The Observer

12 May 2015

Dr. Elizabeth Garrison exited the Benson Pharmaceutical laboratory on East 63rd, heading home for the night. It was late, nearly eleven o’clock. Something far too typical for her, especially with her recent research going so well. She hurried down to the corner turning down Madison Avenue. The train station was only three blocks away and if she hurried, she could catch the 11:15 that would take her home.

Across the street, walking in the shadows, keeping pace with Dr. Garrison, the Observer followed. He had been following her for weeks, keeping track of her research. She had to finish one aspect, set in place the chain of events that would lead to a new drug. But he also knew he had to prevent her from going further. She was on the cusp of another discovery, one that the future could not allow. There were events that had to take place, and if left to chance, the passage of time without adjustment, she would stumble on this other discovery. One that would lead to this other drug. A drug that would prevent certain diseases, and unfortunately for Dr. Garrison, the prevention of a mutation in a few humans. It would be a small thing, unnoticed by doctors, but its development would be profound after the humans had ceased to exist and the next species rose up in the aftermath of their self-annihilation. A species that would follow the human species, with traits evolved for a new world, different from the one that exist in the present.

He followed her while reviewing her mind, looking at the record of the day and her accomplishments. And he saw it, the discovery, all laid out on her lab desk. The notes, the computer programming, and all the petri dishes showing the success of the day’s tests. The drug she was to discover had been found. He scanned her further, looked to see if she had gone further, came to be aware of the second discovery that was right in front of her. He relaxed for she had not, and time showed no one else would notice it. Therefore, the opportunity was upon him. He had to make the adjustment in events, protecting the future course that had to occur.

He crossed the street and fell in behind Dr. Garrison. He was thirty or forty feet behind her. He timed his pace, one slightly faster, to allow him to catch her on the next block, just as she came upon the alley between the accountant’s office and the jewelry store, both closed at this time of night. He held out his right hand as he came upon a pawn shop. Inside a gun lifted out of a locked cabinet and sailed through the air to the front. Molecules insulated, aligned perfectly for passage he brought it through the glass window, cleanly, without breakage. There could be no sign of his taking it.

It was to look like a robbery. Just another cruel human tragedy. She crossed the street and he followed, silently, not sound coming from his steps. She passed the corner convenience store. He fell in behind her only a few feet back. She walked past the accountant’s office, glanced down the dark alley, always checking to be safe. One shot rang out, so loud it echoed down the street and alley. The smell of gunpowder filled the air and Dr. Garrison fell forward, dead before she hit the sidewalk. A hole in the back of her head.

The Observer picked up her briefcase and continued walking. He didn’t look back, even as people came out the sidewalk from the store or looked down from windows above. He knew no one would see him. He could return to his time, his place within the realm.  The police would never find the gun, or the briefcase filled with notes that would allow someone to work out the other discovery.  Time continued, with the adjustment made, its course now returned to the path it had to follow.

6 June 2019

Charlie sat at the bar with his two closest friends. Matthew, Sam and he had gone through college together and after graduation all three found jobs in the city. They had developed a routine, one that brought them to the pub every Friday after work. It was crowded with those who had just left work, some carrying briefcases, and all out for a drink to calm the nerves while enjoying a time with friends and new acquaintances. Before them sat their empty glasses.

“Bartender! Another round” Sam called out, getting a nod of acknowledgment.

“So, are things getting serious with Susan?” asked Matthew, looking Charlie in the eye.

“No. I don’t know. She is great…and we have fun.”

“But?”

“It just seemed to be happening too fast. Crazy, right? I broke it off a couple of days ago.”

“Seriously? Well, I get it. We’re still getting our feet under us.”

“Hey, guys, look over there” said Sam, pointing across the room to a booth with three women just sitting down.

“Nice” Charlie replied, bumping Matthew on the arm.

As the three of them carried on, making comments about the three women, each daring the other to approach them, standing outside, across the street, the Observer was watching Charlie. He was reading him, seeing the state of his mind. There was an anomaly that had to be corrected. One that would affect the future in ways too disruptive. The Observer stared at Charlie while reviewing the scenarios that could play out. The events that would unfold by each of his decisions made tonight.

The problem was there was only one decision that could be made that the Observer would not respond with an adjustment. Only one scenario that had to play out. All the others led to the same situation. The same chain of events that could not be allowed to occur.

