Summer Stories 1: The Kiss of Life

by Zustara Orur

I sit on a knobbly, gnarled branch in the old, dead tree, my legs swinging back and forth as all the other kids play in the surf below me. The tree is comfortable, like an old grandparent holding you securely. All the bark has been blasted off by the elements long ago, the sun, wind and rain helping to polish the wood into a silvery-grey smoothness that is as soft to the touch as anything a carpenter could manage no matter how much he struggled.

I don't really mind sitting there while everybody else are amusing themselves. I don't know them anyway, so I don't want to intrude either, impose myself on them. I am fairly content just watching from up here, letting the warm, light breeze play with my hair. I look at each of them, my eyes skipping back and forth between happy kids' faces. There are so many of them, and they are all pretty in my opinion, smiling and enjoying themselves a great deal.

After a while, I find my eyes following one kid in particular. He's as suntanned as me, a deep bronze in colour, but with golden-blonde straight hair instead of my dark curls. He doesn't seem to be in the company of anybody else, he doesn't approach or speak to anyone, and besides wearing a pair of tight speedos with slashes of bright colour across them (lots of red, yellow, green, blue, purple and more), he is also wearing a pair of swimming goggles and frog flippers, which he uses to dive for flat, pretty stones that he brings up from the sea bottom. I've seen him wade ashore several times now still wearing those clumsy flippers, each time carrying a handful of coloured stones, which he puts in a pile in the sand and then covers them up with his towel so nobody will steal them, before returning back to the water to fetch more.

It is as if he doesn't have a care in the world. He is completely centred on his quest, his treasure-hunting. Whatever the other kids are up to, it doesn't matter to him, doesn't interest him. He is completely consumed by his hunt for stones.

I've not seen him for quite a while now, he must be very good at diving. Have I lost touch of him? With those flippers, he could have swum quite some distance beneath the surface before coming up again for air. Maybe I wouldn't see him again, maybe he had left the beach? Then I remember all the stones. He wouldn't just leave them there after spending so much effort retrieving them! I breathe a sigh of relief for some reason, but don't reflect at all on why it should be a relief. After all, I don't even know him so why should it matter to me? But where was he then?! I start to worry a little. What if he has DROWNED? Nobody knows him, nobody cares about him and nobody watches over him either!

Aah! THERE he is! I see him surface, but then it all happens so quick. He comes up, spurting water, obviously breathing out old stale air to make room for a new lungful. Then some other kid's elbow flies out and hits him right in the face, on his nose! His head is knocked back, I know he's stunned, and then a wave he didn't see nor was prepared for comes crashing into him and buries him! He must just have breathed in a ton of seawater, his head is gone beneath the surface and only his arms are visible; they flail around momentarily in a weak, helpless manner as if trying to grab hold of something, anything, but failing. He sinks down into the water and disappears completely. It all happens so fast, in the space between two waves.

That kid that hit him probably never even noticed it happening. He didn't mean to, it was an accident. Such things happen in the rough-and-tumble games boys play, and how could the kid know the consequences his errant elbow caused?

I sit there in shock for a few seconds that feels like minutes.

Nobody's seen it happen, except me! I have no real recollection of actually doing any of it, but I jump down out of the tree, my feet hitting the fine-grained, almost bone-white sand with a thumping sound, and then I'm sprinting towards the water, pulling down my own goggles at the same time! Everyone else probably thinks I'm enthusiastic for a swim, but they don't look closely enough to see my face isn't smiling, isn't laughing...

The water is almost cold against my skin since my own body's so hot from having sat there in the sun for a long, good while. I barely register the chilly sensation though as I force myself forwards, creating a spray of water droplets that fly far and wide. I might have said I have more important things on my mind to notice the temperature of the sea, but I'm not thinking anything at all. My mind's totally blank, and I'm just acting, as if on instinct. I run out into the sea, then begin to wade, helping myself along with my hands and arms as water resistance quickly increases when I get further out. Then at last it is deep enough for me to swim properly, so I throw myself forwards and begin to paddle as fast as I can while looking for him beneath the waves. I get hindered by other people, they don't mean to, but they don't understand my plight either, so they do not hurry out of my way. Why should they?

