Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2020 12:57:05 +0000
From: Chris Johns <chris-johns@hotmail.com>
Subject: Lost Soul Ch.1

A short story this time, just two chapters, Enjoy
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Lost Soul
Chapter 1

Alan looked again at the clock and sighed. It would soon be the end of
another working day. He thought about how cold it was outside and wondered
what to do with himself. He supposed he could sit in the library until it
closed, but that only took him to 8 o clock. He moved to the furthest
corner of the workshop from the locker rooms. He knew he could delay
leaving work for a while. If he left a bit of sweeping up until after the
hooter sounded he could sweep that before going to his locker, then he
could linger in the shower, but that would only give him another half an
hour maximum in the warm. Most evenings he was told to leave by Tony who
came round to check up before locking the doors.

Life had become such a disaster that he thought more than once about ending
it. He hadn't done anything wrong, it wasn't his fault that his mother had
died when he was fourteen. It wasn't his fault that his father had become
so grief stricken at her loss that he had turned to drink. The slide down
hill had accelerated. The house had gradually crumbled around them because
nothing was ever done. Then six months ago dad had died of alcohol
poisoning. The house had been condemned and the local council had torn it
down and cleared the site. The only thing left was the garden shed. Alan
had moved in there. He had his mattress, the few clothes he had managed to
buy with his wages and that was it. All of his personal things had been
sold by his father to feed his alcohol habit. He showered at work, cleaned
his teeth at work, and washed his clothes at work. It was so difficult
though because he had to do it without drawing attention to it.

Tony entered the locker room just as Alan finished dressing.

"Come along youngster, anyone would think you had no home to go to you are
always last one out. It's almost as though you want to sleep here."

Without thinking, Alan gushed out, "Oh yes, can I?"

Tony was taken back wondering what the boy was thinking.

"Of course you can't, now get along and don't be so silly."

Realising what he had said, Alan scuttled out quickly before Tony could say
anything else.

Tony locked up, drove to his local pub for a pint and a game of darts with
his mates before picking up a takeaway and going home to his bachelor pad.
He was 30 years old, a degree in engineering had worked for him and he was
now technical director of this small engineering works. The part of his job
he enjoyed the most was selection and training of the apprentices. He had
five at the moment, all second year boys who were released to college one
day a week to study for their City and Guilds qualifications. The sixth boy
he had taken on that year was Alan. The boy was small for his age, but as
cute as a button. He had left school with no GCSEs so no apprenticeship,
but he turned out to be a good worker. He kept the workshop clean and tidy
and looked after the toilets and locker rooms as well. He was basically the
company gofer.  After his dinner, Tony got to thinking about Alan. There
was something wrong there. The boy was looking thinner almost daily, and he
appeared to have only one set of work clothes. He thought he ought to do
something, and that something was to go to have a word with his parents. He
drove to Alan's address and was greeted with an empty building site. He sat
looking at it wondering what the hell was going on. Alan hadn't given the
office a change of address. He looked at his watch wondering what to do as
he sat looking at the gap that should have been filled with a family home.
He was about to drive off when he saw Alan walking towards him. He slid
down in his seat so that he could only just see over the dashboard. The
first thing he picked up was that despite it being bloody cold outside,
Alan only had on a light jacket. As he passed street lights, Tony could see
the pinched look on the boy's face as he tried to huddle down in the
jacket. He expected Alan to pass the site and continue on to where he now
lived. Instead, he looked round warily and then turned into the site and
went to the shed at the bottom of what had once been the garden. He went in
and closed the door. No light showed and Tony sat for another half an hour
wondering what he should do. Decision time. He grabbed a torch from the
glove compartment, got out of his car and walked to the shed. He knocked on
the door and opened it. Alan was already on a mattress huddled under a pile
of blankets that looked none too clean in the light from Tony's torch. He
sat up with a start, not able to see who was there.

"Who are you, what do you want?" came out in a very frightened voice.

"It's Tony, Alan. I want you to get dressed, pick up your personal stuff
and come with me. Don't argue, don't ask questions, yet."

