Hi guys, I'm taking it that many of you didn't like my previous failure; "What Lies Beneath?", so I'm giving it another go, undoubtedly to fail catastrophically again. This story is 100% fiction, and it seemed easier to write. Incorporating some truth about my life is incredibly hard for me to do, so I settle with just my name. I'm sorry about that. The only true bits are; My name, and the fact that the man of my dreams is named Brad. I have prepared 5 chapters of this, and I am raring to go create more if you like it and I get feedback on it. XX.
And so it begins.
Chapter 1: The End and The Beginning.
RING! RING! RING!
The school bell sounded. It was the last day of the school year. My High School years were behind me, finally. The resounding crash of fists on tables, paper flying through the air, thudding against the walls and the teacher’s futile calls to calm evaded me. I seemed to not even notice it until a piece of paper, crushed up into a suitable shape for a trash can, hit me squarely in the side of the head. I snapped out of my reverie, and with my usual lightning reflexes, threw it back at the perpetrator. It hit him between the eyes, and he screamed with fury. I snatched up my bag, remaining books and papers and sprinted from the room.
Seconds later, I was at my car. I got in, threw the bag to the passenger seat and drove too quickly toward the exit. People were following now. I knew Adam wouldn’t chase after me or do anything of the sort that was related. He was too a gutless-wonder for something like that. An hour later, in which I screamed numerous times out the window at idiot drivers and made many rude hand gestures through the windscreen, I arrived home. I had made plans to go camping alone, in a remote location for a few days -- or weeks -- when I finished school, so I walked in, and began my preparations. I was to leave the following morning, promptly at 6AM.
I felt like dinner at around 7 o’clock in the evening. So, instead of making my way laboriously to the nearest McDonald’s or Pizza Restaurant, I decided to cook. I got ingredients out for Lasagna and got cooking. It was ready and cooked in and hour and a half. So, utilizing my new freezer, I flash froze 5 helpings to take with me whilst camping. At least I would have good food. After dinner, I watched TV for a bit, still marveling at how quickly TV’s in this country seemed to change channels.
At around 10PM, I decided to make my way to bed. Although I wasn’t tired yet, I did need to get up rather early in the morning. I dressed down, and got into bed, thinking of my life. How quickly it had changed. One minute, I was safely in high school, talking to friends and steadfastly ignoring teachers. The next, I was an adult, out of school, with his whole life ahead of him. “Some fucking life.” I said to myself. I had been internally depressed for over 3 years, mainly because of the fact that I was gay, and the fact that I was ridiculed daily because of it. I wanted a boyfriend, my first boyfriend, I was sure would have been in High School, like every other damn person in High School -- that I knew anyway. They had all had their first experiences in the sex and boyfriend/girlfriend department by their junior years. Me, no way. Unlike most of the people I knew, I was raised to obey old-time morals; to not have sex before marriage, to not drink before 21, to not smoke etc, etc. And by the age of 18, it was killing me. I was 1 month shy of turning 19, and all my girlfriends say that I was the sexiest guy they knew, and they knew a few guys, so this was a small comfort to me. I didn’t want to sleep. I lay there for a good hour trying, but as when you have too many a-thought flying around in your mind, you can’t. “Fuck it then.” I said, a little bitterly, and got up. I dressed up for hiking and camping. Grabbed all my gear, the lasagna, last nights Potato Salad, tinned Spaghetti and several variations out of the fruit family, threw them into my bag, picked it up and left my apartment for my car.
Chapter 2: Arrival.
I made it to my car in a record 3 minutes. There was absolutely nobody in the corridors or elevators at this time of the night. The doorman queried me on my peculiar outfit and upon telling him that I would be away for several days or weeks, offered to hold all my mail and packages in the Purser’s Office. I thanked him and made my way downstairs to the Parking Basement.
I placed my bag in the Rear Passenger seat, making sure that the food was still flash frozen and seated safely. I locked the door before closing it, then dashed back up to my apartment, picking up my Hiking Cellphone and iPhone. Before leaving, I did a last minute check up of everything in the apartment, satisfied, I locked up again and dashed back to my car. Getting in, I tapped the Auxiliary setting, and plugged in my iPhone to play some music for the duration of the drive. As I didn’t know where I was going nor how long I would be driving, I settled with playing a non-stop album by my favorite DJ, Tiësto.
