Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 00:09:33 +0200 (CEST) From: Nathan Me Subject: James 38 'James' by Nathan Email address nathan7new@yahoo.co.uk My stories are archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nathansstories/. This story contains material of a sexual nature and describes sexual acts between adults and children. If you find this kind of material offensive, if you are under the legal age to read such material or if it is illegal in your country, please do not read any further. My stories may contain some factual or autobiographical elements, but they are works of fiction and any apparent similarities of my characters to real people are not intended. This story is protected by copyright. It may not be downloaded, copied, printed or otherwise reproduced in any way other than for your private enjoyment and may not be changed in any way without express written consent of the author, me! I hope you enjoy this story. James: Chapter 38 The following morning, Mrs Daniels was the first person up and already sitting eating her breakfast when the rest came down for theirs. She greeted them as if nothing at all had occurred the previous day and, if anything, she seemed brighter and less caustic than before. Who was she kidding, Tom thought as he loaded his plate with two eggs, two sausages, two strips of bacon, mushrooms and baked beans. He also picked up a couple of slices of fried bread and coffee. There is nothing like a full English breakfast to start a day of vigorous activity off well. He sat next to Alex and Ann who were already tucking into their respective breakfasts. Ann had a bowl of muesli and an orange juice. Alex, like Tom, had decided on a full English. "You ever been gorge walking, Tom?" Ann asked. "No, not really. Done a lot of cross country walks and treks though." "Not much different, just wetter." she laughed. "Even if you wear waterproofs over your jeans, they still get absolutely soaked." "Last year one of the older kids fell in and pulled me in with him. The water wasn't too deep, so it was easy enough to pull him out, but we were both soaked to the skin and it takes ages to dry out." Alex said. "Alex and I both went on safety courses a couple of years ago as some boy died in an accident when they went in water that was too deep and too fast. Basically, we follow the centre staffs lead unless we feel conditions are unsafe to continue. Normally we would follow their advice, but if they say it's ok, but we feel unsure, we can call it off. Common sense really, but accidents can and have happened so everyone is extra careful now." She nodded in the direction of the Mrs Daniels, "Especially this week." "She seems a bit more cheery this morning." Alex commented. "Don't know why." Ann said, "She was thoroughly mean in the bus on the way up and after yesterday I didn't think she'd show her sour face again." "She's obviously got thick skin." Tom said round a mouthful of button mushrooms. "Do you think it was true?" Ann asked, referring to the previous day's main topic of conversation. "I don't know," Alex answered, "but there's rarely smoke without fire." The last of the children came wandering in as Tom finished his last egg. Some of them looked as if they had hardly slept. It was possible some of them hadn't, as Alex and Nita had been up a few times in the early hours trying to settle them down. James and Sam weren't their usual perky selves either. Sam had big dark bags under his eyes and walked slowly behind his friend. Tom stood and took his plate and mug to the trolley for the dirty pots and walked over to the boys. "Morning." he said in a bright loud voice. "Ouch. Do you have to be so loud?" Chris asked. "I take it you boys are not quite awake yet then?" "You might say that." Sam answered. "James and Dean decided we'd have a midnight feast at one o'clock this morning. I don't think I actually got to sleep 'til about three." "And here you are up again. Well I guess the trek will wake you all up. All that icy cold water to wade through." "Vrrrrrr." James shuddered. "Go away, will you?" Tom laughed at the sorry bunch. "Well, I'll see you all outside in half an hour." "Is he always that high in the morning?" Sam asked James. "I guess." Once again, Mrs Daniels overheard Sam's question and wondered why Sam would think that James would know what Tom was like in the mornings. Her mind played with the possibilities. Had the young volunteer taken the boy home with him during the boy's stay at the charity home? No, she was sure Mr Chester, however badly she thought of the home in general, would not blatantly put a child at risk like that. She was sure this was Tom's first overnight trip with any of the children, so what else did that leave? He must have somehow known the boy before he came to the home. Not a friend or relative of the mother, or he might have come forward as such to try and arrange better circumstances for the boy, but... she had overheard James and Sam talking about going to live with Tom. There was something else niggling her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something else she was sure she knew that was relevant, but what it was eluded her. She crunched on a slice of fried bread, staring into space, trying to remember what it might be. James had spent several nights on the streets and then she remembered that he had claimed to have spent some time with a man too. Well! So what if this young volunteer was the paedophile who James had been with before the others picked him up in the cinema? Wouldn't that be ripe: a paedophile working at the home? That would be the ammunition she needed to... Well, she thought, better not count her chickens, but it was certainly worth checking into. Anything to take that smug look off Mr Chester's face was worth the hassle. These Christians had no right butting into what was Social Services' business and indoctrinating these poor children. There were too many do- gooders telling her and the other professionals what they should and shouldn't do, prying into their business with judicial reviews