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Spring break soon came to an end and the students of Lumière slowly settled back into the dreary monotonous life of school. April passed without any notable events and May appeared to follow the same trend. However, in the middle of the month, a curious incident happened that belied this notion. The students paid little mind to this at first, but it set into motion a chain of cataclysmic events that would forever leave an indelible impression on the minds of everyone in the school.
Indeed, years later when Paul was to later look back to that almost uneventful month and remark that that was the beginning in which their whole lives began to change, not a single one of his friends disagreed with him.
We are however, getting ahead of ourselves and indeed, on this particular day, not blessed with the gift of hindsight, the friends remained blissfully unaware of what lay ahead. On the contrary, the day began normally enough with a boring first period and an even more boring, second period.
Leo was drooling into his notebook, fast asleep as the decrepit anachronistic professor droned on about the properties of soil and how to identify which part of the city it came from by its colouring.
Cam was sitting by him and he rolled his eyes exasperatedly when he let out a drawn-out snore as the professor moved on to soil structure.
Paul was in the science lab with Samuel for second period Chemistry and they were so busy with the instruments, trying to take exact measurements for their experiment that they didn’t notice what was happening until much later.
Jayden was the first to notice it. The day was perfectly clear with not a spot of cloud in the sky for miles. The sun was glowing with unstinting benevolence as it shone upon the earth and Jayden had just stepped out of the building with Noel by his side.
He was explaining a particularly difficult math problem when he suddenly stopped and tilted his head towards the sky. His eyes grew curious as he studied the sky, cocking his head slightly in that curious way of his.
‘That’s odd,’ he muttered.
‘What is?’ Noel asked, placing his hand to his face to look up at the sky.
‘It’s going to rain.’
Noel frowned doubtfully as he stared into the perfectly blue cloudless sky. ‘How can you tell?’
Jayden shrugged. ‘I just know.’
He looked down and placed his hands into his pockets. ‘Come on, we better get out of the open. It’s going to be a heavy one.’
He was soon proved right when not a minute later, dark heavy clouds appeared on the horizon, seeming to materialise from out of nowhere and in less than a few minutes, had completely covered the sky above Lumière, enveloping the entire school in darkness.
Fat heavy drops fell from the sky and it soon turned into a torrential downpour. Samuel looked up from his beaker to stare in surprise out the window as the wind howled furiously and webs of forked lighting flashed through the sky.
‘There wasn’t any rain forecasted this week, was there?’ he asked Paul.
Paul shook his head as he too watched in amazement as nature unleashed its fury on the world. It didn’t take long for the lake to overflow its banks, flooding the surrounding area. Classes were called off for the following day as the storm persisted deep into the night.
The next day, instead of subsiding, the storm rather grew in intensity and the gloomy weather settled like a fog on the spirits of the students of Lumière.
Jayden sat by the window in his dormitory as he played a game of cards with Noel to while away the time. Sharp needles of rain shot against the window as he paused to stare out into the maelstrom and as the rain continued its steady downpour, he couldn’t shake off the deep feeling of foreboding that settled like a rock in his gut.
The storm broke the following day and as the sun’s rays began to peek through the grey clouds, everyone’s mood lifted and it wasn’t long before they had forgotten about the dreary moments of the past day.
Life went back to normalcy and after assessing and repairing the damages caused by the storm, it was like the whole incident never happened.
Another storm was, however, beginning to brew in Noel’s life. Things had slowly been growing tense between him and Charles. The continued need to hide their relationship had put a strain on not only them but on their personal life as well.
They found themselves getting into more and more arguments which was compounded by the fact that Noel was hesitant to go further with him. Charles kept broaching the subject of sex but Noel seemed to quail at the very idea.
‘I’m sorry Charles, but I was raised to believe that it was better to wait till marriage,’ he finally burst out during what would soon be, the last of their many arguments.
Charles rolled his eyes and replied scathingly, ‘So what, do you want me to go down on one knee and ask you to marry me?’
‘You can start by asking me to be your boyfriend first,’ Noel bit back with even more force. ‘What am I to you? Do you think I’m just a sex toy you can play with and discard later?’
