Are You Scared Yet?
by J J Janicki
Chapter 13
It did too happen! They chased us and they shot at us and then they ran off into a field. Really! And then...
It got more interesting. And that's all I'm going to say about it, so I guess you'll just have to read the chapter.
If you want to, that is. And I'm sort of hoping that you do... want to...
But anyway...
At first it didn't appear to be anything more than just a building, keeping its lonely vigil over rusty tanks lying on their sides amidst a maze of twisted metal. Once, Jonas Fertilizer was a busy place, but now it was little more than a huge pile of pipes and valves stretching off in all directions almost as far as we could see. A broken asphalt road meandered though the property, ending several hundred yards away at the fence surrounding us. Not that this gave us a feeling of security, because even though the gates were chained and padlocked, there were gaping holes in the fence itself, so anyone who wanted to could walk right in.
And so the door kicked open and hanging on its hinges at first appeared to be nothing more than than that, but as we drew closer it became something sinister. The windows staring out across the prairie were only broken windows and not empty black eyes - at first - but as we drew nearer, the more I was inclined to possibly overstating things. Because if you looked close enough, it seemed to pulse pure evil. Stephan and Earl had finally given in to Carlie, ("I'm not worried about what's in there, but I am worried about who's behind us, in case you've forgotten"), but now I was having second thoughts.
But in spite of that, if my best friend was going through with it - along with my second and third best - there was no way I was going to leave them. I sure wasn't spending the night all by myself.
So we walked in and Carlie yelled as loud as he could, "Boo!" and Stephan and I jumped about a foot.
And apparently, Earl as well. "Damn it! " he hissed, "You almost made me wet myself again!"
After a short pause, Carlie went, "Again? What do you mean by that?"
"Just what in the hell do you think? You almost hit... it would have been head-on, Carlie, head-on -"
"Well, I pissed myself when they started shooting at us, " interrupted Stephan, "and I'm surprised that's all!"
So it could have been worse, and fortunately no one was inclined to go into detail about just how much worse it could have been, and I was able to admit that it had happened to me as well. Probably it was when it felt like I was in that vacuum.
So Carlie was looking smug because he was the only one who hadn't wet himself but, in spite of that, I never mentioned how he'd almost certainly be the first to die. If you're in one of those movies, it's usually the macho dude who didn't wet his pants who gets it first.
Although if he'd been black he'd be even more certain to go. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but the odds on a token black or Hispanic surviving a slasher movie aren't very good - in fact, you can almost make book on it. He'll probably die heroically, but he isn't going to make it to the final credits.
But at least we didn't have to worry about one of us being done in by that cliché and we would try to avoid as many of the others as was possible. So for example, there would be no wandering off by yourself. "Don't, worry, I'll be right back, " cheerfully says the soon-to-be-dead person, so...
No, we wouldn't be doing anything like that. And there would also be no hanky-panky. Slasher movies must all be directed by Puritans, because if Ken and Barbie decide to have a quick roll in the hay, they're about to die. They might not even make it to the finish, but if they do you can still bet that before they're past their post-orgasmic glow... Here comes that goddam chainsaw guy again.
That's not very subtle.
And there also would be no music. Certainly not. Because we needed to hear...
Whatever was out there. Although in our case, it actually could be the wind. North Dakota is the windiest state in the country. I looked it up, and it is. And the wind was blowing hard that evening and it continued through the night. Ever hear the wind whistling though piles of metal piping, tugging at loose pieces of siding, whistling through every opening? It sounds eerie. Almost sinister.
But at least we had a flashlight. Only, wouldn't you know it, the batteries were almost dead, so at best we had a feeble light and it probably wasn't going to last for long. It was a little after seven, so even though it wasn't going to be completely dark until past nine, we guessed we needed to find some stuff we might be able to defend ourselves with. Just in case. Even if we weren't likely to run into any Freddy Krueger-types, because... well, because in real life, they don't exist...
