This is also for Barefootethan, who I hope is still watching occasionally and is encouraged by this to come back and resume writing his own stories.
Part 1
John pedaled down the quiet, lonely road; enjoying the feel of the wind as he rode along as it helped to cool his tired, sweaty young body. He had been riding his bike for several hours down roads that were largely unfamiliar to him; following Will’s carefully-detailed instructions as he searched for a particular house. His blue eyes searched each house number he passed as he rode to make sure he did not miss his destination, but the numbers he saw indicated that he still had a ways to go.
John paused and wiped off the sweat that was getting into his eyes with an equally sweat-soaked arm. This only caused some of his long, wheat-blond hair to get into his eyes, and he brushed it aside with a quick out-take of breath that simultaneously expressed his mild frustration. Will’s house was certainly an awful long way from town – or from anything else! John felt was already practically out in the wilderness, with scarcely a house in sight; and he felt like he was traveling out to the middle of nowhere!
Normally, John enjoyed being out in the countryside; before his family had moved, he’d spent a lot of time hiking in the woods. Although he was slender for his height (5’ 7” and 130 pounds), he was strong, agile and fit, and normally possessed considerable stamina -although this heat and humidity was certainly sapping some of that stamina out of him now! But like many another typical American 14-year-old boy, John enjoyed challenges; although he hadn’t expected to encounter one just reaching his friend’s house! Smiling ruefully, John’s adventurous spirit reasserted itself as he ended his short rest break and resumed pedaling.
Around the next bend in the road, John saw a high stone wall emerge from the woods ahead of him and begin to parallel the road ahead of him to his right. The wall ran adjacent to the road as far as he could see, past the next bend in the road a few hundred yards further off. “Pretty large property here,” John thought quietly to himself. “I wonder who owns it!”
Just past the next bend, John saw a driveway leading to a huge metal gate set in the wall. There was a large house number affixed to it. Wait a minute; that was the house number he was looking for! John stared in surprise, slowed down, turned to enter the driveway, and rode the hundred feet or so of driveway up to the gate to get a better look.
John stopped his bike in front of the locked gate that blocked his way and checked the address against the one Will had written down for him. He looked at the number on the metal gate itself and then at the property beyond. John took a long, careful look through the bars of the gate; especially at the few portions of the large manor house that could (barely) be seen past the trees and the extensive park-like glade beyond. The boy whistled with sheer admiration. With the beautiful terrain that lay beyond, John imagined that he was looking at the Gateway to Heaven itself!
Will lived *here*? John realized his new friend’s family was well-off, but this? The place was huge! Just the part of the grounds he could see covered over a dozen acres! Judging by the high stone wall that had been in sight along the road for the past quarter mile – and which stretched out of sight around the bend in the road ahead of him – it must cover at least a quarter of a square mile in area! Probably even more!
John got off his bike, nudged the kickstand down with one sneaker-covered foot, and left his bike standing as he walked a few paces to the small electronic box that stood like a small ATM along the left side of the gate. He paused to look up at the wall; almost twenty feet high as smooth as glass, with a well-manicured and cleared out space thirty feet wide along the entire side of it that he could see. No one trying to get inside the grounds by bypassing the gate would be able to scale *that* at all easily! It’d take one of those things linemen used to fix power lines to take someone to the top of the wall – and then they’d still have a long way to drop on the other side! And this was even without taking all that razor-wire up there into account. John whistled again; Will’s family sure must like their privacy! Assuming this wall ran entirely around the estate, there was no way anyone could sneak onto *their* property!
John looked away from the top of the high stone wall and pressed the button at the base of the intercom set into the gate barrier. There was a small electronic buzzing which he assumed was matched by another, louder buzzing like a doorbell somewhere inside that mansion. John looked up at that intimidatingly high wall and let his gaze follow along its top for a moment. “Hello? Is that you, John?” Will’s familiar voice suddenly called out cheerfully from the intercom and almost made John jump; he hadn’t expected a response quite so fast and the high walls made him feel a trifle wary somehow.
“Yeah, it’s me!” replied John.
“Come on in!” replied Will’s voice at the same time a buzzer sounded. “Use the pedestrian gate. Be sure to close it shut behind you.”
