
The Nature of Man

By Kenn Ghannon



The Rules

I thought, before we got to the actual reading of this story that we should
set down a couple of ground rules:

1) This story involves frank and explicit descriptions of sex.  If it is
immoral or illegal in your area to read about topics of this nature, please
quit reading here.  If you don't want to read about topics of this nature,
please quit reading here.  (I don't, by the way, agree with the legal
aspects of this.  I believe that the United States, as a society, has gone
too far in putting the onus of maturity on a rather arbitrary physical age.
I've known 13 year olds who were far more mature than some 40 year olds.  Of
course, this may be the exception to the rule, but still.)

2) If you are looking for a story where everyone is always happy all of the
time, please find another story.  If you are looking for a story where
everyone is always sad all of the time, please find another story.  Reality
is somewhere in-between these two extremes and I try to write as near to
reality as an erotic fantasy can get.  Do I succeed?  Only you can tell me.

3) If you are looking for a story that absolutely revolves around sex, sex,
and more sex, please find another story.  I *WON'T* write one of those.
There is sex here, but only as a function of the story.

4) Everything you read here is fiction.  It never happened, so I am
definitely not writing about YOU.  J

If you've read this far, I hope you enjoy this.



Dedicated with respect to Frank Downey.



Chapter 8



Eric sat in the back row of his algebra class, quietly daydreaming out the
window.  His daydreams really were nothing new.  They often came to him in
vivid colors, taking him away from the boring intricacies of his own life.
Often, they saved him from the pain, anger or, as was the case right now,
simple boredom.



In his daydreams he was often some great hero, quietly saving the world from
one disaster or another.  The role of a hero encompassed so many things.
Sometimes he was a scientist, discovering the cure for some incurably
rampant disease or designing a special rocket that would save the earth from
the impending doom of a colliding meteor.  Sometimes, he was a secret agent
saving the world from the tyranny of a god-less megalomaniac.  Once in a
while, though, he was simply a great lover who carried the girl away into
the setting sun.



Lately the role of the lover was more and more prevalent in his
daydreams...and Shawn was almost always the damsel in distress.



It wasn't that he had THOSE kinds of daydreams, of course.  Oh, he knew
about sex in a clinical way and he had even managed to find out all kinds of
things from reading at the school library.  His last school hadn't had much
on sexuality, but this school had tons of stuff.  Much of it from the
standpoint of maintaining celibacy, but he had read a few anatomy books and
such.  So, he wasn't necessarily naïve when it came to sex, but he was most
definitely inexperienced.  Without actually having engaged in the act, of
course, he couldn't very well daydream about it.



It always came back to Shawn, however.  He simply couldn't get her out of
his mind.  It had been a week since Christina had given him Shawn's number
and it had burned itself into his memory with a singular purpose.  He couldn
't count the times he had reached to pick up the phone.but always his fear
and insecurities held him back.



So instead of taking the simple chance, he had reverted to his dream world
where life was safe and he always got what he wanted.



The bell rang signaling the end of class and jarring Eric back from his
world into reality.  It was a hard trip, he had just been getting ready to
kiss Shawn in that great lovers kiss that would seal them to each other for
all eternity.  Eric wasn't all too sure the trip was worth it.



His next period was lunch, but Eric wasn't particularly hungry.  No matter
what he did, Shawn wasn't going away - she wouldn't get out of his head.  He
had never had this much trouble before.  Sure, he had often had romantic
daydreams but it was different with Shawn.  With a dawning comprehension, he
realized that his daydream world wasn't going to satisfy him any more.  He
felt a pang of fear at that and one of loss, but curiously he mostly felt
relief.



How had Shawn come to be such a need for him, he wondered and not for the
first time.  He barely knew her, he had only really seen her a handful of
times.  Sure, the charged atmosphere of the night at the drive-in was
different, but it shouldn't have had this much effect, should it?



Eric was so lost in thought that he almost ran into someone coming from the
other direction.  He stopped as quickly as he could and just managed not to
bounce off the person.  He raised his eyes to mumble an apology and stopped
with his mouth half opened.



