The Skinny Boy Tales (boyxboy) - Completed-

Chapter 3

Dedicated to the above user for being the FASTEST and FIRST to vote! ^-^ Thank you!

Chapter 3
    At first, when I opened my eyes, nothing but thick, black air surrounded me and slicked my skin while soaking through my clothing. Slowly, my eyes adjusted to the darkness; however, I would have much rather remained in the darkness.
 My heart beat erratically as I found myself tied to a chair in front of a huge table filled with a feast any teenager would have absolutely loved.
    Any teenager other than me.
    There was a giant turkey surrounded by mashed potatoes, green beans, and any and every casserole to be imagined. The smell was sickeningly alluring as the aroma of the foot wafted through my senses.
    My stomach lurched as my eyes adjusted farther, revealing to me mountains of desserts from simple pies to a flowing chocolate fountain.
    Two figures emerged from the darkness simultaneously. To my right stood my mother; to my left stood Ruth in one of her dark outfits that made her almost blend into the darkness.
    The two shared a glance as smiles almost as sickly as the smells around me grew on their lips. “He’s too skinny, Ruth. Don’t you agree?” My mother spoke, though her voice seemed to echo from all around her.
    Ruth stepped forward, extending her hand to my face and plucked at my cheeks. Automatically, I jerked away from her touch, but she continued to pull at my skin harshly. As she did, she made little disappointed smacking noises. “You’re very correct, Silvia. This boy is far too skinny; he’s just bones wrapped with skin.”
    The two shared another cold glance as their smiles twisted farther. “We should fix this.” My mother said as she lifted a spoon into the air.
    “We should fix this,” Ruth agreed.
    I struggled against my restraints as they went to the table and dug into the food. Painfully slowly, they knelt down and pressed their spoons against my mouth.
    Clamping my jaw, I jutted my chin away from them, but my mother laughed coldly as she pinched my nose closed. For a brief moment, I contemplating holding my breath until my heart stopped; however, the need to breathe burned too brightly in my lungs.
    When I finally gasped for breath, my mouth was filled with the foulest tasting substance. I spat it out, but before I could gasp for another breath, they shoveled more food into my mouth.
    I gagged; I cried. I tried my best to get away; however, nothing I did made them stop. Every once in awhile, they would pause to prod at my body, only to conclude that I was still too skinny for their liking.
    A scream escaped my lips as they smiled and held a mirror in front of my face. To my utter horror, I saw the twisted, food-stained image of a three hundred pound version of myself.

    I screamed once more as I jolted forward from my sleep. Before my eyes could adjust to the foreign bedroom that would be my new home, someone clasped their hands over my mouth, practically shoving me to the bed once more. “Holy shit, Max. Shut up!” Rich barked.
    Blinking a few times, I glanced around with wide eyes. My three housemates stood around my bed staring down at me. Rich kept his hand pressed against my mouth firmly as my breathing slowly returned to normal and the images from my nightmare faded into nothing.
    When I inhaled slowly through my nose, the only thing I remembered from my dream was Ruth and my mother force-feeding me.
    “You calmed the hell down, new kid?” Rich whispered into the darkness. The other boys exchanged glances and Geoffrey rolled his eyes in utter boredom.
    “He probably can’t breathe, you idiot,” Geoffrey added as he swatted Rich’s hand away.
    “Oh,” Rich mumbled as he removed his hand.
    I eyed the boys around me and sat up in my bed, the sheets pooling around my waist as I did. “What are you all doing in here? What time is it?”
    Rich and Geoffrey shared a smile then returned their eyes to me. Steven sighed and plopped down onto the bed beside me. “Let’s hurry this up before we get caught. The last thing we need is Warden Ruth breaking the door down.”
    The three boys began whispering to each other about how being caught would be the worst thing possible, but there wasn’t anything to worry about because the only one away was Terry, and he never gave them any problems.
    “Look,” I began in my normal speaking voice, which might as well have been a shout because it silenced the boys as they stared wide-eyed at me like deer in headlights, “can someone please tell me what in the world is going on?”
