I sipped the warm coffee with Catherine leaning over the counter to see who I was texting with a giddy smile. Students trickled in just as the espresso machine whirred and wheezed to make another order.
"That your boyfriend?" Catherine laughed from behind me and I rolled my eyes, another sip.
"Maybe." I realized we never really said if we were in a relationship. A few moments later he walked into the café with his hand massaging the back of his neck. His smile was trying to hide the discomfort.
"You alright?" Catherine asked. I was twisting the cardboard koozie around the coffee cup to keep my fingers busy. What I really wanted to do was throw the coffee cup and push Shane down onto a table, ravenously ripping his clothes off until we were writhing against each other on one of the table booths.
"I couldn't sleep last night, but I feel great otherwise." He touched my hand and I let it get wrapped up in his.
"We should get to class." I said to Catherine and she winked at me.
"Be safe my young ones." She lowered her voice and pointed at us like she some kind of wise mentor before snapping back out of it and returning to work with her towel slung over her shoulder.
"Are you ready for today?" I took a sip. We had received an email detailing our new schedule and picked up more information from administration. Our whole schedule had been revamped, history lessons cut off from the rest of the school, additional classes taking up the time slot of Skills I, and no more Friday electives.
"It's not a big deal. I haven't really felt like starting something new since Max destroyed my last one. Plus, Mr. Justin will probably enjoy the solitude." Now that I had been inside of him more than a couple times I could tell he was a little sad, but the idea of spending time together superseded his concern.
"Well, I'm excited to meet Mr. Andrews. I've never met him." We trudged along a pathway until we were in one of the old buildings on campus. The architecture was dated, but it still stood strong and proud on campus as one of the original buildings apart of the institution. Shane walked in eagerly and I almost spilled my drink trying to keep up the pace. He found this endearing and would chuckle as he opened the door for me. I noticed there was a layer of dust over the furniture, cobwebs growing in the corners, and all of the classrooms were empty.
"Isn't this the building we're supposed to be in?" Shane asked, looking again at the piece of paper he printed out. I noticed a bookshelf in the common area. The books on it were all showing signs of age, but what intruiged me was the fingerpints in front of a history book. I slid my fingers along the spine before something in the back of mind told me to pull it. As I did, a mechanism across the room clicked open and the painting depicting the founder of the school scrolled back and the drawers in the table below it opened enough to resemble stairs. Shane and I were slack jawed as it revealed a classroom behind it, both of us climbing up the drawers and into the hidden room.
"I found it." I joked as we took in the classroom. It didn't really look like your typical space of learning. Instead, it looked like a gym. In the center, four mannequins stood in a row, each one looking as though they had been around block a few times. Chips in the paint revealing the hard surface below and the faces smeared of from years of use. On the right side of the room, there was a group of lockers with a bench installed in front of it. The bottom lockers had a bit of rust along the edge. In each corner of the room, various objects were stored there for easy access in case they were needed, vinyl mats that could fold out to provide a surface for combat, a metal cart containing various balls, rope piled into curled snakes of fiber.
"Nice of you to join me." A man appeared out of the darker edges of the room adjusting the frames on his face and an accent from somewhere in the United Kingdom. He stepped forward with his hands behind his back and then brought them out to rub them together, excited to start.
"I am Mr. Andrews. I'll be your new instructor and will remain so until your time is finished here. Consider me a mentor. Every one of your classes will be in this building from now on and this room is kind of like the safe room. We will practice here while your core curriculum will be in the main portion of the building." He grinned.
"This place might need a good clean." Shane was trying to joke.
"Yes, it's not often we get to use this space. The last time was before I went to school here." Mr. Andrews pulled up a chair and slid himself into it, looking over at the both of us. He pulled his fingers towards him and two chair rolled into view, collecting us in them and wheeling us into a triangle for discussion.
"Awesome." Shane looked at me and was barely able to contain his excitement. This was already better than dealing with other students and their judgement.
