Tales from Kingswood - Chapter 27 (Patreon)
Content
CAUTION - THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS THEMES OF SUICIDE AND ABUSE
Saturday 7 March 2020
Dichotomy. It was a word Danny had heard recently. At first he just liked it because it was a funny sounding word, but upon learning its meaning - two things that were completely opposed - he and Chris had played about thinking of examples of it. Heaven and Hell, good and evil, people who wore crocs and sane people!
As he wandered across the school grounds, he thought of the word again as he realised he was currently living yet another example of it. Today was both an amazing day and a terrible day. Walking along, he worked through a mental checklist to compare if the two sides were truly equal.
The school’s COVID-19 lockdown was over, that’s a tick in the ‘amazing’ column. There was no sign of anyone in the school carrying the virus, definite tick for that one. He would be getting reunited with all of his friends, tick. He could finally return to his new favourite pastime – being a big ol’ cock-sucking slut at the school’s gloryholes, tick tick tick on that, with an extra tick for not having to figure out exactly how he was supposed to give a blow job through a mask. He felt true pity for those dealing with it outside Kingswoo’d walls! Finally, having spent two weeks alone with the best friend he had ever had he felt closer to him than ever, one more tick.
On the other side of things, their roommate/friend Josh had savagely insulted all of them and today would be the first time they would all be together with him again, so a great big cross in the ‘today sucks’ column. Nicky, who had found out an unpleasant revelation about his relationship with his boyfriend as part of Josh’s attack, was likely on his way to heart break, so a big stonking cross for that one. A short while earlier, Danny had also found out that Chris (Danny’s best friend in the entire world) had been cheating on his boyfriend, Kyle (Danny’s second-best friend in the entire world), which was already bad enough, but Chris was cheating with Danny (who Danny just happened to be!) To make it worse, Kyle had found out through an accidental online streaming of Chris and Danny’s latest tryst, also witnessed by most of their Year. That didn’t just put a cross in the ‘today sucks’ column, it put a cross, took a dump on it, set it on fire then extinguished the fire with a whole second shower of shit!
After being confronted by Kyle and learning of Chris’ lies, Danny had fled the scene, leaving Kyle and Chris to hash things out with a large number of other boys unashamedly eavesdropping. On the bright side… nope. Try as he might, and optimistic as he usually tried to be, Danny could see no bright side. He knew a celebratory breakfast was about to be served in the Dining Hall but as he wandered back into the Home Building for the first time in three weeks, he didn’t want to be around people, cheerful as the atmosphere might be.
After wandering for a while, he found himself in the entrance foyer, debating whether to go back outside and keep walking or head up to kill time in the dorm. Still deliberating, he spotted Josh emerge from the direction of the dorm. Rather than coming down the stairs, he headed along, seemingly looking to be heading up to the second floor. Danny nearly turned and ran the opposite way, but he knew he had to face Josh eventually. He knew it was going to be unpleasant, but at least if he caught him now they could talk without the whole dorm butting in.
He headed for the stairs and as he reached the top he just caught sight of Josh disappearing up the next flight, presumably going up to see his brothers whose dorms were on the third floor. Still hopeful of catching him, Danny ran along the hallway and followed up. As he peered up onto the third-floor walkway, he was confused to see… nothing. Josh wasn’t there, so where had he gone? Mildly puzzled, he continued up the stairs and saw movement out of the corner of his eye. It was a closing door, one that stood beside the top of the stairs and was simply labelled as ‘No entry’.
Danny stood for a moment, unsure whether to follow. He still wanted to talk to Josh, but venturing into a forbidden room just seemed like a bad idea with his habit of getting into trouble. He continued on, determined to make contact. Josh had hidden from them throughout the lockdown, always disappearing any time Danny made a video call to Rob. It had been quite annoying, but he had been unable to do anything about it. Now, however, if Josh was hiding again, Danny could finally follow and presumably get him cornered. He dashed up the final few stairs then gingerly opened the door.
He was quite surprised by what he saw; it was another staircase leading up, which was a little confusing as they were already on the top floor. There was no sign of Josh, so he had presumably gone up. Again, Danny followed. As he climbed the stairs, he could feel a growing breeze and see a thin beam of light streaming in around a door at the top. He opened it to find himself on a roof terrace, yet another feature of the building he had never even been told about.
Looking round briefly, it bore a striking resemblance to the design of the school’s award-winning ornamental gardens, except the roof terrace looked like it had gone untouched for longer than Danny had been alive. While a few of the plants appeared to still be hanging on, it looked more like a plant graveyard, the withered leaves rustling in the wind, dead vines entwined around old, worn-down statues and benches. As Danny cautiously walked his way around, amazed that such a place had gone without mention in his almost seven months at the school, he froze dead in his tracks. Over at the end of the building, on a waist-high stone balustrade that ran the perimeter of the terrace was Josh. He was standing atop it and looking down at the drop on the other side.
*****
Nicky had taken some time to build up the nerve, but eventually knocked on the door to dorm 2.01.
The door opened and it was Evan who appeared. “Oh hey, you here about David?” David’s mentor asked, looking concerned.
“No, I’m here to see Will,” Nicky answered, then frowned and asked, “Wait, what’s wrong with David?”
“That’s what I’m just on my way to find out!” Evan said. He stepped aside to let Nicky enter, then left, closing the door behind him.
