by Jason Lenov
Once we'd bundled into the car it was Anna Elizabeth that had to give the taxi driver directions. Even he'd never heard of the bus stop she was talking about. We trundled over train tracks and past deserted buildings. We splashed through puddles in potholes in the road. The sky darkened above us as some clouds blew in, looming, grey columns that threatened rain.
Finally, after what must have been an hour, "There it is!" Anna Elizabeth cried, pointing to a ramshackle hut.
"You want me to let you off here?" the driver asked.
"Yes. That's it. That's the bus stop!" A child-like excitement now filled each word and there was a glee in her eye.
"Lady, this ain't the best part of town. You know that, right?"
I looked around at the old abandoned warehouses that surrounded us. Most of the panes had been broken out of the windows, turning the frames into dark sockets without eyes.
"The bus will be along any minute," Anna Elizabeth said, nodding. She turned to me and smiled. A sliver of sunlight cut through the clouds, landing right across her eyes. "Would you pay him, Matthew?"
I cleared my throat. I took another look around. "Are you...are you sure this is the place dear?" I asked.
"Positive," she replied with a firm nod.
I opened my wallet and paid the man. Then we got out and waited for him to come and open the trunk and fetch our cases. "Oh no! I ain't gettin' out here. You get 'em yourself!" he cried.
I yanked the trunk open with a harumph. I had given him a big tip, too, for all the trouble of bringing us here. I hauled our suitcases out and slammed the trunk shut. Before I could jump to the curb, the tires of the taxi screeched as he turned the car back the way he'd come. He peeled away as if he were being chased by the four horsemen of the apocalypse themselves, leaving us standing in the last dim light of dusk.
I dragged the suitcases to the curb and glanced around. I have to admit the fading light was making me nervous, not to mention what the driver had said. "My dear," I began.
She put a finger to her lips. "Shh! Listen!"
A sound blossomed from the eerie silence. First a whisper. Then a noise. Then a rhythmic, chugging groan. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. I looked down the street one way, then the other. As the sound got closer, my insides began to twist. I glanced at Anna Elizabeth. I gasped.
Her eyes were closed. Her head was tilted towards the sky. Her lips were turned up in a smile. I'd never seen her happier than that moment.
At that moment, the bus leaned around the corner with a terrifying groan.
She opened her eyes. She turned towards the swaying jalopy as it neared. She looked back at me. "Isn't this exciting!" she cried, clapping her hands together like a little girl.
I managed a weak smile but the whole thing had me feeling a little queasy. A little...torn? Not that I was having any doubt at all about marrying Anna Elizabeth. I had just begun to wonder if maybe there might be some way that she could be convinced that Gentle was a little too out of the way for us.
I pushed the thought back. My one aim in life was to ensure Anna Elizabeth's happiness. There would be time for talk later. For now, it was time to visit this strange place and see what it was all about.
As night fell we chugged out of the city and into the suburbs. As the houses thinned the sounds of the countryside at night grew louder. Chirping crickets. Hooting owls. Every so often the solitary howl of a lone wolf.
The farther we got from civilization, the happier Anna Elizabeth seemed to get. Then there were no houses. Just forest and darkness, occasionally bathed in the light of the silver moon that cut through the quickly moving clouds. As the old bus swayed and stuttered it's way into the foothills I began to drift off.
I was jarred awake by the sudden lack of motion and sound.
"Matthew!" Anna Elizabeth hissed, shaking my arm. "Come on! We're here! Wake up!"
I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, peering out the window to see what I could see. Tiny spots of orange light dotted the softly rolling hills. Like lanterns in cottages, glowing at night. Other than that, everything around us was pitch black.
We got off the bus. Our suitcases were already waiting on the ground. I craned my neck, trying to see who the driver of this crazy old wreck was. But it was too dark to see inside. Suddenly the engine coughed to life. The harsh glare of the headlights had me holding an arm up against the blinding light. Out of the corner of my eye I watched the big beast lean into a turn, circle us and return down the hill we'd just climbed. Soon there was nothing but silence and we were cloaked in darkness.
