The Craft

The Craft (Novel Version) by Julien Gregg juliengregg85@gmail.com

Chapter One

And the summer went on. Adam cleaned Donny's trailer, did dishes, took out trash, vacuumed and dusted on Thursdays. He sucked Donny's dick just about every day. Thursdays were one of his two days off from the gas station so that left only one day a week when he wasn't sucking Donny's dick. He still didn't know what to think about how much he liked it and hated it at the same time. He supposed he had time to ponder that one.

So far the charm he'd made had kept his Mother and Larry out of his room. They used to search it about every other day, looking for any money he might have hidden in there. He wasn't stupid. He carried all of his money on him or put it in the savings account that Miss Sallinger had helped him open. He didn't know if they'd gotten lazy about it, finally decided he wasn't going to hide any money in his room or if the charm was working.

At work, Pete had talked to him at least enough to say hello to him when he arrived for his shift. The jury was still out on Pete. Adam decided to be polite and just give the guy time to prove that he was as bad as everyone else. His eighteenth birthday arrived with no fanfare or frills. He went to work and received his Hostess cupcake with the candle in it, Hal's standard birthday offering. Pete clapped him on the back and wished him a happy eighteenth, and then he got a big shock when Hal called him into the office to offer him more hours. He kept his Thursdays and Sundays off, but instead of working four hour shifts he was now working eight hour shifts and would start coming in to work at six in the morning and be off at two. He even got a paid hour for lunch like everyone else. He'd had to change his tax papers in Hal's file on him so that his status could be changed from part time to full time and then he had to explain it his mother.

"You'll be making more money?" she asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought.

"Yeah," he said with a sinking feeling.

"Well your rent is going up, that's for damned sure," she said. "You're eighteen now, so you'll pay us two hundred a month for that room. You don't pay and we'll burn your shit and throw you out."

"I'll pay the money while I look for somewhere else to live," he said as calmly as he could. Larry was sitting across the room in his recliner watching them closely.

"You start lookin' awful hard, hear?" Larry said.

"I hear you," he replied as Larry threw the newspaper at him.

It had been the first thing he'd thought of when Hal had given him the full time hours. He wanted out of their house probably more than they had ever wanted him gone. He'd have to find something with no lease, because the other thing that had happened was that his scholarship papers had arrived. He would be leaving for Storyville in August. He had three months to go.

Then something completely unexpected happened. Donny heard that he was looking for a place to stay for a while and offered him the spare bedroom in the trailer. He wouldn't take no for an answer and even borrowed Hal's truck to move all of Adam's bedroom furniture to a storage shed, because he told Adam in private that he would just be sleeping with him anyway. Adam got a sinking feeling at this news. But he was even more shocked when Donny and Aaron showed up to move his things. Aaron said very little and absolutely nothing to Adam.

Of course Larry watched them like a hawk as if Adam would take anything that didn't belong to him. There was absolutely nothing left outside of his room that he would have wanted anyway. He just wished he was happy about his new living situation. He said nothing to Donny or Aaron as he rode between them in the truck to the storage facility. He paid for six months, having cleared out most of his savings to do this as well as the rest of what he had planned. Then they drove him to the trailer where Aaron's car was waiting.

Aaron said nothing as he climbed into his car and drove away, leaving Adam and Donny completely alone. Adam was nervous, but then that wasn't anything new for him. He walked into the trailer and accepted the key that Donny handed him. Then his mouth about hit the floor when Donny told him the rules of the house.

"When we're home, you're naked," he said. "I don't want any clothes on you at any time unless someone else is here. That doesn't include Aaron. He knows not to fuck with you now so you don't have to worry about him. The house cleaning is your job. I expect everything you do on Thursdays to be done every day."

"Why do I have to be naked?" he asked and then was shocked when Donny backhanded him across the mouth and sent him reeling.

"You don't talk to me unless I ask you a question," Donny said. "You'll want to get that straight quick, Adam, because I'll beat your ass every time you forget.

"Now," he went on, "You work with me so I won't make you quit. The money you make is yours. Just put it all in your savings account. You'll eat what I eat and when I eat. You'll also suck my dick any time I decide I want it, and we'll get to your ass pretty quick, too."

Adam was no longer nervous. He was terrified. He couldn't believe that Donny was doing this. He'd expected the oral sex, sure, but all of the rules and never to talk unless he was talked to first? He didn't even want to think about what Donny expected of his ass. He knew about fucking. He wasn't a child, he just didn't know if he wanted to be fucked. It seemed he didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Well," Donny said, looking angry. "Are you deaf? Get your fuckin' clothes off."

He feared Donny just enough to comply. He took his clothes off, folded them and held them. Donny took him in the spare bedroom and showed him where he would put his clothes. He unpacked naked and scared. Then he started cleaning the house. It was so strange to be doing it with no clothes on, and he was nearly undone by the fact that Donny watched him with that look in his eyes the whole time.

He didn't actually notice when Donny went from calling him Adam to "Boy", but he paid attention when Donny decided to teach him how to cook the food he liked. They ate in silence at the small scarred kitchen table. The plastic seat cushion on the chair was cold on Adam's bare ass, but he said nothing. He had no appetite but he ate everything on his plate. Donny made no bones about telling him he'd beat his ass if he didn't eat.

"You're too fuckin' skinny," he said. "I want some normal weight on you. Don't worry, though. I won't let you get fat. That weight bench in the spare bedroom will soon be your new best friend."

