Having taken the train into the main town I was now homing in on the large glass KFC building where I'd planned to meet Mark. During the forty minute trip I had been trying to calm down after wrestling a number of paintings from my father's fat fingers as he tried to remove them from the garden shed. We'd argued because I was not able to find a place for them in time. These were the three big ones I knew I was going to have a problem with seeing as they had been too big to take somewhere on foot. I'd called Jean a couple of days previous and asked if she would be kind enough to store them for me, at least until I had made other arrangements. She'd been really happy to but was unable to come and collect them all because her hip was playing up leaving her housebound. This meant I had to make 3 trips to hers with several under my arm each time. I had asked mum previously if she would help me but my dad had pretty much commandeered the car these past few days. So anyway, with all the smaller portraits now safely at Jean's house this of course left the three large ones that I was not able to carry meaning I had to hide them in the shed. That idea had been a success until my father decided he wanted some masonry filler to hide some holes in the house before the new owners got here.

I walked across the small parking lot and grabbed hold of the door to the fast food chain and walked in. It was busy, noisy and stuffy making me wonder of this was the right place to spend the last visit with my good friend Mark.

I craned my head looking around the restaurant tying to see if he was here. That was when I saw a hand waving in the air from a corner of the building. I nodded and smiled before walking over.

"Hey you, I got us a seat, thought it would be better to reserve one before ordering. I didn't know what you would want anyway," Mark said as we shook hands.

"Yeah true, shame the weather don't seem to realise its September, its cold out there. So you wanna wait here while I order?" I asked, rubbing my hands together.

"Sure, here take this," he said, handing me a twenty. "This is on me seeing as I might not see you for a long time."

"Awww, you're making me weep!" I said chuckling. I took the bank note from him. "So, what's it to be?"

I smiled before turning round and weaving my way through a sea of pushed out chairs, kids buggies and a few annoying old people who always seemed to stand in the most stupidest places to chat about nothing with their fellow pensioners.

The queue was long but seemed to be moving pretty fast thank God. I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. Mum had asked me to be back by three to help with some more packing after my dad said he was unable to lift a few items claiming his back was bad due to all the lifting he'd already done. 'No pal, you're just to fucking fat,' I thought.

"Hi can I help?" Came a voice from the till. It was my turn to move forward and I approached the counter looking up at the menu boards.

"Yeah, uh, can I get a tower burger meal with Fanta and a 3 piece variety meal with coke please?"

"Corn on the cob please," I replied handing him the twenty Mark had given me. He slapped the change in my hand and wandered off to get my order.

Back at the table Mark and I both chomped on our meals and chatted about my plans for the future. It was a short conversation seeing as I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do or what was going to happen. Hell, I didn't even want to go!

"I know this is not a guy to guy thing to say, but I'm really gonna miss you!" Mark said, taking a healthy bite of his burger.

"Don't be silly, you know as well as I do how these things go. We'll chat online, send a few e-mails and maybe do the odd Skype vid, but as time goes by you will become accustomed to your new life and I'll end up finding some other poor sucker to listen to me."

Mark shrugged. "Well look back to all those school friends we said we would keep in touch with. Look what a big deal we made. 'Oh, we must keep in touch, we'll be friends forever' bla bla bla. It's just how life rolls, people go their separate ways, drift apart etcetera."

"Loving your bleak outlook Mark," I remarked, sniggering. "Actually, I do plan to come back and see you because I promised Danny's mum I would come see her, so you don't get it right all the time."

"Well all I can say is I hope I do see you again but understand if it won't be for a while. So, where did you say you put these pictures again?"

"Fucking prick, yeah in the end Zoe came down after apparently seeing us arguing in the garden from her window. I Dunno how she does it but once again she got him to see reason. He just threw them up against the fence and stormed off, so hopefully when I get back she would have put them somewhere safe for me."

"Because he hates what I am, that's all I can think off. I think when I was growing up he had this old fashioned idea that whatever he did I would want to do the same."

I pulled my neck in, narrowing my eyes. "No! First he was a Finance Manager in London… boring! Then he throws that in to open a stinky fish mongers… disgusting. And now he wants to play happy sailor by buying a trawling boat to go catching fish with… no thanks!"

"Yep, which I might add he has refused to pay for so I'm gonna have to take out student loans to get by, but you know what, fuck him, I don't want his dirty money. I'd rather be in debt than bow to him!"

