Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 00:35:20 -0600
From: Julien <juliengregg85@gmail.com>
Subject: The Craft Chapter 1

The Craft (Novel Version)
by Julien Gregg
juliengregg85@gmail.com


Chapter One

And the summer went on. Adam cleaned Donny's trailer, did dishes, took out
trash, vacuumed and dusted on Thursdays. He sucked Donny's dick just about
every day. Thursdays were one of his two days off from the gas station so
that left only one day a week when he wasn't sucking Donny's dick. He still
didn't know what to think about how much he liked it and hated it at the
same time. He supposed he had time to ponder that one.

So far the charm he'd made had kept his Mother and Larry out of his room.
They used to search it about every other day, looking for any money he
might have hidden in there. He wasn't stupid. He carried all of his money
on him or put it in the savings account that Miss Sallinger had helped him
open. He didn't know if they'd gotten lazy about it, finally decided he
wasn't going to hide any money in his room or if the charm was working.

At work, Pete had talked to him at least enough to say hello to him when he
arrived for his shift. The jury was still out on Pete. Adam decided to be
polite and just give the guy time to prove that he was as bad as everyone
else. His eighteenth birthday arrived with no fanfare or frills. He went to
work and received his Hostess cupcake with the candle in it, Hal's standard
birthday offering. Pete clapped him on the back and wished him a happy
eighteenth, and then he got a big shock when Hal called him into the office
to offer him more hours. He kept his Thursdays and Sundays off, but instead
of working four hour shifts he was now working eight hour shifts and would
start coming in to work at six in the morning and be off at two. He even
got a paid hour for lunch like everyone else. He'd had to change his tax
papers in Hal's file on him so that his status could be changed from part
time to full time and then he had to explain it his mother.

"You'll be making more money?" she asked, her eyes lighting up at the
thought.

"Yeah," he said with a sinking feeling.

"Well your rent is going up, that's for damned sure," she said. "You're
eighteen now, so you'll pay us two hundred a month for that room. You don't
pay and we'll burn your shit and throw you out."

"I'll pay the money while I look for somewhere else to live," he said as
calmly as he could. Larry was sitting across the room in his recliner
watching them closely.

"You start lookin' awful hard, hear?" Larry said.

"I hear you," he replied as Larry threw the newspaper at him.

It had been the first thing he'd thought of when Hal had given him the full
time hours. He wanted out of their house probably more than they had ever
wanted him gone. He'd have to find something with no lease, because the
other thing that had happened was that his scholarship papers had arrived.
He would be leaving for Storyville in August. He had three months to go.

Then something completely unexpected happened. Donny heard that he was
looking for a place to stay for a while and offered him the spare bedroom
in the trailer. He wouldn't take no for an answer and even borrowed Hal's
truck to move all of Adam's bedroom furniture to a storage shed, because he
told Adam in private that he would just be sleeping with him anyway. Adam
got a sinking feeling at this news. But he was even more shocked when Donny
and Aaron showed up to move his things. Aaron said very little and
absolutely nothing to Adam.

Of course Larry watched them like a hawk as if Adam would take anything
that didn't belong to him. There was absolutely nothing left outside of his
room that he would have wanted anyway. He just wished he was happy about
his new living situation. He said nothing to Donny or Aaron as he rode
between them in the truck to the storage facility. He paid for six months,
having cleared out most of his savings to do this as well as the rest of
what he had planned. Then they drove him to the trailer where Aaron's car
was waiting.

Aaron said nothing as he climbed into his car and drove away, leaving Adam
and Donny completely alone. Adam was nervous, but then that wasn't anything
new for him. He walked into the trailer and accepted the key that Donny
handed him. Then his mouth about hit the floor when Donny told him the
rules of the house.

"When we're home, you're naked," he said. "I don't want any clothes on you
at any time unless someone else is here. That doesn't include Aaron. He
knows not to fuck with you now so you don't have to worry about him. The
house cleaning is your job. I expect everything you do on Thursdays to be
done every day."

"Why do I have to be naked?" he asked and then was shocked when Donny
backhanded him across the mouth and sent him reeling.

"You don't talk to me unless I ask you a question," Donny said. "You'll
want to get that straight quick, Adam, because I'll beat your ass every
time you forget.

"Now," he went on, "You work with me so I won't make you quit. The money
you make is yours. Just put it all in your savings account. You'll eat what
I eat and when I eat. You'll also suck my dick any time I decide I want it,
and we'll get to your ass pretty quick, too."

Adam was no longer nervous. He was terrified. He couldn't believe that
Donny was doing this. He'd expected the oral sex, sure, but all of the
rules and never to talk unless he was talked to first? He didn't even want
to think about what Donny expected of his ass. He knew about fucking. He
wasn't a child, he just didn't know if he wanted to be fucked. It seemed he
didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Well," Donny said, looking angry. "Are you deaf? Get your fuckin' clothes
off."

He feared Donny just enough to comply. He took his clothes off, folded them
and held them. Donny took him in the spare bedroom and showed him where he
would put his clothes. He unpacked naked and scared. Then he started
cleaning the house. It was so strange to be doing it with no clothes on,
and he was nearly undone by the fact that Donny watched him with that look
in his eyes the whole time.

He didn't actually notice when Donny went from calling him Adam to "Boy",
but he paid attention when Donny decided to teach him how to cook the food
he liked. They ate in silence at the small scarred kitchen table. The
plastic seat cushion on the chair was cold on Adam's bare ass, but he said
nothing. He had no appetite but he ate everything on his plate. Donny made
no bones about telling him he'd beat his ass if he didn't eat.

"You're too fuckin' skinny," he said. "I want some normal weight on you.
Don't worry, though. I won't let you get fat. That weight bench in the
spare bedroom will soon be your new best friend."

