Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 15:56:33 EDT From: Bwstories8@aol.com Subject: The Castaway Hotel-book 8, chapter 3 Legal Notice: The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts. The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality. Don't read this story if: **You're not 18 or over, **If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live, **Or if you don't want to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex. The author retains copyright to this story. Placing this story on a website or reproducing this story for distribution without the author's permission is a violation of that copyright. Legal action will be taken against violators. I wish to extend my thank you to Emoe57 for his editorial assistance with this chapter, and Art, the real Vinnie and John for their additional input on each chapter. E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions, or other 'constructive' comments or advice may be sent to: bwstories8@aol.com. * * * * * * * * Although the boys in these stories have unprotected sex, I strongly urge all of you out there to be smart and protect yourselves from various sexually transmitted diseases by using condoms when having intercourse. * * * * * * * * The Castaway Hotel-Book 8-by BW (Young-Friends). Copyright 2004 by billwstories Chapter 3 - Searching and hoping. February 2004 Sunday, Jake and I set out on our trips, but we weren't alone. The boys thought we needed company and help to do our jobs, so some of them volunteered to go with us. Dion and Trey decided to go with Jake, while Sammy, Andrew and Little Ricky planned to ride with me. Even though Graham had wanted to come with us too, he finally decided to stay home with Cole, to answer any phone calls that might come in while we were gone. I'm glad that they made up their own minds to do that, just in case Vinnie did call or show up, so they could call us on our cell phones and advise us of any information they thought we should know. Our trips actually went very smoothly, and we were back home by late Sunday evening. While we were gone, the boys, Jake and I had hung hundreds of 'Missing' posters, asked numerous people if they had seen Vinnie and we had kept our eyes peeled for any signs of him. By the time we got back home, we were exhausted, but hopeful that our long day and hard work would bear fruit. Even though we had discovered nothing substantial that day, we had talked to so many people and put Vinnie's picture up in so many places, we felt someone would remember something or recognize his picture and get a hold of us. Graham and Cole told us things had been quiet at home and they had only received calls from Uncle Steve and Kevin, both wanting to know if anything new had turned up. When they told them nothing had, they were both disappointed, but they did not stay on the line long, in case others were trying to get through. I did phone them both, to let them know we were back and fill them in on what we did, and each of them told me they were glad I called. Although Vinnie was still missing and I was worried about where he was, a new thought had popped into my mind, which gave me some comfort. Graham had seen no haze around Vinnie before he left and Graham had received no messages from Brent or Cody warning him of problems or telling him something was terribly wrong, so that made me feel Vinnie wasn't hurt, just missing. I knew some people would probably think I should be committed if I told them that, but Graham's predictions were always on the money, so I felt his lack of a prediction or warning was an equally good sign. I was going to bank on it and use that thought to keep my hopes up. Although much of my time was occupied with Vinnie's disappearance, there were other items coming up on our calendar. Nick's birthday was at the end of February, but I thought I should get in contact with him to wish him a Happy Birthday before he left on his trip. He'd be out of touch for a couple of weeks, while he toured different areas of Brazil, and I didn't want to miss passing along our birthday wishes to him. I called him Monday, while I was on my lunch break. He seemed excited when he discovered I was on the other end of the line. "Hi, Pop. I didn't expect you to call," he told me, with a bit of bounce in his voice. "Is everything okay?" he asked next, as if he thought another disastrous event had happened to one of us. "The reason I called was so I could wish you 'happy birthday' before you left on your trip, because I didn't know when I'd be able to reach you again. However, you'll have to wait until you return to get your gifts," I added, teasingly. "Oh, okay. Thanks," he giggled into the phone. "Things aren't perfect here," I added, "but we're holding up. Vinnie and Kevin had a falling out and Vinnie has disappeared, but I'm sure he'll turn up again soon, so I'm not really that worried." I told him the white lie, because I didn't want him to worry or cancel his trip to come home early. "Are you sure?" he asked, with a tinge of disbelief in his voice. "Yes, I'm sure. Do you have everything you need for your trip?" "Yep. I'm all packed and I leave in a few hours," he told me. "Do you have enough money and supplies?" I asked, referring to the sex related items I'd been sending to him. "Sure do. What you sent