Will had stood up from his bunk at the sound of Nicky’s voice and as soon as they were alone, ran forward to hug his boyfriend. “Oh my God, why’ve you been ignoring me? I’ve been so worried!”
Nicky stood letting Will hug him but didn’t hug him back.
“What?” Will asked, pulling back. “What’s wrong?” It wasn’t hard to tell something was seriously bothering him.
“I know!” Nicky said flatly.
“Know… what?” Will asked nervously.
Nicky stared back for a moment, then his eyes lowered to Will’s crotch. “I. Know!” he said pointedly. He didn’t need to say any more than that.
“H… how?” Will asked, gulping.
Nicky shrugged, not wanting to go into the whole Josh thing. “Figured it out!” he said flatly, then rolled his eyes a little and added, “Then a… friend… confirmed it!”
“It’s not… what you think!” Will said, turning away.
“Oh really? So you’re not voluntarily staying locked in chastity to let Jonathan control you because you’re hopelessly in love with him and lying to me about all of it with some bullshit excuse that you’re just not developed yet?” Nicky asked coldly.
Will stared back at him, a little surprised that Nicky actually knew so much. “Oh, I guess it… IS what you think!”
“Come on then,” Nicky said curtly. “Let’s hear it. What crappy excuse you gonna come up with now?”
“I love you, Nicky!” Will said.
“Don’t!” Nicky snapped, moving up to the older boy and glaring at him angrily.
“No, I’m explaining,” Will said, raising his hands defensively as he backed away, toppling back a little. He ended up sat on one of the beds.
Nicky sat down opposite. “Okay, go on. Explain!” he demanded.
“I love you, but… I love Jonathan too!” Will said meekly. “You have to understand, we’ve been together here for nearly four years now. He’s… he’s been everything to me and in a few months… it’s just… over! He’ll be off to Uni and I’ll still be here and… I couldn’t stand it. The thought of being without him, it kills me. Like, I think about him not being here and I’m not kidding, it feels like dying!”
Nicky actually looked a little sympathetic but sighed and asked a question he wasn’t sure he was ready to hear the answer to. “So if you loved him that much, why go looking for a boyfriend?”
“I didn’t!” Will insisted. “I went to that selection day to pick out a new Year 7 student who I could… I dunno, teach, and guide, and help. Then you turned up and… I couldn’t stop it, Nicky. I… fell in love all over again!” He was getting a little tearful now.
“So you thought, ‘I’ll keep this one ready so I’ve got a replacement ready to go when the guy I love leaves’. Is that about right?” Nicky asked angrily.
“No, I… I got stuck. The thing about me and Jonathan is… I love him, but he doesn’t love me! I mean, yeah, he loves me, he’s a mentor and a friend and everything, but he’s not IN love with me, not like I am with him. Our Dom/sub relationship is the closest we’ll ever come to him loving me like that and… I couldn’t let it go.”
“So you just decided to lie to me instead. For seven months!” Nicky said, shaking his head.
“I was going to tell you, but… but… Jonathan told me not to!” Will explained.
“And you always just do what he says?” Nicky asked angrily.
Will smiled and said, “That’s kinda how the Dom/sub thing works!”
“Don’t try getting clever!” Nicky snapped furiously. “Wait, so… was that why we couldn’t tell anyone either? Because Jonathan said so?”
Will nodded. “He… doesn’t love me, but… I’m his property. And he has others too. He said I wasn’t allowed to be with someone officially as it’d make him look like a weak Dom!”
“Are you… fucking… KIDDING ME!” Nicky screamed at him, almost hyperventilating. “I… I had to lie and sneak around and not be with the guy I loved properly, because HE was bothered what some… other fucking subs thought of him! That’s… fucking pathetic!”
“It wasn’t just that,” Will said sheepishly. “I… I’m NOT undeveloped… down there, but most people think I am because… because of the lies and the chastity and that’s already bad enough, but if they knew I was with you…”
Nicky shook his head in disgust. “Danny was right. He said it was because you were embarrassed to be in chastity.” Nicky said. “That’s why I let you off, for the Christmas party and making us go public. I let you off because I felt sorry for you! But it was all lies and bullshit!”
Will just hung his head in shame. What Nicky was saying was true and he really had no way to deny it. “I was gonna tell you at Christmas. You remember I came to see you? Well I was gonna do it. I was gonna come clean, tell you everything, end things with Jonathan and just… tell the world about us!”
“But I let you off and rather than giving Jonathan up for me you jumped at the chance to carry on lying!” Nicky spat.
Will nodded.
“You’re a twat, you know that!” Nicky said, shaking his head.
“Yeah,” Will agreed. “But I’m a twat who loves you!” He smiled timidly.
“Don’t!” Nicky snapped. “You’re not charming your way out of this!” He shook his head, staring at the ground, unsure what to do.
“What, so are we… over?” Will asked shakily.
Nicky sighed heavily. “I don’t know!”
They sat in silence for a moment, interrupted only when Will’s phone buzzed. Then again. And again. He sighed and pulled it out, figuring it was something important. “Fuck, someone’s on the roof!” he exclaimed.
*****
For Evan, going into the recently built temporary accommodation building was a bit of a novelty. Unlike Years 7 to 9 and half of Years 10 and 11, he had stayed in the Home Building throughout the lockdown. It was thankfully easy to navigate, and he soon found the room labelled ‘David Brown & James Taylor’. He knocked and gently opened the door.
“David,” he said, seeing his young mentee sat on his bed, knees pulled up to his chest.
