by Jesse Grey
When he saw his surroundings, he had to remind himself once again that he was okay and the images in his head were only fleeting memories and he was safe from them. He looked over at the small alarm clock sitting on the small shelf made into the bed’s headboard, rolling his eyes at the fact that it was half past five. Fleeing out of bed, Abram made his way to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. Bags were forming under his eyes from lack of sleep, or so he saw when he looked into the mirror. He hadn’t shaved since before the Arclan attack, making him pretty scruffy in the facial hair department.
Abram sighed. He so easily wanted to be fine, to be able to bounce back and be a normal teenager dealing with normal teenager things. But ever since the Arclan incident, Abram felt himself slipping into old mindsets, old feelings that he hadn’t felt since he was in and out of mental institutions.
The lockdown being demolished had started his feelings of an impending downward spiral, a simple omission of routine screwing with his sense of normalcy. The fear of losing himself entirely in-creased more and more as the days continued to accumulate, causing him to withdraw himself from his friends and family.
A series of short but loud rapping on the door stirred Abram from his thoughts, provoking him to head to the door in nothing but some loose basketball shorts. And when he opened the door to his family RV, he was surprised and speechless when he saw Alex just outside of the vehicle.
“I figured you might be out here.”
Abram sighed. “You can go home, Alex. I’m fine. And isn’t cur-few starting soon?”
“Can I come in?”
Instead of answering, Abram just moved aside and retrieved a t-shirt from the bedroom and quickly pulled it on while Alex closed the RV door, stepping inside and witnessing the disarray that Abram had been dealing with as the messy living quarters pulsed around him.
“Abe…”
“You want something to drink?” Abram asked, opening the fridge and grabbing a water for himself.
“No,” Alex deflected, taking a seat on the couch next to the kitch-en. “I’d rather you tell me why you’ve been staying here and lying to your parents about it.”
Slamming the refrigerator door with a huff, he took his water and sat down next to Alex on the couch.
“I’m fine, Alex. Really.”
“You’re not fine.” he sighed. “This, staying here, is not fine. Needing space from your family and friends is not fine. Locking yourself away is not fine because you’re not fine!”
“But you are!” Abram stood in frustration, turning away from Alex for a second. “All of you are. Mercer got shot and he’s fine. He doesn’t have a problem getting back to his life and completely leav-ing it in the past when the past is the only thing that I can’t seem to let go of, no matter how much I want to or how hard I try.”
Seeing the hurt in Abram’s eyes was crushing Alex to his very core. He looked utterly unnerved and distraught. Abram suddenly returned to his seat beside Alex, grabbing his hands abruptly.
“How come I’m the only one of us that has totally turned into this feeble shell of emotion? Why am I the only one so deeply broken by this?” Alex felt his heart lunge even harder when Abram began to cry. “Why do I feel as out of control as I did before I went to Arclan?”
“Listen to me,” Alex grabbed Abram by the shoulders. “Whatever we have to do to get your control back, we’ll do it. Needing more help is nothing to be ashamed of. I’ll help you with whatever you need until you feel like you're back in the driver’s seat again, okay? All of us will, so don’t shut us out when you need us most.”
“I’m terrified, Alex.” Abram went on, his sobs flowing freely. “I can’t sleep without being brought back to the horrors we’ve had to face. I’m so scared of losing myself again.”
Alex shook his head. “You won’t. I won’t let that happen.”
Pulling him into a tight embrace, Alex held onto Abram as he felt the sobs falling into the top of his shoulder while he shook. He con-soled him the way he used to do, with one hand rubbing his back soothingly and one hand playing with his hair, sliding his fingers along the back of his head.
Slowly, Abram’s heavy crying began to subside and his shaking started to let up. Alex stopped his comforting as Abram pulled back from the embrace. Just when Alex was going to ask him if getting it all out was making him feel better, he felt Abram kissing him rough-ly and quickly, much quicker than Alex could even comprehend. He pushed him away as fast as he could, once again putting his hands on Abram’s shoulders until he was looking into his deep cornflower blue eyes that glistened like light shooting off of stained glass from his previous tears.