John grabbed his bike, nudged the kickstand out of the way, and hastily walked it onto the sidewalk up to the smaller gate that lay beside the larger one meant for vehicles. It swung away at the touch of his bike’s front wheel, and the buzzer ceased its noise. John walked his bike through the gate and swung the gate shut behind him. The gate closed with a clang and a metallic click that was somehow a bit spooky under the circumstances. John reached out again and tugged at the gate experimentally; gently at first and then as hard as he could. The gate wouldn’t even budge!
John looked around. For as far as his eye could see, the landscaped grounds inside the wall were clear of all foliage within thirty feet of the high walls, just as the exterior had been. It suddenly had an aspect as daunting as it was beautiful, as it suddenly occurred to John that leaving the estate over the wall would be just as hard as entering it! He looked again at the gate through which he’d passed so casually a moment before, and suddenly it looked more like the bars of a prison than it did the gateway to Heaven.
John suddenly realized that he was now essentially locked inside the estate, and for a brief second, despite the fact that Will was his friend, this unsettled him vaguely. But then there was a pleasant breeze, the sun came out from behind a cloud and bathed him in his warmth, and a nearby bird perched in a tree started warbling its love song. John’s strange unease vanished like a soap bubble. What was he worried about? He was visiting his friend for a two-month-long sleepover, not going to prison!
Immediately forgetting his previous odd mood, John got onto his bike and leisurely rode along the sidewalk that paralleled the driveway. It had been a long bike ride from his house to this manor, and he was hot and tired. The ride itself wasn’t so bad even though it was a hot and humid June day. However, he was carrying a fairly large backpack -containing a clean change of clothes and several clean sets of underwear and socks inside it – and this load made his back sweat profusely. He hoped the smell of his sweat and what he perceived to be his grubby appearance wouldn’t make Will sorry he’d invited John for a visit – let alone a two-month-long sleepover!
John briefly reflected on how he had met Will. John’s family had moved to Godsey’s Mountain, several towns over from Walton’s Valley where Will lived, from the other side of the country in March. Essentially uprooted and transplanted in totally unfamiliar surroundings in the middle of the school year had been upsetting for the slender youth despite his normally adventurous spirit and cheerful temperament. His father had gotten a huge promotion in his company that raised their standard of living quite dramatically, and as a result John had been sent to a private boarding school for wealthy families rather than resume his schooling in a public school like he had attended before. However, rather than being one of the richest boys in his school, he was just about the poorest, and this would be enough to dampen anyone’s self-esteem and make him feel totally inferior to everyone around him.
One requirement of his new boarding school was that he be active in at least one sport; so John joined the Soccer team. It was the only sport he was really any good at. At first he found it difficult to mix with his new team-mates, until the coach introduced him to Will; the captain of the Soccer team. But he and Will had hit it off right off the bat, and before long John and Will were spending considerable time together on and off the Soccer Field. By the time the school year ended, the two boys were fast friends.
Will was several months older, two inches taller, and about twenty five pounds heavier than John. He was muscular and rather heavier of frame than the slightly-built John. He had blond hair (though it was a much darker shade than John’s wheat-colored hair), eyes as pale blue as robin’s eggs, and a darker complexion than his younger friend. He had a genial nature and always seemed to smile and laugh, and John always felt good around him. They had many common interests, and often went to the movies or to the Arcade together after classes. They got to know each other so well that it was almost as if John had known Will his entire life instead of just a few months.
John was almost sad when school ended for the summer; for their families lived roughly thirty miles apart. John thought that now he and Will would not see each other again until school started back up again in the fall. He feared he faced a summer of loneliness as well, for he knew no one who lived near his own house, his dad was usually away on business trips, and his mother was often too busy with her own circle of friends to spend much time with him.
But as it turned out, Will had ideas of his own. “If you’ve got no other friends, and your own folks don’t have any time for you, why don’t you spend the summer with me?” Will earnestly suggested to him. “I don’t have many friends where I live either, and I’m not looking forward to spending so much time alone! Let’s spend the summer together!”
“But won’t your own folks mind?” John asked hesitantly, although he was not at all averse to the idea of spending the summer at Will’s house.
