by Matt Russell
Tim Stokes' penis swayed back and forth in the winter breeze. He felt self conscious about it today, walking to school with his friends. Its end suffered a peculiar chilled feeling, no doubt from something that happened earlier this morning, just before sunrise.
"Excuse me," he said. "I forgot something." He arrived at the house, and turned into the back yard behind the blue spruce. He wiped away the sticky substance, and started to recall the dream. As the memory worked its way back he became hard and wet again.
"Shit," he said, having a seat on the ground, leaning on the tree trunk, out of sight, tucked behind the brown fence. "So what do you think...Becky?" He grabbed hold of himself and did what he did last time this happened.
Running down the street, he could hear the warning bell. He scraped his feet on rocks normally avoided. The full classroom sat down to Mrs. Slank with her book open.
"Just in time, Mr. Stokes...Again."
Again, Ray Cole looked at him from the opposite side of where Becky greeted.
"Hi," Tim said to Becky. He tried not to look at Ray, not to wonder why Ray always looked at him. He tried to tell himself he was the only guy who was ever nice to Ray. Daily he waited for a mocker to throw a shirt in his face yelling "Cole fucker!" He wanted to say, "Don't look at me." Or, "Take off the goddamn clothes, then you can look at me."
Tim turned his head to look at Becky's breasts, only recently arousing his interest.
"Why are you looking at my breasts?"
"Today, class, we're going to talk about sex." The time had finally come, seventh grade sex education. Many had started to organize their own private lessons, but neither Tim nor Becky were those kind of people.
"Better leave, Ray, " someone said. "You can't have your clothes on during sex."
At lunch hour when Ray disappeared as usual, Tim walked with Becky through the trail they made to the stream. "I want to connect our pieces of the puzzle."
"No one can see," she said. "I know it's just a matter of going in here..."
"My arms around you until..."
"I wish I could see it come out."
"No, you don't want that."
"You'd be embarrassed."
"Yeah."
He started to press against her, and she said, "Hey, you know I don't really want to do this during school hours. It's hard to focus on you, to forget about school."
"Yeah but it's hard now for me to...Forget it. You're right. Why don't you just go back, and I'll be there in a minute."
"What are you going to do here?"
"I have to take a piss. Don't tell me you want to seethat come out."
"I won't. You'll be right there?"
"Yes. You do have a life, you know."
"It's a bundle of bitches."
"Then they need you. Go to them."
"Yes sir." She turned and walked back through the woods to the school at the end of the forest-enveloped town. Tim dug a small hole in the dirt with a toe, and positioned himself directly above it. He thought there would be something to bury, but there wasn't much. After it was covered, Tim heard a rustling of leaves to his left.
"What are you doing here?" he yelled angrily to whoever hid there. The figure stepped out from behind the bush.
"Ray? Are you spying on me? Becky's gone."
"I'm sorry," Ray whispered.
"What for?"
"Stay here," Ray said.
"I told Becky I'd be right back."
"She has her friends."
"Don't we all," Tim said, then bit his tongue. "What do you want?" he then asked.
"I want to do what you just did."
"That?" Tim said, trying to sound like he had forgotten.
"I want you to be my friend. I want to walk around next to you. I want to talk with you."
Tim stood in awe, trying to contemplate the meaning. He had witnessed a Cole wanting to associate with someone outside his family. All he could think of to say was, "You do?"
"Yes."
"Would your parents want that?"
"Yes."
"What?" Tim couldn't believe his ears. "They would?"
"Yes. You know...I would even be willing to..."
"To what?"
"I don't know." Ray turned away, ready to leave. "Maybe I spoke too soon."
"Could you take off those things?"
"Do I have to?" Ray pleaded.
"I don't know. You know it's good that people like me. I like that."
"I know you do. I hate people hating me."
"I know you do. So why do you people do it? Why so stubborn?"
"We were here before you. The town was deserted. We woke up one morning, and found you all here. Why? We stick to what we're used to, how we like to live, what we know. You come along with what you know, and it's different, and we don't belong anymore, except we can't find our way out."
"Why don't you just shed the clothes...And join us. You, your mom, your dad?"
"Nobody ever said that. Not in the last ten years."
"Then why are we having this conversation now? If it's not been building up inside for that long?"
"It's built up inside me, maybe in you, but who else?"
