Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006 08:32:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gay Writer <gaywriter72@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Druid Chapter 1

The following is a complete work of fiction.

Any resemblance between the characters and any real life person is
completely coincidental.  Please do not copy or distribute the story
without the author's permission.  Author reserves all copyrights of
this story.

Disclaimer:

The following story contains erotic homosexual situations.  If it is
illegal for you to read this please leave now.



Chapter 1				Beginnings


	School had begun like so many times before.  This year though, I
was forced to attend public school.  My first day had been horrible.  I had
alienated three teachers, and most likely, the entire student body.

      It was August.  The sun beat down waning in strength.  The days were
growing shorter and the nights colder.  It was the season of death, and the
land was preparing for its long winter slumber.

	It would have been easier if they had been honest with me.  Kent
and Mark were trying to acclimate me to my surroundings.  I could see the
plan in Kent's mind.

	"Hey!  Back off Ty," Kent warned.

	"Sorry, Uncle Kent," I said.  I hadn't been subtle enough as I dug
through his thoughts and he had felt it.

	I listened as the gravel crunched beneath the tires of our old
Chevy.  I found my answer though.  They wanted me to become accustomed to
the real world.

	"Look, I know it's hard Ty." Kent said.

	I doubted he knew how difficult my first day had been though.  I
was tempted to push the feelings of my day through him so he would really
know.  It was a side of him I hadn't felt before.  He seemed shut off and
absolute.

	"You have to learn to cope with those around you.  This is the real
world Ty," he said, as we turned another corner.

	I watched as the corn blurred past my window.  I wanted to think of
anything but this day and he was pushing me.  I lay my head against the
glass of the window.  I wanted a safe oblivious place to rest my mind.  We
hit a pothole and my head bounced against the glass.  It hadn't been hard
enough to cause a bruise or bump, but it was enough to pull me from my
thoughts.

	I felt the anger rising in me and I fought it.  Anger is a useless
emotion.  It never served any purpose and their teachings read through my
mind like a manual.  I heard the words from previous lessons almost as
clearly as if they had spoken them

	"We have to leave you for a while Ty." Kent said, in an even tone.

	"Leave me?  What do you mean you have to leave me?" I asked.  My
emotions ran rampant surging through him.  I could have probably stopped
it, but I didn't want to.

	"You're leaving?" I asked again, "How can you leave me?"  I was
nearly hysterical.  My day at school day had been bad enough, and now this?

	Uncle Kent drove up the long dirt and gravel driveway that led to
our house.  He stopped at the top of the curve that wound around to our
home.  He shifted into park, but didn't stop the engine.  He was serious!

	I hadn't paid much attention to the bags in the bed of the truck.
I plunged into his mind like a dagger.

	"Stop!" he shouted at me.  He sounded angrier than I had ever heard
him.  He had never spoken to me this way, and it hurt.

	"All of the bills are paid and everything is taken care of.  It
isn't like we are going to be gone forever.  We'll be back when you need us
Ty," he said, looking into his lap.

	"I need you now!" I yelled.  "Please don't go!" I begged, my eyes
brimming with tears.

	"Get out of the truck." Kent said, with no emotion.

	What in the hell was going on?  I looked into his eyes for some
clue, but found nothing.

	I grabbed my backpack from the floor and opened the door.  I
climbed out and let my backpack fall to the ground with a thud.  Kent
honked the horn and moments later Mark came through the side door of our
home.  I left my bag sitting beside the truck and ran to him.  He pulled me
into a hug.

	"Please don't leave me here alone Uncle Mark!" I begged.

	He gave me a tight squeeze and released me.

	"If you can stop us, then we might stay," he whispered.  I could
sense his mixed emotions.

	Mark moved past me and to the truck.  He pulled open the door and
climbed in.

	"Arawn, grant me your favor!"  I yelled raising my arms to the sky.

	The wind picked up and pressed against my skin.  Dark clouds filled
the sky above us. Giant gray billowing clouds pushed away the red and gold
of sunset.  More and more clouds filled the sky as I concentrated.  They
coalesced and lightning built between them echoing rumbles of thunder.  I'd
never attempted to invoke such power before, but I had never wanted
anything so badly either.

	Four bolts of lightning blazed down to the earth behind our truck
creating a deep furrow in the ground.  The smell of ozone and the deafening
claps of thunder filled the air.  The crashing noise broke my concentration
and another bolt of lightning tore downward and struck the gravel road in
front of our house.  The impact sent rocks and dirt flying in all
directions.  The winds blew harder making it difficult to stand.

