Spook

Chapter 18
Reprieve

CHARLIE woke up with the most amazing sight... Danny's beautiful face peacefully sleeping, his naked body lying on top of Charlie. And Charlie couldn't suppress a satisfied smile.

He had been doing a lot of smiling for the past few weeks. He couldn't help it. He was just so happy being with Danny. That and the almost nightly bouts they'd been having really pumped out a lot of happy hormones into his system.

He looked at the alarm clock and saw that it was almost 8 in the morning. He knew that Danny had an 8:30 class and he couldn't afford to be late.

He gently kissed Danny's forehead prompting an instant smile from the sleeping boy. He kissed Danny's nose and finally pressed his lips against Danny's welcoming mouth.

Danny moaned and kissed Charlie back, his hands instantly explored Charlie's body until it found Charlie's hardening cock.

Charlie broke the kiss. "You have a class," he said.

"This is so much better than going to class," Danny said as he began to massage Charlie's rigid dick.

Charlie moaned. "I know," he said, "but you can't afford to miss your class."

"A quickie it is, then," said Danny with a naughty smile before he reached for the lotion.

He sat up and put lotion on Charlie's dick, giving it a few jerks. Then, he put some on his waiting hole before he sat on top of Charlie.

He guided Charlie's dick in his hole and began furiously fucking himself.

Charlie couldn't help but moan loudly as Danny moved up and down on his shaft. It didn't take long before Danny's cock exploded all over him. A couple of pumps later, he also unloaded his cum inside Danny's ass.

Danny bent down and gave Charlie a passionate kiss as Charlie's softening dick popped out of his ass. He let out a contented sigh, before he got up and grabbed his towel, wrapping it around his waist.

"I feel so used," Charlie said jokingly as he looked at Danny's gorgeous body.

"I'd use you some more if I didn't need to go to class," Danny smiled naughtily. He walked to Charlie and bent down to give him another kiss before he went out to the showers.

Charlie sighed. "Life couldn't get any better than this," he said to himself as he smiled with content and satisfaction.

Suddenly, he felt that familiar feeling of someone looking at him... a feeling that he had been missing for quite some time now.

"It could be better," he heard someone say.

He immediately covered himself up and sat up on the bed. He looked at the owner of the voice and smiled.

"You don't have to cover yourself for my benefit," Spook smirked at Charlie. "Besides, I've seen it. Every beautiful inch of it."

"Yeah, well... that doesn't mean you're supposed to," Charlie greeted him with a smile. "Been a long time. How have you been? Where have you been?"

"I've been around," Spook answered. "And I think you could guess how I feel about you humping another guy."

"Spook..." Charlie said. "I know you have feelings for me. And you know I care about you a lot. But I love Danny. I love him so much. And he loves me just as much."

"It won't last," Spook countered.

"How could you say that?" Charlie said, hurt at the remark.

"You belong to me, Charlie," replied Spook. "And when you remember everything, you'll forget about him and you'll come back to me. We belong together, you and me."

"Spook... please..."

"We belong together," Spook reiterated before he began to fade.

Danny came in and saw Charlie's confused expression.

"What happened?" he asked, worried.

"Spook came to see me," answered Charlie.

"Let me guess," said Danny. "He's beginning to obsess about you."

Charlie sighed.

"I can't say I blame him," Danny said after a couple of seconds. "I mean, I would be, too, if I were in his shoes."

Danny sat beside Charlie and wrapped his arms around Charlie's shoulders. He kissed Charlie on the cheek.

"That ghost is beginning to sound like a jealous ex-boyfriend and I really don't like it," he sighed.

Charlie smiled at Danny. "And you're starting to sound like a possessive boyfriend... and I love it," he said before giving Danny a quick kiss. "Now go. You have a class and you're gonna be late."

"One more kiss?" Danny said with pleading puppy-dog eyes.

Charlie obliged. "Now, get going, will ya?" he said with a sweet smile.

Danny grunted. He got up and began getting dressed.

"By the way, I've already told grandma we're spending Christmas eve with her," Charlie said as Danny was putting his shirt on.

"I guess there's no getting out of this one now, is there?" Danny said with a nervous smile.

Charlie got up and helped Danny fix his shirt. "Well, if you wanna get my family to like you, you'll wanna get on grandma's good side," he smiled back. "Besides, there's nothing for you to worry about. I told you she loves you already."

