A Likely Story: A Wayward Ink Publishing Anthology (13 page)

Cool hands stroked lightly over his cheeks while gentle kisses soothed his closed eyelids. He floated in a dream, reliving moments of a blissful youth, until the weight of a body pressed him into the dusty couch and brought him jerking back to life. Pushing blindly away, Mason lurched sideways in an attempt to evade the delusion from his past. Stumbling to his feet, confused and overwhelmed, he backed away from the blond intruder.

“What are you doing? Who are you?” Tears leaked from his eyes as he breathed in the scent of a man lost to him months ago.

“Mase, it’s me. It’s Jeremy.”

“No, no, no, no. I buried you last year. You never came back. You abandoned me. Jeremy is dead!”

“I’m sorry, Mase, so sorry. You know you buried an empty casket. They never found my body.”

Gulping great lungfuls of air, Mason fell back against the cold fireplace. “Where were you, then? Where have you been all this time?”

“Isn’t it enough that I’m back, that I’ve come for you?”

Mason stared at the man edging closer to him with outstretched arms. His first instinct was to accept the offered hug. He wanted so desperately to believe, to embrace his love. But he had to be sure this man was his Jeremy. He just couldn’t go through the pain of losing him again. Mason stepped out of reach as he examined the man. He saw an echo of his Jeremy: similar blond curls, an eerily familiar sardonic mouth twisted into a crooked grin. He was the right height. He was the right shape and weight. But there were differences. Where was the scar above his eyebrow? Why did he look so pale, so ethereal? It couldn’t be Jeremy. Jere was always loud, boisterous, and high on life. Always tanned, with sun-kissed hair and sparkling blue eyes. His Jeremy was different from this man in front of him. Besides, his Jeremy was gone, lost thirteen months ago. He backed up farther until he again pressed himself against the fireplace, the mantel digging painfully into his shoulders.

“I’ve come back for you, Mason. I love you; I can’t live without you. Please, let me hold you.”

Shaking violently, Mason moaned as his body folded in on itself, arms wrapped protectively around his emaciated form, holding himself together. “Why now? What have you been doing that you couldn’t come to me sooner? What do you want? Who are you, really? An imposter, or my Jeremy reincarnated?” Lifting his head, he looked hungrily into the man’s eyes, hoping for answers even as he pushed a shaky hand out, forcing the man away.

The man claiming to be Jeremy backed up and slumped onto the recently abandoned couch. “Remember the day we graduated from high school? We snuck away from the party our parents forced on us. We ran to the old creek, to our childhood tree house, and hid inside.”

Stuttering, Mason admitted, “I, I re-remember, but h-how could you know that?”

“It really is me, Mase. Please believe me. I remember staring into your eyes as I reached for your cheek, planning a slow seduction to celebrate the end of our boyhood and the beginning of our lives together. But you had other plans. You couldn’t wait. You grabbed my hair and kissed me fiercely. When I finally realized that slow was not in your vocabulary that night, I opened my lips to your insistent tongue and time lost all meaning. We didn’t speak after that. I pulled your shirt over your head, running my hands over your chest and around your back, grabbing your ass and squeezing hard. You moaned and ripped my shirt open as buttons flew everywhere. Do you remember that shirt, Mase? It was my favorite shirt because you gave it to me, and you ruined it. But I didn’t care then. All I could think about was touching you.”

Mason flushed at the memory and moved closer.

“You pushed me back and I hit the plank floor hard, but we were too far gone to care. The taste and feel of you overwhelmed me. I usually took the lead, but you had other ideas that night. I’d never seen you so focused, so dominant. You pulled my boots off and peeled my socks from my feet. I never did find one of them. Maybe it floated down the creek where you threw it. Anyway, my pants and boxers soon followed, and then you sat back and looked at me hungrily. I remember squirming, not quite comfortable in the submissive position. I had always topped, but this time you turned the tables on me. This time you were in charge.”

“I, I wanted to do something different. I wanted you to feel as good as you always made me feel,” Mason said.

“Then you hesitated. You became timid and I wondered why. But your hands started to lightly glide down my chest and across my abs, and the question fled with the sensations you were creating. I was harder than I had ever been in my life. Harder than I even thought possible. I felt like I would explode if you didn’t touch me soon. Maybe I already had. I was leaking, twitching and jerking against my stomach. My balls were already tight; I was so turned on by the way you were moving above me, stripping your clothes off with no regard for where they would land or if they were torn. Then you knelt between my legs, as I opened them wide to accommodate you.

