The Magic Thread!

[Kurt]

Hmm... still not ready...

[Kurt]

Hmm... still not ready...

[James Albert]

Just looking...again

[Graeme]

Something has been going wrong with this thread. Before I went away for the weekend, the post to view ratio was roughly 1:4. I've come back and it's almost 1:5. We have a LOT of posts to make up if we want to reach Kevin's target of 1000 posts, and we can't afford for this ratio to slip much further.

 

Either that, or we abandon the target and just have fun....

[AFriendlyFace]

Ohh do let's keep trying! I think we can do this!!

 

Post you guys! Even if it isn't about the story

[Rigel]

Okay, here's a post, and I haven't even carefully read what comes beforehand, which makes it likely that this a a non-sequitur. Some evening when I've got lots of time, I'll have to come back and read the story, and when I do, I'll have planned something clever to add to the end of these posts, instead of the mindless rambling you're reading now, which is an unfortunate but logical byproduct of the rules as set out by Kevin at the outset.

 

--Rigel

[AFriendlyFace]

Well that wasn't such a rambly post anyway!

 

LOL, besides there's always things you can say that seem to make sense even if you don't know what you're talking about.

 

"I'd agree with that"

 

"I'll have to check with Mel but I think this is going to work"

 

"You know back in Ohio they'd think this was a stupid idea"

 

"The best part is certainly yet to come"

[Tom]

Darn it....I ran out of time and didn't finish reading the story. I would love to add to it, but I really have to get going...Maybe I'll still get the chance after my drivers training is finished.

[AFriendlyFace]

Darn it....I ran out of time and didn't finish reading the story. I would love to add to it, but I really have to get going...Maybe I'll still get the chance after my drivers training is finished.

Looking forward to seeing what you've got to add, Tom

[Graeme]

Looking forward to seeing what you've got to add, Tom

Me, too. I don't want to write the next section because I think I've written enough for now. I want to see what other people add to the story. There have been some great contributions so far -- keep it up, guys!

 

Oh, and Kevin? When are you going to add to the story? :2hands:

[Bondwriter]

Just came to check the non-existing new chapters.

[James Albert]

I hope someone contributes to the story soon, i'm missing my usual installments =(

[Graeme]

Chapter 3

 

Justin was astonished. So far his day in this forsaken town had produced all kinds of people. First was the kind old man in the pick-up truck who turned out to be his great grand-dad. Then there was the odd boy in diner with his frightful artwork and the cleaver. Next was the frazzled woman at the help desk who would not permit him to see Trevor Leiberman. Trevor turned out to be more of an insult to humanity than anything else, and then his real father was just flat-out weird. The man standing before him now -- the man who was presumably to take him in for the night -- was the polar opposite of all of these people. He was handsome, to say the least, with his longish blonde hair falling over his ears and his crystal blue eyes being the shiniest objects on the property. His features were out of place for this town, even though his choice of clothing was quite appropriate for this section of whatever hell Justin had stumbled upon when leaving the train station. The man was wearing clothing that suggested that his line of work dealt with grease, and the junkyard that was his property seemed to agree with that assessment. Justin wondered if perhaps this man had a personality to go with his good looks.

 

"Hey there, Kill, Ben," the man said to Justin's oddball family before resting his eyes on Justin himself.

 

"Hey Robbie, we need a favor. We need you to take Justin in for the night. We think he'll be much safer with you than anywhere else," Kill said to Robbie, not waiting for him to agree to any favors as he nudged Justin into the old brick building.

 

Robbie looked Justin up and down before smiling and responding to Kill's request, "No problem. He can stay on the pull-out couch if he likes."

 

Justin was getting a little tired of being referred to in the third person while being present and was about to speak up when Robbie put his arm around Justin's shoulder and guided him through the foyer of the building and into what was probably a living room. He wasn't sure since it also resembled a garage, complete with what appeared be the inards of a small motor covering the coffee table, possibly belonging to the ATV that was barely visible through the soot-covered sliding glass doors at the rear of the room that smelled both sweet and dirty at the same time. He pondered for a moment if the sweet sensation was only because the young man -- younger than anyone else he had the misfortune of meeting that day -- holding him by the shoulders was the building's sole occupant.

 

Justin blew softly on the cup of hot cocoa Robbie had fixed him. He didn't want to get burned.

 

"So, Sonny, you've been given the whole 'gate to the underworld' speech by these loony relatives of yours?" As Justin looked at him with a surprised look, he added, "No offense, but I don't really buy into this whole supernatural stuff myself."

Justin moved a few engine parts that cluttered up the table to put the too hot beverage down. This Robbie guy was about to reveal more stuff.

 

"What you've got to understand, Junior", he annoyed Justin further with one of these diminutive nicknames, "is that this town is rife with secrets. Juicy ones. And I'm not talking only about Mrs. Gunardsson sleeping -well, having sex, since it mainly takes place during the day- with her maid or Mr. Dellio embezzling his company's money. This is ordinary small town secret."

 

He paused, and stood to get an old leather bound book.

"There are secrets that date back to way earlier in history. There are a few things you should know first concerning how the Civil War affected this area."

 

"But I have a policy. I never reveal information to strangers until they reveal something about themselves." Robbie said with a sly smirk. "So tell me about yourself, kid."

 

"Well first off I'm not overly fond of the patronizing nicknames. So knock it off." Justin said with more confidence than he actually felt.

 

"Secondly, I'm a Libra, I enjoy long walks on the beach, and cuddling on the couch while watching a movie. There, satisified?" Justin couldn't believe he'd just said all that, but the playful looks Robbie was giving him had encouraged him and let him know that it was okay.