me at Christmas will be enough to last me until I get home." "I hope so," I advised him, "but if not, please don't take any chances." "Okay, and I only did that a couple of times, when you didn't get the stuff to me in time," he admitted. "That's not good, but we'll get you checked out when you get back." "Pop, that's not necessary. I'm fine. Nothing's wrong with me." "Still, you know I'd rather be safe than sorry." "Yeah, yeah. Always the worrier," he half joked. "You know I'm not that bad," I corrected him. "I give you boys a lot of freedom and don't ask for much in return." "I know." he reluctantly agreed. "I'm not sure my parents would have been so willing to send me the things I needed, at least not without a bunch of lectures and maybe a few fights over it." "Then you'll agree to be tested when you get back, without any arguments?" I asked him. "Can we talk about this after I get home?" he wanted to know, trying to put me off. "I think you can answer me now," I warned him, not letting him off the hook. "Okay, okay. I'll do it then. I guess I owe you that much, for all you've done for me." "I'm glad you see it that way," I teased, so I'll set up the appointments, so there won't be any delay upon your return. "Do we HAVE to do it right away?" he moaned. "Can't I get settled back in before I have to go through all of that?" "I don't think so," I responded, truthfully. "I know you and your sexual appetite, and I don't want you having sex with anyone in the house until you've been given a clean bill of health. I'd ask you to abstain from sex, if I thought you could, but seeing we'd both probably agree that would never happen, I want you to take those tests as soon as possible." "Man, you can really be a pain in the butt sometimes," he added, only half jokingly, "but you're probably right in thinking I couldn't go without sex for very long. All right, you win. I'll take your silly tests whenever you want." Happy with his concession, we said good-bye, but not before I told him to have fun, yet be careful. He said he would and then he hung up. Over the next three days, there were no new developments concerning Vinnie, so Wednesday night I called Kevin and made arrangements for him to come home. His last class ended before noon on Friday, so I thought he would save us all time by taking the bus most of the way home. I called the bus company and paid for a ticket for him, which he could pick up at the local bus station. The bus would take him to York, where we'd pick him up, because the layover there to catch a bus all the way home was far too long to leave him stranded. He seemed happy with the arrangements, so we finalized our plans. Even if Vinnie turned up now, he would still come home, so he could spend time with Vinnie and hopefully work things out. I decided to be the one to drive to York to pick Kevin up, because I thought he might need to talk some more along the way. Thursday I announced my plans to the family, but the boys weren't happy when I told them that I'd be going alone. They argued with me for about fifteen minutes before giving up, but I was grateful when they finally left me alone. On Friday, Kevin got to York before I did, because something needing my attention came up at work, just as I was getting ready to leave. That delayed me about forty or forty-five minutes, which meant the half hour leeway I had left in my traveling schedule had now disappeared. He wasn't upset, but he was holding his luggage and looking for me as I arrived. He raced toward the car and was opening the passenger door even before I came to a full stop, so I mildly chided him for his behavior. Apologizing for his breech of decorum, he threw his gear in the back, before he got in the front seat and buckled up. On the ride home, we discussed what we'd done to find Vinnie, tried to think of other things we could do next, and then Kevin went into detail about how the evening with the other boy came about. After that, Kevin went on to describe what he was going to try to do to make things right with Vinnie, once he was back in the fold, and asked me if there was anything else he might consider, to set things right. I told him it seemed he had covered all the bases, but until Vinnie was safely back in my arms, I wasn't going to speculate on other matters. As soon as I said that, and saw Kevin's reaction, I knew I had made a major blunder. "You don't think we're going to find him or that he'll come back home, do you?" he blurted out, in a trembling, frightened tone. "Do you think something awful has happened to him then?" "No, Kevin, I don't," I told him in a calm, even voice, hoping that would help to reassure him. "It's just that I don't want to get ahead of myself here. First, I want to find him and learn why he disappeared like this, and THEN I'll worry about how to patch things up between the two of you, if you still need my help." "So, you don't think he's, well...hurt or dead or anything?" he asked, with tear filled eyes. "I'm confident he's not dead," I told him, "though I'm bothered that you might think that, but there's no way to know if he's hurt or under someone else's control." "Dad, I hope he's not dead, but if you'd have seen how he flew out of there and how he wouldn't stop, even after I saw him look back at me, well...I was kind of worried he might...you