Hello, dear readers!
This is my first story submission on the site. As a longtime reader I have had hard time finding stories that resonated with me, stories with which I didn't have some clear issues. However, the stories I liked at least contained some elements that clicked and which I wanted to see explored some.
I need to declare that I mean not to offend any productive writers of the site. This being my first submission I believe the majority here have significantly more experience writing than I do. Consequently, I look forward to constructive criticism.
Now here is the bad news: If you expect a quick, sex-filled read, I must disappoint you. This is the first chapter in what I have envisioned as a large, evolving narrative. In the words of great Sean Bean, sex is coming. There is sexual content in this chapter, but don't expect much of it. I intend to include more of it in the future as I see fit so I hope this chapter intrigues you enough to continue reading.
All characters are, of course, at least 18-years-old.
Without further ado, enjoy!
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Fill my heart with song
Let me sing for evermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words
In other words
I love you
Sally didn't properly estimate the time needed to edit the recording, much less to polish the thumbnail or even upload the entire thing. Two to 20 minutes on deciding what to do next ended with a conclusion that the recording was itself a rushed piece of crap better left to time after school.
A voice came from the hall, "Don't expect me to be home when you come back. The breakfast is on the table, as well as the money if you want to order anything. Yes, also please wake up your brother. He won't answer me."
"Sure, Mom. I am going to call you when we come back."
"See ya, sweetie!"
"Bye, Mom! Have fun!"
Luke's bedroom was smaller than Sally's. It was probably not intended for sleeping in the first place, but when they had to move to a cheaper house someone had to concede. Plus, unlike Sally, he had no ambitious plans that required a larger room. Sharing a room was in neither of the twins' minds.
"I am not going to knock twice, dingus."
Waiting for what seemed like rather lengthy seconds of silence, Sally entered the unlocked room. The damp smell was the first thing that assailed her, building up from the creeping scent at the other side of the door. It was clear Luke had had his hands full. A piece of tissue lay beside the bed on which a scrawny 18-year-old tried to savor the last effect of that brief male experience when combining your thoughts about Teletubbies and the history of the Protestant Reformation could make perfect sense.
"You had nothing better to do, wasn't it?" Sally commented with way too much weariness to sound angry or interested, but enough to stress her disgust.
Luke stared at the ceiling for some time before answering not so truthfully: "It was a morning wood."
"Look, we had better go in the next 30 minutes. I have already got dressed, prepared everything for the pool and I just need to eat something. You, on the other hand, are..."
"I am aware, thank you. I felt like staying in my bed."
"And doing you know what."
Luke kept his gaze steady, barely acknowledging his sister. "There won't be a better time today, that's for sure. I will need to go through this BS sane."
"Please, just don't go as usual and everything would be fine. It's not like you're going to ruin your reputation by not going. Quite the contrary."
"I know! I've changed my mind; things are a bit different now and that's all you need to know Seally."
"Don't you dare!"
"Oh, yes, sorry for using the name more than half the school knows you by. I apologize, oh thou high and mighty. All those water associations might have made it slip. Be assured that more than 67% of sharks don't inhabit pool water so you should be perfectly safe."
"Go fuck yourself!" Sally growled and slammed the door.
"With pleasure! By the way, don't dare teach me about class!" No sooner had Luke said it, he hurled the copy of Sally's manga lying beside him at the door. The exuberant cover with two cutesy schoolgirls passionately gazing at each other indicated that the plot was of course the most immersive part. Just ignore all the licking.
Luke buried his head into the pillow, exhaling as if he wished to smother himself to numbness and go back to sleep. The year was ending and everything that wasn't shitty had already quickly turned to shit. But Luke knew he couldn't let himself drown in his self-imposed misery. The worst thing in these four years of school was already happening. "Be the change you want to be or whatever." He could say all the quotes because they sounded good. Putting them into practice was much harder when they were all somewhat vague or, to be more honest, they required effort Luke wouldn't always give. The worst thing was that he knew he had to. So many times, he had delayed and delayed, always having something else to do, either more important or less difficult. As much as his cynicism grounded him, the first step had to be taken. Even in the circumstance he had gotten himself into.
And the first step was taken, as he rolled his body off his bed, dragging himself face-down to the dusty floor like a corpse. He wondered if grease and sweat would be collected by squishing his room. "Sally certainly believes that", he guessed, "but I hope I keep it at that."
In the last moments of lethargy, it felt productive to do nothing and just stare. In the atrocious chaos that existed beneath his bed, Luke glared at the wooden box with superfluous Persian patterns adorning it. A small note on it read:
To Luke, open when you see it fit, use how you see fit. You're my king!
Ever since he received it, he had had no wish to remember its existence, much less to open it. The dead man who had given it didn't deserve to be remembered. But during these last days, it had crept back into his thoughts. He wouldn't say he had turned desperate, one day can change everything and he was there to act upon it.
