Chapter Seven

I dreamed a dream of violence. At least it felt violent; but I felt no pain nor saw anything in that sense. foreign voices whispered around me nothing definitive that I could make out. Where am I? Who are you? I tried to ask; the voices got louder like as if answering my unspoken questions. Still I couldn't understand them. a shiver of violent apprehension coursed through me. No please, no! No sound came out. The voices started to feel like they were suffocating me; it grew harder to breath. I was drowning; in what I didn't know. " Michael!"

I woke with a start a cry escaping my lips. Sweat made my shirt cling to me. I was breathing heavily and I shivered as if a ghost went through me. Alyssa backed away initially but then came quickly towards me looking concerned. "Are you ok Mike?" I blinked the sleep out of my eyes "yeah just had a bad dream." She frowns at me and lightly slaps my shoulder "it's what you get for getting into a fight with Dan's father." So it really did happen I was hoping it was all a dream. Alyssa leans over and kisses me on the cheek. "Mike, thanks you probably saved his life. You also broke his father's jaw." I grimaced in pain man my hand hurt. Alyssa grabbed my hand; I let her. She took her thumb and forefinger and gently touched my knuckles. "They are totally swollen you might want to get it looked at." I smile "it's ok doesn't feel broken, see." I flex my hand into a fist and out. A slight pain shot through my hand, nothing more. Her hand stayed holding mine for a moment then she let go. Sadness surprisingly found me wanting the feel of her hand back. "Get up Mike your mom wants you to take a shower and meet us down stairs we are going to the hospital to see Dan."

When I got downstairs, everyone was there sitting in the kitchen. Everyone was solemn. We got to the hospital about an hour later. The nurse showed us to Dan's room; we saw his mother sitting in the chair next to his bed. A slight panic tried to take over me. A memory not too long ago of my father playing into my head. Dan looked up at us as we got near the bed. He tried to crack a smile, but it was too painful. "Hey Dan, how do you feel?" Mandy asked him. "Well, I've been better to be honest but I'm alive and the doc says that other than having a broken nose and a few loose teeth I will be ok." Relief seemed to cover all of us. Dan looks at me "Hey man thanks you probably saved my life." I blushed "I wish I could have got there sooner man, when I saw you I just snapped. I was so scared that you were dead." Tears welled up in my eyes. "No Mike you did more than I thought you would do. I heard you kicked the shit out of my father; thanks." I smile "anytime Dan." "So, Dan, when can we get you out of this hell hole?" Alyssa asked changing the subject. "They want to release me in a few hours but asked me to take it really easy for the next couple of weeks." He frowns "Which sucks, cause I will miss the last two games of the year." "Yeah, but you still gonna make the playoffs right." Jessica asked with a smile on her lips. I smile at her in thanks she is a life saver. "Oh yeah I will and kick some major ass too!"

The next couple of weeks we went right over to Dan's mother’s house after school to keep him company and to bring him his homework. His father was released from the hospital and taken into custody. His trial for attempting murder is scheduled for May next year. I am to be a lead witness. Luckily, I was not charged with anything; they called what I did self defense.

Halloween was upon us. Everyone at school has been buzzing around about it and what they planned on doing to celebrate it. Mandy had invited us to the house she was renting, along with everyone else from our class, for a party. Since she had the place all to herself, she reasoned that it would be a great place to have fun and dress up for Halloween. Me and Dan agreed right away already making plans on what games we were going play and what scary movies we were going to watch. Mandy had a special invitation for us to spend the night and kinda camp out in the living room. Jessica and Alyssa got really excited about that and started to talk about it nonstop me and Dan rolled our eyes but agreed to join in with the girls. Which though we acted like it didn't excite us, it secretly did. We tried to act cool about it which of course the girls saw through it right away.

"Yeah, you guys aren't excited at all at the thought, right?" Mandy said while rolling her eyes at us. Dan and I flushed a little; "Well you know staying up all night sounds like a lot of fun, that's all." Dan says looking at me for back up "Yeah it's not every day we have an excuse to do so." "Yeah, sure that's what it is." Jessica says, trying to suppress laughter. "Class we are about to begin please take your seats and open your textbook to page one twenty-five please." Saved by the teacher. None of us could pay attention to schoolwork; our thoughts kept drifting off to Halloween and how much fun we were going to have.

