What Ever Happened to Thomas...

The 25th reunion of Roosevelt High was in full swing. Former students, their spouses and significant others added up to over 300 people. Everyone was meeting up with long lost friends and acquaintances during the mingle session before dinner.

A bell was rung, announcing the mingle hour was over. Slowly everyone wandered to their assigned tables. Ten to a table: former students and their significant others, if any. Dinner was a standard hotel four-course meal with options of chicken, fish, or vegetarian: shared hors d'oeuvres, salad, main course, and dessert with coffee.

Table assignments were eclectic, as the reunion committee wanted to avoid friends just sitting with friends. So, jocks and nerds, artsy and techy, past hot stuff with past duds, etc. That made for interesting conversations since everyone had changed and no one was like they were in High School.

As dessert was being served, conversations shifted to those who weren't at the reunion.

Joshua, a former nerd and now IT department head, asked William, "What ever happened to Thomas?"

Thomas was the "bag boy" and stats guy for the football team all through High School. He suddenly disappeared midway through senior year. He had turned eighteen over the summer and was excited about graduating and going to college.

William, former starting Varsity Football center and now Sergent in the State Police, replied, "No one knows. He was at the Team's Halloween Party. He seemed to be having a good time. Katy, you remember Katy, she was sweet on Thomas. Well, she said they had an argument and he left. Vic, our quarterback, saw him leave about 10 minutes after Thomas left Katy. That's the last anyone saw of him."

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"Fucking Shit", Thomas muttered as he left the party.

He couldn't believe Katy. He caught her kissing Vic. She said it was nothing. Blamed it on the punch that someone had spiked. Said Vic surprised her. Yeah, right. She's full of shit. I saw her kissing him back and they were definitely Frenching. Can't believe I thought she loved me. I can avoid her at school but Vic, fuck, he's the QB. I'll be with him every practice, every game, every after game anything. Fuck.

Thomas kept walking down the street, on his way home, hands in the pockets of his jacket. Fuck, Mom and Dad will want to know why I'm home early. Katy's parents will be wanting to know why I didn't take her home after the party. Katy's folks and my parents are going to.... SHIT!

He didn't want to go home.

He didn't want to go back to the party.

Thomas decided to take the long way home, going out of his way to walk the back streets in the neighborhood. Walking down one, then turning left or right, doing all he could to extend his walk until the party was over and everyone was home. Knowing Mom and Dad, they'll call the police to find him. Particularly if Katy or her parents call asking if I'm home. And the party won't run too late because we have school the next day, so someone will start looking for him soon.

SHIT!!!!

He needed a place to stay overnight. Someplace no one would look.

Thomas looked around and saw the old Phillips' place between two houses. It was down the way and one street over. The house was abandoned after old Mr. Phillips passed away last year. His family was still fighting over the assets, so the house was sitting unoccupied.

He felt around in his pocket and found his key ring. Pulled it out and checked. He still had a key to Mr. Phillips' house. Before he passed away, Thomas did some errands for him on weekends and was given a key so Mr. Phillips wouldn't need to answer the door. Maybe it still worked.

Looking at his watch, Thomas noticed the party was likely ending, so he walked faster. Rather than go in the front door, Thomas used his key on the side door into the garage, entered, closed the door and locking it, then turned on the light.

Mr. Phillips' old truck was still in the garage, along with all his tools and yard equipment. Thomas didn't see a good place to stay, so he unlocked the door to the house, turned off the light, opened the door, entering the main house.

Light filtered through the curtains causing flickering shadows on the furniture and furnishings. All the rooms had windows and none of the curtains closed completely. If his parents had the police looking for them, they might remember the work he did for Mr. Phillips and decide to check out the house. They likely wouldn't try to get in, but probably would shine their flashlights through the gaps in the curtains, looking to see if he was there.

The only place to hide is the one place Mr. Phillips forbade him to go, the basement. Thomas found the door, but his key didn't work. Risking some light, he opened the refrigerator door, using the light to help him see inside the kitchen. He didn't want to leave the door open too long, so he quickly checked drawers and cabinets.

He found a flashlight in one of the drawers. Checked it, batteries were dead, but there were spares. He replaced the batteries and the flashlight worked. He continued his search checking the rest of the drawers and the cabinets. Feeling around on the top shelf of one of the upper cabinets, his fingers found a key.

He quickly closed the refrigerator door, then let his eyes adjust to the darkness. Carefully he walked to the basement door and tried the key.

The door unlocked. Thomas opened the door, stepped on the landing, closed the door, then turned on the flashlight.

He looked around. The stairs went down to a standard basement. From what he could see, there was a furnace, a water heater, a sump pump, and shelves of stuff. Thomas didn't see anything that would indicate why Mr. Phillips didn't want him to come down here.

One plus was there were no windows. He turned on the basement light, quickly opened and closed the basement door. No light leaked through. The door was sealed tightly enough. If he stayed in the basement overnight, no one would know he was there. He had the only key and even if the light was on, no one would know.

