The American Nightmare [BoyXBoy]

.:9:.

Since the shower incident, which was about two weeks ago, I had been paying a lot more attention to Kellin's body, even while he was wearing clothes (which was most of the time). I noticed how he had gained some weight since he first arrived, and I assumed that it was because he let go of those stupid diets that Hollywood pressures actors into and ate the same things as us. But I did not mind that at all; he honestly looked better and seemed happier about himself.

The air of awkwardness between us was quick to pass, as he generally did no mind that I saw him naked. I certainly did mind but, as long as he was fine with it and not mad at me, I wanted to let it go.

I still had not removed the gauze from my hands, although they did not hurt at all anymore. I just could not bring myself to face reality.

It was the middle of the day and Kellin had convinced me to allow him to see the animals in the barn. I was not keen on it, because all animals hated me and were terrified of me but, when he was happy, I was happy too. And, although he was not very fond of plants and insects, Kellin loved animals.

And so, at around noon, both of us made our way to the barn. My friend mainly wanted to see the horses, and I was fairly sure that he would beg me to ride one of them but I would have to decline as I did not know how to control them. When we entered, Mike was in the barn with Tony, chatting, but as soon as they saw us both of them fled. They probably wanted to talk alone and were too awkward to kick us out so they left instead.

Kellin and I walked through the barn and I sighed in relief at all the noise the animals were making. It was so calming. He looked around in amazement, observing all of the animals in turn. They seemed to be enjoying his presence, because none of them ran at the sight of him. Or maybe that was just how it normally was. I would never know though.

The older man walked around, feeding the animals and stroking some of them. He even took one rabbit out of its cage (it was a white one with red eyes) and stroked it, while holding it in place so that it would not escape - not that it mattered, as we had a lot of those. He was approached by a stray cat which had somehow found its way here and made this place its home. The small creature purred and rubbed itself around his feet, while I watched from the side. Sometimes I wished that I could do something like that without ending up having my face torn in half by the claws of a scared animal.

"Where are the horses?" Kellin asked curiously.

"Around the back, in the stables. I'll show you, come on," I beckoned him with my hand and led the way through the exit and circled the side of the barn until we reached what was behind it. The small building contained three horses. They all had a lot of room on the inside, but they could only see the outside world through the small window in the door. It seemed unhealthy but, according to my mother, it was better for them this way.

As I watched Kellin inch closer towards the middle door and lightly tap on it, looking in through the barred window, a smile lit up his face. The large nose of Chrissy slipped through the bars, giving my friend the opportunity to stroke it. I could not believe this. Was he really kind-hearted enough to have the most unstable horse simply fall in love with him? Or maybe they were just having a good day. This gave me hope to try out myself for once.

I confidently moved towards the left door and glanced into the window. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Where was Joel? He could not have escaped, however he was nowhere to be seen in my field of vision. Maybe something had happe-

I shrieked and jumped up, as I pair of hoofs roughly bashed on the door, which I had been standing before, from the inside. The surprise impact sent me flying backwards and onto the muddy ground, landing on my butt and elbows. I should have known that was a bad idea!