Alex Waldhauser

Twill: Chapter 1

The consistent babble increased to a roaring cheer as the bus driver announced that they were nearing the camp. Twill retreated farther against the bus’ edge, as the animal next to him became even more rowdy. He could tell that it was a feline that was sitting next to. Occasional purrs could be heard for reasons Twill didn’t care to eaves drop on. A sharp turn into the long path to the camp made the feline slam into Twill’s back. He cursed inwardly as his head hit the glass window hard. Turning his head slowly, he got his first look of who was sitting with him.

“Woah! It moved!” A voice exclaimed. A cheetah looks over at him, spotted face grinning slightly. “I’m Ket. These are some friends, Spots and Ras.” Ket said motioning to the Dalmatian and Raccoon in the seat across. “Hello.” They both said. Twill recognized that it had been the Dalmatian to comment on him moving. “And you are?” Ket asked, returning his focus on Twill. “Twill.” He replied bluntly, looking over Ket. “Decent build. A bit of a tummy. He looks-“ “Are you checking me out? Fag.” Ket interrupted Twills thoughts, glaring at him. “N-No..” Twill stammered, looking away quickly.

“Lets go.” Ket said to his friends, standing up and walking toward the front. Twill stayed put, not having noticed the bus had stopped. He waited until he was the last on before standing up and walking down the isle to the door. The sun glared down, shining off his pitch black fur and making him lift a paw up to keep it out of his eyes. Looking around, he found his luggage and walked over to it. He picked it up and saw a bulletin board with the cabin listings. Scanning the names of the kids, he soon found that he’d be in cabin six.

Twill looked around for a sign to direct him to the cabins. A small sign next to a gravel path pointed ahead for cabins one through eight. Sighing, he picked up his luggage and walked down the path. Stepping up to the door of cabin six a minute later, he pushed it open.

“- Those are the rules. Now if there are any- Ah, you must be Twill. You’re quite late you know. Your bunk is there, beneath Ket’s,” Said a large, dark grey wolf. “I’m your cabin leader, Skoth. I just went over the rules, I’ll tell them to you on the way to our cabin activity. But first, everyone needs to get into your swimming suit. That’s the second half of our day.”

Padding over to his bunk, he looked up at Ket. A sneer was set on Ket’s face, a small glint in his eyes. He looked away then looked around and the rest of the cabin. There are Ket, Ras, Skoth, Spots, himself, and another wolf in the cabin. Spots and Ras seemed to have normal coloured fur. Ket’s is normal except for the deep red that slowly changed down his tail. Skoth ears and tail tip changed from dark grey to a bright green. And the other wolf was white with a few veins of light grey. Twill’s fur was all black except for the royal blue that changed from black down his tail.

Absent mindedly digging through his bag and putting on his suit, he almost didn’t notice Skoth leading the way out the cabin. Twill trails behind the group, walking down several gravel paths. Five minutes later they came to a small clearing in the woods. There are bows on the ground and arrows in a bucket. A huge piece of Styrofoam has dozens of balloons tacked to it.
“Everyone, come pick up a bow.” Announced Skoth as he reached them. Compound bow’s outnumbered the recurve’s easily. Twill waited until he was the last person and grabbed up a sturdy compound bow. “Ohkay, so, here’s how you hold the bow…” He zoned out from this boring speech on how to use a bow, having known how to use one for a few years. “Alright, order is Ket, Ras, Spots, Twill, and Arcc. Good luck.” Skoth stepped back from a line on the ground as Ket stepped up and selected an arrow. Notching it to the string, Ket pulls it back and sights down the shaft. A few seconds of aiming and he lets the arrow fly. Thump. The arrow hits the Styrofoam missing all balloons close to it.

“Damnit..” Ket walked back to Spots as Ras stepped up. With some difficulty, Ras got the arrow notched and was sighting. Letting go of the string, the arrow flies. And buries into the ground a few feet from the Styrofoam. Ket and Spots snickered as Ras stepped away from then line, looking sheepishly about. Spots takes his place on the line, picking up and notching an arrow. A second later the arrow flies. A bright green balloon wiggles as the arrow penetrates the Styrofoam next to it. “Close!” Spots growled playfully.

Twill sighs as he steps up to the line, smoothly notching an arrow. He pulls the bow back with a slight grunt of effort from how taunt the string was. Sighing down the straight shaft, he focuses on a dark blue balloon. Letting go of the string the arrow zooms at the Styrofoam and pierces the balloon. “Good job, Twill!” Skoth calls out from behind everyone. Arcc took Twills place and quickly notched and fired an arrow, popping a pink balloon. “Very good, Arcc!”