He sucked Donny's dick as soon as he finished cleaning up the supper dishes
and cleaning the stove and counter. Then they sat on the couch, or rather
Donny sat on the couch while Adam sat on the floor between Donny's legs
where he was told he was to sit from now on and watched television. Donny
had cable and told Adam he liked to watch what he liked to watch and never
to touch the box. Adam had no intention of touching the box. He'd never
watched much television because he hadn't had one in his room.

Then Donny had him lay across his legs so he could work on his ass. Adam
was terrified and felt himself trembling as he lay across Donny's lap.
Donny had a jar of petroleum jelly and he began to rub his slimy fingers
around Adam's asshole. When he stuck a finger in Adam jumped and almost
cried out. He knew better than to cry out or try to get away though. When
Donny put two fingers in his ass he almost didn't care what would happen if
he cried out and tried to get away. The pain was unreal. The pain from two
fingers had only just started to subside when Donny added a third finger
and the hell truly began. Adam screwed his eyes shut and tried to figure
out how he'd gotten himself into the mess he was currently in. Would Donny
even let him go in August?

Then Donny's fingers hit something inside him and he actually yelped. Donny
laughed and told him that was a free one. He said that he was born to be
fucked if he liked that so much. Adam didn't know what had happened, but
his entire body seemed to be jolted as if an electric current had been
applied to his toes and traveled through him when Donny touched that spot
inside him.

"It means you're gonna enjoy the hell out of my dick in your ass, Boy," he
said, laughing. "You're going to be fun to break."

Adam was actually scared by that statement. He found out what it meant a
little later when Donny announced it was time for bed. He told Adam not to
worry about cleaning his ass that night because he was going to be fucked
and it would just get slimy anyway. He followed Donny to the bedroom
meekly, barely paying attention to the queen sized bed with his four posts.
He did wonder why Donny had a four post bed though. He found out when Donny
told him lay on the bed on his stomach. Then he tied his wrists to the
posts at the head of the bed and his ankles to the posts at the end of the
bed. He stuffed a pillow under his crotch and then he stripped naked and
climbed on top of him.

Adam didn't know what was going to happen. He'd never been more terrified
in his life. When he felt the head of Donny's dick at his asshole he nearly
screamed. Then Donny shoved his dick into him and he almost lost it
completely. He'd thought the three fingers had hurt, but they were nothing
to the searing, tearing agony he felt at the intrusion of Donny's dick.
Donny didn't seem to care that Adam was in distress. He just started to
fuck his dick in and out of his ass as he clamped his hands on Adam's
shoulders. The bed shook from the force of the thrusts and Adam began to
cry silently in pain and fear. When it was over Donny untied him and told
him to get to the bathroom and get a shower. He told him to make sure he
got all the cum out of his ass.

When Adam returned to the bedroom and crawled into the bed beside Donny he
was scared that it would happen again. He was amazed that his ass wasn't
bleeding. It felt like it would never stop hurting. Donny wrapped an arm
around him and went straight to sleep. Adam lay there, crying and wishing
he would die.

It went on like that for a month, and everyone at the gas station started
to notice the change in Adam. He'd never been overly talkative, but he'd at
least said hello to people and goodnight or goodbye when they got off
work. Now he said absolutely nothing, and even Hal noticed the haunted look
in the boy's eyes. He wanted to pry but he didn't know what to ask. He was
supposed to be living with Coleson now. Hal had no idea what was going on,
but he knew better than to get in the middle of it.

Pete noticed the difference in Adam as well, but unlike Hal he asked Adam
questions. Adam assured him that everything was fine and then walked away
from him. When he asked Donny about Adam's attitude, Donny told him he
didn't have a clue what was wrong with Adam but to mind his own fucking
business.

Adam was in hell. He sucked Donny's dick every morning and again as soon as
they got home from work. Then he cleaned and cooked. He spent a little time
on the floor between Donny's legs and he was fucked every night while he
was tied to that hateful bed. It hurt every time. Donny had said he'd love
it, but he was wrong. Adam quickly grew to despise Donny and he plotted in
his head the revenge he would one day take against him if he could ever get
the chance.

Then Adam got off at two while Donny had to work until six. Adam went home
and cleaned the house. He was making dinner when he heard the door open. He
thought it was Donny, but he was shocked and dismayed to find Aaron
standing there staring at his naked body.

"What the fuck?" Aaron gasped as he closed the door. "You're naked."

Adam didn't say anything. He went back to cooking the chicken and wishing
that Aaron would just leave. When the chicken was done and Adam had put it
in the oven to keep it warm, Aaron struck. He grabbed Adam and forced him
to his knees. When Adam tried to get away Aaron punched him in the face. He
nearly blacked out. Then Aaron was shoving his dick in his mouth and Adam
just gave up and let it happen until the door opened and Donny walked in.

"What the fuck is goin' on here?" he demanded loudly.

Aaron pulled his dick out of Adam's mouth and began to sputter and back
away from his brother. Donny grabbed him by his hair and drug him out of
the kitchen. Adam stayed on his knees and quivered in fear. He heard Donny
beating on his brother and he heard Aaron's terrified and painful cries.
Then Donny demanded that Adam get his ass in the living room. When Adam
walked in he was shocked to find Donny fucking Aaron! He couldn't believe
it.

"Just like old times, ain't it, bro?" Donny hissed as he slammed his crotch
into Aaron's ass.

Aaron cried out in pain and humiliation as he watched Adam watch his
brother fuck him. Adam stood there in shocked paralysis as he watched the
spectacle before him. When Donny was spent he stood up and let Aaron slump
over the arm of the couch. He went into the kitchen and sat at the table to
wait for Adam to serve him his supper.

After a long while Aaron came in and made himself a plate. He sat gingerly
down on the third chair and looked at his plate. Adam ate silently and
wondered just what the hell was going on. He didn't have long to wait
though. Donny began to talk and Adam's fear intensified.