“You didn’t have to come!” David said timidly.
“Oh sure,” Evan said sarcastically. “A message from my little buddy saying ‘can’t leave the building, don’t know what to do’, why would I ever come and see you about that?”
“Okay, fair point,” David conceded, watching as Evan closed the door and came to sit beside him on the bed.
“So come on, bud, where’s this come from all of a sudden? You’ve been leaving the building every day and suddenly you can’t?” Evan asked. “I’d say you’re trying to avoid classes, but… you’re you, so that’s not it!” he chuckled.
“Yeah, I… erm… I may have… lied a bit,” David confessed. “About going out for outdoor time!”
Evan frowned disapprovingly. “Lied a bit? Like, how much?”
“Quite a big bit,” David said, avoiding eye contact shamefully. “I… haven’t been out since we came back after half-term!”
“Ugh, David!” Evan said, shaking his head. “You shoulda told me. You know I’d have helped!”
“Yeah, but… I’ve been such a burden already, I wanted to handle this by myself, so I kept saying ‘tomorrow I’ll go out’ but then the next day it was still ‘tomorrow I’ll go out’ and before I knew it, two weeks were gone and I was out of tomorrows!” David explained a little tearfully.
Evan sighed. “David, you’re not a burden. You never have been, and you never will be!” he reassured the boy. “And you’re right, you’re out of days. You know you’re not gonna be able to stay in here, right?”
David nodded. “I do. I think… I think if you’re with me, I might be able to go!”
“D’you wanna try?” Evan asked softly, stroking the boy’s arm. When he got a nod in return, he smiled and said, “Okay, but one thing first!” He leaned in and pulled David into a tight hug. “Guessing you’ve not had one of these for a couple of weeks, have ya?” he giggled.
David happily hugged back, but replied, “Actually, I have. James hugged me… a few times!”
“Seriously?” Evan asked, pulling back. “Wow, I didn’t think he knew how to do that!” he joked as he climbed off the bed. He held out a hand to David who took it and then cautiously followed as they headed for the door. “You’ve got this, little man. You can do it!”
“Okay, just… don’t let go!” David said, clinging to Evan’s side.
They slowly walked down the hallway and reached the entrance area, which was as far as David had managed to go so far. He stopped and shook his head. “I don’t think I can do it!” he mumbled.
“It’s okay, we can take a minute if you like. Talk to me, tell me what you’re feeling!” Evan urged the boy.
David took a deep breath and moved closer to the door, looking out. “I feel like… wait, what’s…” he froze and pointed up at the roof of the Home Building. “There’s someone up there!”
“Up where?” Evan asked, then looked at said, “Shit, you’re right. Oh fuck! I… I have to tell someone! David, I’ve… I’ve gotta go!” He ran off towards the Home Building.
David nodded, then raised a hand to shield some of the light from his eyes. “Oh my God,” he gasped as he saw more clearly. “That’s Josh! Evan, wait for me!” he called out, running out the door after his mentor.
*****
Worried he might startle Josh and cause him to fall, Danny cleared his throat gently.
Josh looked round sharply and seemed shocked to see anyone there. “D… Danny, you need to leave!” he stuttered nervously.
Danny slowly walked closer as he asked, “Josh, what are you doing?”
“Please Danny, go back inside!” Josh pleaded.
“I’ll go back inside… if you come with me,” Danny said, edging his way closer. He didn’t know what was happening, he didn’t know what he was doing, all he knew is that Josh needed to come down.
“No!” Josh insisted. “I’m not getting down from here!” He chuckled and added, “Well, I am… but… that way!” He gestured behind him to the long step down!
Danny trembled. He suspected that was the plan, it seemed pretty obvious, but to hear Josh actually say it was a whole different matter. He felt his breath catch in his throat.
“Yeah, don’t come any closer!” Josh said, the smile dropping from his face as he held out a hand.
“Okay,” Danny said, raising his hands. He moved sideways towards an old stone bench and said, “I’ll just… sit here.” He went to sit but said, “Oh!” as he spotted a tablet sat there. On the front was a note that said, ‘Read Me’. He instinctively picked it up.
“No!” Josh called out, almost jumping down to stop him. “Don’t! Don’t read that. Not yet. Not… til I’m gone!”
“You could always come over here and stop me!” Danny goaded him, making a show of turning the device on.
“Danny, stop!” Josh snarled angrily but didn’t come down.
As Danny looked at the screen, it was obvious from the first line that it was some kind of suicide note. Seeing a drop of water on the screen, Danny suddenly looked up, annoyed that on top of everything else, it was now starting to rain too but as he saw a cloudless sky above him he realised the drops on the screen were his own tears. He had never felt so scared in his life. “Okay, I won’t read it. Instead, why don’t you tell me about it!” he suggested.
“I… I wrote it all there… cos… cos I can’t say it!” Josh said, shaking his head.
“Josh, I’ve seen your schoolwork… you’re no writer!” Danny said with a slight smile. “But you’re a good talker! Besides, what harm can it do now, right?”
Josh frowned. “You’re not gonna try and stop me?” he asked.
Danny shrugged. “It’s not my decision to make,” he said honestly, “But it’ll be much harder to ask you questions after you do it, so I figured if I want answers, now’s the time to get them!”
Josh sighed and sat down on the balustrade. He could still get over the edge in moments if he needed, but Danny still took it as a good sign.
