Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:52:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Claudiu I. <ghostofoldtrafford@yahoo.com>
Subject: Divine Punishment 9

Be warned, this story portrays gay relationships. SHOCKING, I know!

But wait, there's more! No sex! Are you still conscious? Good. What I mean
by that is that this is intended to be more a PG-13 story. Well, in terms
of sex, anyway. You can't expect no swearing, now can you? So, if you're
looking for some masturbation material, there are plenty other fine sources
around, but this story, I am sorry to say, is not one of them.

Keeping that in mind, if you decide to go ahead and read, feel free to
always contact me at ghostofoldtrafford@yahoo.com


DIVINE PUNISHMENT


Chapter 9


This was soooo not the way I wanted Jordan to find out about all the
freakiness in my life. I mean, sure, actually showing him makes it easier
for him to believe me and saves time, but on the downside, there's the
whole firestorm thing. When I thought about demonstrating my abilities to
him, I always imagined something along the lines of a strong gust of
wind. This was totally overdoing it. And, of course, there was the added
issue of having to deal with unwanted witnesses.

I finally broke away from looking at Jordan, who was still speechless and
checked on Justin, Gabe and Ryan. Ryan was out cold and that was definitely
a relief. I really had no desire to deal with his shit right then.

Justin and Gabe were fine and were looking at me with a mixture of wonder,
fear and confusion on their faces. Finally, Justin started laughing loudly,
then he got to his feet and ran over to me. He clasped me by the shoulders,
then shook me violently. I was too confused to react. What the hell was he
doing?

"DUDE! You're a fucking superhero?"

"Err..."

"Man, this is so cool. And you've got the glasses and everything. You've
already got the Clark Kent thing down, now you just need to work on the
Superman aspect."

I looked over his shoulder and noticed Gabe slowly walking towards us. I
tried to put my feelings into the look I gave him. And my feelings were
perfectly summed up as "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Gabe shook his head slowly. When he was just a couple of feet away, he
stopped. "I think he's having a breakdown." He said, referring to his
brother.

Justin whipped around and laughed again. "Breakdown? Gabe, are you crazy?
I'm perfectly fine. And this is the greatest thing that's ever happened to
me. Don't you see? Xander's a friggin superhero! I have a superhero friend!
Come on, how many people can say that without getting thrown into the loony
bin?"

"Well, you might want to hold off on shouting that out to the whole world,
or you might still get thrown in the nuthouse." I said. "I'm speaking from
experience, so trust me. Besides, I'm not a superhero."

"Then what are you?" came Jordan's voice, raw either with pain or anger. He
sauntered over to where we were standing, but stopped just short of me. I
felt like a wall had just gone up between us and I wanted to cry.

I hung my head and took a deep breath. What the hell? Might as well just
lay it all out. "I'm a conduit. Umm...think of me like a shaman. I can
channel spirits and use their power. Well, ONE spirit, in particular." I
looked straight into Jordan's eyes. "Terry."

Jordan looked as if he wanted to say something, but Terry drew my attention
away from him. "Willis is trying to run away." He said.

Sure enough, Willis was crawling on his hands and knees, trying to duck
behind the nearest car.

"HOLD IT!" I yelled. He froze in his tracks. He looked back over his
shoulder and there was sheer terror in his eyes. He jumped up and ran
off. I sighed. "Be right back" I told the guys and sprinted after him. All
of that running with Terry in the mornings was paying off. I caught up with
him just before he reached the locker room. I stuck my hand out towards him
and he was carried off his feet by the wind and knocked into the wall. I
walked slowly over to him and kneeled down over his slumped form. I flicked
his ear, making sure he was conscious. He groaned and I took that as a good
sign.

"Listen to me and listen good." I told him in the lowest, scariest tone I
could manage. "You're gonna forget what happened tonight. You're never
going to talk about this again. You're never going to harass me or my
friends again. And that goes for your troglodyte friends as well. You tell
them what I said, because I don't feel like repeating myself. You basically
forget you even know me or I will kill you. And don't think I'm joking or
bluffing." I went on, narrowing my eyes, attempting to imitate every bad
guy I ever saw in movies. "Got me?"

Willis swallowed and bobbed his head up and down as fast as he
could. "Y-y-yes. Got it."

