Forest Adler laughed.

He laughed until tears flew from the corners of his eyes to the tip of his chin. Life, he decided, was hilarious. Who needed Saturday morning cartoons if they had crazy next door neighbors and a pair of binoculars?

Forest simply lived through the exploits of the Bodwin family. Seven children, two high strung adults and an evil—extremely obese—dog made for a comedy that even the most comical of geniuses could never have hoped to formulate.

Across the street two teenage twins were engaged in a full out catfight in the back yard. The observer shifted his position to lean against the trunk of the large oak. He had come accustomed to thinking of it as his own personal sofa. He knew he had himself to thank for the entertainment. He was such a hopeless flirt, even if the girls were a bit young and feminine for his tastes.

Hillary and Stacie were biting, kicking, clawing and screaming at each other. He could hear curses here and there due to them yelling at the tops of their fourteen-year-old lungs. Forest felt like a princess to be truthful. He had two girls fighting to the near death for his affection. How side-splittingly amusing.

Mrs. Bodwin emerged from the house with a cap gun and pulled the trigger.

The girls stopped and Forest sullenly wished he had an instant replay button. Hillary had been about to pile drive Stacie after kicking her in the shin.

“Girls! I don’t want to hear another scream about how Forest Adler was hogged by the other at our barbecue last week. For the love of all that is sane leave the poor boy alone!” The woman shouted hysterically. The young man sitting in the tree grinned at the thought of the barbecue. Both girls had gone to excruciating lengths to keep him occupied. It really was too bad that he wasn’t into younger women. Or women in general for that matter.

“Now girls, apologize and come inside for dinner!” The woman harshly commanded. The girls hung their heads and began to wince as they discovered new scratches and bruises along the lengths of their pale limbs. The strict woman marched inside with the twins in tow.

Forest sighed and wiped the tears from his eyes.

What a show. It was like a royal smackdown without commercials and bulge-ridden men. Watching wrestling between muscular men had always turned Forest Adler off. He liked his men on the lean side.

He swung down to a lower branch with ease but stopped his descent immediately when his eyes caught a flash of white.

The binoculars were quickly raised to his eyes and he was rewarded. The back of a gangly figure filled his vision. Hazardous black hair ruffled in the slight summer breeze. Long bloodless arms came out to fondly pick up what looked like a bracelet. Stacie must have lost it when Hillary had her on the ground.

‘Turn around,’ Forest pleaded, ‘I want to see your face.’

But he was disappointed.

The boy he knew only as Royce disappeared inside just as quickly as he had come out. Replacing his image in Forest’s binocular vision was Evil Twinkie. The possessed dog that was shaped, colored, and with a scary disposition to fit its name, sniffed around the ground where the two girls had been dueling. It lapped at where Forest knew blood must be smeared on the grass.

“You’re sick,” he said with a wrinkled nose.

Evil Twinkie’s head snapped up and two intelligent eyes glared at him through the binoculars. Forest stuck out his tongue.

“Can’t get me up here you little devil,” he taunted knowing full well of Evil Twinkies’ handicap. The hellion of a canine was fat and in turn could only waddle. Forest was safe as long as Evil Twinkie didn’t decide to invent a pair of rocket boots for itself. Forest suddenly found himself wishing to high heaven Evil Twinkie didn’t have telepathy. ‘Fatty,’ Forest thought to himself to test his theory and when he got no outward results from the dog he relaxed. ‘Fatty fat fat fatty,’ he grinned as he chanted the words in his head.

To make up for its lack in physical ability, though, the dog was evil, malicious and conniving. It was frightening how keen both its hearing and intelligence were.

Forest had learned the hard way that to insult Evil Twinkie was to create a lifelong animosity. Time didn’t seem to want to sully its hands by touching the obese demon.

Evil Twinkie glared at him through narrowed slits and Forest decided it was about time to make it a day. He lithely dropped from the branches and walked into his own house. If one looked close enough it might be said his pace was a tad quicker than it should have been.