... Well, they might, but even so, you wouldn't expect to find one in that part of North Dakota, because there wouldn't be much point in it. But even if we weren't in a movie like that, we could still be stuck in something like "Deliverance" with some very real Neanderthal-types who'd already taken a shot at us and if they ever got themselves out of that field, they were going to be even more pissed off than they were before, so... Fire extinguishers! Two of them! Long since depleted, but we could throw them!
Although that would piss them off even more... but never mind. If they tried coming up those stairs, then we were going to hurl them down. Those, along with some bricks, a wheel-barrow without its wheel, an old used-up mop, a push broom, a rusty barrel, a three-legged chair, two wooden floats, almost a full bag of fertilizer and something called a hydraulic actuator. Or maybe it was only an actuator part, but whatever it was, it was heavy. And speaking of heavy, it took three of us to get that bucket of rusty bolts up the stairs. That was only to the second floor! (And that actuator thing, the wooden floats and the fertilizer weren't too light either.)
I'd never really been in a fight in my life, so I was so scared, I was almost shaking. And even though I was trying not to show it, Carlie must have noticed, because while we were in the process of wrestling those two floats up the stairs - him in front walking backwards, me and Stephan in back - he sighed and then a little out of breath, he said, "It's okay, Natty. We're all scared. Before this is over, I could be wetting my pants too, but we're going to do whatever we have to do, and we're going to be all right. You just gotta keep thinking that, Natty, because that's all we can do. Okay?"
That did make me feel little better, but right after Stephan and I took over for Earl keeping a lookout - somebody had to while the others were looking around for more stuff we could throw - Stephan glanced over at me, and... "Natty? I like that... Natty. But how-"
"Earl started it. I mean... well, I never had a nickname before, so I didn't mind, but..."
"Yeah, Natty. I like that. Sounds... well, it's just you, that's all. 'Course I haven't ever had a nickname, either.... And I don't think I'd care too much for being a Stephie.... Got any ideas?"
"Well... what's your middle name?"
"What's yours?... Tell me yours, I'll tell you mine."
I took a deep breath. "Beddingfield.... We're going to keep this to ourselves, right?"
He was about to bust out laughing, but finally, "I don't know. Maybe.... But mine's Otto."
"Otto! That would be a really good nickname, Stephan. Otto!"
"Well, let me think about it, " said Stephan Otto, "but you know, in some cultures, you never reveal your middle name.... Not to anyone except to the one you care the most about. The one person you trust the most, even with your life."
At first, I wasn't sure if right then was the best time for getting all emotional. And I also wasn't sure why just reaching out and putting his hand between mine was making me feel so shaky, but I guess it was because for the first time I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were in this together, so no matter what, it was worth it.
Even if from a more practical standpoint, I would have preferred entrusting our lives to a... well, a Navy SEAL would have been reassuring, but right then I would have settled for simply an adult. Sometimes, you need to have them around.
Unfortunately, Stephan couldn't get out with his cell phone on either the second or the third floor.
From the first floor to the second, the stairs were only a little wiggly. But they were fairly steep and also creaked quite a bit, so I kept wondering if they were about to give way. They were like fire escape stairs you sometimes see on old buildings, and I think the best term would have been structurally unstable. Or at least - and this was only from trying to look at the bright side - they were potentially unstable, and this was especially true while we were in the process of wrestling heavy objects up them.
And the building itself wasn't in the greatest condition, but we had to do what we had to do, and finally we had everything up on the second floor. But of course, this was hot and sweaty work and it wasn't long until we looked like street urchins. We were dirty! And our clothes were a sight as well, but somehow Stephan and I got a lot of solace out of this. I mean, it really was fun, and it also helped, because for just a little bit it took our minds off the Googly Gook boys and the possibility of the building suddenly collapsing. As long as it isn't a distraction, it's all right.
But when Stephan started getting undressed... well, that could be distracting. So we were all looking at him quizzically.
"I think my clothes are already dirty enough, and besides, I'm hot, " explained Stephan.