‘You know that’s not true. You mean more to me than that.’
‘So prove it,’ Noel challenged, taking a step closer to him. ‘Show me just how much I mean to you.’
Charles took a weary step back. ‘I… I can’t do that.’
Noel scoffed and rolled his eyes in disgust. ‘Of course you can’t.’
‘It’s not that you are not important to me,’ Charles replied hastily. ‘It’s just…’
‘Just what?’
‘I have a girlfriend,’ Charles finally let out.
Noel stood still. ‘When this happen?’ he asked after a while, his voice barely a whisper.
‘Last week. I wanted to tell you,’ he added entreatingly. ‘I just didn’t know how.’
Noel nodded silently but his face betrayed the war of emotions raging within him.
‘I’m sorry,’ Charles said, reaching out to grab his hand. ‘I had to before anyone could get suspicious.’
A lone tear slipped down Noel’s cheek as his ears turned deaf to Charles’ words. Charles glanced at him worryingly.
‘We can still see each other,’ he stated in an attempt to make him feel better. ‘It doesn’t have to change anything.’
Noel looked up at him with a broken expression on his face. ‘I can’t believe, I’ve been so stupid,’ he whispered.
Charles gave him an uneasy look. ‘Noel?’
Noel shook his head. ‘I’ve been so blind. I deluded myself into thinking that you were going to change,’ he paused and a short scornful laugh erupted from his throat. ‘I even believed that I could change you. But you are never going to change are you?’
‘I am trying-‘
‘No, you are not. I can see it now, you are just going to keep stringing me along and I, like the poor lovestruck fool that I am, was allowing you to.’
‘Why are you making such a big deal of it, we have a good thing going on.’
‘Good for whom?’ Noel demanded, removing his hand. ‘You only come to me when it’s convenient for you, all this time you’ve just been using me.’
Charles began to grow furious. ‘Do you think this is easy for me as well? I’m not even gay! I have my reputation to consider and the reputation of my family. You wouldn’t understand because your family are a bunch of nobodies.’
Noel’s features hardened. ‘Goodbye, Charles. It’s over.’
‘You think you can just leave me?’ Charles shouted after his retreating back. ‘You are mine. You can’t live without me, in the end you would just come crawling back.’
Noel ignored his voice and kept his emotions tightly under control as he walked away. However, when he reached his dormitory, he couldn’t hold it back any longer and crumpled to the ground as tears streamed down his face.
Samuel and Jayden were laying on the couch and they looked up in surprise as Noel burst into loud tears. Jayden came over to his side and raised him up gently, concern written all over his features.
‘What happened? Why are you crying?’
Noel merely shook his head and Jayden led him unsteadily into his room. Samuel stood by door as Jayden helped Noel into bed. He glanced unsurely at Jayden.
‘I think it’s best if I leave you two to talk, I will come back later to check on him.’
Jayden nodded distractedly and he turned around to leave, closing the door silently behind him.
Noel lay silent on the bed as tears streamed down his face. After a moment he whispered in a hoarse voice, ‘You can say it now.’
Jayden creased his brows slightly in confusion. ‘Say what?’
‘You were right. He really isn’t going to change, I should have stayed away from him from the start.’
A light of understanding appeared in Jayden’s eyes and he hesitated before sitting on the bed.
‘Yeah, you should have.’
Noel sniffed self-deprecatingly but Jayden went on. ‘But you know what, I actually wished I was wrong and you can’t blame yourself for trying. It may have been a futile effort from the start but you were determined to give him a chance and that says a lot more about your character than his.’
Noel sniffled. ‘And what did I get for my efforts? A broken heart, some tears and a runny nose.’
‘You also got experience,’ Jayden corrected. ‘And experience is one of the most valuable things in life. Sure it may not always be pleasant, but it always teaches a lesson. You’ve learnt your lesson now so it’s time to move on. No need to cry over spilt milk, and a particularly rotten milk at that.’
Noel smiled slightly through his tears. ‘Thanks, but I think I need to be by myself for a while.’