“Heck no; they won’t even be there much of the time. Mom and dad are almost always away for business trips, or taking vacations somewhere far away – as much vacations away from ME as from anything else, I think” he said with a laugh. “There will be lots of things we can do together. We have a huge swimming pool and a tennis court, and I’ve got a huge collection of DVDs I haven’t watched yet for the summer. Come on, please say yes! It’ll be lots of fun, I swear!”
It didn’t take much more persuading to convince John. In turn, it didn’t take very much persuasion on John’s part to convince his parents to let him go. John’s father called Will’s father, who sounded like a very friendly man who seemed quite happy that his son had a friend he wanted to have stay over for the summer. And so arrangements were made as John and Will kept in touch by cell phone. John was told to travel light, as Will had a lot of excess clothing he’d outgrown which would fit Will’s smaller, lighter frame perfectly. Since John was traveling the entire way by bicycle just for the challenge (and the exercise), this was very good news indeed!
And now here he was – and it was like reaching paradise after a long and difficult journey. John pedaled leisurely along, until the manor house that had been previously almost hidden came more clearly into view. It looked like a mansion that belonged somewhere in Beverly Hills; not along a semi-isolated dead-end road at the edge of a small town like Walton’s Valley! In fact, it looked very much like the Clampett mansion from the old TV show The Beverly Hillbillies. It was perhaps a bit smaller, but not much.
Off to one side of the mansion John could see a tennis court, and nearby a trail that led into what seemed to be a small forest isolated from the rest of the countryside by the great wall that surrounded this estate on all sides. There were at least several acres of area that were at least as well maintained as a new city park. “Jeez, it must take an army of maintenance people to take care of *this* place!” John thought to himself as he slowly rode his bicycle up to the front door, hopped off, nudged his kickstand again to park his bike, and approached the door.
Just as he was about to ring the doorbell, the door was opened from the other side and Will stepped out to greet him with a wide grin on his face. He was dressed casually in a blue T-shirt with the famous Superman ‘S’ symbol on it, red gym shorts, red socks, and dark red sneakers (all of which – intentionally or otherwise - increased the resemblance to Superman’s costume). “Great to see you, buddy,” Will said to the smaller boy. “Come on inside. We’ll put that bike away in the garage for you later. Set that backpack down anywhere you like. Right now I want to show you all around!”
“Uhh… can I wash up a bit first?” John asked a bit timidly. He was feeling overwhelmed by his new surroundings. He’d thought his family’s new house in Godsey’s Mountain was really something (and it was, compared to the house he’d lived all his life in previously), but Will’s house made John’s look like a barn in John’s eyes now. Just the front foyer in was now in was roomier than any two rooms in his own house, and it was certainly far more expensive as well. John was started to feel unkempt and unworthy to be in this place, despite Will’s unconditionally welcoming demeanor; like he was a panhandler knocking on someone’s door and begging for some spare change.
“Sure, if you want!” Will said cheerfully as he slung one well-tanned, well-toned arm casually around John’s slender shoulders in pure camaraderie. He bent down and grabbed John’s backpack as if it were weightless in his free hand and happily led his house guest up the stairs. “Your room’s up here; you can freshen up in there,” Will said cheerfully.
John was led up the stairs and along a winding, well-furnished hallway past several rooms until they came to a room near the back of the mansion that was closed with a set of large, heavy double doors. Will casually opened the door and led John inside.
John gasped; this room was just for him? Good God; it was almost as large as an entire floor at his own house! The room contained a luxurious king sized bed with ornate (and very sturdy-looking) brass posts and railings; it would have dominated John’s own room at home yet seemed almost tiny compared with the room as a whole. There were also several fancy chairs of different types; all fancy and also built quite heavily with massive wooden frames. There was a huge plasma TV on top of a dresser drawer that could have held several times as many clothes as John owned. There was a computer desk with a desktop computer beside a shelf containing numerous books and a large collection of DVDs and videogames as well. A set of French windows looked out over a backyard that was dominated by the largest and fanciest private swimming pool John had ever seen. The French window was framed by a luxurious set of drapes that totally hid the window frame – and also totally hid another feature of these windows that John was not to find out about until later! Even the closet that stood open to one side was large enough to make a small comfortable room all by itself.