He sucked Donny's dick as soon as he finished cleaning up the supper dishes and cleaning the stove and counter. Then they sat on the couch, or rather Donny sat on the couch while Adam sat on the floor between Donny's legs where he was told he was to sit from now on and watched television. Donny had cable and told Adam he liked to watch what he liked to watch and never to touch the box. Adam had no intention of touching the box. He'd never watched much television because he hadn't had one in his room.

Then Donny had him lay across his legs so he could work on his ass. Adam was terrified and felt himself trembling as he lay across Donny's lap. Donny had a jar of petroleum jelly and he began to rub his slimy fingers around Adam's asshole. When he stuck a finger in Adam jumped and almost cried out. He knew better than to cry out or try to get away though. When Donny put two fingers in his ass he almost didn't care what would happen if he cried out and tried to get away. The pain was unreal. The pain from two fingers had only just started to subside when Donny added a third finger and the hell truly began. Adam screwed his eyes shut and tried to figure out how he'd gotten himself into the mess he was currently in. Would Donny even let him go in August?

Then Donny's fingers hit something inside him and he actually yelped. Donny laughed and told him that was a free one. He said that he was born to be fucked if he liked that so much. Adam didn't know what had happened, but his entire body seemed to be jolted as if an electric current had been applied to his toes and traveled through him when Donny touched that spot inside him.

"It means you're gonna enjoy the hell out of my dick in your ass, Boy," he said, laughing. "You're going to be fun to break."

Adam was actually scared by that statement. He found out what it meant a little later when Donny announced it was time for bed. He told Adam not to worry about cleaning his ass that night because he was going to be fucked and it would just get slimy anyway. He followed Donny to the bedroom meekly, barely paying attention to the queen sized bed with his four posts. He did wonder why Donny had a four post bed though. He found out when Donny told him lay on the bed on his stomach. Then he tied his wrists to the posts at the head of the bed and his ankles to the posts at the end of the bed. He stuffed a pillow under his crotch and then he stripped naked and climbed on top of him.

Adam didn't know what was going to happen. He'd never been more terrified in his life. When he felt the head of Donny's dick at his asshole he nearly screamed. Then Donny shoved his dick into him and he almost lost it completely. He'd thought the three fingers had hurt, but they were nothing to the searing, tearing agony he felt at the intrusion of Donny's dick. Donny didn't seem to care that Adam was in distress. He just started to fuck his dick in and out of his ass as he clamped his hands on Adam's shoulders. The bed shook from the force of the thrusts and Adam began to cry silently in pain and fear. When it was over Donny untied him and told him to get to the bathroom and get a shower. He told him to make sure he got all the cum out of his ass.

When Adam returned to the bedroom and crawled into the bed beside Donny he was scared that it would happen again. He was amazed that his ass wasn't bleeding. It felt like it would never stop hurting. Donny wrapped an arm around him and went straight to sleep. Adam lay there, crying and wishing he would die.

It went on like that for a month, and everyone at the gas station started to notice the change in Adam. He'd never been overly talkative, but he'd at least said hello to people and goodnight or goodbye when they got off work. Now he said absolutely nothing, and even Hal noticed the haunted look in the boy's eyes. He wanted to pry but he didn't know what to ask. He was supposed to be living with Coleson now. Hal had no idea what was going on, but he knew better than to get in the middle of it.

Pete noticed the difference in Adam as well, but unlike Hal he asked Adam questions. Adam assured him that everything was fine and then walked away from him. When he asked Donny about Adam's attitude, Donny told him he didn't have a clue what was wrong with Adam but to mind his own fucking business.

Adam was in hell. He sucked Donny's dick every morning and again as soon as they got home from work. Then he cleaned and cooked. He spent a little time on the floor between Donny's legs and he was fucked every night while he was tied to that hateful bed. It hurt every time. Donny had said he'd love it, but he was wrong. Adam quickly grew to despise Donny and he plotted in his head the revenge he would one day take against him if he could ever get the chance.

Then Adam got off at two while Donny had to work until six. Adam went home and cleaned the house. He was making dinner when he heard the door open. He thought it was Donny, but he was shocked and dismayed to find Aaron standing there staring at his naked body.

"What the fuck?" Aaron gasped as he closed the door. "You're naked."

Adam didn't say anything. He went back to cooking the chicken and wishing that Aaron would just leave. When the chicken was done and Adam had put it in the oven to keep it warm, Aaron struck. He grabbed Adam and forced him to his knees. When Adam tried to get away Aaron punched him in the face. He nearly blacked out. Then Aaron was shoving his dick in his mouth and Adam just gave up and let it happen until the door opened and Donny walked in.

"What the fuck is goin' on here?" he demanded loudly.

Aaron pulled his dick out of Adam's mouth and began to sputter and back away from his brother. Donny grabbed him by his hair and drug him out of the kitchen. Adam stayed on his knees and quivered in fear. He heard Donny beating on his brother and he heard Aaron's terrified and painful cries. Then Donny demanded that Adam get his ass in the living room. When Adam walked in he was shocked to find Donny fucking Aaron! He couldn't believe it.

"Just like old times, ain't it, bro?" Donny hissed as he slammed his crotch into Aaron's ass.

Aaron cried out in pain and humiliation as he watched Adam watch his brother fuck him. Adam stood there in shocked paralysis as he watched the spectacle before him. When Donny was spent he stood up and let Aaron slump over the arm of the couch. He went into the kitchen and sat at the table to wait for Adam to serve him his supper.

After a long while Aaron came in and made himself a plate. He sat gingerly down on the third chair and looked at his plate. Adam ate silently and wondered just what the hell was going on. He didn't have long to wait though. Donny began to talk and Adam's fear intensified.

"You got five swats coming for letting him touch you, Boy," he said.

