Black Fox: The Vessel - 3. Chapter 3 - Friends and Enemies

I couldn't sleep. My thoughts and feelings were overflowing.

When I was almost sure Kevin was asleep, I slid down my sleeping shorts and lay naked on top of my sheets, happy that I chose the bed next to the window. I liked the silvery moonlight on my body. I had a need to be exposed and that was just the thing. I slowly ran circles on my tummy with my hands. I had a bad case of butterflies and felt all tingly and electrified as my hard dick pointed up. I felt this weirdest sense of magnetism and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Aurora Borealis right above my head.

I continued touching myself, running bigger and bigger circles. Caressing my arms, chest, thighs and face. I never experienced anything even close in my life. I felt around the inside of my mouth with my tongue. I knew my mouth was empty but it still felt like Owen's dick was there, pushing my cheeks apart and invading my throat. I know he basically forced himself onto me, but I doubt he could possibly enjoy it more than I did. I enjoyed it a lot. And that could only mean one thing. Owen was the one. And for the same reason, my duty was to call my mum first thing in the morning and tell her I'm feeling sick and to come and to pick me up.

Then again, it's not like I made a move. Owen chose me. I did nothing wrong. I wanted it to be true, but I also knew no one but me would see it that way if one thing leads to another.

My body shuddered. I was ready to let myself fall deeply in love. Something I dreamed of every night. My young body and soul were ready.

He only stuck his cock in my mouth because he was drunk. Yes, I was aware. It didn’t matter.

Finally, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was still lying naked on top of the sheets. I raised my head and looked at Kevin's bed. He wasn't there. I looked down at my excited penis. Shit. He must have seen me like that. This is going to be awkward.

He wasn't in the bathroom either so he must've left the cabin. I was kind of grateful. I spent an eternity in the shower, just letting the water pour down on me. But before I did, I took off the curtain from the window. If anyone wanted to see me, they were more than welcome. Even the girls or the parents, I didn't care.

The view was on the Black Fox boys' cabin. I looked at their window. I thought about last night and what had happened. My morning wood was begging for attention but it didn't feel right to touch it myself anymore.

I had the wildest grin on my face when I finally emerged from the cabin at 11 am. I couldn't even hide it when I joined the others for activities.

They don't know I sucked cock last night.

I expected Kevin to confront me about my nude sleeping but he didn't. He was probably nervous about it and I gotta say it felt exciting, too. Crap, everything felt exciting and this day was so much fun. The only thing that bothered me was that I couldn't see Owen anywhere. He wasn't there for the morning coffee, he wasn't there when we went windsurfing again and he wasn't there when we decided to do a volleyball rematch. At least that's when an opportunity came to ask.

"We could shuffle the teams today," Mike suggested.

Sarah did a quick count. "But there's just seven of us."

"Where's Owen?" I asked innocently.

"He's in the room, crying," Cayden said nonchalantly. "Said he won't come out."

I felt a lump forming in my throat. "Crying?"

"Not crying crying but he's in his mood again and I'm not dealing with that shit on my vacation."

“Okay, let’s just take turns sitting on the bench,” Mike said.

I was distracted and sucked even more than yesterday. We did manage to have loads of fun anyway until Cayden sent the ball flying into the stratosphere and it unluckily hit a pointy end of a tree branch with great force and burst with a loud bang.

“Well done, you fucking muppet," Mike said, kicking the limp corpse of the ball. "Go fetch us a pig bladder because that was the only one we had.”

“How about we chop off your stupid airy bonce?” Cayden retorted.

“Who do you call stupid, you shrink dick?”

Five seconds later they were wrestling and tumbling on the sand and the game was over.

Sarah turned to me. “Hey Ian, can you tell us the rest of the story now?”

“Yeah!” Kevin echoed.

I raised my hands defensively. “Guys, guys, easy. This story can't be told in broad daylight. You have to wait till after it gets dark.”

“Awww!” They moaned in unison.

“Now, now, let's do something else. I don't feel like talking anyway.”

Kevin's eyes opened. “How about we just go there?”

“Where?”

“Up the hill, where else? See the ruins of the fort and everything.”

Sarah applauded excitedly. I sighed. I could've predicted that.

“When I tell you the rest of the story, you won't want to go there anymore.”

“Why?” she demanded.

“You'll see. Hey, how about we play water tag?”

“You're afraid of the spooky forest, admit it,” Kevin grinned at me.

“I am and you should be, too. So, water tag? I promise I'll finish the story later.”