The next few days leading up to Halloween went into a blur of excitement. All our parents agreed to it and most of the class were more than happy to come over for the party. My mom was to be the parental supervisor for the party.

Friday, the day before Halloween, Mandy asked me to come over after school and help her decorate her house. I of course agreed. I had never been inside Mandy's house before, so I was excited about seeing it. After going home after school, I changed out of my uniform and grabbed a bit to eat and walked out of the house. Mandy's house was only a couple of blocks away just a few minutes’ walk from mine. When I got to her brick two story house, I was amazed by the size of it and wondered how she lived in such a place all by herself. I went up to the door and knocked on it. No answer after a minute of waiting I tried the knob which of course was unlocked. Since I knew that she expected me I walked in. A hallway greeted me, I took off my shoes and followed the short hallway where it branched off to the right and left. To the right was the living room and I could just make out a kitchen as well. I noticed that the place was spotless and almost bare except for a couch, recliner, a large flat screen TV and a case of movies. To my left was another hallway and doors which I assumed lead to bedrooms and a bathroom. I first went right which opened and I could now see the stairs leading up to the second floor. I saw a kitchen with a microwave and fridge. Everything looked new. There was a dishwasher next to the sink, no dirty dishes in sight but I could smell cookies cooking in the oven. My mouth started to salivate the sweet smell of the cookies and made me hungry again. I saw a very nice fireplace hidden from the entrance but large. So, cool a fireplace! No Mandy, I called her name again still no response. I decided to go back to the way I came and knocked on the doors before entering them the first one was a empty bedroom, the next a bathroom that was surprisingly empty except for toilet paper and hand soap. The last door was the laundry room. She wasn't washing any clothing at the time. I figured she was upstairs and headed up them. which led to another hallway in both directions. I went right again and found a large room with a bed in it but no Mandy I opened the door that I saw in it which was a closet. not a small one either but one of those walk-in closets. The other door I saw opened to an adjacent bathroom. Nice one at that but empty. I walked out of the room and opened the door next to the bedroom. I figured it would be the bathroom I had already seen and was right.

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Last two doors I started to get worried that maybe I got the wrong house or that Mandy wasn't here or something. I knocked on the next door no answer, so I opened it and immediately I knew this was Mandy's room. A large bed propped up against the wall with a window above it. Pink sheets and a pink comforter on top of a queen size bed. I could smell Mandy's perfume and her own natural body odor in the room. The room was immaculate. Pictures of her and her parents sitting on a large dresser. I walked over to the dresser and looked at the picture. Mandy looked very happy in it. I saw a lot of other pictures on the wall and went to investigate them. They were all pictures of well of our group some had just her and one of us but most had pictures of all of us. I smiled at a picture next to her bed of all of us smiling at the camera. I remember when it was taken not too long ago when we were at the park a stranger was kind enough to take the picture.

I heard a door open and heard Mandy humming a tune. I turned around towards her with a smile on my face ready to comment on the house and pictures when I noticed what she had on or more to the point of what she didn't have on. Only in a towel her face covered by hair and another towel that she was using to dry off her hair with. I could see the steam from the bathroom seep out behind her but all I could really see was her. My breath caught as I watched her inter her room. She hadn't noticed me yet. I was starting to get red with embarrassment, but also my hormones started to kick in which just started to embarrass me even more. I tried to speak to warn her I was there but couldn’t, my tongue was tied. I thought about trying to sneak out of the room before she noticed me, but the door was closed, and I didn't think I could move at the moment. Mandy bent her head down and started to dry her hair off and I knew she would notice me soon. I held my breath ready for her to scream or yell at me. I tried thinking about what I was going to say to her to calm her down. She turns around and heads towards her dresser, her towel now out of her hair and she drops it next to the dresser. oh, oh I knew what was coming I wanted desperately to cry out to her say something before I saw too much but my hormones kept screaming louder and louder at me keeping me silent. She opens the top drawer and shuffles through looking for what I guessed underwear she wanted to wear. She hmms out loud pulls out something blue I had only seen a glimpse of it. then reaches out and pulls out a bra but not like my mom's but blue with some pattern.