"Anna Elizabeth," I said, trying to hide the shake in my voice.
"Shh!" she answered. I couldn't see it but I knew she was pressing a finger to her lips. "They'll find us. We just have to wait."
So I stood there, listening for any noise and squinting trying to make out any faint glimmer of light. The sound of heavy footsteps on the ground. I swallowed. My heart was beating fast. My palms were cold with sweat. What had we done?!? Why had we come here?!? This seemed like a good place to get killed and not the picturesque little town Anna Elizabeth had described!
The footsteps grew louder. I reached out a hand. She was gone! She had been right beside me and she was gone! Did I dare say her name? My breathing became ragged. I stooped down, hoping I could at least use the suitcase in my own defence, then...
A light. I screamed a womanly shriek. I shielded my eyes again. I staggered back, falling to the ground. I readied myself for my final moments. I took my hand away from my eyes so I could at least get one look at my attacker.
Anna Elizabeth was standing in the exact spot she'd been when she got off the bus. She was staring at me with worry and, maybe some irritation in her eyes. "Matthew? Are you alright?"
I looked towards the light. There were two. Two glowing, orange orbs of light that hung in the sky. They were torches, carried by two hooded men. A third man stood in front of them. The sight of him took my breath away.
He was a hulking bear of a man. He, too, wore a robe but the fabric was stretched taut by his meaty frame. Where his arms protruded from the garment they were all muscle and sinew and veins. Stretched over them was tight, black skin that seemed to glow in the orange light. Black? Her family was black?
"Anna Elizabeth," he boomed in a seemingly bottomless voice.
She turned to him. Her face softened. She smiled. "Pater Rex," she whispered. She breathed deeply, then dashed into his outstretched arms.
As her body hit his chest those muscled paws and black robe closed around Anna Elizabeth in her white summer dress in a welcoming hug. As they did, his whole shape seemed to swallow her in blackness as they became one. He caught my eye.
His eyes were dark, but the whites were white like the noonday sun. He acknowledged me by flashing a pearly grin. He held it a moment longer than I thought comfortable and I had to look away. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his massive arms sweep open again, revealing Anna Elizabeth's huddled shape. The perfect pearl inside the oyster's dark shell.
"Pater? This is Matthew," she said, stepping away from him and to one side.
He began to approach, towering higher over me with each step he took. It made me realize I was still lying down. I tried to scramble to my feet but lost my footing on some loose rock. Soon he was over me, reaching down, his outstretched hand helping me up.
"Matthew!" he rumbled as he hauled me too my feet.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir!" I said with a weak smile.
"Oh, I assure you! The pleasure is all mine!" It came with a hearty chuckle.
I glanced at Anna Elizabeth. She looked shy. The way a girl looks when her father meets her new boyfriend for the first time. I looked back at Pater Rex and smiled again. He was still holding my hand, his dark eyes boring into me as he smiled. I had to look away.
"Come!" he said finally, breaking the silence and letting go of my hand. "We've kept the pot on for you! You must be famished." He turned and walked towards Anna Elizabeth
. He offered his arm. She hooked hers around. The two of them began walking up the hill. The two robed men turned to follow.
I was left standing in the growing darkness as the torches disappeared into the night. I grabbed our suitcases, one under each arm and began huffing up the hill after them.
Chapter 5
"Matthew, is it?" Pater's deep baritone echoed across the stone walls.
I was standing in the center of a large room with wooden tables and low stools along two walls. The third wall, opposite the door had a massive hearth with a roaring fire over which was suspended a black cauldron. Pater Rex was standing, his back towards me, stirring something in the pot.
As soon as we'd arrived Anna Elizabeth had been swept away by a syndicate of women clad in white. All blonde. Most with blue eyes. In fact they'd all looked very similar to her. Pater Rex and had put his weighty arm around my shoulder and led me down a long hallway with doors on either side to the room we were in now.