"You got five swats coming for letting him touch you, Boy," he said.

"But . . ."

"TEN!" Donny screamed. "I told you not to talk unless I asked you a
question."

"What the hell is going on between you two?" Aaron demanded, shocking Adam
because he thought it was plain. He was Donny's slave. There was nothing
else it could be.

"He's my property and you fucked with him after I told you not to," Donny
said. "You got your ass kicked and fucked for it. I suppose you'll have to
stay here for a few days to let the bruises fade before you go back to Mom
and Dad's. But hear me now, Aaron. If you so much as look at him again I'll
do something worse to you."

And for six nearly unbearable days Aaron stayed with them. He slept on the
couch but Adam was forced to watch Donny fuck him two more times. It made
him sick. It was one thing to fuck another person, but your own brother? He
didn't think he'd ever see them in a different light than he did now.

Then Aaron watched as Donny gave Adam ten hard swats with his leather belt
across his ass. Adam hissed in pain after each swat but he didn't make any
other sound. He was forced to sit on the floor on his welted ass between
his lord and master's legs until it was time to go to bed. Then he was tied
up and fucked again while Aaron stood in the doorway watching.

Adam became even more withdrawn after that. Everyone noticed. The customers
even started to notice that though he made no mistakes and was always
polite, he spoke softer and never looked anyone in the eye. How could he?
He was ashamed and degraded. Hal called him into his office and told him
that he needed to tell him what was going on. He said that if he didn't
improve he'd have to let him go, so Adam made an effort to try to be normal
again.

He started working out with Aaron twice a week. Aaron said nothing during
these workouts and didn't touch him. It was during these workouts that Adam
noticed the look in Aaron's eyes. It was nearly the same look he saw in his
own eyes when he looked in the mirror. The look screamed victim. He refused
to feel sorry for Aaron Coleson though. He just bided his time until it was
nearly time to leave for Storyville.

He gave Hal his notice quietly and accepted his final check in
advance. Then he packed all of his clothes while Donny was at work. Aaron
actually drove him to the bus station to buy his ticket and then to the
motel where Adam rented a room. He even promised not to tell Donny where
he'd gone.

Adam spent that first night in the motel crying in the shower with the
water as hot as he could stand it. He felt so dirty and ashamed that he'd
let Donny do that to him for nearly three months. He kept seeing that
defeated, victimized look in Aaron's eyes and he cried harder. He stayed
there, curled up in the tub until the water turned cold. Then he got out
and dried his sore skin that was now red everywhere from the hot water and
crawled into the bed and fell into a sleep deeper than any he'd ever
remembered in the past. He did not dream.

For the two and half weeks that Adam stayed in the motel he ate take out
food and survived on what he could buy across the highway at the truck
stop. He took a bus to the bank and closed his savings account the day
before he had to be at the bus station to catch the bus to Storyville.

He sat in his room that night, munching pizza and watching a movie on HBO
about witches. He thought about the witchcraft book for the first time
since he'd made the charm and then remembered that Donny had torn the book
up and thrown it away. He'd called it stupid and told Adam he wasn't
allowed to read that kind of thing in his house. Adam decided that he'd get
another one as soon as he got to Storyville.

The next day he was at the bus station an hour before the bus was supposed
to even arrive. He sat there with his suitcase and waited. He ate vending
machine food for his breakfast and watched the other passengers begin to
arrive along with those who were picking up the people who would be getting
off the bus in Crete. Then he nearly stopped breathing as Pete Anderson
came into the bus station with a big white laundry bag filled with
clothes. He saw Adam and smiled. Adam felt a little better when Pete smiled
at him, but he nearly panicked when Pete came over and sat beside him.

"Adam, man, where've you been?" Pete asked excitedly as he sat down. "Hal
said you quit and then Donny went a little nuts. Nobody knew where you
were, man."

"What do you mean Donny went a little nuts?" Adam asked.

"He beat the shit out of his little brother and got arrested," said
Pete. "His brother's in the hospital. They say he beat him bad."

"Oh my God," he sighed, thinking that it was his fault for asking Aaron to
keep his secret. "Will he be all right?"

"They say he will be," Pete said. "But what happened to you?"

"I was in a bad situation at home," Adam said, mixing truth with lies to
just get it over with. "Donny and Aaron, that's his little brother, they
moved me out of my house and in with Donny. My step dad was a real jerk and
scared me to death. I just had to get away from everyone, so I quit my job,
moved into the motel on the highway and now I'm here."

"That's wild," Pete said, shaking his head. "Sorry all that happened to
you. So you're heading to Storyville U?"

"Yeah," Adam said and smiled. He didn't know why but Pete seemed all right
so he relaxed.

"Headin' back to school myself," he said. "It's a great school. Lots of
pretty girls to play with in Storyville."

"Cool," said Adam, though girls were the last thing on his mind. Sex, for
that matter, wasn't an issue he was worried about, either. His ass was
still hurting from Donny's dick. He just wanted to get away from
Crete. Storyville University was his way out.

His stomach nearly turned over when the bus pulled up. Pete smiled and
slapped him on the back as he got up, hauling his laundry bag over his
shoulder. Adam grabbed his suitcase and followed behind him. They let the
driver load their bags under the bus in the cargo hold talking the whole
time.

He boarded the bus and Pete waved to him from the back. Adam smiled as he
walked down the aisle of seats, careful not to brush against any of the
other passengers. He took a seat beside Pete and the two started to talk
about Storyville. Adam had never been there, but Pete was trying to fill
him in on everything there was to do there as the bus pulled away from the
curb and started his journey to freedom.

Pete and Adam talked all the way through the six hour bus ride to
Storyville. Pete told Adam all about campus life. He even told Adam where
he could probably get a job. Adam liked Pete, but he knew he couldn't tell
him that he was gay. He didn't want the only person he would know at school
to be his enemy. He'd had enough of that in high school. What he wanted was
someone to at least say hello to him when they saw him. He thought that
might just be Pete.