"Tell me about yourselves." Mr. Andrews leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs. The light in the room made his leather shoes glisten.
"I'm Grayson." I said, putting my bag down next to me.
"You're the one that beat up Max," he was observing me, "which means you're Shane. Pleasure to be your mentor." He continued to watch us, his eyes sharp. With a quick movement he got up and walked over to the mannequins. With a wave, they seemed to come to life and walk away to an empty area, re-solidifying in different poses. Shane and I watched as another person pulled out of Mr. Andrews and he stepped forward.
"I am the real Mr. Andrews. I figured to keep things honest and to kind of break the ice with my qualifications I should show you the real me. I will be teaching the class from inside of my husband, just in case." He smiled. The phrase just in case lingering in my head. What did we have to be afraid of?
"I'm Franklin whenever he's not inside me." He introduced himself without the accent this time and Mr. Andrews slid back inside of him after they shared a smile. The two of them merging with ease.
"Alright," Mr. Andrews was in control again, "I want to see what you can do. He turned towards the mannequins and snapped at them. The four of them walking back into their positions and standing in the light with their hands open in the front of them. Mr. Andrews collected some materials from a cabinet and returned to put four plates in the hands of the painted metal figures each one holding an element. The first had a bowl of water, the second a plate of soil, the third a candle which he lit with a lighter from his pocket, and the fourth was empty.
"What are we supposed to do?" I asked as the chairs disappeared to the edges, my bag being dragged along with it.
"Just you Grayson. Shane will be used in a second, but for now step up." He moved over and joined Shane along the outskirts of the arena. "Your connection is special. Not every connection has the power to manipulate the world around them like you can, but you did it without being inside him. Now, those who can control an element such as yourself, are even more rare than connections like your parents or Mrs. Sheer. They can do maybe one thing, heal a wound or give off static electricity. I just need to figure out which element you can control before moving forward. Mud could be one of two things, water or earth."
"And the others?" Shane asked.
"Those are there for dramatic effect." Mr. Andrews chuckled. "Go ahead."
I stepped forward and scanned the four mannequins. I tried to recall the emotions I felt when it first happened and closed me eyes as I felt a rush of anger. I imagined Max's knuckles slamming against my face over and over again until I could visualize the blood pooling behind my eyes. My nails dug into my palm and I wanted to lash out, but Shane flashed into view and a wave of calmness washed over my body as I let my fingers relax.
"Brilliant." Mr. Andrews was staring at the ball of mud in front of me, bubbling as it spun around like a planet on an axis. The water and the mud were floating together, merging in front of the mannequins. I caught a glimps of Shane out of the corner of my eye and my heart fluttered. As the beats sped up, the flame flickered and the fourth plate fell off the hands as a ball of air whipped up inside of it. It whipped around the flame causing a string of fire to wrap around the floating ball of mud. It lit up, Shane and Mr. Andrews both shielding their eyes as I tightened my fingers again and the ball of hardened into a rock. I released my fingers again and it dropped to the ground, shattering into pieces at our feet.
"Damn." Shane was in awe and perhaps even a little turned one.
"That's something special." Mr. Andrews put out the flames of whatever was kindling below us and kicked some of the broken rock with his foot. I didn't understand what just happened of even how I was able to do it, but I felt a rush of confidence.
"Now let's see what you can do inside of Shane." Mr. Andrews invited us to merge and he excitedly stepped in front of me. He turned away and I was admiring the expanse of his back as I slipped my hands up inside of his shirt. I felt his muscle moving under his skin and pushed my hand into his shoulder. I slid in easily, just as easily as Mr. Andrews did with Franklin. I felt every nerve snap into place as though we had the same anatomy and opened my eyes to find myself standing where Shane was. This may have been the first time I had felt safe enough to do this. This room was free of the judgement and Mr. Andrews was a guiding hand. Shane was in here with me, his voice a warm presence in my head. With his arms crossed, Mr. Andrews waited for me. The confidence I had before felt magnified inside of Shane's skin. I waved my hands in front of me and watched the rock suddenly come together, the three dimensional puzzle coming to gether piece by piece until it was whole. I swished my hand again and the hairs on my arm prickled as I thought of the lighter in Mr. Andrews' pocket and it floated out. It clinked open and the flint set it alight consuming the ball in fire. As it was engulfed, Mr. Andrews was starting to become worried.