“So come on, mate. Tell me why you’re up here!” Danny requested. He forced a smile and said, “Or rather… why you wanna be down there!”
Josh sniggered. “Funny! Dark… but funny!” he said with a nod. He sighed and said, “I don’t know where to start!”
Danny glanced down at the tablet in his hand and said, “Well the first thing your note says is you’re this because you’re a murderer. Deffo gonna need the deets on that one!”
“Oh, yeah… that,” Josh said, flinching a little. “I guess I don’t really remember the details, I just know that for longer than I can even remember, that’s what Ryan and Mark have told me. Like, my earliest memory is my two big brothers telling me, ‘You killed Dad. It’s your fault!’ and that’s all they’ve ever said on it… but they remind me about it every chance they get, believe me! It’s been, like, ten years of it!”
“That’s… horrible!” Danny said in disbelief.
“It’s who I am. I’m a killer. That’s why I deserved everything I got!” Josh said with a worryingly casual shrug.
“So this is all about your brothers?” Danny asked. It was something Rob had long suspected and speculated, but he never imagined they would be saying something so awful.
Josh chuckled. “Ya know, growing up, I thought big brothers only existed to… to call you names or hurt you or… make you miserable. It was just how it was. Mum was so busy with work trying to keep the business afloat that she just kinda left Mark in charge of me and Ryan, but all that meant was more time for them to… do things!”
“What sort of things?” Danny asked.
Josh appeared to ignore the question. “The day Mark first came to Kingswood, it was amazing. Suddenly I was spending six weeks at a time with only Ryan to be mean to me,” Josh explained with a smile. “And then a year later, Ryan came here too and it was… unbelievable. I was free of them. Yeah, they came back at half-term and breaks between terms, but by then I’d found places I could go, people I could hide out with until they went back to school so it wasn’t so bad. I was almost happy for a while and then… I found out I’d got in here too! I was… not happy. When I got here, I made the stupid mistake of thinking they might leave me alone, that because we were here, they might be… different, but without Mum around, they got even worse!”
“What did they do?” Danny asked.
Once again, Josh didn’t answer the question. Instead he just said, “Did you know my brother, Ryan, is Alex Barnes’ mentor?”
Danny nodded. “Yeah, I found out a short while ago!”
“Hnnh, yeah. Took me a while to realise too,” Josh said with a nod. “Alex is in love with him. Not, like, romantic love, more like… I dunno, he idolises him. He’ll do literally anything Ryan tells him… even starting a fight with me!”
Danny frowned, lost at the comment until he thought back to their first weekend in the school. Josh had got in trouble for starting a fight with Alex that he insisted he hadn’t instigated. It had been completely out of the blue. “Oh!” he said, catching on. “That was… they did that?”
Josh nodded.
“Alex hates me as much as they do… or he did… it gets complicated. But he spent two years with Ryan before I got here being told over and over how awful I was for killing Dad, so I kinda get why he thinks like them!” Josh explained.
Danny felt sick. He didn’t know what had happened to Josh’s Dad, but it seemed unlikely Josh was actually to blame, but it genuinely sounded like he believed he was.
“You remember that football practice, back at the start of the year, the one where I was late?” Josh asked.
Danny sniggered. “Yeah, I’d say so!” he said. As a result of Josh’s lateness, and insistence that he was not to blame, the entire team had been subjected to doing the morning’s practice naked. It was only thanks to Mikey that the team hadn’t lynched Josh for it.
“Yeah, well that was when everything changed!” Josh said, suddenly looking even more down. “I’d seen how the stuff they were doing was affecting my friends and I wasn’t gonna let that go on, so… I did something about it!”
*****
Saturday 7 September 2019
“You made me late to football!” Josh snapped angrily at Mark as he stood at the doorway to his dorm.
“I think that was more a result of your own poor time management!” Mark replied. There was a laugh from inside the room and as Josh looked past him, he could see Ryan sat on Mark’s bed.
“I shoulda known you’d be here!” Josh said angrily.
Mark grabbed Josh by the front of his shirt, yanked him into the room, closed the door and slammed his little brother against it. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to like that, you little prick!”
Ryan came over, towering over Josh too. “Yeah, apologise you little piece of shit!” he said, raising his fist.
As Josh cowered, Mark turned and raised a hand to ensure Ryan didn’t swing. “Hey, no bruises, remember. They’ll ask questions here!”
“Ugh, fine,” Ryan huffed. Instead he grabbed a handful of Josh’s hair, gave it a painful tug then used it to smack his head back against the door. “Apologise or get another!”
“I’m sorry!” Josh said immediately but didn’t really sound it.
“So whadda you want, killer?” Mark asked he nudged Ryan out of the way.
“That stunt you pulled ended up getting my friends in trouble too. That doesn’t happen again!” Josh insisted.
The two older boys looked at each other for a moment, then laughed. “First of all,” Mark started, “You don’t HAVE friends. Murdering scum like you just has people who don’t know what you are yet! And secondly, what the fuck makes you think you get to make demands?”
“I do have friends!” Josh insisted. “And I could tell people how you two hurt me, but… I won’t… if you make sure to leave the others out of everything. And in return, do what you want to me. Like, anything, I don’t care what. Just… leave them out of it all, okay?”
“So you’ll just… let us do whatever we want, the stuff we KNOW you deserve, the things you normally cry and threaten to tell Mum about and you’ll just keep quiet about it?” Mark asked, intrigued.
Josh nodded.