"But . . ."

"TEN!" Donny screamed. "I told you not to talk unless I asked you a question."

"What the hell is going on between you two?" Aaron demanded, shocking Adam because he thought it was plain. He was Donny's slave. There was nothing else it could be.

"He's my property and you fucked with him after I told you not to," Donny said. "You got your ass kicked and fucked for it. I suppose you'll have to stay here for a few days to let the bruises fade before you go back to Mom and Dad's. But hear me now, Aaron. If you so much as look at him again I'll do something worse to you."

And for six nearly unbearable days Aaron stayed with them. He slept on the couch but Adam was forced to watch Donny fuck him two more times. It made him sick. It was one thing to fuck another person, but your own brother? He didn't think he'd ever see them in a different light than he did now.

Then Aaron watched as Donny gave Adam ten hard swats with his leather belt across his ass. Adam hissed in pain after each swat but he didn't make any other sound. He was forced to sit on the floor on his welted ass between his lord and master's legs until it was time to go to bed. Then he was tied up and fucked again while Aaron stood in the doorway watching.

Adam became even more withdrawn after that. Everyone noticed. The customers even started to notice that though he made no mistakes and was always polite, he spoke softer and never looked anyone in the eye. How could he? He was ashamed and degraded. Hal called him into his office and told him that he needed to tell him what was going on. He said that if he didn't improve he'd have to let him go, so Adam made an effort to try to be normal again.

He started working out with Aaron twice a week. Aaron said nothing during these workouts and didn't touch him. It was during these workouts that Adam noticed the look in Aaron's eyes. It was nearly the same look he saw in his own eyes when he looked in the mirror. The look screamed victim. He refused to feel sorry for Aaron Coleson though. He just bided his time until it was nearly time to leave for Storyville.

He gave Hal his notice quietly and accepted his final check in advance. Then he packed all of his clothes while Donny was at work. Aaron actually drove him to the bus station to buy his ticket and then to the motel where Adam rented a room. He even promised not to tell Donny where he'd gone.

Adam spent that first night in the motel crying in the shower with the water as hot as he could stand it. He felt so dirty and ashamed that he'd let Donny do that to him for nearly three months. He kept seeing that defeated, victimized look in Aaron's eyes and he cried harder. He stayed there, curled up in the tub until the water turned cold. Then he got out and dried his sore skin that was now red everywhere from the hot water and crawled into the bed and fell into a sleep deeper than any he'd ever remembered in the past. He did not dream.

For the two and half weeks that Adam stayed in the motel he ate take out food and survived on what he could buy across the highway at the truck stop. He took a bus to the bank and closed his savings account the day before he had to be at the bus station to catch the bus to Storyville.

He sat in his room that night, munching pizza and watching a movie on HBO about witches. He thought about the witchcraft book for the first time since he'd made the charm and then remembered that Donny had torn the book up and thrown it away. He'd called it stupid and told Adam he wasn't allowed to read that kind of thing in his house. Adam decided that he'd get another one as soon as he got to Storyville.

The next day he was at the bus station an hour before the bus was supposed to even arrive. He sat there with his suitcase and waited. He ate vending machine food for his breakfast and watched the other passengers begin to arrive along with those who were picking up the people who would be getting off the bus in Crete. Then he nearly stopped breathing as Pete Anderson came into the bus station with a big white laundry bag filled with clothes. He saw Adam and smiled. Adam felt a little better when Pete smiled at him, but he nearly panicked when Pete came over and sat beside him.

"Adam, man, where've you been?" Pete asked excitedly as he sat down. "Hal said you quit and then Donny went a little nuts. Nobody knew where you were, man."

"What do you mean Donny went a little nuts?" Adam asked.

"He beat the shit out of his little brother and got arrested," said Pete. "His brother's in the hospital. They say he beat him bad."

"Oh my God," he sighed, thinking that it was his fault for asking Aaron to keep his secret. "Will he be all right?"

"They say he will be," Pete said. "But what happened to you?"

"I was in a bad situation at home," Adam said, mixing truth with lies to just get it over with. "Donny and Aaron, that's his little brother, they moved me out of my house and in with Donny. My step dad was a real jerk and scared me to death. I just had to get away from everyone, so I quit my job, moved into the motel on the highway and now I'm here."

"That's wild," Pete said, shaking his head. "Sorry all that happened to you. So you're heading to Storyville U?"

"Yeah," Adam said and smiled. He didn't know why but Pete seemed all right so he relaxed.

"Headin' back to school myself," he said. "It's a great school. Lots of pretty girls to play with in Storyville."

"Cool," said Adam, though girls were the last thing on his mind. Sex, for that matter, wasn't an issue he was worried about, either. His ass was still hurting from Donny's dick. He just wanted to get away from Crete. Storyville University was his way out.

His stomach nearly turned over when the bus pulled up. Pete smiled and slapped him on the back as he got up, hauling his laundry bag over his shoulder. Adam grabbed his suitcase and followed behind him. They let the driver load their bags under the bus in the cargo hold talking the whole time.

He boarded the bus and Pete waved to him from the back. Adam smiled as he walked down the aisle of seats, careful not to brush against any of the other passengers. He took a seat beside Pete and the two started to talk about Storyville. Adam had never been there, but Pete was trying to fill him in on everything there was to do there as the bus pulled away from the curb and started his journey to freedom.

Pete and Adam talked all the way through the six hour bus ride to Storyville. Pete told Adam all about campus life. He even told Adam where he could probably get a job. Adam liked Pete, but he knew he couldn't tell him that he was gay. He didn't want the only person he would know at school to be his enemy. He'd had enough of that in high school. What he wanted was someone to at least say hello to him when they saw him. He thought that might just be Pete.