and inquiries. And accusing her of negligence, how dare they? She had faced a rigorous internal inquiry and she had come through that, hadn't she, with only a rap over the knuckles, because it wasn't really her fault after all. She could only work within the system. They just didn't understand that. It took longer than anticipated to get everybody kitted up and outside for the safety briefing. Amidst complaints that they had to walk again and questions about what had been packed for lunch, the centre and school staff finally managed to get the group organised and moving and it didn't seem to be too long before they reached the familiar wooden bridge they had crossed yesterday. Once across, instead of following the track, they were led to the stream's edge and alongside it. It wasn't very wide in the bottom of the cutting and the more athletic children found that they could actually jump it at some points. About thirty yards down another stream joined and the cut got deeper and the water faster. Scott halted the group and bunched them up together as best they could on the narrow track. "Right. From here on the water is a little bit faster and the track disappears for about fifty meters so we will be wading through the water to the next bit of track. The water can come well above your knees in places, although it is only ankle-deep in others. It is important that no one unhitches them selves from the line. It's there for your safety and if anyone falls, shout and we will all stop until the person is up and steady. Any questions?" No one had any so he moved along the group making sure each of the children and staff were attached securely. He moved back to the front and led them down into the stream. One by one they all discovered that despite their waterproofs and boots, the water found it's way in and soaked them. A twelve year old boy called Mike was the first to fall in, closely followed by Sara who pulled Nita in with her. At this stage the water was shallow and still relatively slow and the kids found Nita falling highly amusing. One or two couldn't help trying to splash others and Alex had to tell Mark, one of his boys, to behave several times. None of it was bad natured and, fifty meters downstream, the gorge opened out with a wide gently sloping bank on one side. Scott led them out onto the bank and declared a break. The stream was very broad and shallow at this point, with large boulders causing what seemed like big waves or white water, but in fact, most of the water seemed to sit still, or slowly whirl round in little eddies. Nita waded out with a group of the children, allegedly looking for fish, but in reality taking the opportunity to splash around. As she tried stepping on a large flat rock, she slipped and once again fell bottom first into the water, much to everyone's amusement. Dean helped her up and walked out further with her. Several of the other kids paddled out behind her and stood in the water as it cascaded down over a group of boulders, causing white water that looked dramatic on the photo Nita took. Her camera was wrapped in a clear plastic bag, which was just as well as she had now fallen twice. Sam and Chris paddled close to the bank and James sat on the bank with Tom and Alex, who had laughed themselves red in the face when Nita had fallen. After a good twenty minute break, the centre staff rounded up their charges and set off down the track at the edge of the stream. Being out of the stream gave them an opportunity to dry off a little, but as several of them fell 'accidentally' back into the stream, they remained thoroughly soaked. Alex rebuked two of the boys for their excessive horseplay. Fifteen minutes later the track left the side of the stream and they made their way through a deep cut that many remembered from the previous day. Once through the cut, instead of carrying straight on, like they had done before, they turned left, back towards the stream, but after just a few minutes they could hear what sounded like a mighty roar, as if the stream had become something much stronger. The track dropped steeply through the trees and as they moved further away from the cut, the roar grew louder and louder. As they came out of the trees the children stopped in awe of the huge waterfall ahead of them. "High force is the highest waterfall in England and the noise it makes impressive too." Scott told them. He quoted statistics about how much water fell over the falls in an hour, a day and a year. He led them down to the edge of the pool at the base of the waterfall and round to another track that fell steeply beside the smaller falls below High Force. Here they had to cross the water, but as it was flowing quite fast, they all had to link up again to the line. One by one they crossed the now thigh-deep water, attached to the line until they reached the far bank, where they unhooked and sat to wait for the others. Mrs Daniels looked very unsteady as her large frame balanced on two thin legs that were struggling to find secure footholds in the strong flow and swirl of the water. Once the last few were across, the group followed the track down to the next calm area. This was even broader than the first shallows they had stopped at. Closest to them, a mini waterfall fell into the shallows, but on the far side the water crashed down over a succession of rocks, causing white water that seemed to be flowing a lot faster than that closest to them. Scott pointed that out and told them not to wander to that side of the river. River: that was the first time anyone had called it that. The children had great fun in the shallows whilst the adults sat and watched. Dean found his way under the little waterfall and crouched down for Nita to take his photo while others waited to take their turn. The water fell onto his helmet and covered his blue waterproofs, but he had a grin from ear to ear. Sam and Chris took turns followed by a couple of the girls. Daft as it seemed, all of the kids were happy to play in the shallows and in turn, let Nita take their photo in the little waterfall. Finally