"This is awesome." I said with Shane's voice, waving my hand again the flames grew brighter and larger until I felt Mr. Andrews push me back, landing hard on my back and rolling.
"We're going to need to work on that." Mr. Andrews stood there with the extinguisher and the last of the flames crackling and I looked over to see Shane laying next to me, breathing heavily from me getting knocked out of him.
"That felt do good." He whispered to me and then jumped to his feet to help me up.
"Let's stick with the water for now." Mr. Andrews snapped at the mannequins and they receded into the background with just the water remaining.
"Ready?" I asked, looking at Shane.
"Ready."
We spent the rest of the day in the room, practicing with the water, turning it into different shapes, being helped by Mr. Andrews who would show me what to do before I copied. We continued the lesson until we didn't know what time it was and that was when we finished.
The painting and the table closed up once we were clear of the passage and the school clock admitted how late it was through a dusty piece of acrylic. We wandered out of the building and Shane walked with me back to my dorm to find Catherine closing up the Café.
"Nice of you to join me. No more time to visit between classes?" She twisted the key, locking up.
"Time kind of got away from us." I chuckled and checked in with Shane.
"I should run off. I've gotta get the car back home. You'll have to update me later with everything you get up to." She laughed, playfully punched me in the arm and then left Shane and I alone.
"This is me." I said, the entry to my dorm a metal brown door around the corner. I pulled Shane into a kiss and felt my bottom half merging with his slightly before pulling away, both of our cock hardening as we merged together. I pulled away and adjusted myself with a confident smirk, whatever this energy was left over from today's training.
I found that I couldn't sleep. Night after night I would come home to glimpses of a shadow or echoes in my head keeping me up. There was one night that was too real. I tossed and turned at the thought of whatever this shadow was haunting my dreams. The exercises from the day had left my body fatigued, but I was stuck awake. I rolled over on my side, looking towards my closet and I swore I could see claws curling around the door. I closed my eyes, ignoring them, but opened them quickly just in case it was real. No claws to be found. This slight reassurance was enough to send me drifting off to sleep.
I found myself waking up in the arena, a single spotlight highlighting where I was laying. I propped myself up and looked around only to be met with the darkness and the unknown. A pair of shoes stepped out into the light and I followed the leg up to find the shadow man with his lengthy and sharp fingers. The sharp claws wrapped around my neck sending a searing spain down my spine. He was holding up by one hand, the other starting to dig into my abdomen, clawing his way inside of me. I saw a flash of a memory that wasn't my own, a man caressing a cheek. A man I had seen before but couldn't place where.
"No. Those are mine." My vision was clear and he twisted his claws inside of me making me scream, but the hand around my neck kept any noise from coming out. He threw me down on the ground with a sickening crunch, a bone snapping and I could hear myself yell this time. It came back to me in an echo and I turned my head to see him reaching for me once more, but before he could make contact I woke up to the buzzing of my cell phone.
"Are you doing alright?" Shane met me at the door and he looked as cute as ever. He knew something was wrong, I couldn't hide it.
"It's the thing again? We should tell Mr. Andrews." Shane didn't hesitate to hold my hand. I could tell he hadn't been sleeping well either. We both had matching bags under our eyes. The man in black, though seemingly harmless, had managed to keep us from a good nights rest.