 

"Hmmm. Am I satisfied?" Robbie wondered aloud with mock exageration. "Nope, I'm not. However, I think I might be if we tried cuddling on the coach and watching a movie."

 

Justin's mouth dropped open in surprise, and he nervously fumbled for an appropriate response as Robbie continued to look him over with something that clearly went beyond platonic interest.

"I... er... I'm... umm... not really..."

 

Robbie gave Justin a smile that silenced as well as calmed him. "It's okay, Justin, if that's what you prefer to be called. I was probably moving too fast, but I could tell you were interested."

 

Justin opened his mouth to try to deny it, but nothing came out.

 

Robbie tilted his head to one side. "You don't have to worry. While there's many things you need to be wary of here, homophobia is not one of them." He smiled. "Now, how about that movie? I'll let you decide when you want to start the cuddling."

 

It was ten minutes into the movie -- Justin couldn't recall later what it was they watched -- that Justin relaxed enough to rest his head on Robbie's shoulder. He closed his eyes as he felt an arm drape itself across his shoulder and gently squeeze. When Justin felt a warm breath on his face, he opened his mouth slightly and accept the soft touch of another pair of lips on his. Justin kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to open them and discover that what he was experiencing wasn't real.

[colinian]

Uh... hmmm... dang... nothing to add. Whatever.

 

Colin

[Graeme]

Oh, come on. What's so hard ... er... difficult about writing a few lines about two sexy... er... good looking young men interwined on a couch?

 

As for the secret... we can guess that it has something to do with the town. Maybe it's a secret about why the town was founded, or maybe why it started to decline?

 

Given the vision about the three deaths, it maybe that the secret is linked to that.

[Razor]

Ahem...

 

And then they died. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! No but seriously... I can't add to it. It's just not my cup of tea. I have to write angst, turmoil, unhappiness, death, deceit, sadness... this is just too mysteryful.

 

But anyway, I wanna name my first boy rowan Michael, first girl Samantha Krystine (or Corinne, not sure... pronounced Core-inn, with the emphasis on the inn), second boy Taryn Freeman, and I dunno the second girl name yet. Yes, I know my boys' names are kinda fruity, but I happen to think they're beautiful names, and the middle names come from family.

[James Albert]

I'm gonna wait for Graeme to add, since there's nothing difficult about it. =P

[colinian]

Chapter 3

 

Justin was astonished. So far his day in this forsaken town had produced all kinds of people. First was the kind old man in the pick-up truck who turned out to be his great grand-dad. Then there was the odd boy in diner with his frightful artwork and the cleaver. Next was the frazzled woman at the help desk who would not permit him to see Trevor Leiberman. Trevor turned out to be more of an insult to humanity than anything else, and then his real father was just flat-out weird. The man standing before him now -- the man who was presumably to take him in for the night -- was the polar opposite of all of these people. He was handsome, to say the least, with his longish blonde hair falling over his ears and his crystal blue eyes being the shiniest objects on the property. His features were out of place for this town, even though his choice of clothing was quite appropriate for this section of whatever hell Justin had stumbled upon when leaving the train station. The man was wearing clothing that suggested that his line of work dealt with grease, and the junkyard that was his property seemed to agree with that assessment. Justin wondered if perhaps this man had a personality to go with his good looks.

 

"Hey there, Kill, Ben," the man said to Justin's oddball family before resting his eyes on Justin himself.

 

"Hey Robbie, we need a favor. We need you to take Justin in for the night. We think he'll be much safer with you than anywhere else," Kill said to Robbie, not waiting for him to agree to any favors as he nudged Justin into the old brick building.

 

Robbie looked Justin up and down before smiling and responding to Kill's request, "No problem. He can stay on the pull-out couch if he likes."

 

Justin was getting a little tired of being referred to in the third person while being present and was about to speak up when Robbie put his arm around Justin's shoulder and guided him through the foyer of the building and into what was probably a living room. He wasn't sure since it also resembled a garage, complete with what appeared be the inards of a small motor covering the coffee table, possibly belonging to the ATV that was barely visible through the soot-covered sliding glass doors at the rear of the room that smelled both sweet and dirty at the same time. He pondered for a moment if the sweet sensation was only because the young man -- younger than anyone else he had the misfortune of meeting that day -- holding him by the shoulders was the building's sole occupant.

 

Justin blew softly on the cup of hot cocoa Robbie had fixed him. He didn't want to get burned.

 

"So, Sonny, you've been given the whole 'gate to the underworld' speech by these loony relatives of yours?" As Justin looked at him with a surprised look, he added, "No offense, but I don't really buy into this whole supernatural stuff myself."

Justin moved a few engine parts that cluttered up the table to put the too hot beverage down. This Robbie guy was about to reveal more stuff.

 

"What you've got to understand, Junior", he annoyed Justin further with one of these diminutive nicknames, "is that this town is rife with secrets. Juicy ones. And I'm not talking only about Mrs. Gunardsson sleeping -well, having sex, since it mainly takes place during the day- with her maid or Mr. Dellio embezzling his company's money. This is ordinary small town secret."

 

He paused, and stood to get an old leather bound book.

"There are secrets that date back to way earlier in history. There are a few things you should know first concerning how the Civil War affected this area."

 

"But I have a policy. I never reveal information to strangers until they reveal something about themselves." Robbie said with a sly smirk. "So tell me about yourself, kid."

 

"Well first off I'm not overly fond of the patronizing nicknames. So knock it off." Justin said with more confidence than he actually felt.