"Good. Now, take a minute to compose yourself, then go wake up your friends
and fuck off." The two I had slammed into the car were still
unconscious. But hey, football injuries happen all the time. Instead of a
200 lbs. linebacker, they ran into a 2,000 lbs. car. Shake it off, as the
coach would say. As I walked back over to my friends, I gave Willis' two
friends who were still awake my most deadly evil eye, trying to convey
without words what I had just told Willis. They turned away from me,
avoiding my gaze. I had no idea if I was doing the right thing. I was
basically trusting them not to tell anyone what had happened. It was risky,
but what were the chances of someone believing them anyway? And I was sure
that, after the way things went down, they wouldn't be too quick to try and
mess with me again. If they talked, I had no intention of actually killing
them. I'd just laugh it off as the ravings of mad, substance abusing
athletes.

But I still had the other four to deal with. Ryan apparently missed the
whole thing, as he was already asleep when he fell down, praise be to
vodka. Justin seemed like my first and biggest fanboy. Gabe was calm, but I
still couldn't be sure. As for Jordan...That scared me the most. He could
break me with two words and it had nothing to do with what he might tell
others, but what he would tell me. "Fuck off!" or "Drop dead!" were
definitely not something I wanted to hear. Well, time to face the music. I
put my hand on Jordan's arm when I reached him, but he shook it off. You
could have stabbed me through the heart and I don't think I'd have felt as
much pain.

"This is just a lot to take in." he said, as he took a step back. "I just
need time, okay?" He turned on his heel and walked to his car. "Justin, you
can give Xander a ride home, can't you?" he asked, without looking at
either of us.

"Yeah, sure." Justin replied, looking back and forth between us. His good
mood from just a few minutes before had evaporated.

"Good." Jordan said as he got into his car and started the engine. He
looked at me one more time and I called out his name softly.

"Let him go for now. He'll come around. He loves you." Terry said, placing
his hand on my shoulder. It felt warm and comforting and painful at the
same time, as I thought I might never feel Jordan's touch that way again. I
prayed to God that Terry was right and hoped for the best even as I kept
silent and watched the boy I loved drive away.

"Xander?" Justin handed me a tissue and only then did I realize that I was
actually crying. "Come on, bud. You'll be okay. He loves you. I know he
does. He just needs a bit of time."

I choked out a bitter laugh. "That's what Terry just said."

"Yeah, that's...something else. Ghosts, huh?" I nodded, blowing my nose and
then throwing away the tissue. I really couldn't be bothered about
littering. "Hi, Terry." Justin said.

"Hey." Terry replied.

"He says hi back. But I have no intention of being the interpreter for a
conversation between the two of you, so knock it off. Please, just take me
home, okay?"

"Sure."

"Well, this weekend certainly provided more excitement than I had bargained
for, even with the playing gay thing." Gabe said as he bent over to pick up
Ryan. "Get up, you bastard! God, if he throws up in my car, I'm dumping him
by the side of the road."

I ran over to help him as Justin went to bring his brother's car around, so
we wouldn't be forced to drag Ryan more than was strictly necessary.

"I'm sorry about all this, Gabe. I never meant for you to get caught in the
middle. Hell, I never meant for ANYONE to be caught in it. I
just...couldn't control myself. I was just so angry and scared for
Jordan..." Damn it, just thinking of Jordan made me almost break down
again.

"I'll be honest with you. That scared the shit out of me. But...it was
amazing. It's hard to describe what it was. Epic, I suppose fits."

"Epic?"

"Yeah. You know, one of those iconic images you see in a movie or a photo
or whatever. Something that stays with you. Like...that Chinese guy
standing in front of the column of tanks in Tiananmen Square..."

"That one didn't end too well..."

"Regardless. It's one of those moments that take your breath away and leave
you thinking "Wow!". That was you tonight. Dude, you conjured up a wall of
fire! Christ, the way you looked, with your hair blowing, a dark figure
surrounded by hot flames...I can definitely see how my brother thought you
looked like a damn superhero."

"So..."

"So, what I'm saying is that I don't understand what's going on, and it
scares me, but it's exciting as hell when you think about it. So, you don't
need to worry about me."

"Thanks. I wish Jordan felt the same way."

"Well, if I got this correctly, that Terry guy was his cousin, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, that's even more...I don't want to say disturbing..."

"But it fits."

"Right. So, it affects him even more than the fact that you kept this from
him."