"Yeah well... I can't help it," Danny said. "Meeting my future in-laws for the first time is quite unnerving. Maybe your grandma is cool about us, but what if your mom or your dad will have the same reaction as my father? I mean, they still don't know about us, do they? What if..."

Charlie kissed Danny, which effectively shut him up. "They won't," he assured Danny.

"Yeah?" Danny said, still filled with doubt. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because grandma said she won't let them," Charlie smiled. "And believe me, nobody can say no to that woman once she puts her foot down."

Danny finally smiled again and kissed Charlie.

Charlie broke the kiss and looked at Danny with questioning eyes. "Wait a sec," he said. "Did you just say 'future in-laws'? When did we decide that we're gonna get married?"

"Well, uh..." Danny started to say. Then he saw the glint in Charlie's eyes and he smiled sweetly at him. "I know I haven't asked you yet but there's no question in my heart and mind that I wanna be with you for the rest of my life. And my soul tells me that we're already bound together the first time we kissed. I love you... and I'm gonna marry you one day soon."

"Well," said Charlie, a sweet smile creeping across his face. "You know, it's not yet legal here for us to get married... but don't let that or anybody else stop you."

"Not a chance," Danny said. Then he gave Charlie another long, passionate kiss. "I'm gonna be late," he said, giving Charlie one last peck before he grabbed his things and went off to class.

A couple of minutes later, Charlie's cellphone beeped. He grabbed it and looked at his message inbox. It was from Danny.

I'm missing you already. I love you. Can't wait till lunch!

Charlie couldn't help but smile. "So sweet," he thought. "How did I ever get so lucky?"

He knew Danny was waiting for his reply, so he pressed the button and began typing his message.

I love you more. Now get going! You're late!

Then he hit send and stared at the screen until it confirmed that the message had been sent. He sighed. He went back to bed and lay himself down. He had a couple more hours to kill before he had to meet Danny for lunch and then go to his 11:30 class. He adjusted the alarm and began to drift off to sleep.

Spook appeared as soon as Charlie dozed off. He looked longingly at the gorgeous body of the beautiful boy sleeping before him. He was tempted to enter Charlie's dreams and make love to him, but he knew it wasn't the right time. He couldn't risk Charlie getting mad at him and hating him. But he needed Charlie to remember.

He bent down and slightly brushed Charlie's lips with his. Then he placed his hand on Charlie's forehead.

"Please remember," he said. "Carlos..."

FRANTIC, loud knocks on his door roused Charlie from his sleep. He looked at the alarm clock and saw that he had been asleep for an hour and a half. It seemed longer to him. He was having very strange dreams.

Spook was in his dreams. They were roommates and they were always horsing around the room. The playful wrestling matches would turn to heavy make-out sessions.

Then, there was another guy. It seemed that this guy was the only other person who knew about them. The guy liked taking pictures of Spook and him. As the guy was taking a picture of them together, Spook suddenly leaned in and kissed him. He was surprised, but he couldn't help but smile at Spook's boldness.

Then, he saw himself tied to a bed, almost naked. And Spook was swinging a baseball bat, breaking the bones of half a dozen men. They were bloody and Spook didn't stop until they were all lying on the ground writhing in pain and battling consciousness. Then Spook untied him and embraced him tightly.

After that, he saw himself looking at a young lady who looked quite familiar. She was crying... and she looked angry and confused.

Then, everything went dark. He was alone in a small bathroom, tears streaming down from his eyes. Someone was calling him from outside and frantically pounding the door.

That was when he woke up.

"Charlie, are you there?" he heard Tim calling him as he knocked loudly on the door.

"Yeah," he answered. "Hold on a sec."

He got up from the bed and put on a pair of boxers before he opened the door.

"What's up?" he asked Tim.

Tim went in the room and started pacing to and fro. "Someone almost died again," he said.

"Huh?"

"Jeremy," Tim answered. "Curly, black hair, fair skin, goodlooking guy living two doors from us."

"Yeah," said Charlie. "I know him."

"His roommate tried to wake him up earlier and he wouldn't," continued Tim. "He was all pale and looked like his life was being sucked out of him. They took him to the infirmary and I went with them. The doctors were able to wake him up but he's still very weak. He says he feels so tired."

