by Rue Volley
Kai looked at her and bit his lip.
“You want me here...? Or you just want me?” he asked her.
“Oh, I don’t know… I guess you could say both.”
Kai leaned in and stared at her.
“Would you like to go play?” he whispered to her.
“I would love to play with you,” Sam said as she grinned.
“Be careful what you ask for, I could cause damage,” Kai said as he touched her neck and let his hand move down the front of her shirt.
“You...? You don’t know me yet, Kai Volley,” Sam said as she backed up and grabbed his hand. She pulled him towards the forest. They ran to the edge and then flashed into the trees.
***
Jonah stepped out onto the porch and tilted his head. He closed his eyes and felt Kai and Sam in the forest, obviously doing very bad things. He grinned and stepped back into the house. He looked at Sara and then at Lily. He bit his lip as he realized that just a few months ago he would have taken them both into his bed and done the same thing.
Lily looked up at him with a rabbit on her lap. She stroked its head and grinned. Jonah shook his head and sat down in the chair. Sara sat there with the second rabbit, petting it too. He stared at her as he leaned back in the chair. Lily laughed. Jonah shot her a look and shook his head at her. Sara looked up at him and crinkled her eyebrows.
“What?” she asked him.
“Oh… I was just remembering the way things used to be. You know, love, when Lily and I were with the carnival.”
Sara cleared her throat and leaned back on the couch.
“You are happy now, right?” she asked him.
Jonah looked as if he was daydreaming. He snapped out of it and leaned up as he smiled.
“Oh… absolutely… I wouldn’t trade this for anything.”
Theodore stepped in and looked at the three of them.
Jonah grinned and Theo rubbed his neck and clutched the book to his chest.
“Any news?” Jonah said as he looked at him.
Theo set the book down on the table and shook his head. Sara sighed and looked at the rabbit on her lap. It wiggled its nose and Sara put her finger to its mouth. It took a bite at her and she yelped as she pulled her finger back. A little blood welled up on her fingertip and she sucked on it. Lily looked at her hand and so did Jonah.
“Oh dear… come,” Theo said as he held his hand out to her and she followed him into the kitchen.
He grabbed a cloth and dipped it in alcohol. He took her hand and pressed the cloth to it.
She hissed and then smiled at him, with a grimaced look on her face still.
“It must be cleaned. Who knows what those creatures carry,” Theo said as he held it to her finger and grinned.
“Nothing… They don’t carry anything really… pretty clean creatures,” Jonah said as he leaned on the doorway.
“Well, none the less… we cannot be too cautious,” Theo said as he pulled the cloth and inspected her finger.
Jonah stepped up to her and grabbed her hand. He pulled it to his mouth and closed his eyes as he smelled it.
Sara pulled it back from him and Jonah stood up and cleared his throat.
“As I said… nothing. I can smell disease.”
“Oh… I’m sorry, Jonah. I didn’t mean…” Sara said as she looked at him.
Jonah touched her face and grinned.
“I know you didn’t, love. I would not think that you would distrust me.”
Jonah glanced at Theodore and Theodore stood up and put the cloth in the sink. He started to wash it, watching the little blood it had on it go down the drain. Sara stood up and rubbed her neck.
“I am going to go home for a little while. I want to see my Mom and Dad… if that’s okay? I can come back tomorrow.”
Theodore stepped up to her and touched her face.
“You are always welcome here, little one… You go, get some rest. We will all be here tomorrow.”
Sara looked at Jonah and grinned.
“Thanks again,” she whispered.
Jonah bowed to her and then stopped himself. He was trying to break all the old habits that he had. Theo stared at him for a moment and then turned back to the sink. He stood there looking out the window. Jonah stepped up to him and took a breath.
Theodore turned to him and grinned.
“I would like to thank you for staying with her today. She is very upset with the situation at hand.”
Jonah tilted his head and looked at Theo. He had not seen him this way before.
“You are becoming human,” Jonah said, as he looked him up and down.
“Don’t be ridiculous, I simply wanted to thank you… I was busy and I could not entertain her.” Jonah stepped towards him and Theo looked down as he felt Jonah’s breath on his skin.
It had been so long since he had been with anyone; it was hard to control his heart rate.
“Do you wish to be with someone, Theodore Barrington?” Jonah asked him.
Theo looked at him and grinned.
“Are you offering your services to me?” he asked him.
“I may be,” Jonah said as he grinned.
Theo raised his hand to his face and barely touched it.
“I fear that it has been a long time since I have been active,” he whispered.
“Well, I can assure you that I know what I am doing,” Jonah said as he touched his hand and Theo closed his eyes.
***
Josh stopped walking and touched his stomach. Johnathan looked at him and waited.
“What’s up?” he asked him.
Josh shook his head and sat down.
“I think that both of my siblings are doing nasty things right now,” Josh said as he shook his head.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Josh looked at him and grinned.
“You know… umm, doing it,” Josh muttered.
Johnathan laughed and leaned down to him.
“Do you need to be carried now or what?”
Josh pushed himself up and crinkled his eyebrows at him.