In the Bodwin’s backyard Evil Twinkie smiled triumphantly, if ever a dog could smile, before returning to its treat of bloody grass.

---

Forest Adler watched.

It was near evening and the sun had just begun to dip its toes below the horizon. He found his binocular enhanced gaze drawn to a certain window. A window that had no shades and led into the room of current college sophomore, Andy Bodwin.

Andy had one of his plethora of slutty one-nighters over. This time Forest smiled because it was a boy. Usually he tried to avoid this window because watching his neighbor screw a girl senseless just wasn’t interesting after the fortieth time. But once in a while Andy’s bisexuality had its purposes.

Andy also had odd quirks about sex. He always used edible props of some sort. Forest once offhandedly mentioned how Andy ought to be a chef if he loved food so much. Andy had given him an odd glance and licked his lips. Forest had been quick to excuse himself.

He had noticed Andy’s fetish with foodstuffs immediately after his initial surveillance of the Bodwin household. He also knew that tonight he would be witness to another interesting scene of the Bodwin family’s daily life. In the window Andy unzipped his pants and flashed the younger boy his charming smile.

He then drew out two jars and a loaf of bread. The observer’s pulse jumped to attention and the pleasant heat around him turned to one that enticed sweat from his pores. He wondered what it would be like to ‘flog his log’ in a tree.

“Oh my god,” Forest breathed as Andy made a makeshift peanut butter and jelly sandwich around his member. The other boy’s head went down and Forest almost fell out of the tree. His head swam and he reluctantly put down the binoculars to steady himself.

Deciding that Andy’s sex life would lead to a broken neck, he awkwardly rearranged his uncomfortable package and shifted his field of vision to the twins’ bedroom.

“Close call, Forest. Close call,” he murmured to himself when he almost slipped again.

The window was open and Forest was inclined to congratulate the twins. There was a soft afternoon breeze that held some nighttime briskness to it. He felt lazy as he sat there soaking up the sun’s dying rays.

The twins were nowhere to be seen.

One look at the driveway explained to him why. All of the cars were gone but one. That was Andy’s. Forest had forgotten that tonight there was a church dinner at the local Episcopal church. His parents went so it stood to reason that his neighbors would have gone as well. Most everyone in his neighborhood were Episcopal. He himself was agnostic.

Forest pushed at some of the leaves around him and wondered lazily if he should go inside.

A nagging at his mind kept him motionless with his eyes trained on the backyard. Time for him had stopped. Something niggling told him it was Evil Twinkie’s doing. Keeping him out here like this. That damned demon of an animal must have put a voodoo doggie curse on him.

Forest’s eyes widened as the pressure of standstill left him and he fumbled to focus his binoculars.

Royce emerged into the soft glow of the afternoon and traveled over to the abandoned swing set mostly used by the three youngest siblings Mark, Tara and Lillian. Forest’s heart beat faster.

He knew almost everything about each one of the Bodwin’s but this reclusive boy remained a mystery.

Royce was the strangest and most awkward of them all. In Forest’s mind the lean boy was a mythical creature come to life. A shadow of reality that showed itself on rare occasions but was locked away in fantasy the rest of the time.

Sometimes Forest wondered if Royce was the only reason he watched the chaotic Bodwin family but he knew better. It was because he had nothing else to do.

Or so he told himself.

Inside his heart told him it was because the Bodwin family added much needed love to his overabundance of life. What is life without love? His heart asked him quietly. He ignored it and watched.

Royce sat on the swing slowly with his ruffled hair blocking Forest’s view of his face. His figure cast a long shadow on the ground and Evil Twinkie waddled out to collapse beside his pendulum of a master. Royce stopped pumping his legs and leaned over to kiss Evil Twinkie on the head and scratch fondly between the demon’s ears.

“God, you’re beautiful,” Forest breathed, transfixed by the way Royce’s slender fingers caressed the head of the dog.

Evil Twinkie’s head came up to stare at where Forest was in the tree. He ignored the aura of curiosity Evil Twinkie emitted because for the first time in his life, Forest had seen his neighbor’s face.