 

"Secondly, I'm a Libra, I enjoy long walks on the beach, and cuddling on the couch while watching a movie. There, satisified?" Justin couldn't believe he'd just said all that, but the playful looks Robbie was giving him had encouraged him and let him know that it was okay.

 

"Hmmm. Am I satisfied?" Robbie wondered aloud with mock exageration. "Nope, I'm not. However, I think I might be if we tried cuddling on the coach and watching a movie."

 

Justin's mouth dropped open in surprise, and he nervously fumbled for an appropriate response as Robbie continued to look him over with something that clearly went beyond platonic interest.

 

"I... er... I'm... umm... not really..."

 

Robbie gave Justin a smile that silenced as well as calmed him. "It's okay, Justin, if that's what you prefer to be called. I was probably moving too fast, but I could tell you were interested."

 

Justin opened his mouth to try to deny it, but nothing came out.

 

Robbie tilted his head to one side. "You don't have to worry. While there's many things you need to be wary of here, homophobia is not one of them." He smiled. "Now, how about that movie? I'll let you decide when you want to start the cuddling."

 

It was ten minutes into the movie -- Justin couldn't recall later what it was they watched -- that Justin relaxed enough to rest his head on Robbie's shoulder. He closed his eyes as he felt an arm drape itself across his shoulder and gently squeeze. When Justin felt a warm breath on his face, he opened his mouth slightly and accept the soft touch of another pair of lips on his. Justin kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to open them and discover that what he was experiencing wasn't real.

 

Justin opened his eyes and rubbed the sleep from them as he tried to figure out where he was. It was daytime, there was filtered sunlight shining into the room through the accumulated grime on a sliding glass door. He was lying on a couch, his head was on a pillow, a light blanket covered him. A noise outside, the sound of an engine trying to sputter to life and failing, brought everything back. He'd fallen asleep. He'd been cuddling with Robbie. Robbie had kissed him. On the lips. Or was that a dream? Justin thought about last night, about dreaming, and realized that he couldn't remember any dreams. Normally he remembered his dreams, clearly, way too clearly. There were usually what he could only describe as sinister aspects, not quite nightmares, but not pleasant dreams.

 

The couch wasn't all that comfortable. Justin stretched to get the kinks out of his back, and realized that he was only wearing his T-shirt and briefs. Had he undressed himself, or had Robbie undressed him? Justin glanced down at the coffee table. The engine parts were gone, and the grease and oil had been more or less wiped off. The half-finished cup of cocoa was also gone, and had been replaced by a large glass of what looked like orange juice. The sight made Justin's stomach growl, telling him that it was time to eat something.

 

He sat up and picked up the glass. The juice was almost ice cold, and tasted fantastic, just like fresh orange juice. He looked around for his clothes, and saw them neatly folded on a chair on the other side of the room. Justin knew that Robbie had undressed him and put him to bed. He would never have folded his own clothes neatly. If anything negative could be told about him, he knew that it would be that neatness was not at the top of his priorities, it wasn't even on the list. Justin giggled thinking about that. His mom had used those exact words about him before...

 

"Hey, sleeping beauty, I see you've decided to grace my humble abode by waking up. Finally." Robbie burst out laughing, irritating Justin because he knew it was at his expense. "Sorry about that, I know you must have been exhausted. But the lunch wagon is just about to close, it's almost 1:30 in the afternoon! I assume you're hungry, and so am I. I've been waiting 'til you woke up to make lunch. Get dressed and come on back to the kitchen and I'll make us some sandwiches. That OK?"

 

"Uh, yeah, thanks. I am hungry. Oh, this OJ was wonderful. Fresh squeezed?"

 

"Yup. Oranges off my own trees, out back of the j-yard. After lunch I'll show you around. Ham and cheese good for you?"

 

Justin's stomach growled again, and he laughed. "Mmmm, for sure my stomach says 'yes'!"

 

Robbie laughed again, and pointed in back of the couch. "Kitchen's back there." He took the now empty orange juice glass and walked in that direction.

 

Justin dressed and looked around for a bathroom. There was a door just to the left of the slider, and behind it was a half-bath. When he finished, including washing his face to help wake up, Justin walked into the kitchen. He couldn't believe his eyes. Where everything else he'd seen was, to put it politely, filthy, the kitchen was immaculate, and it was huge. Everything looked new, and the appliances weren't the kind that you'd find in a typical house. This kitchen looked like it should be in some fancy restaurant somewhere.

 

"Like it? This is my real calling. I went to culinary school. I love to cook. I started fixing up this place, but spent all the money on the kitchen. Some day I'll get to the rest of it. Maybe!" Robbie's laugh was infectious, and Justin started laughing too.

 

"Wow, this is just amazing. I'm not a cook, but I can tell a professional kitchen from the kind I'm used to. This is a professional kitchen." That comment elicited a big smile from Robbie.

 

"OK, ready to eat?" Robbie took two plates, each with two large sandwiches, and a bag of potato chips over to a table at the far end of the kitchen. "What do you want to dirnk? I've got Coke and ginger ale, beer, but you don't look old enough to drink so that's out, water, more orange juice, milk, coffee, whatever."

 

"Coke's fine. Regular, not diet, it you have it."

 

"Coming up." Robbie returned to the table with two cans of Coke and sat down.

 

"While we eat, you tell me more about yourself, and I'll tell you more about this town and the people. Maybe even about how you fit in to this whole picture."

 

Justin ate his sandwich. What he really wanted to do is ask about last night, about the kiss, if that even actually happened. But for now, he'd have to play the 'I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours' game that Robbie had devised. And Justin needed to find out what was going on.

