though.” He chuckled softly as he tried to keep his eyes from spinning, but failing horribly. The redness in his eyes seemed to be fading and the thickened sweat decreasing; he was with out a doubt recovering from whatever had happened to him, but the horrifying ordeal of the event forced me to remain skeptical and paranoid.
“I don’t think we should have done that… Why did we do that? Shit! I’m so screwed. We’re so screwed!” Involuntarily I began to pace back and forth, circling in front of Kevin who was sitting calmly on the bed only a couple of feet away. Grabbing my temples with my fingers and pressing the palms of my hands into my cheeks, I felt as if I could easily pull my face right off, right than and there, somehow that would work and cause all of this anxiety and fear go away all at once as if it had never happened.
“Hey! Calm down Adrian, no one’s gonna find out, I promise. This isn’t really one of those things a guy would go around bragging about in the open. Besides, I can tell how important James is to you… I was just… curious, I think… I dunno, we don’t have to do it again if you don’t want to. I’m sorry.” Kevin dipped his head down towards the floor and pushed himself upwards to stand up on his feet; slowly he approached me, looking as if I were the one that needed an apology, or to be comforted. He carefully spread out his arms and wrapped them around my shoulders, “But… I did like it… like a lot.” He smiled up at me, as if he figured this display of affection would some how calm me down. I pulled away, backing up towards the television, making sure to keep some distance between us.
“That’s what scares me…” I began through sore watery eyes, “So did I.” Dropping my eyes towards the floor in shame, I felt tears gather in the corners of my eyes and slowly make their way down my cheeks and drip to the floor between my feet. I covered my face in attempts to hide my guilt, I felt dirty all over and disgusted with myself. It wasn’t just about James; I also toyed with Kevin’s emotions… What happens if I mess up his head from what I did to him? Shit, I’m such an idiot, Kevin may really like me and there is no possible way that we could ever be together; I love James and that is the end of it… How could I have been so selfish?
“Okay, just stop man so what if you liked it, aren’t you supposed to? Isn’t that why we did it? Its cool isn’t it? I don’t know what else to say, I mean… I’m sorry we did that I guess, but it’s done and way too late now, we can’t just take it back… Should I go? I think I should go.” Kevin stood back up again and walked over to the doorway. He reached out and grabbed the door knob and pausing for a brief moment in contemplation. I was sure that he must have been waiting for me to say something to him, or even follow him to the door or something, but I couldn’t think of anything to say and it was probably best that I just let him leave.
“Hey…” I raised my gaze towards him, “Seeya later?” I asked, a little unsure why and instantly regretting my choice of words. I can’t see him later! What was wrong with me? How was I even supposed to see him ever? I couldn’t, not after this…. Could I?
“Yea, probably… I should be over at the creek with my brothers all afternoon if you feel like some company or something.” He replied without looking back at me.
“Yea, sounds good… Later.” With that, Kevin left. I didn’t follow him to the door, I needed some space, a bit of time to think and get my head in line. I had to tell James, I mean… If I didn’t, I’d feel like more of an ass later and probably never feel worthy of his trust again. But how was I gonna do that? How could I ever expect him to look at me in the eye again? Much less remain my boyfriend.
What have I done? I had love, a shared love; what do I do with it? I toss it aside and throw it out with out thought or regard to anyone else, just like it was yesterday’s trash. How could I have done something like this to James? How could I have been so weak and disrespectful?
I dropped myself onto my bed, burying my face deep into my pillow. Breathing in deeply and exhaling… Taking deeper and longer breath’s, something smelt good… My head spun with delight, Shit! It was Kevin’s scent! What’s wrong with me? I can’t even put him out of my mind… Maybe it was possible that it was the way he smelt that caused me to act like I did. My actions didn’t seem like something I would do, there had to be something about the way he smelt that caused me to act like that. Great! Here I am being too much of an ass to even accept that I had screwed up all on my own, always looking for something else to blame it on. Sure, it was possible that my heightened scent had contributed to my actions, but I still had my free will, I could have stopped it, I could have said no, I could have said nothing and just never started with Kevin to begin with. I had to tell James! I can’t live like this; I can’t… be like this.