"D'you know what he said? He said if I was taking an engineering course or something worthwhile he would pay for my tuition, but because it's art he said I can make my own bed."

Mark shook his head. "Shame you can't buy dad's to order, your one seems damaged."

"There's just no compromise with him. He gets a view in his head and then that's it, it's like no one else's opinion matters. Dunno if I told you but we had this car a few years ago and he decided he wanted to sell it so he could buy a newer model. So he makes up these 'for sale' signs for it and dumps it out on the road with a price tag of £2250. So a few days later he gets this guy come knocking at the door offering to buy it."

"Yeah so the guy says 'I'll give you £2100 for it' and my dads' like 'no, it's worth more.' I'm standing on the stairs shaking my head while my dad is arguing with this guy over a 150 pound difference."

"The guy told him to stuff it of course. My point is my dad could have sold the car that day but because he thought he was absolutely right that the fucking thing was worth what he said it was, he ended up having to wait another 5 weeks to get some mug to pay what he wanted. My dad knows nothing about the value of cars or anything like that, he just didn't want to compromise because he is a stubborn prick!"

Before I knew it two hours had passed and I was now walking back towards home. Mark and I had shared a hug, both admitting a chocked feelings as we said our goodbyes. Mark was a decent guy, very decent in fact so it was going to be hard to leave a friend like him behind. He'd been positive, saying I would make new friends that would be just as good as him and while his playful arrogance had made me smile I did feel an overwhelming sense of loss as I watched him walk away from me.

Taking the 40 minute return trip home was allowing me to think about a lot of stuff. Jean had been right about me leaving behind a town I'd grown up in. I sighed looking around as I walked. I knew every street around here, every corner, every shop and probably every crack in the road. I thought about why people move to certain places and why others move away. I imagined the country as a small cement mixer churning up particles of dust, those bits of dust being the people who lived here. Round and round it goes as people move from here to there. Is happiness a place? I wondered as I stood waiting for the crossing man to turn green.

My philosophical mood had reached its climax by the time I was putting the key into my front door and so I immediately plodded upstairs not really wanting to talk to anyone. I could hear the muffled sound of the TV in the lounge and a conversation going on between mum and dad, it was a shame he was still alive.

"Oh, if only you could see the painting on the canvass that is your face dear sibling! A penny for those thoughts, perhaps?"

"Hey Zoe," I said, just as I was about to turn and close my door. "It's nothing, just a little sad to say goodbye to Mark today."

"I can see this. You feel like a small piece of jigsaw which is being forced into one corner of the picture but where you should be fitting quite nicely into the other corner, right?"

"I will leave you in peace big brother and retire to my castle, I still have much to pack."

She went off across the landing to her room and I closed the door to mine and sat down on my bed. Silence fizzed as I contemplated what to do with my final night at home. I suddenly had an urge to have sex but didn't want to call Leah over just for that. Due to all the commotion in the house these past few days I hadn't had an opportunity to relieve myself, something that my hormonal body was starting to remind me.

I placed the back of my computer chair against the handle of my bedroom door and wedged it in place. No one normally just walked in but small the risk they did was not worth taking.

I switched on my PC and waited for it to fire up before selecting the first porno I could find on Xtube and started to quickly beat my dick standing up. The lack of attention it had gotten was telling as within a few minutes I found myself cupping my free hand just below my throbbing dick as I jetted a wad into it with a soft grunt or two. The relief was palpable as the tenseness of my orgasm started to leave my body giving way to a inaudible sigh. Clicking the mouse to turn off the video I eyed an old T-shirt on the floor and poured my rather large load onto it before wiping off any residue from my cock. With the deed done I pulled up my bottoms and threw the garment into my wash bin making a mental note to fish it out of mum's consignment when she next did the washing.

It was now late evening and I was laying on top of my bed half watching a movie and half thinking about tomorrow. 4 hours in the same car as my dad did not fill me with joy and I wondered if there was any chance I could hop in with the removal men who were due to be here to take our stuff down.

My body felt exhausted but my mind raced as I tried to calm it and settle into a sleeping position. I turned the volume down and lay on my side hoping sleep would come soon, but that plan was interrupted by a knock at my door.

"Shit!" I quietly hissed, seeing the chair was still lodged under the handle. I quickly bounced off the mattress. "Just a sec!" I called, silently removing it and hopping back towards my bed. "Come in?"