 

It was his turn. What should he tell Robbie? What could he tell Robbie? He swallowed his last bite, followed it with a gulp of Coke, and took a deep breath. This was going to be hard to do. But he realized it was something he needed to do, had needed to do for a while. He looked up at Robbie.

 

"I guess I should start at the beginning."

[colinian]

I'm gonna wait for Graeme to add, since there's nothing difficult about it. =P

That would be too long to wait. Graeme posts about once a week, and he posted yesterday... so I went ahead and added to Chapter 3. I left enough hooks that you can take it in lots of different directions, or you can ignore them and take it wherever you want.

 

Don't wait, James, go ahead and add to the round-robin tale of Justin and The Magic Thread.

 

 

Colin

[Graeme]

Wow, that's a great addition, Colin!

 

I'm at work and I have to go out soon, so I can't add to it now, but I'll think about it. Maybe someone else can add a bit before I can get back to it....

[Bondwriter]

Not quite sure I've got tons yet. Should any supernatural element disappear? Well, just a few thoughts after Colin's installment. The spotless kitchen, that's a great element for Robbie to have two faces...

[Kurt]

just checkin...

[Adonelos]

Chapter 3

 

Justin was astonished. So far his day in this forsaken town had produced all kinds of people. First was the kind old man in the pick-up truck who turned out to be his great grand-dad. Then there was the odd boy in diner with his frightful artwork and the cleaver. Next was the frazzled woman at the help desk who would not permit him to see Trevor Leiberman. Trevor turned out to be more of an insult to humanity than anything else, and then his real father was just flat-out weird. The man standing before him now -- the man who was presumably to take him in for the night -- was the polar opposite of all of these people. He was handsome, to say the least, with his longish blonde hair falling over his ears and his crystal blue eyes being the shiniest objects on the property. His features were out of place for this town, even though his choice of clothing was quite appropriate for this section of whatever hell Justin had stumbled upon when leaving the train station. The man was wearing clothing that suggested that his line of work dealt with grease, and the junkyard that was his property seemed to agree with that assessment. Justin wondered if perhaps this man had a personality to go with his good looks.

 

"Hey there, Kill, Ben," the man said to Justin's oddball family before resting his eyes on Justin himself.

 

"Hey Robbie, we need a favor. We need you to take Justin in for the night. We think he'll be much safer with you than anywhere else," Kill said to Robbie, not waiting for him to agree to any favors as he nudged Justin into the old brick building.

 

Robbie looked Justin up and down before smiling and responding to Kill's request, "No problem. He can stay on the pull-out couch if he likes."

 

Justin was getting a little tired of being referred to in the third person while being present and was about to speak up when Robbie put his arm around Justin's shoulder and guided him through the foyer of the building and into what was probably a living room. He wasn't sure since it also resembled a garage, complete with what appeared be the inards of a small motor covering the coffee table, possibly belonging to the ATV that was barely visible through the soot-covered sliding glass doors at the rear of the room that smelled both sweet and dirty at the same time. He pondered for a moment if the sweet sensation was only because the young man -- younger than anyone else he had the misfortune of meeting that day -- holding him by the shoulders was the building's sole occupant.

 

Justin blew softly on the cup of hot cocoa Robbie had fixed him. He didn't want to get burned.

 

"So, Sonny, you've been given the whole 'gate to the underworld' speech by these loony relatives of yours?" As Justin looked at him with a surprised look, he added, "No offense, but I don't really buy into this whole supernatural stuff myself."

Justin moved a few engine parts that cluttered up the table to put the too hot beverage down. This Robbie guy was about to reveal more stuff.

 

"What you've got to understand, Junior", he annoyed Justin further with one of these diminutive nicknames, "is that this town is rife with secrets. Juicy ones. And I'm not talking only about Mrs. Gunardsson sleeping -well, having sex, since it mainly takes place during the day- with her maid or Mr. Dellio embezzling his company's money. This is ordinary small town secret."

 

He paused, and stood to get an old leather bound book.

"There are secrets that date back to way earlier in history. There are a few things you should know first concerning how the Civil War affected this area."

 

"But I have a policy. I never reveal information to strangers until they reveal something about themselves." Robbie said with a sly smirk. "So tell me about yourself, kid."

 

"Well first off I'm not overly fond of the patronizing nicknames. So knock it off." Justin said with more confidence than he actually felt.

 

"Secondly, I'm a Libra, I enjoy long walks on the beach, and cuddling on the couch while watching a movie. There, satisified?" Justin couldn't believe he'd just said all that, but the playful looks Robbie was giving him had encouraged him and let him know that it was okay.

 

"Hmmm. Am I satisfied?" Robbie wondered aloud with mock exageration. "Nope, I'm not. However, I think I might be if we tried cuddling on the coach and watching a movie."

 

Justin's mouth dropped open in surprise, and he nervously fumbled for an appropriate response as Robbie continued to look him over with something that clearly went beyond platonic interest.

 

"I... er... I'm... umm... not really..."

 

Robbie gave Justin a smile that silenced as well as calmed him. "It's okay, Justin, if that's what you prefer to be called. I was probably moving too fast, but I could tell you were interested."

 

Justin opened his mouth to try to deny it, but nothing came out.

 

Robbie tilted his head to one side. "You don't have to worry. While there's many things you need to be wary of here, homophobia is not one of them." He smiled. "Now, how about that movie? I'll let you decide when you want to start the cuddling."