When the bus stopped for a break half way between Cedar Rapids and
Storyville, Adam and Pete went into the gas station across the street from
the station to get soda and snacks. Adam wasn't used to anyone really
hanging out with him, and he knew that once they got to Storyville, things
wouldn't be the same between them. For that day, though, he could pretend
that Pete was really his friend. It felt really good to pretend sometimes.

"So, why did your mom let your stepdad treat you like that?" asked Pete
once they were back on the bus with their drinks and bags of chips.

"She never cared one way or the other," Adam replied honestly "I don't
think she ever really wanted a son."

"That sucks," said Pete. "My parents are divorced, so I go to Crete one
summer to see my father and his new wife, and the next summer, I go to
Chicago to see my mother and her new husband. My step-parents don't really
care for me, so I just stay out of their hair. My car finally broke down so
now I'm bussing it back to school."

"Sometimes I wish my stepfather would have just let me stay out of his
way," Adam said, thinking that if his home life had been just a little
better he'd never have ended up being controlled and abused by Donny.

"Well you're free now," said Pete with a grin. "Whole new town and a room
in the dorm. Now all you have to worry about is if you get a dick for a
roommate."

"Yeah, I hadn't thought of that," Adam admitted. "I guess I was just too
excited about actually getting out of Crete that I didn't think."

"You'll probably be all right," Pete said. "If not just let me know and
I'll pound the freshman fuck."

They laughed about that and then quieted down while they ate their
snacks. The bus started to move again, and Adam sighed inwardly. He'd done
it. He wasn't in Storyville yet, but he'd gotten away from Crete with no
one even noticing. He still suspected that no one would care that he was
gone. Other than Donny Coleson, that was. He was still shocked about Donny
putting Aaron in the hospital and being arrested. He hoped they locked him
up.

Pete started the conversation back up as soon as the empty chip bags were
crumpled. He told Adam about all of the cool places to hang out in
Storyville and about all of the things there were to do on campus other
than homework. It seemed that Storyville University was even better,
judging from Pete's description, than Adam had even imagined. He couldn't
wait to get there. He wished the bus would move faster.

The conversation between them came to a halt as Adam got his first look at
Storyville. The bus drove past a mall that looked nothing like those Adam
had seen before. The entire mall was nearly surrounded by little shops and
fast food restaurants. Cars were parked all over the parking lots, and
there were people everywhere. Adam had known that Storyville was larger
than Crete, but he'd had no idea that it was so crowded.

There were immaculate trees lining the eight lane street as the bus drove
on, passing the sign that told Adam that the mall he was looking at was
Pine Falls Mall. More fast food restaurants lined the street on his side as
the bus kept moving through what Pete called "grease lane". When they
started to pass businesses that specialized in various things, Adam started
to wonder where the houses were. He saw them a little bit later. The houses
that lined both sides of the street as the eight lanes became six and then
four before becoming a regular two lane street were large two story
houses. Each house had an immaculate lawn with bushes, trees and
flowers. Adam wondered if everyone that lived in Storyville was rich.

"This is Pine Falls," said Pete as Adam gaped at the houses as they
passed. "Storyville is broken up into sections that are kind of like
villages. The university is on the other side of town in what's called
Washington Square."

"That mall was called Pine Falls, too," said Adam, turning his gaze away
from the window and back to Pete.

"Yeah, there's another mall out by the university called Bucklan," replied
Pete. "That one is mostly clothes and furniture, though. Not many younger
people hang out there. There are four sections of Storyville, though. Pine
Falls, Washington Square, Penndale and Brentwood. Pine Falls and Brentwood
are where the wealthy live. Washington Square is where the university and
both high schools are located, and Penndale is full of apartments and
condos."

The bus pulled into a station that was nothing like the one in Crete. There
was a huge building with about fifty other buses parked in lines along one
side. The parking lot was full of cars, and people were walking in and out
of the station itself. Adam wondered how they were going to get to the
school from there. Pete had said that the university was on the other side
of town from where they were.

His question was answered as they got off of the bus and retrieved his
suitcase and Pete's laundry bag. Pete led him through the station and out
another door where a bank of taxicabs waited for customers. Pete hired one,
and he and Adam put their bags in the trunk of the car and piled into the
back seat. The cab driver asked their destination, and then they were off.

Pete talked about various places as they passed them on their journey
through Storyville. He talked about a lake that was on the edge of town
called Storyville Lake. He said that the lake was one of the largest
man-made bodies of water in the Midwest. It was twenty feet deep in the
center, and one half of it was roped off for boating on one side and
fishing on the other. On the other side of the rope, there were life guard
stations for the swimmers. A camp ground was on the far side of that lake
where there were cabins, tent rentals and a large motor park for trucks
with campers attached and full sized camping vehicles.

Then they pulled into a section of the city that looked strange to
Adam. There were houses on both sides of the street, but the street itself
wasn't as wide as Adam thought it should be. Then he noticed the Greek
letters on the houses just as Pete explained that they had just entered
University Row where all of the fraternities, sororities and dorm houses
were located.

Then the cab pulled into a small parking lot. There was a five story
rectangular white stone building with black letters that named it Freemont
Hall. This was the dorm that Pete lived in while he was at school. He'd
told Adam that he had never even wanted to join any of the fraternities,
and Adam didn't think he would want to, either.

This wasn't his dorm, but it wasn't far from Freemont Hall. His was called
Reynolds Hall and Pete explained that Reynolds and Spartan Halls were new
dorms that only housed freshman. Adam took his suitcase and headed off to
the Student Services building while Pete lugged his laundry bag up to his
room. Then after Adam had taken care of registration and got his key to the
dorm room he took his suitcase to his room and headed back to Freemont Hall
to find Pete. Pete was coming out of the building when he got there.