When the bus stopped for a break half way between Cedar Rapids and Storyville, Adam and Pete went into the gas station across the street from the station to get soda and snacks. Adam wasn't used to anyone really hanging out with him, and he knew that once they got to Storyville, things wouldn't be the same between them. For that day, though, he could pretend that Pete was really his friend. It felt really good to pretend sometimes.

"So, why did your mom let your stepdad treat you like that?" asked Pete once they were back on the bus with their drinks and bags of chips.

"She never cared one way or the other," Adam replied honestly "I don't think she ever really wanted a son."

"That sucks," said Pete. "My parents are divorced, so I go to Crete one summer to see my father and his new wife, and the next summer, I go to Chicago to see my mother and her new husband. My step-parents don't really care for me, so I just stay out of their hair. My car finally broke down so now I'm bussing it back to school."

"Sometimes I wish my stepfather would have just let me stay out of his way," Adam said, thinking that if his home life had been just a little better he'd never have ended up being controlled and abused by Donny.

"Well you're free now," said Pete with a grin. "Whole new town and a room in the dorm. Now all you have to worry about is if you get a dick for a roommate."

"Yeah, I hadn't thought of that," Adam admitted. "I guess I was just too excited about actually getting out of Crete that I didn't think."

"You'll probably be all right," Pete said. "If not just let me know and I'll pound the freshman fuck."

They laughed about that and then quieted down while they ate their snacks. The bus started to move again, and Adam sighed inwardly. He'd done it. He wasn't in Storyville yet, but he'd gotten away from Crete with no one even noticing. He still suspected that no one would care that he was gone. Other than Donny Coleson, that was. He was still shocked about Donny putting Aaron in the hospital and being arrested. He hoped they locked him up.

Pete started the conversation back up as soon as the empty chip bags were crumpled. He told Adam about all of the cool places to hang out in Storyville and about all of the things there were to do on campus other than homework. It seemed that Storyville University was even better, judging from Pete's description, than Adam had even imagined. He couldn't wait to get there. He wished the bus would move faster.

The conversation between them came to a halt as Adam got his first look at Storyville. The bus drove past a mall that looked nothing like those Adam had seen before. The entire mall was nearly surrounded by little shops and fast food restaurants. Cars were parked all over the parking lots, and there were people everywhere. Adam had known that Storyville was larger than Crete, but he'd had no idea that it was so crowded.

There were immaculate trees lining the eight lane street as the bus drove on, passing the sign that told Adam that the mall he was looking at was Pine Falls Mall. More fast food restaurants lined the street on his side as the bus kept moving through what Pete called "grease lane". When they started to pass businesses that specialized in various things, Adam started to wonder where the houses were. He saw them a little bit later. The houses that lined both sides of the street as the eight lanes became six and then four before becoming a regular two lane street were large two story houses. Each house had an immaculate lawn with bushes, trees and flowers. Adam wondered if everyone that lived in Storyville was rich.

"This is Pine Falls," said Pete as Adam gaped at the houses as they passed. "Storyville is broken up into sections that are kind of like villages. The university is on the other side of town in what's called Washington Square."

"That mall was called Pine Falls, too," said Adam, turning his gaze away from the window and back to Pete.

"Yeah, there's another mall out by the university called Bucklan," replied Pete. "That one is mostly clothes and furniture, though. Not many younger people hang out there. There are four sections of Storyville, though. Pine Falls, Washington Square, Penndale and Brentwood. Pine Falls and Brentwood are where the wealthy live. Washington Square is where the university and both high schools are located, and Penndale is full of apartments and condos."

The bus pulled into a station that was nothing like the one in Crete. There was a huge building with about fifty other buses parked in lines along one side. The parking lot was full of cars, and people were walking in and out of the station itself. Adam wondered how they were going to get to the school from there. Pete had said that the university was on the other side of town from where they were.

His question was answered as they got off of the bus and retrieved his suitcase and Pete's laundry bag. Pete led him through the station and out another door where a bank of taxicabs waited for customers. Pete hired one, and he and Adam put their bags in the trunk of the car and piled into the back seat. The cab driver asked their destination, and then they were off.

Pete talked about various places as they passed them on their journey through Storyville. He talked about a lake that was on the edge of town called Storyville Lake. He said that the lake was one of the largest man-made bodies of water in the Midwest. It was twenty feet deep in the center, and one half of it was roped off for boating on one side and fishing on the other. On the other side of the rope, there were life guard stations for the swimmers. A camp ground was on the far side of that lake where there were cabins, tent rentals and a large motor park for trucks with campers attached and full sized camping vehicles.

Then they pulled into a section of the city that looked strange to Adam. There were houses on both sides of the street, but the street itself wasn't as wide as Adam thought it should be. Then he noticed the Greek letters on the houses just as Pete explained that they had just entered University Row where all of the fraternities, sororities and dorm houses were located.

Then the cab pulled into a small parking lot. There was a five story rectangular white stone building with black letters that named it Freemont Hall. This was the dorm that Pete lived in while he was at school. He'd told Adam that he had never even wanted to join any of the fraternities, and Adam didn't think he would want to, either.

This wasn't his dorm, but it wasn't far from Freemont Hall. His was called Reynolds Hall and Pete explained that Reynolds and Spartan Halls were new dorms that only housed freshman. Adam took his suitcase and headed off to the Student Services building while Pete lugged his laundry bag up to his room. Then after Adam had taken care of registration and got his key to the dorm room he took his suitcase to his room and headed back to Freemont Hall to find Pete. Pete was coming out of the building when he got there.