Charlie could be destined to meet the one. The women dressed in the blue dress, her long strawberry blonde hair pulled back and tied off. The woman sitting in the booth with her two friends. The Observer could see it, Charlie going to her, then spending the rest of the night talking, eventually separated from the others. They would go out on a date, then another, slowly forming a relationship. They would marry, have a son, and this would lock in a chain of events that the Observer was prepared to stop from happening. It was the child that could not be born. Letting Charlie form a relationship with Emily, the women wearing blue, could not be allowed to happen.

The Observer looked at the different scenarios and only one, a long shot, didn’t require his intervention. It might require a slight nudge of events, but nothing as drastic as all the other scenarios. He read Charlie’s deepest desires, the things that increased his heart rate, effected his breathing and drove his arousal for companionship. It was there, this option. Charlie was mostly straight, his eyes always for the women. But in the scale of human sexuality, there was an option. A tick toward the same sex. It was minor, compared to some males. But the Observer could see it. It was something he could work with as he tried to interfere with the timeline as little as possible.

Scanning the pub, the Observer saw few options. The pieces were not in place. He scanned down the street to his left, studying those coming down the sidewalk. There were males who were attracted to other males, but they were not suitable, some aspect about them that would not work. The Observer looked to his right, scanning everyone coming from that direction.

Among the people, walking alone, was the one he sought. The Observer read him, drew out who he was, his history and his future, based on the scenarios laid out by tonight. It was there, the characteristics needed. He just had to get him into the pub and into Charlie’s realm. A slight manipulation and he might have his alternate pathway to the future.

The Observer didn’t understand what was so special about the traits of this person. What was it that drew another human’s attention? What characteristics were important when standing back and looking at the vastness of humanity, there was no specific parameters. Looking at the male walking alone he read him, but he didn’t really know him. He didn’t understand him, nor any of the humans.

Jake was new to the city, arrived last month after working his first job in Birmingham, he had taken a new position with a larger firm in the city. He had been so excited with the move, and its possibilities. There were gallery openings, museums, and so many restaurants, bars and clubs, he knew he would only visit a small per centage of them. But there were other possibilities, and the biggest was a larger population of gay men. He had dated a few guys in college, then in Birmingham, but none were someone he could see himself settling down with. He hoped the city would be different. So far it had been intimidating. There was too much to take in and he found himself sitting in his apartment more evenings than not. His neighbors were in the service industry, every one of them, and therefore they were gone when he was home. One problem was his own introverted nature. He wasn’t prone to go out alone. To venture out as a lone wolf and see where the night would take him. He wanted someone to go with him, and that entailed making friends, something he had not done yet.

He considered the guys at work, but to date he found most of them were straight. They tried to get him to go with them out to a sports bar on Thursday night to watch a game or hit one of the pubs near their office after work one afternoon. But it felt like he was going backward, returning to his way of living prior to college. Going out  with straight friends and ending up alone. 

Tonight, had been one of those where he was more stir crazy than usual, and he changed clothes, slipped on his jacket and ventured out. He had searched online where gay bars and clubs were located and after a month knew by heart where each one nearby was located. He walked along the sidewalk, pacing himself to stay between two groups, not waiting to pass through them in front nor wanting the group behind him to catch up.

He heard the noise before he noticed the pub. The window was bright compared to the dark sidewalk and within he could see the activity. The crowd around the bar and at the tables. In back he saw the billiard tables, each with a game in progress. It was a straight bar, obvious by the patrons. The mix of men and women and each flirting with the other. It wasn’t a place he wanted to go, but something nagged at him, pulled him to enter the pub. It was like someone was whispering in his ear, taunting him to do it, to give it a shot. He looked in the window and saw several guys sitting along the bar and one stood out.

The guy was talking to a woman in a blue dress with long strawberry blonde hair. The reddish tint made her stand out among the others, far too many unnatural blondes. He wondered what it was that attracted the guy to her. He let his eyes focus on his own reflection then back on the woman, comparing their characteristics. He was blonde, a sandy light color and with his baby face he looked younger than his twenty-four years. He was average height and lean build, maintained by jogging and bike riding, the latter how he was the learning the city the best. He thought he was as attractive as she was but knew it was far more than they way one looked.