“You’ve got yourself a deal, killer!” Mark said, grinning wickedly.
*****
NOW
“So… what did they do to you?” Danny asked, unsure he actually wanted to know.
Josh shrugged. “Stuff,” he said evasively.
“Painful stuff?” Danny asked.
Josh nodded silently.
“Sex… stuff?” Danny asked shakily.
Another slow nod. “They were always careful though,” Josh said, sounding almost impressed. “If it was ever with anyone other than them, they made sure I said I was doing it willingly. As far as their mates knew… or know… I just… really like getting fucked! They used to tell their mates I had begged them to let me have sex with them… and then I actually had to beg for it!”
“Josh…” Danny said, unsure what he could say.
“They did worse things. The sex stuff was tough at first, but I got used to it. Some of their friends are actually really nice guys, they always treated me nicely, not like Mark and Ryan. Those two always made sure it hurt, but the others were gentle.”
“That doesn’t make it okay!” Danny said, shaking his head.
Josh shrugged. “Like I said, it’s what I deserved! Ya know, they actually wanted Alex to do more to me until we fucked up their plans!” Josh smiled.
“What did we do?” Danny asked, shaking his head, slightly lost.
“Remember before first half-term, when we set up Alex?” Josh asked.
“Oh, that!” Danny said, nodding. Right before the half-term break, Alex had been enduring one of the school’s naked punishments, acting as a plate clearer in the Dining Hall when the 1.01 boys had pretended he had threatened Josh. Mean and dishonest as it was, it had felt like vindication for the seemingly unprovoked issue earlier in the year.
“Yeah, that… got me into some trouble!” Josh said with a sigh.
*****
Sunday 20 October 2019
“I suppose you think you’re clever, don’t you!” Mark yelled, holding Josh down by his throat. “You and your little friends, setting up Alex like that!”
‘Actually, I think Rob’s clever, it was his idea!’ Josh thought and he actually would have said it were it not for the hand around his throat and the imminent risk of passing out.
“Yes he’s getting punished for it!” Ryan snapped, talking on the phone to Alex. “And you know what, you deserve whatever punishment the school gives you! How could you fall into such an obvious trap, you useless little twat!”
Josh actually felt a little sorry for Alex. He was used to Mark and Ryan’s tempers, but Alex had seemingly been forever on their good side, so this was likely the first time he had witnessed this side of them.
“Do you know how much shit you’ve fucked up by getting yourself in trouble like this?” Ryan yelled down the phone at Alex. “We can’t exactly use you to set up the little prick anymore because all it’ll look like is petty revenge. You had just one order. Stay the fuck away from him until we told you what to do!” He paused a moment. “Shut the fuck up, I don’t wanna hear excuses. You’re a total fucking disappointment. Don’t call again. I’ll see you back at school next week!” As he hung up, he threw his phone across the room angrily.
Josh coughed a little and wheezed as the hand around his throat was loosened. “Everything okay, bro?” he asked with a slight smirk.
Ryan turned and kicked Josh hard in his side. “Shut the fuck up, you murdering little cunt!” he snarled furiously.
Josh curled up into a foetal position, letting out a slight whimper.
“Hey, easy. Broken ribs draw attention!” Mark warned.
“Well do something then! Make him pay for fucking stuff up!” Ryan demanded.
“Relax, it’s all in hand,” Mark said confidently, turning to the desk behind him. He picked up a phone and unplugged the cable from it, then dropped into Josh who grabbed at it. “Thanks to that!”
“Erm… as punishments go, a new phone ain’t exactly the meanest, bro!” Ryan said, confused.
“It’s not punishment, it’s our way of making sure this little shit never steps out of line again!” Mark explained. He squatted down beside Josh, reached for his hip and pulled the strap for his chastity device, knowing it would tighten and tug on his immature cock. Pulling hard enough to make sure it really hurt, he whispered, “You’ll keep that phone turned on and with you at ALL times. With it, we’ll hear everything you say, every conversation, know every person you speak to. You say anything about us or try and plan anything like you pulled with Alex again and we will FUCKING END YOU!” He gave the strap a final tug, holding it for a second before he got up and walked away.
*****
NOW
“So they’ve been listening in on you… on US this whole time?” Danny asked, feeling a little violated.
“Since October, yeah,” Josh nodded. “That was when I really knew they had me. I couldn’t even… tell anyone, cos if I tried, they’d know and they said…” he paused, shaking his head. “They said that if I told anyone, they’d pick someone from the dorm and throw them…” he paused, choking up a little. “Throw them off the roof. They’d make it look like suicide and… I’d be… to blame for… another death! I couldn’t risk that. If… if living with some pain kept you guys alive, then I had no choice!”
“Jesus,” Danny said, holding back tears.
“That was when they started to get a bit more… creative in the stuff they did to me,” Josh said with a sigh. “You ever heard of figging?”
Danny shook his head.
“Yeah, neither had I til they did it to me. They loved it! Let’s just say you’re better off not knowing!” Josh said with a slight shrug. “I also made a slight mistake at Halloween too. I admitted something but forgot they were listening!”
*****
Sunday 3 November 2020
“Where are we going?” Josh asked nervously as he followed Mark, who had a bag slung over his shoulder, Ryan and a very cold-looking naked Alex who was a week into his two-week nudity punishment.
“Somewhere private!” Mark said with a snigger.
“And why’s he here?” Josh asked, gesturing to Alex.
“To learn what happens when you fuck up our plans!” Ryan said coldly.