Alan didn't know what to do so he followed Tony's instructions. Tony
noticed that the boy was fully clothed as the blankets were shoved back. He
picked up a canvas bag and grabbed a few things from the bench before
standing in front of Tony, head down and shaking, partly from cold and
partly from fear. What was going to happen to him now? Would Tony take him
to the police, fire him, or what?

"Come along, you are going to stay at my place tonight."

Alan sighed, that sounded like Paradise, a proper bed and warmth.  At
Tony's apartment he was told to go to the bathroom and have a hot shower to
warm himself up.

"Stay under it as long as you like. When you come out I will have put a
bathrobe out for you. Come through to the lounge."

It was probably close to half an hour before Alan re-appeared all pink from
the hot shower.

"You look much more human now, come and sit down."

What he could have said was, `You look really cute now, almost like a
little cherub.'

"Now, I don't want any bullshit. I want to know why you are sleeping in a
garden shed, why you have virtually no clothes and why you are starving
yourself to death. I know I don't pay you a fortune, but I certainly pay
you enough to feed and clothe yourself."

Alan wanted to cry, this would be so monumentally embarrassing but he felt
he had no choice.

"Mum died when I was 14. Dad turned to drink and to feed his habit he
gradually sold off everything we had, and then six months ago he died from
alcohol poisoning. The house became so dilapidated that the council
condemned it a couple of months ago and pulled it down. I am eighteen so I
had to take on all dad's debt. I pay off a defined amount each month so I
don't have enough left for food or clothes."

"Ok, Alan I know you aren't stupid, so why have you no GCSEs?"

Blushing like crazy, Alan replied.

"Dad wouldn't buy toilet paper so he used to use all my school notebooks
instead. I had no notes to revise or course work to be assessed so I failed
everything."

This sounded like something out of a horror story to Tony. He sat and
thought about it, looking at this boy he had rescued and now felt
responsible for. He was pretty sure that Alan couldn't be held responsible
for his father's debts, he was under 18 when the father died.

`I'll check with the company lawyer in the morning' was his thought.

"Alright, Alan. This is what we are going to do. Bring me all your clothes,
and I mean all of them. We are going to wash and dry them. We'll get up
early enough in the morning to iron them. You'll sleep in the guest room
tonight and come to work with me in the morning. We'll talk again after
work. Now, would you like something to eat?"

Silly question, the boy's eyes opened wide and he gasped out a, "Yes
please, Sir."  One four egg omelette and several slices of buttered toast
later, Alan looked a lot happier.

"Right, bed young man. I'm sure you need a good night's sleep."

It had been some time since Alan was this happy. He slept solid until Tony
shook him gently the next morning.

"Good morning Lad. Your clothes are here, I've ironed them. Use the
bathroom and when you're ready, come through to the kitchen for breakfast."

Alan beamed up at his saviour. Breakfast, God, it must have been four years
since he had a breakfast. It was a very happy boy who bounced into work
with Tony.

Tony sent for Alan at lunch time and when the office door was closed he
handed him a pack of sandwiches.

"You eat those while I talk."

Alan sat and paid attention after he had opened the first sandwich,
munching away quite happily.

"Now, I have been onto the company lawyer this morning. The council were
completely wrong to force you to pay off your father's debt. They were
appraised of their error and we informed them that if they didn't courier a
check here by lunch time, refunding all the money you have paid we would
sue them and publicise their crime, prosecuting the perpetrators. I have
here a check for you for something over £4,000. You can have fun this
weekend buying a new wardrobe. A word of caution though. You are going to
put on weight and size now that you can afford to eat, so, buy larger than
you need for now, and don't buy too much so that you can buy more when you
are your proper size. Next, you have seen my spare bedroom. If you would
like to move in there permanently I won't charge you any rent. If you take
the last offer I would like to see if we can do something about your
education. What do you think?"

Alan had stopped eating and looked almost in shock as Tony finished. He
didn't know what to say. Or more precisely he was too shocked to say
anything. Yesterday he was even considering ending it all, now he was being
offered a new world. He may be 18 years old, but that didn't stop him
opening the water works. He threw himself into Tony's arms and cried like a
baby, managing after some time to gasp out, "Oh thank you Sir, yes please."