But the pull to go inside grew in intensity, almost like he was being led to the door by an invisible hand. He moved to the front door and watched himself open it and slip inside the noisy interior.

The Observer watched Jake move into the pub, make his way around the bar and take a stool on the opposite side from Charlie. Would this work, this temptation to Charlie that was not something he had seriously considered before. Could there be some way to push him a little? Guide him toward Jake and make him see his options for the night.

The night progressed, Charlie and his buddies hanging out with the three women. It is getting late, time short for something to happen. The Observer saw Jake get up and head to the men’s room. Almost as if timed, Charlie gets up and heads the same way only seconds later. Watching through a fold in space, the Observer sees Jake at a urinal. Charlie comes in and takes the one adjacent instead of the third one. They don’t acknowledge each other, both facing the wall as they relieve themselves. Then it happens, that occurrence of the possible. Just a minor thing, something unnoticed by others, even some Observers. But he saw it. Charlie looked over at Jake, just a quick glance. He looked at Jake’s cock. It was out of curiosity, an impulse of the moment. He looked at the flaccid cock in Jake’s hand and wondered what it would look like erect. Would it be like his own? Ram rod straight and the head arrow shaped. Or would it curve upward? Would the head flare out? How long would it stretch out? The Observer saw and heard Charlie. And he heard more.

Charlie had wondered about other guys before. Quick glances in the dorm bathroom or in P.E. classes. He heard the other boys dare each other to do things. Masturbate in public places. Streak across campus. Have sex with another couple. He wondered about it himself. The idea of a three-way had always enticed him. But it scared him too. When he imagined it, made up some scenario that appealed to his desires, he saw himself being more intimate with the guy than the girl.

Jake zipped up and moved to the sink to wash his hands. Charlie is quickly by his side.

“Can you believe how crowded this place is?” Charlie asked.

“It is busy, but I assume it is always like this on Friday night” Jake replied.

“Yeah…I guess it is on Friday nights. This your first time here?”

“Yes. I just moved to the city a month ago and still finding my way around.”

“You here with some friends?”

“No…I guess I’m a playing the loner tonight. I was going somewhere else but when I was passing by, I just came in for some reason.”

“Well, there are lots of women here, so…” Charlie replied letting his voice trail off into a question.

“I’ve seen that, but here’s the thing…” Jake hesitates, leaning closer to Charlie, lowering his voice, “I play on the other team.”

Charlie laughs out loud, then quietly, nervously. “I see. Well, good luck with that in here.”

“I know I should head on down to my original destination but…I don’t know. I might just head home.”

“Hey, don’t let me sway you from a night out on the prowl. Tell you what. Before you leave come to the bar and I’ll buy you a drink. A welcome to the neighborhood toast.”

“Nah...you don’t have…”

“I insist. Come on. I’m Charlie by the way.”

“Jake.”

The Observer watched the interactions, the way Charlie talked amongst his friends, Emily and her friends and lastly, Jake. There were moments it seemed Charlie was leaning toward Jake more often, in deep conversation with him. But Emily kept a physical contact that pulled Charlie back each time. The hour grew late and he watched as Sam suggested they all go to this nightclub three blocks away. It stayed open all night and they could come out and watch the sun come up.

The Observer knew this was a crucial time. He could read Jake. He knew Jake would not go to the club. It had nothing to offer him and his loneliness grew as he watched Emily engage Charlie, hold his attention the most. Charlie, Sam and Matthew stood, helping the women off their stools. They asked Jake to tag along, but not with any real seriousness. Outside on the sidewalk they began to head toward the nightclub and the Observer moved to get into place. It would be just one shot from the shadows of the alley around the corner. A random act of violence would be the police report. He moved silently, quickly, as he continued to read Charlie. Something was off. His dedication to this moment, this woman wasn’t holding. He stopped suddenly and the Observer read his mixed emotions. The confusion and anxiety he felt, but also the possibility of something new. A different life that might be more rewarding for him. He looked at Emily, frowning and it was obvious to all around that something was wrong.

“I’m sorry, but…” Charlie stammered then began to back away, heading back to the pub. “I’m sorry.”