Will showed John to the private bathroom that could be accessed only from John’s own room. John gasped again; it was twice as large as and ten times fancier than the bathroom at home. The bathtub in one corner was luxurious and fronted with a solid, opaque shower curtain that slid aside. There were numerous sturdy metal safety rails built into the wall beside the tub that looked strong enough to support an elephant and withstand being pulled out by a gorilla; Will tentatively pulled on one and couldn’t budge it at all. Everything… even the sink and the toilet… was as spotlessly clean as if the entire room had been built yesterday or had never been used before.
“Go ahead and freshen up,” Will invited him. “Take your time if you want. When you’re done, you can meet me downstairs in the rec room. Just turn right at the foot of the stairs and walk into the room at the end of the hallway there. Or, you can take the elevator right by the stairs if you’re feeling lazy after you wash up.” Will finished with a grin.
“Thanks,” John replied almost sotto voce as Will casually waved good bye and stepped out of the room; gently closing the door behind him. Then, after looking around his new room for a moment or two in something of a daze, John re-entered the bathroom to take a much needed shower. He began to whistle a happy tune.
Outside John’s room, Will heard John whistling happily and smiled. This was really going to be one great summer, he thought to himself as he walked briskly back to the front of the mansion and hurried down the stairs. Of course, John had a few surprises in store for him, but he’d adapt. But first, he had to get things ready for him downstairs.
John took a key out of his pocket as he approached the rec room and fitted it into the lock as he reached the door; there was a ponderous click as he unlocked the heavy door and pushed it open. Inside the huge room were various kinds of game equipment, including a ping pong table, a pool table, a Foosball machine, three pinball machines, several electronic Arcade computer games, another large plasma-screen TV, another computer, and a modern stereo system.
Lying on a padded mat in front of this last was a boy slightly older and slightly larger than Will and dressed in nothing except a pair of gray cargo shorts that ran to just above the knee. The other boy didn’t respond to Will’s presence for the very good reason that he was hog-tied, gagged, blindfolded, and wearing a set of earphones that was playing the Steve Miller Band at a high (but not uncomfortable) volume; rendering him oblivious to everything around him.
Will walked up to the other boy and – for the umpteenth time – admired the trim, athletic body that lay helplessly in his power and was currently oblivious to his presence. Then Will squatted down beside his prisoner; knees hovering mere inches over the other boy’s bound upper arms. Will reached casually out and, with a single finger, gently stroked the underside of a bare foot. There was sudden, almost violently spasmodic movement and a muffled squeal from the helpless boy; showing he was oblivious to Will’s presence no longer. Laughing quietly, Will ruffled the other boy’s dark brown hair for a moment and then proceeded to release him from his hogtie.
The other boy sighed with heartfelt relief when he was able to lay flat on his belly instead of being trapped in a hogtie, and made no effort to move a muscle until Will untied the knot of the gag at the back of the boy’s head. Then the second boy raised himself up slightly, spat out a pair of now-disgusting ankle socks, groaned, and flopped limply back onto the floor as Will continued to untie him.
“I thought you were *never* getting back in here!” Paul complained only half-seriously as his wrists were freed. Then he groaned in mingled misery and relief as he slowly moved his arms, shook some life back into them, and removed his blindfold while Will scooted over to Paul’s legs and untied them as well.
“Sorry, but I needed to make John feel right at home,” he replied cheerfully as he finished untying the ropes around Paul’s knees and began undoing his ankles as well. “He was more nervous than I expected him to be.”
“I’ll bet he wasn’t as nervous as he’ll be once he finds out what games we want to play with him!” Paul retorted with a sinister chuckle. “Boy, I can hardly wait to get started.”
“Well, let’s get all the ropes and stuff put away before he comes down here,” Will urged his friend. “We don’t want to spook him before the main event, now do we? Let’s give him a chance to get used to my house, and get to know you first – he doesn’t even know you’re here, yet. Then, when he’s good and relaxed, we’ll ease him into the game.”
The two boys put away all evidence that Paul had spent the last hour or more in a hogtie, and casually began a game of ping pong as they waited for Will’s other house guest to join them.
TBC