I began the drive, and after about 50 minutes, I was finally out of the city limits, driving around the suburbs on the bypass. Soon I would be “out in the sticks”, close to the many rivers and mountains that criss-crossed along the landscape of my home state. I pulled over then, rapidly googling some remote locations. A place that was over 500 miles away seemed like a good place, so I began the drive again. Periodically, along the way, I would pull over into the Rest zones of the seemingly never-ending highway to sleep. Waking up a good 8 hours later, I would begin the drive again and repeat as I became tired again. After doing this a staggering total of 11 times, I found myself in my destination, nearly 1,300 miles from where I started out. I was irate. I checked my iPhone and sure enough it said “1,283 miles from previous location”. “I thought you said 500 miles!” i said accusingly to my iPhone -- talking to inanimate objects is the first sign of insanity. I wasn’t getting cabin fever already was I? I drove further into the forest, following the road that led deeper and deeper into the camping grounds. I passed the busy Main Camp area where there were families having Barbecues, pitching tents close by and laughing in harmony with each other. The sight made me feel ill, so I drove on for another 80 miles.
I arrived at a small rolling grass covered hill, with trees perfectly covering and obscuring every potential entry and exit. I parked my car perpendicular to the main entrance of the area I had chosen, further blocking anyone coming to disturb me and began unpacking. Thanks to my previous 7 years of camping at various locations, I knew how to set up a decent camping site. I had my tent almost welded to the ground in forty seconds flat. I set up the firewood from my supplies and lit the fire, I placed my Eski in the back part of my 2-Bedroom tent, placed my clothes and bag in the bedroom that I had chosen and returned to my car. Before locking up, I grabbed my iPhone and Emergency Hiking Phone, and put them safely in my bag. Afterwards, I sat with the majority of my body in the tent with my head and shoulders protruding out of the flap reading a book by the light of the fire.
Chapter 3: First Hike.
The morning came, quicker than I ever thought possible. It seemed like seconds before that I was nodding off to sleep. “Good, that means I got some good ol’ REM.” I said to myself, smiling before heading to my Eski and began tugging out suitable ingredients for breakfast. After succeeding in making and eating a passable meal, I decided to hike up the nearby mountain. That would take at least 10 or 12 hours. I put on my hiking boots, warmer clothes as it was quite cold out, and got started.
The hike turned out to be rather easy, although it did take the full 12 hours that I had anticipated to reach the summit of the mountain. Never before had I encountered so many steps in my life until this day. I stayed up there for a good half hour, taking some long-exposure shots on my Camera. Afterwards, I headed back down the path that would take me to my camping site. As always, the trip back was quicker, and by the time I made it to my Eski, I was famished. I withdrew -- with some difficulty -- a frozen portion of Lasagna, and heated it over my newly lit fire. Eating it with gusto before it was fully defrosted. I sure was glad that I packed 5 servings of the gargantuan lasagna that I had cooked the night before, as these would last me days. Tomorrow, I would further divi up the servings to better cater for my potential stay.
Again, I found myself reading the same book by the light of the fire. When it was time to put it down -- my eyes seemed to be closing of their own accord -- I heard some rustling in the trees around my tent. My eyes snapped open, my ears straining for more noises. It definitely wasn’t the breeze rustling those leaves, it was human. There were no animals here due to the large stone wall that protected the Park’s inhabitants and guests from them. More rustling noises, and this time some discernible footsteps.
I got out of my tent, stood up and moved closer to where I heard the noises. A loud thud startled me slightly. I looked through the trees to see a rather tall dark, clearly male figure who had obviously dropped a bag to the ground. “That must have been the thud.” I said to myself, wondering exactly how much he had in there for it to make such a noise, as it was probably 45-50 meters away from me. He dropped several logs on the ground before lighting the fire. The light illuminated his face, he was the sexist man that I had ever seen in my life.