"That's all very interesting," said Charlie rather unenthusiastically. "But why do you have to interrupt my sleep just to tell me that?"

"Because you should be cautious," replied Tim. "Don't you get it? First, it was Rudolph from down the hall. Then, it was Jason from the third floor. And now, Jeremy."

Charlie pretended to be thinking and then shook his head. "Nope, still don't get it."

"Jeesh!" Tim said in frustration. "There is a pattern on all the victims. They're all fair-skinned, tall, pretty boys."

Charlie sighed. "First of all, you're assuming that there's someone attacking these guys. Everybody knows that Rudolph and Jason were using drugs and the doctors concluded that it was drug-related. I'm pretty sure, they'd find traces of substance abuse in Jeremy as well. That guy hardly ever slept at all. This could all be just a coincidence."

"It's not," Tim countered. "The police always points to drugs when they can't explain it. Remember Oliver? They said it was drug-related, but we all know it wasn't.

"Something had attacked these guys. They all claimed that they were having a very nice dream and they feel like they didn't want to wake up anymore. They said they were doing all their wildest sexual fantasies in their dreams."

Tim paused for effect. "Ring a bell?"

"Spook is not doing this," Charlie said defensively. "He wouldn't hurt innocent people."

"Maybe you're right," said Tim. "Then again, maybe you're not. We both know what happened to Oliver was his doing. I mean, how much do you really know about Spook?"

"Believe it or not, I think I'm the only one who really knows him," Charlie answered. "I didn't want Oliver to die that way, but I could understand why Spook did what he did. Spook had a reason to kill Oliver. He doesn't have a reason to hurt any of these other guys."

Tim looked at him intently. "I am definitely sure that they have been attacked. And if it wasn't Spook, then that would mean we're in an even bigger trouble."

"What? Why?"

Tim breathed deeply. "I've been having this heavy feeling lately. Like, I dunno, like something's wrong but I can't quite figure it out. I feel like these... incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. Something sinister is brewing and I don't know what it is, but somehow I feel you're directly connected to it. Like, you're the ultimate target. That's why Spook was the first thing that popped into my head. But if it's not him, then who else could it be? What else could it be?"

"Dude," Charlie said. "Joseph's right. You have got to stop reading conspiracy theories."

Tim didn't smile. "You don't have to believe me, but do yourself a favor... be careful. Be very careful."

Those words haunted him until lunch. But when he saw Danny smiling at him as they ate together, he felt that he had nothing to worry about.

"Danny would protect me," he thought. "He wouldn't let anything bad happen to me."

Danny dropped Charlie off in AS before he drove to the Math Building for his Calculus class. He felt that there was something bothering Charlie when they were having lunch. But before he could even bring it up, he felt that Charlie discarded whatever it was that was bothering him. So, he decided not to push it anymore.

Charlie completely put Tim's words at the back of his mind. He decided that he was too happy to let anything bother him. And he tried to immerse himself in his World History class.

His next class was still an hour and a half away and he decided to catch up on some required readings while waiting. He walked to the library and saw Rommel talking with a cute guy. He waved at Rommel when he glanced his way, but Rommel didn't even acknowledge him.

He felt sad about that. Apparently, Rommel still hadn't forgiven him for not decoding and reading the letter that he gave him. At first, he thought that Rommel's reaction was a bit extreme. But when he finally had time to decode the letter, he understood why Rommel acted the way he did.

When Rommel kept his distance, Charlie decided to just respect it. He knew that Rommel was trying to forget about his feelings for Charlie and it wouldn't help if Charlie would remain close. Not yet anyway.

He walked past Rommel and his friend and continued his way to the library.

Before he entered the building, his phone rang.

"Hey mom," he said. "What's up?"

"Charlie," replied his mom. "Your grandma was rushed to the hospital. She wants to see you. You think maybe you could excuse yourself from your classes and come home?"

"I'm just gonna make a few phone calls to my professors and I'll be on my way home," he said. "It's the last week before the Christmas break anyway so I don't think I'll have a problem."

He heard his mom sniff. "Is it... is it serious?" he asked.

"Just... just come home as soon as you can," answered his mom.

"Mom..." he said as he felt a tear escaping his eye. "Please tell her to wait for me."