 

It was ten minutes into the movie -- Justin couldn't recall later what it was they watched -- that Justin relaxed enough to rest his head on Robbie's shoulder. He closed his eyes as he felt an arm drape itself across his shoulder and gently squeeze. When Justin felt a warm breath on his face, he opened his mouth slightly and accept the soft touch of another pair of lips on his. Justin kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to open them and discover that what he was experiencing wasn't real.

 

Justin opened his eyes and rubbed the sleep from them as he tried to figure out where he was. It was daytime, there was filtered sunlight shining into the room through the accumulated grime on a sliding glass door. He was lying on a couch, his head was on a pillow, a light blanket covered him. A noise outside, the sound of an engine trying to sputter to life and failing, brought everything back. He'd fallen asleep. He'd been cuddling with Robbie. Robbie had kissed him. On the lips. Or was that a dream? Justin thought about last night, about dreaming, and realized that he couldn't remember any dreams. Normally he remembered his dreams, clearly, way too clearly. There were usually what he could only describe as sinister aspects, not quite nightmares, but not pleasant dreams.

 

The couch wasn't all that comfortable. Justin stretched to get the kinks out of his back, and realized that he was only wearing his T-shirt and briefs. Had he undressed himself, or had Robbie undressed him? Justin glanced down at the coffee table. The engine parts were gone, and the grease and oil had been more or less wiped off. The half-finished cup of cocoa was also gone, and had been replaced by a large glass of what looked like orange juice. The sight made Justin's stomach growl, telling him that it was time to eat something.

 

He sat up and picked up the glass. The juice was almost ice cold, and tasted fantastic, just like fresh orange juice. He looked around for his clothes, and saw them neatly folded on a chair on the other side of the room. Justin knew that Robbie had undressed him and put him to bed. He would never have folded his own clothes neatly. If anything negative could be told about him, he knew that it would be that neatness was not at the top of his priorities, it wasn't even on the list. Justin giggled thinking about that. His mom had used those exact words about him before...

 

"Hey, sleeping beauty, I see you've decided to grace my humble abode by waking up. Finally." Robbie burst out laughing, irritating Justin because he knew it was at his expense. "Sorry about that, I know you must have been exhausted. But the lunch wagon is just about to close, it's almost 1:30 in the afternoon! I assume you're hungry, and so am I. I've been waiting 'til you woke up to make lunch. Get dressed and come on back to the kitchen and I'll make us some sandwiches. That OK?"

 

"Uh, yeah, thanks. I am hungry. Oh, this OJ was wonderful. Fresh squeezed?"

 

"Yup. Oranges off my own trees, out back of the j-yard. After lunch I'll show you around. Ham and cheese good for you?"

 

Justin's stomach growled again, and he laughed. "Mmmm, for sure my stomach says 'yes'!"

 

Robbie laughed again, and pointed in back of the couch. "Kitchen's back there." He took the now empty orange juice glass and walked in that direction.

 

Justin dressed and looked around for a bathroom. There was a door just to the left of the slider, and behind it was a half-bath. When he finished, including washing his face to help wake up, Justin walked into the kitchen. He couldn't believe his eyes. Where everything else he'd seen was, to put it politely, filthy, the kitchen was immaculate, and it was huge. Everything looked new, and the appliances weren't the kind that you'd find in a typical house. This kitchen looked like it should be in some fancy restaurant somewhere.

 

"Like it? This is my real calling. I went to culinary school. I love to cook. I started fixing up this place, but spent all the money on the kitchen. Some day I'll get to the rest of it. Maybe!" Robbie's laugh was infectious, and Justin started laughing too.

 

"Wow, this is just amazing. I'm not a cook, but I can tell a professional kitchen from the kind I'm used to. This is a professional kitchen." That comment elicited a big smile from Robbie.

 

"OK, ready to eat?" Robbie took two plates, each with two large sandwiches, and a bag of potato chips over to a table at the far end of the kitchen. "What do you want to dirnk? I've got Coke and ginger ale, beer, but you don't look old enough to drink so that's out, water, more orange juice, milk, coffee, whatever."

 

"Coke's fine. Regular, not diet, it you have it."

 

"Coming up." Robbie returned to the table with two cans of Coke and sat down.

 

"While we eat, you tell me more about yourself, and I'll tell you more about this town and the people. Maybe even about how you fit in to this whole picture."

 

Justin ate his sandwich. What he really wanted to do is ask about last night, about the kiss, if that even actually happened. But for now, he'd have to play the 'I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours' game that Robbie had devised. And Justin needed to find out what was going on.

 

It was his turn. What should he tell Robbie? What could he tell Robbie? He swallowed his last bite, followed it with a gulp of Coke, and took a deep breath. This was going to be hard to do. But he realized it was something he needed to do, had needed to do for a while. He looked up at Robbie.

 

"I guess I should start at the beginning."

 

Justin stared at his coke for a bit before taking a deep breath.

 

"I guess it started, really started when my mom, Mary Couley, went out of town for a bit. I didn't think much of it since she always had these odd jobs coming her way. We used to sit down and talk about them for a bit. Thing is she was only supposed to be away for a week and... well... about that time I figured it would be good to have one of my friends over. I'd tried to plan for it but well over time this friend of mine... we ... ah ... we became close. Really close by the time the week ended." Justin smiled a bit then his expression darkened.

 

"It was then that I started to get worried. I mean, my mom was usually pretty good about checkups but I hadn't heard a peep from her. In the beginning I just brushed it off but then... she didn't come home..." Justin looks up face made soft by the remembered worry and horror of the moment. "I... tried to get in contact with her, calling her cell but... I recieved the "No such number" bit. At first I thought I had dialed it wrong, then I tried the place she was to work for... She never arrived. In fact they didn't even know who I was asking about..."