---

Forest Adler pushed.

He pushed so hard that he found himself running underneath the swing, completing what the young children called an ‘under-doggie.’

Lillian giggled and Mark cried out for a turn.

“Okay, okay,” he panted with a grin, “Ready Mark?”

Mark’s excited exclamations rang out in the backyard. Forest loved to baby-sit the youngest two Bodwin children just as much as he loved summer. The cool evening air brushed against his skin, reminding him that night was on her way.

“Hey guys, I think it’s time to go in. Your mom will get mad at me if I let you stay out too late.”

“Daddy too,” Lillian added and Mark nodded with wide eyes.

“I do not want to get your daddy mad,” Forest said seriously and then grinned. “Race you to the couch!”

Squeals and laughter followed them inside where a quick romp around the living room was in order instantaneously. Forest suddenly transformed into the Tickle Monster and the kids into helpless citizens fleeing for their lives.

Ten minutes later found the kids in pajamas and Forest making his bed on the couch. It was always easy to settle into the Bodwin’s face paced life because he spent almost all of his time watching them from his oak tree. That and he had known them for years.

All of them except Royce. Whenever he had inquired about Royce as a child the answers were hushed, the voices tense. He had always wondered why. Always wanted to get to know the missing piece of the Bodwin puzzle.

And what a breathtaking piece it was.

Forest laid down on the worn, but comfortable couch and relished in the cozy air around him. His house was stark and straight with no curve or warmth. Everything seemed like it was just out of the box. It drove him insane.

Here everything was worn and frayed at the edges. It was nice. It was lived in. Forest let himself indulge in the thought of staying here with constant companionship. He would never have to feel alone again. Closing his eyes he yawned and prepared for sleep.

Two small weights climbed up onto the commodious couch next to him and he blinked wearily.

“Hey guys. Couldn’t sleep in your beds?” he asked stifling another yawn and scratching at his chest through his nightshirt.

Two adorable heads shook back and forth.

“M’kay. Why don’t you sleep down here then. There’s plenty of room.”

He smiled as a duet of bodies snuggled up to him and thanked god the Bodwin’s had AC.

---

Forest Adler was being watched.

Two dark pupils adjusted to the faint light of the room and a spindly finger came out to trace the lines of Forest’s face. It glided over the arch of his relaxed eyebrows, the curve of his flushed cheek and the soft pout that shaped his rosy lips.

As the evanescent touches fluttered over his skin Forest’s heart beat erratically. He didn’t dare open his eyes for fear of his life. He got the distinct feeling that Evil Twinkie was focused on his jugular from Royce’s room above.

The watcher smiled at the scene before him. His two youngest siblings clung to a boy he’d never met in person but had heard stories of from his entire family.

His father talked about Forest’s amazing grades and natural talent for running.

His mother was fond of him because she said ‘he needed some warmth to his life’ and that ‘for having such stuffy parents he ended up good.’ She often exclaimed that she wouldn’t mind it if Forest were another one of her plentiful children. It helped that Forest frequently, when not watching them from his oak, came over to help with the dishes or some other mundane chore. With seven kids she thanked her lucky stars to have such a vivacious young gentleman for a neighbor.

Andy told Royce of how Forest’s naturally tanned skin was flawless and how he wanted to lick dabs of golden apple butter from the boy’s pert nipples. Leave it to Andy to think of combining sex and something you put on toast.

Hillary swooned over how charming his smile was and always complained about how she knew she bit her lip whenever he directed it at her.

Stacie was in love with his eyes. Said they were bluer than the sky on a bright summer day and always just as warm.

Tara, shy in her preteen years, looked up to him because he always gave her advice and if she needed help on her homework he almost always knew when to stop by without her having to ask.

Mark and Lillian admired him because he was their playmate when no one else had the time. He knew when it was time to make them laugh and he knew when it was time to let them cry about silly cuts or a nasty tumble.