they all decided they were hungry and climbed onto the bank. They sat in little groups, most having removed their outer waterproof clothes, and bathed in the warm sun eating their sandwiches and drinking their juice. "This is wicked." Sam declared. "Mint." agreed Dean. "Yeah." Chris joined. James mumbled something through his sandwich, but no one understood what, or really cared. They knew what he meant. They were having fun. After lunch, they all stretched out on the bank and snoozed. Walking through the water was actually quite tiring. James fell asleep with his head on Sam's chest and his bootless feet dangling over Tom's legs. Tom reached out and tickled them, but the boy was obviously fast asleep, as he didn't react at all. Mrs Daniels had been watching them all morning. The four boys obviously fawned on the young volunteer. Tom was rugged and handsome and as immature as the children themselves from what she had seen of him. He was obviously far too close to the boys and if that meant he was doing things he shouldn't, anything at all, she would make it her business to find out. Lunch over; Scott rallied the troops for the next hike. There was no path alongside the river for the next 30 or so meters, so it was back into the water. Scott was telling them the routine for the next sections and stressing that some parts were much more difficult than those they had already encountered and when he gave instructions, everyone must follow them exactly. He stressed to the staff that there could be no horseplay over the next three sections as there was considerable risk. Sara complained that she wasn't dry enough yet to get wet again. Even Nita, who could normally keep a straight face no matter what absurdities the kids dreamed up, struggled to hide her snicker. Sam yawned and that set James off. Both boys looked as if they needed another couple of hours sleep. Tom laughed at them. Although they were facing away from each other, their physical movements, stretching up with their arms bent to scratch their heads, were identical. He reached out and ruffled both their hair. Mrs Daniels stood watching. She made sure that when they started out again, she was just in front of them. The water here was faster. The banks had come closer together quickly, forcing the water that had been calm and slow where they had stopped for lunch into a force that seemed determined to push them over and devour them. At one point or another, most of the group slipped or fell completely. The bed of the river was full of rocks and getting a foothold was sometimes difficult. When James fell and went completely under the fast flowing water, Sam reached out to grab him and toppled over himself. They came up spluttering, holding on to the rope to which they were all attached. A few meters more and Scott led them up a muddy incline onto the bank. The path was very narrow and it was hard to hear him over the noise the river was making. Mrs Daniels unhitched her harness from the rope and sat on a rock out crop. Seeing her, Sam, James did likewise. Still behind Dean and Chris, Tom didn't see what they had done. At the front of the group, Scott couldn't see what they were doing either and after a couple minutes started out once more. The path was very narrow and with their muddy boots, very slippy. It climbed steeply about three meters above the river and then fell back till they were about a meter above it. In places the path all but disappeared and they were almost rock climbing to the next section. Sara's boots, still thick with mud, couldn't grip the small footholds in the rock and she slipped. Ann in front of her and the girl behind her suddenly felt the weight pull down as the rope slid through their harnesses. Ann turned and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up onto the narrow ledge she herself was standing on. The girl looked terrified and froze. Ann gently coaxed her to move on again. Everyone behind had had to stop, but now slowly began to move again. Streams from both sides of the river and moisture seeping out of the ground in small rivulets, which frequently crossed their path, added to the raging body of water below them. They waded through another small stream and climbed back up onto the path. It opened out for a brief while and then narrowed again. It descended down to river level and at times was covered with shallow water before it climbed up again. In some places you had to lean out over the river, hanging onto the rock where it jutted out. Wet, muddy and tired, the going here was harder and much more of a challenge for the novices. Sara and a couple of the younger children were complaining they were tired, wet and fed up. The staff were focusing on keeping these children moving, keeping their spirits up, not on those who seemed to be enjoying and enthralled by the adventure. Sam loved it. He had never done anything like this. He kept looking back at James, Chris and Dean and all of them had looks of hard concentration on their faces, but he was sure they were enjoying themselves too. What could be better than this? Here he was with James and the others and even James' Tom having fun, no one hurting him, no one forcing him to do things he didn't like. This was heaven. He turned to look where his next foothold was. Mrs Daniels had stopped. She was staring at him. He had never seen such hatred in anyone's eyes before and he was scared. She moved forwards slowly, frequently looking back at him. It unnerved him: from ecstasy to fear in seconds. She stepped onto a small ledge and paused to take a breath. Sam, looking at his feet, didn't realise she had stopped and tried to step onto the same ledge. The big woman turned to see what he was doing, sure there was not enough room for the two of them on the ledge. She put her hand up to stop him and pushed him back. He saw the hand coming towards him and leaned back, thinking she was reaching out to hit him. He leaned so far back that he lost his footing and started to fall towards the river. James saw Sam falling and reached out to grab him, but the boys weight