The phone rang several times, then again and again. Eventually I got transferred to the McDowell’s machine, yea right, like that would work out. I hung up the phone and sulked my way over towards the kitchen. It appeared that Ma had gone out somewhere and Dad was at work by now. It was at that moment I really wished I had someone to talk to about all this. It would really be handy to have an outside person that I could confide in for advice, or even just someone who could sit and listen.
There was nothing else that I could do; patience seemed to be letting me down. Instead of nervously waiting around for James to get back home, I slid on my shoes and decided it best for me to go and wait for him outside of his house for when he got home.
It was uncomfortably hot out, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was unbelievably humid, not even the mosquito’s dared to fly around in this muck, not that they could anyway. The air was so thick with moisture that it felt like I was attempting to breathe warm gravy, the birds chirping seemed to get distorted and muffled as it travelled with the light breeze and the trees in the distance looked like they were steaming. When I arrived at James house, for the hell of it I rang the doorbell a couple of times then turned around and made myself comfortable on the porch; which wasn’t so much a porch, rather a large concrete block that allowed you to step up to the side door.
Sitting there was bordered and compared only to hell itself, the thoughts and scenarios that I allowed to play out in my head were destroying me. The wait was my punishment, one that I had created for myself, a punishment fit for a slime like myself. I couldn’t think of a more worthy torture to inflict on someone. Well, it was… until reminiscent flashes of Kevin laying before me in those soft feeling briefs, the inviting horizontal stripes of his GAP underwear, the way he felt under my fingertips, the warmth of his body against my lips… FUCK! Stop it! I felt the swell between my legs and the guilt’s burden return to me, I couldn’t even punish myself properly! Was I really sorry for my actions? Or was I just doing this as a head game… I could no longer trust myself, I was sure to do it again. I had to get this out of my head, let it fade away into a deep pit of forgotten nothingness.
In reality I hadn’t been sitting there very long at all, soon after I gained control of my thoughts, or at least a deceived control was about the same time that the door behind me swung open and released a sudden cool breeze against my back. I involuntarily leaned into it, subconsciously attempting to absorb as much of the coolness as I could. Which was when my nostrils filled with a familiar scent, it wasn’t James… It seemed more like how Kevin smelt, only a little different, a little sweeter. I looked back when I heard a strange grunt like noise, my throat fell dry and pasty at the same time and my heart sunk into my stomach. James was standing at the doorway, next to Caleb who was smiling, but James wasn’t. James actually looked kind of sick and pale.
“Oh!” Said Caleb, “Hey Adrian, how long have you been sitting there?” He asked cheerfully.
“Uh… a few minutes I guess… What’s going on?” I asked, while looking over at James.
“Not much. Me and James were just playing some video games, but now I gotta go meet my brothers at the creek. Did Kevin leave your place yet?” My thoughts froze when Caleb asked me that, he knew Kevin had come over? But… Wouldn’t that mean Kevin knew Caleb was here… and did that mean Kevin had lied to me?
“Nope, he left a little while ago he said he was meeting you and your brothers…”
“Oh.. Guess that means I’m late. I better go James, see yea guys later?” Caleb asked, as he stepped outside the door.
“Uh, yea probably.” Replied James quietly.
“Cool, seeya guys.” Caleb bounced off the concrete step and slid his hands in his pockets while he slowly walked up toward the street.
“Sorry Adrian.” Said James while looking down at me, while I kept my seat on the porch, “You uh… wanna come in?”
“Oh, uh yea… Uh sure.” I managed to climb to my feet and struggled to avoid eye contact with James, at least until I could tell him what I had done. I followed him inside and waited for him to close the door, “Uh, I ummm, need to tell you something, is anyone around?”
James face looked pale and dry, he parted his lips and cleared his throat quietly, “Yea. Oh, I mean no. Mom took Austin into town to pick up some groceries or something, what uh… what’s up.” He looked at me as if he could tell what I was going to tell him was bad, which made it harder for me to struggle out.