know, hurt himself or something. He was very upset and I could tell how he had made special plans for us, until I ruined them." "No matter how hurt he might have been, I don't see Vinnie as being suicidal. He's too full of life and had to fight too hard just to survive and lead a normal life, so I don't think he'd throw it all away quite that easily. Yes, he was most likely very, very hurt, angry, and even disappointed in you, but I don't think taking his own life would ever be an option he'd consider. Maybe running away," I added, trying to offer another viable explanation, "but nothing more devious than that." Kevin sat in silence for the next several minutes, as he thought about what I had said, before he responded. "I guess you're right and I'm glad you pointed that out. That's why I've been so worried, cuz I thought I made him do something awful like that. I've been blaming myself since he left and that's why I wanted to come home. Hearing you say that does make me feel a little better, but I still know this is all my fault, so if something does happen to him, I'll still feel responsible." "I understand that, but let's not think the worst." I reached over and took his hand in mine, hoping my touch would let him know that I still loved him, wasn't going to forever condemn him for what he'd done, and hopefully infuse a little of my optimism into him. He seemed to respond as I'd hoped, as he looked over at me and smiled. "Thanks, Dad. That does make me feel a little better," he croaked out, his voice still choked by emotion. The rest of the ride was fairly quiet, though we did talk about a few other things, including how he was doing with his class work. He assured me that he had been keeping up with his workload and his grades had not slipped, though he did admit to missing a few classes because he was so distraught at times. I told him I'd forgive him that little lapse, as long as his grades remained where they should be, and he thanked me for being understanding about this. Over the course of the evening, each of the boys tried to let Kevin know that they didn't hate him for what had happened and they all told him they thought Vinnie would be back with us before long. This also seemed to relieve some of Kevin's anxiety, as I learned that previously he felt his brothers would turn on him after what he had done, but now he started to realize that wasn't going to happen. However, the boys weren't above letting him know that what he did was dumb, but they understood how it might have happened, so they were also letting him know they weren't giving him total absolution for his error in judgment. Friday night also marked an anniversary of sorts, as it was the end of the second week since Vinnie had disappeared. Remembering that began to darken the mood around the house, though everyone tried to remain upbeat that Vinnie would be back with us soon. The only problem was, that even though I was trying to keep the boys optimistic about all of this, I was becoming less convinced about my own stance. I could find nothing to explain why Vinnie would have gone this long without contacting us, if it was in his power to do so. In fact, that night my dreams belied my underlying concerns. The first of these visions I remembered, I was sitting in the family room when I saw a State Police cruiser pull into our driveway. Thinking they might have Vinnie with them, or at least some news as to his whereabouts, I went out to greet them. That's when they sprung the awful news upon me. "Mr. Currie," the first trooper began, "we are sorry to inform you that the body of a young man using crutches and fitting your son's description has been discovered. We will need you to come with us, to identify the body." That immediately brought flashbacks to the day I was informed of Brent's death in the auto accident, and my knees buckled and I fell to the ground. Although the troopers had tried to grab my arms and keep me from going down, they reacted too slowly and I landed face first into the driveway. I was still reeling from that dream, because it had been so vivid and seemed so real, that I hardly realized I was drifting into another scenario. This time I saw Vinnie as a prisoner, held in a dungeon like setting, where he was repeatedly tortured and sexually abused by some sadistic bastard. Even though Vinnie was gay, he did not deserve nor enjoy the type of attention that was being paid to him by his cruel jailer. The pain and humiliation Vinnie was forced to endure was evident, and my stomach turned as I watched the various abhorrent deeds he was forced to go through. Just as I was about to jump in and try to rescue him, that nightmare ended, but my torment did not. The final disquieting dream showed Vinnie being kidnapped and used as a parts store for needy, wealthy, oversees patients. As various doctors did tests to determine compatibility with prospective paying recipients, Vinnie was prepared so they could harvest whichever organs were deemed compatible. This was so his kidnappers could realize the maximum profits from their deed. By the time I awoke from this last ghoulish vision, it was already sunrise, so I just got up, rather than endure more of these horrendous nightmares. I knew I would probably be tired the entire day, but I felt that would be better than the