The Final Moments
By
Paul Edward Fitzgerald
The cold, wet feeling of water seeping
between his bare toes stirred him. He
moaned, his head pounding with the
slow, labored beat of his heart.
Where am I? He thought.
What happened?
The boy opened his eyes and
squinted, trying to see some semblance of light or familiarity in his surroundings.
He moaned and tried to roll
over but was unable to as his back
bumped up against an unseen barrier.
In trying to figure out what he had
bumped into the boy made his first
attempt to feel his way around with
his hands. Upon doing so he realized
he couldn’t move his hands freely.
Indeed they seemed to be bound together.
The boy struggled against the
ties that seemed to bind his hands to
one another. As he struggled he began
to realize his bare feet now seemed to
be completely submerged in a cold,
flowing water.
men weren’t with men as the boy had
been before his boyfriend split. But it
still did not explain why they had taken his shoes.
leaving the bar. And he could remember the tall one coming up and offering to buy him a drink. He knew he
shouldn’t have accepted it, but he had
already had a few drinks and after
The boy’s mind suddenly
fighting with his boyfriend any bit of
flashed on his boyfriend and the foolattention seemed like it could serve as
ish fight they had earlier that evening.
a welcome comfort.
In hindsight it seemed so silly. Perhaps
he had let his insecurities get the best
The boy had left with the tall
of him, he now realized as he lay one as well as with the fat one and
bound in this cramped, dark prison. the balding one with the missing
He knew his boyfriend loved him, just teeth. Why did he leave with them?
as he loved his boyfriend. But the boy The truth is even he wasn’t sure. But it
wasn’t confident in his own looks or had not seemed like a big mistake unsocial skills whereas his boyfriend was til the tall one’s demeanor changed
popular with everyone. It wasn’t even completely and he began to quote
that he thought his boyfriend was ca- bible verses about the sin of a man
pable of cheating. It was simply of laying with another man while the
matter of he loved his boyfriend so other two chortled and snarled like
much and he felt he wasn’t good hyenas at the boy’s apparent, growing
enough for him. His greatest fear was fear.
that his boyfriend would realize it
They finally pulled off in some
eventually and find someone more in
deserted, wooded area and that’s
his league.
where the three men proceeded to
“I’m not going anywhere, take turns beating and assaulting the
babe,” his boyfriend had told him sev- boy. The boy had almost reached a
eral times before. “I love you.”
state of unconsciousness when the
balding one suddenly reached down
“And I love you,” he’d always
and pulled his feet up toward the sky
replied.
by his ankles. He muttered something
In fact, there was never a the boy could barely hear over the
parting between the two in which ringing in his head before removing
they did not say they loved one anoth- his shoes and socks inexplicably with
er. Not until earlier that night, that is. hysterical laughter at some apparent,
For all he knew now, he had blown his missed joke.
final chance to tell his boyfriend “I
He did put up as much of a
love you.”
fight as he could. His mother had alThe boy suddenly seemed to ways told him to stand up for himself
become more aware of just how and he always had, especially when it
boxed in he was, and he could feel mattered most. Though perhaps this
panic beginning to swell within his time he should not have, he now
body.
thought.
As he kicked his feet inside
the forming flood of