All of Royce’s family members turned to butter when they heard Forest Adler laugh. The golden haired boy brought the extra life energy needed to keep the family going. Royce knew because he had been watching his family interact with this embodiment of perfection for years. From afar of course. Everything in Royce’s ‘life’ was from afar seeing as he wasn’t technically alive.

Forest lay there as Royce studied his supposed slumbering face with gray eyes and light fingertips. He wondered what he should do. He wanted to open his eyes and see the expression on Royce’s face. To get a glimpse of what the odd boy was thinking. Evil Twinkie’s presence materialized in a way that was painfully palpable around his throat.

He heard the tick tock of a grandfather clock and a single bong that sounded like a raspy bark. It danced along with his pulse and Royce’s touches became more daring. Cold lips feathered along the line of Forest’s jaw.

They reached his chin and worked their way up to his mouth.

Royce pressed his lips to the ones of the boy beneath him feeling the frantic pulsing of Forest’s fired heart through his own frigid lips.

The icy presence of death creeping into life jerked away as a weight shifted beside Forest. He held his breath. Actually, Evil Twinkie was holding it for him. He could taste Royce though. Bitter sweet and void of life. Decayed.

“Whatcher doin’ Royce?” Lillian asked with sleep thickening her curious voice.

“Nothing,” was the reply in a quiet tenor. Forest let his eyes flutter open because the tainted pressure he felt around his throat had decreased. He silently swore to Evil Twinkie that he was going to become a demon hunter someday and rid it of its existence.

It was dark out, probably around one in the morning but Forest hadn’t been able to sleep. He kept imagining outlines and shadows moving around him. That coupled with the idea of Evil Twinkie on the loose had kept sleep and any sense of time far from his grasp.

He smiled up at the unreadable gray eyes above him and knew that a night without sleep was worth it for this.

“Hey,” he grinned sleepily and pushed some of the hair out of his tired blue eyes.

Royce, in reply, stiffly walked away.

Forest blinked slowly.

“Is he always like that?” Forest asked. Mark stirred beside him and Lillian yawned.

“Like what?” she asked.

“Beautiful.”

At this he received an odd look from the girl.

“You sure you talkin’ ‘bout Royce?”

Forest nodded.

“You must be blind,” she laughed with an odd look as though it was the queerest joke a first grader could think of. When he tried to press it further she retreated into the blankets and fell steadfastly asleep.

Forest on the other hand felt the unsatisfied aura of Evil Twinkie above him and shuddered before settling his mind on thoughts of Royce. Up close he had seen in more detail the scar that ran from Royce’s left temple, across the bridge of his nose to the right curve of his pale jaw.

---

Forest Adler masturbated.

In the emptiness of his house it seemed fruitless. There was no pleasure. Only the lonely rhythm of hand on erection.

He had long stopped caring about whether his parents knew. He was a seventeen-year-old boy. It was what he did. He wondered if the Bodwin’s would ever think to spy on his life. If they would ever buy a pair of binoculars and put them to use watching him through the window as he fooled around with himself.

He wondered briefly if they knew. If they knew that when he wasn’t with them he was watching them from afar. Filling the gap in his heart with the over abundance of theirs.

Would they call the police? Would he be considered a peeping tom?

Most of all he wondered if they would take away all of the love they had given him. He had realized it the other day as Mr. Bodwin had hugged him briefly. It was after their favorite runner won an Olympic race and set a new world record. In the Bodwin’s living room with the TV blaring high scores he realized he loved this family. And that they loved him. All of them but one.

He had been spending more time with them instead of watching them. More time in their house, eating dinner, cleaning up, watching the kids. He was alive and knew this was what he had been waiting to feel for a long time.

More days had ticked by with no sign of Royce. Not once did he catch so much as a glimpse of the boy. Never in all his hours of watching and interacting with the family did he find again that silvery line of scar tissue or the unreadable eyes.