“I love you,” I started, “You know that right?”
“Yea, of course I do, I love you too.” He said in an awkward return.
“I umm… I’m sorry, I…. Shit…” I felt tears beginning to well up in my eyes and had to turn my head so that I could continue, “I slept with Kevin.” I said in almost a whisper, I couldn’t make myself say it any louder and only hoped he didn’t find it necessary for me to repeat it to him.
“What?” Said James through a scratchy voice, “Kevin? You… Like… like sex?”
“Yea..” Tears were flowing freely down my cheeks, the shame and guilt were more than I could bare, the look in James eyes wasn’t what I needed. He looked upset, but he didn’t look angry, he didn’t look like he was going to hurt me… or yell at me… or, anything, “I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know why I did it… I don’t know why I didn’t stop it! I’m so sorry James, I didn’t mean to hurt you, and… and I’ll understand if you never want to see me again, but… I couldn’t keep this from you. I couldn’t live with the thought of me keeping such a horrible secret from you. I love you! I really do, and I don’t want anything to be left out of our relationship… I don’t want a secret like that to destroy us… I… You don’t have to forgive me, you don’t even have to look at me again if you don’t want to. I just felt you had the right to know… and I dunno…” James silence was more disturbing than anything I had imagined, “Do you hate me?” I looked into his reddened eyes, as the heavy streams of tears fell from his cheeks and splashing against the floor.
“I don’t hate you Adrian… I wont lie, it really does hurt… I mean… it really fucken hurts,” He had to stop to whip the sniffles from his face, “I probably should hate you, and I dunno a part of me wants to but I’m hating myself more right now… and I love you… and umm…. I just slept with Caleb.” His trembling words stopped, he looked up at me and waited for a reply.
I didn’t know what to say, there were so many things going through my head at that moment that I couldn’t find any words to say. There was one thing on my mind though, one question that seemed to float above it all; what were the odds that Kevin and Caleb would both sleep with the two of us on the same day at the same time? I mean, twins do seem to be interconnected on some higher level than other people, but this just seemed to convenient, it couldn’t have been coincidence, I was almost certain this was planned out. Somehow, or for some reason this was done on purpose, “What… what was it? What did you smell?” I don’t know why I said that, or I did, it was the only thing that I could think of while I was with Kevin. James remained silent, but his expression changed, almost as if hit by surprise. His guilt seemed to fade into anger and confusion and his tears streamed with a new purpose.
“Did Kevin… He smelt like…” His words seemed to explain every thought I hadn’t been able to complete, but it seemed to confirm my inquiry.
“Kevin’s smell, it was like nothing I had smelt before. It was like I couldn’t help myself, all I wanted to do was have more… and when I couldn’t get more, I had to have it all.” I explained it as best that I could, there wasn’t any real explanation that I could put into words that would describe what would happened. But James seemed to know exactly what I was talking about…
“It’s impossible… Isn’t it? Do you really think that they somehow planned this out? Like maybe… Are they trying to separate us?”
I stared into James eyes, he was still hurting and still looked as guilty as I felt, but there was no other explanation, “I don’t know… I don’t think so… Did umm - Did Caleb bite you? Or I dunno, do anything weird like that?”
“Yes! He did! He bit me on my shoulder.” Said James, as he turned around to pull the collar of his t-shirt down so that he could show me the bite, “But, that wasn’t the weird part. When he was getting ready to leave, he collapsed and said he felt like his insides were burning and that smell disappeared and… now it smells like rotten eggs.”
“Sulfur.” I blurted, “That’s just like back at the sanctuary remember? That thing that helped us? It stunk like rotten eggs! Shit! I think I know what’s going on! They’re trying to steal our power!” That had to be it, there was no other explanation. But how could they know? How… Can they do that? Can our abilities actually be taken like that? So easily?
“I dunno… It seems kind of out there, they just moved here, they seemed normal.” Said James wearily.