"There you are," said Pete with a grin. "Get all set?"

"Yeah," Adam replied, holding up his key. He'd left his course schedule and
other paperwork in his room. "What did you have in mind for now?"

"Well orientation isn't until tomorrow," Pete said. "Right now, I'm
hungry."

Adam's stomach growled its agreement, so he followed Pete back through the
parking lot. They walked away from the dorm and down two blocks to a small
restaurant that Pete informed him made the best pizza in the world. The
place was nice with dark green carpet, red and white checkered tables and a
buffet table running down the center of the room. It was empty at the time,
but Pete informed him that on Saturday and Sunday mornings, there was an
all you can eat breakfast.

They chose a booth in the back and browsed menus in silence until an older
woman with graying dark hair and glasses came over to take their drink
orders. Twenty minutes later, the pizza was served. They talked about how
to get around town without a car, and Pete told Adam about a gas station
that was usually always hiring, and it was only a short walk from
University Row.

"That's great," he said. "But don't you have to be twenty-one to work in
most of the gas stations?"

"This one you don't have to be," Pete explained. "They don't sell alcohol
or tobacco products, so you only have to be sixteen."

"Well then it sounds like my dream job," Adam laughed. "I paid for six
months of storage and then when I moved into the hotel I paid for three
more months. That way I figured I had time to find a job so I can keep
paying to keep my stuff there."

After they paid the check they went their separate ways. Pete wanted to
check to see if his roommate was back and Adam went back to his dorm room,
hoping his roommate hadn't arrived. He was in luck. The other side of the
room was still barren. He grabbed his book list and voucher before he
headed out in search of the book store.

The University Services building was in the center of University Row, and
it was the only building in the three block area that was only a single
story. As opposed to the Student Services building, there were no academic
offices inside the building. A sign in front of the building informed Adam
that inside he would find the book store, a cafe, two meeting rooms,
restrooms, a lounge and one of the Campus Security offices.

The book store looked like a library gone wrong. There were shelves almost
all the way around the room with more shelves in two rows in the center of
the room. Displays of sweat shirts, jerseys and more t-shirts were just in
front of the doors, and a counter was set up to the left of the doors with
more merchandise in a display case underneath.

Adam consulted his list of books and began his search. The organization of
the store wasn't all that great, but after only twenty minutes, he had
found all of the books on his list. He'd even made sure that each book was
used just as the voucher had insisted. A bored looking girl with long dark
hair and green eyes filled out the paperwork for the voucher and put all of
the books in a complimentary book bag. She thanked Adam in a voice that
confirmed her boredom and he left the store. He ate a cheeseburger and
fries in the cafe and nearly choked over the prices. Pete had warned him
that anything bought on campus that didn't come out of the cafeteria would
cost a fortune. He decided that he would not eat on campus again after he
paid for his meal and left the cafe.

Back in his room, Adam put all of his books in the bottom drawer of the
desk that was next to his bed and sat on the bed. He had eight days before
classes started, and he had no idea what to do with his time. He was
planning to go to the gas station and apply for a job, but he couldn't
remember which side of University Row it was on.

It wasn't until the next morning that he found the gas station. The manager
was a man named Gary with a bald head and dark eyes. He talked to Adam
after his application was filled out, and to Adam's surprise, he hired him
on the spot. He was to start the following day at four to train with
someone named Denny. He walked back to his room with a smile on his
face. He had a place to live that didn't include his parents, Pete had
promised to come looking for him soon to hang out, and he had a job. Things
were definitely looking up for him.

He walked to Pete's dorm and told him about the job. Pete decided that they
needed to celebrate by having more pizza. The two of them talked about the
job that Pete would be returning to on Monday. Pete would be working in a
pet store in Pine Falls Mall. The manager had given him the summer off,
just like every other college student he'd employed before, and Pete
couldn't wait to get back to work.

When Adam got back to his room that evening, he saw a laundry bag like the
one that Pete had carried on the other bed in his room. There were boxes
everywhere and the door to the empty closet hung open. There were shirts
and pants hanging in the closet, but what caught Adam's attention were the
football pads on the closet's floor. His room mate was a football
player. Adam wasn't sure he liked that. He'd come to Storyville to be free,
but with a jock in his room, he'd have to watch what he said, where he
looked and just about everything he did. Maybe the guy would be all
right. He decided that he shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly. It
wasn't exactly fair. Instead of brooding about it, he sat on his bed and
read through his World Religion syllabus.

The first unit that the class would be covering was Pagan Religions. Adam
had no idea what the word "pagan" meant, but as he read further, he figured
it out pretty easily. The first assignment was due the day that class
started, and it was a fifteen page report on Wicca. He sighed as he thought
about how he'd have to be doing research instead of doing anything fun
before classes started. He decided to check the other syllabuses to find
out if any of his other classes had assignments due the day class began.

He was thumbing through his Art Appreciation syllabus when the door opened
and a blond haired boy stepped inside. He had another box in his hands, and
Adam decided to be friendly and hold the door for him. He got a smile for
his effort, and that was when he saw just how attractive his roommate
really was. The boy had hair the color of the sun and eyes like the
cloudless sky. His smile was perfect, and it lit up his entire face. When
he sat down the box, Adam knew he was in for trouble as he got a look at
the boy's muscular body. He was wearing a pair of cut off sweat pants and a
shirt with no sleeves. Adam dragged his gaze away from the boy as soon as
he started to turn around.

"Melvin Borlan," he said, thrusting his hand out to Adam with another of
those awe inspiring grins. "I'm from Ohio."

"Adam Wells," replied Adam, shaking his hand and trying not to wince when
Melvin gripped his hand. "I'm from right here in Iowa."

"You got all of your stuff put away," said Melvin as he turned his
attention back to the box on his bed. "I'll have mine out of the way
lickety split."