alternative. Jake noticed my condition as soon as he saw me and wanted to know why I looked as if I hadn't slept. At first I was going to lie, to keep him from worrying too, but then I remembered we had promised each other that we would keep no secrets, so I spilled my guts as to what I had gone through after we went to bed. He said he had felt me tossing and turning, but didn't realize how bad it was, or he would have awakened me, to spare me from having to go through that. I told him that probably would have meant that neither of us would have slept at all, so I told him it was best he hadn't done that. After having a couple of cups of coffee and a little breakfast, I went on my computer to check my email. After deleting the never-ending supply of junk mail, which offered credit cards, better mortgage rates, access to porn sites, various drugs at cheaper prices, and ways to enhance my male organs, I ran across an email from Nick. Although I hadn't expected to hear from him until he got back with his host family, I was pleased to see his communique. Hey Pop, I'm in Rio and Carnival is a blast. It's even a bigger party than I thought and there are tons of gorgeous boys. I introduced myself to several of them and got to know them better. I'm really glad I came here for this. There are all kinds of parades, with people dressed in all kinds of wild costumes, and most of the things they wear don't cover much. If I was into girls, I'd be having a blast, but there are still plenty of cute guys, so I'm doing okay. There's lots of good stuff to look at. I don't know if I told you, but I'm taking a trip down the Amazon next, so that should be interesting too. I've already been warned not to go swimming in the river though, as there are schools of piranha that sometimes attack humans, so don't worry. I don't want to be attacked and have them eat something I'd rather feed to some handsome boy. hehehe I hope Vinnie's back home now and that everything is back to normal. I'll call you before I leave here on my next trip. Tell everyone I said hi, especially Shannon, and I want to talk to him when I call, so please let him know that. Btw, if you were wondering how I did this, I stopped in a cyber-cafe to send you this email. I'm smarter than I look. :-P Love you all, Nick He did it again, I thought, as I finished reading his message. He hints that he's been fooling around with a bunch of other guys, but then he makes sure he sends a special greeting to Shannon and even requests that we make sure Shannon is there to talk to him when he calls. I wonder if he even realizes the irony or incongruity in those two opposing concepts of free love and faithfulness. When the boys began to wake up and stumble downstairs, Jake and I began to whip them up some breakfast too. While he was eating, Kevin made a suggestion. "Dad, can't we go out and look for Vinnie today? Just you and me." "Kevin, I don't know where else we would go. We've traveled the interstates and stopped at all the rest areas and exits, putting posters up in all those locations." "You can't have done them all!" Suddenly, he ran off, and I realized he was just probably upset and frustrated, but I felt it best to give him a few minutes alone, before going to speak with him. However, before I went after him, he came back, carrying an atlas. "What interstates did you go on?" he asked, while looking at the page for Pennsylvania. "Jake, I and your brothers went out both I-76 and I-70," I advised him. Kevin studied the map for a few more minutes and then looked up at me. "How about I-99, heading toward Penn State, or I-79, outside of Pittsburgh?" He looked between Jake and me now. "No, we didn't do those routes," I told him. "Well, can't we do those today. He could have gone in those directions too." His expression changed now, from being confused and uncertain, to pleading with us to do this for him. "Okay, we can do that. I'll go print out some more fliers, and Jake can take I-79 and I'll take the small part of I-70 south first, which we didn't cover the last time, and then go on I-99 north. Is that okay with you?" I asked Kevin. "Yeah, but I want to go with you," he stated, emphatically. "Us too," some of the others began to chime in. "Okay, but I'd like someone to stay here, in case we get any calls." "We'll do that, Dad," Trey volunteered, letting me know that he and Dion would take that duty this time. "That will work," I responded. "So, who wants to join me and Kevin," I asked next. "How about us?" Graham asked, indicated Cole and himself. "Sure. So that means Little Ricky, Sammy and Andrew will go with Jake. Anyone have any problems with that?" No one did, so we all got prepared and ready to leave. I understood there was more to Kevin's request than just trying to locate Vinnie. Kevin also felt that he hadn't done anything to rectify his transgression, which caused this problem in the first place, and he would have found it very frustrating to just sit around the house waiting for someone to call. Besides, I hadn't considered the north-south routes, as we had focused on the east-west highways Vinnie and this other guy might have taken, because he had been seen heading in that direction. The other thing was, that even though he had been spotted beyond where I-70 headed south and I-99 headed north, it didn't mean