Evil Twinkie on the other hand greeted him whenever he came. It was a demon sitting stonily at the door, counting the seconds with swishes of its large tail. It watched him with eyes that grew cloudier by the day. After it had greeted him and given him the proper glare it turned tail and waddled up the stairs to report to Royce.

That’s what Forest imagined anyway.

He wasn’t far from being right.

His hand worked faster. Forest felt Evil Twinkie calling out to him as he climaxed and his seed spread across the sheets.

‘Come. It’s time.’ the urge seemed to say. Forest smiled as he got out of bed to follow the demon’s command and said aloud, “I already did.”

---

Forest Adler screamed.

Evil Twinkie smiled grimly at him with a blood covered snout.

Royce lay on the ground thrashing and Forest stared at the hole in his chest that dribbled blood over the uncontrollable body before him.

“Royce! Royce!” His cries echoed through the empty house. It was cold. No more warmth. The life in his body was being sucked out and absorbed leaving him with pain.

Forest was alone and bleeding profusely with a boy who was having a seizure. No one could help him. He looked at the phone longingly. 911. Evil Twinkie snapped his attention back to the boy who was clawing at his face that was slathered in Forest’s blood.

“What do I do? What do I do?” Forest’s brain panicked and screamed about the pain of having his flesh ripped open.

‘It’s time,’ the impatient voice inside his mind made his body spasm.

“I’m hearing voices in my head,” Forest said to himself and ripped his eyes from Evil Twinkie’s laughing ones.

He stared at the flailing boy who slowly sucked the color from the room. His blood was eerily gray. It was the gray of Royce’s eyes. Forest laughed as he imagined his own blood watching him with the same unreadable expression as Royce. Without thinking he slowly wrapped his drenched arms around the thrashing body.

This close he found that Royce smelled like rotten roses. It was a sharp, penetrating odor that weighed down his mind. The boy’s limbs began to relax and Forest could get a good look at his face.

The scar was gone. All that defined Royce’s face now was blood. Forest’s blood.

Forest slowly grinned in relief and Royce smiled at him with eyes that mirrored Evil Twinkie’s. Eyes of Satan incarnate.

“You came in time,” Royce smiled.

Forest let out a slurred laugh and hiccuped. He was drunk on rotten roses.

“I’ve been watching you watch us,” Royce’s smile fell as the words dripped like fetid honey from his tongue.

“Yes, and Time himself has been watching you watch me watch you,” Forest giggled again and pet Evil Twinkie for the first time in his life. The hairs burned him and left his skin soft and smooth like that of a newborn. He laughed harder.

“I thought you were perfect because of your flaws.”

“What of it?” Forest asked as he calmed his fits of hysteria.

“Now I know that you are.”

Royce leaked color in waves of blurry rainbows.

“I thought you were either beautiful or frightening.”

Royce was left with a tinge of pink in his cheeks; the blood on his face flickered between reality and a realm beyond. Forest’s chest wept one moment and was still the next.

“What of it?” Royce asked in his quiet tenor.

“Now I know that you’re both,” Forest pressed his burning hand to Royce’s still spasming chest.

Royce smiled a Devil’s smile and the white of his teeth showed against the crimson.

“Do you know why no one wants to be close to me? Why my family keeps me locked up most of the time with a distortion of a dog for company?”

“No.”

“You’re about to find out.”

Forest was finding this just as funny as he found the rest of the things the Bodwin’s did. He loved it. Loved them. Loved Royce’s gangly body in his arms and the spindly fingers that were wrapped around his neck. He knew Royce was choking him and he loved it. Vivid blue eyes locked with ones that changed from blood spattered to the most vacant of gray. Forest gently cupped his hands over Royce’s and removed them from his bruising neck.

“I love your family,” Forest tried to explain hoarsely.

“And they love you. You animate their bodies just as they animate your heart.”

“I love you too, you know.”

Royce pulled away and turned his wrists over.

“I’m dead.”

Forest smiled as Evil Twinkie disintegrated.

“Then I’ll bring you back to life.”

---

Forest Adler woke up.

---

A/N: I like it surprisingly. I hope you do too.