 

Justin stopped for a bit taking a sip from his coke. When he felt more in control he started again,"That's the point where I started to panic. I know if she said if anything ever happened to her I was to get in contact with my father but... We'd never really spoken about him. All I knew for sure was Ben Leibner or just a leibner was who I was to get in contact with. I thought it was a might big leap and at the time. I... thought it was best to stick around after all she might still show up right? To be on the safe side, I did call the police. I spoke with one of the detectives and was told it might be best for me to stay with my friend for a bit."

 

"It was there that things sort of came to a head. See, my friend is a son of a preacher. Kind of strict guy always railing on about how we're all sinking into sin and all that. Well, one day he caught us while we were... fooling around so to speak. To make a long story short he tossed me out. My friend turned his back on me, or at least that's how it seemed, the apartment was closed, and I only had a bit of things from when I was spending then night at his place. That's when I decided to come to this... town in search of my father. I thought... well, I thought that I might be able to get my feet under me perhaps start anew. At least until I found out how loony the place is! I mean Ben Sr. is pretty nice, giving me a ride over that mud lake that's almost uicksand. I wander into what seems to be a ghost town, into a greasy spoon that is full of skeleton's and phantom smells then almost diced by some kid with a large knife. I meet an uncle who I at first thought was my father and learn I have 2 uncles. I hope the other uncle is much more pleasant than Trevor. Is he even human? ah hem. So that's pretty much how I came to be here."

 

Ok yes I know very very um ucky.... It was so interesting and I wanted to add some too. oh... my kwu key is broken so... now I feel really scared about posting this....

 

brain... melt down ahhh! ok this story is twisty! Let's see we have boy searching for father, he seems to be trusting at first then gets hit by random ohhh fight or flight responses with insta vision! (hey what else would you call those bits where the world goes poof from his point of view?) He seems to have misplaced his dog hmmm.... maybe we should make it the coyote the Native American trickster spirit hmmm (nods to self yeah I like that Idea) *continues with rambles onward* hmmm seems to be scared of homophobia and the tone does seem to make him out to be at the least gay (yay!) and has a loony family. Hmmm, something happened to the mother plus there was some sort of incident of (seemingly) major import to his life... Sooo, how bout mom seems to have vanished and he was evicted after about a month and, was caught with the local (homophobic) preacher's son in naughty embrace hmm? effectively ran him out of town while daddy protected his boy ... at least for a little bit... wonder if I should try and drag out one of the standard humanoid appearances of the coyote... he's a trickster though and supposedly this mischief maker is on the good side just chaotic.

[Adonelos]

post

because I'm stupid and feeling inadeuate with what I remember I wrote before. Feel free to umm... change it or delete it.

[rknapp]

Chapter 3

 

Justin was astonished. So far his day in this forsaken town had produced all kinds of people. First was the kind old man in the pick-up truck who turned out to be his great grand-dad. Then there was the odd boy in diner with his frightful artwork and the cleaver. Next was the frazzled woman at the help desk who would not permit him to see Trevor Leiberman. Trevor turned out to be more of an insult to humanity than anything else, and then his real father was just flat-out weird. The man standing before him now -- the man who was presumably to take him in for the night -- was the polar opposite of all of these people. He was handsome, to say the least, with his longish blonde hair falling over his ears and his crystal blue eyes being the shiniest objects on the property. His features were out of place for this town, even though his choice of clothing was quite appropriate for this section of whatever hell Justin had stumbled upon when leaving the train station. The man was wearing clothing that suggested that his line of work dealt with grease, and the junkyard that was his property seemed to agree with that assessment. Justin wondered if perhaps this man had a personality to go with his good looks.

 

"Hey there, Kill, Ben," the man said to Justin's oddball family before resting his eyes on Justin himself.

 

"Hey Robbie, we need a favor. We need you to take Justin in for the night. We think he'll be much safer with you than anywhere else," Kill said to Robbie, not waiting for him to agree to any favors as he nudged Justin into the old brick building.

 

Robbie looked Justin up and down before smiling and responding to Kill's request, "No problem. He can stay on the pull-out couch if he likes."

 

Justin was getting a little tired of being referred to in the third person while being present and was about to speak up when Robbie put his arm around Justin's shoulder and guided him through the foyer of the building and into what was probably a living room. He wasn't sure since it also resembled a garage, complete with what appeared be the inards of a small motor covering the coffee table, possibly belonging to the ATV that was barely visible through the soot-covered sliding glass doors at the rear of the room that smelled both sweet and dirty at the same time. He pondered for a moment if the sweet sensation was only because the young man -- younger than anyone else he had the misfortune of meeting that day -- holding him by the shoulders was the building's sole occupant.

 

Justin blew softly on the cup of hot cocoa Robbie had fixed him. He didn't want to get burned.

 

"So, Sonny, you've been given the whole 'gate to the underworld' speech by these loony relatives of yours?" As Justin looked at him with a surprised look, he added, "No offense, but I don't really buy into this whole supernatural stuff myself."

Justin moved a few engine parts that cluttered up the table to put the too hot beverage down. This Robbie guy was about to reveal more stuff.

 

"What you've got to understand, Junior", he annoyed Justin further with one of these diminutive nicknames, "is that this town is rife with secrets. Juicy ones. And I'm not talking only about Mrs. Gunardsson sleeping -well, having sex, since it mainly takes place during the day- with her maid or Mr. Dellio embezzling his company's money. This is ordinary small town secret."

 

He paused, and stood to get an old leather bound book.

"There are secrets that date back to way earlier in history. There are a few things you should know first concerning how the Civil War affected this area."

