This story fits into the cycle of another story I wrote called Challenges. While it is not necessary to read, it does provide background for other characters you will be introduced along the way.

This story is a work of fiction, and it is not real. The places and locations may exist, but I take huge liberties. There is no explicit sex scenes in my stories, but I do allude to them. If you are offended by the act of two people of the same sex engaging in relationships, or are offended by taking different twists on religious ideology, this story is not for you.

If you wish to make a comment, suggestion, or let me know how you felt about the story you can do so by emailing me at sockingsaw@hotmail.com. If it is for grammar reasons, please don’t. I am a history teacher, not an English teacher.

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Challenges: Eddie’s Book of Life

Part I

Eddie Martinez leaned over the sink as he checked his handy work with the razor. He was a lean person, with not much muscle on him. He had just gotten out of the shower and had a towel wrapped around him. His hair was a light brown and was plastered around his head as he had not yet time to fix it. He glanced at the entryway to the bathroom. He could still not get used to having no privacy.

He looked back in the mirror and looked deep into his eyes. They were unique as he had two different colors; heterochromia. One brown and one blue. He closed one eye and then followed by the other. He was fascinated with the difference, and had been since he was a child. He always wanted to see if the color of the iris made a difference in how he perceived things. But alas it didn’t.

“What are you doing?” a female voice said with a chuckle.

Eddie jumped a bit startled and turned to face the voice. It was Lucy Greenwald whom he had grown close to while at the Facility. That's what they referred to, but in all honesty it was just a prison for children whose parents were ashamed of them. The actual name was the Center for Christian Studies. It was a front for brainwashing and reform of the sexually deviant.

“You scared me.” Eddie said, going back to the mirror. Lucy had entered the program at the same time that he had, and they had become close friends. She was attractive, and had long black hair that went down to the middle of her back, and she usually let it hang free. She was short, about 5’2”, and like most short girls he knew she was fiery. “It has been something I have always done.” He shrugged and walked back to the stall so he could change. There were no doors, and no real privacy, but most everyone respected that you could have some when you dressed.

Lucy leaned against the door jam and looked down the hall .It was almost dinner time. “I am so tired of this palace.” She hummed.

“Well I would be concerned if you enjoyed it.” Eddie laughed from the stall. “It’s not exactly the Ritz.”

“We get to go home for the start of the school year next week at least.” She didn’t sound excited at the prospect. No one ever sounded excited to go home. It was a paradox really. Here you could be yourself to a certain extent, and at least everyone here knew what you were going through. But they were always trying to reform you. At home, you were on your own.

“To be shoved into the back room again.” Eddie came out of the stall dressed in some grey sweats and a red t-shirt that hugged his body too tightly. Most likely someone would say something about it.

“You like pushing the rules don’t you.” She said looking at the shirt.

Eddie smiled and threw the towel he was using into a bin near the door. The great part about this facility is you didn’t have to do laundry. “What are they going to do? Send me home?”

He paused at the door and looked at Lucy who returned the stare directly into his eyes. Everyone was always fascinated with his eyes, and always wanted to look at them. But he also had an unnerving feeling when they did. When people look into someone's eyes they tend to favor one over the other. But with him, they tended to move from the left to the right, as if peering into two doorways that led to two different destinations.

“There is something about you Eddie.” She said with a sigh.

Eddie had heard this before. Everyone that saw him would say that, but no one could ever tell him what that meant. What was it about him that people found so hard to understand?

Lucy pursed her lips together and humed for a bit. “I think I could fall for you.”

“What?” Eddie jerked his head back.

“Odd I know.” She shook her head, and back from the door and started to make her way down the hall toward the dining hall.

Eddie fell into step behind her. “Don’t tell me this BS is working on you.”

Lucy laughed and shook her head. “No. Just, there is something about you.”

They walked down the hall in silence. This was a common occurrence for him. He wasn’t a bad looking guy by most standards. He always seemed to catch the eye of women, but when they looked at him deeply, they seemed to be pushed away for some reason. Straight guys, or at least those that claimed to be straight, seemed to be enchanted and want more when they look into his eyes. They had the same look Lucy had. Then they shake their heads and move away.