"Yeah, but..."
"So I think I'll get dirty all over, " he finished, and sure enough...
"Damn it, Stephan..."
"Yeah!" exclaimed Earl, "We'll be The Wild Boys! You know, like in the book!"
"What book?" asked Carlie. He still sounded a bit dubious, but he also seemed mildly interested, and I knew from experience how quick that could change to "I'm gonna do it and the hell with it."
"But we really shouldn't be-... I mean, don't you think we're tempting fate a little..."
"It's about a gang of boys, " explained Earl. "They're guerrillas and they're fighting for their freedom against these police state armies!"
"All right!" exclaimed Carlie, so before I'd even finished fumbling with my shirt, they were all naked. Yes, again, and with excitement elsewhere. Carlie's was starting to stick out a bit, Earl's was elevating and Stephan's was almost straight up.
"We're about to get shot at some more and God only knows what else, and they're..."
"It's not like we're about to have an orgy, " explained Stephan, "we're just naked." ("Oh sure. That's what they always say.") "But haven't our friends already formed their opinions about us? So do you think us being naked is going to change anything?"
"Well, it sure could solidify things, but..."
"Oh, what the hell."
So famous last words, right? "Oh, what the hell." But believe it or not, once out of our clothes we got back to the task at hand, and that was moving all our weaponry up to level three; and sure enough, by the time we were finished we were dirty almost everywhere. Fortunately, the second flight of stairs wasn't any more rickety than the first. We still weren't tempted to jump up and down on them, but aside from the fact that it was now twice as far down, it wasn't getting much worse.
All we found in the way of an additional weapon on the second floor was an empty file cabinet. It was heavy! It almost had to be lead-lined, so we sure didn't try moving it up to the third floor. We would have killed ourselves if we'd tried doing that. "And besides, " I pointed out, "we'll probably break the stairs."
So in the end we just wrestled it up to the edge of the stairwell and left it. If we decided to go nuclear, that was our option. We'd tip that thing and it would kill every last one of them. Well, maybe some of them would only be seriously injured - and probably even more pissed off - but it would also take out the stairs, so...
... Well, from the second floor, we probably could jump down without killing ourselves, so while we were hoping that we didn't have to go that route, if we did...
To be honest, we'd probably watched a few too many Roadrunner cartoons, and not only that, our initial strategy sucked as well. The idea was, we were going to be up as high as we could get, which was the third floor because the flight going on up to the fourth floor was no longer there. So apparently, those stairs had really been unstable but whatever, we could see all the way down from the third floor to the first. Only, it was a dumb idea.
We didn't figure that out until we'd already lugged most of the stuff up, though. We were working on the wooden floats - huffing and puffing - when Carlie stopped and said, "Hey, wait a minute! This isn't going to work, because you know what's going to happen if we throw anything from up here? It's just going to bounce off the stairs, that's all."
So by the time we'd finished carrying everything back down to the second floor, we were almost worn out.
And it was almost dark by then.
So first we got dressed again. We did so out of practical considerations. It was down into the fifties that night, and the wind was howling, so, yeah, we did and, disappointing or not, there still was no hanky panky. Unless you want to count huddling together.
But for the longest time nothing happened and we passed the time up on the third floor by telling ghost stories. That, and trying to come up with plausible reasons why there could be some ghosts lurking about. Like for example: if anyone had been on the stairs between level three and four when it gave way, it seemed possible, and the noises the wind was making added to the atmosphere quite a bit. I think trying to scare ourselves made sense, because somehow, imagining something worse than the Googly Gooks was comforting. Like for example in "It" when Henry Bowers and his friends chased the Losers down into the sewers. In the end, that didn't work out too well for the bullies.
Or what about "Poltergeist"? We weren't far from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, and Sitting Bull's grave wasn't far away either, and really, the Sioux had all sorts of grievances. Not that we had anything to do with it, but our forefathers did, so... who knows? Maybe Jonas Fertilizer was doomed from the start because it had been built on a sacred Indian burial ground.