they might not have backtracked or changed direction. It was worth a try and I had to agree it was better than sitting around and doing nothing. The trips went almost identical to our previous outings, and we made stops at the various rest areas and exits. At each location, we would hang our posters in various places Vinnie might have stopped at and we asked the people who worked in those places if they recognized his picture. This took all day again, and by the time we got back home and hooked up with Jake and the others again, we were a little more hopeful, though neither group had discovered anything substantial during the day. After spending some time with the boys relaxing and unwinding, I suggested they head to bed and get some rest. We'd all be going to church in the morning and I hinted we could all say an extra prayer, both tonight and tomorrow in church, asking God to protect Vinnie and have him get in touch with us again. Most of the boys were tired, but still eager to comply with my proposal, but Kevin wasn't about to give in without a protest. "Dad, can't we do something else first?" he pleaded. "Like what, Kevin? We've spent all day on the road and put up many more fliers, so what else do you think we should do?" "I don't know," he shot back, "but I just feel we have to do something more." He looked sad and despondent. "We will. We'll pray," I advised him, hoping that would satisfy his need to do more. After a minute or so of thought, he merely nodded and started to walk away. "Are you going to be all right?" I asked him. "I don't know," he replied, honestly. "I feel so damn bad and guilty about all of this." "Why don't you spend some time with some of your brothers then," I suggested. "No, from now on I'm not sharing a bed with any other boys, not even my brothers." He was adamant about that. "I don't think you should be alone tonight," I advised him. "I'm pretty sure Jake won't mind if you spend the night in with us, so what would you say to that. I don't think we'd count as boys and I'll even sleep in the middle," I chuckled, knowing that was not always the most desired position on the bed. After thinking about it briefly, and looking to Jake to get his nod of approval, Kevin finally agreed. I was glad, because I really didn't think it would be good for him to be alone. Even at college, his roommate was only on the other side of his dorm room, though in his own bed, so he hadn't been alone even then, even if he may have felt he was at the time. That caused me to consider something else. I wondered what he had told his roommate about why he had been so miserable and depressed. I'd leave that alone for now, but I would question him about it at a later time. After we said a group prayer, we all snuggled into the bed, and I was glad I had opted for the king-size bed for my room all those years ago. I was in the middle, with one arm under and around Jake, while my other arm was holding Kevin tightly against my side. A few seconds later I felt Jake's arm slide across my chest, but I soon learned it wasn't for my benefit, as he located Kevin's hand and held it, signaling that he cared about him too. The next morning we got up and got ready to go to church. I made sure we arrived early, so we could say a couple of extra prayers as we waited for the service to begin. It was a typical service, though the sermon happened to be about the prodigal son, and after it was over, we all went out for our normal Sunday brunch. We hurried through it more today, than we normally would, as everyone wanted to get back home in case the phone rang. When we got back, we changed and got comfortable, and I told Kevin we'd leave around 2:00, to take him back to his campus. Even though I could tell he wasn't happy about leaving so early, it was a long round trip and I had to get back early enough to get some rest, as I still had to work the next day. After calming down a bit, he came over to sit on my lap and talk to me. "Can I come home next weekend too?" he wanted to know. "I suppose that would be fine. You can take the bus again, but this time I'll give you some money to have on you, so you can buy the ticket for yourself. Get a round-trip ticket, to and from York, so none of us will have to spend that much time on the road driving you back. Okay?" He nodded. We sat there talking about Vinnie and what else we might be able to do, when the phone rang. Kevin hopped up, getting off my lap, but I told him I wanted to answer the phone. I didn't want Kevin taking it, just in case it was bad news. I picked the phone up between the third and fourth ring. "Hello." "Hello, Pop. It's me Vinnie." * * * * * * * * If you have enjoyed reading this story, you will find other stories by me at 'BW's Rainbow Youth Connection,' at http://bwsryc.gayauthors.org/ You can also locate my stories by clicking on the Nifty author link and scrolling down to "BW". This will give you the links for everything I have posted there. I also love to hear from my readers and get their reaction to my stories. If you don't mind, please share whatever information you feel comfortable with, because it helps knowing my readers better when I decide what to write or how to gear it. Please email me at bwstories8@aol.com and let me know what you thought, so I can do even better in the future. Thanks, Bill.