They were cool with water tag and we played for over an hour. Then we all ate dinner and, for the first time that day, I saw Owen. He looked awful. He had dark blue bags under his eyes and his hair was a total mess. He didn't look like he got any sleep. For the first time, I noticed others acknowledge it too. His parents were sharing worried looks and I saw Cayden try to cheer him up once or twice but with no luck.

Needless to say, Owen didn't look my way even once and I really wanted him to at least notice me. I started feeling really bad about myself and I couldn't say why.

Still chewing the final bite of his food, Owen just stood up and walked back to the cabin. The rest of us talked about this and that and the spirits of the group lifted a bit.

Later we went to town to shop for groceries and then had a fire again. The Black Fox boys brought their guitars but Owen didn't join us. We kids sat outside the circle this time so we could talk.

“Ian, why are you so quiet today?” Sarah asked.

I looked at her. I realised I’d been mostly daydreaming ever since I woke up.

“He misses Mummy and Daddy,” Kevin mocked me before I could say anything. I gave him a hostile glare but then reminded myself he couldn’t know.

“At least mine don't hold me by my hand wherever I go,” I shrugged.

Sarah stood between us. “Guys, stop it, I'm serious. Is something wrong, Ian?”

“All is fine,” I said and waved my hand. “Sometimes I might be an introvert, is all.”

Kevin laughed. “You, introvert? I didn't know introverts can't seem to shut their mouths half of the time.”

“So what if I can't?” I smiled sheepishly. “It's you nagging me to tell you a story for children all day.”

“Oh, right, the story! Can you tell us now?” Sarah clapped her hands.

I looked at the sky. It was right after sunset and the eastern sky was already ink blue.

“Okay, okay. I need to go to the toilet, though. Be right back!”

I stood up and trotted towards our cabin. But just when I was right at the door, I turned around carefully. I made sure no one was looking my way and I slowly sneaked to the older boys' cabin. My heart pumped faster when I got near. The door was closed. I wasn't sure if I could find the guts in me to do it. Owen clearly didn't want to be bothered and I was about to yank the sleeping lion’s tail. I kept staring at the door for a minute and then chickened out. I already turned back to rejoin the rest by the fire when I felt it coming to me with all force. Pleasant heat radiated from my belly and warmed my body. I slid my hand underneath my thin t-shirt and felt butterflies dancing in my tummy. As if Owen's seed turned it into a radiator with a power of a fucking nuclear plant. My skin tingled and my cock stirred. I turned around and took a deep breath.

I didn't knock. I knew he'd just tell me to go to hell. I just closed my eyes and turned the doorknob. Luckily, the door wasn't locked and I opened it wide. The room was dark and the windows were too small to let much moonlight in.

"H-hello?" I asked with a trembling voice. Somehow, I felt like there was a punch coming at my face any second. But I couldn't turn back now. I couldn't!

There was no response. I closed the door behind me.

"Hello? Owen?" I managed and there was no reply again.

I looked around. The room was almost completely dark but not too dark for me. My eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light coming from the windows. I saw four unmade bunks and socks, crisps bags and even two or three beer cans scattered around the floor. Gosh, they were messy.

There was no one inside. I even checked the bathroom but it was empty. Then I glanced at Owen’s bed. It was even messier than the other three. I walked closer and took his old boxer briefs in my hands. I took a long sniff. Oh god, it was him. So good. I realised someone could enter the cabin anytime and find me sniffing dirty underwear, so I backed away and left the building.

Once again, I fought the urge to go back and forget about the whole business. The butterflies were now too strong to ignore. I know my parents wouldn't call the sensation butterflies but luckily they weren't around to ruin my summer fling. I knew the risk just fine and I was ready to take it.

I went on a slow walk around the lake and toward the forest. There were more people there as they were leaving the water and gathering around BBQs and campfires for the evening. No one paid me any attention and eventually, I left all the buildings behind me and started walking along the wild part of the shore. I considered going uphill and deeper into the forest but the thought alone scared me and my senses told me to just keep walking.

Maybe it was intuition or maybe something magical but when I saw someone sitting on the grass and lifelessly staring at the water, I knew who it was immediately. I had no idea what I was doing or about to say so I just carefully got closer. Then I stepped on a twig and gasped when Owen turned his head to me.

I didn't know if he’d been crying or just not sleeping for two nights straight, but something in the way he looked at me scared me. He was wearing his shorts and the omnipresent long-sleeve, looking at me as if he’d never seen me before.

“What are you doing here?” he snapped.

“Uh, I…” I stuttered.

“Get the fuck out of here!” he yelled at me.

I took a step back. No matter how angry Owen was, I’d never heard him yelling.

“I will, I just wanted to…”

“I said leave me alone or I'll kick your ass!”