"Yeah." We were hand in hand as we walked towards our new classes. Both of us growing in concern as we were having nightmares of the same apparition accompanied by the occasional pink goop. We still trudged on, walking through the painting and into the arena where Mr. Andrews was preparing.
"This is going to be a long session. Thank you both for being punctual. Today we are going to be doing something a bit more physical than the usual exercises." He snapped his fingers and one of the mannequins marched to the center. Another snap and the mannequin seemed to transform before our very eyes into a replica we had both come to know well.
"Is this a joke?" I asked with dead eyed.
"We know about Mr. Black." Mr. Andrews was staring at us with his arms crossed.
"Who is Mr. Black?" Shane asked, feigning innocence.
"Shane's parents informed the school of nightmares and by the looks of it you both seem to be in full swing of these night terrors. What's even worse is that he controls nightmares. He'll get into your head if you let, and all those monsters you were afraid of a kid are his soldiers."
"This is a lot." I said.
"That's why we're starting with some physical training. If you can't fight the monsters, you wont be able to fight Mr. Black with your mind. That's how he attacks. You need a healthy balance of mind and body. Now, step into Shane." Mr. Andrews sat down in a stool, leaning forward and snapping his fingers to make the mannequin take on a pose that indicated it was ready to fight. The last couple of weeks have allowed me to gain control of Shane's body with ease, not resistance at all and Shane loved it.
"I'm ready when you are." He turned his back and waited for me to step in. It was so fast that it felt like I just took a breath in and became him. His whole body tensed for a moment, my favorite thing to do to make sure I was in control, but in reality I just liked using his muscles.
"You've been working out." I smiled with his pearly whites and flexed an arm.
I know you like it. He whispered. I enjoyed the fact that no one else could hear his voice except for me, a privately shared space between the two of us.
"Shane already has a little bit of defense in his muscle memory because of those self defense classes his mother enrolled him in when he was younger. Plus, the karate classes will help. Just access that feeling and those memories and you'll be able to use those skills even if he doesn't remember them." Mr. Andrews waved his hand and the mannequin started advancing. It wasn't like how he acted in my dreams, extending his arms and moving like smoke through space. It looked more like a video game character in attack mode.
Just breathe. Shane could feel my anxiety levels rising and I inhaled and exhaled to regain my composure. Mr. Andrews waved his hand again and it advanced at a much faster pace. It was almost sprinting by the time I dodged it, the finger scraping my arm.
"What the hell?" I said, grabbing the red lines on my forearm. I pulled my hand away and they were already beginning to close up.
"I had a hunch you could heal," Mr. Andrews started, "now there's no holding back. Access the memories, Grayson. We'll be here all day if we have to and I'll let you get beaten like a piñata." He sent the black figure after us again. I closed my eyes for a moment and I the world slowed down for a moment as my head sorted through our memories. They were firing off like fireworks behind my eyes and I needed to sort through everything until I found a young Shane in a karate outfit, chopping away at small punching blocks.
"Found it." I whispered and my eyes shot open. Mr. Black slashed at us, but I dodged and kicked him in the back. I spun on one leg as the mannequin caught itself before falling over completely.
"There we go." Another wave of his hand, "Let's turn it up a notch." Mr. Black looked like it was stretching, the sound of scraping metal taking the blace of cracked bone sockets as it cracked its neck. He showed his weapon like fingers and Shane urged me to fight which made the memory stronger. I jabbed at his side and dodged the incoming slash, sliding along the floor until I hit Mr. Andrews in the leg. Mr. Black was already coming in for another attack and as I dodged it disappeared outside of the light in the center of the room.
"Where did he go?" I felt the adrenaline rushing through me.
"Behind you." One of the other mannequins whispered in my ear and I turned to find the other two also in the shape of Mr. Black. It jabbed me in the side and the sensation was so shocking I fell back as blood spilled out of our sides.
"What the hell?" I said, my hand pushing the wound until it closed up. This one took longer than the smaller scrapes.
