Part II - 2: The Rules of the Game

"Teddy wants you to come out and kick the sink."

"Why do we have noses?"

"Legos taste yummy."

"Go push your red button."

"I can see you think."

"I can see you."

"I can think you."

"Think you."

"Teddy. Think. You."

"Teddy."

"Where's my blue marble?"

"Think."

"Relax."

"Mommy?"

"Just rest, dear."

"I want my Teddy. Mommy? Where's my Teddy?"

"Shh. Teddy's here."

"Purple Pickles Pooped Pineapples."

"Sand squared equals two round pies."

"Water, water everywhere."

"Ohh. That feels better... Pain, pain, go-a-way, come back some other day. No, don't come back now, ya hear?"

"Sleep dear. You'll be okay."

"Okay... I wonder if Teddy likes purple pineapples... "

I awoke slowly, finding myself under the covers in my mother's bed. It was dark outside, the house was quiet, and I was alone. I looked at the clock to see what time it was.

".3:21" the digital clock showed. 3:21am.

I was thirsty, but didn't feel like leaving the nice warm sheets of the bed. I laid there deciding whether to get up for a drink and must have dozed back off.

The next thing I knew, my mother was sitting on the bed, gently rubbing my bare chest. The sun was up, but my mom was still in her sleep clothes.

"How do you feel?"

"Okay, I guesth." I said a little slurred. My tongue felt heavy and thick.

"You guesth?" she teased. I wasn't sure, but she probably knew how I felt better than I did.

I closed my eyes and laid there enjoying my mother's caresses. She rubbed my chest like she always did when I was sick. I drifted off again.

When I woke, she was in bed with me, asleep. Her hand was still on my chest, so I laid mine on top of her hand and went back to sleep.

I awoke again when she tried to get out of bed without waking me. Sensing I was awake, she said, "It's after ten. I'm going to get breakfast, then I'll bring it up to you. You're still a little weak, so don't bother getting up or dressed."

She left without me saying a word, and I stayed there for a few minutes before I realized I had to pee. I got up a little too quickly, and had to sit at the edge of the bed until the room stopped spinning.

I managed to get to the bathroom okay. As I pulled down my shorts, I realized someone had to have changed my clothes. I started getting embarrassed, especially about what my mother must have found out.

I got back to bed, and laid there staring up at the ceiling thinking about what must have gone on. I was surprised when my mom woke me when she brought breakfast. We both ate without saying much, and when we were done eating, she took the tray back in the kitchen, then came back and crawled in the bed with me again.

"Come 'ere, baby,"

We snuggled for a little bit. It had been several years since we had done that. I used to have nightmares when I was little, (probably caused by other people's thoughts drifting into my sleep) and for the longest time I slept with my mom. Every morning we would snuggle, like only a mother and her child can do.

I started to feel sleepy again, but I shook it off. My concerns about what took place the night before rose up again, and my mother sensed my discomfort. She sighed.

"You really over exerted yourself yesterday... You really gave me and Joey a scare."

"I'm sorry... I won't do it again."

"I don't really believe that, even if you do. I think you're going to have to stop for a while and let yourself recover, though."

"What happened last night when you got home?"

"Well, Joey was going nuts because you were awake, but wern't responding to him. When I walked in the door, I felt his panic and followed it straight to your room. He was in there begging you to say something. When he realized I was there, he really started to panic, especially when he realized you both were still, well, naked from the waist down."

That caused me to blush, and I felt the sinking feeling sink a little more.

"Oh now... It isn't like I've never seen you naked before. I know you feel embarrassed... But you should have seen Joey blush. I never saw someone turn red all over like that." She was smiling.

"It took me a few minutes to calm him down to find out what was wrong," she continued. "I finally just told him I needed to look inside his head because he wasn't making any sense. He got real calm then, and said 'okay' real softly."

She paused and looked at my guilty face for a moment, then said, "I only did it because I couldn't get into your head to find out what was wrong. You kept pushing my mind away. I didn't know what you boys did exactly, but I had a pretty good idea. I couldn't figure out what could have caused you to act like a vegetable like that. You really had me scared."

I didn't say anything, feeling an all time low right then. There's nothing like having your mother find out all the intimate details of the sex you had with your friends. I also felt so... disgusted with myself.

