Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 12:13:00 +0000 From: Andrew Passey Subject: The Amulet Part One (Young Friends) (Science Fiction) This was one of the first stories I tried to write which I found on an old datastick. I've edited and updated it a bit but apologies if the plotting and writing isn't always that great. Still think it's worth getting up on the site though so hope you like it. It's intended to be a fun, completely escapist fairly quick paced story with new chapters up every few days. A quick warning at the start.This story contains a bit of science fiction so it's definitely not quite as grounded in reality as some of my other stories are. If that isn't your thing then stay away! Please do donate to Nifty if you can: donate.nifty.org/donate.html and you can check out my existing stories on my author page here: https://www.nifty.org/nifty/authors.html#andrewpassey "So the theory is that there are many worlds just like ours. Many alternate dimensions. When I wave my hands like this I touch a million different worlds with my fingertips. All with different stories in but all still like ours. All there. All close but all just out of reach. Each decision on this world sends us down a different path of the trousers of time creating infinite worlds. We could be having this conversation right now many times and what we say creates even more worlds." I said to my friend Alex. Alex was lying on the grass next to me staring up at the clouds as they raced by overhead. "Sorry were you saying something?" He asked me with a giggle. "You never listen to me Alex! I was telling you about the theory of multiple dimensions. Just think there could be another world like this one where you're not a dick head," I said slightly indignantly. "It all sounds bollocks to me Sam. I can see why you like the idea though. Maybe there's a world out there where you've actually grown hair on your dick and you've started puberty? It sounds far fetched but you never know!" Alex giggled as he said that. He then made the wanking sign in my direction. "Fuck off I have started puberty! Anyway how would you know I haven't got hair yet? You been checking me out when I've been getting changed ? Wanking off over the thought of me naked?" I asked, smiling at him. I reckoned this was a good blow in his direction. "Ah so you're admitting you DON'T have any hair yet! Don't worry, it'll grow. You're always welcome to have a feel of mine if you want to know what it feels like?" Alex replied with another giggle. Alex often said things like that to me and it confused me. Was he just messing around or was he really offering it to me? Part of me would have loved to have slipped my hand into his pants and feel his hairs, I'd then wrap my hand around his dick and play with it. Of course that could possibly be the end of our friendship if he took offence! As I wasn't exactly blessed with many friends I had no desire to risk losing one. Although it might be nice to have a bit of fun with him. I was confused about a lot of things at the moment. It seemed to be my default state. Alex might be right and I might be hairless down there but at least I was able to wank of. Although for now it was for just a dry cum. Having said that an orgasm is an orgasm and it felt pretty amazing when I did it! However I couldn't deny to myself that it was boys I thought of when I did wank off and it was Alex in particular I thought of.. I knew from what I'd read in books at the library that it was natural to be confused about sexuality when you hit puberty but my confusion was more that I never thought about girls. It was always boys. As a result I thought it was likely I was gay but if I was then it was going to be very problematic given my home life. I never knew my real parents. It seems no one did. I was found by the side of the road. Badly injured with no ID or paperwork. No note. No belongings. Nothing but the clothes I was in which were fairly nondescript if a bit old school. I had a silver necklace well more like an amulet with a number engraved on it which was round my neck when I was found but that was it. That was three years ago now and I'd given up trying to piece what happened to me together. The amulet lived in a box in my bedroom and I moved on from my old life. Not that I knew what I was moving on from. I literally had no memory of my time before waking in the hospital bed. It was strange and discombobulating. At times it made me feel like only half a person and I'm sure that's one reason why I was so shy and quiet. Who are you when you only have three years worth of experiences and memories to form a personality? Was I a completely different boy before I lost my memories? By the time I'd left hospital I'd been adopted by "pillars of the community". Well that's what people called them. The Very Reverend Richard Wilkins and his wife Lisa. Everyone told me how lucky I was to be adopted by then. How they were really good people. A man of god doing his duty. Taking in the poor lost boy and raising him as their own. I would smile and nod and agree with the people saying this even though I didn't agree. No, I didn't agree at all. They were actually cold nasty people. In public they put on the show, my adopted father playing the caring man of the church and my adopted mother the loving mother of the community. In reality, they barely paid me any attention at all apart from my adopted father beating me if I did anything he decided was sinful. Reading a book other than the bible or a school book. Sinful. Watching TV: Sinful Listening to music. Sinful. Having fun: Sinful Getting an erection at any point. Definitely Sinful. Thinking about girls. Sinful. God only knows what would happen if they even suspected I like boys! My bum was pretty raw at first from all the beating but I soon learned how to play the game. I mostly avoided them and anything that would get me into trouble. Now I was hitting puberty it was going to be hard. I was getting loads of erections. I'd be wanking off as much as I could. If they even suspected me of that I'd no doubt be beaten to a pulp. Luckily as they were "pillars of the community" it did mean I could