After leaving town, Oliver and Shawn walked through fields and trees for what must have been miles, eager to put as much distance between them and those officers as possible. Even if it meant having a longer trek to Wizard’s Point. They still needed to find another town to get more information anyway. So far, they hadn’t even seen a house.
“Do you think Jessica’s okay?” Oliver asked. In their rush to escape, they had completely forgotten to stay nearby to search for her.
“I’m sure she’s fine. The officers were focused on us the whole time. She probably got away.”
“I hope she’s not looking for us,” Oliver said. It would suck if she was forever wandering around that town looking for them, while they were running as far away from there as possible.
“I’m sure she’ll give up and find a way home without us,” Shawn said. “We’d probably do the same.”
His honesty made Oliver feel like a terrible person. But it was true. Neither of them were fond enough of the other to spend more than a day or two searching, instead of finding their own way home.
Even in the dark, they walked. Moonlight illuminated their path. Eventually the moon reflected upon a large body of water. They found a large tree to sleep under, using their new packs as pillows and jackets as blankets. They held each other for warmth, though it wasn’t that cold. It made Oliver wonder if it was actually supposed to be spring here, as opposed to fall back home.
He woke up nuzzled against Shawn’s chest, breathing in his musky scent. It should have smelt unpleasant, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. He looked up at Shawn’s dirt-smeared face to find him already watching him.
“You’re up just in time for sunrise.” Shawn nodded towards the lake, where the sun appeared on the horizon. The sky was a pinkish hue. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Beautiful like you, Oliver thought. He sat up, brushing dirt off his arms. “We should get going. I miss my shower.”
Shawn got to his feet. “Yeah. For now, we’re going to have to settle for the lake.” Before Oliver could open his mouth, Shawn took off his shirt.
Oliver tried not to stare as Shawn made a move to unbutton his jeans. “What are you doing?”
“Right, gotta take my shoes off first.” Shawn kicked off his shoes, then went for his socks.
“I mean, you’re not…” Oliver’s voice trailed off as Shawn returned his attention to his jeans.
Shawn stopped to look at him. “Not what? Taking advantage of a water source big enough to bathe in? There’s no one around.” He grinned. “You should join me.”
“That’s just asking for something bad to happen to us, or our clothes.”
“Coward.” Shawn stripped off his jeans and boxers together, throwing them in Oliver’s face. “You can watch my stuff then.”
Oliver tried not to oggle Shawn as he walked down to the lake, and got in. He put aside Shawn’s pants, and noticed how dirty his hands were. Maybe he should take advantage of the opportunity as well.
But he’d seen too many horror movies.
He was also covered in dirt and sweat. And probably reeked. He should bathe, if only to be somewhat presentable for Shawn.
Shawn was in chest-deep, his back to Oliver. Reluctantly, Oliver undressed down to his boxer-briefs, and stepped into the cold lake. He swore. “It’s freezing!”
“You’ve got to jump in all at once, to get it over with.” Shawn glanced over at him, saw he still wore his underwear, and laughed. “Seriously? You’re such a prude.”
Oliver ran the rest of the way in, towards Shawn, to punch his shoulder. Shawn pushed him away, and splashed at him. Oliver splashed back.
They both swam in deeper, laughing and splashing like they were kids again. It reminded Oliver of their childhood. How Shawn would come over to his apartment in the summer, and go swimming in the pool.
Shawn echoed Oliver’s thoughts. “Man, I remember back in the day, I used to go over to your house in the summer, and we’d go swimming.”
Oliver watched Shawn pull out his hair tie. “I was thinking about the same thing.”
“I always loved going to your house. It was so much better than mine.”
Oliver frowned as Shawn dunked his head back in the water to somewhat wash his hair. Oliver grew up in a tiny apartment in the city. Shawn grew up in a big house in the woods. He had a tree house they used to hide out in, playing handheld video games. When they tired of that, they’d explore the woods. “Your house was so much more exciting than mine.”
“Yeah, but your parents were so much cooler than mine. Buying you whatever toys you wanted, not caring if they were girly or not.” Shawn wrung his hair out. “Meanwhile, I had to hide that stuffed unicorn you gave me. They would have been pissed if they found it.”
Oliver recalled him mentioning that before, long ago. It didn't surprise him, given everything he knew about Shawn's conservative parents. “Good point.”
“You have no idea how lucky you are to have parents like yours. I was jealous. Still am, actually.” Shawn stared off into the distance wistfully.
Oliver felt a pang in his chest. “If we get out of here, my parents could be your parents. They always liked you.”
“I’ll have to take you up on that. I doubt mine will ever talk to me again. Last thing they told me was, ‘don’t bother coming for Christmas.’”