This pattern kept up for another half hour, balloons popping more frequently. Twill and Arcc got about the same amount of balloons hit, followed by Spots. “Ohkay! Everyone gets one more shot before it’s time to head to the beach!” Everybody took their turn, standing five feet behind the line for fun. And from all the practice, everybody hit a balloon. “Put your bows back where you found them and we’ll be on our way.” Skoth announced, standing up and stretching.

The gravel paths beneath their paws stretched on for what seemed like miles before the sound of the lake met their ears. The lake comes into view between the trees, sparkling in the light of the sun. Smooth sand greets his paws as Twill pads onto the beach. The beach was empty of any swimmers except for a small cabin that was drying off. The leader is a male tabby. The campers consist of: a pair of twin foxes, a collie, a cat, and an otter.

Twill stares at the Otter who’s rolling around in the sand, drying himself. Standing up, he shakes to get the sand off his fur. Noticing that he was behind his cabin a ways, he pads faster to catch up, still looking at the otter. Deep purple fur covers his lean form. As Twill looks back up to his head, he blushes deeply as he meets the other otter’s eyes.

The cabin leaders greet each other as they pass, leading their cabins to their next activity. Twill keeps his head down as all the other kids pass, a light blush still present on his face. A paw squeezes his lightly, causing him to look up into the face of the otter. “Hey there.. I’m Kiru.” He said, looking over to make sure his cabin hadn’t gotten to far off. “Hi..” Twill responds shyly. “I’m Twill..” “Nice to meet you.. I’d like to stay and talk.. But now isn’t the time. I hope I can see you soon.” Kiru says, smiling before running off to catch up with his cabin.

Twill continues to walk down the beach after, sliding off his shirt and placing it where the others are. The planks of the dock shine with water as he walks along it. Twill reaches the end and looks down into the water. He couldn’t see the lakebed, and decides to dive off. Instantly, all sounds vanish as he enters the water. He opens his eyes and looks around the clear water.

Swimmer’s legs and small patches of seaweed fill Twills sight. Swimming down, he sits on the lakebed about 12 feet under the surface. His eyes close as he holds his breath for several minutes, His thoughts still on Kiru. Resurfacing as he runs out of air, he looks around again. Seeing most of the cabin members up to their chest in water. With a deep breath he dives back down.

A large patch of seaweed sat outside the swim boundary. “Maybe there will be some fish in there. I am kind of hungry…” Twill though as he swam over to it. Light dims slowly as Twill swims slowly through the seaweed as to not spook any possible fish. After several minutes of fruitless hunting, Twill gives up and resurfaces. Smiling slightly to himself, his thoughts drifted back to Kiru.

“Twill! There you are, come on! It’s time to go eat dinner!” Twill jumped as Skoth yelled out to where he was floating. Twill swam in to find that everyone else was already dry. “Do you know where to go to get to the cafeteria? I want to get there a bit early to get a good table to sit at.” “I’m sure I can find it.” Twill replied, still dripping with water. “Alright. Time to go everyone.” With that, Skoth walked off with the cabin following.

Twill slid into the sand, coating him. He shakes roughly as he stands, getting the sand off him. Picking his shirt up he puts it on and starts walking along a gravel path. The babble of another cabin ahead of him grows louder. Finding the he was fairly lost he decides to follow them. Luckily, they were going to the cafeteria also so Twill got there in decent time.

Twill searches the room for Kiru as he stands in line. Unable to find Him, Twill spots an empty table in the back. The line moved at a moderate pace thanks to all the servers and soon enough Twill had mumbled his thanks to them. He stayed to the edge of the room before finally sitting down at the empty table. Picking up the apple he selected, he bit into it, still looking around for Kiru.

“Is anyone sitting here?” Asked a voice that brought Twill back from his slight daze. A vibrant purple cat and a black wolf were sitting down across from Twill. “Oh.. No, it’s open.” “I’m Jake. And this is my girlfriend, Sammi” the cat introduced. “I’m Twill.” “Nice to meet you” Sammi said, smiling. Her fur is accompanied by orange paws, mask, and ear tips which joined at her nape and carried down to her tail.