utilise that to my advantage. I spent a lot of time round Alex's house and there wasn't too much they could do about it. At least in public they didn't want to come across as mean or controlling. Alex's parents were friends with them although I pretty much suspected they had no idea what they were really like. Still, it did mean that it gave me a place to go and hang out away from them. I could participate in mild sinful behaviour without any comeback. Only normal 12 year old boy things like listening to music with Alex, playing computer games etc. I hadn't been allowed a mobile phone up to now but even that was getting harder for my parents to justify particularly as I'd be turning 13 very soon. Alex was already 13. A few weeks ahead of me in age and I imagined a fair bit ahead of me in development. Not that we'd seen each other naked for a while although I could tell he was. He'd grown a bit taller. He had been a bit moody recently as influxes of hormones swept through him. Still, he was always nice to me and we were the best of friends. He was as close as I was to anyone. He was the only one I told the truth about my parents too. I made him swear not to tell his parents as I didn't want it getting back to mine. That would lead to a major beating I suspected. Alex always listened to my complaints. I'm not totally sure he believed them all. I think he thought I was just doing the usual teenage complaining about parents thing but at least he listened. It was always a surprise to me that we were friends. Alex was popular. He has a winning personality. He was always easy going and relaxed. He was outgoing and self confident. He was sporty and pretty much everyone liked him. But for some reason when I walked into the classroom that first day just over three years ago he smiled and took a shine to me. He took me under his wing and protected me. He continued to do that as we started secondary school by standing up for me against the bullies. He always brought me into his friendship group. He looked out for me and I was eternally grateful for it. I often wondered how things would be for me if he hadn't made friends with me. With my blond hair and blues eyes I looked very different to Alex with his dark hair and green eyes. You certainly wouldn't confuse us as brothers! But we were both only children and had grown as close as brothers, sharing secrets and hanging out as often as we could. I had recently started to dream of a day when we could be more than brothers but I knew it was unlikely. I liked to think there was another world though. One where I'd made a move on him and we'd got together. One where my family and their rampant homophobia wouldn't interfere. A boy can dream though! As we lay on the grass still staring at the sky with me wishing I could slip my hands in his pants and have a feel, his phone dinged with a WhatsApp message. As I wasn't allowed a phone or computer Alex was my window to the world and to meeting up with our friends. "It's just James checking if we're still on for our misfits expedition later," Alex said. "I don't know why you call us the misfits. I mean me, James and Lee are but you're far from a misfit!" I said indignantly. It was true after all. Alex had christened the four of us the "misfits" club, but he certainly didn't fit the bill. James did a little bit I suppose. He was a black boy in our year at school. Tall and well built he wasn't a classic misfit but his stutter had made him the butt of a lot of jokes. Some of them definitely had a racist edge which made it worse. He was big enough he could use his fists to make the insults and pisstaking stop but he was a gentle soul so would just take it while people would laugh at him. "Whhhhhhaaaaaaaaatttttttt.ttttt.ttttt you going to do James? Pppppppppppppppppppppppunch us?" Some of the arseholes in our year would ask. He'd ignore them but I could see it hurt. At first I'd even seen the odd tear room down his face when he thought people weren't looking. However when he was with us he seemed fine stutter wise. It would usually only be when he was nervous or had to do something in front of class. Which only made it worse for him when it happened. As for Lee, well he was a misfit due to his parentage. Welsh mother, north London Jewish father, a slightly strange mix. Red hair from his mum (red although everyone called it ginger), circumcised dick from his Dad. This was England. No one I knew was circumcised unless it was for religious reasons and Lee was the only one. I'd never actually seen him naked but he had been at primary school with some boys in our year. They knew from when they had swimming lessons so the word on him only having "half a dick" followed him to secondary school. "What's worse Lee? Only having half a dick or knowing you'll grow ginger pubes to hide it. Pretty disgusting, I doubt any girl will ever go near you," was one of the nicer insults he'd get. It made me being insulted for being weird or a god botherer seem tame in comparison. So it was always weird that Alex would call us the misfits club given that three of us were but he clearly wasn't. "I'm a misfit too Sam. If only you knew all about me you'd think I was as well. But that's for another time, let's go back to mine and get ready, I want to double check we have everything," he said, standing up and pulling me up as well. We walked slowly across Dulwich Park back towards his house, passing groups of people enjoying the surprisingly warm March sunshine. I enjoyed the warm sun on my face and just hanging out with my best friend. "Are you sure it's a good idea to do this "expedition"?" I asked, using quote marks for the expedition. "Of course! Why do you ask? Are you getting scared? Worried a murderer will attack us? Or just concerned you won't be able to control yourself if you're in a tent with me? If you do jump me then try and keep the noise down. I doubt James and Lee want to hear you wanking me off," Alex said pretending to be serious about it. "Ha you wish! Anyway I'd probably be unable to find it because it's so small. No of course I'm not scared. It's just you said the forecast looked a bit dodgy," It pissed me off a bit that when I'd