    “Jesus, Max, keep your voice down!” Rich whispered harshly.
    I was far too tired to resist the temptation to roll my eyes, so I didn’t. After I rolled my eyes and sank back into bed, I decided that at that moment, these three boys were complete and total lunatics, and all I really wanted to do was sleep. “I’m going back to sleep,” I mumbled more to Steven than any of the other boys.
    It was a weird feeling having someone so close to me while I curled up with little more than a sheet covering my bones. It was too early, or too late, to even care about being shirtless.
     “Get your ass out of bed,” Rich griped. “How do you expect us to welcome you into the Skinny Boy House if you won’t join us in our super secret ceremony?”
    That caught my attention, but by now, I was a bit past annoyed. “What in the blasted world are you going on about, Rich? Why are you three in my room bothering me at God knows what time of the night?”
    Geoffrey actually laughed. “It looks like all we have to do to get the sass out of the new kid is to wake him up at three in the morning.” He paused to snicker once more. “You really will fit into this house quite nicely; we all enjoy our sleep.”
    Groaning, I rolled over and buried my head under my pillow. “Can we please get to the point?”
    Steven shifted from beside me, and when he spoke, he whispered so closely to my ear that I could feel his breath. “Com’on, Max. I promise it’ll be worth your time, and if it’s not, at the very least, it’ll be something you’ll never forget.”
    Sighing, I dug my way out from under my sheets and pillows to sit up, but Rich moaned some more before I could even ask, for the third time, what exactly they were all going on about. “Hey, secrets don’t make friends,” he wined.
    “Have you ever thought that maybe the new kid doesn’t want to be your friend?” Geoffrey whispered with a wide smile painted on his face.
    “Can you both shut up and tell me what the shit is going on?”
    Rich and Geoffrey shared a long glance before Rich finally went on. “Like I was saying, we would like to officially welcome you into the house as one of the skinny boys, but you have to join in on our ceremony.” I started to open my mouth to ask for the details of whatever he was going on about when he squinted dangerously at me, causing me to snap my mouth shut. “We can’t tell you anything about the ceremony until you agree to do it.”
    I rolled my eyes once more out of sheer frustration. It was late. Correction. It was early, and all I wanted to do was roll over and go back to sleep. It was complete and utter witchcraft being up at three in the blasted morning.
    “So,” Rich began dramatically, “do you agree to take part in our ceremony?”
    I met Rick’s deeply sunken brown eyes then moved to Geoffrey’s before finally meeting the kind gaze that belonged to none other than Steven. Exasperated, I threw my hands in the air. “Sure. What’s the worst thing you boys could possibly come up with?
    I seriously underestimated the boys of the Skinny Boy House.

    “I am not doing that!” I whispered sternly as the four of us crept through the hallway. Geoffrey leaned against the wooden rails and squinted down at me. Rich placed his hand on my shoulder as he glanced around to see if anyone was around.
    “You already agreed to it,” Steven whispered back a bit too happily.
    I found myself squinting up at him. “Running around naked in the middle of the night in the cold doesn’t sound like much of an initiation to me.”
    Rich rolled his eyes as he wrapped his bony fingers around my wrist. “It’s part of the tradition started way before any of us came here.” He pulled me down the stairs as we crept as silently as possibly through the darkness. Thankfully, the moon was high and bright as it cast its light through the windows. We could see perfectly; however, the silence made every single footstep sound like an earthquake.
    By the time we made it to the bottom of the stairs, sweat beaded on my brow. It was my first night here, and I didn’t want to be caught creeping around the house. I wanted my stay here to be as pleasant as possible.
    The four of us hunkered to the ground as we peered through the rails at the front desk. It was only a few feet away, and Officer Terry sat facing the front door. I could only see the back of his head, and I felt Rich’s grip on my wrist tighten as Terry stretched his arms above his head while yawning loudly.
    “How are we going to get around him?” I asked, keeping my voice just above a whisper. Somehow, my words still sounded too loud.