So while malevolent spirits are often difficult to reason with, hopefully they'd dislike the Googly Gooks even more than us.
Imagining that Carlie had unwittingly parked on a sacred burial place wasn't quite as much fun, but it still led to some interesting questions, like for example, how we'd explain it to John and to the insurance adjuster. "It was attacked by a tree? Well, of course. You'd be surprised how many times that happens. Why, just the other day we got a claim saying that..."
But by around two that night, we were guessing that all we had to worry about was how far we were going to end up walking before we found some gas. That and trying to explain the bullet hole - but in that case, we were sure that eventually John would believe us simply because we could never make upsuch a story. So even if it was the truth, he didn't know us very well. But yes, by then, I was thinking this was going to be like a Greek play where after spending almost forever setting things up, the play itself is over in about a minute. I can't recall the name, but according to Sister Mary Katherine, there really was a play like that. And in a way I think that would have been funny, but if you spend almost forever lugging heavy objects up and down those stairs and wrestling that file cabinet into position and then nothing happens... well, it's certainly a relief, but it's also a bit anti-climatic.
But then, just as we were getting sleepy, we saw the lights coming our way. Flashlights. Either that, or a dozen or so spirits, but either way we weren't sleepy any more. If your hair is standing on end - and that is exactly what it felt like...
"Oh shit, " squeaked Earl.
Thing was, though, those lights were coming from the other side. Was there a road over there? We hadn't explored that area, so we had no idea. But twelve or even more? Oh my God. When we pushed that file cabinet down on them, we'd be mass murderers!
If we were lucky, we would be. Only apparently, the individuals behind those lights were in the process of doing a systematic search, because while still on the far side of the property, the lights turned to the left. Then, in front of what looked to be a small shed, they stopped. They were still bobbing up and down, but they just stayed there. So even though my hair was still standing on end and even though my body felt like a huge, crawling goose bump, we all thought that was puzzling. We couldn't hear anything because of the distance and the wind, but... "Maybe they're spirits after all!"
Not that we found that idea to be comforting either, but after ten minutes, we were starting to wonder. Actually, the lights weren't moving around as much. They mostly seemed to be trained on whatever was inside that shed. But it didn't make any sense. And this was after only about ten minutes. So after almost two hours, we were totally bewildered. A couple of times, we thought we heard something that sounded like laughter, and once, it sounded like someone was in pain - which was sort of hair-raising again - but finally, at a little past four, the lights started retreating. Going away from us again.
And they disappeared. So story-wise, that's still anti-climatic, but in reality... "What in the hell... Oh my God, I thought we were... But what was that?"
Well, whatever it was, we were going to stay put. There was no way were we venturing from our hiding place that night, but we knew we were going to try to find out once it got daylight. We weren't sure if we wanted to know, but we still had to, and for the remainder of that night, we came up with numerous possibilities. Some were horrific, and others were highly unlikely, but as it turned out, we had no idea.
The reason I'm not overly fond of most post-apocalyptic-type movies is that I don't want to be reminded of the fact that something like that could be right around the corner. I know it could happen, but I'd just as soon not dwell on it. Although you'd probably think The Apocalypse had just occurred if I wake up and discover that the power's gone off during the night. For the most part, I like normal, I expect it and I don't want to be without it. So for example: just discovering that I couldn't get out on my cell phone was catastrophic.
But of course, in the case of a truly apocalyptic event, you're not going to be worried for long about being inconvenienced - no, you'll soon be worried about just surviving.