He took a small stone between his fingers and hurled it at me. I don't think he intended to really hit me because he covered his mouth with his hand when the stone bounced off my forehead right above my left eye.

My head exploded and my vision blacked out for a second. I stumbled and put my hand on my forehead. When I took it away, I saw blood on my fingers. I looked up at Owen with terror.

“I told you to go away and STOP STALKING ME!” he yelled again and his voice broke near the end.

I was in pain but didn't wait there to be beaten to the ground. I turned around and retreated at full speed.

It was already dark and no one seemed to notice me as I was going back to the cabin with wide eyes and my hand pressed against my wound. I entered our room and saw with relief that it was empty. I stormed into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror, breathing fast. There was a thin stream of blood flowing down from the cut skin on my forehead, around my left eye, across my cheek and down to my neck. I washed it quickly with cold water and noticed that the cut was actually very minor. I sighed and with my shaky hands, I applied a patch to my skin.

Fuck, I was asking for it. I knew it was a bad idea, fuck, I’m stupid.

Then of course there was a knock on the door.

“Ian mate, you alive? Are you constipated?” I heard Kevin's voice right outside.

“I- I'm coming!” I said and opened the door.

“What happened to you?” he chuckled looking at my injury.

“I slipped and hit the shower frame. I'm good.”

“You clumsy poop. Come on!”

I felt very stupid parading with a patch above my eye and I had to lie two more times about what happened. I was pensively munching on my snack as I thought of the encounter and what to make out of it.

Then my mum called. Great timing. I told her I was having fun and the camp was great. We were talking for maybe ten minutes and when I finished, Kevin and Sarah assaulted me.

“Finish the story, now!” Sarah said and pressed my chest with her finger.

“Alright, alright. Let's go to our room.”

I wasn't in a mood for stories but a promise was a promise. We entered our cabin and I told everyone to sit on the floor. I lit up the night lamp, turned off the main light and covered the windows. After giving it a thought, I set the night lamp on the floor and behind the bed, so it would only give a faint glow from the corner.

We sat in a triangle and I looked at their curious faces. They don't know I sucked dick yesterday. Okay, maybe I didn't exactly suck it. It was fed to me, pretty forcibly like how you feed a goose for foie gras. But it still counted if I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it almost too much, it was getting more and more obvious to me. Now that I thought of it and judging by Owen's mood today, I might have been the only one enjoying the whole thing at all.

“Okay, now where were we?” I asked. Frankly, I didn't spend a single second thinking what I'd actually be telling them.

“His wife!” Natasha exclaimed. “She looked at him with gleaming eyes and said something.”

“Oh yes!” I said and lowered my voice. “She looked at Wulfhelm, covering her breasts with the sheet. He was staring back down at her with terror. And she said, uh… she said… oh yes, she said:

“I was blind. Now I can see. You made a believer out of me.”

Her words scared Wulfhelm even more than her eyes, shining pale blue light like the full moon. He turned around and ran through the door into the street in the middle of the night. The night was bright and he realised that indeed that moon was big and full, high up in the sky. He knew it was going to be a long night for him when he looked down and saw the stranger. The ghostly blue and white light shining from his eyes, just like the light he just saw in his young wife’s eyes.

“I was blind, now I can see,” the stranger said with a wide smile.

“I was blind, now I can see,” a few voices to his left said and he saw his neighbour and his family standing there, their eyes shining, their smiles pearly and creepy.

“I was blind,” he heard to the right and he saw even more townsfolk approaching him in their nightgowns. Their eyes glowing like small ball lanterns in the dark.

“I'm sorry!” Wulfhelm yelled to everyone and to nobody. But he was more sorry for the fate he brought upon himself than for his crimes. He realised the moonstruck horde was starting to encircle him and at the last moment, he escaped before they closed in on him.

There was nowhere to run. The roads were blocked by people coming from all directions. It was either into the forest or into the lake. Petrified, he decided to go hide in the fort ruins. Perhaps he could spend the night there and then flee as far away from this cursed place as he could.

When he entered the forest, he noticed that the horde was no longer following him. They all stopped at the tree line and watched him escape.

“I was blind, now I can see,” the voices resonated in his head, even when he couldn't hear them anymore. After what felt like forever, Wulfhelm had reached the burnt remains of the fort. The only building that was relatively unscathed was the chapel. He entered it and laid down shaking and shivering. For the first time, he felt like he finally found safety. Until he heard the wolves, that is.”

I made a short pause and this time, I swear, an actual fucking wolf howled somewhere far away. Or maybe it was a wild dog, I don't know. The important thing is that we all, including me, jumped and hugged each other closely.

“Fuck, what was that?” Kevin asked and his voice was shaky.

