Apocrypha

Chapter 22

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."
Jeremiah 31:3

PAST THE SCORCHING HEAT and under a cypress tree, Lysander and Gabriel leaned on the trunk. They had been walking for two days straight.

"I think I need to shower. My clothes are feeling sticky." Gabriel said.

"Good idea." Lysander said, setting his bag down onto the floor. He began to remove his clothes until he was down in his boxers.

"Wait! What if someone sees?" Gabriel asked.

"There's no one around. We're just going to wash off and then leave." Lysander said, his foot stepping into the cold water of the creek. He turned around, seeing Gabriel staring at his body. "You coming or what? Want to stay in those smelly clothes of yours?" He cheekily said.

Gabriel didn't hesitate to drop his bag and began to hastily remove his clothes. Lysander was already chest deep in the creek, scooping handfuls of water and washing his hair.

The blonde man shivered upon his skin touching the cold water. He took a deep breath and dove into the water, letting his body adjust to the temperature. He emerged up to the surface and used his hands to push away the water from his face.

"Careful. Mississippi has the highest rate of brain eating amoeba. They enter through your nose." Lysander said.

"Why didn't you warn me sooner?" Gabriel asked.

"So much slips through my mind these days. I don't have a lot of room in my mind to think about many things."

"I hope I encompass a large portion of your mind." Gabriel said. Lysander walked over to Gabriel, placing his arms around him and bringing him close.

Lysander looked into his eyes. "You never left my mind the moment I first saw you. It's like you're a tumor in me, continuing to grow. And would it be wrong for me to say that I do not wish for it to be cut out?"

"As long as I'm there for good, then keep me with you."

"When did you become so romantic, Gabriel Barrington? Are you still the same man that was once afraid to confront your feelings and who hid behind his facade?" Lysander asked.

Gabriel brought up his hands to push away the raven-haired locks falling over his lover's forehead. "A match does not light unless it finds a spark."

Lysander chuckled and connected their foreheads together. There was nothing more that he wanted than to be with Gabriel. He wanted to hold his hand, kiss him, and love him with no fear. And yet, the very thought of that felt impossible.

For it was the way he was that made him wrong in every way. He thinks this way, therefore he is wrong.

"Why can't we just run away together? Get away from this terrible place and go somewhere where we won't be afraid of who we are?" Lysander asked.

"Running away is difficult. And besides, are you sure you'd wish to abandon your home?" Gabriel asked.

Lysander shook his head, his forehead rubbing Gabriel's. "My home is not connected to a wooden frame and concrete walls. I am holding the hands of where I feel most comfortable. I can talk to him and kiss him.

"And it's not just you. The others in that house are what really connects me. If not, I would become a vagabond and be wandering this place, unsure of what to do or how to become connected with the earth. I'd be alone, and then dead."

Gabriel grabbed Lysander's rough hands and kissed the back of his palms. "Don't die. We may not have everything, but you do have something."

"Living is the one thing that I want to keep doing. If I live longer, then I can spend it with you."