I scan the clear waters, looking for a wholly bronzed, golden-haired boy, panic rising when I can't find him. I try to remember where I'd seen him while sitting in the tree, but the perspective has changed, it all looks different! Maybe I've moved too much to the left? I struggle in my mind to picture where he should have been when it all happened...

...Yes! There he is!

It looks as if he's floating, but it's only an illusion. He's on his back on the sea floor, a fine sprinkle of sand already starting to cover him from the inverted forest of legs flapping about no more than about two and a half meters above him, legs that in conjunction with the waves stir up the water enough to pull up a fine mist of tiny grains of sand from the bottom. His golden hair glitters in the sunlight, even beneath the surface. It has taken on a life of its own. His arms and legs wave like tree branches in a mild wind; in fact, his whole body bobs back and forth as waves surge past above him and crashes against the beach further back behind me. He doesn't move away from the spot, he just floats about a bit. Back, and forth. Back, and forth...!

He is floating about, inert and unmoving.

I dive down beneath the sea surface. I feel myself pass through the temperature barrier, a chilly sensation moving across my body as I pass it. Above me in the warm water, all those kids, oblivious to what just has happened. Below me, cold creeping death is about to claim another innocent victim...

NO! It's not going to happen! It must not happen!

I grab him under his arms as I set my feet down on the firm yet soft, sand-covered ocean floor (sending a light cloud of sand up into the water), then kick off to bring myself and him back towards the surface. I reach air again and begin swimming back, doing breaststroke leg-kicks on my back while holding him so the back of his head rests on my chest, steering towards the shore and swimming as fast as I possibly can. It's no more than twenty meters or so I think, but it feels like it takes forever. Waves catches up and overtakes me, making me sputter. Bitter, salt water comes down my nose and stings like crazy, and my left goggle is leaking, the sea water blinding me on one eye. Each time a wave comes towards me, it feels like I'm being sucked back towards the deep sea and I kick even harder to counter it! I'm getting tired and it feels like I'm getting nowhere, the waves conspiring to hold me fixed in the same spot. The boy is heavy, I know I have to save him, but his inert body is helping to drag me down too! I struggle harder and harder while getting more and more tired, feeling despair overcome me. I should call out, there are grownups around that could help, grownups that could fix everything, just like grownups always do. But I don't, and I don't know why.

I'm about to collapse myself out of fatigue when one last wave - a small one - lifts me up a little, carries me forwards a short distance and makes me crash into a soft mound of small, round, polished pebbles. I've reached the beach at last! I react instantly and slowly, both at the same time it feels like. I'm in some kind of time distortion, somehow: no matter how fast I move I'm still too slow!

I turn around and pick the boy up under his arms again, he's as big as me and I can't carry him completely by myself. His arms and head is hanging straight down, his throat exposed. I hope his neck won't get hurt from being bent backwards like that, but there's nothing I can do about it. If I had another arm I would have supported him better but I can't... I have to force myself to stop worrying, there's enough I have to worry about as it is! I manage to drag him a bit further up the beach and then feel my hands starting to slip so I have to put him back down again quickly before I lose my grip on him! His skin is very slick when wet... Smooth, and slick. He's probably wearing sun lotion, thus making him slicker still.

He's down on the sand again. It's burning hot, but it can't be helped. I put my ear to his chest, and there's nothing going on there inside of him... He could be dead already for all I know!

But I know CPR. In theory! I can wake him up again, save him, I've seen it done on TV! So I try... One hand pinching over his nose, the other under his neck, lifting his head and clearing the airways. His mouth gapes open, I see rows of straight, white teeth inside. Then I put my mouth against his lips, forming as tight a seal I can and try to breathe life back into him, but I can't! His chest won't give way at all, no matter how hard I try! Am I not strong enough? Am I too little? Maybe you have to be an adult to do this? I despair. Nobody seems to have taken notice of what's going on. The beach is packed with people, but there's so many here that I and the dying boy is disappearing in the masses! I should call out, then people would react, but I don't and still I do not know why. His head has rolled over on one side now that I'm not holding it anymore.

I can't give him air, but maybe I can get his heart going again, I'm not sure. So I put my palms on his chest and press down once. Not too hard, because I don't want to hurt him, maybe damage something on the inside of him... A clear stream of water comes pouring out of his mouth as I push on him.