was too much for him and he too was pulled down towards the raging river below them. The crests seemed to reach up and grab them both, pulling them down, down, deep into the dark depths and now faster and faster, pulling and pushing them against rock. She looked down in horror. Sam felt the current pull him under and he rolled with the flow until he came up hard against a large rock. He hit his head hard and bounced back into the flow. He tried desperately to get back to the surface but it seemed further and further away. He fought to get back to the surface and his lungs felt as if they would burst. He rolled in the current and, almost in slow motion, everything seemed to go black. The current also dragged James down, still holding onto Sam's waterproof. He tried to find a footing, or a rock, anything to brace against. He had to go up to get air. They were thrown against a rock and it forced the last air out of his lungs. His lungs burned. He tried to pull Sam back towards him, but the water seemed determined to separate them and soon James was so tiered he could no longer hold on. He couldn't reach the surface. He couldn't breath. He desperately wanted to find Sam. His head hurt and his chest hurt and... Tom saw the boys fall, but, still hitched to the rope, he fumbled with the hitch until he had freed himself. He dived into the rushing flow of the river and swam as fast as he could towards where he had seen the boys go under just seconds before. He couldn't see anything and all he could feel was the water and the rocks. He came up for air and searched around for any sign of the boys. Ahead he thought he saw a hand, briefly raised against the water. He swam as fast as he could and dived down again. He reached out but felt nothing. Up for air and to search again: there was a hand, off to his right, towards the other bank. He swam and dived franticly searching for any sign of the boys. He felt something that was not water or rock. He grabbed it and pulled it to the surface. He had a boy's leg. He reached down and pulled the boy's head above the water. It was James. He grasped the head in the crook of his arm and swam to the bank, across to river to group. Scott heard a scream from the back of the group. He turned in time to see Tom dive dangerously into the river. He swept his gaze over the surface of the water searching for what had made the man dive in. There, being swept further and further into the fast flowing main current on the far side of the river, he could see a boy, maybe even two, struggling to keep their heads above water. Why had they unhitched themselves from the safety rope? He looked at John, who was already on his radio. He unhitched himself and tied another rope to his harness. He gave one end to John and jumped as far out into the river as he could. He saw Tom swimming towards him with a boy held high to keep his head above water. He helped Tom pull James up onto the narrow path. "How many fell in, Tom?" "Two." They both searched the river with their eyes looking for any sign of Sam. Neither could see him anywhere. "Get this boy up the bank and start mouth to mouth." Alan and one of the centre staff pulled James up the bank and the centre staff started the mouth to mouth. The other staff brought the rest of the children off the narrow rock ledge and up the bank to the meadow at the top. One of the centre staff had already called the emergency services, but Tom, John and Scott continued their search for Sam. James lay lifeless and for several moments didn't seem to be responding to the mouth to mouth. Then, with a splutter and a heave of his chest, he coughed up the river water he had swallowed and started breathing on his own. As soon as he became aware, he asked for Sam, but no one answered him. Alex, Nita and Ann were horrified, but still managed to herd the remaining children away from the river and up to safety. Some of them sat crying, others stood, stunned, but still focused on the scene below. It was all Scott and John could do to stop Tom diving back into the water. Scott, still tethered to his rope made several attempts to search the river but it was obvious that Sam was either deep and trapped, or had already been washed downstream. Finally they accepted that there was no more that they could do here and climbed up the bank. Scott set off down stream, looking for signs of the boy. John checked the ETA of the emergency services and Tom made straight for James. Seeing the boy conscious and wrapped in a space blanket, Tom fell to his knees, clutched the boy to him and began to weep. The remaining School and centre staff were just beginning to lead the children back to the school when the emergency team arrived. Until this point, no one had actually asked what had happened. Tom and James described what they saw, which wasn't much. James was sure he had heard Sam say something like, "Don't push me." Then they asked Mrs Daniels. "Well, I was on a small ledge and I looked back and saw the boy coming towards me. He seemed very unstable and I reached out a hand to steady him, but he was already falling and there was nothing I could do." The team spread down the river, looking for any sign that Sam might have made it out, but eventually they met Scott coming back up towards them. He had found nothing. More people came to help with the search. Half an hour later it was obvious Sam was still somewhere in the river. They decided that as well as posting people well down river to watch for his body, they needed to get boats to start dredging the uneven bottom. The search took hours and it was well into the following morning before they found the body, wedged beneath a fallen tree trunk about a mile downstream. The men had rigged ropes to help them up and down the steep bank and now those ropes were being used to haul the corpse up out of the river. After all this time, it was obvious they would not find him alive, but even for fully grown men used to dealing with emergencies, finding a dead child, even one they didn't know, was traumatic. Several just sat and cried. More to come...