Well, we were at an abandoned fertilizer plant that looked like something from one of the Mad Max movies. We'd been chased and shot at by a pickup truck full of thugs, we'd spent the night thinking that we'd soon be fighting for our lives and we were almost out of gas with no idea where the next station was. As far as I was concerned, we were in a post-apocalyptic world. So when I pushed the door of that little shed open and saw that guy, at first I thought he was dead. He wasn't moving and his head was slumped down on his chest. He was sitting on a table naked, with his arms stretched up above him tied to a wooden beam and his legs were tied to the table's legs. So I screamed. Only that startled the guy I'd given up for dead, so his head jerked up and then he screamed too, because he'd just been through a traumatic experience and he was thinking that I was another bad person. Then Stephan, who was a few steps behind, came charging in and almost knocked me over and then Carlie and Earl crashed in and initially, they weren't very composed either. But that's how we first met Elliott Brown. So to say the least, it was tumultuous.
And it's also my second attempt at explaining this. At first, I was including most of the pregnant pauses and half-confessions that eventually led to the naked truth, but after several awfully circuitous pages, I finally gave up.
So to start once again somewhere near the beginning, he was almost seventeen and was nearly as far away from home as I was, only he was from North Carolina. His father was one of those "self-made" men, apparently well off, but always on his case about how easy he had it and all that. His father was working in the tobacco fields all summer long from the age of ten, for example. Apparently, you don't know what real work is unless you've worked on a farm or in a coal mine, so shortly after school was out Elliott announced that he was going to spend that summer working on a farm, only in the Iowa corn fields. He actually thought it would be a fun thing to do. Well, his father scoffed and said he wouldn't last a week, but if he wanted to pay his own way up there, he was welcome to try.
So at least his father wasn't over-protective, but I still got the impression that he was an asshole, because the fact was, Elliott had been working for more than a year bagging groceries. That's how he'd bought and paid for his 1990 Chevy Cavalier station wagon. Of course everything was still in his father's name, but Elliott had paid for the car, tags, insurance, gas and maintenance, the whole bit.
So, off to Iowa he went, hoping for a grand adventure, only that was to be just the start. There was something else that he'd never mentioned, something that he hoped would be much more exciting. You see, he only planned to be in Iowa long enough to earn a little more money before heading on to his eventual destination, Vancouver, British Columbia. I was there once, and it might be the most beautiful city I've ever seen. (The ug-li-est is Las Vegas, by the way.) (Although that's still only my opinion and of no real importance to the story I'm supposed to be working on at the moment.)
So, to cut to the chase a lot sooner than if I'd kept trying to go with my first version, Elliott was going to Vancouver not for the scenery, but because he'd met someone on-line, a boy almost his age. They'd been chatting and webcamming for several months, and he was sure that, at long last, he'd met his one and only. Although, as it turned out, he didn't have much more experience than Stephan or me. Or at least he hadn't until he ended up in that shed, but then that wasn't a pleasurable experience, so it shouldn't count.
Just for the record, though, we would have untied him even if he was straight as he could be. In fact, for awhile we were thinking that his being gay could be a problem because, after all, we were already spoken for, so no offense, but we didn't need a fifth wheel. Not really.
But at first we didn't know he was gay and he had no idea that we were and with the circumstances being what they were, I don't think his knowing would have improved his outlook. But at first, he was just as embarrassed as I would have been if anyone other than Carlie and Earl had happened by when I was left tied up in Earl's barn. I have no idea how I would have gone about trying to explain that. But as soon as he regained a little composure - not a lot, but at least some - he did see a glimmer of hope, because we were acting so shocked and uncertain. That, and a bit embarrassed. Well, a whole lot, because we were. "So, " he thought more or less, "maybe they're not with the bad guys after all." Then, Carlie gave him a little more reason for hope when he stammered, "Hey man, if we're interrupting something... I mean, if we are, well, we... um... understand, but..."
So at that point, Elliott assured us that he'd like nothing more in the world than to be untied. It came out this way: "I... Please untie me. God, please!"
So since he put it that way, we tried our best and eventually we got him loose. But we were still embarrassed, because he was naked and we'd only just met. Seriously, this didn't seem like a life-threatening situation, so we were a bit tentative. Or at least I was and Stephan said he was, too. And needless to say, Elliott was still embarrassed as well.