“Abe, we can’t.”
“Please,” he pleaded. “The only thing that ever made sense in my life was you.” Abram half laughed, half sniffled. “It’s always been you.”
“But you said that—”
Abram silenced him with another soft kiss, fogging up whatever rational thing Alex was about to say prior to his ex-boyfriend’s lips begging for his own. They broke away again, this time coming from Abram. He gazed deep into Alex’s hazel irises and let one single tear cascade down his cheek.
“Please,” Abram said again. “Please.”
Throwing all thought out of the window, Alex crashed his lips on Abram’s, their small kiss exploding with intense flares as it grew like a healthy raging fire. Abram stood up, causing Alex to do so as well so their kiss could keep both of them fully ablaze. As Abram stopped their kiss to rip Alex’s shirt off of his newly male toned body, he led them towards the bedroom while Alex attacked Abram’s neck with ravage eagerness, eliciting a moan from the latter. The two of them fell back onto the bed and ripped the rest of their clothes off, forgetting any and all obstacles in their way and responding with a wildfire of raw need as they disappeared underneath the sheets of the bedspread, the RV fading from them as they fell into a void where it was just the two of them, leaving everything else for just a moment of serenity, one they both needed more than they realized.
11
DEEP IN DARKNESS WE BEGIN
The early morning rays stirred Alex awake, ending the magical dream that he had been having. He’d dreamt that he had made up with Abram and they had gotten carried away with their making up. But when he finally willed himself to open his eyes, he quickly remembered that his dream had manifested itself in reality, especially when he saw a naked, slumbering Abram to his right.
Alex’s eyes grew, peeking underneath the sheets, seeing that they were both definitely nude. He looked around and took in the interior of the St. James RV. He scoffed, the fact that the dream had actually happened finally setting in.
Moving in his sleep, Abram began to wake up, fluttering his eyes until Alex came into clear view, the cloudiness of his eyes rapidly fading with each furthering blink.
“Hey.” Abram said, his voice groggy.
“Hey.” Smiling awkwardly, Alex bobbed his head, his mind still filled with static over last night’s excursion. “Abe—”
“Before you start some speech,” Abram said, sitting up and twist-ing to face Alex. “I don’t regret what we did. We could sit here and analyze everything in excruciating detail, but right now... I just,” he sighed, staring Alex down. “You were there for me last night, some-thing I’ll never be able to repay you for. Right now, let’s just...I don’t regret last night, okay? Can we just leave it at that for now?”
A little taken aback by Abram’s admission, Alex gave a vague smile and nodded slightly at him.
“Yeah. Yeah, sure.”
A sonorous series of knocks on the RV door snapped them both to attention.
“Oh shit.” Abram scoffed.
“You expecting someone?” Alex whispered back. “My parents think I’m at Mercer’s.”
“Abram, wake up!” the voice from outside bellowed.
“Who is that?”
“Get dressed.” Abram answered him, flying off the bed and re-trieving his own previously discarded
clothes. Alex scurried to grab his various items as a now fully dressed Abram opened up the door and saw a fully alert Ben outside the RV.
“Ben, I’m up.” He told him, gesturing wildly. “Go wait in the car.”
“Because of this car out here?” Ben grinned. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
Alex appeared behind Abram, seeing Ben and automatically flar-ing his nostrils, clearly caught off guard.
“Oh.” Ben cleared his throat.
“You told him where you’ve been that past couple days?”
“I had to.” Abram sighed. “He’s my chauffeur, remember?”
“Right.” Alex groaned, his phone blaring over and over. “Faith is blowing up my phone for school, I have to go.”
“Uh, we’ll meet at school?” Abram whispered.
Alex just nodded, moving past him, and then Ben, to get to his car, quickly getting in and driving away from Westbrooke Parking Lot.
