"I'M GOING TO CUT YOUR BALLS OFF AND STUFF THEM DOWN YOUR THROAT, YOU LITTLE PRICK TEASER! THEN I'M GOING TO FUCK YOU WHILE I SLOWLY CHOKE YOU TO DEATH!! I'M GOING TO CUM INSIDE OF YOU AS I WATCH YOU TAKE YOUR LAST BREATH!! THEN, I'M GOING TO MURDER YOUR WHOLE FAMILY, ONCE I'M FINISHED WITH YOU!! NO ONE GETS AWAY WITH TREATING ME LIKE THIS!!"
Then the line went dead.
Mike stood with the phone to his ear, stunned. He didn't know what to say to Brian. Bill had thought that he was Brian. They did sound somewhat alike, but not that much alike.
Mike turned towards the boys and found that they both were staring at him. "That was Bill, wasn't it?" Brian asked, clearly shaken.
"Yeah. And I'm afraid he's getting worse," Mike admitted.
"Oh God," Brian said, as he got pale again. "Mike, what am I going to do? I don't have a car. Everywhere I go, I have to walk. I don't want to have to barricade myself in this house for the rest of my life."
"Bri, I'm not going to leave you. Once Mike gets my Mustang running, I can take you anywhere you need to go," Rob said.
"I couldn't ask you to do that," Brian answered.
"I understand. I don't think I could ask you to do that, either. But you didn't have to ask. I'm going to do it. So shut up and let's see what we need to do right now," Rob answered, taking charge. "What do you need us to do, Mike?"
"I want every window locked. I want all the curtains and drapes drawn downstairs. I have never told either of you this, but I have a gun in my closet that I bought during college. One of my residencies was in a rough part of downtown Atlanta at Grady Hospital, and I carried it with me while walking to my car late at night. I'm going to get it out and load it. I haven't fired it in over two years, but I was pretty good at one time. Bri, go find your old baseball bat. I know we took it with us. It's metal and would do lots of damage. I really don't think we have anything to worry about, but we can't be too careful," Mike ordered.
The boys stared at him and he could see the fear in their eyes. "Look guys, I think we are going way overboard. Bill really hasn't done anything to us other than tailgate us twice. He's really mad right now, but he hasn't proven that he is really dangerous. I really don't think we have anything to worry about at all, but I just want to make sure. Does that make sense?"
Brian stared at him for a moment and then said, "I guess you're right. Bill may be really mad, but he doesn't want to go to jail. Once we tell the police in the morning, they can find him and we won't have anything to worry about any more."
"Yeah. Mike has a gun and we have the bat you hit over .400 with last year. Three to one. He wouldn't stand a chance," Rob laughed.
For the first time since they got home, the mood lifted. The boys got up and started checking the locks on all the windows. They were actually laughing as they ran to see who could check the most before they went upstairs.
Mike had gone to his bedroom closet, looking for the gun he had purchased two years ago. It took some looking, but he finally found it. The separate clip was full. He inserted it into the gun and put it into the night stand beside his bed.
`9 shots. That should be able to stop anybody', he thought.
Mike walked out and was almost run down by the boys, who were now checking upstairs windows. They weren't thinking about Bill anymore. They were caught up in their competition. Mike just smiled as he watched them run around.
"Who won guys?" Mike asked, as he saw them finally stop in Brian's room.
"I did," both of them said at once.
"Oh, I see. A tie. That's they way it should be. Well, now that I know the castle is secured, I'm going to bed. I'm going to set my alarm clock for 7, just in case I get a call from the Detective early in the morning. Night," Mike said.
"Night Mike," Brian said, as he watched Mike disappear into his bedroom.
"We'd better go to bed too. We won't have a choice about getting up if the Detective does come early," Rob said.
"Ok," Brian simply said.
Brian walked into his bedroom and pulled down the covers. He turned his back on Rob and started to take off his clothes. Rob noticed and thought it was strange, but remembered what Mike had said earlier.
When they had first become best friends, they were seven. Both parents had taken turns letting them spend the night together. They had taken baths together in the same tub and been washed by both Moms. They had put a stop to that at age eight, but had still shared the same tub together until age ten. When they had entered high school, they had the same PE class together in the 9th grade, so they had showered next to each other for a whole school year. So there weren't any surprises for each other.
Rob loved Brian. He had since the second grade. Rob knew that he wasn't gay, but if Brian was, he would support him, or die trying. He knew that Brian was going through an extremely hard time right now, and he was determined to do anything he could to help him.
Soon, both boys were stripped down to nothing but their boxers. "Ready for bed?" Rob asked, looking Brian in the eye.
Brian met his gaze for a second, then looked away. "I guess so," he said, as he crawled into bed. Brian lay down on his side, facing away from Rob, and cut out the lamp on his side.
`Geez, he's really making this hard on himself,' Rob thought, as he climbed in next to Brian and turned out his light.