    The three boys remained silent as Rich placed his finger over his lips as a silent gesture for me to be quiet. When I nodded, he released my wrist and lowered himself to his knees. He and Geoffrey began crawling around the stairs. They made practically no noise as they scurried like mice to their destination.
    My heart’s pace picked up as Steven met my eyes. He offered me a small smile that gathered more in one corner of his lips as he began to crawl too. I chewed on my bottom lip as I slowly inhaled, filling my lungs. Holding my breath, I began to crawl after him; however, as I tried to close the distance between us, my knee landed too loudly on a loose board, sending a loud creak through the silence.
    It might as well have been a gunshot because I froze; Steven froze. From my place on the ground, I turned my head to look behind me at the front desk. Terry still sat in his chair. Relief flooded my senses and fueled me to continue. I made my way past Steven and met up with Geoffrey and Rich.
    When we finally made it to the other side of the house, Rich spoke. “So far so good.”
    Geoffrey nodded. “Now the hard part.”
    When Geoffrey’s hands turned the lock on the back door, I suddenly understood why this was the most difficult part. Just as he began to open the door, it creaked. Thankfully, Geoffrey corrected the brief sound by opening the door more slowly. His face hardened with concentration as he worked to open the door wide enough for four very skinny boys to slip through.
    At least he didn’t have to open the door very far.
    Rich slipped out first, standing when he reached the outside. Steven followed quickly behind, and I practically clawed my way out of the house. When I made it to the bitter way-too-early air, I blew out the breath I held.
    Geoffrey closed the door with as much precision as before. When he stood up, he ran his fingers through his hair. “Why do I always get stuck with the hard crap?” He sounded frustrated as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
    “None of us have as much precision as you, Geoffrey,” Steven replied as he wrapped his arm around the model boy.
    He laughed as he shoved Steven away. “That’s because you’re all peasants.”
    I rubbed my arms and crossed them against my chest. Coming to the conclusion that tonight was not the night, or morning, to parade around shirtless, I made a mental vow to sleep fully dressed every single day I spent at this house. “This still doesn’t sound like a good idea to me,” I chattered through clattering teeth.
    “Why not?” Rich said as he danced around me with a hidden invigoration. Maybe the moon recharged his batteries or something. “You’re already halfway there, new kid.”
    I shook my head and hugged myself tighter as the wind picked up. “I don’t understand why this is important,” I said matter-of-factly.
    This time, Steven spoke. “It’s not about running around naked for the giggles, Max,” he defended. “We do this because it strips us down to our most very basic form: skin and bones.”
    “Trust me,” Geoffrey interrupted, “if it were just about getting naked, I wouldn’t be here with a bunch of boys.”
    Steven smiled at Geoffrey but continued to speak. “We’re all going to be stuck with each other, and in order for us to all get along, we have to be comfortable with each other.”
    “It’s true,” Rich added. “It symbolizes removing the rest of the world from our bodies, leaving our true selves behind for each of us to see.” Authority made its way into Rich’s voice, and Steven stepped back, giving him the floor. “The people here want us to bare everything to them, and it’s never that easy to them. You’ll find that out soon enough, Max.” He turned his full attention to me instead of speaking to the group as a whole. “You will confess your soul, every dark corner of your being, but it won’t be enough for them. They will want more and more out of you; they’ll take everything you give them but always hunger for what you can’t. This,” he gestured to each of the boys, “is what we can’t give them. This is us in our completely unhindered form; this is us without a single thing weighing out down. This is freedom.”
    When he finished speaking, I felt the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stand of their ends. For such a small, sarcastic kid, he held some real power to him. It was easy for me to see Rich in the real world working as the queen bee for a hoard of worker drones. In all seriousness, Rich’s speech was powerful. In fact, it was so powerful that I believed in it whole-heartedly. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be free from the world around me.
    “I’m in,” I said simply.
    That was all the boys needed to hear. In a matter of seconds, the three skeletal boys stripped out of their shirts. In the bright moonlight, their bodies, including mine, looked like sun bleached bones; however, I found myself feeling oddly liberated. Slowly, the boys began stepping out of their bottoms.