	"Control your storm TY!" Mark yelled.

	I raised my head and took back control of the storm.  Thunder and
lightning were flashing between the clouds and I was afraid the next bolt
might land where I was standing or even worse, our truck!

	"Thank you Arawn, be at peace." I yelled slowly bringing my arms
back to my side.  The storm calmed and dissipated as fast as it had come.

	I looked at Kent.  "Will you please stay?" I said.

	"Ty, we love you, but you have to learn this on your own.  You must
learn control.  If the 'Circle' were to find out that you possess this
power, they would take you from us.  We didn't push you like we should have
in the past, and now you must make up for our mistake." Kent said, and then
turned off the ignition and stepped out of the truck.

	I ran to him and we hugged.  It felt like I was saying goodbye
forever.

	"Do you have to go?" I asked.

	"Yes, but we'll be here when you need us.  Now, please listen to me
carefully.  You can't let the students in your school flood you with
emotion.  You are going to have to learn to close yourself off for your own
sake.  You can't talk to people as though you have known them their entire
lives.  They aren't Druid, you know this!" Kent said giving me another
tight squeeze before releasing me.

	"Go hug your uncle goodbye, and be careful," Kent said as a tear
rolled down his cheek.

	I ran around the front of the truck and into Mark's arms for one
final hug.

	"You lied to me," I said.

	"No Ty, I didn't lie.  I told you we might stay, and we would have
if you hadn't been able to call higher power.  Practice every chance you
get and don't let your fear control you.  I love you." Mark said with a
sniff and released me.

	"I love you too Uncle Mark," I said as I wiped away my tears.

	My uncles got back in the truck and started it up again.  They
pulled forward and did a U turn through the yard and stopped.

	"And fix the driveway!" Kent yelled, giving me a final wave.  The
truck started moving again and I watched as their tail lights traced the
way down our driveway and onto the road.  The sound of the rumbling engine
of our old truck faded into the distance as they drove away.

	I walked to the old rusted metal shed beside the house and removed
the shovel.  I filled in the holes in our driveway and patted them down as
best I could.  I listened to the cicada as they called the night with their
shrill song.  The sun had finally set, and the cold damp air sent a small
shiver through my body.  My mind was numb and my body tired.  It had been a
long day.  I put the shovel back into the shed and shut the rickety door
with a creak.

	The harvest moon had passed, and the local farmers had all but
finished gathering their crops.  The sweet smell of corn and damp earth
seemed to permeate the air as the wind pressed against me.  We had hills in
this rural area of Illinois, but it was mostly flatland.  You could see for
miles.  There seemed to be a constant blast of wind on our hill top, and I
was glad.  The hottest days of summer seemed to push away the breeze that
now chilled me.

	I entered our house through the side door, letting the weathered
wooden framed screen slam behind me.  I had barely kicked off my sandals in
the landing before I heard Shadow's nails clicking against the tiled
kitchen floor.  She ran up to me and bounced against my legs.  I bent over
and gathered her in my arms and carried her through the kitchen and into
the living room while she covered me with doggy kisses.  I sat on our old
couch and gave her a tight squeeze before laying back.  I rested my head
against the arm of the couch and ran my fingers through her soft grey curly
hair.

	We had gotten her from the pound when I was twelve.  I had begged
and begged for a dog, and had driven Kent and Mark nearly insane before
they finally relented.  We went to the local humane society in Galesburg on
a Saturday morning.  I remember looking at each and every dog as they hoped
for their freedom.  I overheard two of the veterinary technicians talking
about the poor cockapoo puppy that had contracted Parvo, and would probably
not make it through the night.

	I walked behind the techs, and into a small dark room that had a
single metal cage.  The tiny curly grey haired puppy had been isolated from
the others, to stop the spread of the killer virus.  She was just lying
there asleep in her cage.  I had tapped on it's edge to wake her, but she
barely moved.  Her little grey blue puppy eyes opened.

	"Heya Shadow," I whispered.

	This was definitely my dog.  I felt her sickness and wrapped her in
as much love as I could muster.  Her tiny tail gave a weak wag as I opened
the cage door.  I ran my finger across the top of her head before picking
her up and cradled her against my chest.  She was so weak.