“You and Alex?” Ben tried his best to hide his inquisitive tone, but Abram shook his head, quickly dodging it.
“It’s none of your business. I’ll grab my stuff and we can not talk about it all the way to school.”
Abram, quickly as he could, grabbed his backpack and locked the RV, hoping that Ben could keep his mouth shut long enough for him to enjoy a quiet car ride to school.
“No, I haven’t told Kirby yet.”
Kirby froze in place at the top of the stairs, overhearing her mother’s conversation on the phone. Creeping slowly and silently down the stairs, Kirby kept quiet as she made her way to the living room, listening to her mother continue her electronic exchange.
“Soon, I will.” Kirby rounded the stairs, inching closer and closer to the living room, quietly passing through the foyer. “I know. I’ll ask her.”
“Ask me what?”
Athena watched her daughter appear in the living room, arms crossed over her chest in anticipation. She went to answer her as she hung up her phone call, but Kirby’s eyes flexed as her mouth opened.
“Does this have anything to do with Priscilla calling me yester-day?”
Her mom looked surprised by her disclosure. “Yes, that was her actually. She mentioned trying to call you, but you wouldn’t listen to her.”
“Why should I? Moving to Armor Falls was a fresh start, Mom. What happened in Maine...part of starting over here is forgetting about Priscilla and Nathan.”
“She just thought you would—”
“No.” Kirby said harshly. “I listened to her offer and I politely de-clined her invitation. End of story.” Grabbing her purse from the nearby love seat, Kirby headed toward the door, her concentration a carafe of hot coals. “We better get going or both of us will be late. I’ll be in the car.”
As the front door blundered to a close, Kirby wished, just for a fleeting moment, that she wasn’t harboring a guilty conscience when it came to the past by deflecting Athena’s persistence.
Mercer made his way to an outside table on the patio just beyond the cafeteria. He sank his teeth into a savory steak biscuit when Bridge sat down next to him, sipping on a venti caramel latte, mewling at the taste.
“God bless your dads for getting us coffee before we left.”
He laughed a bit, chewing his food masterfully. “I take it you're enjoying your stay at Chez Meadows so far."
“Are you kidding? I love your dads. Just the food alone.” Bridge kissed his fingers in faux satisfaction. “Utterly fantastic. Last night was better than any gourmet.”
Finishing the rest of his food, Mercer begged for a swig of his own coffee to wash it down with, swiftly enjoying his coffee bean infused beverage.
“Speaking of last night, did Kirby seem a little...distracted to you?”
Bridge thought about it for a second. “Maybe a little. Is every-thing alright between you two?”
“Yeah. She got this phone call yesterday and she’s been trying to avoid the subject ever since.”
“Maybe it’s family stuff,” Bridge shrugged. “She’ll tell you when she’s ready, Merce.”
“I’m just worried about her.” He said, scratching underneath his new sling to relieve the itch on his arm.
Bridge gestured with a nod toward his sling. “How’s that going?”
“It’s annoying as hell.” Mercer groaned. “But I’ll only have to wear it for like a week or so.”
“There you guys are.”
They both followed the voice and saw Abram, with Alex close behind him. They found their seats together in front of them.
“Where have you been?” Bridge looked at Abram. “Why did you tell your parents—”
“Let’s,” Alex jumped in, answering for him with a small look from Abram that told him it was okay to do so. “Not hound him with questions, okay?”
“It’s fine, Alex.” Abram decided, giving Alex a wobbly smile be-fore locking eyes with his other two friends. “I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet lately. Arclan just brought up some old stuff and I’ve been stay-ing at the RV to just sort said stuff out. I’ll tell you more about it lat-er.”
“We get it, Abe. We were just worried about you.” Mercer stated. “Seems to be the running theme anymore.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” Bridge shook his head, telling them to forget it silent-ly. “Continue.”
“I didn’t want my parents to freak out or anything so I said I was staying at your house. And I’m sorry if I got you in trouble with your dads.”
