Song of Oestend by Marie Sexton Read Free Book Online

was
    looking in a mirror, somehow facing his own psyche, having a conversation with a younger version of himself. He half expected to wake up and find it was all a dream, nothing more than a trick his all-too perceptive subconscious had played on him. But no. This was real.
    This young boy with the bright blue eyes that suddenly seemed full of damaged innocence was staring back at him, waiting for an answer.
    “Yes,” Aren said, although his voice didn’t sound like his own. “I know what you’re
    saying.”
    He saw the relief on Frances’ face. “All right.” He turned to head back into the room, but Aren stopped him.
    “What about after everybody else is asleep?” he asked.
    SONG OF OESTEND
    Marie Sexton
    36
    “No,” Frances said, shaking his head. “He’d never risk the others finding out.”
    Just like boarding school .
    Aren eyed Sawyer. He wouldn’t have called him attractive, although he seemed to be
    well-built. He probably had a great body. Aren felt his heart begin to race when he thought about the possibility of having sex again. It had been far too long. Masturbating the night before had helped, of course, but facing weeks or even months with no other option was bound to get old. Aren had sacrificed his dignity to his own lust before. Still, as he watched Sawyer, as he listened to him laugh and boast, a cold knot of dread formed in his stomach, overriding any sense of arousal he might have felt. He’d met guys like Sawyer before. He’d been used by them and abused by them, sometimes willingly, sometimes not. He hoped he would never be that desperate again.
    Frances went to bed soon afterwards, and Aren followed suit, for all the good it did
    him. The hands kept him awake far into the night. It wasn’t that they were mean, or even that they particularly cared that he was there. But they were young and obviously a somewhat rowdy bunch. The poker players and the drinkers seemed to be having some kind of contest to see who could be the most obnoxious.
    Eventually, the backgammon players, Simon and Garrett, went to bed. Ronin and Red
    passed out. The poker game devolved into an argument, which quickly turned into a fistfight between Calin and Aubry, which awoke the entire barracks. The other boys pulled the combatants apart amidst much cussing and yelling. Red and Ronin drunkenly threatened to kick “all you fuckers’ arses”. More arguing and general chest-thumping commenced.
    Eventually, they all went sullenly to their beds, and Aren breathed a mental sigh of relief. He felt as if he’d barely fallen asleep when he heard a distant bell ringing. What followed was the tumultuous chaos of nine boys cursing and swearing and yawning and, in the case of one of the drinkers, vomiting. Finally, they all filed out of the door, slamming it shut behind them.
    Aren pulled the blanket over his head and went back to sleep.
     
    SONG OF OESTEND
    Marie Sexton
    37

Chapter Five
    “You want to eat, you best get up.”
    The voice was rough and slowed by a heavy drawl, and it took Aren’s sleep-addled
    brain a moment to connect it to a person—Deacon.
    “Go away,” Aren mumbled, burrowing further down into the bed.
    Deacon laughed. “Hands’re finishing up now,” he said. “You want to eat before dinner, now’s the time.”
    Dinner? There was no meal between breakfast and dinner? That thought was enough to
    wake him up in a hurry.
    “I’m coming,” he said, and he tried not to be annoyed at Deacon for laughing at him as he stumbled around, taking care of his morning toilet, then finally getting dressed.
    “You don’t have lunch?” Aren asked as he followed Deacon around the barracks to the
    back of the house where the kitchen was.
    “‘Lunch’?” Deacon asked with obvious amusement. “I always forget you boys from the
    continent call it that.”
    “What do you call it?”
    “Dinner.”
    “So what’s dinner?” Aren asked, confused.
    Deacon laughed. “Well, if you mean what do we eat at the