 

"But I have a policy. I never reveal information to strangers until they reveal something about themselves." Robbie said with a sly smirk. "So tell me about yourself, kid."

 

"Well first off I'm not overly fond of the patronizing nicknames. So knock it off." Justin said with more confidence than he actually felt.

 

"Secondly, I'm a Libra, I enjoy long walks on the beach, and cuddling on the couch while watching a movie. There, satisified?" Justin couldn't believe he'd just said all that, but the playful looks Robbie was giving him had encouraged him and let him know that it was okay.

 

"Hmmm. Am I satisfied?" Robbie wondered aloud with mock exageration. "Nope, I'm not. However, I think I might be if we tried cuddling on the coach and watching a movie."

 

Justin's mouth dropped open in surprise, and he nervously fumbled for an appropriate response as Robbie continued to look him over with something that clearly went beyond platonic interest.

 

"I... er... I'm... umm... not really..."

 

Robbie gave Justin a smile that silenced as well as calmed him. "It's okay, Justin, if that's what you prefer to be called. I was probably moving too fast, but I could tell you were interested."

 

Justin opened his mouth to try to deny it, but nothing came out.

 

Robbie tilted his head to one side. "You don't have to worry. While there's many things you need to be wary of here, homophobia is not one of them." He smiled. "Now, how about that movie? I'll let you decide when you want to start the cuddling."

 

It was ten minutes into the movie -- Justin couldn't recall later what it was they watched -- that Justin relaxed enough to rest his head on Robbie's shoulder. He closed his eyes as he felt an arm drape itself across his shoulder and gently squeeze. When Justin felt a warm breath on his face, he opened his mouth slightly and accept the soft touch of another pair of lips on his. Justin kept his eyes closed. He didn't want to open them and discover that what he was experiencing wasn't real.

 

Justin opened his eyes and rubbed the sleep from them as he tried to figure out where he was. It was daytime, there was filtered sunlight shining into the room through the accumulated grime on a sliding glass door. He was lying on a couch, his head was on a pillow, a light blanket covered him. A noise outside, the sound of an engine trying to sputter to life and failing, brought everything back. He'd fallen asleep. He'd been cuddling with Robbie. Robbie had kissed him. On the lips. Or was that a dream? Justin thought about last night, about dreaming, and realized that he couldn't remember any dreams. Normally he remembered his dreams, clearly, way too clearly. There were usually what he could only describe as sinister aspects, not quite nightmares, but not pleasant dreams.

 

The couch wasn't all that comfortable. Justin stretched to get the kinks out of his back, and realized that he was only wearing his T-shirt and briefs. Had he undressed himself, or had Robbie undressed him? Justin glanced down at the coffee table. The engine parts were gone, and the grease and oil had been more or less wiped off. The half-finished cup of cocoa was also gone, and had been replaced by a large glass of what looked like orange juice. The sight made Justin's stomach growl, telling him that it was time to eat something.

 

He sat up and picked up the glass. The juice was almost ice cold, and tasted fantastic, just like fresh orange juice. He looked around for his clothes, and saw them neatly folded on a chair on the other side of the room. Justin knew that Robbie had undressed him and put him to bed. He would never have folded his own clothes neatly. If anything negative could be told about him, he knew that it would be that neatness was not at the top of his priorities, it wasn't even on the list. Justin giggled thinking about that. His mom had used those exact words about him before...

 

"Hey, sleeping beauty, I see you've decided to grace my humble abode by waking up. Finally." Robbie burst out laughing, irritating Justin because he knew it was at his expense. "Sorry about that, I know you must have been exhausted. But the lunch wagon is just about to close, it's almost 1:30 in the afternoon! I assume you're hungry, and so am I. I've been waiting 'til you woke up to make lunch. Get dressed and come on back to the kitchen and I'll make us some sandwiches. That OK?"

 

"Uh, yeah, thanks. I am hungry. Oh, this OJ was wonderful. Fresh squeezed?"

 

"Yup. Oranges off my own trees, out back of the j-yard. After lunch I'll show you around. Ham and cheese good for you?"

 

Justin's stomach growled again, and he laughed. "Mmmm, for sure my stomach says 'yes'!"

 

Robbie laughed again, and pointed in back of the couch. "Kitchen's back there." He took the now empty orange juice glass and walked in that direction.

 

Justin dressed and looked around for a bathroom. There was a door just to the left of the slider, and behind it was a half-bath. When he finished, including washing his face to help wake up, Justin walked into the kitchen. He couldn't believe his eyes. Where everything else he'd seen was, to put it politely, filthy, the kitchen was immaculate, and it was huge. Everything looked new, and the appliances weren't the kind that you'd find in a typical house. This kitchen looked like it should be in some fancy restaurant somewhere.

 

"Like it? This is my real calling. I went to culinary school. I love to cook. I started fixing up this place, but spent all the money on the kitchen. Some day I'll get to the rest of it. Maybe!" Robbie's laugh was infectious, and Justin started laughing too.

 

"Wow, this is just amazing. I'm not a cook, but I can tell a professional kitchen from the kind I'm used to. This is a professional kitchen." That comment elicited a big smile from Robbie.

 

"OK, ready to eat?" Robbie took two plates, each with two large sandwiches, and a bag of potato chips over to a table at the far end of the kitchen. "What do you want to dirnk? I've got Coke and ginger ale, beer, but you don't look old enough to drink so that's out, water, more orange juice, milk, coffee, whatever."

 

"Coke's fine. Regular, not diet, it you have it."

 

"Coming up." Robbie returned to the table with two cans of Coke and sat down.