	The techs had heard the creaking of the metal hinges, and had come
into the room.  They explained to me that she was very ill, and wasn't
going to make it.  They tried to take her from me, and I had started
yelling for my uncles.  She was mine, and that's all there was to it.  The
veterinarian on duty came in with my uncles, and reached to take her from
me.  Shadow gave the tiniest little growl in protest, before settling her
head back against me.  The veterinarian couldn't believe the sudden
infusion of life this little puppy now possessed.

	An hour later we were home and I lay on my bed with her on my
chest.  It was the best sleep I had ever had, as I felt her warm little
body against my heart.  We slept together, and by morning, she was up and
about, licking my face.

	She has grown a lot since then.  I've snuck her too much people
food over the last few years, and she had fattened up to almost twenty five
pounds.  She was a little overweight, but not by much.  Shadow was spoiled
in every way, and I loved her with all my heart.

	I felt her nuzzle her cold wet nose against my chin as I ran my
fingers through the soft fur of her back.

	"I know, I know," I said, as I yawned.  "Let's get ready for bed."

	Shadow hopped to the floor with a thump, before giving a bodily
shake from head to toe.

	"At least I still have you," I said, rising from the couch.

      Our back porch had been sealed in as part of the house, and now my
personal garden.  I had spent a lot of time in that room over the years
tending to my many herbs.  I walked through the house listening to the old
wooden floor creaking beneath my feat with Shadow close behind me.  I
entered my garden through the heavy wooden door.  I flipped on the light in
my make shift greenhouse and checked the soil of my nearby aloe plant for
moisture.  Watering them could wait until tomorrow.

      I flipped off the light and shut the door behind me.  I had almost
forgotten to lock the door.  It had become a recent and difficult to
remember habit of ours.  I made my way across the living room and into the
kitchen and locked the side door, and then finally the back door that we
almost never used.  It was still locked from the days before.  The damp air
blowing through the windows, promised a chilly morning.  I went through the
house in my nightly ritual, and shut and locked them.

      Finally, Shadow and I went upstairs.  I passed the now empty bedroom
that usually held my uncles.  I entered the bathroom, stripped down, and
took a long hot shower.  After drying off, I gathered up my clothes and
traipsed down the hall and into my bedroom.  The drying moisture on my body
gave me a slight chill as the wind tossed the thin white curtains around my
window.  The light from the hallway stretched across my bedroom floor, and
made the curtains look like fingers clawing in and out of darkness.

	The rain had started while I was in the shower, and I closed my
windows all but an inch.  I loved the rain.  It seemed to bring the scent
of nature to the wind.  I turned on the alarm of the small clock radio that
sat beside my futon bed on the floor.  Shadow had already climbed onto the
futon and was waiting for me to join her.  I flipped off the light in the
hallway and slowly knelt down into the futon.  I crawled across is and
pulled the covers down.  I slipped under them and bunched them against the
pillow beside my head.  That was Shadow's spot.  She tugged at them with
her paws for a few moments, before finally fluffing them to her liking and
settling down to sleep.

	The alarm clock radio blasted me from sleep.  I was dreaming, and
all I could remember, was the earth cracking beneath my feet.  I couldn't
remember the image so much as the sound.  It was like someone had taken a
giant tree, and broken it in half right beside me.  I sat up in bed and
reached through the darkness to find the switch to turn off the alarm.  It
had already begun to annoy me.  I normally woke up at this time anyway, and
I resented having to be placed on some kind of timer to make sure I could
go to 'public' school.  I wanted to bash the plastic thing into pieces, but
resisted the urge.

	It was chilly, and I pulled the covers around my shoulders, as I
sat half awake on my bed.  I stretched my jaws in a yawn waiting for sleep
to leave me.  That ever present burning sensation made me stand and pull
the covers with me toward the door to my room.  I chuckled seeing Shadow
sliding across the floor after me, unwilling to leave her spot.  I couldn't
blame her, I didn't want to get up either.

	I reached behind the door and grabbed the robe from the hook.  I
let the covers fall from my naked body and quickly wrapped the cold damn
terrycloth around me.  Now, I really had to pee.

	"Shadow, come on!" I called to her as I slipped on my house shoes.

	I was half way down the stairs before I heard the familiar
thud-thud of her following me.  I trudged through the kitchen and to the
side door to the house.  After I unlocked and open the heavy wooden door,
Shadow nuzzled open the screen door, and went trotting out before me.  I
followed her out and pissed in the back yard.  I went back inside, started
the coffee, and clicked on the furnace, while she finished her morning
ritual.  I could feel the cold creeping up from the tile floor, through the
cotton of my now damp house shoes as I sat at the kitchen table.