"There you are," said Pete with a grin. "Get all set?"

"Yeah," Adam replied, holding up his key. He'd left his course schedule and other paperwork in his room. "What did you have in mind for now?"

"Well orientation isn't until tomorrow," Pete said. "Right now, I'm hungry."

Adam's stomach growled its agreement, so he followed Pete back through the parking lot. They walked away from the dorm and down two blocks to a small restaurant that Pete informed him made the best pizza in the world. The place was nice with dark green carpet, red and white checkered tables and a buffet table running down the center of the room. It was empty at the time, but Pete informed him that on Saturday and Sunday mornings, there was an all you can eat breakfast.

They chose a booth in the back and browsed menus in silence until an older woman with graying dark hair and glasses came over to take their drink orders. Twenty minutes later, the pizza was served. They talked about how to get around town without a car, and Pete told Adam about a gas station that was usually always hiring, and it was only a short walk from University Row.

"That's great," he said. "But don't you have to be twenty-one to work in most of the gas stations?"

"This one you don't have to be," Pete explained. "They don't sell alcohol or tobacco products, so you only have to be sixteen."

"Well then it sounds like my dream job," Adam laughed. "I paid for six months of storage and then when I moved into the hotel I paid for three more months. That way I figured I had time to find a job so I can keep paying to keep my stuff there."

After they paid the check they went their separate ways. Pete wanted to check to see if his roommate was back and Adam went back to his dorm room, hoping his roommate hadn't arrived. He was in luck. The other side of the room was still barren. He grabbed his book list and voucher before he headed out in search of the book store.

The University Services building was in the center of University Row, and it was the only building in the three block area that was only a single story. As opposed to the Student Services building, there were no academic offices inside the building. A sign in front of the building informed Adam that inside he would find the book store, a cafe, two meeting rooms, restrooms, a lounge and one of the Campus Security offices.

The book store looked like a library gone wrong. There were shelves almost all the way around the room with more shelves in two rows in the center of the room. Displays of sweat shirts, jerseys and more t-shirts were just in front of the doors, and a counter was set up to the left of the doors with more merchandise in a display case underneath.

Adam consulted his list of books and began his search. The organization of the store wasn't all that great, but after only twenty minutes, he had found all of the books on his list. He'd even made sure that each book was used just as the voucher had insisted. A bored looking girl with long dark hair and green eyes filled out the paperwork for the voucher and put all of the books in a complimentary book bag. She thanked Adam in a voice that confirmed her boredom and he left the store. He ate a cheeseburger and fries in the cafe and nearly choked over the prices. Pete had warned him that anything bought on campus that didn't come out of the cafeteria would cost a fortune. He decided that he would not eat on campus again after he paid for his meal and left the cafe.

Back in his room, Adam put all of his books in the bottom drawer of the desk that was next to his bed and sat on the bed. He had eight days before classes started, and he had no idea what to do with his time. He was planning to go to the gas station and apply for a job, but he couldn't remember which side of University Row it was on.

It wasn't until the next morning that he found the gas station. The manager was a man named Gary with a bald head and dark eyes. He talked to Adam after his application was filled out, and to Adam's surprise, he hired him on the spot. He was to start the following day at four to train with someone named Denny. He walked back to his room with a smile on his face. He had a place to live that didn't include his parents, Pete had promised to come looking for him soon to hang out, and he had a job. Things were definitely looking up for him.

He walked to Pete's dorm and told him about the job. Pete decided that they needed to celebrate by having more pizza. The two of them talked about the job that Pete would be returning to on Monday. Pete would be working in a pet store in Pine Falls Mall. The manager had given him the summer off, just like every other college student he'd employed before, and Pete couldn't wait to get back to work.

When Adam got back to his room that evening, he saw a laundry bag like the one that Pete had carried on the other bed in his room. There were boxes everywhere and the door to the empty closet hung open. There were shirts and pants hanging in the closet, but what caught Adam's attention were the football pads on the closet's floor. His room mate was a football player. Adam wasn't sure he liked that. He'd come to Storyville to be free, but with a jock in his room, he'd have to watch what he said, where he looked and just about everything he did. Maybe the guy would be all right. He decided that he shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly. It wasn't exactly fair. Instead of brooding about it, he sat on his bed and read through his World Religion syllabus.

The first unit that the class would be covering was Pagan Religions. Adam had no idea what the word "pagan" meant, but as he read further, he figured it out pretty easily. The first assignment was due the day that class started, and it was a fifteen page report on Wicca. He sighed as he thought about how he'd have to be doing research instead of doing anything fun before classes started. He decided to check the other syllabuses to find out if any of his other classes had assignments due the day class began.

He was thumbing through his Art Appreciation syllabus when the door opened and a blond haired boy stepped inside. He had another box in his hands, and Adam decided to be friendly and hold the door for him. He got a smile for his effort, and that was when he saw just how attractive his roommate really was. The boy had hair the color of the sun and eyes like the cloudless sky. His smile was perfect, and it lit up his entire face. When he sat down the box, Adam knew he was in for trouble as he got a look at the boy's muscular body. He was wearing a pair of cut off sweat pants and a shirt with no sleeves. Adam dragged his gaze away from the boy as soon as he started to turn around.

"Melvin Borlan," he said, thrusting his hand out to Adam with another of those awe inspiring grins. "I'm from Ohio."

"Adam Wells," replied Adam, shaking his hand and trying not to wince when Melvin gripped his hand. "I'm from right here in Iowa."

"You got all of your stuff put away," said Melvin as he turned his attention back to the box on his bed. "I'll have mine out of the way lickety split."