"Hey, Eric," Shawn smiled brightly.  Admittedly, the smile was a bit forced.
Christina had told her she had given Eric her number, but Eric hadn't
called.  In the days that followed, she had often lain awake at night and
wondered why.  Maybe he just didn't like her.  Maybe he liked someone else
more.  Maybe...and there had been many maybes.  She had felt a little pain,
then, in her heart.  She hadn't quite understood it.  She barely knew Eric,
but there was something about him.  She really liked him...and it hurt that he
didn't feel the same way.



Today, she had seen him walking down the hall, his eyes on the floor, lost
in thought.  Almost without thinking she had moved to intercept him.  The
maybes had to end...she needed to know once and for all.



What she saw in his eyes was all she had hoped for and more.  He looked at
her with his pale blue eyes, and she saw the glimmer of something there.
Something that said to her that he wasn't as immune to her charms as she had
thought.



"I...I'm sorry, Shawn," Eric said.  His tongue didn't want to cooperate with
him, and his throat went dry.  How was he supposed to ask her out if he
couldn't even say hi to her without fumbling it?



"Listen," Shawn began slowly then rushed head long into the conversation
before she could lose her nerve, "there's a new movie playing down at the
theatre.  You know, that one with Chris Armstrong?  It's supposed to be
really funny and I was going to go tomorrow night and I was wondering if you
'd like to, you know, come with me?"



There she had managed to get it all out without stumbling all over herself
doing it.  Her heart skipped a beat as she waited for his reply, hoping
against hope that he'd say yes.



"Well," Eric began.  His tongue still wasn't completely under his control
and his heart beat a mile a minute.  "I'd really, really like that.  Can I
pick you up at 6?"  There, he'd said it and he couldn't take it back.  Even
if this turned out to be a cruel joke, at least he'd had the nerve to agree
to it.  Then, he thought of something and quickly amended.  "I mean, can I
have my uncle drive us?"



Shawn's smile rivaled the sun for its brilliance.  HE HAD SAID YES!  She was
so happy, she almost didn't hear his last words.  "That'd be great!  Get my
address from Christina, okay?  I've got to go.I'm going to be late for
Latin."  But before she left, she kissed him on the cheek, blushed a deep
purple, and then walked away to class.





The problem had started as soon as he asked his Uncle to drive him on his
date.



"I'd really like to, Eric, but I can't.  Aunt Jean and I are taking Gwen to
Davis to pick up some school stuff for her.  It's a big trip that your Aunt'
s been planning and *I* don't want to be the one to back out on it, okay?"



GWEN!  How could he have forgotten about Gwen when he agreed to this date?
Gwen, obviously had to come first.  He'd have to call Shawn and see if she
wouldn't mind postponing the date!



"I should probably come with you guys to help you with Gwen.  Shawn and I
can go out..." he started, but a tiny voice jumped in before he could finish.



"YOU WILL NOT!"  Gwen had walked into the room while the conversation had
been going on and decided it was time to put her foot down.  "You listen to
me, big brother.  I'm okay.  It's time you got out and had some fun."



Eric just looked at his little sister.  Her blonde hair was radiant as the
late-afternoon sun struck it through a window.  Her eyes were the same
glorious blue he remembered, but where fear had once been a dark shadow all
around them, now it just twinkled dully from the corners.  She was slight,
like a beautiful little elf that had been forgotten when the others had
left.  As a matter of fact, that was one of his pet names for her...his little
Gwen fairy from another world.  He remembered making up stories about her
travels to the land of the little people when she was just 5 years old.



Now though, she stood defiantly and waited.



"Gwen," Eric started, but Gwen was having none of it.



"No.  There's no GWE-en, there's no nothing."  She walked slowly, carefully
measuring her strides so as not to over-tire herself.  "Look, Eric.  I'm
fine.  If you keep doing things for me, I'll never get better.



"Now, I want you to go on this date and tell me all about it when you get
back."  A mirthful twinkle twirled in her eye as her lips turned up
mischievously.  "After all, I want to have some idea as to what to expect on
MY first date!"



Eric looked at her and laughed.  He bent down and hugged her, almost lifting
her in the process.  "I love you, my little Gwen fairy."





That was how it happened that Eric and Shawn ended up double-dating for the
second time with Christina and Evan.  The ride to dinner was nearly silent
as each person was huddled into their own thoughts.