“Normal? You can’t be serious! Don’t you remember Kevin? He’s been weird as hell ever since we met him, and why would he hide the fact that he had a twin brother? I mean… We don’t really know them at all. If you ask me, there’s definitely something we’re missing. They have to already have some kind of ability, like mind control or something, how else would you explain what just happened to us?” I knew how I was sounding, I knew I had to be wrong to some degree, or maybe just paranoid; but this town has done weirder things to us. “Wait! When… Uh… While me and Kevin were, uh, you know… I heard that voice again, it kept repeating the words, ‘You Must’ faster and faster. Usually I would have been freaked out, but it was different this time. Like I was supposed to obey.” I stopped right there, even I had to admit I was sounding crazy.
“Maybe we should stop guessing for now… You know, let’s just try and figure this out. Without guessing, other wise, we might do something stupid. Not to mention, we don’t know what we are up against. What if they did steal our abilities? That could make them really dangerous, especially considering I don’t know how to work mine yet.” James looked me in the eye, he could tell that my mind was still racing.
“You’re probably right. Let’s just… I dunno… So, we’re good? I mean… Obviously it’s gonna take a while to sort out our feelings… but, we’re cool?”
“We’re cool.” James assured me, “Let’s just make a promise to each other; we’re not to be alone with anyone from that family until we know it’s safe.”
“That sounds like the best of ideas I’ve heard in a while. I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to hang around them at all.” I admitted.
“Hey wait, we’re gonna have to. How else are we going to figure out what they’re up too. Eventually something’s gonna happen, they’re gonna mess up just like we did at the creek and at some point, we’ll know what’s going on. We just got to play it cool and try not to let them know what we’re up to.” James stopped there, he seemed to be satisfied that he had gotten his point across and I had no arguments with that.
“How the hell are we gonna act normally around them now? I mean… Shit, I dunno…”
“Don’t worry about how you act around them, just make sure you act normally around me. Think about it, they’re expecting us to be a little weird around them, we slept with them. But if we act all weird to each other than they are gonna know that something is up. Remember, I don’t know what happened with you and Kevin and same with you not knowing about me and Caleb. Now… Let’s do something else, I really don’t want to think about that right now.” James admitted to the same thing I was thinking.
“I’m hungry… Wanna grab something to eat? Well, not in town, they’re there. We can invade the pantry or something.” I suggested with a smile.
“Hehe, alright… Your place or mine?” Asked James with giggle as he looked back and forth from his kitchen to his side door.
“Uh… I dunno, got anything good?”
“Hell if I know… How about we just go to your place? Your Mom’s always got something good laying around…. Has she baked anymore cookies?” asked James.
“Probably, it’s hard to keep track lately… Would you believe that before we moved here, my Mom never cooked? Well… Not completely true, she tried to cook. She only just got good at it when we moved here; you think she managed to stumble upon one of those abilities too? Maybe a Spell book or something?” James wasn’t even sure if he wanted to laugh, he seemed more confused than anything.
“You know… You can really jump from one mood to another pretty quickly… It creeps me out sometimes.”
“So… where are we on this food thing? My place right?” I asked in an attempt to get back to the subject at hand, or was I proving his theory…
“Yea, your place it is.” Agreed James. He turned towards the kitchen and grabbed a notebook and pen, “I just gotta leave my mom a note to let her know where I am.” He explained, while jotting down his whereabouts.
“Cool.” I replied and watched as James turned and posted the note on the fridge behind him, “By the way, I had the most messed up dream last night!” It was strange how quickly things happened, I had woken up and all I could think about was telling James about my messed up dream, then came Kevin.
“Really?” James kind of stopped and tried to look like he was surprised, “I’m guessing it was another one of those paranormal dreams again huh.”
“Do I have any other kind?” I smiled softly. James guided me out of the house then turning back around to lock the door behind us.
“None that I can remember. So what was it this time? The well thingy again? You know, the one where you were tied to that stone post thingy over the huge hole? Or was it something about floating bath tub limbs… Did you dream about that or was that only in real life so far?” His partial sarcasm kind of put everything into a horrid perspective, one of those moments when it hits you hard on just how messed up our lives have been since we met.