raise valid concerns Alex would dismiss them as me being scared. True I wasn't as confident in myself or my abilities as him after all but it didn't hurt to plan. Also I was the sensible one. He was a bit more reckless and occasionally went too far and got us into trouble. I guess he was right this time though. We were only going to be camping in Sydenham Woods and could always go back to Alex's big house if it rained heavily. Still I would rather have waited for better weather. Alex clearly didn't agree, "Look Sam, I know you're worried about the weather but when we do the South Downs Way in a couple of weeks we'll have to camp in whatever weather the world throws at us," He said firmly, suggesting the conversation was over. I usually went along with what he said when he made it sound final and this time was no exception. We met up with James and Lee at Alex's house and packed our stuff up, ticking things off a list. It seemed a bit OTT given we were barely a fifteen minute walk away but I guess it didn't hurt to be organised. I did think it made sense to try and be prepared for our longer trip to the South Downs. After all we'd feel pretty stupid if we were unable to cook ourselves dinner due to forgetting the gas hob or something! Once we were all packed we said goodbye to his parents with the advice to stay safe and not burn the woods down. I'm not sure we were technically allowed to camp in the woods or have anything with a flame on but his parents seemed pretty relaxed about it so if they were happy I was. "We'll try not to burn the woods down but Sam is clumsy so you never know!" Alex said and with that we headed off, feeling a bit over laden with gear to be honest. I felt we'd overpacked but Alex wanted us to get used to carrying all the things we'd need for our longer trips. We entered the woods and followed the trail before leaving it to find a secluded spot away from the main paths for us to pitch our tents. Part of me wanted it to rain to prove Alex wrong but more of me wanted it to be nice so we could enjoy it. After all camping in the rain isn't anyone's idea of fun, In the end Alex was vindicated and despite a small rain shower the weather stayed nice. We were able to practice our skills of pitching our tents and cooking without a problem. I scurried into my tent with Alex that night and got into my sleeping bag with all my clothes on. It might have been warm during the day but the night was chilly. "Not going to flash your bum at me like you usually do?!" he asked with a giggle. "Fuck off! I do not flash my bum! You wish anyway," I replied. I changed the subject quickly, "You were right though, this was fun and the weather was fine." He smirked at me,"I'm ALWAYS right Sam! You should have learned that by now!" It was true. He usually was right but I knew one day he wouldn't be and I'd make sure I was there to be sure he didn't live it down! We packed up the next morning. We were full of ourselves when we got home and excited as well. We might have been tired after a night in the tents but this was a successful test trip. It was the last barrier in the way of getting sign off for our longer expedition. I was still incredibly surprised our parents had agreed (albeit some like mine very reluctantly) to allow us to walk some of the South Downs Way on our own in the easter holidays. After all I was only twelve years old even if the others were thirteen. I would be thirteen by the time we did it though. This had been a long time in the planning and I think it was really Alex's dad who helped swing it. Not only was he paying for it all he also kept talking about the importance of testing ourselves and becoming more grown up. We were also raising a bit of money for charity getting sponsors from family and friends so it gave my parents no leeway to complain. After all what could be more wholesome and Christian than raising money for good causes! Luckily James's older brother Dean had offered to meet us at the campsites in his car and keep an eye on us. So despite all our parents' concerns it seemed like we were good to go. Alex's parents had booked us pitches at the campsites and a night in a youth hostel. It was all paid by credit card in advance so we didn't need to carry too much money. Alex's parents were very well off and liked to treat me occasionally. I sometimes wondered if they suspected what arseholes my adopted parents were but it was obviously a conversation I could never have with them. So there were two weeks later. I was now thirteen years old with my two new mobile phones. The cheapest possible one from my parents. A new iPhone SE from Alex's parents who said they'd break the news to my parents while we were away camping. I'm sure they'd be pissed off at me getting such expensive material goods but they'd have to pretend they weren't so as to keep their public facade going. I don't know why but I also decided to wear my silver amulet for good luck. Alex was the only one who knew about its history. He gave me a slightly quizzical look when he saw me wearing it when I turned up at his house. However he didn't say anything in front of the others much to my relief. I didn't really know why I was wearing it. It just felt like a good idea. It felt like it was something I should do. The walking days we planned were long but not particularly hard although there would be some steep bits. We'd decided to start near Petersfield and finish near Brighton. We'd be walking around 100km in four days so not a gentle stroll. Alex's dad would drive us to Petersfield. There we would stay in a small hotel for a night before starting walking the next day. Alex's dad would be staying in the hotel for the night as would with James's brother Dean and his girlfriend. This was also paid for by Alex's parents. It soon became clear why 19 year old Dean offered to help! A few nights away with his girlfriend was a nice holiday. After that Alex's dad would drive home and we'd be on our own. Things all went to plan and as we headed out on our walk onto the South Downs Way that first morning the sun was bright and warm and the sky was clear. We were in excellent spirits, not aware of what was ahead of us.