Jayden hesitated before nodding and getting up to leave the room. He stole one last glance at Noel’s supine figure before shutting the door softly.
Noel’s mood didn’t get better in the days that followed and his friends were at a loss on how to cheer him up. Leo, being the amazing friend that he was, took every opportunity he had to crack inappropriate jokes and play pranks in hopes of cheering him. His efforts were usually rewarded with a small smile from Noel but it almost always disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
‘You know what the horrible thing is,’ he said to Jayden one day as they were sitting in outside the cafeteria. ‘Despite everything, I still want to be with him. It’s all I can do not to go to him when I see him.’
He sighed and stood up. ‘I’m going to bury myself in books at the library, for whatever good that will do.’
Jayden watched him leave silently. He didn’t acknowledge Samuel’s presence when he came to sit beside him, rather he turned his head when he caught a familiar figure walking in from the corner of his eyes.
‘I’m surprised that you’ve actually not done anything to him,’ Samuel said as he followed his eyes to see Charles with his friends who clapped his backed his back enthusiastically as he sat in between them.
Jayden turned his eyes away from the sight and focused on the open textbook before him. ‘Why bother, I knew the kind of person he was and I warned Noel so he knew what he was getting into. Frankly, he isn’t worth the effort.’
Samuel nodded in understanding and silence came between them as they focused on their homework.
It took a few more weeks but Noel slowly began to get better and he soon found something to distract himself with. Under Jayden’s advice to direct his frustrations into something productive he had joined the house swimming team.
Jayden, however, was less than pleased when he informed him of his decision.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘Why is that, I grew up on the beach so I’m an excellent swimmer and you kept telling me to stop moping and do something worthwhile.’
They were standing by the pool and Noel was doing his warm-up stretches as he waited for practice to begin.
Jayden’s brows creased slightly as he watched him twist to the side. ‘Under normal circumstances I would agree with you but in case you’ve forgotten, Charles is on Aquila’s swimming team. You would be competing against him.’
‘No, I haven’t forgotten,’ Noel murmured as he brought his arms to the side. ‘It was the deciding factor actually.’ He rolled his eyes when he noticed the look on Jayden’s face. ‘What? You think I’m using it as an excuse to be with, aren’t you?’
Jayden shrugged. ‘The thought did cross my mind.’
‘Well, dispel it. I’m not doing this to be with him, I’m doing this to beat him.’ Noel’s voice grew determined. ‘I’m going to prove to him and myself that I don’t need him and that a penniless brat can beat his entitled ass.’
Jayden’s eyebrow raised slightly and he didn’t know whether to be concerned or amused. ‘Fine, you do you I guess. Just be careful.’
Noel grinned at him. ‘When am I ever not?’
His bright optimism however, was not enough to allay the nagging feeling in the back of Jayden’s brain. It wasn’t long before Charles got wind of Noel’s plans and the competition between the two grew so feverish, the whole school was soon abuzz with it. The two rivals trained obsessively and when it was time for the swimming competition the stands were packed.
Samuel and Jayden were standing outside the doors to the locker room about to go in and see Noel before the competition started.
‘I don’t like this,’ Jayden muttered to his boyfriend.
‘Honestly, you’re worse than my mum. Stop worrying everything is going to be alright.’
Jayden didn’t look convinced and Samuel sighed and stepped forward to face his boyfriend. ‘Look, Noel has enough on his mind without you adding your anxiety to it so when we go in, you’re going to smile and wish him the best. Got it?’
Jayden rolled his eyes but he nodded after Samuel gave him a warning look. ‘Fine.’
‘Good,’ Samuel beamed. ‘Now, let’s see that smile.’
Jayden sighed and formed his lips into something that looked more like a grimace than a smile. Samuel let out a suffering sigh and reached up with his fingers to fix his smile.
‘There, that’s better,’ Samuel said, stepping back to admire his handiwork. ‘Remember, positive vibes only. If you have nothing good to say, then it’s better to say nothing at all.’
Jayden rolled his eyes in response and followed his boyfriend as he made his way inside. Noel was with the rest of his teammates as they got ready for the competition. He seemed overly cheerful and enthusiastic as he changed into his swim wear and his features had a determined quality about it.