"No problem," said Adam, going back to sit on his bed.

"Probably won't see a lot of me," said Melvin, hefting a microwave out of the box. "My girl goes here, too. She'll be here tomorrow. I'll probably spend most of my time with her."

"I'll probably be working a lot," replied Adam.

That was all that Melvin had to say until he'd gotten most of his stuff put away. He sighed when he started to put more clothes into his closet. The closet wasn't all that large, and Melvin seemed to have a mountain of clothing. He went to the dresser and started to put his folded clothes away and ran out of room there, too. One of the things on the floor was a foot locker, and Adam watched as Melvin put the remainder of his clothes inside it. Then he pulled books from another box and started to line his bookshelves. There were trophies in another box, and those went on the chest of drawers.

"I knew Momma packed too much," he sighed as he sat down on his bed. "I'll box most of this back up and ship it back to Ohio." He looked at Adam's empty bookshelves. "Where's all of your stuff?"

"I didn't bring much with me," said Adam. "Everything I own is either in the closet or the dresser."

"Mind if I put some boxes on your shelves?"

"Go ahead," replied Adam, attempting to be friendly.

Adam watched as every available shelf on both of his book cases were filled with Melvin's "stuff". He hoped that Melvin packed it all and shipped it back to Ohio soon. Adam had planned to start buying himself a few things once he started getting paid. If Melvin didn't move his "stuff", Adam wouldn't have anywhere to put anything.

"Catch you later, Adam," said Melvin, heading for the door. "Gonna go find something to do."

"Later," replied Adam as Melvin walked out of the room.

He was asleep when Melvin came back to the room. One thing that Melvin was not was quiet. He also had a love of turning on the lights no matter who was asleep. The other thing, and this is probably what shocked Adam the most, was that he was not shy about taking his clothes off in front of other people. Now, they were roommates which meant that they would undoubtedly see each other in various forms of undress, but that wasn't the first thing that popped into Adam's head as he watched his jock room mate take his clothes off.

No, the first thing that popped into Adam's head was that Melvin didn't wear underwear. He tried so hard not to look at him, and he knew that if Melvin saw him looking, he would probably pound the shit out of him. Try as he might, however, his eyes were glued to Melvin's crotch as it was rapidly being revealed. At the last moment, he pulled his gaze away from Melvin and turned over to face the wall.

When Melvin was finally done undressing, he turned off the light, and Adam heard him fling himself onto his bed. That didn't mean that Adam could go back to sleep, however. Instead, he stared at the wall, trying very hard not to let himself think about Melvin's perfect pecs, his washboard stomach or the mound in his shorts. He tried to think of math problems, his mother and stepfather, anything that would make him want to shut his eyes and escape from the world in sleep.

It must have worked, because the next thing he knew, the sun was shining in his face. A quick glance at the other bed revealed that Melvin was not a fan of blankets, and he was still asleep. He was lying on his stomach with both arms under his head, giving Adam a wonderful view of his perfect ass. Adam sighed as he got out of bed, grabbed the clothes that he had planned on wearing and headed to the bathroom.

After a quick hundred tugs at his dick in the shower, which surprised him because he'd never thought he'd be horny again after Donny Coleson, and one last glance at Melvin's perfect ass, Adam left the room to find the library. He needed to do research for his World Religions paper and try to find something that would burn that vision from his mind. He had four days until his classes would start, and he'd found that there was only one assignment due on the day that classes began.

He found the library fairly easily. It was on the other side of campus, but the walk had at least cleared his head. He walked through the library with a piece of paper in his hand with the reference numbers he'd written down after his computer search for the books he'd need to start his research. It wasn't long before he found the section of the library that he was looking for, and he chuckled at the large sign that read "Occult". He took five books from the shelves and headed for one of the tables on the other side of the stacks.

For the next three hours, Adam read all about the world's views on witchcraft and Wicca. He'd decided that he would start his report on what society thought about the religion, and there was plenty for him to take notes on. When he looked at the clock and discovered that he had only three hours before he was to report to work, he decided to check the books out and study them after work.

Melvin wasn't in the room when he got back, so he quickly changed into the jeans and t-shirt he had decided to work in and headed for the gas station. The University Tank wasn't like the gas station he'd worked at in Crete. There were no gas jockeys here. Every pump was self-service. His training was largely on working the cash register, learning the grid of pump keys so that he could authorize and call up pumps. He learned that it might be necessary for him to stop a particular pump while a customer was still pumping, and there was even a switch under the main register that stopped all of the pumps at the same time. Denny, a short middle aged man with thinning red hair, bright green eyes and freckles all over his face, told him that the switch was only for emergencies. Then he proceeded to tell Adam what type of situations would be called an emergency.

The station was open twenty-four hours a day, and Adam would usually work from three to eleven at night. For the rest of the week, he would come in at four and leave at ten. These were his training hours. Training is what he did all night. It consisted of watching Denny authorize pumps for the first hour, take payment for the gasoline and sell sodas and anything else that a customer might want. The second hour was spent with him on the register doing the very same thing. He found it to be easier than Denny had believed it to be, and after an hour, Denny was satisfied that Adam knew the basics on the register. He was shown the store room and learned that he would also be responsible for stocking the shelves of oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid and various other fluids. Now and then, he would be required to stock the candy shelves and other merchandise, but that was mostly done by the overnight shift.

Each shift had to restock the coolers and bag ice to be sold to the customers. It was bagging ice that Adam especially hated. This, of course, proved to be what he did for the rest of the night after stocking the coolers and putting oil and transmission fluid on the shelves. At nine, he was handed a broom and a mop bucket to sweep and mop the store floor. When he finished that, he sat in the office with Denny, filling out paperwork while Denny photocopied his driver's license and social security card.