"Y-y-yes, sir. Matthew," I replied with a stammer. The whole thing was not exactly as I'd expected it. I expected something of a poor family living in the Appalachian foothills. Anna Elizabeth's parents, siblings, perhaps a cousin or aunt or two. This was verging on surreal. It had begun to make more sense, what Anna Elizabeth had said. That it was more symbolic, her family. It had to be. How could her father be black?
"It's a good name." Pater turned as he said it, a bright smile widening across his dark visage.
"Thank-you."
"Your parents chose well." He clasped his meaty paws together and rubbed them as he began to walk towards me. "Tell me, what do your parents do, Matthew?"
I lowered my eyes. It was a question I'd heard often though it didn't make it any easier to answer. "My...they've both passed, sir. A long time ago."
A frown clouded his expression, then concern. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Thank-you," I replied.
He stepped forward and once again put a hand, a comforting one this time, on my shoulder. He squeezed me, no doubt to show his empathy, but he was the kind of man who obviously didn't know his own strength. I couldn't help but wince at the pressure.
"I think you'll find there is a kind and loving family waiting for you here, Matthew. I think you'll find that Anna Elizabeth has led you to the right place."
The mention of her sweet name passing his lips made me look up, hopeful that I would see her again soon. I felt a little lost without her guidance. "Will I see her again? Soon?" I asked.
"In good time, Matthew. In good time." He squeezed my shoulder again before releasing me from his grip and walking towards the pot bubbling on the hearth. "Stew? I made it fresh this afternoon." Before I could answer he was already ladling a healthy portion into a bowl. He turned and waved an arm toward one of the tables, indicating I should follow him to sit.
He set the stew down, thick plumes of steam rising from the bowl and beside it set a wooden spoon.
"Sit," he ordered. "Eat."
Not wanting to offend my host or start off on the wrong foot on this journey, I obeyed. I sat and set upon the stew with my wooden spoon.
Pater sat in the chair beside me and watched me eat.
"Berry dericious..." I offered, my discomfort growing under his unwavering gaze.
"Glad you like it," he cooed.
As I scraped the bottom of the bowl, making sure to scoop up all the tender morsels of meat, Pater turned and looked into my eyes. "More?" he asked.
"Thank-you. No."
He sighed and swung his legs towards me so that he was facing me now and with his finger motioned that I should do the same.
I did so that we were sitting face to face, only inches between us. It was a profoundly disconcerting position and I wished it would be over quickly.
"Now, Matthew, now that you've eaten we can talk."
I nodded, hoping the talk would be quick and not too involved.
"How much has our dear Anna Elizabeth told you about us, Matthew?"
"Not very much at all, sir. She said it best to wait until we arrived here. She said that was the custom."
"Yes," Pater said, one corner of his lip curling into a smile. "That's right. She was right. That is our custom. And do you know why that is, Matthew?"
"No. No, sir, I don't."
"It's because our ways are...a little different than the rest of the world."
His hesitation brought my eyebrows up. "Different, sir?"
"Different. Yes. We're all very close here, as you'll see. It takes a special kind of love to join our family here in Gentle. It takes a special kind of man."
The more he explained the more confusing everything seemed to become. A special kind of love? A special kind of man? What on earth could he mean? My confusion must have played out on my face.
I think it might be easiest if I show you what I mean. Come," he said, rising. "You will meet my wife. She is often better at explaining than I am." And with that he was already walking to the massive wooden doors at the far end of the room.
I scrambled up, eager to be introduced to another person, a woman at that. Women often had a kinder, gentler way of speaking and I appreciated that. Men, especially men of Pater's stature, I often found quite rough.
He led me through the corridor we had come and half-way down stopped at one of the doors. Turning the latch, he eased it open. It gave way with an eerie squeak into a quiet, pleasant room. Pater Rex stood to one side and waved me inside with a smile.
