Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:47:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: rock_on_summer@yahoo.com
Subject: his body is my universe 9

At first I didn't like this chapter and it took me a long time to figure
out why and what needs changing. Since I don't like publishing anything
that I'm not satisfied with it took even longer to get this chapter ready,
special thanks to my brand new editor Kris who put in words what I was
feeling all along and helped me to get this chapter out. Plus since the
last chapter I moved through three countries on three continents and the
"real" life kind of has priority, I'm sure you understand ;) This is gonna
be different, tell me if you like it rock_on_summer@yahoo.com Disclaimer: I
wrote this, don't copy it unless you ask. This is fiction. Ifthere are
people who are similar to people in the story or have the samename, I
didn't intend it. Beware, teen sex, gay sex! Don't like that don'tenter,
you have been warned.

I got very into the idea of going to Taiwan.  I didn't know a thing about
Taiwan, I mean do you? I knew it was somewhere around China in Asia and got
a lot of earthquakes - that was pretty much it but now that I was about to
move there I had a million questions.


How was it ruled, was it even a democracy? What language did they speak?
Would we get by speaking English or did I have to learn Taiwanese (or
whatever they spoke over there)? How where the laws? Where would we live?
Would two men living together as a couple be accepted? I imagined that Case
would be able to get a visa through his company, but what about me? Would I
b able to get an extended tourist visa (since I could make it look like I
didn't work) or a spouse visa, even though we were not married yet? Would
they even accept our marriage?

So I flung myself online and found out everything that I possibly could.


Apparently Taiwan is a tiny island that is kind of part of China, which is
frequented by typhoons, earthquakes and monsoons, with a pretty warm
climate, and the official language is Chinese. That made things a lot
easier, since Case was Chinese and therefore would be able to understand
people. Phew. It was also supposed to be one of the most liberal Asian
countries concerning gay rights (whatever that meant), so apparently gay
marriage was about to be accepted. And it had a popular museum for modern
art.  Interesting. Won't be so bad moving there after all.

Now all I had to do was learn Chinese. I should bug Case about this, maybe
he could teach me. Which reminded me that my little research had taken most
of the evening and it was almost ten and he still wasn't home yet. I do
tend to forget the time but he usually doesn't and when he gets home later
than planned he almost always calls. I decided I had reason to be worried
and called his cell phone. When he didn't pick up I called him at work,
which is something I'm not really supposed to, but what else would I do? No
answer there either.  Maybe he was already driving home and didn't get
around to picking up his cell phone because he was in the car? I called
again and this time the phone was being picked up but he didn't say
anything.

"Hello? Case? Do you have bad reception because I can't hear you..."  I
said slightly confused.

"Hello" I finally heard a voice say. It didn't sound familiar.

"Case?"  I asked.

"No" the low voice of a man answered.

"Who's this?" I asked cautiously.

"Don't ask me who I am or I'll slit your boyfriend's throat" he said
calmly.  'Yeah right' I thought. Very funny. He probably went out with his
friends without telling me and now is trying to play stupid tricks on
me. Hilarious. It wasn't really like him to do something like this but it
still annoyed me. But something had me weary.

"Why don't you tell him that when I get my hands on him I might just slit
his throat myself. Not funny. Where's Case? Did he get drunk and needs to
be picked up?" I asked, worried that he might be stranded somewhere, not
able to get home. It didn't really happen all too often but Case tended to
be a lightweight when he drank. Sometimes one beer was enough to get him
wasted.

"Don't ask me where I am. Just listen and do as I tell you" the man said in
a low and quietly controlled voice.

"Listen, I'm not too good at following instructions, I suck at it actually,
you might as well just drop this right now and tell me what's going on and
why you're answering my boyfriend's cell phone" I told the stranger on the
phone.  This was beginning to piss me off. I didn't like this game. Just
when I was about to just hang up I heard Case's voice. He sounded
frightened and his voice echoed as if they were in a hollow basement or a
tomb.

"Lucy, this is not a joke ok. This guy is crazy. I don't know what he wants
but you need to be really careful..." the phone was being taken away from
him and I heard him being muzzled.