‘Hi guys,’ he greeted when he set eyes on them.
‘Say hello, Jayden,’ Samuel ordered.
‘Hello, Jayden,’ Jayden repeated drily.
Noel gave him a concerned look. ‘What’s wrong with your face?’
‘Nothing,’ he replied, giving Samuel a pointed look before rearranging his features back to normal. Noel peered at him closely before shrugging it off.
‘This is it buddy,’ Samuel said, clapping him on the back. ‘You ready for this?’
‘As ready as I’ll ever be,’ Noel grinned.
‘Can’t wait to see you kick that self-entitled narcisstic brute’s butt.’ Samuel rubbed his palms together gleefully, an eager glint lighting up in his eyes.
Noel giggled but their conversation was cut short when Charles and his teammates barged in.
They gave them a scornful grin and Charles stepped towards Noel. ‘Last chance to back out, brat.’
‘You wish,’ Noel replied, defiantly facing him down.
The tension spiked as the two stared-off at each other. Charles glanced around and noticing all eyes in the room on them, grabbed Noel’s arm and pulled him to the corner.
Noel snatched his arm away after they were out of earshot and hissed, ‘What do you want?’
‘Look, I don’t know what you want to prove by doing all this but there’s no point, just back off now before it’s too late.’
Noel raised an eyebrow. ‘What? Are you afraid that I’m going to beat your ass?’
Charles snorted. ‘As if.’
Noel’s gaze was hard as he stared at him. ‘Forget about it, I’m not going anywhere.’
Charles passed his hand over his face in frustration. ‘Can’t you see, I’m doing this for your own good. You are going to lose and what then? I’m just trying to spare you from the humiliation and besides,’ he looked down at this point. ‘I don’t like the feeling of being against you.’
Noel’s firm stance faltered a little at this statement but he soon held himself back together. ‘You can try all you want but that game is not going to work on me.’
‘I’m not playing any game goddammit!’ Charles yelled in frustration. He controlled himself and grabbed Noel’s arm, looking earnestly into his eyes.
‘Please,’ he begged. ‘Let’s not do this, when I get in the water I won’t be able to hold myself back.’
‘Good,’ Noel answered, snatching his arm away. ‘I won’t hold myself back either.’
Charles watched him go with an exasperated look on his face before gesturing to his friends and making his way out of the locker room.
‘What did you two talk about?’ Samuel asked curiously after they had left.
Noel shrugged. ‘Nothing important.’
Samuel hummed. ‘Mhm, alright then. It’s almost time so we’ll leave you to finish up. Break a leg, out there buddy. Come on, Jayden.’
Jayden hesitated but Samuel pulled him up and stared to drag him away. He gave one last look back at Noel as he waved cheerfully at him before he disappeared as the doors of the locker room closed behind them.
They made their way to the already filled stands, meeting up with Cam and Leo who had already saved them a spot.
‘How is he?’ Cam asked as soon as they came up.
‘Confident,’ Samuel replied. ‘Which is a good thing I guess.’
‘You’re damn right it is,’ Leo remarked. ‘I’ll be confident as well if I were him. Have you seen him swim before? He’s like a bloody fish.’
‘Please don’t mention food, especially seafood for that matter,’ Paul commented, coming up beside them. He was wrapped from head to toe in a thick blanket and was looking more than a little green as he clutched a pail to his chest as if his life depended on it.
Samuel regarded his best friend with surprise. ‘What are you doing here? I thought you were afraid of pools.’
‘Oh, believe me I am,’ Paul answered, gagging a little when a splash sounded from below. He composed himself and continued, ‘But Noel worked so hard for this, I didn’t think I could miss it.’ He held up his bucket shakily. ‘So here I am to brave it through.’
‘And what’s the blanket for wiseguy?’ Leo taunted, thoroughly enjoying himself. ‘To keep the big scary evil droplets away?’
‘Do I ask you to logically explain why you keep a small statue of a naked goddess in your locker?’
‘No, but I would be quite happy to.’
‘Shh,’ Cam shushed them. ‘The match is about to start.’