***

The area where they ate was also a multipurpose room. They had group sessions, church services, and a variety of other activities here. This is also where the so-called ‘graduation’ took place. They would be having it next week as one of the members was going to turn 18 during the upcoming school year and he was ‘graduating’ from the system.

Currently the Facility has 8 patients. When they started this summer there were 12, but several ran away, and others had to go to psychiatric facilities to deal with major depression and suicidal thoughts. Eddie wondered if it would be better to fake a mental breakdown and be in a mental institution then here. But, he was a stable person. He didn’t enjoy being here, but he wasn’t depressed about it.

Eddie took a seat, and Lucy sat next to him. Same sex friendships were frowned upon here, so most everyone had a counterpart that they attached onto. He looked around the table. Out of the 8 patients left, there were 3 boys and 5 girls. He really had not gotten to know any of the others as they were either older or younger than him. He stuck with Lucy. They were all nice, but in this place, you had to be careful how you formed friendships. You didn’t want the wrong idea about things.

“Well,” a man at the head of the table said, looking at Lucy and Eddie with a grin. “I am glad you two could join us.”

“Sorry.” Eddie said not looking at the man. “I was late taking my shower, and Lucy waited for me.”

The man just smiled and pointed to the plates. “Billy,” he said looking at one of the younger boys at the table, “Will you say the blessing?”

Billy nodded his head and proceeded to say a prayer. Billy Lin was one of the newer arrivals. He was only 13 years old, and had been sent to this place to cure him of his desires. He was a cute kid with sandy blonde hair that went in all directions, no matter how hard he tried to get it put into place, and his eyes were a golden brown that sparkled when the sun hit him. He was going to be a slayer when he got older. If he made it that long. Younger people that came to the Facility were more apt to attempt suicide or be sent to the psyciatric hospital. Sadly, Billy was a loner, and he stayed to himself, never really talking to anyone. Eddie always made it a point to try to befriend him, but Billy tended to ignore him, or brush off his attempts of friendship.

“Amen.” Billy said softly, and everyone followed suit.

The only good thing about the Facility was that they served good food. Tonight it was roasted chicken with potatoes and green beans. Green beans were not Eddie’s favorite food, but he tolerated them..

No one talked during dinner. It wasn’t expected, nor did anyone ever want to risk saying something that would require them to all have a therapy session right then and there. It was one of the times no one wanted to think about why they were there.

***

After dinner was over, everyone was to report to the dorm areas. The boys shared a large bedroom together, with twin beds lining the wall. Eddie had been to the girls' side, and it was situated the same way. The idea was that if everyone was in the same room they would be less likely to engage in any activity that was inappropriate. Again there were no doors to the living areas.

They were expected to spend thirty minutes reading from the Bible or Book of Mormon before they went to bed. They treated everyone like they were on a mission, and thus everything followed that path. Read when you wake up, read when you go to bed. Have a discussion with the others, and bear testimonies. But then it was off to therapy and attempts to determine what caused you to follow the life of sin.

Eddie sat on the floor next to his bed with the Bible open. He had it open and was looking at it, but he wasn’t reading it. He had no intention of reading it. Like he told Lucy, what were they going to do? Send him home?

People took the holy text too seriously, and they didn’t care that there were 100 contradictions found on every other page. The Bible was okay to be a guide post on behaviors, but most of the stuff in here was not ethical by modern standards. To Eddie, the Bible was more of a way to shove people into a box, and to punish anyone that dared step out of that box. He dared to step out of the box and this is where he ended up.

Eddie was 16 now, but when he was 12 and getting ready to go to the temple for the first time, the Bishop had asked him if he was keeping the commandments. Then he gave a list of them, which he didn’t like as they were personal and of a sexual nature. Did you masturbate? Have you had sexual relations with a girl? Do you have feelings of attraction for people of the same gender? Of course he did, no he didn’t, and yes he did.