Christina was just happy to be going out, though she knew that sex of any
kind was out of the question.  Oh, Eric had agreed to 'watch her back' but
she didn't feel comfortable putting that to the test this soon.  It would be
far better to let Eric ease into his role as her scout rather than push him
into it.  As she thought about it, she was actually kind of glad to have the
pressure of sex off of her for a change.  For some reason, she really wasn't
particularly in the mood for it right now.



Evan was thinking along the same lines, but for different reasons.  While
any kind of sex with Christina was great, he'd rather have her undivided
attention this time.  He just wasn't into the whole 'show the world'
business.  A nice quiet corner with Christina all to himself was just what
he needed.



For the first time in his life, Eric had taken the initiative when it came
to a girl.  Almost as soon as she had gotten into the car, he had taken
Shawn's hand.  It felt somehow comforting to feel her hand inside of his,
with their fingers locked together.  Without event thinking about it, he
rubbed his thumb across her index finger.  Shawn smiled at him and moved
closer, until she could lay her head upon his shoulder.  She lay contented,
her eyes closed feeling so right with him next to her, touching her.  She
didn't care any more about thinking.  She was happy just to be in the
moment.





Dinner was good, and the movie was great.  Eric had found more courage
within himself and had made his 'big move' which entailed putting his arm
around Shawn during one of the serious pieces to the show.  There weren't
many.  The movie constantly had them in stitches...but Shawn's head never left
Eric's shoulder.  Fortunately, neither of them could watch Evan and
Christina sitting behind them.



Evan had decided to use the darkness of the theatre to make some moves of
his own.  Christina had worn a short skirt out on the date and almost as
soon as the theatre darkened, Evan put his hand on Christina's bare knee.
Slowly, as the movie rolled along, he had begun moving his hand up her
thigh.



Christina, though, wasn't in the mood.  Being felt up and even fucked in
front of her friends (and her relative, she amended) was one thing, but she
didn't intend on a repeat performance with the strangers seated around them.
Every time Evan moved his hand up her leg, she pushed it back down to her
knee.  After one too many such attempts, though, she had nearly thrown his
hand back into his own lap.



Evan wasn't amused and he didn't let up on his attack.  All through the
movie, he kept up his assault on Christina's leg and Christina kept trying
to push his hand off.  Finally, a little exasperated, she had twisted his
thumb back painfully causing him to retract it.



Evan wasn't the slightest bit happy.  How dare the little cock tease do
something like that!  He knew she wanted him, so why was she all of the
sudden playing hard to get?





If Eric and Shawn hadn't been so thoroughly engrossed in each other, they
might have noticed the frost that had grown between Evan and Christina.  As
it was, they were oblivious.  They only had eyes for each other.  It was as
if some strange magnetic force had pulled them together, and now neither of
them wanted to let go.



As Evan pulled up to Shawn's house, Eric got out to walk her to the door.
"Hey, Eric?" Evan called as Eric closed the door.  "Why don't you walk
 home?"



 "I don't think that's a good idea," Christina began.  "It's dark out.  We
should drive him home."



"He'll be fine." Evan said to her, and the car spun off.



Eric just sighed and walked Shawn to the brightly lit door.



"I had a great time," he began nervously.  "It was really fun, you know?"



Shawn just laughed.  "Oh, shut up and come her."  She pulled him into her
arms and pulled his face down to hers.



The kiss seemed to last forever, and it was far too short.  Eric found all
thought fading from his mind as his sole focus of concentration became the
soft lips that were attached to his own.  Her tongue darted into his mouth,
and the touch of their two tongues was like a surge of adrenalin straight to
their hearts.  For the barest of moments, their hearts thudded as one, each
one beating as fast the other.  The feel of his chest on her breasts, his
arm around her waist as the free hand cupped her chin.  It was perfect and
beautiful and both of them wished that it could last forever.



Shawn felt her knees begin to buckle and she would have fallen if Eric hadn'
t been holding her.  As it was, it threw them both off balance and they
stumbled, their lips still locked and fell into the door.  The loud bang
startled them and they separated guiltily.



"Wow," Eric whispered.  His eyes couldn't look away from hers and his hands
gripped her arms.  Neither of them wanted to let go.



"Yea.  Wow." Was all Christina could think to say.  She took a step closer,
eager to feel his lips upon her own again when the door opened behind her.
'SHIT' she thought to herself angrily.  She wasn't ready to leave him.



"Shawn?" her father asked, a little worriedly.



"I'm okay dad.  This is Eric Wagner, the guy I was telling you about."