Thomas reentered the basement, closed the door, and locked it.

Going down the stairs to the basement floor, Thomas still didn't see anything that would drive Mr. Phillips' caution. Stuff on the shelves looked like the same stuff in his parents' basement.

Looking around he found an old cot. The canvas appeared to still be good. He didn't see any signs of rot.

On the ground under one of the shelves was a chest. Looking inside, he found it was a cedar chest and had wool blankets inside. Thomas grabbed one, put it on the cot, then closed the chest.

Taking off his jacket, he rolled it up into a pillow. Then laying down on cot, Thomas pulled the blanket over him and went to sleep.

Thomas dreamed, and dreamed, and dreamed. Of wonderous things. Of terrifying things. Of things his mind couldn't comprehend. Of things that should have driven him mad.

He awoke. The basement light was still on. He felt like he had slept a long time. Checking his watch, it indicated 10 o'clock.

Hmmm, he thought. Must be morning.

Getting up, he folded up the blanket and put it back in the cedar chest. He put on his jacket, then folded up the cot and put it back where it had been.

Grabbing the flashlight, he climbed the stairs, unlocked the door, then turned off the light.

Opening the door, Thomas was surprised it was still dark. He closed and locked the door, putting the key in his pocket. Walking over to one of the windows, he looked outside.

Everything looked different. There were only a few houses and they all looked like something from the 1800's. Looking at the sky, the moon looked odd. He didn't see "The Man in the Moon". Instead, it looked blank. Like a white disk with no features whatsoever. Trees were moving, but it appeared there was no wind as tall grasses, had no one mowed recently, were still.

Suddenly there was a noise in the house.

Thomas turned around. Coming out of one of the bedrooms was beautiful woman. She had long black hair, olive skin, eyes who's color he couldn't determine, large breasts with inch long nipples, and a full black bush covering her sex. She was wearing nothing but a pair of 4" stilettos that brought her height up to his.

She slowly approached him. Thomas was fixated, or perhaps held in place by her will. Each step brought her closer and closer until she was right before him.

He now saw her eyes were as black as a starless night. There was no iris, though maybe, he thought, her eyes are all iris. He tried to move and found he couldn't. Was it her will or his desire to stay?

She looked him in the eyes, and he fell into her black pools. She kissed him and soul cried out, whether in joy, pain, despair, he couldn't tell.

Her arms surrounded him, his clothes disappeared, he found his cock inside her as she rode him. Each time he was about to climax, she backed off, holding off her orgasm as well. Their minds were meshed, and he understood she needed to keep edging him. Each approaching climax bonded them closer and closer. Each time she backed off, it allowed the bonding to stabilize and gain permanency.

Time seemed to stand still. Thomas could not say if his first sexual encounter was lasting minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years. It felt like she had edged him a thousand times or more. Maybe over ten thousand or a hundred thousand.

Finally, both of them climaxed. He filled her with his seed. He knew he was now her mate and that she would bear his child. A child that was not human, but monstrous and powerful. One that could enforce the rule of its mother. She of a million names and cursed by billions.

Thomas looked at the remains of his body. Consumed by their joint lust and her desire to breed, it was just a pile of dust. As her mate, he was now part of her. His mind, his soul, was now part of her. They would be together until the end of time.

Much as he tried, even as part of her, Thomas could not discover anything about her, not even her name.

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"When Katy got home, her parents asked where Thomas was. She said they had a fight and he left. Her parents called Thomas' parents. He wasn't home. Naturally, they called the police. They cruised the streets, checked all the back alleys and places others who "disappeared" went to hide. Didn't find anything." William remarked.

He continued, "Thomas, despite being 'just the bag boy' was well liked by the team and they gave Vic a ration for moving in on Katy. Next game, he got hit hard and broke both his throwing arm and right leg. He was replaced by a guy who transferred that same week, and he took us to the State Championship."

"When I got into the State Police, I pulled the records. It's still a cold case. No one knows if he ran away, or something happened to him. They even checked the Mr. Phillips' house. Thomas' parents thought he might have a key and was hiding there. Mr. Phillips' attorney gave them his key to the house, and they looked around. There was no sign he was there. They checked for fingerprints. Nothing. The door to the basement was locked and no one had a key, so they got a locksmith to open it. Again, no sign of him and no sign he'd ever been there. The only odd thing they noted was a flashlight was missing.

"Over the past twenty-five years, there have been no leads, no sightings, no contact, nothing since he left the party.", William finished.

Joshua was thinking back to that time, given all William had said. Why had Katy kissed Vic? Why had Vic kissed Katy? Joshua's wife, Simone, had been close to Katy, but had a falling out around that same time. Was there more to this story?

Joshua looked at Simone, who had stayed quiet during the William's story. Thankful his High School sweetheart had been his wife for twenty one years.

William looked at Sarah, his wife, who he met in college. Thankful she had been his wife for the past nineteen years.

Sarah looked at William and asked, "So, what happened to..."