“No actually,” I started while we began to venture towards my house, “This time it was me in my room. Everything seemed real the entire time… there was this voice through out the entire dream and this ghost thing that was floating above me. I couldn’t make myself move no matter what I did, which you would think was bad enough, but the room was filling up with blood.” I stopped for a moment to see if James had any kind of reaction to what I was telling him, but it seemed he was immune to freak show dreams I have, “Anyway, I can’t remember everything, but by the time the room filled up and just before the ghost above me could get me I was dragged out of my bed and right across room until I fell hard onto the bathroom floor and blood was everywhere. That’s when it got weirder, I woke up, but I didn’t at the same time. I had a dream inside a dream, but this time the it spoke to me through my parents, and they were trying to kill me… I may be foggy on everything that happened, but, in every dream I’ve had, even when I’m awake, no matter what, I hear the same voice repeating itself, You Must, it repeats it over and over, but it happened most when Kevin was over earlier. I kept trying to make myself stop what was happening, but those words kept chanting over and over, it made me feel like I was supposed to do it… I don’t know, what do you think? Am I nuts?” We were now standing outside my back door, James had his hand reached out towards the doorknob while carefully listening to what I was telling him.
“Honestly? I don’t know what I think, today has been weird enough not including your dream, but now… I don’t know, it seems like you’re supposed to do something. Whether or not sleeping with Kevin was it or not, it sure sounds like that had to be part of it. I’m more confused than anything, I mean, if you were supposed to do what you did with Kevin, how does that play in me and Caleb. It seems like that was supposed to happen too. But going by that, why aren’t I getting any dreams?” James opened the Kitchen door and held it open while gesturing for me to enter ahead of him. With out any words, I walked inside and headed directly for the fridge.
“That’s a good question.” I replied awkwardly belatedly, “Maybe your head works differently? I wonder if Kevin or Caleb are having any dreams, maybe that’s what made them do what they did.”
“How do we even know that this voice that your hearing is a voice that we’re supposed to listen to? I mean, there seems to be a lot more bad than good around here. What if listening to that voice is not such a good idea? Or, what if us sleeping with those two was a really bad thing? If they did get our abilities, than we could be in a lot of trouble. If they aren’t bad, than we could still be in a lot of trouble. From what I’ve seen your kind don’t seem to get along very well.” James sat himself down on at the kitchen table and stared down at his hands which were resting in front of him.
“Strudel?” I asked randomly.
“Huh?” Replied James who looked incredibly confused.
“Strudel? You want a couple? They’re good.” I explained to him, while holding out the box of toaster strudels, James looked up at me awkwardly but with a smile.
“You’re so cute, you know that?” His face perked up at the same time his body did. He sat up and made him more comfortable, “Let’s make a promise to each other. No matter what happens, no matter what the circumstances, we wont give in to this again. I can’t get it out of my head, we both slept with someone else… and if you didn’t tell me what happened with you and Kevin, I’m not sure if I would have told you. That makes it worse! I mean… we technically cheated, I feel like crap. So no matter what, we will not give in again, I don’t want to feel like this anymore, do you promise?” James looked up at me, his eyes welling up again.
“Of course I promise. I don’t ever want to be with anyone else. I love you, you’re my friend, companion and most of the time, my hero.” I turned from the counter and walked over to James and slid the chair and himself backwards to that he was away from the table, turning myself around I sat down on his lap and wrapped my arms around him. He instantly found my lips and threw his arms around me. His cheeks were damp from a couple of fallen tears. He seemed to show some relief, which helped give me some as well. “So… was that a yes to the Strudel?”
James dropped his hold on my and let his head fall passed his shoulders, a wisp of muffled air escaped his lips as he began to giggle faster than his body would allow him to register and react, “Yea… That’s a yes to strudel.” He giggled and placed a warm kiss on my cheek.
“Cool,” I began, getting distracted by the strange look in James’ eyes. He seemed kind of out of it like he had detached himself from reality which left his face expressionless and his eyes glazed over, “Hey? You alright?” I asked with concern.