“Oh, Shawn.” Oliver couldn’t help himself. He wrapped his arms around Shawn, pulling him into a hug.
Shawn returned the hug. “As sweet as this conversation has been, we really need to finish up in here.”
Oliver agreed. He made a move to swim closer to shore, but something touched his butt. He turned around, but Shawn was too far away to have done it. “That wasn’t you?”
Shawn looked up from scrubbing his face. “What wasn’t me?”
Something slimy wrapped itself around Oliver’s thigh. Oliver shrieked. Shawn calling his name was the last thing he heard before being yanked underwater.
Oliver struggled to break free from whatever dragged him away from the surface. Shawn dove down, and grabbed his hand, pulling desperately. Oliver kicked his legs, grabbing onto both of Shawn’s arms. After much tugging and kicking, Oliver broke free, and swam upwards, gasping for air once he broke the surface. He turned around and saw the head of a giant squid looming over him. It was the size of a U-Haul truck. Black, beady eyes watched him. The creature lazily raised a tentacle, as though waving at the men. Maybe it only wanted to play.
“Come on!” Shawn shouted.
Oliver didn’t wait around to find out. They swam until their feet hit the ground, and ran until they reached their tree. Oliver clutched his chest, coughing and gasping for air. Shawn leaned against the tree, panting.
“What… was… that…?” Shawn asked between breaths.
“I think it was a giant squid.”
Shawn took in a deep breath. “Why the hell is there a squid in a lake? I thought they lived in the ocean!”
“We’re in a parallel universe. Maybe squids live in lakes here.”
“Weird” Shawn studied Oliver’s legs. There were a few red marks on them, from where the squid had grabbed him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” At no point did he feel any pain. Only terror. Even if the squid was only playing, he still could have drowned. His eyes met Shawn’s. “You saved my life.”
“Of course.” Shawn bent down to grab his zip-up sweatshirt. He shook it, then spread it out on the ground like a blanket, near the trunk of the tree. Then, sat down with his knees against his chest. “It’s gonna take us awhile to dry off.”
Oliver picked up his jacket and did the same. He sat in the same position, gazing at Shawn with an ache in his chest. Despite the giant squid in the lake, he found he wasn’t in any hurry to leave. “I don’t mind waiting. It’s been… fun.”
“Even though you almost died? You even warned me something bad would happen.”
“Yeah. But it’ll be a fun story to tell.”
“Like anyone back home would believe it.”
“Jyri, Faye, and Ran would.”
Shawn chuckled. “Yeah. I’m not sure I want them knowing about this.”
After a bit of silence, Oliver turned his head and caught Shawn staring at him with what might have been longing. Shawn jerked his head away, mumbling something.
Oliver fought back a smile. “What?”
“We should get moving.” Shawn stood up, picking his hoodie up with him.
Oliver got up as well, and pulled his trousers on over his slightly damp boxer-briefs.
Next to him, Shawn dug through both their packs frantically in nothing but his inside-out shirt.
“Is something wrong?” Oliver asked.
“I can’t find my pants!”
“Seriously?” All their other clothes seemed to be accounted for.
“Yes. Worse yet, my boxers were in them!”
That was a problem. Oliver looked down at his trousers. He could lend them to Shawn until they found someone willing to give them a pair of pants. Though he didn’t like the thought of parading through town in his underwear.
Something green lay a few feet away from the tree. Oliver pointed at it. “Is that them?”
Shawn rushed over, picking up what looked to be a pair of plaid green boxers. He hurriedly put them on, letting out a sigh of relief.
They didn’t see any jeans though. The two dressed quickly before any other articles of clothing could go missing. They shoved their jackets in their packs, and took one last look around for Shawn’s jeans.
“Did someone steal them?” Shawn asked.
“Probably.” It was the only logical explanation. But they hadn’t seen anyone around anywhere. “Maybe it was the squid.”
They walked in the direction of where they found the boxers. Another few feet away, Oliver spotted something rectangular and black. He walked over, saw it was Shawn’s phone, and picked it up. “Found your phone at least.”
Shawn took it from him. “Not like I can do anything with it here.”
“You mean you didn’t install a pants-finder app?” Oliver fought back a smile.
Shawn pointed his phone at him. “This isn’t funny!”
“It will be when it’s over.” Oliver adjusted his pack. “This might be a good thing, actually.”
“How could this possibly be a good thing?”
“People won’t be suspicious of us.”
Shawn slipped his phone into his pack. “Pretty sure they’ll be even more suspicious.”
“Or someone will take pity on you and find you a new pair of pants,” Oliver said. “Ones that easily blend in here.”
“I hope you’re right.”
They gave up the search and continued their journey.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rAV7wnkXh
and then Add to home screen.