I was thinking that Dan would call me lucky, but I felt very unlucky except for my body was betraying me. Time seems to slow down then. I started to breathe heavier but quietly she reaches out towards her towel in front of her and starts to open the towel up. My body was totally betraying me now. Pressure and major discomfort pressed against my pants. It hurt yet didn't, I knew what it was but was totally shocked that I could even think this way about Mandy, but she is a girl. The towel went lower I could see the sides of her breasts and the shape of her back caught my breath, loudly. She looks over her shoulder and looks straight at me. Silence stretched between us, my eyes wide and a body part pressing against my pants that I had no control over, stupid hormones. Her face turned red, yet she said nothing, she looked embarrassed and not angry but shocked that I was standing there. Her towel still opens her back to me, her head as well she looks me over and starts to stare below me, I thought at first, she was looking at the ground but then I remembered about my probable bulge she was looking at, stupid hormones stupid. She started to turn around, still staring down there. I realized what she was doing and my body responded with anticipation. I felt like I had two heart beats pulsing very fast, one was my actual heart the other down there. She realized what she was doing before she turned too much towards me. She looks down at herself and drops her towel in surprise. I gasp her side to me she covers her breasts, and I stare looking at her breathless her arms tan in reflection of her white soft skin. Her chest heaving up and down and her the side of her flat stomach clenching and unclenching with every breath her hips stuck out nicely from her waist.

Her butt, round but small and tight. The muscles of her body fascinated me, everything about her was foreign to me. I wanted to touch her and trace the lines of her body with my fingers. All this in a matter of a couple of seconds. Then she broke the spell by quickly grabbing the towel off the floor with one hand gracefully not showing me anything else in the process. "Mike, um could you at least turn around for me." I blink quickly and nod my head turning around. I tried calming my breathing and tried getting the picture of her out of my head so I could calm myself down. I hear her putting her clothes on a soft rustling as she does so. "Ok Mike you can turn around now." I do so, slowly afraid yet hoping she wasn't dressed. Which just embarrassed me more. "Uh, uh the front door was unlocked and well I was looking for you. You did say to come over right after I changed right?" She just looked at me studying my face then looked down again. I was bulging but not as bad as before. She smiles softly at me, relief swept through me. Good she wasn't mad. "If you wanted to see me naked Mike you could have asked instead of sneaking in here." "I didn't sneak, and I don't want to see you naked or anything like that!" She raised her eyebrows at me, her hair still wet, she laughed at me. "Yeah, something down there disagrees with you." I finally looked down, knowing what I would see. Sure, enough I was bulging, I tried crossing my legs but instead it just made it worse. I put my hands down in front of my pants trying to hide it. Mandy grins even more and walks towards me. I was a couple of inches taller than her. She was tall for a girl. I was breathing through my nose, and I could smell her shampoo. It reminded me of flowers and her soap made her smell like lavender, then was her smell which was musky and smelled great. She looks into my eyes, and I realize for the first time she was a woman and beautiful. Why had I never noticed this before? My tongue stuck in my throat I couldn't talk and barely could breathe. She leans towards me and kisses the side of my mouth. Backs away from me "thanks for the compliment." I look at her confused heart pounding. "What do you mean?" She looks down towards my bulge I was still covering. "That's what." She walks away "Mike please leave I will call Dan and Alyssa to help me." "What! But Mandy why I'm here and are you mad at me?" She looks at me sadly in her eyes and she grew up quickly before my eyes in that moment. In her eyes I saw pain with the sadness. I wanted so badly to go to her and just hold her anything to make her feel better. I saw something else in her eyes at that moment something I couldn't figure out, but it stopped me dead in my tracts. I felt like crying at that moment like something was lost and I would never get it back. Later I realized it was a piece of my innocence that I had lost. "I'm so sorry Mandy." Then I walked out of the room down the stairs and out the door. The whole-time walking home all I could think about wasn't her beautiful body but that flicker of something in her eyes that had stopped me dead in my tracts.