“You ran your hands over my chest, tweaking my nipples, and then pulling on them as we both moaned. You bit my neck and I grabbed my cock, squeezing tight so I wouldn’t come yet, and gave myself over to the feelings you created.”

Mason groaned softly, “Oh god… you were so beautiful that night, Jeremy! I wanted you so bad.” They were almost touching as Mason moved closer yet.

Jeremy continued, “I couldn’t wait any longer. You had teased me enough. I grabbed your shoulders, pulling you down on top of me, your knee barely missing my balls as you fell. I wrapped my arms around you and pulled you in for another long kiss. Our cocks rubbed against our bellies, thrusting and needy. Neither of us touched ourselves. We didn’t need to. As we writhed and groaned, slick with precum, we exploded together, crying out our release.”

Mason shifted and moaned quietly, cock starting to stiffen as he remembered what was coming next.

“It didn’t take either of us long to grow hard again. You were prepared. Like a boy scout, you had planned ahead. You took me that night for the first time. You were gentle as you opened me and pushed inside. I remember the brief pain, followed by the most amazing sensation of fullness. As we finished, we pledged that eternity could never keep us apart.

“We fell asleep holding each other, exhausted, and awoke to horror. We were pulled apart, hauled home, and I was all but forced into the army. The beating I took from my father almost broke me, but I swore in my heart that I would never forget our pledge. Eternity would be ours someday.”

Jeremy finally sat back, letting his head fall to the side as he stared at Mason. Mason’s breath hitched, a strangled cry forced through his lips, as he saw the pain in Jeremy’s eyes.

“It is you. It really is you! Oh my God, how did this happen? You’re so different, yet the same. Please, how are you here?”

Jeremy sighed and slowly blinked, searching out Mason’s face in the gloom of the night. He reached for his lover, pulling him gently down next to him on the old couch and wrapping one arm firmly around Mason’s shoulders.

“It’s a long story, Mase; a hard story. Before I begin, I need to tell you something important.”

Mason wrapped both of his hands around Jeremy’s free hand, stroking it gently and silently offering his comfort and support.

“What is it, Jere? Are you okay?”

“The last letter I received from you, before everything… before
it
happened, that letter… it helped me remember. It brought me back to myself, and then to you. The love in that letter, your love, kept me going until I could find you. I’ve searched for weeks now, only remembering yesterday how you love this old house. I remembered our dreams of moving in here, renovating it, living our lives and raising our family here. Your letter was the clue I needed. I don’t know why I didn’t look at the envelope earlier. Maybe I was still too scattered, too hurt, but the return address on the envelope… you were here when you wrote it, weren’t you?” Jeremy pulled a dirty, much-folded envelope from his back pocket, extracting the creased, torn letter. He handed it to Mason, who clutched it to his chest. He could see the smudged, almost-obliterated address in the corner of the envelope, which was still in Jeremy’s lap.

Mason smiled. “Yes. I was going to surprise you when you were discharged. Gran always wanted this to be a safe place for us. She loved both of us, and wasn’t blinded by hatred like our parents. I was going to get it opened up and ready for your return. I wrote that letter the day I arrived.”

“Thank you, Mase. Thank you for loving me. We are going to have our forever. I promise you.”

Jeremy leaned in for a kiss. When he pulled back, he gazed into Mason’s eyes and began his story.

“I know you want to hear what happened to me, but it was bad, Mase, so bad. It was close to midnight when my unit was hit as we were going back to base. The lead jeep drove over a land mine, triggering a massive explosion and sending pieces of the jeep and its occupants in all directions. It was horrible: the smoke, the noise, the screams. Some of the men fired into the night, but they were firing blindly. There was no one to fight. I motioned for my team to stop shooting, and we attempted to reach our injured, but saw immediately that they were beyond help. Then an eerie silence fell and we did exactly what we shouldn’t have: we moved closer together, making ourselves an easier target, as we sensed an evil we couldn’t see. It was dark, pitch black except for the flickering light from the dying fire. Then hell descended.