Because he also didn't have any pubic hair. Nor did he have any on his legs or arms, but it seemed to me that he should have had quite a bit by then. Not that I'm an expert, and not he was a hunky jock type - at 5'-7'' and about 125, he was far from that - but he still looked older than any of us, so as far as I was concerned, that was weird and I tend to be cautious around people like that.
But then on the other hand, he was naked and not totally unattractive and he was also well-endowed. Not really gargantuan, but above average, so I could settle for it. On myself, of course, so I was trying to avert my eyes... somewhat. I was still trying to get it over with as fast as I could, though.
Only whoever tied those knots did a good job of it. Oh, and in case it's been forgotten, we were also still concerned about the Googly Gooks - in fact, we were even more so, because we were assuming that they'd been involved, and now there seemed to be twice as many of them. So we were certainly hurrying as fast as we possibly could, but it was still slow going.
"Shit!" exclaimed Carlie - he was straining with the knot around Elliott's right wrist - "We might need a knife to cut this!"
"Yeah, well, it's not much better down here, " I huffed, then I glanced up. I was just catching my breath, because I was on the verge of hyperventilating, thinking about what those Googly Gooks probably had planned for us. but I glanced up and I could not help but notice that Elliott was more decently endowed than he had been the last time I looked. I don't want to seem insensitive, but it was it was still elevating, slowly but surely and I don't care what you say, that is interesting.
But still, I was taken aback and I'm sure I looked it because Elliott stammered, "I... Sorry... but... um... I can't help it.... But..." and it just kept getting bigger.
"Oh... shit, " he sighed.
Putting myself in his place, that would have been embarrassing. Here we were trying to be Good Samaritans and what does he do? He pops a boner, that's what he does.
But Stephan to the rescue. He glanced up, did a double-take, then said, "Oh, don't worry about it. We all know about popping one when we don't want to, but... well, I sure hope mine gets to be that big.... If you don't mind my asking, how old are you anyway?"
"... Almost seventeen, " blushed Elliott.
"So I'm just curious, " continued Stephan, "but... well, how big does it get?"
... Seven... well, not quite, but-"
"Geez!" said Earl.
"Yeah!" said Stephan.
"That's not bad, " added Carlie.
So it got even larger. Almost seven inches, in fact.
So.
Well, you know, character development. That's important, and if nothing else, it served as an ice breaker, because it wasn't long until Elliott was into full-disclosure mode. He seemed to be much more relaxed. Well, it never relaxed too much: a couple of times it started going down a little, then he'd reveal something else about himself and it would start going right back up again. But by the time we'd finally managed to get him loose, we knew his name, where he was from, where he was hoping to get to - not why yet, but at least where - and what had happened to him. He'd been raped. At that point, it wilted slightly. By fourteen kids no older than we were. Well, shit. Now it's going back up again.
So by then, I was almost sure that he was gay as he could be, but I definitely wasn't thinking about mentioning how we all wanted to go on a road trip to Canada ourselves, because if you're going to get an erection because you're thinking about a bunch of kids raping you - kids our age - as far as I was concerned, that wasn't a good starting point. He seemed decent enough, but a bit slutty. And that's putting it mildly.
But then he looked down and added, "My little head's stupid. I didn't want it to happen, and once it started... I never had anything like that happen before. I've heard about prison rapes and all that, but until it happens, you have no idea how bad it can be. I didn't think it was ever going to end, and if you hadn't stumbled across me, it would have happened some more, because it had already happened twice.... And I'm not sure how much more I could take."
So that's when we started telling him how we ended up there in the first place. Because without saying as much, we were saying that it could have happened to us too. And Stephan admitted that something like that had almost happened to him once and then he offered to let Elliott borrow his shirt if he wanted to cover up. I'd thought about making the same offer myself, but it was still cool and windy, and since we'd already seen pretty much everything there was to see of him anyway, I never mentioned it. I mean, I'm not a saint.