Sure enough, the athletes were filing out and lining up against the edge of the pool. Cheers came from the stands as the announcer’s voice came on air and began to comment.
‘Hello everyone and good afternoon. It’s a fine day for a bit of swimming and here we have our excellent swimmers. In their purple trunks, we can see the proud and noble Aquila with their star captain, Charles Mensah.’
Charles raised his hand in a wave and the Aquila section of the stands broke out into polite claps.
‘An unexciting response but that’s Aquilas for you. Up next, we have the brave swimmers from Draco, looking particularly resplendent in their gold and silver trunks.’
The Draco team captain stepped up and pumped his fist in the air as the gold part of the stands shook as they stamped their boots encouragingly.
‘That’s much better, you can always count on the Dracos to bring excitement into anything. Next, in their red and brown trunks we have those loyal chaps from Lepus.’
The captain of the Lepus swimming team stepped forward and with a polite smile, clasped his hands together and bowed towards the spectators. The Lepus in the stands responded with an enthusiastic cheer.
‘Always a cheerful bunch that lot. Last but not least, in their blue and black trunks we have the scorpions, with their captain looking as ambitious as ever. Wouldn’t want to meet that one in a dark alley.’
Indeed, there was a cunning glint in the captain’s eyes as he stepped forward and raised his hand in a sort of half-wave. The Scorpius part of the stands applauded loudly with shouts of encouragement punctuating in between.
‘Yes, lovely people the scorpions. Can be as pleasant as peaches when the mood strikes them and if it doesn’t, well just make sure to never get on their bad side.’
‘When is Noel’s race starting?’ Jayden whispered to Samuel as the announcer went on with his comments.
‘His race is the second one on the list,’ Samuel replied, consulting the brochure. ‘The first is the 400m medley.’
The swimmers took their place and at the sound of the pistol, the athletes plunged into the pool. It was a heated race and the crowd watched excited as the swimmers made their way from one end of the pool to the other.
‘This is very exciting folks,’ the announcer was saying. ‘As you know, they are not only competing for first place but for a place in the school team and later the national team. Oh what’s this? Looks like Lepus has won the first race, way to go hares.’
The Lepus stand cheered loudly at this victory and it took a while before they quieted down enough for the announcer’s voice to be heard once more.
‘The next race is one we have all been waiting for and doubtless, the reason most of us are here. The wait is now over and stepping up to the blocks are the two rivals who have captured the attention of the student body -though what they are having a rivalry about is anyone’s guess really; the two-time champion, Charles Mensah and the rookie with amazing natural talent, Noel Allan.’
The crowd roared with excitement not bothering to listen as the announcer went on to mention the names of the other two swimmers. At this point, even those from Draco and Lepus had forgotten about their house and where rooting for one of the two.
Cam and Paul were clutching each other’s hands tightly in nervous anticipation as they swimmers got into position. The starting pistol went off and the swimmers dived with a loud splash into the water.
‘The 100m freestyle race has just started folks and it’s already proving to be a heated one. The swimmers have just reached the end of the pool and are turning back. Draco is in the lead, no Charles just overtook him. Now it’s Noel, now Charles again, Noel, Charles, Noel, Charles.’
The tension was thick in the air as the swimmers cut through the water at top speed.
‘Charles is in the lead again and wait, Noel just stole it back. It’s now neck-to-neck people, we could be looking at a tie.’
The crowd was silent as both Charles and Noel broke through the surface at what seemed to be the same time. They were panting heavily as they climbed out of the water and the crowd waited with bated breath as the judges reviewed footage of the race.
‘It looks like a tie people and- wait, the judge is coming over to speaker, let’s hear what she has to say.’
The murmurings ceased as everyone’s focus turned to the judge. She cleared her throat softly and began.
‘After reviewing the footage several times, the judges are unanimous in their conclusion.’ She paused for effect and you could literally hear a pin drop.
‘Aquila placed second with Scorpius coming in first.’
The crowd erupted into tremendous cheer at the news. To most of them, it didn’t matter which side they supported as long as they got a bit of fun in the bargain and a tie would have been anticlimactic.
