CHAPTER 22

Michael was stunned at the sight. On the outside, it looked like a regular zoo. He even could hear the animals grunting, howling, barking, roaring, cackling, and other noises he could not distinguish. But now standing in front of the third cage, he was amazed at what he saw. What was once an animal with two heads, one head a bear, one head a cat, he saw the caged environment change. The animal became human and the caged setting turned into an office where the person sat entering data into a computer. The cubicle made Michael think of a cell that was part of a greater being.

The Man In Black. "So what do you think of the world so far."

Michael. "I would not have perceived it as a zoo."

"You'd be surprised how the human mind has been manipulated."

"Let's continue our walk. I have more caged creatures to show you."

-- Excerpt from the unpublished story, "Men In Black"

He used his underwear to wipe off their semen. Michael looked at it thinking in that weirdness that he does sometimes, "How many possible children am I holding here? Could this make spirit children for him and Daniel? But then again, that's all I need is to go into that nesting mode. Shouldn't think about things like that again or even now. Daniel was in that gray zone after ejaculating. Maybe that was safety zone when the real world wasn't working. Daniel had been homeless for three years; making his living hustling on the street, doing whatever he needed to do to survive. Michael and Daniel had a casual relationship. Michael gave him money, food and time.

He laid there quietly as Michael wiped the semen off his chest, his groin area, his thigh. Dry leaves and dirt was on their skin. The sound of New York traffic filtered in as they laid in the bushes in Central Park. Daniel had found this spot, a circle of trees for them. Daniel released while Michael was riding him and again and that thought of riding a broom crossed Michael's mind. "I am the Witch. I am the Dark Art. I am the First Magic returning." Weird thoughts at play again, "Why did I think of an incantation about shielding myself from a demon's embrace or giving power to spirit children? What made me feel like I needed to pull the energy from my semen and retain it. Daniel was okay; they weren't forever and ever lovers; but he loved him; his scent would always be on him and he didn't miss the normalcy of Lazarus' relationship.

But this wasn't love, this was just lust racing through both their hearts and neither wanted to slow it down.

Michael thought. Daniel seemed older than his twenty four years and smaller in stature. More tired. His touch was hungry, desperate and he wanted to hold onto Michael as if he was a log adrift in a river and he held onto him hoping to reach shore. He wore a cock ring.

 

Michael thought this would be a constant reminder of pleasure, the pierced nipples, a longing for an eternal suckling on his breast, and the ear ring, a constant reminder to listen for the call of the beast. In his mind's eyes, as semen erupted from his penis, he saw astral worms scurrying across his stomach toward him; and he heard his third eye speaking a spell of protection to erase these energy forms. Astral vampires don't carry where they get their happy meal. But he felt he was being weird maybe, dramatic possible, justifying this momentarily lapse into lust.

 

"I wanted to see you again," Daniel said, attempting to pull himself out of that gray zone.

"No attachments remember."

"Anyone who fucks like you do, I definitely want to see again. Having problems holding on, like my head is on fire, I'm drifting in and out of dreams, can't touch reality, maybe you are a dream, a dream fuck, would that be my luck, I'm in a dream, a fucking wet dream, I wake up and you're not there. What a waste of good dick?"

"Here I thought I had arisen to a higher level but back to being just a big ole black dick again."

"Didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay; I understand it's your white guilt."

Focusing in more, "I'm not going to apologize for wanting a good fuck. Who wouldn't?"

Several days later.

"It's late, I need to sleep. I have exercised the love muscle enough for the day."

"I want more than fifteen minutes with you. I need a fuck buddy."

Michael laid the wet cold towel on Daniel.

"Oh, that's cold," Daniel said waking up fully.

"Like my heart," Michael said reaching for his clothes.

"You misunderstand my ways. I'm not just out looking for dick, I want conversation, get to know the person I'm fucking. Not everyone is a trick. I mean with you, it's not a client thing; you don't look down on me because of my situation. I know it makes you uncomfortable but you go there with me; we are connecting. I feel like I am fucking dead people most of the time; but not with you."

"I should be so lucky," Michael said dryly.

"Most guys want to fuck first and see if there is any semblance of intelligence. Fucking me is better than wasting time sitting in a bar. Most men are answering the call of the beast; but with you, we are answering the call of our heart."

"Wild animals should go to a zoo. Subdue that killer instinct."

"That bulge in your pants says otherwise. You plan on feeding that thing again tonight."

Several nights later.

Daniel is sitting on a park bench talking to the Unseen. Michael walks up to him.

"They don't like to talk to me when you are around."

"I could come back."

"I prefer talking with you. Sometimes my clients don't like me having conversations but once I pull out the dick, it's like grand central station. But as long as my dick takes them on a trip, I can talk to my voices."

"Well, my voices are napping so I thought I would take a walk and look for you."

"You and I could be a regular thing. But I'm not ready to stop being free of the world. I'm out here. I don't apologize. My parents did me right kicking me out of the house when they caught me sucking my uncle's dick. Most of the men in my family don't want to own up being cock suckers. I smell like me; not like the world. I know most people don't want to look at me; but you don't mind."

"Well, you do clean up well."

"I have friends I can crash at for several days when I have made extra money. But I don't want to owe anyone or anyone owes me."

"But some how we always manage to feel like we are in debt to someone."

"It's a mutual fuck with us. It isn't debt. I think we don't need the voices when we are together."

"Yeah, well, we should spend the night together. Stay with me tonight. I don't feel like being alone. My roommate hasn't been coming home so we'll be alone. Got some wine. We could finish our conversation there and do this again but not outside."

"Maybe one day we should introduce our voices to each other."

"I don't know if they want to live in the same community."

Daniel put a hand on Michael's leg. "I want to see you naked again."

"Which one of us will be in the driver's seat this time?"

"I feel like being a bottom, a top, anything. Want a big black dick up in my boy pussy. Want to be fucked till I'm dry and crazy, until I'm screaming like a woman giving birth."

"This is supposed to get me excited?"

"I can talk about the arts, politics, or religion. I can give you a rundown on my life. I can tell you about the ones I love, the ones I cheated on, how I've been abused, how I've abused, the levels of my hate, the heat of my anger, the degrees of love I will offer, I can tell you I have no bank account, no car to drive, or how I imagine having a good paying job that doesn't require me being on my back with legs in the air; and that I have friends who are not seasonal; and long to have fixed plumbing so I can improve my bathroom habits, and not have childhood memories clawing and scratching at me, always haunting; and not let my drug addiction keep me as someone's bitch. I had possibility but my family wasn't keen on me liking my uncle's dick and put my ass out. But this moment, is not about that, this about taking care of our business. Our nature is rising its head, I say answer the call, give me the response. You're not client material, you're something more than that and I can see it in your eyes. In fact, I think I want to call you Bright Eyes."

"Expect nothing but the moment."

"You come, you go, and no strings attached, no applications on file. Let's just keep it simple. Hey I'm on the street. I could be dead tomorrow. But today I'm alive for you."

Daniel had shoulder length brown hair, average built, tanned skin, rough from the sun and ravages of life, eyes defiant that mostly protected a heart that's been bruised, and possibly holding a fear of dying unloved. For someone so young he seemed so old; not old in human terms; but old in otherworldly terms. He felt like their relationship was not bound in time or boundaries but they were in an eternal dance. This is how Michael saw Daniel as they walked together to Michael's place.

And Michael thought that at least this ghost is flesh and blood and maybe just maybe the voices will leave us alone for the night.