“I uh… I don’t know… I feel really weird all of a sudden.” He explained through short breaths.
“You want some water or something?” I suggested, not knowing what else to do.
“No, uh… just give me a… AHHH! FUCK!” His scream pierced my ears, James fell from the chair that he was sitting on and hit hard against the floor, his screaming increased as he braced his sides with his arms.
“JESUS CHRIST! JAMES! What’s going on?!” I screamed and dropped to my knees and scampering across the floor to his aid.
“I FUCKEN HURT! … SHIT! …” He pleaded to me in tears.
“Where? Where do you hurt? Should I call someone?”
“NO! NO! I… FUCK!” He screamed.
I attempted to pull his head into my lap, but he was hot; really fucken hot! His skin was scolding. A scent of burning salt was evacuating his pores followed by a strong stench of rotten eggs. “Shit James! I think… Shit! We gotta cool you off! You… I think you’re gonna set on fire!” I knew how weird that sounded, but it seemed to be the only thing that made sense at the time, especially knowing what he was. Attempting to prepare myself for a lot of pain, I grabbed James by the armpits and pulled him towards me until he was cradled against my chest by my arms. I jumped to my feet and turned towards the stairs as fast as I could manage. His screaming became louder with every step I took, I could feel the flesh of my arms blistering and beginning to burn, the odor was becoming stronger by the second. “Hang in there James!” I yelled, pumping my legs like hydraulics while climbing the stairs towards the bathroom.
I kicked the bathroom door open and ran towards the tub, dropping him inside as carefully as I could, I attempted to release him. My arms had been holding him for so long that the skin of my forearms had fused between his clothing and his skin; in an attempt to separate us I tore my arms from his body as quickly as I could. Feeling the flesh tear away from my body and watching James helpless state drop to the bottom of the empty tub as he screamed in pain, I snapped myself over to the other side of the bath and turned on the cold water at full blast nearly forgetting to drop down the plug.
“FUCK! Adrian! AM I gonna die? Shit! I don’t wanna die! GOD, DON’T Let me DIE!” I couldn’t reply to that, I didn’t know how to, all I knew is the tub wasn’t filling up fast enough.
As the water pored, steam began to rise and fill the room. The windows fogged up and so did the shower stall. I ran and turned on the shower and switched the tap to cold, then ran to the windows and threw them open as fast as I could. Running out into the center room to open the sliding door I could hear whispers that were sounding at the same time as James was screaming. There was no way it could be him… but the voice, it sounded so familiar. Running back to the bathroom I began to hear with more clarity. The whispers were repeating the same words, but by two different voices…
~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~ … ~you must~
With every moment the words seemed louder, I couldn’t tell if James could hear the voices, or if he could, I doubt he’d be paying much attention. The entire room was now filled with a foggy cloud of steam; I could barely see the tub where James was lying. But the smell of rotten eggs was definitely stronger. “James! Are you alright? Say something!” I screamed, but there was no reply.
I bolted across the floor towards him, but slipped on the slick surface and fell towards the shower stall. The ceiling was dripping with water, the floors were pooling with water and the walls were soaked and stained. The whispers invaded my head disorientating my mind, a strange bluish green glow began to shine from where I had left James and the room became hotter than ever.
Suddenly, the room fell silent and the whispers disappeared. Waves of steaming water evaporated before my eyes and the pools of moisture on the floor began to boil and sizzle, “JAMES!” I screamed as loud as I could, the only form of reply I got was the harsh smell of burning wood. I heard glass smashing and a heavy fog of smoke consumed the room. As I struggled to clear my lungs from the thickness that had consumed them, the room began to clear up. A pitched squeaking sound squealed from all directions and the whispers started once more.
As the room cleared and the noises stopped, all that was left was a huge hole in my bathroom wall, James wasn’t there… The floor and walls were stained and marked, the floors scratched and creased, the words “You Must.” Written over and over again through out the room. My head now completely crushed and destroyed I stared off in the distance, through the massive hole in the wall, passed the trail of smoke and ash, all I could hear were the sounds of the running faucets…
“Oh my god! Adrian! What happened!” I heard a voice from behind me, with out looking towards it I replied.
