Rattlebones (bxbxb)

Ben Tibbles

There used to be a mass fear that people's loved ones would be buried alive. Particularly during the black plague, and other outbreaks. There just weren't enough experienced doctors to call the time of death. Because of this, some concerned relatives would create a system of bells and whistles to be rung once the deceased was buried.

As it was, Iggy rang all my death-bells and whistles. Every last one of them. I had been buried prematurely in my youth, and now I was here, and I had never felt more alive than with him.

I think I fall asleep against him at some point because the next thing I know he's shaking me gently awake. "Hey, I think they're gone." He whispers quietly in his husky voice. "We should probably get to class before people start asking questions."

I nod a little, but before he can open the curtain, I touch his shoulder. "Wait, Igor. Something happened to Eugene. I was going to tell you before they dunked my head into the toilet."

"Oh, no. Where the hell did he go off to now?" Iggy gripes and turns back to me. I had never realized how fit he actually was until we were actually smushed together.

"I'm not sure," I reply, choosing my words carefully. "But he has this massive hole in the middle of his chest and he was bleeding earlier."

Iggy's eyebrows draw together n confusion. "How is that possible? He's dead, right?"

I run my fingers through my damp hair. "I mean...technically, yes."

Iggy looks away for a moment, looking thoughtful. Then he glances back at me. "We need to find him, Darcy. We don't know what's going on with him. For all we know, he could die again and just keel over on the spot."

I reach down and I take his hand, holding onto it. And for the first time, he doesn't pull away. "We can find him together," I reply, my voice soft.

I'll admit, I was all heart-eyes for Igor at this point. I think I had made that obvious by now when I jumped his bones in the middle of the locker room. But how could it be helped? He was like a work of art. Beautiful blonde hair, a simple and yet charming face. Was it possible that I could endure the hayfever from the haybales that we lay on? That I would let him feed me chili under the stars?

"I'm not really sure about this." Iggy is telling me, and his voice filters back in. "It's so hard, you know? I don't know what to do with myself half the time. I'm scared that I might hurt you."

I reach up and I touch his chest. "Iggy, I've been through a lot. And I've taken more than I can handle. Even if you do realize that you're completely heterosexual, at least we can say that we tried, right?"

Iggy smiles at me, and for once he looks relieved. "Right," He replies, and he moves to open up the curtains with a rustle.

There's a boy standing on the other side of the curtain, staring at us. Curly brown hair, massive Coke bottle glasses that look like something straight out of the seventies. I can barely see his eyes through his specs, but I know that they're shocked.

The boy, of course, was Ben Tibbles. The same Ben Tibbles who I had locked in an eighteenth-century torture device during fifth-grade show and tell. I don't think he ever fully recovered, but he had formed an odd obsession with proving that I wasn't entirely human. His father was also a priest and often visited the school to counsel students.

Iggy and I stare back at him, stunned.

I flounder for a bit, and then I brush past Iggy. "Benjamin!" I purr, and I approach my arch-nemesis slowly, so as not to scare him away. "How long have you been standing there?"

Benjamin pushes up his glasses. "Long enough to hear an inappropriate amount of filth." He replies snidely. "Bringing your boy toys into the boy's locker room? You disgust me!" He tells me.

Somewhere in my cryptic core, I felt a strange attraction to this smelly turkey. But it would never happen between us. I was too much for him to handle.

"Come on, Igor," I tell Iggy, who's still standing there staring like a deer in the headlights. "We need to get to class. So that we can actually learn things."

Ben Tibbles watches us leave, but as Iggy's handing me a shirt and pants, he decides to speak again. "There's going to be a party next week." He sneers. "They're talking about using a ouija board. Are you going to be there?"

I tug on Iggy's shirt. "I hate parties, so no." I reply. "Now if you'll kindly fuck off, Iggy and I have places to be."

Ben smirks a little, eyeing us both. "They want to bring Eugene Wilder's spirit back from the dead. I for sure thought that you might be into that."

Iggy shoots me a look, and I frown at him before I turn back to Ben. "Eugene's gone," I reply. "And nobody can bring him back." And with that, I grab Iggy's hand and I drag him out of the locker room.

"There's no way that I'm going to that party," I mumble, feeling somewhat peeved. Ben Tibbles fucked up everything, and I couldn't stand his pompous ass.

Iggy rubs the back of his neck. "Actually..."

"Maybe we can go see a movie with Eugene or something." I continue, and I start down the hallway. "It's Halloween. They're probably going to be playing serial killer movies all night. We can just hang out."

"Darcy." Iggy's voice stops me. "Actually, I'm going to the party." He admits.

Oh. Fuck.