"I will," said his mom. "I love you. Be safe."

"Love you, too," he said.

He breathed deeply to suppress his tears as he disconnected the call. He took another deep breath before he started calling his professors.

He thought about calling Danny, but he knew that Danny would be in class and would be distracted if he called. So he just composed a text message and sent it to Danny. He hoped that Danny would read it after the class had ended.

He ran back to the dorm and packed his things. In a few minutes, he was standing in front of the dorm waiting for a taxi to bring him to the bus station. He was already on the bus when his phone rang again.

"Hey baby," he said.

"Where are you?" asked Danny.

"I'm already on the bus," he answered.

"Get off," Danny said. "I'm picking you up and we'll go together."

"No," Charlie replied. "You don't have to. You can't afford to miss any classes, remember? You need to keep your scholarship."

"Screw that," Danny said. "I need to be where you need me to be. And that's with you, right beside you."

"Baby, listen to me. I'm okay. I'll be fine. I need you to go and ace all your classes so that you could keep your scholarship and finish college," Charlie explained. "Then, after your last class on Friday, hop on your car and drive to Quezon and I'll be waiting there for you, okay?"

There was silence on the other end.

"Danny..." Charlie prompted.

"Okay, okay..." replied Danny. "I'll be good. I promise."

"Good," said Charlie. "I've already texted Tim and Joseph. They're cool about you sleeping over. You're gonna have to bring a mattress down to their room, though, 'cause I really, really don't want you sleeping beside either one of them, you hear?"

Danny couldn't help but smile. "Now you're starting to sound like a possessive boyfriend... and I love it."

"Possessive fiancé. And don't you forget it," Charlie countered, smiling in spite of himself.

"I'm missing you already," Danny sighed. "I love you."

"I love you more," replied Charlie.

"That's not possible," said Danny, to which Charlie chuckled softly.

"I'm gonna call you when I get there," Charlie said. "Later, babe."

"Yeah... later."

Charlie sighed as he disconnected the call. He looked out the window towards the seemingly endless road.

"This is gonna be one long bus ride," he muttered to himself.

Nobody was home when he got there. He put his things in his room and then proceeded to take a warm shower. He called Danny afterwards to bid him goodnight before he dressed up again to go to the hospital.

His little sister, Carrie, was the first to see him when he got to the hospital. She ran towards him and hugged him tightly. Carrie was crying her little eyes out. He hugged her back.

Then, his mother approached them and hugged him as well. Her eyes were moist. Soon, Kyle and his father also joined them. His eyes were already welling up in tears.

His mom was the first to break the hug. "Go in the room. She's waiting for you," she said to him.

He just nodded his head and began to walk towards his grandma's room.

The lights were dim and there were a lot of machines attached to his grandma's body. Her eyes were closed, but the lines on the monitors were telling him that his grandma was still alive. She had an oxygen mask on and her breathing was labored. Underneath the hospital gown, he could tell that his grandma had lost a lot of weight.

He slowly approached the bed and sat on the chair beside it. He gently took her hand and kissed it.

His grandma's eyes flew open and immediately locked with his eyes. He tried to smile, but the tears in his eyes betrayed his true feelings.

"Hey, grandma," he said softly. "How're you doing?"

His grandma reached for the oxygen mask and tried to remove it. She was having troubles removing it from her face, so Charlie had to help her.

"Shouldn't you keep that mask on?" he asked, with a forced smile, knowing that her grandma would do as she pleased anyway.

"The damn thing just makes it hard for me to talk," she said, her voice sounding hoarse and tired. "I've had better days, as you can see."

"Maybe you should just rest," said Charlie. "I'll stay here beside you all night if you want."

"Rest..." said his grandma with disgust in her tone. "Rest would do me no good. I know that. The doctors know that." She sighed. "I'm dying, Carlitos. And I have only enough breaths left to tell you the things that I've been keeping for a very long time. So listen to me carefully."

Charlie suppressed his tears and just nodded to his grandma.

"I wanted you here because this time I wanted to say goodbye to you," she began. "And I wanted you to know how sorry I was for the things that I had done in my youth."

She looked at Charlie's face and then smiled. "I'm sorry, Carlitos. You look so much like your grandfather that I've always felt I was talking to him whenever I talk to you."