I stepped back, emotions were coursing through my body like poison. Anger, Denial, Amazement, Excitement, Sadness, Depression and good old Anger again. I had come here to be alone. To escape from the world, to recuperate from the damage inflicted to me by my years in High School. Despite myself, I looked back through the trees at him. I could see quite clearly that he was crying. I watched him for over half an hour, then he retreated into his tent. I did the same, putting out my fire minutes later. Boy, this camping trip could be interesting.
TTYL, xx
And so it begins.
Chapter 1: The End and The Beginning.
RING! RING! RING!
The school bell sounded. It was the last day of the school year. My High School years were behind me, finally. The resounding crash of fists on tables, paper flying through the air, thudding against the walls and the teacher’s futile calls to calm evaded me. I seemed to not even notice it until a piece of paper, crushed up into a suitable shape for a trash can, hit me squarely in the side of the head. I snapped out of my reverie, and with my usual lightning reflexes, threw it back at the perpetrator. It hit him between the eyes, and he screamed with fury. I snatched up my bag, remaining books and papers and sprinted from the room.
Seconds later, I was at my car. I got in, threw the bag to the passenger seat and drove too quickly toward the exit. People were following now. I knew Adam wouldn’t chase after me or do anything of the sort that was related. He was too a gutless-wonder for something like that. An hour later, in which I screamed numerous times out the window at idiot drivers and made many rude hand gestures through the windscreen, I arrived home. I had made plans to go camping alone, in a remote location for a few days -- or weeks -- when I finished school, so I walked in, and began my preparations. I was to leave the following morning, promptly at 6AM.
I felt like dinner at around 7 o’clock in the evening. So, instead of making my way laboriously to the nearest McDonald’s or Pizza Restaurant, I decided to cook. I got ingredients out for Lasagna and got cooking. It was ready and cooked in and hour and a half. So, utilizing my new freezer, I flash froze 5 helpings to take with me whilst camping. At least I would have good food. After dinner, I watched TV for a bit, still marveling at how quickly TV’s in this country seemed to change channels.
At around 10PM, I decided to make my way to bed. Although I wasn’t tired yet, I did need to get up rather early in the morning. I dressed down, and got into bed, thinking of my life. How quickly it had changed. One minute, I was safely in high school, talking to friends and steadfastly ignoring teachers. The next, I was an adult, out of school, with his whole life ahead of him. “Some fucking life.” I said to myself. I had been internally depressed for over 3 years, mainly because of the fact that I was gay, and the fact that I was ridiculed daily because of it. I wanted a boyfriend, my first boyfriend, I was sure would have been in High School, like every other damn person in High School -- that I knew anyway. They had all had their first experiences in the sex and boyfriend/girlfriend department by their junior years. Me, no way. Unlike most of the people I knew, I was raised to obey old-time morals; to not have sex before marriage, to not drink before 21, to not smoke etc, etc. And by the age of 18, it was killing me. I was 1 month shy of turning 19, and all my girlfriends say that I was the sexiest guy they knew, and they knew a few guys, so this was a small comfort to me. I didn’t want to sleep. I lay there for a good hour trying, but as when you have too many a-thought flying around in your mind, you can’t. “Fuck it then.” I said, a little bitterly, and got up. I dressed up for hiking and camping. Grabbed all my gear, the lasagna, last nights Potato Salad, tinned Spaghetti and several variations out of the fruit family, threw them into my bag, picked it up and left my apartment for my car.
Chapter 2: Arrival.
I made it to my car in a record 3 minutes. There was absolutely nobody in the corridors or elevators at this time of the night. The doorman queried me on my peculiar outfit and upon telling him that I would be away for several days or weeks, offered to hold all my mail and packages in the Purser’s Office. I thanked him and made my way downstairs to the Parking Basement.
I placed my bag in the Rear Passenger seat, making sure that the food was still flash frozen and seated safely. I locked the door before closing it, then dashed back up to my apartment, picking up my Hiking Cellphone and iPhone. Before leaving, I did a last minute check up of everything in the apartment, satisfied, I locked up again and dashed back to my car. Getting in, I tapped the Auxiliary setting, and plugged in my iPhone to play some music for the duration of the drive. As I didn’t know where I was going nor how long I would be driving, I settled with playing a non-stop album by my favorite DJ, Tiësto.