Alex flinched a little at the comment. It was bad enough that he had spent a week walking round school completely naked, but he had completely lost the respect of his beloved mentor, who made his disappointment known at every possible opportunity.
“I’d say this is far enough!” Mark said, stopping in a small clearing. He looked to Josh and said, “Take your clothes off!”
Josh looked awkwardly at Alex. Being naked in front of his brothers was no big deal. He had been fucked by them, as well as a range of other teens in front of them, so there was no shyness anymore, but he was less used to the thirteen-year-old. The fact he was naked too made it no easier, but he undressed anyway, knowing he would likely be on the receiving end of even more pain if he resisted.
“Okay, now lay down on the floor!” Mark instructed.
The ground was cold, but at least there had been a few dry days, so it wasn’t overly wet as Josh lay down, staring up at the grey sky through the breaks in the canopy of the trees.
“Right. Alex, hold his hands above his head. Don’t let go no matter how much he struggles. Ry, you’re on his legs!” Mark instructed.
“What are you gonna do to him?” Alex asked nervously. He was no fan of the boy. He had hated him for causing Ryan so much pain over the years and the lie he had created before half-term had caused him trouble and humiliation, but even he found the situation before him a little unnerving.
“Well we’re punishing him for doing…” Mark started then waved a finger up and down at Alex’s naked body, “That to you, of course!”
Reluctantly, Alex took hold of Josh’s wrists and held them above his head, kneeling on them to pin them to the ground. Ryan took a similar position at his ankles, leaving him fully exposed, aside from the front plate of the chastity device concealing his undeveloped cock.
Mark opened up his bag and pulled something out. As he stood over Josh, the young boy screamed out frantically, “NO! NO! PLEASE! NOT THAT!” as he saw the plastic container with several spiders inside. Josh had always been afraid of spiders but had always been careful not to let his brothers know. When he mentioned it at the Halloween party, he had completely forgotten they were listening through his bugged phone.
“Are you serious?” Alex asked as Josh whimpered.
“Joshua, if you move or make a noise, I make things worse! Got it?” Mark asked, tilting his little brother’s head with his foot to force eye contact.
“Mmm-huh,” Josh hummed, breathing heavily. He watched in abject terror as Mark opened the container grabbed a spider and leant down. He dropped it onto Josh’s chest and the boy immediately let out a terrified scream. As he bucked wildly, the spider scurried away and disappeared into the leafy ground.
Mark sighed but smiled wickedly. “What did I just say?”
“Mark, please,” Josh begged.
“Isn’t this a bit much?” Alex asked, nervous of the two much larger and intimidating teens.
“Ryan, shut your little failure up, won’t you!” Mark huffed.
“Alex!” Ryan snarled. “Don’t fucking disappoint me again!”
“Okay, Joshua. Same deal. Move or make a noise and it gets worse!” Mark threatened. “A LOT worse,” he added with a furious growl. He grabbed out another spider and leaned down, this time moving his cupped hands towards Josh’s face.
Josh was already pale, but what little bit of colour was left in him faded away completely. He kept his lips tightly pursed together and closed his eyes as he felt the hands open and the spider make contact with his face. Immediately, he shook his head then once it was gone screamed out and burst into tears. “Please, no more, I’m sorry!”
Mark shook his head. “So disappointing!” he said as he looked to Ryan, who sniggered.
“Well, only one thing left now!” Mark said. As he knelt beside Josh he ordered, “Open wide!”
Josh went absolutely insane, struggling to get free and screaming out. Suddenly his wrists were free as Alex moved off of them.
“No!” Alex snapped furiously, knowing what they intended to do. He grabbed the container from Mark and tossed it away. “That’s too much. He’s suffered enough!”
Mark grabbed Alex by the neck and pressed him down onto the ground. “He has NEVER suffered enough!” he snarled furiously. He took a few deep breaths and saw Ryan giving him a look, then let go and stood up. “Sorry, you’re right. We took this too far!” He offered a hand to Alex, helping him up. “I’m glad you were here to reign us in, we’d never REALLY want to hurt Joshua!”
Alex looked shaken but seemed to accept that it was simply a stunt that had been taken too far. Josh just lay on the ground, crying.
*****
NOW
“After that, they really turned on Alex,” Josh explained, sounding sympathetic. “It was horrible. He worshipped Ryan, and suddenly he’s just… shouting at him all the time. It’s like… they hated me so much that they kinda started to lose it a bit. But at least it kinda made Alex start seeing them for what they were I suppose.”
Danny thought back over the things Josh had done and frowned. “Wait, so… shit, was it them that made you turn us in for accessing the school network?” he asked, suddenly feeling guilty for how he had tried to turn the whole dorm against Josh for dobbing them in over David and Rob’s illegal hacking of the school’s secure systems.
Josh recoiled a little at the question, gently grabbing at his formerly-broken wrist with his other hand as he shook his head. “No, that was… all me!” As Danny looked at him, confused, he explained, “They knew what we’d done, you know, from listening in, but they knew we hadn’t actually accessed anything so they decided to wait until we did and then REALLY drop us all in it. By then, they’d kinda decided that if you guys couldn’t see me for the killer I was, then you all had to go too! After a while, they got sick of waiting for us to look at stuff we shouldn’t so they were gonna do it and make it look like us.”
“So you snitched on us to stop them from making it worse?” Danny asked. It was nauseating to imagine Josh in that position, forced to hurt his friends to save them from something worse.