Paul and Cam sighed with relief then quickly let go of each other after realizing their awkward position. Jayden let out the breath he had been holding in as Samuel turned to him with a bright smile on his face.
‘See, I told you everything would work out fine. You worry too much.’
Jayden stuck out his tongue stubbornly at him but was inwardly relieved that his feelings were unfounded. He stood up and gestured to Samuel.
‘Come on, let’s go congratulate our young star.’
‘You do that, I’ll just see myself out of this death-trap,’ Paul stated, getting unsteadily to his feet. It seemed that in the excitement he had forgotten about his phobia but now that it was over it appeared to be hitting him with even more force than before.
‘Tell him I said congratulations and I’ll see him later,’ he said before hobbling quickly away.
Leo snickered at his friend’s retreating figure. ‘Oh, I’m never going to let him live this down.’
‘I would expect nothing less,’ Samuel replied with a smile of his own playing on his lips.
It seemed they weren’t the only ones who had thoughts about leaving and as they moved through the seats, they noticed the crowd begin to slowly thin out.
‘Looks like most of them just came to see the race between Charles and Noel,’ Cam commented as they waited in line to leave.
They made their way towards the locker room where Noel was being congratulated by his teammates. Leo walked up to him and placed an arm around his shoulder, ruffling his hair with pride.
‘There’s my little fish, finally showed that cumstain what you were made of. This calls for a celebratory party!’
Cam gave him a look. ‘You just find any excuse to get drunk, don’t you?’
Leo winked at him. ‘Life is too depressing to go through sober. Who’s with me? Party in my dorm tonight?’
Noel’s teammates cheered in approval and Leo went off with some of them to begin making plans.
Cam nudged Noel with his shoulder. ‘You did good out there. You made nerds everywhere proud.’
Noel blushed and mumbled an incoherent thanks.
‘Oh, Paul said congratulations as well.’
Noel looked surprised at this statement. ‘He came?’
Cam nodded absent-mindedly. ‘Dressed bizarrely but yeah, he was there in the flesh. He promised to look for you later and congratulate you himself.’
Noel nodded and turned to Jayden with an expectant look on his face. ‘So…’ he trailed off.
Jayden rolled his eyes at him. ‘Fine, fine you did great. I’m proud of you, is that what you want to hear?’
Noel nodded eagerly with a big grin lighting up his face.
Jayden shook his head and flung a towel at him. ‘Don’t get used to it. Anyway, how do you feel?’
‘I feel great. Honestly, I think this was exactly what I needed.’
‘Glad to hear it,’ Samuel came in. ‘Congratulations again, buddy. Knew you had it in you all along. Wish we could stay longer but Jayden and I have other business to attend to.’
Jayden blinked blankly at his boyfriend. ‘We do?’
‘Yes, remember I told you about our meeting with the debate society? Honestly, sometimes I think you just tune me out.’
Jayden chuckled guiltily. ‘Oh, right. Debate society, for the erm… thing, with the… thing?’
Samuel gave him a dry look. ‘You don’t remember, do you?’
‘No, I do not.’
‘It’s for my campaign. I’m running for head prefect or did you forget that as well?’
‘No, no I remember. Come on, let’s get going then,’ he said eagerly in attempt to please Samuel. ‘They are notoriously stickly with time and would take it as a personal offence if we’re late.’
He tugged on Samuel’s arm and tried to pull him away, causing Samuel to laugh in amusement. ‘Alright, alright I’m not mad, you go ahead I’ll catch up.’
Noel turned to Samuel after Jayden had left. ‘You didn’t tell him, did you?’
Samuel snorted. ‘Of course not, he would have just said no.’
Noel shook his head in amusement. ‘Way to guilt-trip your boyfriend.’
‘Hey, you have no idea what I put up with,’ Samuel replied, his eyes glinting with mirth. ‘At least this way, he helps to make up for it. Do you wanna come with?’
Noel shook his head. ‘No, I have to stay behind till the competitions are over and after it’s my turn to clean up.’
‘Alright then, just don’t be too late for your party else Leo will have a riot.’
