Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 19:28:20 -0600
From: James Clark <niftywriterjc@hotmail.com>
Subject: Rave Boy Chapter Two

DISCLAIMER: This is my story.  It is not your story.  Don't post it on
other sites and claim it for your own.  If you wish to post it on another
site, you may do so as long as you credit the author, myself.  This story
is based entirely in fiction.  Any resemblance to events, past or future,
is purely coincidental.  If you should not be reading this for whatever
reason, then don't.  Enjoy the story, and let me know your thoughts on
it.

Rave Boy
Chapter Two

      Do you hate me, reader?  Do you want to scream and kick and throw a
tantrum over the BITCH of a cliffhanger I left in the last chapter?  Well,
if you do, then too bad.  Because, if you do, you're playing right into my
hands, you know.  Its really amazing how easy it is to manipulate someone,
as if they were a complex, many-stringed marionette.  Ya know, that special
kind of puppet, like the one Pinocchio was before he became a "real boy".
Oh, by the way, if you actually needed me to explain that, get the hell out
of my story.
      I dislike apologizing.  I'm never wrong.  I simply am.  If you have a
problem, you may politely follow the instructions for folding a paper crane
(which I could teach you if you had the brain to follow me), and take that
problem now in the form of a crane, lube it nicely, and... well, you know.
      Contrary to my severe dislike for the following words, I am sorry.
That's my little sociopath streak.  In the words of the immortal Lisa: "We
are very rare, and we are mostly men."  Watch Girl, Interrupted.  Read the
book, too.  Lisa ended up heavily sedated and restrained.
      So, now, my readers, would you like me to continue?  Well, I'll try
to, I really will, but it's a bit difficult for me, you see.  Telling this
story is almost a drain on me, so bear with it if you really want to know
what happens.  Truthfully, is your mind bitter with distaste for my attitude
yet?  Allow me to remedy this with a sweet tonic I have so ambitiously
entitled Rave Boy, Chapter Two.
      I was in his bedroom.  I was very, very, extremely, unimaginably, and
several other adverbs that I can't think of right now, HIGH.  I was every
bit as nervous, too.
      "Bi, huh?  That's nothing.  Try being so queer the Baptists hide their
sons from you."  Yeah, I said it.  What, you think I'm a coward?  You're
right if you do, but in some cases... my sane cowardice that so often steeps
itself in lies to remain in control is overpowered by my ludicrously crazed
lust for truth.  Sorry... digression... happens.  His, Jon's, eyes went a little
wider, almost imperceptibly.  Then he smiled, and started walking like
nothing had been said.
      "So where do you wanna go?  I mentioned a spot earlier, but I thought
maybe you'd wanna scout around and see what catches your eye.  Courthouse
square's a good place to start." I told him.  Brief flashes of the immediate
future, steamy in nature, went off in my head.  No, you're not getting
details.  Well... maybe later, when we're not in the middle of the plot ;).
      "Anywhere's fine with me, Joey, I'm yours for today."  Another curious
reply... this guy confuses the hell out of me with these little word games.
Me, the master manipulator, befuddled by an exchange of phonetic exercises.
Well, I can play this game every bit as good as this silvery blue eyed
punk-devil ever dreamed he could.
      "In that case, since you belong to me, carry me.  I'm feeling a bit
overwhelmed from some stuff I took earlier before the pot, so I'd like a
ride.  Its only about two streets over to the road that leads straight to
the square, and I'll walk that."  I smiled, wondering what this challenge
would bring about.
      The next instant, I was gasping in surprise as my feet left the
pavement, and he carried me, as in the way you would pick up a baby and
cradle them to your chest, and started to walk calmly by the first block.
      "You nimfuck, I didn't mean for you to really do it, I was joking!" I
half yelled, half laughed.  To tell the truth... this felt so great.  It was
like a hug, only better, and I hadn't had a hug half as good as this in a
long, long time.  I felt... safe is the word you'd think to use, but that
doesn't describe it.  At peace does a better job.
      He laughed at me, eyes sparkling with those silvery flecks. "Well, I
took it literally!  I'm strong enough to carry your scrawny little ass
anywhere you need to go.  You need a damn honey-bun and some chocolate milk,
you're way tiny."
      TOPIC RIPAWAY TIME!!!!!!!!!  Okay, at that instant... see those words?
"You're way tiny."?  Yeah, those.  Okay, well, think how that is in my mind.
  He's joking, right?  Or does he not like really skinny guys?  I mean...
looking at it now... even now it could still go both ways in MY head, and we
are in MY head here, after all.  Point: it frazzled my already refrazzled
nerves.  To counteract this, my crazy crazy crazy side, mentioned
previously, once again stole the reigns from that lil bitchy, scared sane
side.
      "Bad thing is you LIKE it!" I yelled at him and stuck out my tongue
like a little kid.
      "Damn right I do!  Otherwise I wouldn't carry ya, what was it you
called me... oh yeah. Nimfuck!"
      This is the precise moment I knew, really knew... things might be
better.  It could get better!!!  YOU HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA HOW GREAT THAT
MOMENT WAS.  My life was hell; Jon was a glass of ice water and a fucking
A/C unit!  Things were just cooling down.
      I had no idea how cool they'd get.
      In the end, it's never what you thought it would be, OR hoped it would
be.  I will warn you now, there are no happy endings in REAL life, ever.
That's a fairy tale idea that makes people insane.  Life, real life, is a
battle between pain and pleasure, ugliness and beauty, a feud of polar
opposites.  Neither of any opposite pair will win out completely.  The key
to it all, is endurance.
      Have you learned something from the twisted whorls of my mind today,
reader?  Will you endure with me to the end of this story?  I promise it
will happen.  It will probably happen sooner than you think, or want.
Remember well what I taught you about endings.  That's a life lesson as well
as one important in this story.  The end, is just that.  No one sees it
coming, really.  No one can change it after a certain point.  Often, it is
not happy.  The end... does not matter.  What matters is what you did before.
Something I only know now, when its too late, is that you should live it
while its there, because the end is soon and seldom happy.  Make your
happiness and cherish it while its there.  Endure.
      Endure as I end this chapter.  Endure because I have promised another.
  Endure, because I endure.  Now, reader... I leave you with sad words, and a
surprisingly fond farewell.  The next chapter will be a doozy, but keep your
pants on.  No... seriously... keep `em on.