"If you want to become stronger you need to understand that he isn't just going to back down. Take a break and I will see you both back here shortly." He snapped his fingers and the mannequins took their position together in the corner. I walked out of the arena, stepping through the painting and then out of the building for a quick breath of fresh air.
You were pretty hot in there. Shane said in my mind. I smiled to myself as I felt the warm sun against my skin. His skin.
"You weren't so bad yourself." I smiled and walked along the path, noticing a splotch of black disappearing where I had first seen it by the Café. Catherine was putting some pastries in the display case when she saw us, almost bumping her head on the frame holding the glass as she went to greet me.
"Is that you in there?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah."
"That's so cool!" She got me a cup of water and I practically chugged it. Taking in a deep breath and coughing slightly as I slid back the empty cup.
"A little dehydrated." I laughed.
"Would you be interested in going out tonight? I'll buy your first drink." She fluttered her eyelashes and smiled, puppy dog eyes following it when I hesitated.
"Maybe." I looked at the clock.
"Shane can come too. Maybe you can wear him out." She chuckled, the idea making Shane feel something inside.
"I'll let you know. I have to get going." I backed out of the coffee shop and looked back where I saw the splotch. It was gone.
Don't worry. I'll protect you from anything he can do to us. You're safe inside me. Shane tried to reassure me as I walked back to the arena. The painting was open before we even reached the book and I walked in. We could hear Mr. Andrews talking to someone.
"I won't do it." Mr. Andrews said to another person. He was stopping himself from speaking too loudly.
"If you don't I will. Remember, I can make you do it." It was a man's voice and it came out rough. It was familiar. I entered the room inside of Shane and smiled at Mr. Andrews. The mannequin that looked like Mr. Black was standing in the center of the room like a soldier at attention.
"Who were you talking to?" I asked.
"No one. Let's get back to practice." Mr. Andrews looked shaky and stood to watch us this time. He waved his hand a couple of times and the mannequin came to life. This time he had a cane, unsheathing the metal knob and a silver blade glinted in the yellow light of the arena.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Grayson. You've come so far in such a short amount of time." Mr. Black circled us, holding the blade in attack mode, but something about this mannequin was different.
Can they speak?
"I see you gave it character, Mr. Andrews." I laughed, getting ready to fight, the memories of combat filling my eyes. I caught a glimps of Mr. Andrews and he looked terrified. My eyes darted between him and Mr. Black, something feeling off.
"Grayson, ru - " Mr. Andrews voice was suddenly muffled by something wet and I didn't have enough time to check on him when I felt the slide of the knife across my shoulder.
"This will be fun." The Mr. Black said watching me clutch my bleeding wound. It was slowly healing when the lights started to flicker. The flashing lights lit up a glob of disgusting pink. The creature looked as though it had been stepped on and chewed like discarded chewing gum on the pavement.
"Grayson meet Jerry." Mr. Black pointed at the blob with the tip of his knife now dripping blood. Shane's blood. I almost started crying as the fear rose up into my throat. Jerry really was discarded gum, an old nightmare coming back to haunt me. He was a monster from my escapades as a child, an enemy I created in my fantasy world and eventually haunting me in my nightmares until I grew out of it.
Breathe.
"Forgot about him?" Mr. Black pushed his knife back into his cane. He walked over to the blob and release Mr. Andrew from his hold, leaving him coughing on all fours as gum trickled out of his throat and absorbed into its original body. "Your nightmares have been fun to poke through. I'll keep sifting through the really fucked up things while you rest. I'll be back to collect your body and eventually your boyfriend's too. Your bond is strong." The light flickered again and I could see the gum disappearing into a vent, gurgling through the slots and leaving behind a yellow trail of putrid saliva. Mr. Andrews was able to stand up before Mr. Black disappeared in a puff of smoke following the gummy creature that was Jerry. The three of us left to lick our wounds and me rolling out of Shane just as the wound healed up.
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