Mercer offered Abram his second steak biscuit, which was eager-ly taken by the latter. “It’s cool. You might want to talk to your par-ents though.”
“I will.”
Bridge awkwardly cleared his throat. “Have you guys thought about the papers Mercer and I found?”
“Bridge—”
“No, Mercer, this is serious.” He kept his voice at a low murmur as students went by them to enter the cafeteria. “Someone broke into Paige’s house and took those papers. Sumner obviously wrote some-thing important on them or else they wouldn’t have taken them.”
“And Sumner is probably the one who took them back.” Alex de-termined.
“I doubt it.” Bridge shook his head, disagreeing instantly. “Sumner practically left Mercer for dead at Arclan two weeks ago. Even he’s not stupid enough to risk showing his face around town again to break into some stranger’s place.”
Abram let out an exasperated sigh. “So we’re back to this anony-mous person messing with us.” He flexed his fingers against each other, cracking his knuckles.
“Maybe you’re right.” Mercer said, sad to be agreeing with the situation of an unknown assailant toying with them like they were this freak's personal playthings. “They figured if we got something of Sumner’s, we might finally know something about what in the hell is going on here.”
“Why would this person care if we found something that would help us understand Sumner’s motives?” Alex asked.
“Because this person, whoever they are, wants us to tell the police about what all happened before Sumner attacked us that night.” Bridge explained, looking away discouragingly. “About what I did.”
“Stop blaming yourself, B.” Abram diverged. “We were all there that night. You reacted the way any of us would have.”
“The point is, is that we need to figure out who the hell is doing this to us and how much they know about that night.” Bridge nod-ded.
The bell rang, signifying a five-minute warning to get to class. They all rustled about their seats, standing up from the table.
“Let’s meet after calc to bounce some ideas off each other about what to do on the way to lunch.” Bridge suggested.
“Good idea.” Alex nodded, slinging his backpack over his shoul-der, pushing down his shirt a little.
“Alex,” Mercer tried to hide his smile, but was failing miserably. “Are those hickies on your neck?”
“What?” Alex reacted immediately, pulling at his shirt with un-steady fingers.
“Oh my god.�
�� Bridge chuckled, vibrating his vocal chords. “Abe has them too.”
Abram put on his book bag and cleared his throat nervously. “I have to get to physics.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna be late for home ec.”
Practically running from Bridge and Mercer, they faded from them as fast as their legs could carry them to get them away from their gawking and questions about the halo of faux lesions on their necks.
“Are they seriously hooking up?” Bridge giggled.
“Could just be a coincidence, I guess.”
“Come on, Merce. They’re exes, and Alex just confessed his love for Abram a couple weeks ago.”
“Go to class, B.” he cackled. “I’ll see you later.”
“Later.”
Laughter settling, he grabbed his stuff to head to class when he spotted Ben out on the quad just below the outside patio, laughing as he walked hand in hand with Paige. Not needing another reminder of Ben, Bridge stormed off to class, trying his damnedest to try and move on from further thoughts of Ben Magnus and his perky and perfect fiancé.
“Dude, wake up.”
Straton stirred in his sleep, barely registering the words from the disembodied voice close to him. He tried his best to will his dream back to the forefront of his mind, the one where he was free of police ridicule and being happy with Faith, but was quickly shaken awake, blinking through blurry eyes to see a familiar face standing over his bed and disrupting his slumber.
“Hugo?” His roommates' red hair and green eyes quickly came in-to focus. “What’s going on?”
Straton sat up in his bed, adjusting to the lighting that Hugo must have flipped on, finally taking in his dorm room and the panic that was rapidly taking over his best friends’ normally tamed and handsome features.
“Hugo…”
“You know what, I’m sorry I bothered you. Isn’t Faith leaving her second class early to meet you for lunch?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Straton threw off his blankets and grabbed a t-shirt to throw on, standing up next to Hugo. “Now tell me what’s wrong.”