Josh nodded. “It was stupid, I know, but it was the only way I could think to screw up their plans without… telling anyone and putting you guys at risk!”
“It’s not stupid Josh, it’s… I dunno. You went through all of that and still worried about us lot first!” Danny said in pure amazement. “So I’m guessing they didn’t take that well?” As he looked at Josh and realised he was still rubbing his arm it dawned on him. “No!” he said, shaking his head.
Josh just nodded.
*****
Saturday 21 December 2019
“See ya, fellas!” Mark called out as his mates dispersed. He looked round at his two younger brothers. Both were just as wet and muddy as he was.
It had been quite an enjoyable morning of rugby. Josh had almost felt like a normal kid, hanging out with his brothers and mates, but as the others began to disappear and he was left with just Mark and Ryan, the sense of foreboding grew.
“Oh no,” Mark said, looking concerned. “That tackle just went SO horribly wrong!”
“What tackle?” Josh asked nervously, looking around. All of the other players were gone.
“Don’t worry, I’m just practicing,” Mark said with a snigger. He looked to Ryan. “Put his arm on the ground!”
“What?” Josh asked, backing away but too slowly to evade Ryan’s grasp.
Ryan picked Josh up and slammed him down onto the ground, winding him, then lay on top of him to keep him in place as he held the boy’s arm out over the concrete.
“No, please, don’t!” Josh begged, crying already.
“What happened to letting us do whatever we want?” Mark asked. “Or are you going back on that? Because if you are, we now know every one of your little friends and exactly how to hurt them! Just give us an excuse, killer!”
Josh whimpered, but nodded, clenching his eyes tightly closed. He didn’t scream out as he felt the boot land on his arm, even as he felt something break. He just cried quietly into the ground as Ryan climbed off of him.
“You ever fuck up one of our plans again and next time it’ll be your fucking neck!” Mark snarled. “Oh well, at least the others know what you did. Maybe now they’ll finally hate you as much as you deserve!”
*****
NOW
Danny couldn’t speak, he felt like he was going to throw up.
“I was almost ready to give up after that. That was when I started thinking about coming up here, that if I ended things myself, then the pain’d stop and you guys wouldn’t be at risk anymore.” Josh explained.
“Josh, that was… like… two months. You’ve felt like this… for that long?” Danny asked, barely holding himself together.
Josh nodded. “I probably would have done it by now if not for Alex!” he explained.
“Wait, so… you and Alex… it’s real?” Danny asked. He had been as shocked by the sudden relationship as everyone else had been, especially Rob.
“Erm… no, kinda… maybe…” Josh mumbled. “It’s… complicated!”
*****
Saturday 11 January 2020
Mark walked straight into Ryan’s dorm. He never knocked, he didn’t need to, he could go where he liked. “What?” he demanded, having been summoned by a text message. “Ugh, coulda told me killer was here,” he spat, seeing Josh. Then his eyes fell on Alex as he added, “And what does this fucking loser want?”
“He wants to make things up to us!” Ryan said happily. “He had an idea and I fucking love it!”
Mark rolled his eyes. “Fine, let’s hear it!” he huffed, visibly doubtful.
Alex smiled as he said, “So you guys want lil Joshie here to suffer, but you don’t want people getting suspicious from seeing you around him too much, so I thought what you need is an inside man!”
Mark looked over at Ryan who was grinning, then back to Alex as his eyes narrowed.
“Well how about if Josh’s new boyfriend was working for you!” Alex grinned, throwing an arm around a very unhappy-looking Josh. “You just tell me how you want him to suffer, then I’ll do it and report it back to you.”
“Oh!” Mark grinned excitedly. “Now that sounds like a fucking good idea. You get to make his life miserable, even when we’re not around. Fucking love it!”
“Yup, and it leaves you free to exams and school and stuff, without worrying about Josh here!” Alex said with a grin.
“Told you it was a good idea!” Ryan said excitedly, looking proud of Alex once again.
A few minutes later, Alex and Josh headed back down to the first floor as Alex spoke continuously about the ways he was going to hurt the younger boy. Once they got seated in the Common Room, he pulled out his phone and typed out [How did I do?]
Josh started typing with his none-broken arm and wrote back, [Amazing! I almost buleev ur gonna hurt me]
[Ha, no chance, I’m not letting them hurt you again!] Alex wrote, then looked at Josh’s cast.
[That wasnt them!] Josh lied.
[I wish you’d let me tell someone. You shouldn’t live in fear of your own brothers!] Alex insisted.
[Its fine now I have u 2 help. I’ll be fine!] Josh replied. As he leaned gently against Alex, smiling, he held up his phone and said, “Ow, that hurts, I’m sorry!” knowing the others would be listening.
*****
NOW
“Wow,” Danny said in surprise. He had felt bad about what he had said about Josh so he could only imagine how guilty Rob would feel when he found out the truth about Alex. He had called him a few things Danny had actually needed to google to fully understand!
“I thought… things might be okay then,” Josh went on. “Having Alex on my side really helped, but… Mark and Ryan… really started to lose it when Rob convinced everyone I hadn’t turned you all in! They didn’t get why they hadn’t broken me. They had no idea about Alex, they just thought I was getting by because I’d still got friends in the dorm, so they decided… that had to end! They just said to me one day ‘You don’t get to have friends anymore!’ and they started planning.”
“The… the stuff you said, before half-term. Fuck!” Danny realised.