    Not surprisingly, Geoffrey was the first completely nude. His elegance showed through proudly as he stood in the moonlight. Rich was the second to strip. Once naked, he closed his eyes and smiled. It was the first truly genuine smile I had seen him do today. His true skeletal form shone brightly under the moon as the wind blew in the silent night.
    When I turned to Steven, he had his eyes closed peacefully with his head tilted up. He extended his arms as the wind pulled at his wild hair. In a house full of bones, Steven looked out of place. His body was still very thin, but compared to the rest of us, he looked relatively… normal.
    I found myself staring at him with a weird sense of jealousy and something that felt like longing. Despite how much I enjoyed my figure and would always want to be thinner, seeing Steven in his uninhibited beauty made me want to be like him; I wanted to be healthy; however, I didn’t know whether or not I wanted to be healthy for myself or the people around me.
    Or for Steven’s attention.
    Closing my eyes, I stepped out of my remaining clothes. The air was frigid against my bare body, but an odd sense of warmth filled my stomach. Just as Rich said, I felt a peace unlike anything I felt before.
    I felt free.
    “One,” Steven breathed almost breathlessly.
    “Two,” Geoffrey mumbled; his voice was nearly lost in the wind.
    “Three!” Rich shouted.
    Like a gunshot at a race, his voice signaled my body to run. I stole a deep breath, filling my lungs with the artic air as I opened my eyes. The four of us ran through the courtyard. My bare feet padded against the drying grasses in unison with the other boys. My breath wafted in clouds in front of my face as I found myself grinning.
    Before I knew it, I was breathing heavily, probably from over the overexertion on my frail body, yet I felt invigorated. We all stood panting around each other, quickly cooling seat lacing our bodies.
    I met all their eyes. Those three boys were the Skinny Boys, and I truly felt like I belonged. I wasn’t naive enough to believe that everything here would be rainbows and lollipops, but I believed that the four of were bonded not only by our circumstances but also by our hearts. We all had different stories and varying tales, but at the end of the day, each of us were now a part of each other’s story.
    Whatever happened to us in The Skinny Boy House would change each of our lives for the better or the worse. Either way, I understood that each of the boys were tied together, and I truly felt like I was now a part of whatever messed up, messy knot we all belonged to.
    Rich wrapped an arm over my shoulders, pulling our bodies together. “You did pretty well, new kid.” He rested his sweaty forehead against mine. “I think it’s safe to say that you’re one of the boys now.”
    Chuckling, I wiggled away from his touch. “Does that mean I can put my clothes on now?”
    “I second that notion; I’m freezing my balls off,” Geoffrey added. Despite his statement, he still smiled brightly. “Welcome to the gang.”
    “Your balls are fine,” Rich began as he made his way over to Geoffrey, “but if you would like me too, I would gladly examine them for you.”
    Making a disapproving grunt, the model covered himself with his hands. “Stay the hell away from me.” With that, he took off, running back toward the mound of clothes by the back door.
    Rich set out after him, yelling, “You know you want this!”
    I laughed at them, but suddenly felt horribly self-conscious as Steven walked over. Quickly covering myself, I felt my ears burn. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said simply as he covered himself too.
    Slowly, I began walking toward my clothes. I felt conscious of every step, making sure to keep myself as covered as humanly possible considering the circumstances, and by circumstances, I meant the fact that I was standing completely butt naked in the middle of the night in the cold. “Why?” I asked in genuine puzzlement. I could see myself possibly making a few friends out of this situation, but I still wasn’t one hundred percent glad my mother forced me to come here. Sure, I was happy to be away from her, but I was still in a clinic.
    Steven shrugged casually. “It’s nice to have a fresh face around here. You know you’re the newest addition we’ve had in awhile.”
    When I reached my pants, I pulled them on so quickly that I forgot my underwear. Instead of having to undress once more, I resorted to holding them behind my back. “Really?”