“You heard that too?” Sarah asked. “Ian, if you're playing tricks on us, you have to tell us now.”

“How would I make a wolf howl at my whim?”

“Fuck, that was creepy,” Kevin breathed and we slowly let go of each other.

“Ian, it's all made up, right?” Sarah asked and looked at me intently.

“I swear it is,” I said. What else could I say? “Does it sound like a true story to you?”

No one said anything. I realised that I scared them more than I intended to. Frick, I scared myself, too.

“I don't feel like going on with this story anyway,” I said. “And I'm sleepy.”

“Oh come on, you have to tell us what happened next!” Sarah complained.

“Okay, okay,” I conceded. “Actually, that's about all there is. Wulfhelm kept hearing one howl after another and each time, they were closer and closer to his hideout. When the first wolf entered the chapel through a hole in the wall, the man froze in terror. The wolf was gigantic and his eyes were red as the blood that he liked to drink from his victims.”

“Red?” Kevin asked. “But those people…”

“You don't have to believe me,” I interrupted him and gave him such a serious look that he wrapped his arms around his knees and closed his mouth.

“Then another wolf came in. And another, and another. Soon, they sniffed him out in the hole he was hiding in. His screams pierced through the night as the wolves shredded him to pieces. The biggest of the wolves ate the man's heart. When there was nothing but bare bones left, the howling filled the forest and went on until dawn.

The next day, it was a typical day in the town. The townsfolk were working, trading, gossiping and resting like on any other day. No one noticed as somewhere during the day, someone emerged from the forest. It was Wulfhelm. His eyes were shining with the light of a full moon and he had a gentle smile on his face that didn't leave it until the end of his days.”

I looked at the faces of my listeners. They weren't even looking at me anymore. Just looking at the walls or in the distance, with their mouths slightly ajar.

“Mate, fuck,” Kevin broke the silence finally. “You're giving me nightmares. And if I hear that wolf again, I'm gonna piss my pants.”

No one said a word. I think my story worked and fuck, even I was feeling uneasy. The silence was at least a little disturbing when Sarah left and I was alone with Kevin in our room.

Once in bed, I was staring at the ceiling and thinking about all sorts of different things. I was convinced that Kevin was asleep when he stirred.

“Ian?”

“What?”

“I changed my mind. I don't want to hear your stories anymore.”

I chuckled. “Suit yourself. It was you who nagged me all day about it.”

“I regret it.”

“Maybe you should tell us the next story,” I said in the darkness.

“Mate, I'm serious, I can't sleep,” he said.

“Me too,” I said, spotting an opportunity. “Hey, I know no homo and all, but could I sleep in your bed tonight?”

“Yes, but only tonight.” He agreed so quickly and eagerly, I knew he wanted to ask the same thing. I hoped he couldn't see me smiling.

The beds weren't huge but we could lay down next to each other without touching for the most part. He didn't make me bring my own cover, so I just slipped under his.

After a minute, he turned to me and his eyes had sparks in them, almost like in my story.

“Mate… I mean really, there's something in your voice, I don't know how to convey it. At first, I was just rolling my eyes because you were saying so much bullshit but then…”

“Shhhh,” I said and placed a finger on his mouth. “Don't think about it now or else we’ll never fall asleep. We can discuss it in the morning.”

“Uh, okay. If not for you, I would go crazy sleeping here alone.”

I gave Kevin a penetrating look. He seemed more distressed than he should be and the way he admitted the way he was feeling…

“Hey, I'm sorry,” I whispered. “I scared myself with that story. I know how you feel. Know what? How about we, just for tonight…” I continued wrapping my arms around his slim, sexy body, “uh, like that, and there we go. I feel much safer already.”

Before I knew it, Kevin tightened his arms behind my back and we were cuddled together tightly like little bear cubs. I really expected him to draw a line much quicker, but I just heard him let out a long sigh of relief. We were just kids. It was easy for me to forget that I was exceptionally mature in certain ways for my age.

“Not a word to anyone about this, deal?” He asked.

“Sure, mate, it stays between us.”

That wasn’t the only thing staying between us at the moment. I was only wearing my shorts and Kevin had his PJs with nothing else underneath. I found the feeling of this full-body contact amazing. Kevin clearly wasn't indifferent to it either because I suddenly felt the space between our groins getting more cramped.

“And definitely not a word about this,” he said and we both laughed.

“Sure Kevin, I'm your friend.”

“Thanks, friend.”

We chatted for a little while and I couldn't sleep, even long time after I heard Kevin snore silently, reliving my short but intense interaction with Owen. I brushed Kevin's dark hair and placed a kiss on his forehead.

“Goodnight, friend,” I whispered.