It took only two days for Adam's days to fall into a pattern that he could live with. In the morning, he would get out of bed before Melvin, try very hard not to stare at his perfect ass or engorged morning hard on before showering and getting dressed. Breakfast was eaten in the cafeteria, and then he sat in the library until lunch to study for his report. He rarely saw Melvin other than in the morning, before class or practices and right before he went to bed. Both times he did see his room mate, the boy was gloriously naked. Adam was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on anything with a naked football player in his room.

Pete was true to his word. Two days after Adam first encountered his roommate, Pete came to their dorm room to look for Adam. The two had spent a little time in the cafeteria together, but Pete had to leave for work, so they didn't do more than eat a meal. He promised to spend some time with him soon, though.

The other thing he was getting into was his report on the world's view of Wicca and modern witchcraft. There were many different opinions on witchcraft as a whole, and almost as many opinions of Wicca itself. He wondered why everyone was so upset over Wicca. The articles that he'd read had stated that no blood sacrifices were conducted by Wiccan High Priests. No one was ever found dead after one of their rituals, so he didn't understand what all of the fuss was.

To try and better understand why people might be against Wicca as a religion, he decided to study a bit of the traditions. He quickly found reference books to read from and checked them out. He already had everything he needed for his report. All that was left to do was type it up and hand it in when the professor asked for it. Studying a little on the side couldn't hurt.

Another form of magic that caught his eye was candle magic. He read the book he had found on that subject from cover to cover in one morning. He thought about the things that he'd read in it while he was at work that night, and by the time his shift was over, he had convinced himself that he wanted his own book on candle magic.

The next day, he was one of the first people to arrive at the campus library, and he put his early status to good use. He signed the form at the front desk and logged on to one of the internet accessible computers. He searched the net for any occult shops in Storyville and was pleasantly surprised to find six of them near the university. He quickly wrote down the addresses, deciding that he would find a way to visit at least a few of the stores after he'd typed his report.

Typing his report took less time than he'd anticipated. He wasn't scheduled to work at the station that evening, so he was free for the entire day. He put all of his things into his book bag and left the library with the paper he'd written the addresses on in his hand. The first of the stores was actually on campus. He hadn't realized that when he was writing the address down, but now that he'd read what he wrote down, he was thrilled.

He found the store very easily, just four blocks from the library. Mystical Enchantments was perhaps the only building on the block that hadn't conformed to the university look. Instead of white stone blocks, the building was constructed of red brick. The huge bay window in the front of the store had purple curtains that were drawn closed on the inside. A neon sign announced that the store was open, and there were stone dragon statues on either side of the entrance. He liked the place immediately.

A girl was behind the counter, arranging bottles of liquid on a shelf as she dusted it with a cloth. She had red hair that lay in curls down her back, and she was dressed in all black from her tight black t-shirt to her long black pants. Adam couldn't see all the way to her feet, because the counter blocked his view, but he believed that she was probably wearing black shoes, too.

"Hi," she said with a smile. "Can I help you find anything?"

Adam looked around the store at the neat shelves and display cases. It didn't look much different than the university book store. "I'm looking for books on candles."

"Candle color meanings? Candle Magic, or just making spiritual candles?" she asked as she turned around to face him.

"Candle Magic," he replied, smiling back at her.

"Ok," she said, stepping around the counter to lead him to a section of one shelf of books. He smiled as he looked down and confirmed that she was wearing black shoes. "We have several books on Candle Magic here. Are you a beginner or advanced?"

"Beginner," he said quickly.

"Ah," she said with a nod of her head. "You must be studying Wicca then."

"Yes, that's right," he replied, smiling as she turned to face him. He wasn't actually studying anything, yet, but he didn't want to tell her that.

"Ok then, I recommend this one," she said, handing him a book off the shelf titled, Wicca Candle Magick. "It has basic spells and incantations in it. It also has a chart that tells what each candle color means and how to use that to your advantage."

"Thank you," he replied, reaching for the book.

"If I could suggest," she paused slightly as if to see if he would object before going on, "this book."

He followed her across the room to another section of shelving where she extracted a much larger book from its shelf. She handed the volume to him and looked at him expectantly. He looked down at the book and read the title. Traditional Witchcraft Vs. Wicca. He looked at her for a second before she said anything.

"Well, I'm not trying to drag you away from Wicca, or anything," she said. "You might want to just read through that book. I know you'll find that Wicca really isn't witchcraft."

"I'm not really studying to be a witch," he said. "I'm writing a paper for my World Religion class."

"Oh," she said with a sigh, but then her face brightened again. "If you're writing the paper on Wicca, then this book will help. This book will tell you all about where Wicca really came from and what it really represents."

He thought about it for a few seconds. If he was going to cast spells, maybe he should know a bit about where the so called magic was supposedly coming from. If the book in his hand could tell him something that the books on Wicca had either left out or completely ignored, then maybe it was worth the twenty-five dollars they wanted for it.

"I'll take both of them," he said, eliciting a smile from the red head.

Two hours later, he was back in his dorm room, reading the book on Traditional Witchcraft. It confused him in most places, but he could plainly see that the author of the book, and apparently all "Traditional Witches" were against Wicca. He read about Gerald Gardner, the founder of Gardnerian Wicca, and the Traditional Craft basically called him a revamped Christian.