The table was silent for a few minutes as they ate. “Do you have any friends here?” Sammi asked, breaking the silence. “Me? No, none of them could make it this week.. I did meet another otter, but I can’t seem to find him..” “Is he cute?” Jake asked eagerly, looking around. Sammi smacks him in the arm before looking around also. “Oww.. You know I’m yours..” “He is. His fur is a nice deep purple. And he seems really nice form the first impression.” “So, you like him then?” “Wh-What? I never said that!”

“Oh come on, it's easy to see that you do. So, the only question left is are you bi or gay.” Sammi giggles as a right red blush adorns his cheeks. “Uhmm.. I'm gay..” Twill says slowly, blushing slightly deeper. As mealtime carries on, so does the conversation, moving slowly through topics. “Aww. Looks like it's time to go,” Jay said “meet us here for breakfast tomorrow?” “Mmhmm. Seeing as you are the only ones close to friends here.” Twill replied, standing in line and waiting to place his try on the conveyor belt to the washers. “Bye then!” Sammi and Jay called back as they began to run off to their cabins.

Sighing, Twill slowly walked to his cabin, not wanting to leave his new friends. “Alright, and off you go. Oh, late again I see, Twill.” Skoth was saying as he entered. Well, all I just finished explaining is that you have an hour of free time. So, go on, get lost.” Twill snatched up his towel and quickly leaves the cabin. Meandering through the pants, he located the beach with no problems.

The sandy beach spread out before Twill. He looked over its small dunes, looking for Kiru. His eyes shifted out to the water after not seeing him, skimming over the waves. He pulls off his shirt before setting it down on some tree roots. The sand was still warm from the sun as Twill pads down to the lake. The cool water sloshes over his paws as he wades in. Submerging as they water reaches his waist, the cold surrounding him.
The quiet welcomed Twill down to the lower depths, the lightly still filtering eerily to the bottom. Swimming quickly, Twill went out of the swim boundary where others were playing. A sand bar loomed in the distance and Twill changed his course for it. Standing up on the sand bar, His shoulders just broke the surface of the water. “I hope there’s clams here.” Twill thought, looking down through the water. Small black shapes are peppered over the sand bar.

Picking one up, Twill found it to be an empty clamshell half. Checking a few more, he found them all clamshells. Looking over to the far side of the sand bar, Twill swims over and looks down at the larger black shapes. A fist-sized rock is one of the two objects that he picks up. The other is a whole clam. “Oh, yay.” Twill murrs, smiling. Carrying the clam and rock, he investigates the other objects on the lakebed. After discarding several clumps of seaweed, scraps of bark, and rocks, another clam was found. Rising to the surface, Twill floats on his back, positioning a clam on his stomach. Taking the rock in paw, he brings it up and aims at the clam.

“Oh!” Twill exclaims, moving off his back and standing up as he felt a tug on his tail. The rock and clams slide off his stomach and back into the water where he was looking for the culprit. The purple head of Kiru emerges from the water next to Twill, smiling. “I see you found my feeding spot,” Kiru said, holding up the clams and rock. “I think you dropped these” “Oh. Thanks.” “Gong to eat both of those for yourself?” “Uhh.. Not if you want one.”

Twill floats on his back again, breaking open both clams. Selecting the larger one, Twill scoops it up, checking it for shell bits as he hands it over to Kiru. Takes the clam’s entrails, Kiru tilted his head back and dropped them into his mouth. “Mmm. Thanks cutie.” “Welcome..” Twill blushed as he ate his clam.

Kiru descended below the surface of the water, brushing past Twill’s leg as he swims by. Twill drops below the waves and starts following Kiru. They stayed together for the rest of the hour. Playing around, they strayed near the swim boundary. A loud whistle blew, signaling the end of free time for the night.

“Aww.. Time to go already.. I don’t want to leave you..” Kiru said, looking towards the shore. They swam together to the shore. Twill trails slightly behind Kiru as they walk onto the sand. Kiru dropped down to the sand and starts rolling around. Twill follows suit, drying himself off. Standing up, Twill notices that a fox was watching them.

“Hey,” Twill says to Kiru as he helps him up, “That fox over there is watching us.. And she has two tails.” “Two tails? So she does. Oh well, let her watch.” Kiru pulls Twill into a quick hug, whispering into his ear. “Meet me back here tonight. Be careful and make sure no one sees you.” Letting go, he walks away nonchalantly back to his cabin. Twill heads off in the opposite direction, walking briskly back to his cabin.