Charlie smiled and shook his head. "Grandma, I saw pictures of gramps when he was teenager and he didn't look anything like me."

"No, my sweet boy," said his grandma. "Not Arthur. Your real grandfather. The man I named you after."

Charlie was stunned.

"I was very young," continued his grandma, "and very selfish. We were only college freshmen then, living in the same dorm where you're staying now. He was my first boyfriend, my first love. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him moving into the dorm. We became a couple a few weeks after that.

"Then I found out that he was in love with someone else and I couldn't accept it. I blackmailed him; forced him to elope with me. Then I found out I was pregnant.

"I thought that giving him a child would make him want me. I thought it would make him love me. But it didn't.

"I had just found out and told everyone that I was pregnant when we learned that the one he left for me had died. His true love. I knew his heart died at that moment. It was only a matter of time before his body followed.

"Two weeks later, I found him dead on our bed. The doctors said it was acute pancreatitis or something. But I knew he died of a broken heart. And I knew I caused it.

"Arthur was my doctor. He offered to marry me to save me from ridicule. It was the early 60s after all. I accepted and in time, I learned to love him, even more than I had loved Carlos, even if Arthur and I never had a child together. I had been very happy with Arthur. But the guilt of what I had done to Carlos never left me.

"I jumped for joy when you were born on my very birthday," his grandma smiled. "The first time I held you in my arms, I knew that you were going to grow up exactly like Carlos. I don't know how, but I just knew. That's why I fought hard for you to be named after him.

"And as you grew older, you began to remind me about him more and more. You don't only look exactly like him, I feel that you are him. I vowed that this time around, I will make sure you get your happy ending."

His grandma smiled at him once more. "And now, here you are, looking exactly like him the first time I met him." She touched his face and a tear fell from her eye.

"And now I want to tell you how sorry I am," she said as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. "I'm sorry I didn't let you go when I should've. I'm sorry I blackmailed you to stay with me. I'm sorry I didn't honor and respect your feelings for the one person you truly loved. I'm so sorry for ruining both of your lives."

"Shhh," he tried to comfort her, wiping her tears with his fingers, then wrapping his arm around her frail body and placing his head on her bony shoulder. "It was a long time ago," he heard himself say, not knowing where those words came from. "I've moved on, see? Time heals all wounds. Everything is forgotten now. Everything is forgiven."

Her sobs turned to soft whimpers. She kissed Charlie's forehead and said. "I have to go now, Carlos. This is goodbye."

Charlie looked her in the eye and found himself saying words again that didn't come from his thoughts.

"It won't be forever," he said. "I know I'll see you again soon, Rosie."

Then, he kissed her on the cheek. Her eyes closed. Her hand fell on her side. And the monitors flickered before the lines went flat.

Charlie then found his voice back. "Grandma!" he exclaimed as he cried over his grandmother's lifeless body.

He heard the door burst open. He felt his mother's hands on his back, trying to comfort him. He heard his brother and sister crying beside him. But he couldn't see anything clearly. His eyes were blurred with tears. His heart was full of sorrow for losing his grandmother.

He didn't feel Spook looking at him and his family from the corner of the room.

Spook didn't know how he got there. He had never been able to get out of the dorm building as far back as he could remember. But now, he found himself in a hospital room, with Charlie crying over an old woman who was somehow familiar to him.

"I should've figured you'd be here as well," a girl looking like a younger version of the woman on the bed said as she appeared beside him.

She looked him in the eye. She looked so familiar.

"I should ask for your forgiveness, too," she continued. "I'm sorry for everything I'd put you through. I really am. I thought I had won him back when he left you to be with me. But I was wrong. He was never mine to begin with. He had never been mine."

He just looked at her, not being able to say anything.

She looked towards Charlie. "I've made my peace with him and I'm ready to move on like he did."

Then, she turned back to him and looked him directly in the eye. "You should, too."

"Rosie..." Spook heard himself say. The girl smiled at him before a blinding light shimmered from behind her.

"I guess this is it," said Rosie. "Find your peace."

The light grew until it swallowed the girl in its brightness. Then, when the light died down, the girl was gone.

And he was left alone staring at Charlie crying his eyes out over the old woman, who was Rosie.

"No, Rosie," he said. "You still won. He came to love you in this lifetime."