"No problem," said Adam, going back to sit on his bed.

"Probably won't see a lot of me," said Melvin, hefting a microwave out of
the box. "My girl goes here, too. She'll be here tomorrow. I'll probably
spend most of my time with her."

"I'll probably be working a lot," replied Adam.

That was all that Melvin had to say until he'd gotten most of his stuff put
away. He sighed when he started to put more clothes into his closet. The
closet wasn't all that large, and Melvin seemed to have a mountain of
clothing. He went to the dresser and started to put his folded clothes away
and ran out of room there, too. One of the things on the floor was a foot
locker, and Adam watched as Melvin put the remainder of his clothes inside
it. Then he pulled books from another box and started to line his
bookshelves. There were trophies in another box, and those went on the
chest of drawers.

"I knew Momma packed too much," he sighed as he sat down on his bed. "I'll
box most of this back up and ship it back to Ohio." He looked at Adam's
empty bookshelves. "Where's all of your stuff?"

"I didn't bring much with me," said Adam. "Everything I own is either in
the closet or the dresser."

"Mind if I put some boxes on your shelves?"

"Go ahead," replied Adam, attempting to be friendly.

Adam watched as every available shelf on both of his book cases were filled
with Melvin's "stuff". He hoped that Melvin packed it all and shipped it
back to Ohio soon. Adam had planned to start buying himself a few things
once he started getting paid. If Melvin didn't move his "stuff", Adam
wouldn't have anywhere to put anything.

"Catch you later, Adam," said Melvin, heading for the door. "Gonna go find
something to do."

"Later," replied Adam as Melvin walked out of the room.

He was asleep when Melvin came back to the room. One thing that Melvin was
not was quiet. He also had a love of turning on the lights no matter who
was asleep. The other thing, and this is probably what shocked Adam the
most, was that he was not shy about taking his clothes off in front of
other people. Now, they were roommates which meant that they would
undoubtedly see each other in various forms of undress, but that wasn't the
first thing that popped into Adam's head as he watched his jock room mate
take his clothes off.

No, the first thing that popped into Adam's head was that Melvin didn't
wear underwear. He tried so hard not to look at him, and he knew that if
Melvin saw him looking, he would probably pound the shit out of him. Try as
he might, however, his eyes were glued to Melvin's crotch as it was rapidly
being revealed. At the last moment, he pulled his gaze away from Melvin and
turned over to face the wall.

When Melvin was finally done undressing, he turned off the light, and Adam
heard him fling himself onto his bed. That didn't mean that Adam could go
back to sleep, however. Instead, he stared at the wall, trying very hard
not to let himself think about Melvin's perfect pecs, his washboard stomach
or the mound in his shorts. He tried to think of math problems, his mother
and stepfather, anything that would make him want to shut his eyes and
escape from the world in sleep.

It must have worked, because the next thing he knew, the sun was shining in
his face. A quick glance at the other bed revealed that Melvin was not a
fan of blankets, and he was still asleep. He was lying on his stomach with
both arms under his head, giving Adam a wonderful view of his perfect
ass. Adam sighed as he got out of bed, grabbed the clothes that he had
planned on wearing and headed to the bathroom.

After a quick hundred tugs at his dick in the shower, which surprised him
because he'd never thought he'd be horny again after Donny Coleson, and one
last glance at Melvin's perfect ass, Adam left the room to find the
library. He needed to do research for his World Religions paper and try to
find something that would burn that vision from his mind. He had four days
until his classes would start, and he'd found that there was only one
assignment due on the day that classes began.

He found the library fairly easily. It was on the other side of campus, but
the walk had at least cleared his head. He walked through the library with
a piece of paper in his hand with the reference numbers he'd written down
after his computer search for the books he'd need to start his research. It
wasn't long before he found the section of the library that he was looking
for, and he chuckled at the large sign that read "Occult". He took five
books from the shelves and headed for one of the tables on the other side
of the stacks.

For the next three hours, Adam read all about the world's views on
witchcraft and Wicca. He'd decided that he would start his report on what
society thought about the religion, and there was plenty for him to take
notes on. When he looked at the clock and discovered that he had only three
hours before he was to report to work, he decided to check the books out
and study them after work.

Melvin wasn't in the room when he got back, so he quickly changed into the
jeans and t-shirt he had decided to work in and headed for the gas
station. The University Tank wasn't like the gas station he'd worked at in
Crete. There were no gas jockeys here. Every pump was self-service. His
training was largely on working the cash register, learning the grid of
pump keys so that he could authorize and call up pumps. He learned that it
might be necessary for him to stop a particular pump while a customer was
still pumping, and there was even a switch under the main register that
stopped all of the pumps at the same time. Denny, a short middle aged man
with thinning red hair, bright green eyes and freckles all over his face,
told him that the switch was only for emergencies. Then he proceeded to
tell Adam what type of situations would be called an emergency.

The station was open twenty-four hours a day, and Adam would usually work
from three to eleven at night. For the rest of the week, he would come in
at four and leave at ten. These were his training hours. Training is what
he did all night. It consisted of watching Denny authorize pumps for the
first hour, take payment for the gasoline and sell sodas and anything else
that a customer might want. The second hour was spent with him on the
register doing the very same thing. He found it to be easier than Denny had
believed it to be, and after an hour, Denny was satisfied that Adam knew
the basics on the register. He was shown the store room and learned that he
would also be responsible for stocking the shelves of oil, transmission
fluid, brake fluid and various other fluids. Now and then, he would be
required to stock the candy shelves and other merchandise, but that was
mostly done by the overnight shift.

Each shift had to restock the coolers and bag ice to be sold to the
customers. It was bagging ice that Adam especially hated. This, of course,
proved to be what he did for the rest of the night after stocking the
coolers and putting oil and transmission fluid on the shelves. At nine, he
was handed a broom and a mop bucket to sweep and mop the store floor. When
he finished that, he sat in the office with Denny, filling out paperwork
while Denny photocopied his driver's license and social security card.