The Observer put the gun back into the holster and followed. He was curious about this aspect of humanity. Its contradictory nature. He watched Charlie walk at a fast pace, anxious to get back to the pub. He passed a small group on the sidewalk and came into the light cast by the bright windows. He scanned the bar and saw Jake was gone. He scanned the sidewalk, looking further up the street, then across to the other side. There was someone walking slowly away. They were in silhouette, just a shadow among shadows, but he knew instantly it was Jake.

He had no idea why he was doing this. He just felt this desire to be with Jake like he had not felt in a long time. He raced across the street and up the sidewalk till he was about thirty feet away and he slowed, falling in pace behind him. He wondered how Jake would see his returning. Was it odd? Creepy in some way? He hesitated, considered turning around and heading back to the club.

Jake sensed his presence, stopped, then turned to face him.

“Charlie?”

“Jake, hey…I didn’t feel like a night club. I was wondering…maybe…”

Jake smiled, took a few steps toward Charlie. “You want to come to my place for a nightcap?”

 Jake’s apartment had the just moved in look of someone at the start of their life. Boxes stacked in the corner of the dining area, which lacked a dining table and chairs. There was a sofa and one chair in the living room with the television sitting on a box. The kitchen was neat, everything in its place, the one room that felt complete. Charlie followed Jake into the narrow galley kitchen and watched him pull down a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

“Coke, ginger ale or just a splash of water?”

“Ginger ale.”

They clicked their glasses while leaning against the counter.

“How do you like your job?” Charlie asked, desperate to break the silence.

“It’s good. Better than I hoped” replied Jake. He pushed off the counter and moved past Charlie, so close their bodies nearly rubbed together. Charlie caught the scent of his cologne and recognized it from the pub. Without saying anything he followed Jake into the living room and past the chair to sit next to him on the sofa.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah.”

“You do remember I’m gay?”

Charlie hesitates, lets the admission hang between them, then nods his head yes.

Jake moves closer, his hand on the sofa so near Charlie’s leg its as if he can feel it.

“Are you okay?” Jake whispered.

“Yeah.”

“Can I touch you?”

“Yes.”

Jake put his hand on Charlie’s leg, leaned close and kissed him on the neck. Charlie moaned and Jake moved along his jaw till they were pressing lips together. Jake guided Charlie over on his back, moving on top of him. He pushed against Charlie, cock against cock.

For Charlie it was so different. Nothing like the women he had been with. The physical nature of it, the feel of another so familiar. Masculine, the flex of muscle pushing against or working with the other. He pushed upward feeling his cock grow hard. Jake held his hand against the arm of the sofa as kisses moved from his lips to his neck then down his chest as his shirt fell open with the undoing of each button.  A hand moved over his crotch, manipulated him through his jeans, squeezing and working along this length. Then it fumbled with his belt, the front of his jeans and eventually everything was tugged down leaving him exposed, cock angled up hard. In the past he would have been embarrassed for another guy to see him so aroused. Now his cock flexed up and down with his excitement of this exposure.

Jake grasped him, held him straight up and licked the head. Charlie moaned while pushing against the arm of the sofa, body stretching out, desperate for Jake to do more. He leaned up and watched as his cock slipped through Jake’s lips and disappeared. He pumped his hips, savoring the feel of his cock sliding through those lips and over the tongue. He cried out, gasped as the tongue swirled around the head and bore into the slit.

Jake sat up and tugged his shoes off, then each leg of his jeans till free of them. Charlie watched him remove his own shirt, the lean body coming into to view. He watched Jake lean up on his knees and undo his jeans and work everything off. Jake was half hard. Charlie watched him knee walk up his legs and over his waist. A hand took him, held him up. A pressure on the head then the tight squeeze as Jake took him, slowly, inch by inch. The tight hole milked his cock as it sunk into Jake’s depths. It seemed to take forever. It seemed too soon. Jake was sitting on his cock; it buried all the way inside him. He watched Jake stroke his own as he rocked his hips. It grew thicker, longer. Jake began to breathe hard and move on his cock. Up and down, slowly at first but the pace increased quickly. Jake came down harder and harder, rocking him roughly, stimulating him. Making him long for release.

It was too soon, he too aroused. He couldn’t hold back, not this first time, and he pushed upward and came. He shuddered with every release, cried out as he held tightly to each of Jake’s thighs. Then he felt the hot wet spatter of cum over his face, chest and stomach.

Jake lay over him, both breathing hard. He felt hot breath on his neck, then the soft gentle touch of lips.