"Karma is a hindu/buddhist concept that was carried into Wicca by Gerald Gardner, probably from a theosophical source. In Traditional Craft, 'Fate' is an important concept, but 'karma' is unheard of. There is no belief in Traditional Craft of 'karmic debt' or of 'karmic weight' to actions. The actual Traditional Craft belief on these matters was and is very different than the eastern concept of 'karma'."

He put the book down and thought about that. Wicca, from what he had read, taught that everything a person did in life followed them into the next life. They called it "karma". If that wasn't true, then he didn't know what to think of Wicca. If he was going to actually study and follow any form of witchcraft, he thought he wanted something that was at least true to itself. He picked up the book and continued to read what it said about Wicca.

"The Wiccan religion has a 'Rede' or a 'golden rule' which forms the basis of Wiccan ethics . . . it states 'As long as you harm none, do as you will'. This is a good suggestion, and basically a re-wording of the Judeo-Christian 'golden rule'. However, the Traditional Craft has no such rule. Ethics in the Old Craft are completely ambiguous and situational.

Wiccans treat this 'Rede' as though it is an immutable cosmic law, when in reality, the word 'Rede' is Anglo-Saxon for 'advice' not 'law'. But to the Wiccan religion, it is an unmovable piece of dogma.

This whole issue turns out to be another New-Age Wiccan (and modern human) denial of the darkness inherent in nature. Harming and Hurting, these things exist in nature . . . and we humans are part of nature. Thus, they are part of us. You harm plants and animals to eat them. You harm bacteria in the water you drink. Life feeds on life. The Traditional Craft is very family and Faith oriented, and if someone threatens the family, or the Faith, then stopping that threat is first and foremost. If that means harming someone, that's what Traditional Witches will do, and there is no ethical injunction against it. The Craft, and the power it invokes, is not 'good' or 'bad' . . . it is both. There is a time and a place for both. This is hard for New-agers to understand, but it is simply the way of things. To deny either side of yourself, or nature, is to move away from the central mystery: that of wholeness."

Adam was even more confused after reading that. If Wicca was based on false principles and held itself up to standards that had no reality, then what could it do for him? He didn't want to spend the required year and one day studying Wicca only to find out that nothing would happen once his studying was over and he cast his first spell. Plus, he wanted to be able to cast spells now, not later. With Wicca, if he followed the directives in the books he'd read so far, it would be over a year before he could test his magical ability.

"The 'Three Fold Law' is a strange notion that has no basis in history, nor does it hold up to sober reality well. While many peoples in many times and places have poetically threatened people with ideas of their actions returning to visit them 'many times over', Wicca accepts this as an immutable, physical law. The truth is, while most Wiccans have given up the belief in 'hellfire and damnation' as a deterrent to their negative actions, they have replaced it with this 'three fold law', which threatens three times retribution for negativity. No belief such as this exists in historical Traditional Craft, or in any surviving native European metaphysical system."

He put the book down and shook his head. He didn't know what to believe now. It could have been one form of the craft picking on the other and trying to make people believe it to be false, but Adam didn't want to count on that notion. He didn't want to follow the Traditional Craft only to find out that it was the actual lie and Wicca was truth.

He hadn't consciously understood that he'd decided to follow witchcraft until that moment. With all of the reading that he'd done on Wicca and other forms of magic for his paper, he'd been impressed with a certain child like wonder of magic in general. He'd mentally checked off things in his life that he could change or "fix" to his liking with magic, and now he understood that he planned to do just that.

The very first thing he needed to do was test magic. He thought for a moment about how to go about following both Traditional Witchcraft and Wicca at the same time, and then he thought about how simple it really should have been to incorporate magic from all forms of witchcraft. After all, the Craft was the Craft, right?

He thought about what he wanted to do to test magic. Candle magic seemed to be the easiest way to cast a spell when he didn't know what the outcome could be. He looked at the candle magic book for a while and leafed through the pages until he found the recipe for a candle. In a notebook, he wrote down the recipe. He'd have to go shopping for the items on the list, and a small smile spread across his face as he realized what the very first spell he would cast was going to be.

He went downstairs and called a cab, smiling the whole time. While waiting for the cab to arrive, he wondered where Melvin was. He hadn't seen Melvin all day long, and that was kind of odd, or so he thought. In the days since Melvin had arrived, Adam had seen him at least three times a day. That day, Melvin was nowhere to be found. Not that Adam was actually looking for him. He thought it might be best to cast spells when Melvin had class or practice. He didn't really want him walking in on him and asking a lot of questions.

The cab took him through Storyville to a regular department store. He searched the aisles for the items on his list, finding all of them rather quickly. He thanked the cashier and paid for his purchases. While waiting for the cab to return, he read through the steps he'd written down to make the candle. He'd already decided on the color, and he'd bought plenty of green wax. The spell would be for money, and he chuckled as he thought that just about every "new witch" would cast a money spell to test magic. He didn't think he was being any different than anyone else.

Back at the dorm, after making sure that Melvin wasn't around, Adam began to construct his candle. The book had given him a few ideas about how to write a spell of his own, and he'd quickly jotted down his ideas in his notebook before going to the store. The candle was actually very easy to construct, and he only had to wait for it to cool before he could perform the spell he'd thrown together. He stored it under his bed to let it cool and grabbed the Traditional Witchcraft book to study further when Melvin stumbled in the door.

Adam could tell right away that he was drunk. He'd seen enough drunks to know. The way Melvin slurred when he talked was another give away. The menacing stare he directed at Adam was what made his stomach quiver with nerves. He knew all too well how abusive drunks could be, and he mentally figured the difference between them in size and power.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See all of my stories at http://juiengregg.acannex.us and http://http://juliengregg.authorshaunt.com/

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