Noel chuckled. ‘I won’t, thanks. Bye then.’
Samuel waved at him and disappeared with Jayden. Cam soon followed suit, dragging a reluctant Leo away from the bottle of alcohol he had discovered in one of the lockers.
The locker room soon grew empty as his teammates went out to watch the rest of the competitions. It soon filled up again after the competitions were over and the sounds of locker doors open and closing, showers running and loud talks and laughter filled the room.
Noel left to run a few laps in the deserted pool as his mind went over the events of the day. It was late when he got out of the pool and the only people left in the locker room were his captain and a few others.
They clapped him on the back on their way out and the captain gave him the keys to lock up. He then got into the tiring job of cleaning up the place and when he finally finished and looked at his watch, it was past ten pm.
He stripped and hurried into the showers and as the thin jets of water hit his back, tried not to think of Leo’s reaction when he finally showed up. He was wiping himself down when he heard a noise coming from the other side.
Frowning, he wrapped the towel around his waist and stepped out to see Charles sitting forlornly on the ground beside his locker. There were tears in his eyes as he looked up to meet Noel’s eyes.
‘What are you doing here?’ Noel asked cautiously.
‘Why do you hate me?’
Noel blinked, he wasn’t expecting that. ‘I don’t hate you.’
‘Then why are you doing this? Why did you leave me?’
Noel couldn’t believe what he was hearing and he struggled to keep his temper in check. ‘If you need to ask that, then clearly you haven’t changed.’
He paused and frowned, peering closer into Charles’ face. ‘Are you drunk?’
Charles mumbled something unintelligible causing Noel to roll his eyes at him. ‘Come on,’ he said, helping Charles to his feet. ‘You need to leave, you can’t be in here.’
‘No,’ Charles slurred, swaying on his feet as he proceeded to shake Noel. ‘You are mine, you got that? You belong to me!’
He shook Noel so hard that Noel grew dizzy from the motion and before he could completely recover, Charles crashed his lips against his in a rough kiss.
The force of the impact coupled with Charles’ heavy weight and imbalance had them bought toppling onto the ground with Charles landing on top of him. In the tussle, the towel around his waist came undone, causing him to blush furiously.
***TRIGGER WARNING; THE FOLLOWING SCENES MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME READERS. PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED***
‘Get off,’ he grunted, trying to force Charles off him but Charles didn’t seem to hear him. His gaze had fallen down towards his newly exposed skin and he could feel his skin begin to crawl as Charles’ gaze grew hot.
‘Charles,’ he began wearily. ‘Stop it, you’re making me uncomfortable.’
His cries were muffled when his mouth was covered with Charles’ lips and his struggles increased violently but they proved futile against Charles’ superior strength and he could feel the bile threatening to rise in his throat as Charles’ hands roamed all over his body, repeatedly touching him in areas he hadn’t been touched before.
Charles’s eyes rose to meet his and he whispered softly, almost to himself. ‘You’re mine and if I can’t have you, no one else can have you.’
The cold floor tiles, stinged bitingly against his bare skin and all he could think about was Charles weight on top of him. Tears sprung into his eyes and rolled silently down his cheeks, as he felt pain flare up from his backside as Charles plunged into him, his spirit shattering as he went deeper with each thrust.
The fight soon disappeared from his arms and he could only lay still as his body continued to be repeatedly violated, too powerless to stop it, his soul twisting in agony within the confines of his flesh and his heart feeling bereft of all emotion.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I know, I know. Please don’t hate me, I don’t like this as much as the next person. In fact, I debated seriously with myself on whether to add this to the story or just remove it altogether but then I thought that serious issues like this need to be talked about and we can’t just ignore them because it makes us uncomfortable or depressed.
The scene described in the latter part of this chapter reveals a serious issue that many people have faced, and if you’re one of such people, I want you to know that IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT.
What happened does not define who you are and you are not to blame for what happened and it doesn’t make you any less of a person. In fact, you are more beautiful both inside and out because few have the strength to go through what you have and survive. There is beauty in strength and hope in survival.
I hope you remember that and if you need anyone to talk to, my DMs are always open.
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