“No, I don’t.”
Johnathan continued to laugh at him.
“Shut up,” Josh muttered to him.
“So you guys can like feel that stuff?” Johnathan asked. Josh looked at him.
He knew that it wasn’t the real Johnathan, but he just loved the fact that at times it felt like it was.
“Yes… sometimes, if it is intense,” Josh said as he kept walking.
“Well, like I said before… I don’t swing that way; so don’t get any ideas.”
Josh laughed and rubbed his head. He stopped.
“Oh god,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing… I just have never had it hit me like this before. It’s a little too much,” Josh said as he looked out into the field.
The sun was starting to go down. He guessed it was the first day… two more to go.
He looked at Johnathan and he was still grinning.
“What?”
“You and your freaky family… I swear to god!” Johnathan said as he shook his head.
“Shut up, Johnathan,” Josh said as he started to walk into the field.
Josh stopped and went down to one knee. Johnathan went down too.
“What is it?” Johnathan asked.
Josh held up his hand and pointed back at him. Josh watched as something flashed to the right, then to the left. It looked chaotic, like whoever was moving through the field had no idea where they were going. Josh pressed his hand to the ground. Awesome, either he couldn’t track there or it was a rogue. Either way it sucked. Someone flashed two feet in front of him and Josh flashed up quickly and pulled his blades. Johnathan stood up too and pulled his. Josh looked back at him.
“Listen… I think… ahhh,” Josh yelled out.
He was hit from the side and he rolled a few feet, someone biting at his neck. Josh took his blade and jammed it into his anonymous attacker’s side.
The figure cried out and misted. Josh pushed himself up and started to flash through the field. He skidded to a stop when Jonah and Lily appeared in front of him.
“Shit,” he muttered.
Jonah grinned and Lily stepped around him and rubbed his side. Josh tilted his head and stared them down. Suddenly a carnival started to appear to left and the music sounded distorted, like a warped record. He grinned and gripped his blades in his hand.
“Well, it would seem that you just cannot stay away,” Jonah said as he smiled at him.
Lily rubbed his chest and whispered in his ear. She stuck out her tongue and licked his face.
Josh grimaced and looked at Johnathan.
“What did you say about my family, dude?”
Johnathan shrugged his shoulders and stared at them. Jonah took a step forward and Josh straightened his stance, ready for a fight. Rogues were by far the hardest opponent that he had faced. They were unpredictable and careless. They didn’t really care about their own well-being. Lily rubbed her breasts and Johnathan tilted his head.
Josh looked at him and shook his head.
“Trap-door spider, dude,” he muttered.
Johnathan cleared his throat as Lily started to pull her shirt open, exposing her breasts.
Josh snapped his fingers.
“Listen… you may be imaginary, but so are they… I need you to focus; otherwise it’s two against one.”
Johnathan shook his head and gripped his blades.
“You don’t do anything for me,” Johnathan yelled at her. Josh rolled his eyes.
“I don’t need you to talk, okay?”
Johnathan shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head.
Josh sighed and stared down Jonah… the real threat in his mind.
“Okay listen… you can just go back to doing your sister, Jonah. I don’t want to fight you.”
Jonah smiled and touched Lily’s hair. He smelled it, which was an odd thing to do.
Josh watched him and waited. He hoped that Jonah would move on.
“You underestimate me,” Jonah called out to him.
“I do not… I understand what you are capable of; I simply want to pass.”
Jonah laughed and Lily stepped away from him as he pulled his blades. Josh set his feet apart and took a slow breath. Theodore and Sam’s “playtime” was still affecting him.
He looked down at his blades and saw a slight trace of orange swirling on the metal.
“No,” he whispered.
Lily stepped forward and looked at his blades; she looked back at Jonah and grinned.
“Are you a tad bit excited, Joshua...? Sexually frustrated, I mean?” Jonah asked him.
“Not that I would tell you,” Josh said.
Jonah laughed.
“Perhaps you would like to join Lily and I in the tent? We could handle that for you.”
Josh grinned. “No… I’m good, thanks.”
“Well, perhaps your friend would like to come.”
Johnathan stepped towards them and Josh held up his blade and stopped him from walking. “Seriously, stop it,” Josh muttered to him.
Johnathan smiled and looked at Lily. He leaned over to Josh.
“She is hot,” he whispered to him.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Josh whispered back to him.
“No… I think that I would like to go… to the tent, or whatever.”
Josh lowered his blade.
“You are an idiot, I swear to god.”
Johnathan placed his blades on his back.
“An idiot with needs.”
Josh laughed.
“Fine… plan your own funeral… Have you seen her teeth?”
“I am so not concerned with her teeth right now.”
Johnathan watched Lily move back and forth as she placed her hand under her dress.
Josh winced at the sight of it.
“Oh god… okay whatever… go,” Josh said as he shook his head.
Johnathan tapped him on the arm.
“Come on,” he said.
Josh looked at the two of them and Jonah tipped his hat. He knew that he was stronger with imaginary Johnathan, than without him. At least he hoped so. He shook his head and continued to grip his blades.