Eric stepped forward, grudgingly letting go of Shawn's arms to clasp hands
with her father.  "Very pleased to meet you, sir."



Her father looked slightly amused.  "Well, at least he has good manners.  It
's a pleasure to meet you too, Eric."



"I should be going," Eric stammered.  He was very aware of the blush
crawling down his face.  He turned to Shawn.  "May I call you tomorrow?"



"Only if you have to wait that long," Shawn smiled impishly.



"Oh, he does," her father remarked, but his face was creased in a smile.



"Good night, Shawn...Mr. Winters."  Eric began backing away.  He couldn't take
his eyes off Shawn.



Shawn and her father both said goodnight as John Winters steered his little
girl in the door.





Eric was still in a daze as he entered his room.  It hadn't been but a mile
walk to his house, but he had taken it slowly with a huge grin on his face.
He couldn't help but smile, and laugh and generally act foolish all the way
home.  He had had another date with the girl of his dreams and it had been
absolutely perfect.  It took him nearly an hour and a half to make the mile
long journey.



A dull ache in his groin indicated that the soda he had consumed at the
movies was requesting exit, so he almost skipped the short distance to the
bathroom.  As he was entering, he heard the sound of someone crying.
Curious, he walked past the bathroom.  The sound was coming from Christina's
room.



He waited a minute, then heard the sobbing again.  He thought for a minute,
then knocked on the door.



"Christina?  It's Eric.  Can I come in?"



"Just go away, Eric," her voice was raspy and wan, a sick sound that he had
heard before many times coming from him, his sister, and his mom.  He turned
to walk away, but something stopped him.  He couldn't put his finger on it
and later he would never be able to explain why he had done it, but he
turned and opened the door.



Christina was standing naked, examining her left side.  Embarrassed, Eric
turned to close the door...until he saw the bruises.  Christina's left side
was one big bruise.  Near her shoulder on the left arm was a big bruise in
the shape of a man's hand.  Her face was a mess, though much of it may have
been her makeup there was a rather large lump and some blood.



"ERIC!" Christina cried, but her heart wasn't in it.  She collapsed onto her
knees and great sobs wracked her body.



Eric rushed to her side.  He didn't grab her for fear of hurting her, but
she turned to him and grabbed him and held him, her face buried in his
shoulder as her body shook and trembled.  Slowly, he reached his arms around
her and brushed her hair with his hands.



They stayed that way for a little while until most of the sobs had quieted
down.  He just held her and comforted her as best as he could, trying hard
to avoid the bruises.



"Evan did this to you?"



He felt rather than watched her shake her head.  A fury rose in him then, an
anger that burnt hotter than anything he could remember feeling.
Desperately, he pushed it down.  Later, there would be time for the anger.
Right now, his cousin needed him.



"You have to go to the police, Chris."



"No.  No, I won't."



"They'll take care of this.  You have to."



"Eric.  No.  I don't want to.  I just...I want to be left alone."  Her words
were slurred in her grief, like she just didn't have the heart to talk
anymore.



He lifted her easily, not even thinking about it as he did it and she didn't
resist.  He carried her carefully into the bathroom and set her on the
carpet.  She clung to him, not letting go, so he had a hard time turning the
water on in the tub and setting it to the right temperature, but he did it
without reproach.  When the tub filled, he put her in it but she didn't say
a word, and he almost had to disentangle her arms from around him.
Christina looked gratefully at him, and he almost cried when he saw the
bruise on her face and the swollen lip.



He started by washing and rinsing her hair, and she was content to let him.
Gently, he washed her face taking the blood and makeup away to reveal the
large bruise underneath.  He washed her shoulders and neck, but stopped when
it was time to go further.  He lifted her hand and put the soap into it.



Christina looked at him, pleading in her eyes.  She placed the soap back and
pulled his hand to her breast and used his hand to rub the soap in.  She
moved his hand to her stomach and washed.  Then she moved lower.  It was
then that Eric balked and started to jerk his hand away.  Christina held
fast.



"Please, Eric.  Please," she pleaded with him, tears filling her eyes.
"Please...just...clean me.  I don't want to feel dirty any more.  I don't want
to feel...him...any more.  Just wash him away, please?  This isn't about sex,
there's nothing sexual about this.  I just need him washed away and I can't
do it...just wash me, please?"