"Becky. I think she feels it too."
"Then I want to get to know her too."
"I think you can. Now will you take your clothes off? We'll come back to school, and everybody will feel totally different."
"I don't think so. But I'll take off my shirt...If you put it on."
Tim stood for a moment staring at the ground, looking broken. "I don't think that's going to work," he said. After a moment he said, "But we can try."
Ray revealed his bare chest--rumored to not exist--and gave the shirt to Tim who felt instantly claustrophobic upon putting it on. "How can you stand this?" he said.
When they got to the school yard, all eyes immediately fixed on the deviants.
"What the hell happened to you?" a voice said to Tim.
Becky ran to greet them, saying "I knew we would do this. Give me your shoes." Ray took off his shoes, and as Becky put them on, the crowd hissed in disgust.
They were not sent to the principle's office because nobody wanted to deal with the sensitive matter. Many phone calls were made to parents in the small community.
When the final bell rang, Tim and Becky gave Ray his clothes back, and they went their separate ways home. Becky decided to take the long way through the forest clearing and over the bridge. From the bridge, the Cole house could be seen. Kids would gather there to tell ghost stories about the residents. Becky told Tim she found it a quiet, peaceful place for whenever she needed time to think about life, love, and transitions.
As she stepped onto the bridge, a body lying in the river startled her. The clothes where an obvious indication of identity. She ran down to see if he was alright. With blood all over, he yelled at the slightest touch. But she pulled him to his feet and took him to her house.
"Tim," she said on the phone. "Get over here please. Thank God my parents aren't home."
"I don't know what to do," she cried at Tim when he arrived. "I took off his clothes and placed a wet wash cloth on the wounds, but..."
"Who could have done this?"
"Anyone."
As Ray rested on the sofa in discomfort, Tim looked at him and said, "You want to see something cool...?" He placed his hands on Becky's shoulders. She walked up to where their bodies united. He pushed himself gently into her, and they started kissing madly, and running their hands all over each other's bodies. Tim took hold of her breasts and squeezed them until he felt the flood coming on. Then he wrapped his arms around her back and pressed his whole body against her as hard as he could until it came. Ray's eyes were glued to the whole thing.
After Tim pulled out, Becky came up to Ray. Kneeling down, she said, "Here's something else", and bowed her head upon his midsection.
Becky's parents thrust open the door to find Becky nearly gagging on Ray.
Through all the hell that went on that night when the town got together, there remained hope for all three locked in their rooms. If they prayed all night, they would not have to sneak out the window to see each other.
The next day, Tim suspected he could have been wrong. Down the road to Becky's house, everyone stared at him in a mixture of wonder and pity.
"What's wrong?" he asked Becky when he got to her window in the back yard. Her face seemed moist with tears. "What have you heard?"
"Old Rob Navin...He's going to kill him. And his parents."
"You can't be serious." Tim knew how old fashioned and eccentric Rob Navin could be, but still...
"I'm going to go over there," Tim said. "You stay here. I'll be right back. With Ray."
He edged closer and closer to Ray's house feeling more and more strange. Something was not going to be how he wanted it to be.
As he got to the door, he found that it stood open a crack. He pushed it in, and saw Marv Cole's legs dispersed on opposite sides of the living room. The upper portion of his body was laying on the table in the dining room adjacent to the living room. His blood covered every inch of the surface like a table cloth.
"Oh God," Tim said.
Tim slowly walked into the hall and looked in the bathroom. The bath tub contained Linda Cole completely submerged in the water, her organs floating above her on the surface.
Tears streamed out of Tim's eyes, and he almost didn't want to go any further. He walked up to the door of a bedroom, probably Ray's. He opened the door, and jumped when he saw Rob Navin sitting on the bed.
"Think fast," Rob said, and threw Ray's head at Tim who instinctively caught it. He couldn't breathe. He ran away from the bedroom. In the living room, he placed the head on the sofa, and ran outside when he heard the approaching footsteps.
He got fifty meters away from the Cole house before he heard a yell. "Rag hag," the voice said. A shotgun blasted.
Tim felt an explosion in his back, looked down, and saw his intestines squirt out the front. He toppled to the ground. Trying to crawl forward, he could see Becky running toward him. Then she wasn't going anywhere. Then the light faded out.
© 1998 Matt Russell.