 

"While we eat, you tell me more about yourself, and I'll tell you more about this town and the people. Maybe even about how you fit in to this whole picture."

 

Justin ate his sandwich. What he really wanted to do is ask about last night, about the kiss, if that even actually happened. But for now, he'd have to play the 'I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours' game that Robbie had devised. And Justin needed to find out what was going on.

 

It was his turn. What should he tell Robbie? What could he tell Robbie? He swallowed his last bite, followed it with a gulp of Coke, and took a deep breath. This was going to be hard to do. But he realized it was something he needed to do, had needed to do for a while. He looked up at Robbie.

 

"I guess I should start at the beginning."

 

Justin stared at his coke for a bit before taking a deep breath.

 

"I guess it started, really started when my mom, Mary Couley, went out of town for a bit. I didn't think much of it since she always had these odd jobs coming her way. We used to sit down and talk about them for a bit. Thing is she was only supposed to be away for a week and... well... about that time I figured it would be good to have one of my friends over. I'd tried to plan for it but well over time this friend of mine... we ... ah ... we became close. Really close by the time the week ended." Justin smiled a bit then his expression darkened.

 

"It was then that I started to get worried. I mean, my mom was usually pretty good about checkups but I hadn't heard a peep from her. In the beginning I just brushed it off but then... she didn't come home..." Justin looks up face made soft by the remembered worry and horror of the moment. "I... tried to get in contact with her, calling her cell but... I recieved the "No such number" bit. At first I thought I had dialed it wrong, then I tried the place she was to work for... She never arrived. In fact they didn't even know who I was asking about..."

 

Justin stopped for a bit taking a sip from his coke. When he felt more in control he started again,"That's the point where I started to panic. I know if she said if anything ever happened to her I was to get in contact with my father but... We'd never really spoken about him. All I knew for sure was Ben Leibner or just a leibner was who I was to get in contact with. I thought it was a might big leap and at the time. I... thought it was best to stick around after all she might still show up right? To be on the safe side, I did call the police. I spoke with one of the detectives and was told it might be best for me to stay with my friend for a bit."

 

"It was there that things sort of came to a head. See, my friend is a son of a preacher. Kind of strict guy always railing on about how we're all sinking into sin and all that. Well, one day he caught us while we were... fooling around so to speak. To make a long story short he tossed me out. My friend turned his back on me, or at least that's how it seemed, the apartment was closed, and I only had a bit of things from when I was spending then night at his place. That's when I decided to come to this... town in search of my father. I thought... well, I thought that I might be able to get my feet under me perhaps start anew. At least until I found out how loony the place is! I mean Ben Sr. is pretty nice, giving me a ride over that mud lake that's almost uicksand. I wander into what seems to be a ghost town, into a greasy spoon that is full of skeleton's and phantom smells then almost diced by some kid with a large knife. I meet an uncle who I at first thought was my father and learn I have 2 uncles. I hope the other uncle is much more pleasant than Trevor. Is he even human? ah hem. So that's pretty much how I came to be here."

 

Robbie stared at Justin with mixed emotions. A little anger at the preacher, a little sadness at his mother and his friend, but mostly compassion for all of the things this young man has been put through recently. No one should ever have to go through losing the only parent they ever knew and loved and get outed at the same time by the one person who should never know such a huge secret. He started to wonder what exactly had happened to Mary, but decided instead to simply give Justin what he rightly deserved.

 

"Okay then, I suppose that merits a good explanation for why this town is so peculiar. You remember what I said last night, about the Civil War?" Justin nodded absently, still a little emotional from throwing himself out on the table like that. "Well, do you remember what happened to a few Confederate cities that helped end the war?" Justin stared blankly while Robbie blew out a sigh and continued, "Union General William Sherman burned the city of Atlanta to the ground not long after it was surrendered to the union." Justin nodded absently. "After Atlanta, communications with Washington became a lot harder to do, so it should come as no surprise that when the war finally ended, it took a week for the news to reach his ears." Justin continued to listen to Robbie's story, getting more and more interested at the plot thickened. "In that time, Sherman leveled another southern town. But, because it was after the Confederacy had surrendered, he and his men swore an oath that the news of the small towns destruction never saw the light of day. See, leveling a town after the enemy had surrendered was a serious offense, since all hostilities were to cease, and would inevitably result in Sherman and his men being dishonorably discharged and tried for genocide. It was a relatively small town, and so no would miss it, right? The destruction was blamed on a bad fire by most of the people from nearby towns, so they pretty much got off scott free." Robbie then bent under the table and retrieved the old leather bound book from the night before and set it in front of Justin. "This is where things get tricky... this book here is the personal journal of William Sherman, and is the only document in the world that details the events of that night, and accurately explains not only what you've been seeing, but why you see it, what it has to do with your mother and family, what it has to do with her disappearance, and what exactly is happening in this town. The only thing it doesn't tell you is the location of the town that was needlessly destroyed, all of its occupants murdered, all in cold blood." Justin continued to stare at the book in silence, running his hands over the rough aged leather.

 

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked as he opened the book. The first number of pages were all about the war and Sherman's men, so he flipped to the dates that corresponded with the end of the war and the time frame which Robbie was talking about, interested in seeing what the town could possibly explain of his existence.

 

"Because the town you see here was built on the bloodied ruins of the town that was destroyed."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*dum dum dummmmmmmmmmmmmm* lol no one specified the location of the town, so i hope no one objects making it the southeast? i didn't specify state, so whatever. BTW would anyone else agree on that being a nice chapter-ending cliffhanger?

Edited June 16, 2007 by rknapp