His breath caught in his throat, but he pushed his hand between her legs and
applied the soap to the sparse growth there.  He was crying as he felt his
hand work the soap against the lips of her vagina and further down to her
anal opening, being careful to be gentle and mindful of her pain.  It wasn't
tears of pain as tears of loss.  His cousin had been hurt, and she was
right.  This wasn't a sexual thing as much as a purification.  He understood
that she needed someone to absolve her of this blame and that the washing
was just an instrument of that absolution.  He knew that she wouldn't listen
to his words if he told her that she wasn't to blame, that she couldn't
possibly be to blame for this beating.  Somehow, this was the correct way to
do this.  So he washed her sex and then he continued down her legs.



When he was done, he sat back.  Christina just lay still, her eyes closed.
She still shuddered a little, but she looked like the worst of her grief was
past.  He opened the stopper on the tub and let the water drain.  Carefully,
he lifted her no longer caring whether he got wet or not.  She never opened
her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his
shoulder.  He had to sit on the closed toilet to dry her when he realized
that he still had to pee...and very, very badly.



"Chris?  Can you stand up for a minute?" he asked, but Chris never answered
and her arms never loosened from clutching him.  So, he lifted her slightly
and undid his pants quietly and pulled them down.  Opening the lid, he sat
back down and aimed into the commode.



"Are you peeing?" Chris whispered in his ear.  There was a sound like a
gentle laugh in her voice.



"I'm sorry.  I couldn't hold it any more.  That's where I was going when I
heard you..." his voice trailed off.



"It's okay," she whispered.  When he was done, he lifted his pants back up
and somehow managed to button them.



He lifted her back up and flushed, then carried her to her room.  The
clothes she had been wearing were lying in a crumpled heap on her bed, and
he could tell that some of them were ripped.  He grabbed them and tossed
them towards her hamper, then pulled the covers back.  Slowly, he placed her
in her bed.



"Don't leave me?" She questioned, her arms leaving his neck.  She never
opened her eyes.



"I'll sit right here until you go to sleep," Eric promised as he sat on the
floor by her bed.  She smiled and rolled onto her side, facing the window
next to her bed.  Eric didn't have to wait long to hear her breathing fade
to a soft snore, interspersed with a whimper.  He stood up to go and took
one more look down at her.  Even hurt like this, she was beautiful.  Another
sister to protect, he thought ruefully...and then realized that he meant it.
Christina, for all her faults, was his sister now.  His promise to his
mother resounded through his head.



He bent down and kissed her forehead, then walked out turning off the light
behind him.





How she did it, Eric couldn't begin to fathom, but Christina managed to hide
Friday night's events from her parents that weekend.  She spent nearly the
entire weekend in her room feigning sickness, but when she and Eric did meet
in the halls she gave him a warm smile.  When Monday came, she stayed at
home sick again.



Eric managed to get through his classes Monday, but he knew that something
was bothering him.  Shawn could see it to.  They spent as much time as they
could together in the halls between classes but Shawn could see that he was
clearly distracted.  She asked him about it, but he had just smiled and
kissed her on the cheek and told her not to worry about it.  Still, she did.
She could tell that nothing had changed between them...they still felt the
same way towards each other, but Eric's mind was wandering somewhere.



They met after school and were walking hand in hand towards home, when they
passed the football field.



Evan Thyme was a defensive lineman and one of the best in the state.  He was
as big as a house and built very solid.  Him and a few of his football
buddies were hanging out on the field when Eric and Shawn passed them.



Eric only heard a snippet of conversation from Evan, but it was enough.
Something to the effect "then the bitch squealed and I plugged her."



Everything in Eric's world turned red.  Something inside him broke right
then, though what it was he couldn't really understand nor explain.  A fury
filled him, the same fury that had been building since Friday night.  Shawn
couldn't understand why he turned and walked through the gate onto the
football field, but she followed him.



He didn't try to hide, he didn't try to sneak up.  He didn't even walk.  He
stalked onto the field, a rage welling within him.  Evan saw him coming and
was a little amused.  He laughed at Eric as he walked up, "Hey, Er...how's
your hot-to-trot cousin?"  Evan's two friends laughed at the joke.



Eric swung as soon as he reached Evan and caught him square on the jaw.  For
a split second, Evan had the audacity to look shocked as he fell like some
great tree.