“Ah, Twill, you're not late this time,” Skoth said a few seconds after Twill entered the cabin. “All we need now is Ket, Spots, and Ras.” Waiting in their bunks, the others came back a minute later. “Ohkay, we have a half hour of cabin time here to yourselves before light's out. Try to keep it down if you want to talk.” The three who just entered the cabin went onto Ket's bunk and started talking. Twill grabbed a book out of his suitcase and sat against the wall to read.

Several minutes later he found it hard to concentrate as to volume of talking above him and slowly increased. He still couldn't understand much of the conversation above him, more so because he didn't care about them then anything. The few words Twill caught consisted mostly of having to do with dating someone and if anyone was good looking.

Finishing the chapter, Twill set the book down. Settling into his sleeping bag he closed his eyes and waited. “Alright you three, back to your own bunks. It’s time to sleep.” Skoth said as he walked over to the light switch. With a “G’night Ket,” Spots and Ras walked over to their bunks and settled in. The lights flickered out as the switch went down.

Twill starts to breathing faster in anticipation of what’s to come. His heart beat thundering in his ears. Seconds stretch on. It seems like an hour before he heard the first sign of someone sleeping. Soft snores Came from where was Skoth was sleeping. Slowly the others started drifting off, filling the room with sounds of sleep.

Thundering in his ears, Twill’s heart beat kept him awake. He waits another 10 minutes to make sure everyone’s asleep. Quietly unzipping his sleeping bag some, he swung his legs over the bed and stood up. Slowly and quietly, he pads to the door. A small creak greeted his ears as it swung open. Cool nighttime air washed over him as he stepped out into the darkness.

The dim light of a waning moon lights the campground. Cautious of being seen, Twill stays to the shadows. Quickly walking, he made it to the beach in short time. After glancing around and not seeing Kiru, he sat against a tree near the waters edge. Waves crashed softly against the shore as Twill waits in silence.

“You’re difficult to see in the dark, you know,” Kiru said close to the tree. Twill startled and looked up at the otter. “Hey you..” Twill said as a smile spread across his face. Kiru sat down next to Twill, his tail seeking out his before intertwining them. A meek blush covered Twills cheeks as he leans on kiru and rests his head on his shoulder. Twill felt Kiru’s arms wrap around him and pulls him closer to him.

“Mmm.. You’re really warm.. And you’re scent is nice..” Kiru mumbles into Twill’s ear. The blush deepens on Twills cheeks. Kiru pulls his embrace tighter, nuzzling Twill gently. They sat like this for several minutes, just being in each other’s company and being content.

Shifting Twill forward slightly, Kiru slid behind him. Leaning back on the tree, Kiru’s paws slide to Twills chest and pull him closer. Twill curled up against Kiru’s chest. His eyes close to the consistent beating of Kiru’s heart. Chirrups of crickets mingle with the crashing waves. Twill edges towards sleep from the sounds and warmth of Kiru.

“Don’t fall asleep on me, cutie,” Kiru’s gentle voice spoke next to his ear. “What if I want to?” Twill mumbled sleepily. Kiru giggles softly. “Then you should probably go back to your cabin.. It is getting rather late.” “Nngg.. Yea.. Cabin..” Kiru helps Twill to his paws, stretching out after sitting for so long.

Hugging Twill tightly, Kiru whispers into his ear. “One last thing.. Will.. You be my boyfriend?” “What? Your, boyfriend?” Kiru’s cheeks burn with a blush. “Well… Yea.. In the short time I’ve known you I like you a lot.. And I want you to be mine..” “I.. Will,” Twill says after a short pause. Twill feels the arms around him pull tighter as Kiru murrs.

“I think we should go now,” Twill voices quietly. “I guess so,” Kiru says, pulling slightly away from Twill. “Oh, tomorrow, for breakfast, come sit at the table near the back.. It’s just me and two others there.” “All right, I will. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Leaning in, Kiru kisses Twill on the lips gently. Surprised at this, Twill stays still and waits for Kiru to break the one-sided kiss.

“Thanks for coming out tonight,” Kiru whispered and smiled. Taking one of Twills paws in his, he dashed back towards the cabins. Coming to the gravel path, they split up, calling their “good nights” to each other. Twill pushed the door of his cabin open and stepped inside. Fumbling around with the sleeping bag, he got inside and laid his head down, dozing off to his memories of the short, late night.

All rights belong to its author. It was published on e-Stories.org by demand of Alex Waldhauser.
Published on e-Stories.org on 06.12.2009.

 
 

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