I watched as my door opened and she put her head round. "Hey, I just wanted to see if you were ok, you didn't come down for dinner when I called. Zoe said you were packing?"

"Yeah fine mum, just tired from today that's all… oh and yeah, packing that's right," I lied.

"How was your meet up with Mark?" She asked, coming right into my room and purching on the corner of my bed.

"Well, he can always come down and stay, you guys can have a sleep over or something."

"Well I don't know what you boys would call it then at your age but once we are settled in he is more than welcome. Is he planning on going to University?"

"Yeah but the course he wants to do will probably take him to Wales so if you were thinking we could meet up regular that ain't going to happen."

"Hmm, look, I know this move is going to be a shock to the system but I'm sure once you get your face out into the village people will come and say hello and friendships will develop. Besides, I'm sure you won't be the only 17 year old living in Castlebay Down. And you have Leah!"

She chuckled. "Ok, maybe I understated the amount, there are actually a few more than that. Why don't you look the place up on Google maps, you can see for yourself then, right?"

My eyes sort of lit up. "Damn, why didn't I think of that?" I asked, clicking my fingers.

"Probably because you have been so busy overthinking how bad your life is going to be," she replied.

"Seems to be, he's watching TV at the moment, why don't you go and ask him if he needs any help in the morning, I'm sure he'll appreciate that."

Mum sighed. "I would like, just for once, for you two to be civil to each other while we undertake one of the most stressful periods in all our lives."

"It was just a suggestion; just don't go winding each other up tomorrow ok, I don't think my nerves can take it."

"Good, ok, I'll leave you to it… and Corbin what's the point of leaving one item in your wash bin, that should be downstairs packed with the rest," she said reaching into it.

"MUM!" I almost screamed as she pulled out the single grey t-shirt from the bin.

At first her attention was consumed by my outburst as she looked over at me startled. But then I watched in horror as her gaze slowly returned to the garment in her hand.

I leapt off the bed and grabbed it out of her hand "It's nothing, I… uh." I stammered, throwing the t-shirt onto my bed behind me.

"Sure honey, uh, so… I'll let you take care of that then?" she said, as we both had a competition to see who's face could get more redder. She walked out and closed my door and I immediately threw myself on the bed burying my face in my pillow.

I found myself becoming awake to the most peculiar feeling. I knew I must have fallen asleep at some point and didn't have clue what time it was. I felt a moistness on the head of my penis and a hand running up my innder thigh.

As full consciousness brought me into focus I opened my eyes to see my duvet bobbing up and down and my bedside lamp on. Suddenly freaked and for a split second wondering if I was dreaming I ripped back the cover on my bed to find a naked Leah giving me head. She looked up, my cock still in her mouth and smiled.

"Early… never mind that, you want me to keep going or do you wanna put it in me?" She asked straddling my hips.

I brought my hands down on her legs and she propped herself up before lowing herself down on to my dick. I sighed in pleasure as the moistness of her vagina consumed the entirity of my just over 7 inch rod. She began to move up and down slowly before twisting her body round and playing with my balls with her fingers. I began to make gentle thrusts, my pubic region of wiry black hair pressing against her bare opening.

I built some speed creating a light slapping sound and listened to her moan quietly. My breathing became laboured and a few beads of sweat began to form on my forehead as I gripped her thighs. To my surprise a rogue thought came into my head which almost made my dick deflate… the thought that was asking me… no telling me, 'you aren't really enjoy this!' I tried to brush aside long enough to get to the end and was successful as a mediocre climax approached and I came inside her.

Usually, or in the past, when we had sex my dick would stay hard for at least a few minutes after we were done but even as the last few squirts came out I could feel myself going limp. I hoped to God she didn't notice.

She sat there on my now flaccid cock for a moment while rubbing her clitoris until she came herself. Meanwhile, in my mind I just wanted her to get off almost cringing as a clear fluid dripped out of her and ran on to my navel.

She cupped herself as I pulled out of her and reached for a towel in my closet and I watched as my seed fell from her onto it. I now knew, something was very wrong because I was actually disgusted with what I was looking at. It wasn't something I could put my finger on but I felt odd, almost dirty, and this was supposed to be my fucking girlfriend.

"I think that's obvious," I replied, bending my dick into a right angle and looking down the slit seeing the grey white residue still there.