But in reply to Stephan's offer, Elliott said thanks, but by then there wasn't much point in it. And besides, he already had some clothes. They were locked inside his station wagon.
Yeah, that got everybody's attention. Carlie started, "You locked your clothes... did you say you locked..."
"I hid the keys under a rock, " explained Elliott.
Oh. But...
Apparently he knew how weird that sounded though, because he quickly continued, "I mean... I know how it sounds, but... I'm gay, all right? Not that being gay has anything about feeling free, but I had no idea those kids were around, and there's a creek running along the edge here, and I was getting cleaned up, that's all I was doing. Only this one kid, he said I was on private property and..." (he shrugged)... "Yeah, well..."
And then he trailed off, leaving quite a few questions unanswered. Not that I was going to pry...
... Although I was still curious. But for awhile, I was also wondering if we were ever going to get that last rope around his right ankle loose.
Finally we did, though. Elliott took a deep breath, and then: "Hope you didn't mind my babbling, but sometimes I get into the full-disclosure mode. Only you've probably already noticed that much, right?"
And that was too much to resist. "Yeah, I noticed, " I said, "but you're making it sound like you're confessing your sins or something.... Well, I'm not always proclaiming it myself, but I am not confessing. I'm not confessing a damn thing."
He started, "You... are you saying that..."
Then Stephan put his arm around me and said, "Yeah, Natty's gay, I'm afraid.... But that works out pretty good, because I am, too."
"Yeah, and they've infected me and Carlie too!" wailed Earl.
So of course Elliott was astonished, but finally, he started again. "Oh...wow! I mean... well, I don't feel so alone now! You just don't have any idea... but... um..." (and then he looked directly at me and finished), "Can I ask you something?"
So, still feeling pretty good about myself, I shrugged and replied, "Yeah, I guess."
"Have you ever been tempted to do something really strange?"
... Right. There definitely was a pause there, but cautiously, I replied, "Uh... I don't suppose anyone wants to be predictable all the time."
"Of course not, " agreed Stephan, "That's boring. Ho hum, I'm going to do the same thing I did yesterday. You know?"
Elliott took a deep breath. "Well... to explain... well, okay. The reason I'm going to Vancouver is, I met a boy on-line. His name's Markus and I've known him for about a year. Webcamming. So by now we've... seen quite a bit of each other, you know what I mean?"
"Oh, Natty and Stephan know exactly what you mean, " said Earl.
Predictably, though, Stephan was still unabashed. "Yeah! It's fun, isn't it?" (I just shrugged wanly.)
And as for Elliott, well, he agreed that it really was fun at that.
And it is, of course. It's not weird at all. So that wasn't why I was suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable, it was because...
"But see, I wanted to surprise Markus, " he continued, "so I got this wild idea.... At least, for me, it was, I decided to... trim my pubes. Just a little."
Something like that. That's what I was afraid of.
And it was only getting started, because then: "But see, the more I thought about it, the more exciting it was. I guess because I was by myself and there wasn't a house in sight, so I was trying to make it like a game, see, so I spotted the creek and I started thinking, well, why not, you know? So I parked my car a mile or so away and I locked my clothes inside and walked to the creek naked, thinking about what I was about to do the whole time. Because, see, I got a shaving kit on my birthday. Not that I've had too much reason to use it so far, but everybody does eventually - have to shave every morning almost - and somehow, the more I thought about shaving my pubes off, the harder I got and I guess I got carried away. But what I didn't know was, there were two kids watching me. I guess they spotted me earlier, and they followed me, but anyway... I mean, this was really embarrassing, because after I got through shaving myself, I was sitting on the side of the creek jerking off when I heard them coming." Then he paused to catch his breath. That, and I guess to see if any of us were getting grossed out yet.
So finally Stephan offered, "Well, I can see where that could be kind of embarrassing." Then he blushed and trailed of, because after all, we'd just started getting some hair, so shaving it off was unthinkable. Not that doing such a thing made you gay, but...