OF COURSE! He's still filled up by half the Mediterranean sea! I roll him up on one side and then on his stomach, trying to empty him as best I can by lifting him under his belly. It's not easy, I see water coming out of him but is it enough? I can't be certain, and I don't dare to wait any longer so I then get him back on his back again and try to breathe for him. I have to brush away the sand that has stuck to his face first, and then I carefully re-form the seal against his mouth with my own. Yes, it's easier now. Not easy, but easier.

One breath, two breaths, three... I hear water sort of bubble inside him, but I don't dare to try to empty him again. Too much time has been wasted already! Then I try heart compressions. How many am I supposed to do? I have no idea! How much time has passed? I'm not entirely sure but I think I've heard the brain dies after five minutes and after that, even if I get the heart going he'd be a vegetable for the rest of his life!

I breathe for him again. He's so soft, and warm still of course, and the thought of him lying like this, fading away... It makes me cry! All he wanted was some pretty stones to take home from his summer vacation, he didn't deserve to end up like this!

"Please don't die", I hear myself whisper as I continue heart compressions. "Please don't die!"

No! He needs more air! Air is life!

I put my lips against his again even as I'm crying, and breathe. Please don't let him die I pray to anyone, anything that will listen! I don't know what to do if you die, I can't take it!

I jump when I feel him jerk and his eyes pop open, it's a scare as strong as anything I've ever experienced. Then he's wracked by a long series of coughs so severe I think he's going to pass out again, and I put my arms around him and hold him as his body spasms. I am so full of adrenaline from the shock I actually feel completely weakened. I'm experiencing such relief, I don't know what to do except hold him! It must be the sea water that makes him cough I think and I do hear him cough something up. It sounds painful, like he's never going to stop. He tries to take a breath, only to start coughing again and again. So I hold him gently, helping him cope.

Finally, he settles down... I'm still holding him, both of us sitting up in the sand, and then I realise I'm sitting straddled across his legs, my own legs folded in under themselves. Have I been in that position the whole time? I'm not sure! I know I should let go of him because otherwise he might think I'm weird, but I'm really reluctant to actually do it. Then I do it anyway. I pull away, but I do put my hands on his shoulders instead and take a proper look at him. He's smooth, silken-soft to the touch, and all sun-bronzed. Every part of him that I can see is.

He's looking back at me, his face not showing any expression at all, it's as if he's too confused to feel anything just yet. He's got ocean-blue eyes, framed by lashes and eyebrows that are as golden-blonde and bleached as the hair on his head. They're so fine in their quality, so pale in colour they're almost invisible... He has a light sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of his nose and under his eyes. I feel myself staring into those eyes, and I see that he's...

He's... What? I don't know. I feel... Strange. Funny all over, just by looking at him. The boy whose life I just saved. Yes, now I know. He's CUTE!

I say it to myself. I've never thought of another boy that way before, but he IS.

"Are you okay?", I then hear myself say out loud. "Do you speak English?"

"Yes", he replies slowly in response to my second question, a bit scared still I think. "A little." I detect an unknown accent, I can't place it. He pauses for a short while, I see water in one of his eyes but I'm not sure if it is from the sea or if he too is crying. Not that I'm sure if I am still doing it myself or not either by now... "What happened?", he asks, and I again detect that slightly melodious accent. I'm still sitting on him, but it seems he doesn't mind. Or maybe hasn't even noticed.

I speak without hesitation. "You almost drowned, but I saved you." Then I see he IS scared still, and quite frankly so am I, so I can't help myself. I put my arms around him again. "It's okay, you're safe. I saved you..." I try to comfort myself as much as him, not sure how successful I am.