It took only two days for Adam's days to fall into a pattern that he could
live with. In the morning, he would get out of bed before Melvin, try very
hard not to stare at his perfect ass or engorged morning hard on before
showering and getting dressed. Breakfast was eaten in the cafeteria, and
then he sat in the library until lunch to study for his report. He rarely
saw Melvin other than in the morning, before class or practices and right
before he went to bed. Both times he did see his room mate, the boy was
gloriously naked. Adam was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate
on anything with a naked football player in his room.

Pete was true to his word. Two days after Adam first encountered his
roommate, Pete came to their dorm room to look for Adam. The two had spent
a little time in the cafeteria together, but Pete had to leave for work, so
they didn't do more than eat a meal. He promised to spend some time with
him soon, though.

The other thing he was getting into was his report on the world's view of
Wicca and modern witchcraft. There were many different opinions on
witchcraft as a whole, and almost as many opinions of Wicca itself. He
wondered why everyone was so upset over Wicca. The articles that he'd read
had stated that no blood sacrifices were conducted by Wiccan High
Priests. No one was ever found dead after one of their rituals, so he
didn't understand what all of the fuss was.

To try and better understand why people might be against Wicca as a
religion, he decided to study a bit of the traditions. He quickly found
reference books to read from and checked them out. He already had
everything he needed for his report. All that was left to do was type it up
and hand it in when the professor asked for it. Studying a little on the
side couldn't hurt.

Another form of magic that caught his eye was candle magic. He read the
book he had found on that subject from cover to cover in one morning. He
thought about the things that he'd read in it while he was at work that
night, and by the time his shift was over, he had convinced himself that he
wanted his own book on candle magic.

The next day, he was one of the first people to arrive at the campus
library, and he put his early status to good use. He signed the form at the
front desk and logged on to one of the internet accessible computers. He
searched the net for any occult shops in Storyville and was pleasantly
surprised to find six of them near the university. He quickly wrote down
the addresses, deciding that he would find a way to visit at least a few of
the stores after he'd typed his report.

Typing his report took less time than he'd anticipated. He wasn't scheduled
to work at the station that evening, so he was free for the entire day. He
put all of his things into his book bag and left the library with the paper
he'd written the addresses on in his hand. The first of the stores was
actually on campus. He hadn't realized that when he was writing the address
down, but now that he'd read what he wrote down, he was thrilled.

He found the store very easily, just four blocks from the library. Mystical
Enchantments was perhaps the only building on the block that hadn't
conformed to the university look. Instead of white stone blocks, the
building was constructed of red brick. The huge bay window in the front of
the store had purple curtains that were drawn closed on the inside. A neon
sign announced that the store was open, and there were stone dragon statues
on either side of the entrance. He liked the place immediately.

A girl was behind the counter, arranging bottles of liquid on a shelf as
she dusted it with a cloth. She had red hair that lay in curls down her
back, and she was dressed in all black from her tight black t-shirt to her
long black pants. Adam couldn't see all the way to her feet, because the
counter blocked his view, but he believed that she was probably wearing
black shoes, too.

"Hi," she said with a smile. "Can I help you find anything?"

Adam looked around the store at the neat shelves and display cases. It
didn't look much different than the university book store. "I'm looking for
books on candles."

"Candle color meanings? Candle Magic, or just making spiritual candles?"
she asked as she turned around to face him.

"Candle Magic," he replied, smiling back at her.

"Ok," she said, stepping around the counter to lead him to a section of one
shelf of books. He smiled as he looked down and confirmed that she was
wearing black shoes. "We have several books on Candle Magic here. Are you a
beginner or advanced?"

"Beginner," he said quickly.

"Ah," she said with a nod of her head. "You must be studying Wicca then."

"Yes, that's right," he replied, smiling as she turned to face him. He
wasn't actually studying anything, yet, but he didn't want to tell her
that.

"Ok then, I recommend this one," she said, handing him a book off the shelf
titled, Wicca Candle Magick. "It has basic spells and incantations in
it. It also has a chart that tells what each candle color means and how to
use that to your advantage."

"Thank you," he replied, reaching for the book.

"If I could suggest," she paused slightly as if to see if he would object
before going on, "this book."

He followed her across the room to another section of shelving where she
extracted a much larger book from its shelf. She handed the volume to him
and looked at him expectantly. He looked down at the book and read the
title. Traditional Witchcraft Vs. Wicca. He looked at her for a second
before she said anything.

"Well, I'm not trying to drag you away from Wicca, or anything," she
said. "You might want to just read through that book. I know you'll find
that Wicca really isn't witchcraft."

"I'm not really studying to be a witch," he said. "I'm writing a paper for
my World Religion class."

"Oh," she said with a sigh, but then her face brightened again. "If you're
writing the paper on Wicca, then this book will help. This book will tell
you all about where Wicca really came from and what it really represents."

He thought about it for a few seconds. If he was going to cast spells,
maybe he should know a bit about where the so called magic was supposedly
coming from. If the book in his hand could tell him something that the
books on Wicca had either left out or completely ignored, then maybe it was
worth the twenty-five dollars they wanted for it.

"I'll take both of them," he said, eliciting a smile from the red head.

Two hours later, he was back in his dorm room, reading the book on
Traditional Witchcraft. It confused him in most places, but he could
plainly see that the author of the book, and apparently all "Traditional
Witches" were against Wicca. He read about Gerald Gardner, the founder of
Gardnerian Wicca, and the Traditional Craft basically called him a revamped
Christian.