A chair. A small table. A large bed in one corner. Plush carpet on the floor and heavy drapes covered the windows. I was glad for them because the wind had started to pick up outside, whistling up the walls and sending chills down my spine. It seemed a strange place for introductions but it wasn't my place to judge.
The other, curious, feature was a long mirror that hung on the wall. It was almost the length of the room and seemed a gaudy and out of place accessory in such a sparsely furnished space. It was also slightly disconcerting, being able to see one's expression all the time.
I turned. A shrill shriek shot up from my insides, dampened by the rug and heavy drapes.
Pater Rex was gone.
In his place stood a woman, tall and almost ghostly pale with long dark hair. The white dress she was wearing clung to her generous curves and her blood-red lips were pursed in a permanent pout. On second glance she was quite beautiful. It was just the shock of not expecting her there that had made me scream.
"Good eventide to you, Matthew," she said a gentle smile warming her stern expression.
"Good...good eventide as well," I stuttered. "I'm sorry. You surprised me. I had thought that Pater Rex was still..."
"He had a matter to attend." The smile widened, then faded.
The door behind her swung slowly shut.
A shiver raced through me. I peered above her shoulder wondering what ghostly force had closed the massive door. Outside, the wind began to howl.
"How was the stew?" she asked.
"Delicious," I said, then swallowed all too loudly. "Thank-you." I forced a smile but something about the situation had me on edge.
"Good. Take a seat."
It was spoken in a way that I dared not resist or even ask a question about what was going on. Where was my beloved Anna Elizabeth? Surely she would have been able to explain all of this to me? I did what she said and took a seat in the small chair beside the table.
"I'm Anna Rebecca," the woman said. Her body swayed as she sashayed towards me across the room. Her movements were graceful in a way that seduced my eyes down from hers.
I felt a swell of shame rise through me as my eyes paused at her plump breasts, then grazed down over her body to where her hips flared then narrowed into plush thighs, then slender calves. When I finally tore my gaze away I could feel my face burning and hoped she hadn't noticed. I tried to ignore the ache between my legs that was stiffening my cock.
She stopped beside me. I could feel her gaze burning down onto me. Then the feeling of the ba
cks of her slender fingers glance along my neck, towards my cheek. She brushed the corner of my mouth before the touch was over sending a wave of vitality into my already throbbing cock.
"You must be tired after your trip," she whispered.
Unable to bring myself to look up, I only nodded in reply. From the corner of my eye I saw her kneel beside me. Suddenly her hand was on my thigh, just above the knee but travelling towards my groin. I gasped. I pressed my legs together. Surely this was some mistake?!? Why would a stranger touch me in such an intimate place?
"My husband told you, didn't he, that things were different here?"
"I...I...I..."
...couldn't think of what to say.
As her long nails touched the inseam of my trousers the bulge between my legs pulsed and I knew there was no hiding my arousal. She had surely seen it! What a pig I must have seemed!
"Don't worry, Matthew. It's normal to feel shy at first. We are all very close here and you'll soon learn we have no secrets from each other." And with that her fingers moved so quickly towards my crotch that I could do nothing to stop them. The tips grazed the head of my stiffened beam causing it to lurch beneath the fabric.
This, this was something I could not ignore. What was this?!? Some perverse test?!? I would not let my loyalty to Anna Elizabeth be questioned in this way! I turned to her and glared. "What is the meaning of this?!?"
She smiled, her hand now resting on the upper part of my thigh.
My psyche seemed to tear in two, one half urging me to swat her hand away, to show her that I would not be seduced from my true love! The other, the dark and shameful part of me sat, cackling in the blackest corner of my mind at my predicament. That part wanted something unholy to happen. Something wrong. "Please," I whispered, "you mustn't."
The soft sound of her lips splitting into a smile made me turn my head again.
"I mustn't what, Matthew?" she asked.
"You mustn't touch me there." I felt riveted to the chair. I couldn't move. My breathing came in short and shallow gasps.