Now he's definitely crying, and holding on to me too. I feel very happy for some reason even though I feel tears leave my eyes, and we both cling on much tighter and firmer than you'd expect from two total strangers... He's warm; he has dried up really quick from the swim (I think it's because of the sun and the warm light winds: only his hair and swimming trunks are still wet it seems, and I feel sand falling off his back when I touch him) and I don't remember ever holding anyone or anything as warm as this before, and my body is tingling really bad for some reason. I hold him gently, not just putting my arms around him, but actually letting myself touch him, experience him. His smoothness and warmth, and I want to be with him. Close, close... And, I also feel I'm rapidly getting a hard-on too... I feel very strange, but also really good! I try to ignore the fact I'm having an erection, and that it's poking right into some strange kid who must have noticed it by now and probably thinks I really am a weirdo, but I can't ignore it, I can't make it go down, and I don't even try to for some strange reason. And he doesn't push me away either, he continues to hold me just as hard, sniffling softly against my shoulder.

"I'm okay", he says after a little while, and I feel him make an effort to calm down. "Did... Did you kiss me, earlier? I... I think you did." His voice is a little raw from all that coughing, but I can still tell it's smooth and light under normal circumstances.

"I was giving you air", I try to explain, because I'm kind of confused too somehow. Kissing him? Why would I be kissing him? I was trying to save his life! But maybe I was... I'm not sure now. Oh, he's so terribly cute, I can't get over the fact I'm holding him like this in my arms! My limbs are tingling still, and my erection is stiffer than ever before in my life I think. It feels so good... I should feel ashamed, but I'm not. It just feels SO GOOD! It feels like I'm stabbing him with my dick, and he MUST have noticed it!

He's quiet for a few moments, as if digesting what I just said. "My nose hurts", he then says. "And my throat." He speaks very softly, to spare his voice. I almost can't hear him over the regular sound of the waves, and all the people playing around in them. "Would you... Would you kiss me again?" He's decided that's what I was doing. He may very well be right, I'm not sure at all anymore.

Oh my god! Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing? And now I FEEL it too! He's ALSO getting hard! It's as if he's a bit shy though, he looks at me questioningly, pushing himself against me a little as his dick grows, asking me if it's all right. He does it even though I went stiff long before he did! Oh, he's just total cuteness! I clearly feel his growing hard-on against my leg, and it's the most wonderful sensation... Sensual, erotic... Wonderful. The tingling returns with a vengeance...! I move my hips in as close I can to him, the top half of my dick grinds into him and then slips out of the top of my swimming trunks as I press myself into his firm stomach. I feel the warmth of his body touch me, and he sighs through his nose, a quiet 'nnnhhh!'-sound. I hold my arms around his upper chest as I hesitantly place my lips on his...

He welcomes it. I'm kissing another boy, and he welcomes it...! I feel elated, almost dizzy in fact, like I'm about to pass out. But I don't, instead, I kiss him again, and he gives me another sigh in return, more intense this time. We concentrate on getting in as close as we can to each other...

We're surrounded by people, but nobody notices, nor cares what we're doing I think. There's simply too many around us, nobody has any reason to look at us in particular. In a way, it feels as if we're completely alone there on the beach, just him and me.

I can't think of one single reason why I shouldn't stay with this boy forever, no matter how impractical, no matter how impossible. We'd MAKE it possible, somehow! I would never let go of him again. Never!

We kiss, sitting in the sand, with everybody and nobody watching us. He's so lovely, how could I never have noticed it before, that I can find another boy cute? I've never thought about them in this manner before...

Come to think of it, haven't really thought in this manner about ANYONE before. It's like me saving him somehow acted as some sort of trigger inside me. I'm thinking, maybe I should feel weird for thinking like this about another boy, but I don't. He's simply so lovely to hold and I don't want to ruin the experience so I just block the thought out. And besides, my body's still tingling, and I feel his dick, as hard and excited as mine squeezed in tight between the side of his stomach and my left thigh. He's rather well-endowed, and the thought sends small jolts of erotic pleasure through my body...!

One of his hands is on my butt. I'm not really surprised, but it's ON my butt and I can't ignore it.

"Uh... What- Why are you doing this?", I ask for some stupid reason. I immediately regret it because I think he might think I don't like it - which I DO - and that he might pull away and I don't want that...

But he simply smiles back at me and grips my butt even tighter. "Why did you say I'm cute?", he asks back. I can't believe I did say that, but I must have, unless he's a mind reader... So in answer, I smile back and he understands.

His hand is on my butt INSIDE my swimming trunks, touching me. It's totally new to me, and we're joined in the longest kiss of my life.

The kiss of life...!

* The End *