"Karma is a hindu/buddhist concept that was carried into Wicca by Gerald
Gardner, probably from a theosophical source. In Traditional Craft, 'Fate'
is an important concept, but 'karma' is unheard of. There is no belief in
Traditional Craft of 'karmic debt' or of 'karmic weight' to actions. The
actual Traditional Craft belief on these matters was and is very different
than the eastern concept of 'karma'."

He put the book down and thought about that. Wicca, from what he had read,
taught that everything a person did in life followed them into the next
life. They called it "karma". If that wasn't true, then he didn't know what
to think of Wicca. If he was going to actually study and follow any form of
witchcraft, he thought he wanted something that was at least true to
itself. He picked up the book and continued to read what it said about
Wicca.

"The Wiccan religion has a 'Rede' or a 'golden rule' which forms the basis
of Wiccan ethics . . . it states 'As long as you harm none, do as you
will'. This is a good suggestion, and basically a re-wording of the
Judeo-Christian 'golden rule'. However, the Traditional Craft has no such
rule. Ethics in the Old Craft are completely ambiguous and situational.

Wiccans treat this 'Rede' as though it is an immutable cosmic law, when in
reality, the word 'Rede' is Anglo-Saxon for 'advice' not 'law'. But to the
Wiccan religion, it is an unmovable piece of dogma.

This whole issue turns out to be another New-Age Wiccan (and modern human)
denial of the darkness inherent in nature. Harming and Hurting, these
things exist in nature . . . and we humans are part of nature. Thus, they
are part of us. You harm plants and animals to eat them. You harm bacteria
in the water you drink. Life feeds on life. The Traditional Craft is very
family and Faith oriented, and if someone threatens the family, or the
Faith, then stopping that threat is first and foremost. If that means
harming someone, that's what Traditional Witches will do, and there is no
ethical injunction against it. The Craft, and the power it invokes, is not
'good' or 'bad' . . . it is both. There is a time and a place for
both. This is hard for New-agers to understand, but it is simply the way of
things. To deny either side of yourself, or nature, is to move away from
the central mystery: that of wholeness."

Adam was even more confused after reading that. If Wicca was based on false
principles and held itself up to standards that had no reality, then what
could it do for him? He didn't want to spend the required year and one day
studying Wicca only to find out that nothing would happen once his studying
was over and he cast his first spell. Plus, he wanted to be able to cast
spells now, not later. With Wicca, if he followed the directives in the
books he'd read so far, it would be over a year before he could test his
magical ability.

"The 'Three Fold Law' is a strange notion that has no basis in history, nor
does it hold up to sober reality well. While many peoples in many times and
places have poetically threatened people with ideas of their actions
returning to visit them 'many times over', Wicca accepts this as an
immutable, physical law. The truth is, while most Wiccans have given up the
belief in 'hellfire and damnation' as a deterrent to their negative
actions, they have replaced it with this 'three fold law', which threatens
three times retribution for negativity. No belief such as this exists in
historical Traditional Craft, or in any surviving native European
metaphysical system."

He put the book down and shook his head. He didn't know what to believe
now. It could have been one form of the craft picking on the other and
trying to make people believe it to be false, but Adam didn't want to count
on that notion. He didn't want to follow the Traditional Craft only to find
out that it was the actual lie and Wicca was truth.

He hadn't consciously understood that he'd decided to follow witchcraft
until that moment. With all of the reading that he'd done on Wicca and
other forms of magic for his paper, he'd been impressed with a certain
child like wonder of magic in general. He'd mentally checked off things in
his life that he could change or "fix" to his liking with magic, and now he
understood that he planned to do just that.

The very first thing he needed to do was test magic. He thought for a
moment about how to go about following both Traditional Witchcraft and
Wicca at the same time, and then he thought about how simple it really
should have been to incorporate magic from all forms of witchcraft. After
all, the Craft was the Craft, right?

He thought about what he wanted to do to test magic. Candle magic seemed to
be the easiest way to cast a spell when he didn't know what the outcome
could be. He looked at the candle magic book for a while and leafed through
the pages until he found the recipe for a candle. In a notebook, he wrote
down the recipe. He'd have to go shopping for the items on the list, and a
small smile spread across his face as he realized what the very first spell
he would cast was going to be.

He went downstairs and called a cab, smiling the whole time. While waiting
for the cab to arrive, he wondered where Melvin was. He hadn't seen Melvin
all day long, and that was kind of odd, or so he thought. In the days since
Melvin had arrived, Adam had seen him at least three times a day. That day,
Melvin was nowhere to be found. Not that Adam was actually looking for
him. He thought it might be best to cast spells when Melvin had class or
practice. He didn't really want him walking in on him and asking a lot of
questions.

The cab took him through Storyville to a regular department store. He
searched the aisles for the items on his list, finding all of them rather
quickly. He thanked the cashier and paid for his purchases. While waiting
for the cab to return, he read through the steps he'd written down to make
the candle. He'd already decided on the color, and he'd bought plenty of
green wax. The spell would be for money, and he chuckled as he thought that
just about every "new witch" would cast a money spell to test magic. He
didn't think he was being any different than anyone else.

Back at the dorm, after making sure that Melvin wasn't around, Adam began
to construct his candle. The book had given him a few ideas about how to
write a spell of his own, and he'd quickly jotted down his ideas in his
notebook before going to the store. The candle was actually very easy to
construct, and he only had to wait for it to cool before he could perform
the spell he'd thrown together. He stored it under his bed to let it cool
and grabbed the Traditional Witchcraft book to study further when Melvin
stumbled in the door.

Adam could tell right away that he was drunk. He'd seen enough drunks to
know. The way Melvin slurred when he talked was another give away. The
menacing stare he directed at Adam was what made his stomach quiver with
nerves. He knew all too well how abusive drunks could be, and he mentally
figured the difference between them in size and power.



I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See all of my stories at
http://juiengregg.acannex.us and
http://http://juliengregg.authorshaunt.com/

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