“Fine... I will go, you ass. I am not going to do what you have in mind, but I will go.”
Johnathan tapped him on the arm and “woo-whoo’d”.
Josh rolled his eyes and followed the three of them towards the carnival lights.
Josh sat there at the table in the tent shaking his knees. He kept his blades in his hands as he listened to Johnathan moan and cry out in the next room. He wiped his forehead and looked up at Jonah who sat at the end of the table grinning at him.
Johnathan screamed out, “Oh my god!” and Josh shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Jonah got up and started to walk towards him. Josh sighed and looked around the room.
“Are you certain that you would not enjoy yourself more in the other room, Joshua?” Jonah asked as he slowly sat down and stared at him.
“I’m good,” Josh said as he continued to shake his knee up and down.
Jonah reached for his knee and Josh quickly pointed his blade at him.
“No,” Josh said as he stared him down.
Jonah grinned and pulled his hand back slowly.
Jonathan cried out again in the other room and Jonah sighed as he leaned back in the chair.
“Well, you are simply no fun.”
Josh shook his head as he stared at Jonah.
“I am all kinds of fun… just not with you.”
“Mmm. I would love to find out,” Jonah said as he tilted his head.
Josh felt another wave in his stomach and he stared him down.
“Are you with my brother right now?” he asked him.
Jonah tilted his head and looked confused.
“Never mind,” Josh muttered. “You better not be,” He added.
Jonah stood up and Lily came walking out of the adjoining room. She had her dress on, but it was torn and bloodied. She smiled at Jonah and then looked at Josh. Josh shook his head ‘no’. She sighed and walked to Jonah. He placed his hand on her face and kissed her. Josh looked away and sighed.
Johnathan stumbled out without his shirt on, bites all over his chest and arms.
He smiled at Josh and walked to the table, dropping down in the chair next to him.
“Holy shit,” he muttered.
Josh glanced at him and shook his head.
“Are we better?” he asked him.
Johnathan shook his head yes and smiled.
“Good… now we go.”
Josh stood up and Lily flashed to him. She stood there and grinned.
Josh held his blade up to her and shook his head.
“No… I said no,” he said with an even tone.
Lily frowned and looked back at Jonah. Jonah shrugged his shoulders and waved his hand.
“I do not understand it either, my love. He simply does not know what he is missing.”
Josh laughed as he reached over and jerked Johnathan up to his feet.
“You don’t need to understand me… I really would prefer that you don’t.”
Jonah smiled as Lily walked to him and touched his face. She started to kiss him and Josh walked out backwards, pulling Johnathan with him. Once outside the tent they flashed back to the forest. Josh stopped and looked at Johnathan.
“You are so fucked up,” Josh said to him.
Johnathan held up his hands to him.
“What?” he asked him.
Josh rolled his eyes and flashed back into the forest, Johnathan following close behind.
***
I stood there with Blake at the free drug counter. I wanted to say something that would come close to sane. I couldn’t think of anything though so I kept my mouth shut. I mean he just caught me having some kind of something with my pillows. How freaky. He did hold my hand as we came to get my meds, but maybe
he just does that anyway. Maybe it was his way of making me feel like I was not so crazy.
I glanced over at him and he didn’t look at me. Great, I now have no hope. He took the white cup from the girl and we walked to the window. I sat down and he handed me the cup. I looked at for a moment and then tipped it into my mouth. I waited to see if he had changed his policy with me yet. I guess not. He didn’t ask for me to open my mouth, to prove that I swallowed. I leaned back and he held his hand out to me… to take the cup. I sighed and looked over at the window. A large tree stood there. It looked like it was a hundred years old.
Blake leaned forward and took a breath.
“Okay so… I guess we should talk,” he said.
I rubbed my palms and avoided eye contact with him.
“About what?” I said, like nothing had happened.
He grinned and leaned closer to me.
“I think that I may have gotten you excited,” he said.
I had to look at him this time.
I mean, OMG. He thinks that I was pretending like the pillow was him. Oh crap.
“No... I uh, I don’t know what that was,” I said as I waved my hand out.
“Well, I can guess,” Blake said as he continued to grin at me.
“I don’t think that you know anything,” I said, all cocky and sure of myself.
He leaned back and shook his head.
“Really,” he said.
It wasn’t a question, it was sarcasm. I know sarcasm. I can smell it.
I leaned up to him.
“What makes you so sure that I was thinking… or doing… I mean, that it had anything to do with you at all?” I asked him.
“Okay… say that it didn’t… Who then?” he asked me.
Oh crap… we have now come to the insane part of the conversation.
“I was… I think I was I dreaming,” I said as I crossed my arms on my chest.
“Uh huh,” he said. I stared at him and looked at the window.
“Well, if it was me… and I am not saying that it was… I would be flattered, that’s all,” Blake said as he kept his eyes on me.
I looked at him and crinkled my eyebrows.
“What?” I said.
He leaned up and touched my knee.
I looked at his hand and he cleared his throat and leaned back, after he scanned the room and realized that we are still in the asylum.