“James… He’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean he’s gone?” Asked my mother through a stressed and confused tone, “What happened here? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything! James was really hot! He was boiling hot! I tried to cool him off in the tub.. And… The voices! He disappeared and I think the voices got him!” I didn’t know what I was saying, I knew I couldn’t explain to her what had happened, not properly anyway.
I could see my Mom’s head whipping around in all directions as if she couldn’t work out where she was meant to be looking. She appeared to be trying to rebuild the events that had occurred before she arrived. In frustration and worry she began to cry and cradle her face with the palms of her hands, “How did this happen Adrian?” She said softly through a muffled voice.
“I told you! And the window smashed… than he was gone.” I dropped my head between my knees and stared at the floor, the writing was still engraved all over the place… there was no way that this was going away, there was no way my mom hadn’t seen this… This wasn’t going away.
“I… I think I should call the police… OR… Who do I call?” Stressed my Mom, as she turned towards the door. She stopped and gazed up at the ceiling, “You must… Adrian? You, you didn’t do this?”
“NO! It was the voices… I think.” I was sick of trying to explain everything, tired of wasting all this time when I should be out trying to find James. I jumped to my feet and drove myself towards the gaping hole which had only moments ago been a window. The wall was still hot and the glass which was spread throughout the bottom of the tub was still steaming as the cold water attempted to cool it off.
“Stay away from there! Don’t move, I’m calling the town’s police station.” She demanded herself be heard and I felt I had no other choice other then to listen. Stepping back from where I stood I walked towards her as she stood at the door. The moment I got to her, she turned and headed towards the stairs.
“Mom?” I said quietly, “This wasn’t me.” She stopped and placed her hand on the wall at the top of the stairs, turning towards me with a pale face and reddened eyes,
“I know Adrian…” She then lead herself down the stairs towards the phone leaving me alone and empty.
The silence was creepy, even more creepy then the voices that had consumed the room only moments ago. Every thought I had, no matter what it was, lead me right back to thinking about Kevin… Even now! After all this crap that has happened, I still floated right back to that moment with him! I looked down at my arms, they were stinging and sore, the healing had finally began to kick in, the blood had dried and I could literally see my skin regenerate and form itself back to its original state. Why hadn’t my mom noticed my arms? Was she so messed up with everything going on that she just didn’t see? She had to have seen… How could someone miss those burns spread up my arms and across my torso?
“Adrian! Come downstairs! Mr. Peters says we should wait for him outside!” She yelled up the stairs at me.
Mr. Peters? I thought she was calling the police, wasn’t he just security or something? “Adrian! NOW!” She screamed again.
“Alright!” Was all I cared to say, I turned around and forced myself to the stairs, but with every step I felt less and less willing to comply with her demand. About half way down a new smell hit me hard, the smell of rotting flesh. I didn’t think, I couldn’t, something was definitely not right. I jumped over the banister of the stair well and landed several feet from where my Mom was standing still cradling the phone in her hands. I turned to her briefly, she looked different; her eyes were two different colors, one brown and the other red, her stance was uneven and lanky and her smell… was the source that plagued the room. “Who the fuck are you?” In a scarcely calm tone.
“Adrian? What? What’s the matter? What are you talking about?” She looked confused and betrayed.
“WHO ARE YOU!” I screamed almost psychotically.
“Your MOTHER! What’s wrong with you?!” She replied, stepping towards me at a quickened pace.
“LIAR!” I screamed at her and without so much as another thought, I turned for the front door and ran through it as fast as I could. My emotions were confused all on their own, never mind the thoughts that were building upon them. I jumped down the several steps that led off of the veranda, making a sharp turn towards the back yard. There was only one place that James was likely to go to; I sped up as I thought to myself, the world became toned in red, my heart began to pound even harder than it had before, my lungs felt as if they were going to burst…. There’s only one place that makes sense, one place that holds all the answers and has yet to give even one…
The Sanctuary.
Chapter 33
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