    Steven nodded. “The three of us have been together for awhile. Rich was the newest before you, but he’s been here almost a full year.” He dressed as he glanced at Rich as he tackled Geoffrey to the ground. “Geoffrey and I have been here the longest, but I’ve been here even longer than him.”
    I eyed the two boys as Geoffrey struggled to get away from Rich as he planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek. “This is sexual harassment!” Geoffrey managed to choke out.
    Smiling but shivering, I turned my attention back to Steven. “How long have you been here?”
    Steven shrugged once more. “Well, I’ve been here since I first turned fourteen, which puts me at around…”
    “Two years!” I exclaimed a little too loudly, interrupting him. “You’ve been here for two years?”
    Nodding, Steven frowned then sighed. “I almost got out last year, but I messed up pretty big.” I wanted to ask more, but the wind picked up once more, causing me to shiver violently. My teeth picked up their chattering. “Jesus, Max, you’re turning blue.” Without as much as flinching, he closed the distance between our bodies and wrapped and arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his body.
    For a moment, I stood completely rigid, but it only took a few seconds to melt against his warmth. I wrapped my arm around his back as he rubbed my shoulder. “Let’s get inside before you catch pneumonia or something.”
    I barely heard Steven’s words as he called out to the other boys, telling them that it was time for us to go inside. Instead, I closed my eyes and focused on the closeness of our bodies. It was a foreign feeling to me to be this close to someone I found attractive.
    I’ve never even received a hug from another boy away from my father, and at that moment, I finally understood what I was missing. Up until that moment, I could ignore the fact that I was lonely because I had nothing to compare it to. It wasn’t like I ran around dating people left and right, but at that moment, I found myself longing to have someone, anyone.
    Steven seemed to just fall into a missing spot, and the idea of him filling a void I managed to ignore for so long excited me far more than it should.
    “Woo hoo,” Rich whistled obnoxiously, making me open my eyes and slip back into reality, “look at you too.” He elbowed Geoffrey in his side. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
    Geoffrey rolled his eyes. “I see Steven trying to keep a half naked kid from shivering to death. What do you see?”
    Rich lifted his brows. “I’ll tell you what I see, alright. I see a budding romance in the making!” He clapped his hands together and practically danced around Steven and me. “I call it! Remember this day when you two are banging each other’s brains out.”
    I mentally face palmed myself. Correction, I actually face palmed myself at Rich’s words.
    “Cork it, Rich. Let’s get inside though. I don’t know about any of you, but I’m exhausted.”
    The fact that Steven didn’t deny Rich’s remarks made the butterflies stir in my stomach, but I did my best to remain composed. “Yeah, I’m beat,” I answered honestly. I could feel the over exertion gathering in my joints. It felt like I ran a few hundred miles despite the fact that I ran for maybe ten minutes tops.
    A small sigh escaped my lips as I accepted the fact that my body was ruined. Beautifully ruined but ruined nonetheless.
    Geoffrey opened the door quietly as he lowered himself to his knees. Rich crawled through first, and Steven went next. When he pulled away from me, I felt even more naked than I did when I was actually naked.
    With another sigh, I lowered myself to my knees and crawled into the house. With each move, my body protested angrily by shooting sharp pains up my knees to my spine. I cringed when my knees touched the hard wood floor, but the sound hardly had a chance to make it from my lips when I found myself staring at polished black boots.
    When I lifted my head, I met the eyes of Officer Terry. I caught my breath and laughed out of pure nerves. “Um, hi,” I breathed as I pushed myself to my feet, joining Steven and Rich as they stood beside the guard.
    Geoffrey joined us as he scratched the back of his head. He chose to remain silent.
    “Hi? That’s all you can think to say in a situation like this?” Terry asked coldly.
    I dropped my head.
    “You three know better than this,” he began harshly as he directed his words at Rich, Steven, and Geoffrey. “I’ve already given this same speech to you boys. It’s my job to make sure that you three follow the rules around here, and let me be the first to tell you that sneaking out in the middle of the night is pretty clearly against said rules.” He sounded genuinely pissed, which made my head drop farther.