Tony smiled as he cuddled the boy. He felt so good to touch. Eventually he
eased Alan away from him, and using a tissue, dried his eyes. He looked at
this boy closely now that he had the chance. With a little more meat on his
bones, Tony realised, he would be stunning. The facial structure was
incredible. The high cheek bones and slightly almond shaped eyes coupled
with his jet black hair gave him an Oriental look. What he didn't know was
that Alan's mother had been a Thai woman. `I know I am going to fall in
love with this angel and that could cause me a load of pain,' was his
unhappy thought.

"I think we might play hooky for a couple of hours this afternoon and
deposit this check in your bank account before going shopping for a few
things you need."

Alan was beaming through more tears, but these were happy tears.  "Oh, yes
please, Sir."

"Bathroom now to wash those tears away, then grab your jacket and we'll hit
the town."

Two hours later Alan had a warm winter coat and a few bags full of new
clothes. He also had a bank debit card coming to him. He left his clothes
in Tony's car and changed into his work overalls to do his job. Everyone
noticed the happy smiling boy that had been almost invisible for two
years. End of the day and Alan had his shower with the other boys,
surprising them.

"Ok Little Man, who set you on fire today, and you look as though you have
won the lottery."

Alan laughed, that felt so good.

"It feels like it, but no, I haven't."  He was waiting at the exit when
Tony came through from checking the premises.

"Ok Tiger, home via the supermarket if we want to eat tonight."

Almost bouncing along next to Tony as they headed for the car, Alan spoke
up.

"I can pay for the groceries tonight, Sir, I have money."

Tony looked down at the eager face and instead of saying no, which he would
have done, he just nodded. He was all smiles as he watched Alan do the
check out and pay with his own money. God, the kid was a total delight. At
the apartment Tony went for his shower while Alan unpacked his new clothes
and put them away. He came out of the bathroom at the same time Alan came
out of his bedroom. Tony was only wearing a towel, and Alan's eyes dropped
to look at the bulge in his groin before looking straight at Tony.

"Two minutes, Tiger, and I'll start dinner."

Alan blushed, hoping that Tony hadn't seen his look, and Tony smiled
because he had. Of course it didn't really mean anything, boys were
naturally curious about that area of the body.

When they sat down to dinner, Tony broached the subject of education.

"I know you have been out of school for two year Alan, but would you like
to study again to get some paper qualifications. You could do night school
three or four nights a week at adult college, take one subject on each
night. We could work together at weekends as well. If you aren't too rusty
we could probably have you ready to sit the exams in four subjects by the
spring. You could do another four for the autumn so that by the time you
are twenty you could have 8 GCSEs. If you wanted to do more education after
that I would help you. You will be a few years behind your peers but by the
time you are mid-20s you could be reasonably well qualified on paper. I'll
help you with anything you want to do"

Alan was surprised at what sounded like Tony planning for him to be here
for a long time.

"That sounds awesome, Sir. I know I would like that, but that sounds like a
long term commitment on your part as well."

"I'm not going to beat about the bush, Alan. I've watched you for two
years. I like you a lot and if you can put up with me bossing you about
outside of work as well as in work, I would like you to stay here for a
long time. Also, outside of work I want you to call me Tony. It sounds
silly calling me, Sir, here."

Alan could not have been happier. He had a huge amount of respect for this
man. He liked him for the way he treated all the people in the works, and
particularly himself. Tony never spoke down to him or made him feel
inferior even though he was only the cleaner and gofer.

"I'll work very hard, Tony. I owe you so much already. I'll do anything for
you. I'll make you proud of me."

Tony grinned at Alan and replied to that.

"Mmm, I like the idea of you doing anything for me. That has so many
possibilities."

Alan blushed because he meant it. He wanted to let Tony know that the
anything really was anything.

"I mean it Tony. The day you found me I was seriously considering ending it
all. My life was shit and I couldn't see any way it was going to get
better. Now I owe you my life so my body is yours, and I'll use my mind to
please you as well."

Tony searched the boy's eyes, he didn't know what he was looking for, love,
lust, and commitment. He thought there was all of that plus insecurity.

"We are going to have all the time in the world to get to know each other.
There is no hurry. I know what I would like from you besides companionship
and friendship, but let's see if we both want the same things other than
those."

Alan nodded.

"Just know I think you are a pretty special man, Tony."

Nothing more needed to be said.
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