The sounds swirl around him in the dark dancing inside his mind as the room fills with life his thoughts wonder trying to make sense of the noises surrounding his body. The darkness hides him from the beasts stomping behind him as they enter the room; he counts the steps from each of the intruders as they invade his dark solitude. At first they trickle into the room one at a time then like a stream after an early summer rain they begin to flow into the room flooding the space with bodies. His heart quickens with anticipation that each beat will be the last one he enjoys when his naked shoulder feels the hot breath from one of the beasts flowing from the rounded caps of his shoulders down his back. "This is it", he thought to himself as the beast's large paw landed gruffly on his shoulder.
"Great job out there today, Talon!" came the bellowing sound of the beast. Talon opened his eyes pulling himself out of a day dream and turned to face the young man behind him.
"Thanks, Mick, but I don't know what you saw out there. From my point of view, I got my ass handed to me."
Mick laughed boisterously then smiled wide and playfully punched Talon's right pectoral with a solid thud. "Don't worry about it, that's what these scrimmage games are for. Just keep it up out there, you'll be fine", said Mick, his bare feet stomping the puddles in the shower room as he walked to the other end of the room to where a free shower head already sprayed streams of hot water beckoning his naked body.
Talon looked briefly around the room at the beasts now transformed into young men their bodies toned and firm, the water glistened as the hot streams lapped at the tight flesh of the men, then he turned back to face his own shower head once again. Lifting his right hand, Talon pressed his open palm against the cold tile wall in front of him, his left leg stretched behind him allowing the pounding water massage his back. He closed his eyes again letting his head hang while his aching muscles enjoyed the gentle massage from the shower head.
Talon is a young man, just turned 20 a few weeks ago actually, who was on the university football team, the Whittendale State Brancos. He isn't the tallest guy on the team or the fastest but he was one of the best linemen that Whittendale State has had in the last 3 decades. His skin has a bronzed glow from all the time he spent practicing over the summer, and he was built like those statues of the Egyptian pharaohs. Talon's eyes were a brilliant emerald green, the kind of eyes that would hold your gaze as long as he desired. His hair was a short conservative style and a light sun-kissed brown. He grew up in a small farming community where the only thing to do on a midsummer Saturday night was either tip cows or run naked through the corn fields with the neighbors daughter, Jenny.
Talon thought about Jenny a lot these days. He thought about the nights they would run naked in the fields trying to catch each other but neither one really trying all the hard to get away from the other, then after they were out of breath Talon would always lie down on his back atop the pile of clothes they shucked from their bodies earlier. Then Jenny would lie next to him resting her head on his stomach and they would both look up at the stars while talking about their lives gently caressing each others body. Even now as Talon stood nude in the showers he replayed those nights in his head and he realized for the first time since he left his hometown how much he missed her. His mind jumped from one frozen moment to the next dancing through his memories like water bugs across the ponds of his youth.