But the thing about breakthrough moments is that they're almost never momentary, and soon he was off again. "Oh, it was embarrassing all right - I don't guess I've ever been so embarrassed in my life! They were staring at me and laughing - punching at each other and snickering - and I'm just sitting there shaking all over and I had my hands over myself... I mean, God! I was soo embarrassed, but after awhile this one kid said, 'I guess you know you're queering yourself off on private property, you know that?' and then he asked where my clothes were.
"So I didn't know what to say, but I decided not to tell him. I just said I'd lost them."
"Yeah, that was a good idea, " Carlie agreed. He looked bemused, as in, "I would not do anything like that in a million million years." More or less.
"Yeah, I thought so, too, " continued Elliott, "but anyway, he said he could have me arrested, that his uncle was the caretaker of this property we're on right now" - (We found that information to be a bit disquieting) - "but he said he wouldn't say anything about it and I could just get my queer ass away from there, but only if I gave them both a... blow job. So I hadn't ever done anything like that before... except for one time... I guess... except I didn't finish... and that's a whole different story... but-" (deep breath) - "I said I would. Because... well, because all at once, I wanted to find out what it was going to be like and besides, I didn't have much choice. So I let that kid tie his belt around my wrists and I let them lead me to... here. See, this is their fort, sort of."
So at that point, we all thought it might be a good idea to get ourselves out of their fort before they returned to their fort. Before meeting up with Elliott, we were going to at least change into some clean shirts before hiking off, but on second thought, going dirty for awhile longer wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Carlie was kind enough to let Elliott borrow his shirt, so at least he was able to gird his loins until we reached his station wagon. Then he drove us to the nearest gas station.
Only, his breakthrough moment just kept on going. And then going some more, because the nearest gas station happened to be forty miles away. So even though I'll not bother pretending that we weren't titillated often enough, it's probably time to go back to plan B and more or less summarize things.
So okay. Elliott let the two boys lead him to their fort, then he sucked them off. Only then they wanted to tie him up. So he let them. He didn't have much choice, you know. Then, one of them left, but he was back soon enough, with eight more!Some of them couldn't have been much older than nine or ten, and...
... Not only that, now the apparent ring-leader had some Nair with him and it wasn't long until Elliott didn't have any body hair whatsoever. And of course, he also had to suck all ten of them off, but then one of the boys suggested that they try something else, and soon enough, he found himself bent over the table.
Well, at first, several of the boys weren't sure if they wanted to fuck him or not, but finally they decided they could at least see what it felt like and they thought it felt pretty good. Well, Elliott didn't think it felt so good at first, he didn't think it felt good at all, but everyone else did think so. Even the little 'uns, and while they couldn't do much in the way of damage, it was still humiliating. Even being allowed to squat every once in awhile seemed degrading, because they'd all be watching him intently, but he was badly outnumbered, so that's how he found himself tied up again until around two in the morning when fourteen showed up. I have no idea how long they intended to keep him, but apparently it was to be for at least awhile.
So to conclude - this chapter, at least - after advising Elliott in no uncertain terms that we were already spoken for and we weren't at that moment into group sex...
Well, maybe we weren't firm enough about that. But still, about thirty miles on down the highway, we crossed another creek and that's when we all decided that we really did need to get cleaned up a little. Actually, we needed to quite a bit, so while keeping a sharp look-out, under the bridge, we did and almost froze our asses off. So even if we'd been interested, that would have ended it.
Once at the gas station, we had to get something to eat because we were almost famished, and by the time we got back to the Lexus, our road trip was once again in the planning stage. (And oh, by the way, it was still in one piece, wheels included. I can guarantee you that that would not have been the case in New York.)
There were still some practical considerations to be worked out, but we now had a fully licensed driver, so what the heck, you know?
Next chapter: some shocking details are provided in regard to our interesting trip back to Oxmar.
No wait. Exciting details.
But at least no one was further outraged.
And that concludes my latest disclaimer.
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