“Let’s shower” Jake whispered in Charlie’s ear.

The steam rose over the curtain as Jake stood with his back to the shower soaping up Charlie’s chest, stomach, and cock. His hands moved down and back, around Charlie’s waist. Jake touched him in places he’d never let anyone touch him before. Fingers probed along the recess between his cheeks, rubbed over his opening. He moaned into Jake’s mouth as a finger penetrated him, squeezed through his tightness and bore into his depths. The finger piston in his hole, pulled out and two pushed back in. Twisting and turning, loosening him. He knew what Jake wanted. It scared him. It excited him too, his cock half hard, and getting harder. Jake turned him to face the wall and he braced his hands on it as he pushed back. He opened to Jake’s manipulation, felt three fingers bore into his hole. Forehead against the wall, he closed his eyes focusing on this penetration.

The fingers pulled out and he felt the round blunt head of Jake’s cock. It pressed against his hole and he felt this want, this need, for Jake. The penetration of his body, the connection made when interlocked in a fuck. He shivered as Jake stretched him open further sinking thick cock into his hole. He pushed against the wall and took every inch.

Jake held his waist and fucked. Fucked hard. His moans reverberated with his rocking motion. He’d never felt such an intimacy. This plunge into his depths, over and over. It felt impossibly deep. He wanted it deeper.

A hand slipped around his waist, took him in hand. Cock plunged into his depths as the hand slid down to the base of his cock. Jake stroked in rhythm with his fuck. It went on and on, this intimacy. This fuck. Jake hammered cock in his hole harder and harder till the sound of bodies coming together echoed in the small room. As the water grew cooler, his aroused state exploded, no longer able to hold back. He painted the tile wall with his cum.

Jake leaned against his back, bit at his shoulder stifling a cry. He felt the way Jake was trying to jam cock deeper into his hole and he knew he was taking his load.

 The weekend passed quickly. Saturday morning spent in bed having sex in a slow gentle manner gave way to a late lunch at the bistro on Garden Street. The afternoon was back in bed with dinner prepared together, both in just their boxers. Saturday night was another night of sex as physical as they could make it. Rough, hard, holding each other down pumping cock into the other. Sunday morning was sex across the bed, in the shower and at the living room window, Jake pushing into Charlie’s depths as the sun hit his nakedness, unconcerned about being seen. It was like a dream. A fairytale, too good to be real.

Charlie left Jake’s place around three that afternoon, crashing in front of his television with a game on. He had no idea who had the ball or the score. He scanned the text messages on his phone. The questions about what happened Friday night, why he ditched them. He saw the texts and listened to the voicemails from Saturday. It brought him back to his reality. The life he had created up to the point he met Jake. It tied a knot in his stomach. He was suddenly nervous.

Changed into running shorts and tank top, he headed out for a run. He had to clear his head, get his emotions in check. He jogged down the sidewalk till he came to the park and made his way around the longest path it afforded.

Unbeknownst to him, he was being observed. He was at a crossroads in his life. A decision to make. The Observer saw it. The doubt, the mixed emotions. Charlie was afraid to pursue the path chosen on Friday night. But he also found it comforting too. The intimacy with Jake, their time together had felt more real than anything before. But it was not what was expected of him. It would require explanations. He’d have to provide reasons. Give logical support for something he didn’t really think logic played a part.

He slowed at the small lake and watched some children feed the ducks, a teenager guides a radio-control boat across its surface, and among the shade of trees, couples picnicking. He saw them kiss and laugh and feed each other. He sat on a bench where he could watch all of it. Every interaction as he contemplated what to do.

 The Observer saw the choice to be made, knew the danger of letting Charlie make the wrong one. He eased into the bushes that would conceal him, just twenty feet behind Charlie where he could wait for the decision to be made. He pulled out his gun, silencer already screwed on the barrel. He watched Charlie debate his next move, the decision that would set him on a path through life. He watched Charlie take out his cell phone, pull up Emily’s number, wondering if he could call her, apologize about Friday night, make up some excuse of why he left so abruptly. The Observer watched Charlie as he searched for Jake’s number then staring at it as he weighed his options. The Observer watched, waited, while Charlie debated who to call. Which person would he select? Which path would he choose?

The Observer aimed the gun and waited for Charlie’s decision, ready to pull the trigger if it were Emily.