"Listen and do as I tell you or I'll kill him" the man said with menace in
his low voice.

"You're joking, right?" I asked. I hoped I'd just caught him in bed with
his lover and he didn't want to admit it. There was not a man talking on
Case's phone, telling me he'd kill him, was there? I was imagining this,
right? I sat down abruptly on the tiled kitchen floor.

"Stay in the kitchen until the phone rings again. Await my instructions."
He said slowly. I looked around me in panic. He could see me? But that
meant Case was close by. I felt a glimmer of hope.

"Wait!  Where is ... Hello? Hello!?" He had hung up. The asshole had hung
up on me! Some maniac had my Casey in his power and he had just hung up on
me! I felt sick but I didn't dare move. That crack head had probably a gun
pointed at my head. I looked around for the red laser-dot but couldn't find
one, not that that calmed me much. Couldn't check my own forehead after
all.

I was sitting on the floor, cold but sweating and just as I thought I could
risk getting up the phone rang.

"Hello?"  I asked, sounding panicked even to myself. My heart was beating
in my throat.

"Lucy?"  Case asked, his speech slurred as if he was drugged. He sounded
scared.

"Yes Case" I tried hard to control my panic "Case, are you all right?
Where are you!?" Just then I heard the phone being taken away from him and
heard his muffled screams. He sounded angry.

"Ts.  Ts. Ts. Didn't I tell you not to ask that?" The creepy voice asked,
pronouncing every syllable. "Don't talk! This was to prove that I really
have him and that I can see you. Do you miss him already? Don't answer
that!" I tried to deny the fear that crept up my spine. I wanted to breathe
but I didn't dare to.

"You know he is as beautiful as in your paintings, don't you? Yes you
do. Do you want him back?" I was still sitting on the cold floor, too
shocked to comprehend, still too terrified to talk.

I heard him chuckle cruelly. "You learn to obey fast. Good. Tell me, do you
want him back? You can talk now" he almost sounded kind saying the last
sentence, understanding. Didn't make me like him any better.

"Of course" it came out as a soft breath, as soft as a child's voice "Of
course I want him back."

"Then listen and I will tell you what to do" I nodded, looking around me
again, trying to calm the heart that was beating in my throat and making my
vision cloudy, when the voice continued, "I saw a painting of Case. I want
that.  When you have it done you can have him back. Get that?"

"But I have a million paintings of Case, can't you just take one of those?"
I asked desperately, sitting on the cold tiles, hugging my knees.

"I don't want a painting of Case. I'll watch you. If you call the police
I'll kill him." He didn't say anything more and I just heard the fast beep
of the disconnected signal.

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This was happening too fast for me. Some creep had kidnapped my boyfriend
and ordered me to do a painting to get him back. I didn't feel like
painting anything right now, I just wanted Casey back. And I didn't know
what to do. I didn't know what to paint. I sat in front of a blank white
canvas that I had set up in our living room, staring at it and all I could
see was fear creeping in the grey shadows that lurked under the support
beams of the roof. I was trying to go back to the basics. Still life. A
pear. A bottle of wine. A bowl. I tried to paint a glass that Case had left
out on the counter but where I usually would have seen sparkles and the
reflection of the evening sun by the pure crystal I now only saw his lip
prints on the rim and dull rain smudges on the window behind it. What did
he want me to paint? How could I find Case? How could I call for help
without him noticing?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kidnapping or no kidnapping -- every person has to use the bathroom every
once in a while and even though I was worried silly and even took the phone
with me in case the creep called I had missed something.  Something
important.

The bathroom was the only room in the house that had a ceiling. Case had
insisted on that because he thought it was embarrassing to hear other
people pee. Now the ceiling became my worst enemy. I heard noises coming
from the living-room.  They startled me so much I almost dropped the soap.

The bathroom was right next to the living-room, but I had to go through the
bed-room and the dining-room to get there. If it hadn't had a ceiling I
could have just peeked over the top of the wall. I was pretty sure there
was somebody in my living-room and it scared me half to death. The person
who had kidnapped Case was probably making himself at home in my house
right now, probably with a knife or worse! A gun!