Neither boy could go to sleep right away. Brian tossed and turned. All he could think about was Bill coming after him.
Rob also couldn't go to sleep right away. He started thinking about the many times that he and Brian had spent the night together and how many experiences they had faced together. He became more determined than ever to help Brian in any way he could. No one was going to threaten his best friend and get away with it.
Rob was awakened by Brian tossing and turning in the bed they shared. He was mumbling in his sleep. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that Brian was having a nightmare, and a bad one from the looks of it.
Rob turned on his lamp beside the bed and grabbed Brian's arm, shaking him hard. "Brian, wake up!" he commanded.
"NO! Leave me alone!" Brian yelled, as he tried to get away from Rob.
Rob grabbed him and pulled him towards him. "Brian, it's me, Rob. Wake up!"
"No! Leave me alone. I hate you. I hate you," Brian yelled, as he fought to get away from him.
Rob slapped him across the face to wake him up. Brian's eyes went wide in terror, and then he finally recognized Rob.
"Rob! He had me tied down. He had cut off all my clothes and had heated a poker in the fireplace. He was coming closer and closer, and was going to ram it up my ass," Brian said, as he burst into tears and shrank away from Rob.
Rob didn't hesitate. He pulled Brian to him and held him as he cried. Brian tried at first to pull away, but he finally gave in and hugged Rob back.
Rob held him against him for a long time. He was wide awake, but he knew that Brian had finally gone to sleep. The light was still on, so he could see Brian peacefully sleeping in his arms.
He had his left arm around Brian. Brian's head was nestled between his arm and his chest. Brian had thrown one arm around him. His hand was now around Rob's back.
Rob was laying sideways, holding Brian as he slept. If he let go of him to turn out the light, it might wake Brian up. So he didn't take that chance.
At first, he tried to close his eyes and go to sleep anyway. But the light was bothering him.
He finally decided to turn out the light, even if it meant waking Brian up. He raised up and looked down at his best friend that he was holding in his arms.
Brian's mouth was open and he was snoring very faintly. Rob got a smirk on his face, as he saw his best friend defenseless for the first time. He started thinking about all the times that they had fought in the past.
They had one big fight when they were twelve. They had actually tried to kill each other that day. Rob had come home with a cut lip and several scrapes on his knees. Brian had gotten a black eye that he had gone around showing to everybody. By the next day, they were best friends again.
Brian's hair was all over the place. Rob knew that Brian hated to be seen with his hair out of place. So he smoothed it back where it should have been with his hand.
Brian didn't make a sound, and Rob continued to stare at him lovingly. Rob knew that he would do anything for Brian, no matter what.
He had almost decided to risk waking up Brian by letting him go so he could cut off the light, when he heard the crash.
Brian heard it too, as he raised straight up in the bed.
It was definitely downstairs. Both boys jumped to their feet. Rob looked back and Brian had his old bat in his hands, with both hands on the grip, looking wild eyed.
Mike burst into the room, wearing nothing but his own boxers. "Did you hear that?" he yelled, as he held his gun in his hand.
"Yeah. I think it was from downstairs," Rob answered.
"Ok, let me go first," Mike said, as he started to walk down the hall, gun pointing forward.
Rob started to follow him, but he looked back at Brian. He had worked his way back into a corner and was holding the baseball bat out in front of him like Luke Skywalker had held his light saber.
"Brian, come on. Come with us. It's safer that way," Rob said, as he started after Mike.
Brian got a really crazy look in his eyes to start with, but they finally focused on Rob and he nodded Ok.
All three of them eased down the stairs slowly, turning on every light they came to. They finally reached the bottom level and started searching where the noise had come from.
When they looked into the formal living room, they could see glass strewn everywhere on the carpet. A package wrapped in duct tape was lying on the floor next to the coffee table.
"Don't touch it. I'm calling the police right now," Mike said.
The two regular policemen took twenty minutes to get there. They arrived at 4:15 am. They looked around the whole house and determined that no one was close by.
Mike, Brian and Rob talked to them for a long time, but they knew they weren't getting anywhere. All the two police officers did was tape off their yard where all of their neighbors couldn't help but notice the bright yellow tape. If they hadn't already been awakened by the sirens and the flashing lights and were watching right now.
Just when their patience was wearing thin, a sleepy eyed guy that didn't look a lot older than Brian and Rob walked in, wearing Georgia Tech sweats.
"Hi. I'm Detective Jones," he said.
Mike was not happy with this Detective. "How old are you?" he asked.
"23. How old are you?" Detective Jones asked back.
"29. But I'm a Doctor. What does how old I am have to do with anything?" Mike asked.
"I have a Masters in Criminal Psychology. If I get a cut on any of the broken glass, I'll ask for your help, OK?" Detective Jones said, dismissing Mike. "You haven't touched the package yet?"
"No, we haven't touched what was thrown through my fucking window," Mike yelled.
To Be Continued
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