The problem was he was too naive to know not to say yes to the last one. He knew that you were supposed to say no to the first two, as the older boys in the ward told him so. But no one ever bothered to tell him not to say yes to being attracted. Personally, he didn’t see an issue as he never acted on his feelings. The Bishop wasn’t upset, but was concerned. Eddie asked him if he was going to tell his parents, and he said no. Apparently lying is a sin, except when you are the Bishop. Within the week his parents were told, and they blew up. How dare they have a son that was gay. They used less desirable words, but Eddie never liked using them .

He was yanked from public school, placed into homeschool, and during the summers he attended the Facility to cure him of his wrongs. Lucky for him when he arrived, so too did Lucy, and they became best of friends. And to make things even better, his parents were okay with him communicating during the school year with her as she was a girl, and it gave them hope that they were both cured.

A timer went off signalling it was time for bed. Eddie closed the Bible and set it on the nightstand next to his bed, and he climbed into it.

“Are you forgetting something?” his other roommate, Paul Timothy, asked.

“Nope.” Eddie ignored him. It was a warm night so there was no need to pull the blankets over him. They were supposed to say nightly prayers before bed. He never did them, but Paul always asked. He was well meaning, but he was about to leave and never come back. Of course, that may be why Paul was trying so hard this last year. Since he would be 18 over the school year, his parents could no longer force him to come back. He would be an adult. But that also meant they no longer had a requirement to care for him, and could kick him out of the house. Maybe he was trying to ‘get better’ so as to not be kicked out.

Paul sighed and knelt by his bed and closed his eyes.

Eddie had an absent thought and glanced over at Billy. He was on the edge of his bed looking at the Bible he had been reading. Eddie felt his heart break over seeing him like this.

“You okay Billy?” Eddie asked quietly, as if he didn’t want to spook a deer that was being watched.

Billy looked up and he had tears in his eyes.

Eddie rolled over and moved over to Billy’s bed and put an arm around him. This was probably against the rules but he didn’t care. Billy needed attention badly.

“I know this is hard.” Eddie sighed. He remembered his first year here. He tried to do everything right, and tried to follow the rules. But he learned quickly it didn’t do a thing. “It was hard for me. I promise it will get better.” He looked over at Paul who had a sour look on his face. Not that he looked any better without it. “You have been on your own this entire year.”

Billy just shrugged. “Mom and dad don’t love me. I keep getting told I am a sinner and living a life that is an affront to God.”

Eddie wished he could disagree with that statement. He wasn’t sure about his own parents loving him either. It was ironic because he almost didn’t survive childbirth, and he was more of a miracle. That miracle disappeared the moment his parents found out he liked other men.

“You know Billy,” Eddie said with a grin, “I don’t think anyone knows the grand scheme of things.” He pointed to his eyes. “Everyone you know, I am sure, has the same colored eyes. They are all the same. But look at me! I have two different colored eyes. It makes sense to me that things are meant to be different, and that every once in a while you get an ‘anomaly.’” He laughed. “I am an anomaly. So why can’t we both be anomalies together?”

“Don’t confuse the kid.” Paul said with a grunt and fire in his eyes.

“Oh shut up Paul.” Eddie snapped back. “You are just as concerned as Billy is. You are concerned that your parents don’t actually love you anymore. And no matter how hard  you try, you aren't “cured”. When it comes time you are going to have to make a decision that you can live with.”

Paul was about to snap back something, but he seemed defeated. Of course that was the issue. He would be leaving, and he had to decide if he was cured to stay in the happy gracies of his family, or be himself. They both knew there was no cure, as this wasn’t a disease.

“Billy,” Eddie turned his attention back to Billy, “Why don’t you come with me and Lucy when we go out to the garden and work? You have been on your own too much this year.”

Billy shrugged. “I will think about it.”

“Good.” Eddie said with a smile and pulled Billy in for a hug. Billy tensed at first, but then he relaxed and leaned into Eddie. This was probably the first time he had been held in a long time. Eddie forgot that people need to have touch, and maybe he shouldn’t have waited so long to do this to Billy. Why did he wait so long? He felt disgusted with himself.