It didn't take more than a second for Evan's buddies to come to his aid,
each of them took an arm and hauled Eric back before he could jump onto
Evan.



"Now you're going to get it you pussy," Evan yelled, and started slamming
his fists into Eric's body.



"Stop," Shawn screamed.  Evan paused in his pummeling and turned.



"Ooo.  Hold the pussy, fellas, I'm going to take care of this little bitch
right now."  He grabbed Shawn and started pulling her under the football
stands.  Evan's buddies began to laugh.



Eric barely felt the pain.  He had lived with pain his entire life, compared
to that this little beating was nothing.  However, his head jerked up as he
heard Shawn screaming.



As he watched, helplessly, as Evan dragged Shawn kicking and screaming under
the stands, his rage returned a thousand fold.  Anger, like white hot
pokers, seared across his brain.  He trembled as the full fury of his wrath
crested over him.



As he jerked his arm out of Dave Busch's hand, the pain in his side told him
that at least one of his ribs were broken.  He brought his leg up and
stomped down as hard as he could at Ryan O'Keefe's knee.  The satisfied
crunching would have been enough to tell him that he had done some serious
damage, but Ryan's hands letting go of him to clutch at his leg was an added
bonus.  He turned on Dave as Dave turned toward him and didn't hesitate to
swing a right to Dave's nose.  There was a sharp pain in his knuckle
accompanied by a pain in his side, but he ignored them both and immediately
followed with his left at the bloody remains of Dave's nose.  He turned, not
even bothering to watch as Dave fell to the ground writhing in pain.  Ryan
lay on his side, clutching his knee.  Eric kicked him hard to the face as he
stalked past.  Ryan stopped moving.



With a look of grim determination, he walked under the football stands.



Shawn was fighting Evan's advances, but he had managed to rip her shirt and
bra off.  Eric grabbed him with both hands around the neck and heaved,
throwing Evan off of Shawn.  He could feel and hear things popping in his
side and the pain in his side grew to a painful ache.  Once again he ignored
it.



"Fine, you little dick, now you're really going to get it." And Evan caught
Eric a blow to the nose that left a sharp shooting through his head.  Eric
fell then, trying desperately to catch himself before he sank into
unconsciousness.  Evan walked forward, an evil grin splitting his face.



All Eric wanted to do was sink into oblivion.  Two things stopped him.
First, he knew if he did he was dead.  Evan would finish him.  Second, Shawn
would be next on Evan's list.  As Evan began to stoop to finish the job,
Eric did the only thing he could.  He kicked as hard as he could at Evan's
groin.



The kick wasn't very powerful; Eric didn't have a whole lot left in him and
he was off balance.  Still, it did the job.  Eric's face lit up in surprise
and pain, and he fell back clutching himself.



Eric crawled to his knees.  He coughed and was surprised to see blood
spraying out of his mouth.  He blinked the watery fluid out of his eyes,
trying desperately to focus, but he was only partially successful.  He crawl
ed over to Evan, grabbed him around the neck, and dragged him out from under
the stands.



By this time, Eric was fading in and out of consciousness, but he wouldn't
let himself fall into the dark abyss.  When he was sure that he had dragged
Evan far enough away from the stands to give Shawn a chance to escape, he
straddled Eric and started swinging to the face.  He had nothing left and
every swing brought shards of new pain from each of his sides, but he didn't
stop.  Not until someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him off his
unconscious foe.  He didn't even have enough strength to struggle his unseen
attacker, and he knew that if it was one of Evan's friends he was done for
sure.



As he looked up, though, he saw a blue uniform with a flash of silver.  A
police officer.  He struggled to sit up.



"No, you just lay back down for now, slugger.  There's a couple of
ambulances coming."



Then Shawn was with him and she was crying. She tried to grab him but the
officers pulled her away.



"Miss, you have to stay away from him.  He's hurt really bad.  Just settle
down."



"Shawn," Eric called, and he was surprised when only a whisper escaped his
lips.  "You...okay?"



Shawn stood there, her shirt and bra around her waist, her mind hysterical
and tears coursing down her face.  She couldn't believe it.  He was lying
there, beaten beyond anything she had ever seen.  Blood streaming from his
nose and mouth and spraying when he coughed - which was often - and he was
worried about HER.



