Elliot Arthur Cross - Clearclay Park

Clearclay Park

By Elliot Arthur Cross

Published by Queerteen Press

Visit queerteen-press.com for more information.

Copyright 2013 Elliot Arthur Cross

ISBN 9781611529364

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the authors imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America. Queerteen Press is an imprint of JMS Books LLC.

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Clearclay Park

By Elliot Arthur Cross

Cody Langdon sucked in a deep breath. He had to start his morning gym class playing baseball of all things. He wasnt thrilled about taking gym, but the first few days of the school year consisted of exercising activities and personal training. He wasnt an athletic guy. He couldnt muster any interest in organized sports, and gym still reminded him of the time he kissed a classmate in the locker room a year ago. Brad.

A couple of guys had walked in, and suddenly Codys life took a nosedive. There were shoves in the hallway, snickers in class, and graffiti on his locker. Even the geeky kid whose locker was next to his made gay jokes to the nerds. Cody could only put up with it for a few weeks before he tried to kill himself. His dad had saved him, and the family moved out of Michigan to start over.

But the locker rooms on the east coast were the same as in the Great Lakes State. They smelled of musk and sweat. Water drops drizzled down drains and boys bragged to each other about their sexual conquests.

The Florida sun beat down on the students and teacher, a thirty-something with a stocky figure. Unlike most of Codys classmates, the aloof boy wore black shorts and a sweaty dark T-shirt. His straight black hair was matted down across his forehead, the tips hanging just past his eyebrows as he watched the batter, Zack Jenner, swing. Cody had a bad feeling. Zack was a six foot, strapping all-American type. Popular, hot, and smart. In the first few days of school, Cody tried to find fault with the guy, but he couldnt. He respected teachers, answered questions, didnt pick on the nerds, and looked like a marble sculpture of a Roman god.

Zack connected with the ball, sending it high in a wide arc. He flashed a grin and let the wooden bat fall from his hands to the mound of tightly packed earth.

Shit, Cody muttered as the ball sailed toward his position in outfield. Hed hoped he could just stand out there, feet planted on the short grass, and occasionally clap when something benefited his team.

Its all you, Cody! one of his teammates shouted.

Great. He hadnt learned all of their names yet, but he didnt want to let them down.

Zack tore off from home plate and sailed to first base while Cody backed up, head high, eye on the ball. He shook his head and held his glove up in front of him. The baseball fell right into Codys glove and bounced out again.

Cody stumbled for the ball and scooped it up as Zack continued toward second base.

Come on, come on! someone shouted. Cody sighed and lobbed the ball toward second. The baseman hopped towards it and barely caught the ball. He returned to second base as Zack smiled and waved toward Cody.

I owe you one, Zack called out. It wasnt a mean-spirited comment, but fun-loving. Cody couldnt even let himself hate the guy a little.

Cody sensed the grumbling from his teammates and returned to the middle of left field. The game continued on until the end of class. Mr. Gorski blew the whistle that always hung around his thick neck and told the students to hit the showers. Cody shuffled toward the boys locker room with half the class while the girls went to their own.

Hold up one sec, Cody, Mr. Gorski said.

Cody sighed and hung back, letting his teacher approach him. Mr. Gorski was a thirty-year old, good looking guy with black hair and a broad chest. If Cody didnt have a quasi-boyfriend, which he considered a miracle, he probably would have had a crush on his teacher.

Whats up? Cody asked.

You seemed a little distracted today, Mr. Gorski said. Everything all right, Cody?

Yes. Dont tell him you spend the entire class in your head. Or right now. Get out of your head.

You like it here?

Sure. Cody wasnt sure where here referred to, but he figured he should reassure the man.

You know, Mr. Gorski said, one word answers tend to give the opposite impression. He folded his arms and affected a pleasant smile. Cody silently thanked the gods that he had a guy in his life to keep him from falling over his teacher.

You know about Tanglewood Road, huh? Cody asked.

Uh, yeah. Pretty heavy stuff. Mr. Gorski shuffled his feet. By heavy stuff, he meant that the dozens of people who lived on the road Cody and his parents moved to were all found butchered a few weeks before by a demon called Tanglewood. He still didnt know why it happened, hoping the monster had more of a reason to kill dozens of people than that they lived on a street carrying his name. Cody discovered Tanglewood was targeting them, so he snapped and tried to burn down his own house to force his parents to move. He kept his little arson act a secret, blaming the killer for that. The official story was that a madman was behind it all, and had even struck a neighborhood a few hours drive away two years before. Cody helped get the previous survivor, Adam Monroe, out of a mental hospital, and the two started unofficially dating. Cody was never sure who knew what, so he tended to go with, Yes, everythings fine.

Can I be honest with you? Cody asked, feeling incredibly awkward.

Of course. You can trust me, Cody. Mr. Gorski looked genuinely concerned. It made it harder to lie, so Cody decided to give him a version of the truth.

This may come off as a surprise, but Im not really a sporty guy, Cody said. Im more of a sit in my room playing role-playing games and watching sci-fi shows guy, you know? Much less of everyone get together to score points with balls. I know thats lame. Sorry.

Its all right, Mr. Gorski said. Math isnt for everyone. Sci-fi isnt for everyone. Neither is gym. Whats your favorite sci-fi show?

I love Random Reasoning , Cody said.

That shows awesome. Look, Im not going to pester you any longer, I just wanted to make sure youre doing all right. If you have any problems, you can come talk to me anytime, all right?

Kay.

All right, hit the showers. Mr. Gorski nodded toward the side door into the building. Cody decided to give it a show so he ignored the heat and his own physical limitations and jogged inside.

Cody wondered how his gym teacher would have responded if he started talking about demons. Hed thought he was losing his mind before he met the Demonic Survivors Support Group and he learned that there were plenty of other people who had suffered at the hands, or tentacles, of paranormal entities.

The guys had already changed and were in the small shower stalls by the time Cody stripped out of his black shorts and shirt. It was always easier hanging off by himself when others his age stripped, and while no one would admit it, they all compared their bodies. He hung his towel up outside a vacant shower and walked in, his sweaty feet padding softly against the gray tiled floor.