“Yeah. They’d been listening to us all for months, spying on us all, looking for… I dunno, weaknesses, things they could use. I think they were starting to hate all of you as much as they did me, so they…” Josh paused. “They NEEDED my friendships to end. They needed me on my own so they could break me, so they planned all that stuff for me to say and…” he paused, looking shakily at the other boy. “Danny… the… the things they said they’d do to you all if I didn’t do it… it was… insane! I was so scared!”
Danny was so far beyond words now; all he could do was shake his head.
“But this time, it wasn’t me that fucked up their plans, it was Rob!” Josh said with a sigh.
*****
Saturday 15 February 2020
The three Williams brothers were sat in Mark’s bedroom. They had decided to ‘check’ that Josh had done as he was told, though mostly they just wanted to play the recording back in front of him, to see his pain as he heard himself lose his friends.
“I don’t like you and I have never liked you. We are NOT friends now and we never will be!” the recording of Josh said, finishing up a verbal assault that had the two elder siblings in absolute hysterics as they watched Josh sob quietly beside them. “See ya fellas. Have a GREAT break!” the recording of Josh finished.
“That was fucking perfect!” Mark declared.
Ryan went to agree. “Yeah, you’re…”
“Shut up, I missed that!” Mark suddenly declared; eyes wide. He skipped the recording back a few seconds and hit play again.
It was Rob, who had grabbed Josh after he left and said, “Josh, I don’t know what that was, but we’re still your friends, no matter what!”
Mark stopped the recording and looked angrier than Josh had ever seen him. “FUCK!” he yelled furiously. He grabbed Josh by the front of his t-shirt, lifting him like a rag doll and screamed in his face, “WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET THESE LITTLE CUNTS TO SEE YOU FOR THE PIECE OF SHIT YOU ARE?!”
“Mark, chill!” Ryan urged. Normally he was the more hot-tempered of the two, so for him to be the one asking for calm it had to be bad.
“FUCK!” Mark screamed again, throwing Josh across the room with a loud clatter, knocking things from his desk. He stormed around, kicking things around, coming close to kicking Josh too. “FUCK! Right, that’s it!” he said, moving over to where Josh had landed. He had scurried back to cower in a corner. “You! Figure something out! Do whatever it fucking takes to make every one of them HATE you. You don’t deserve friends, you’re a murderous piece of shit and you deserve nothing but misery for killing Dad, so when we get back, you have ONE week. Anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who’s still even thinking about ever talking to you again is getting thrown from the fucking roof!”
*****
NOW
“D’you get it now?” Josh asked, a look of acceptance spread across his face. “This is the only way. I could probably convince most of the others to never speak to me again, but… not Rob, probably not you either, or Chris, or… actually, that’s the problem. It’s all of you really. You’ll never stop being my friends and it’ll get you all killed, so the only way is to end it all!” He looked back over the edge of the building. “And that’s why I have to go!” He sniffed back tears.
“Josh, you can’t!” Danny pleaded, tears streaming silently down his cheeks.
“I got lucky, with this whole lockdown thing,” Josh said with a tearful smile. “I got to spend two weeks with my best friend. I wish I could have been with you all but… things are what they are, but this was nice. It gave me two more weeks than I thought I’d have!”
“Josh, please don’t do this, we can figure something out!” Danny begged shakily.
“I have to. There’s no other way!” Josh said, so hurt, so distraught that the only way he could see out… was down!
“We can… we can report what they’ve done to you!” Danny insisted, looking hopeful.
“Like I never tried that!” Josh said angrily. “But two against one, and everyone thinks they’re so lovely and nice while they think I’m just some… lying troublemaker! They’d never believe me, not over them! They won’t listen! And by the time they do, whom knows which if you they’ll have hurt!
Danny stared over at the other boy. He had been trying to think of any way out of this, or rather, any way that didn’t end up with Josh smeared over the front steps of the school. Then it hit him. He wiped his cheeks, though the tears were still flowing as he said confidently, “Fuck. Josh, what if you could prove it?”
Josh frowned. “How?” he asked, convinced Danny was just stalling.
“When they did any of those things you told me about, or any time they… they hurt you… did you have your phone with you?”
“Yeah, why?” Josh asked, confused.
“Because if any of it was recorded, even a single time, there’s your evidence! Everything you need to prove what they’re doing to you!” Danny said, standing up excitedly.
“No… that… it won’t…” Josh mumbled, trying to find fault with it, but it had potential. “Wait… so… it could all stop?” he asked, staring at Danny in absolute disbelief.
Danny began moving closer again as he nodded. “Yeah, we can make it so they never hurt you again!” he promised, still walking slowly. “We can make sure all of us are safe, including you!” He was now just a few feet away from the other boy. “Please Josh, we can’t lose you!” He held out his hand, doing his best to stop bursting into heavy sobs.
Josh looked back over the edge again, then back to the tearful boy in front of him. “It could all stop!” he said weakly!” Reaching out, trembling, he took Danny’s hand.
Danny pulled hard, like Josh’s life literally depended on it. As Josh flew towards him and they tumbled to the ground, he wrapped himself completely around him.
Suddenly, there were loud footsteps from behind. As Danny peered round, he saw Mr Everett, Dr Arkwright and Mr Trent running towards them.
“I’ve got him!” Danny said as he looked to the approaching adults, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I’ve got him! I’ve got him!” he kept repeating, over and over as he held on tightly.