“People—things, something, came out of the darkness. We fought hard, but rifles, knives, fists… nothing stopped the slaughter. I watched as everyone, all my friends, my comrades, were butchered one by one in front of me. It was a nightmare. They had no weapons; they tore us apart with their bare hands and their teeth. They were covered with our blood, almost bathing in it, while they laughed. And then it was my turn. One of the things snatched me off the ground, raising me above its head as though I weighed nothing. Then, my feet dangling uselessly, I looked into its mesmerizing eyes and my will to live vanished. It was as though my very thoughts were stripped from me. I couldn’t remember why I was there or what had happened. I think I lost consciousness at that point, but I’m not sure. Did it hypnotize me? No clue, but I vaguely remember pain, lots of pain. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the ground, covered completely by sand, dirt, and blood.

“I clawed my way to the surface, spitting and coughing. The sun shattered on the holocaust surrounding me, reflecting off the torn metal and soaking into the broken bodies. Blood and human tissue covered everything. My body was on fire and I needed, wanted… something. I didn’t know what, but my mind was shutting down and my instincts were ramping up. I won’t tell you what I did to the gore around me. Just know it wasn’t me. Not really.”

“Oh, Jeremy. …” Mason didn’t know what to say, how to soothe him.

“I could tell you that I remembered immediately who I was and what had happened, but that would be a lie. It took months for me to come back to myself. I lived a half-life, wandering and feeding, butchering every living thing that crossed my path. When I could think again, I was horrified at the carnage left in my wake. I had killed indiscriminately: animals, both large and small; soldiers, theirs and ours; civilians, even children. Yeah, the children I remember in grisly detail. As consciousness returned, and with it the knowledge of the horror I had rained down on everything around me, I ran, trying to get away from myself. I don’t know why I was left alone, why there was no one to help me. Maybe it was a cruel joke. I never again saw the butchers from that evening patrol.”

Mason was stunned. He didn’t understand.
How could he do those things? This wasn’t his Jeremy. No!
A sob rumbled through him as his hands pressed into his chest, fighting to breathe, to hold his heart together.

“I ran for miles, driven by despair, hiding when I could no longer escape my pain. Then a woman found me. She, Ann, was like me, and explained everything. It took months more, with her help, to regain my humanity, to try to put the past behind me. And now I’m here… I’ve come for you.”

Lost in his past, lost in the story of the horror of what was, Jeremy didn’t see the look on Mason’s face, or feel the shiver that ran through his lover’s body. He didn’t see the terror in Mason’s eyes, or his clenched fists, until Mason cried out.

“What do you mean? Was that all true? How could you do those things?” Horrified, Mason tried to pull away from Jeremy, but the arm draped across his shoulders prevented any movement. Jeremy was strong… too strong. “What are you going to do to me? Please, don’t hurt me.”

Cringing at Mason’s pleas, Jeremy dropped his eyes. “Mason, I could never hurt you. I love you with every fiber of my being. I’m sorry. I felt you should know what happened. We’ve always been able to tell each other everything. I guess I didn’t think. I wanted you to know. I, I’m sorry, so very sorry that I’ve frightened you. That wasn’t my intention. Please, please say you still love me. I’m still me, Mase. I’m still your Jeremy. Mase, please. …”

When Mason didn’t respond, Jeremy pulled away, tears running down his cheeks. Mason couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. Jeremy sprang from the couch, pacing and pulling at his hair, agony etched on his features, in his very walk. Mason just sat there, watching and crying as Jeremy tore himself apart, muttering, “I’m so stupid! Why did I tell you? I’m sorry, Mason, so sorry.”

Finally, shaken out of his stupor, Mason cringed away from Jeremy. “I… I don’t know, Jere. I don’t know what to think, what to say. My Jeremy would never do those things, could never be cruel. Did the army make you this way? What really happened to you?”

“Oh, Mase, my love. I tried to explain. I want to make you understand. It wasn’t really me doing those things. I was something else—an animal, maybe. But I wasn’t me. Is there some way I can convince you that your Jeremy is here, in front of you, loving you? Would you let me call Ann? Maybe she can help us deal with this. Please, Mase, I love you so much. …”

Mason jerked away from Jeremy’s outstretched hand. He curled into a ball on the couch, attempting to hide in the overstuffed cushions. He didn’t know what to do. He had spent his life loving Jeremy, and months mourning his loss. But was this Jeremy? He had Jeremy’s memories, his smile, his form, but the nightmare he described… how could Mason love this Jeremy? He couldn’t even look at him. He was frightened and appalled. He wanted to believe him, wanted time to think.