'Okay, get a grip.' I told myself. `If you were the one to be kidnapped,
Case would probably already have the Chinese Mafia out there looking for
you. And you're hiding in a bathroom like a pre-schooler.' I told myself to
be brave and get my act together. I told myself to be strong. I told myself
I could do this, even though my balls ran for cover.

I grabbed a can of hairspray, and sneaked out into the bed-room. We had a
dresser that was lined up alongside the wall. The one Case had been
standing on when I proposed to him. If I could climb on top of the dresser
I could peek over the top of the wall into the living-room. I cursed myself
for being so unsporty, my breathing could probably be heard in
New-Guinea. I peeked over the top of the wall, well aware that there could
be somebody looking back at me.

I had been right. There was a dark-haired man standing in my
living-room. He was fairly tall and looked muscular, but I had the surprise
moment and a can of hair-spray on my side and therefore felt I shouldn't be
underestimated. With a loud scream I jumped over the top of the wall,
trying to get as much hairspray as I could into the man's eyes.

"Arghhhhhhhhh.  Stop! Stop!" he screamed. "Lucy!?! What the hell are you
doing!?"

OH MY GOD.  I recognized that voice. I should have recognized that large
frame earlier. It was Eddie! The kidnapper was a friend of ours!

"EDDIE?!  You did this to us!? You have Case!? If you wanted a painting you
could have just said so!!!" I was outraged. Betrayal! I threw the can of
hairspray to the ground.

"What the hell!?!  I didn't do anything to you, I was waiting for you to
get out of the bathroom! You attacked me! And I don't want any of your
fucking paintings. I probably won't be able to see them now anyways. What's
this stuff? Pepper spray?" He asked, wiping his eyes.

I had given Eddie permission to enter our house without knocking whenever
only one car was in the driveway. That was so he wouldn't walk in on us
doing the nasty. Eddie was pretty much like family.

"Ehm, no it's hairspray. I thought you were a burglar. Sorry." This was
embarrassing.

"You would have attacked a burglar with a can of hairspray?" he laughed,
shaking his head "Nice!"

"I know! So it wasn't the smartest move but I didn't know what to do!" I
was allowed to be paranoid, somebody had kidnapped my boyfriend. Only Eddie
didn't know that. And I wasn't supposed to tell him. Oh shit. I had told
him earlier.

"You ok now? You seem a little flushed" he gave me a concerned look, wiping
his eyes that started to puff up and slowly turned red. The hairspray was
working its magic.

"Well, I just jumped a wall thinking I was going to take down a burglar" I
said rolling my eyes. Trying to stay calm. Trying to act like everything
was fine.

"And other than that what's up?" he asked. Unsuspecting.

"Ehm.  Nothing much. I guess." Or was this my opportunity to rat on the
kidnapper? The phone rang.

"Ehm.  I'm going to get this..." I said uncertainly and went to retrieve
the phone from the bathroom.

"Hello?"  My own voice sounded hallow to me.

"Who's the hunk?" Mr. Creep asked. "Friend of yours? Or a cop?"

"No.  Ehm. Just a friend. Personal Trainer, actually" Didn't even have to
fib, I was proud of myself. Eddie was still in the living-room, oblivious
to everything but probably able to overhear what I said.

"Listen!  I catch you telling him anything and you'll be getting your
boyfriend back in pieces! Got that?" I nodded. "Yes" I added. He hung
up. Nothing else. No hint on what to paint to get Case back. Just the
warning. Nothing else.

Eddie came into the kitchen, where I had talked to the creep.

"What's for dinner?" he asked. Friday nights Eddie would sometimes come
over and raid our fridge. We would go to a bar or go dancing afterwards.
Eddie was single, which always surprised me because he wasn't only hot
stuff but also very sweet. A gentle giant. But he couldn't cook worth a
damn and since he didn't have a boyfriend who did it for him he would come
over to our house in hopes of a hearty meal.

"Don't know" I replied. Stalling for time. Should I tell him? This was my
chance to get help but I was afraid. Afraid for Case.