      I got up when I heard the familiar scrapes against the screen door
that told me Shadow was ready to come in.  I let her in, and then shut the
side door to keep out the cold.  It was a strange and quiet place in the
kitchen.  Usually the uncles were already awake and the smell of
almost-sausage and coffee filled the air.  This morning, only the quiet
damp cold greeted me.  Almost-Sausage was what I called the vegetarian soy
substitute we ate as part of our breakfast.  I was reminded time and time
again how fortunate we were, that the modern world could now provide.  We
didn't eat meat, eggs, or fish.  It just wasn't our way.

	I threw a couple of slices of bread into the toaster and pulled the
margarine from the refrigerator.  The house had finally begun to warm up,
and I thought that maybe I would leave the heat on tonight.  It was only
going to get colder, and it would certainly help me wake in the morning.  I
liked it cold when I slept, but I didn't like the fact that my nose had
been colder than Shadow's this morning.  I would leave the thermostat at 60
from now on.  It was my first executive decision.  I liked the feel of it.

	The toaster startled me as it popped up my newly browned bread.  I
threw in two more slices and buttered the ones I had placed on the counter.
I slathered the first two slices with a thin layer of peanut butter, while
the second two slices toasted.  I had barely finished when the next two
popped up.  I buttered them and then let them sit so that it would melt.  I
carried our plates to the table and cut Shadow's toast into small pieces
after sitting down.  She did love toast, and I hated to eat in front of
her.  It just didn't seem right.  One peanut butter and one only butter for
the both of us.  I got up realizing I had forgotten my coffee and poured me
a cup after adding sugar.  I didn't care for it black like the uncles.

	I sat Shadow's plate on the floor, and we both scarfed down our
breakfast.  The rain had stopped early in the night, and the rising sun was
doing its best to burn off the remaining raindrops.  It peeked through the
windows almost blinding me.  I took my and Shadow's plate to the sink and
rinsed them off.  The round white clock on the wall behind the kitchen
table told me it was 6:30 and that I had an hour to get ready for 'public'
school.

	I filled the plastic green watering can with water from the kitchen
faucet and lugged it to my herb garden.  I watered my plants and then
returned to the kitchen and placed it at the side of the kitchen sink.

	It was time to assess the chaos of my hair and get ready for the
day.  I bounded up the stairs to the bathroom beside my room and looked at
the brown chaos of my shoulder length hair.  It looked as though I had been
struck by lightning.  It was always like this when I woke.  Clumps of brown
stuck out defying gravity while in other spots they smashed to my head.

	I brushed my teeth and got dressed finally shedding my robe and
returning it to the hook on the back of my bedroom door.  I ran downstairs
and washed my slightly curly brown hair in the kitchen sink hoping it would
dry before I got to school.
      I reminded Shadow to be good, and left her trapped in the house for
the time I was away at school.  I waited at the end of our driveway before
finally seeing the bus come to collect me.  It was 7:30.  I would have to
remember that for the future, so I could better plan my mornings.

      I climbed the steps to the bus.  It was packed with kids and I didn't
see anywhere to sit.  I was only a mile from town, and it seemed I was
their last stop.

      "Sit down please," John, the bus driver, told me.

      I glanced at him and then back to the faces that seemed to dared me
to even look at them.  I felt their hate, but I wouldn't acknowledge it.
Still I was confused as to what to do.

      "You can sit with me," a quiet voice said.

      I followed the sound to find Brian six seats back sitting alone in
the ugly green bench seat.  I moved through the aisle and plopped down
beside him.

      "Thanks," I almost whispered.

      "No problem," he answered, and stared back out the window his
shoulder rested against.

      The bus lurched forward and soon we were in front of the high school
preparing to get off the bus.

      "We're in all the same classes," Brian said staring at the floor.

      "Oh?" I answered.

      "I'll show you around if you want.  Help you to class and all that,"
Brian offered.

      "That would be great," I answered.  "Thanks!"

      We got off the bus and prepared for a brand new day.  The group of
jocks that leaned against the flagpole didn't inspire me, and I knew there
was going to be trouble.

 - - -

This is my second story submission to the Nifty archive.  Please send
comments and criticisms to gaywriter72@yahoo.com  You will find my
other story 'Earth Reborn' as well in the Sci/Fi section.  I hope to
hear from you all soon!  I have also posted a revised version of Earth
Reborn at gayauthors.org (it is still in progress)

Thanks!