I began the drive, and after about 50 minutes, I was finally out of the city limits, driving around the suburbs on the bypass. Soon I would be “out in the sticks”, close to the many rivers and mountains that criss-crossed along the landscape of my home state. I pulled over then, rapidly googling some remote locations. A place that was over 500 miles away seemed like a good place, so I began the drive again. Periodically, along the way, I would pull over into the Rest zones of the seemingly never-ending highway to sleep. Waking up a good 8 hours later, I would begin the drive again and repeat as I became tired again. After doing this a staggering total of 11 times, I found myself in my destination, nearly 1,300 miles from where I started out. I was irate. I checked my iPhone and sure enough it said “1,283 miles from previous location”. “I thought you said 500 miles!” i said accusingly to my iPhone -- talking to inanimate objects is the first sign of insanity. I wasn’t getting cabin fever already was I? I drove further into the forest, following the road that led deeper and deeper into the camping grounds. I passed the busy Main Camp area where there were families having Barbecues, pitching tents close by and laughing in harmony with each other. The sight made me feel ill, so I drove on for another 80 miles.
I arrived at a small rolling grass covered hill, with trees perfectly covering and obscuring every potential entry and exit. I parked my car perpendicular to the main entrance of the area I had chosen, further blocking anyone coming to disturb me and began unpacking. Thanks to my previous 7 years of camping at various locations, I knew how to set up a decent camping site. I had my tent almost welded to the ground in forty seconds flat. I set up the firewood from my supplies and lit the fire, I placed my Eski in the back part of my 2-Bedroom tent, placed my clothes and bag in the bedroom that I had chosen and returned to my car. Before locking up, I grabbed my iPhone and Emergency Hiking Phone, and put them safely in my bag. Afterwards, I sat with the majority of my body in the tent with my head and shoulders protruding out of the flap reading a book by the light of the fire.
Chapter 3: First Hike.
The morning came, quicker than I ever thought possible. It seemed like seconds before that I was nodding off to sleep. “Good, that means I got some good ol’ REM.” I said to myself, smiling before heading to my Eski and began tugging out suitable ingredients for breakfast. After succeeding in making and eating a passable meal, I decided to hike up the nearby mountain. That would take at least 10 or 12 hours. I put on my hiking boots, warmer clothes as it was quite cold out, and got started.
The hike turned out to be rather easy, although it did take the full 12 hours that I had anticipated to reach the summit of the mountain. Never before had I encountered so many steps in my life until this day. I stayed up there for a good half hour, taking some long-exposure shots on my Camera. Afterwards, I headed back down the path that would take me to my camping site. As always, the trip back was quicker, and by the time I made it to my Eski, I was famished. I withdrew -- with some difficulty -- a frozen portion of Lasagna, and heated it over my newly lit fire. Eating it with gusto before it was fully defrosted. I sure was glad that I packed 5 servings of the gargantuan lasagna that I had cooked the night before, as these would last me days. Tomorrow, I would further divi up the servings to better cater for my potential stay.
Again, I found myself reading the same book by the light of the fire. When it was time to put it down -- my eyes seemed to be closing of their own accord -- I heard some rustling in the trees around my tent. My eyes snapped open, my ears straining for more noises. It definitely wasn’t the breeze rustling those leaves, it was human. There were no animals here due to the large stone wall that protected the Park’s inhabitants and guests from them. More rustling noises, and this time some discernible footsteps.
I got out of my tent, stood up and moved closer to where I heard the noises. A loud thud startled me slightly. I looked through the trees to see a rather tall dark, clearly male figure who had obviously dropped a bag to the ground. “That must have been the thud.” I said to myself, wondering exactly how much he had in there for it to make such a noise, as it was probably 45-50 meters away from me. He dropped several logs on the ground before lighting the fire. The light illuminated his face, he was the sexist man that I had ever seen in my life.
I stepped back, emotions were coursing through my body like poison. Anger, Denial, Amazement, Excitement, Sadness, Depression and good old Anger again. I had come here to be alone. To escape from the world, to recuperate from the damage inflicted to me by my years in High School. Despite myself, I looked back through the trees at him. I could see quite clearly that he was crying. I watched him for over half an hour, then he retreated into his tent. I did the same, putting out my fire minutes later. Boy, this camping trip could be interesting.
TTYL, xx