"But he said I should only tell him my secrets when I'm ready."

"Oh, please. And you believed him? Dude, you have a lot to learn about
relationships, then."

"I'm willing to study hard. Just as long as I still have a relationship." I
said gloomily.

"He'll come around." Both Gabe and Terry said.

Justin pulled the car around and jumped out, then opened the rear door. We
all stood around then, looking at each other. "Fine, sheesh!" Gabe
said. "I'll get in the back with him. If he throws up on me, we're
definitely dumping him in a ditch somewhere." We carefully placed Ryan in
the backseat – and by careful, I mean we banged his head on the door
– and Gabe walked around the other side and got in the back as
well. That left me in the front seat.

"We should drop Ryan off first, if you don't mind, Xander."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." I replied numbly. I was tired now. I guess using my
powers without proper control took a lot out of me. And I was still hurting
from...what? Was it a break-up? A time-out? Whatever the hell it was, it
was painful and I just wanted to sleep. So I dozed off and only woke up
when Justin shook my leg.

"We're here. You wanna give us a hand?" I didn't answer. Instead, I just
got out, opened the rear door and helped Gabe with the still sleeping Ryan
as Justin searched through his pockets for his keys. "No luck" he said.

"We should just leave the fucker on his porch." I said. "Do you think he'd
do even that much for any of us?"

"It's kinda cold out." Gabe replied.

"Serves him right if he gets pneumonia. It's all his damn fault!" The rage
was building up inside me again and this time, Ryan was my target. If he
had kept his mouth shut, if he hadn't gotten drunk, if we weren't stupid
enough to try and help him...

"Relax, Xander." Terry said, once again placing a comforting hand on my
arm.  "You did the right thing and you know it. Yes, he's an idiot, but you
couldn't just leave him there. No more than Jordan could have left you when
Willis told him to do so." Damn him for making so much sense.

"Come on, let's ring the doorbell. His parents are probably still up." I
said, resigned to my fate. We walked down the stone walkway and up to the
2-storey white house, with a wide porch running along the front and both
sides of it. There was a light on the second storey and as soon as we rang
the doorbell, we heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Who in the hell is it at this hour?" came a harsh-sounding
voice. Great. Another confrontation. The door opened and we were faced with
a very large, very angry woman in a purple muumuu. She was about 5'8", but
seemed just as wide and had white hair and a lined face, along with a
crooked nose. Her hazel eyes though were almost identical to Ryan's. I
assumed it was his grandmother.

"Who are you?" she said, looking in turn at all of us, finally settling on
Ryan. "Oh. He drunk again?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, at least this time he had someone to bring him home." She let out a
long breath, then stepped aside and motioned for us to enter. "I swear,
this boy is going to put both of us in an early grave if he keeps this up."
All I could think of looking at her was "EARLY?!" She must've read my mind,
because she gave me a dirty look and told me she's just 63.

"If his daddy were home, he'd give him a good spanking, but my bones are
too old and frail for that. Yes, just set him down on the couch. No need to
go up the stairs. He'll get just as good a hangover regardless of the bed
he wakes up in."

We put him down on the big couch and his grandmother threw a quilt over
him, after making sure he was face down. "Don't want him drowning on his
own vomit, now do we?" I withheld comment on that one. "Well, thank you
boys for dropping him off. Now off you go. I need my rest."

"Umm...sure." We all said, as we were herded towards the door.

"Tell Ryan we wish him a speedy recovery." Justin said.

"Oh, you're such a nice boy. You must be Justin."

"I am." He answered, looking confused.

"Ryan talks about you all the time. I swear, the boy has the biggest crush
on you."

Justin didn't know how to answer, so I thought I'd cut in, since I was so
damn tired. "Yeah, well, that's cute, but we really must be going."

"And you must be Alexander."

"Just Xander, actually."

"Whatever." She scoffed. "My grandson doesn't speak too highly of you."

"Well, considering your grandson is a drunken pig that, in his unparalleled
stupidity could have gotten all of us killed tonight, I think I'll take
that as a compliment." Justin and Gabe were staring wide-eyed at me, while
Ryan's grandmother studied me for a few seconds.

"Yes. He can be quite the idiot. I think I like you, Xander. Name's
Edna. Edna McKinley." She said, sticking her hand out.

"Umm...nice to meet you?" I extended my hand as well and she gripped it
tightly and shook me to my very roots.