She shrugged. "I was horny, we haven't had sex in an age strangely enough. I thought I'd take my chance while were weren't arguing." She said, smirking.

Leah climbed onto the bed and straddled me again, leaning down and giving me a kiss on the lips. She ran her finger nails down my long smooth torso before taking my light short borwn hair in her hands and giving me a peck on the head. "So, you wanna get up now or shall we go again?"

"Again? Uh, I'm actually ok with once," I said, wondering if that answer sounded weird or normal.

"Fine, well I'll go take a shower then and get the rest of these litte you's out of me."

She did a claw action with the hand and growled before pulling on my white robe and disappearing out into the hallway. I lay staring at the ceiling wondering how on earth I was going to get through the rest of my life with a girl I didn't even know if I wanted to be with anymore. Something was wrong, and I knew it was me, not her.

"Corbin, get out of your pit, there is work to be done!" My dad hollered. Leah bolted up while I just opened my eyes and sighed. I must have gone back to sleep was the obvious conclusion to be had, seeing as I was still in bed after our session early this morning.

"Suppose we better get up, today is the happy fucking day!" I said, getting up-right.

We both got dressed and I took a piss before heading down the stairs just as two young guys were bringing one of our sofa's through the reception area at the bottom.

"Oh, there you are Corbin, can you give me a hand with the kitchen stuff?" Mum asked, glancing up through the banisters.

"I've asked her to go down to the stables and make Diamond ready for travel. He has a box coming soon to load him into. I'm gonna go down once all the boxes are done and on the lorry."

"Right ok, I'll get Leah down to help." I said, starting to make my way back up.

"Those fucking pictures need to be out of the shed Corbin, I told you!" Dad said, coming up behind mum.

"Just go get your artwork honey, I'll get Leah to help me with the boxes in the kitchen."

"Fucking waste of lorry space I tell ya, a fucking waste." Dad said, walking off. Mum just smiled as she usually did. It was her way of calming the blue air.

We were almost done as the last few items got taken from the house. I had wrapped my pictures in a sheet and stored them in a safe place on the truck without my dad seeing. I was hoping he would forget they were there and made a mental note to get Zoe to keep him busy while I got them off at the other end fearing he would see them and smash them out of revenge for me taking them.

Making one last sweep of my room I heard the shutter come down on the back of the lorry and went to look out of the window. Dad was standing talking to the truck guys and Leah was putting a few bits into the car boot. I came away and took a look round my bedroom of 17 years and heaved in. This was it, this was goodbye to the life I knew. No more collage, no more Harleys, no more Mark and Jean. I zipped up my jacket and walked towards the door closing it behind me. The place felt like it was calling for me to stay as I looked in all the empty rooms across the landing.

I trotted down the stairs and walked out onto the driveway having a quick peek in the skip as I walked past it. There didn't seem to be anything in there that was mine unless it had been buried purposefully at the bottom. Either way, it was too late now to do anything about it so I made my way to the car and got in the front.

"We need to go and make sure the horse box is ready to go so we'll be taking a detour down there first ok?" Dad announced to me and Leah as he got in the driver's seat. I watched, cringing, as his fat body crushed the cushiony material but then wanted to giggle when his ass cheek was almost touching the hand break.

"You really are a fat fucking cunt you know that. Look at you, can you feel your overworked heart screaming to give up as all that animal fat runs around your cholesterol filled veins. Sweating and wet carcass, I fucking hate you. I fucking want to put a knife right through your chest, you disgust me on all levels. Look at you, buttons stretched to bursting on that shirt, ping ping ping they're gonna go soon. Cheap fucking no good waste of air!

"Fuck sake you lickie, I said did you lock the back door? It's a simple fucking question!" he asked. I quickly came back to reality as he just sat there waiting for answer "Well, answer me boy, we need to leave."

"Well don't think, for someone with a low intelligence it could be like asking a nun to sell sex toys, it doesn't work!"

Dad put the car in gear and we drove off at speed down the road with the removal tuck right behind us. Dad veered off down country Lane and it reminded me we were going to make sure Diamond was fully loaded before picking up mum and Zoe.

"God I Love adventures. And I feel better knowing my mum is ok with it and not going to be a bitch after all." Leah said, looking out of the window now leaving the town she also grew up in.

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The Boy from Castlebay Down

by James Matthews

Chapter 3

The Final Countdown

Thursday (1 day before leaving for CastleBay)