"I'm fine, my love," she called through her tears.  But she couldn't tell if
he heard her as he lay unmoving.





Eric was drowning in darkness.  He felt pain everywhere, pain like he hadn't
felt in a long time.  He heard snippets of conversation around him.  Things
like "seven broken ribs" and "perforated lung".  Things like "broken nose"
and "broken bones in each hand".  He couldn't make sense of it all, but he
hoped that whoever they were talking about had made his peace with God
because it didn't sound like they were going to be with this world much
longer.



He couldn't figure out what was going on really.  He was in a kind of haze,
where nothing made sense.  He could only barely remember who he was and he
didn't know how he had fallen into this darkness.  He floated, the pain
buoying him from the pit, but part of him longed to dive into the abyss and
finish with all the pain.  Luckily, the other part of him talked himself out
of it.





It was several days before Eric came fully awake.  The first face he saw was
Christina's.



"Hey, Er," she said softly.  At least, it seemed like she was speaking
softly.  There seemed to be something wrong with his ears.  "Are you awake."



He tried to talk, but nothing much came out except a gurgling whistle.



"It's okay, don't talk.  You're in the hospital.  You've been beaten pretty
bad, but the doctors say you're going to be alright.  You just need some
time.  Now, don't say anything and don't move, okay?  You need to be still
so you can get better.



He wanted to tell her that he understood, but when he blinked Christina was
no longer there.  Something had changed.  It was night time and a nurse was
checking a bunch of cords that seemed to be coming from him.  He blinked
again, and the daylight returned and Aunt Jean and Uncle Tom were there, and
Gwen was looking at him with enormous tears in her eyes.



"Eric?  You've got to hang in there, son.  It's going to be okay."  The
sounds faded out, and darkness claimed him once again.





Eric was in the hospital nearly two months, and he was in pain nearly every
day.  However, he had a lot of practice at healing, so his wounds eventually
began to work themselves away.  Slowly, all the lines and tubes coming from
him began to dwindle as doctors took away one and another.  Finally, when
none were left, he was told he could go home.



He got home a week before Valentine's day, and he was weak as a kitten the
first few days.  He could walk, but slowly and it was almost as if he had to
learn how all over again.  Slowly, day by day, his strength began to return
to him.  Still, no one spoke to him about what had happened and he didn't
ask.



On Valentine's morning, he was awakened by everyone crowding into his
bedroom.



His Aunt and Uncle stood by the side of the bed, Gwen was at the foot and
Christina was on the other side.



"Well," he smiled.  "This is a bit of a surprise!"



His uncle just looked at him, but he could tell that he was fighting to
maintain his composure.  "Eric, we had our differences when you came here.
You know that and I want to say that it was kind of our fault as well.  We
should have realized, you know."



"What your uncle is stumbling around trying to say," his aunt interrupted
exasperatedly, "Is that we love you and we are so proud of you that we just
can't put it into words."  His aunt was crying and she laid a card on the
bed.  She turned and, grabbing her husband, walked out of the room.



"Me, too, bro," Gwen said.  She walked up to the side of his bed and bent
down and hugged him.  He sat up and hugged her back fiercely.  "I love you."
She too walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.



"That just leaves me, I guess," Christina giggled nervously.  She sat on the
bed and Eric pushed himself against the headboard so he could sit up
comfortably.  "Eric, when you...found me...I wasn't going to tell anyone
anything.  I was just going to pretend that it never happened and try to get
on with my life.



"But then, you attacked Evan...and Dave and Ryan...and they were going to punish
you, so I had to come forward.  It's been hard, you missed the arraignment
luckily...but it all came out.  I...I just."  her words stumbled to a halt.
Then she bent forward and kissed him, a long slow kiss on the lips.  Her
tongue came out and licked playfully at his own, but Eric was far too
surprised to do anything more than sit there stunned.



"I'm sorry.  I...I had to do that," her words came out in a rush, as if she
were worried that if she didn't blurt them out quick enough she wouldn't be
able to say them at all.  "Eric, you are my knight in shining armor.  I know
that that is as far as I'll ever get to go with you, because we're related
and all, but I had to kiss you because if you weren't my cousin I'd take you
out and make sure that you never even thought about another girl again.  As
it is, I only hope that I find a man as nice and as brave as you are."  Then
she was crying and ran out of the room.

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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