"Likewise. I'm glad my grandson has good kids like you around him. He needs
fine role models and, as wonderful as I am, I'm not spritely enough to keep
up with him. But with kids like you around, he might just turn out
alright. You be sure to drop by for a visit soon, you hear?"

"Yeah, sure. Err, good-night."

"Take care, now. Drive safely." Then she slammed the door in our faces.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"Edna McKinley, apparently" Gabe answered, laughing, as we walked back to
his car. "Goddamn, that's a lot of woman."

"I kinda liked her." Justin replied.

"Figured you would. After all, she did say Ryan had a crush on you."

Justin blushed and tried to slap the back of his brother's head, but Gabe
was too fast and spun around and grabbed his brother's hand, then twisted
it around his back and grabbed him in a head-lock with his other hand.

"Come on, admit it. It made you all giddy. You like Ryan, don't you?" Gabe
went on.

"No, he's an asshole."

"But he's a cute asshole."

"N-no..." Gabe let go of Justin's hand, still holding him a head-lock and
gave him a nuggie. "Okay, okay, he's cute. There, I said it."

"And you want to get into his pants."

"God, you're going to make me sick" I put in. "This is Ryan we're talking
about."

"Yeah, he's a total jerk. But I wouldn't mind getting into his pants at
least once. Now let go of me." Justin said, giggling and Gabe released him.

"Ugh. What about his parents?" I asked, as I got into the car, this time in
the back, with Gabe riding shotgun. Yes, it was a desperate attempt at
changing the subject, but I was also curious. Edna and now Ryan's crush on
Justin at least served to keep my mind occupied, so I wouldn't think of
Jordan and bum myself out.

"His parents got divorced. Don't know why, but his dad got custody. He's in
the Marines. He's in Iraq. His third tour." Justin said.

"Christ, man, how do you know all this shit?"

"Dude, we're in high-school. Gossip is what keeps that place running. And
every girl loves to gossip with their gay friend. I learn all kinds of
things."

"Information is a powerful tool." Gabe said.

"And I know how to use my tool." Justin replied. Gabe and I gave him a few
seconds to figure that one out on his own. "Wait, no, that's not what I
meant..." he said, but by then we were laughing so hard that I was almost
in tears.

"Thanks, guys. I needed this to keep my mind off Jordan." I said, when we
finally settled down.

Justin and Gabe exchanged a look and I swear they were communicating
telepathically or something.

"They're planning something." Terry said.

"Okay, what are you guys up to?" I inquired. "Even Terry's suspicious and
you know how big of a bonehead he was, Justin. It's obvious you're planning
something."

"Well, you're going home with us tonight."

"I am?"

"Yeah." Gabe said. "You need to be around friends right now. Like you said,
to keep your mind occupied."

"That's alright, guys. I can just call Sharon when I get home. She'll let
me pour my heart out and then I'll get some sleep."

"Does she know about you and...well, you know? All the crazy magic stuff?"

"No." I admitted grudgingly.

"Right. So, you can't really talk with her, since she's not in the
loop. She won't really understand why you're upset. So, unless you want to
tell her everything..."

"I don't, thanks."

"Okay, so, Justin and I know all about it, so you can talk to us. Then
we'll have a fun guys' night in. Order pizza from a great place I know
that's open 24/7, maybe play some videogames, watch a movie..."

"Play strip poker..." Justin intervened helpfully.

"I'm gonna skip that one, thanks, but you two can go right ahead." Gabe
said.

It was actually tempting. I'd never had any real close male friends before
and this might be fun, even if the Jordan situation was hanging heavy in
the back of my mind.

"What about your dad?" I asked.

"What about him?" replied Gabe, his features darkening at the mention of
his father.

"Won't he mind? I mean, you already said he wasn't okay with Justin. What
if he thinks I'm his boyfriend or something?"

"Don't you worry about him."

"Guys, I don't wanna cause more trouble for you. It sounds like fun, but
we'll do it some other time, alright?"

"No, we're doing it now." Gabe suddenly brightened. "Besides, it might
actually be fun if he thinks you're his boyfriend."

"Huh?"

"Well, my roommate's still coming in tomorrow. Just think of how lovely
it'll be to have two gay couples in the house." He said, then he started
giggling, mischievous glee simply radiating off him. Yes, I was really
starting to like Gabe.