    “We had to initiate, Max.” Rich’s voice was confident, unshaken from Terry catching us.
    “Why can’t you boys do that in the safety of your rooms?” Terry asked in what sounded like sheer exasperation. He sighed deeply. “Get back into your rooms before you wake up Ruth. She won’t be nearly as lineate towards you four as I am.”
    With that, the other three boys scurried off. I started to join them, but Terry placed his hand on my shoulder, bringing me to a swift halt. My heart fell to the floor; I just knew I was in trouble. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled as I met his usually warm brown eyes; however, this time, they were flat brown.
    “Sorry doesn’t cut it, Max. I understand that you want to fit in around here, but don’t let them, Richard specifically, bring you down with them.” He sighed as he knelt down, bringing himself eyelevel with me. He ruffled his tidy mahogany hair. “The time you spend here will help you, Max, but you have to let it help you.”
    I felt tears pool in my eyes, but I refused to allow tears to fall. “Look,” I began quietly, but as I spoke, I felt my voice strengthen, “I know I’m messed up, but there comes a time when you have to stop and ask yourself if you can even be fixed.” The strength in my voice faltered. “I don’t think I can be fixed.”
    In a completely unexpected move, Terry wrapped his arms around me. “That’s not what I’m trying to say at all,” he cooed. “I just want to see you healthy and well; I want to see you make it out of here.”
    I closed my eyes as tears dripped my cheeks. I knew the reality of my situation, but I didn’t want to accept it. I honestly didn’t know if I were worth saving or even if I wanted to be saved. All I knew was that in one day, I had three men embrace me. The first was the loud and often crude Rich. The second embrace belonged to the sweet and very attractive Steven. The final hug of belonged to the security guard with the kind soul and the ever changing eyes.
    When Terry pulled away, he stood up and patted me on the head. “You boys are my job, and I only want the best for you. I may not be as important as the doctors around here or as educated as Ruth, but that doesn’t change anything. When something bad happens to one of you, I take it personally because I can honestly say that I care more than any of them can. They’re all blinded by their textbook terms and degrees that they’ve forgotten about what’s in here,” he tapped the part of my chest where my heart beat. “You have to fix your heart before anything else can truly be any better.”
    I wiped away my tears and smiled weakly up at the insightful guard. “Thank you.” With that, Terry shooed me up to my room. I climbed the stairs quickly to find my housemates all standing at the top of the stairs.
    “What did he say?” Steven asked before I could even catch my breath.
    “Did he say anything about being in trouble?” Rich inquired before I could answer Steven.
    I smiled at the boys. “He didn’t say much,” I lied. For some reason, I felt if I repeated Terry’s words, I would lose their meaning. They were between the two of us. “He did say that we should probably go to sleep before Ruth wakes up.”
    “That sounds like a plan to me,” Geoffrey added with a yawn. “I’ll see you all at breakfast.”
    All the boys excluding myself sighed. “See you in the morning,” Rich moaned unhappily. He then mumbled something along the lines of, “I hate breakfast,” under his breath.
    Steven stood in front of me and offered me a smile. “I’ll see you in the morning, ok?”
    I couldn’t help but smile and meet his pale blue eyes. His black hair was an absolute mess, and I felt the urge to run my fingers through it; however, I resisted that temptation. “Goodnight, Steven.”
    He closed the distance between us, wrapping his arms around me once more. This time, it took no time whatsoever for me to settle against him. An eternity seemed to pass before he pulled away. “Goodnight, Max.”
    Steven waited in front of my door until I crawled into bed. Once settled, he left.
    I fell asleep that night from exhaustion, but a smile remained on my lips until I woke up later in the morning.

----

So sorry that it's taken this long to produce an update. Not making excuses, but for real, life has been a bit difficult to manage at the moment.

As always, please take the time to vote for this chapter and drop me a comment down below on what you think of it!

I always appreciate it, and I've been known to give out chapter dedicaitons that way too ^-^

xoxo - Mason