"Timmy, I can't say I am all that pleased with what you and your friends have been doing, but you haven't hurt anyone, and I know you have been very careful about that. And believe me, I know how rough it is being young and horny. The things I used to do when I was your age... Well, let's just say I understand... "

She lifted my head by the chin so I would look at her in the face. I had heard her words, but they really hadn't helped my guilt any.

"Timmy, you need to slow down. I know how you will end up if you keep using your powers with sex like this. Right now, sharing the bodies of your friends while you play with yourselves is enough. But soon you will get tired of it and want to do more. The more you do, the more you want to do, and pretty soon you're turning innocent people into mindless sex toys. Lord help you if that ever happens."

"I'd never do that," I cried. "I could never hurt anyone like that... I just wanted to share my feelings with them... "

"Tim, I believe you mean that. But the truth is, these abilities will corrupt you the more you use them. Sex and power will turn anyone into a monster if they let themselves be controlled by their lust for them. It would break my heart if that ever happened to you."

I was crying by that time. I felt like I had betrayed her. She held me, making shushing sounds for a long time, and I drifted off to sleep again.

I woke up alone in her bed. I felt a little better about myself. I was starting to understand what she had been telling me. I glanced at the clock, and was shocked to see it was after 4:00 already. My body was feeling pretty stiff from being in bed so long, and I had a hardon, which I ignored. I carefully got up and found I wasn't getting dizzy by moving around. I went to the bathroom again, and found myself dreading the thought of getting back in bed.

So I went to my room to put some clothes on, finding my bed bare of sheets. I faintly remembered Joey upchucking on my bed, and even remembered some of it had splattered on my leg. That explained why I had spent the night in my mom's bed.

I put a shirt and shorts on, then went out to the living room and flipped on the TV. There was no sign of my mother, but when I raided the fridge, I found a note saying she would be back shortly.

I had only sat down for about 10 minutes when she came home... with Joey and Suzi.

My stomach sunk, and I started feeling very guilty again. My mother must have had an open link with me to monitor how I was feeling because she immediately sighed and said, "Tim is feeling guilty about what happened. My little talk with him may have worked a little too well."

Suzi and Joey didn't say a word as they sat down on the couch with me. None of us looked at each other, and I felt very awkward.

My mother turned off the TV, sat down on the coffee table in front of me, and took my hands in hers.

"Tim, the three of you need to talk this out. I told them how important it is, and what might happen if things keep going the way they have been. I'm going out to mow the grass. Take all the time you want. I won't bother you until you're done. Their parents are not expecting them home for dinner, and they can spend all night here if need be." With that, she got up, kissing me on the forehead, then went outdoors without another word.

The three of us just kind of sat there for a minute, then Suzi asked, "How do you feel?"

"Okay, I think. Look, I'm sorry. I should have never done any of that stuff to you."

"I'm the one who should be saying sorry. Everything we did... I mean, I wanted to do it."

"Suzi, you only wanted to do it because I wanted to do it. You don't understand what I am saying sorry for... "

"What do you mean?" Suzi said. She wasn't really shocked or surprised by what I had implied. Maybe what my mom told her made her suspect I had done something to her.

I took her hands in mine, like my mother had done a few minutes before. I looked into her eyes and said, "Suz, before you called me that first day, I used to dream about you all day. I had lots of fantasies about you. Some were kinda romantic. Most were just plain horny. But I didn't know about these things I can do, and I didn't know I was doing them without knowing it."

Her eyes, her mouth, even her dimples had that sad look. She didn't say anything so I when on.

"All the sexy feelings you have had were actually mine. When you got turned on by Marsha's body... you were feeling the same attraction I felt for yours."

I turned and stared straight into the blank TV, then said in a somewhat harsh voice, "I made you want sex. Sex with girls. Sex with me. If I hadn't let my dick do all the thinking... "

"I'm sorry Tim," Joey broke in. "If I hadn't showed you those playboys and stuff, we would have never started talking about girls like that. I was the one who pointed out how sexy Suzi was. I even got you thinking about how she would look naked. It's my fault, not yours... "

"Men!" Suzi said in disgust. "You all think you're the only ones who think about sex. Let me tell you something apparently you two don't know. In sixth grade, Jen Marshal and I talked about what all the boys would look like naked, how they would kiss, and if they got boners yet. You think girls don't know anything about sex, and you have to introduce it to us. You're so stupid! I've watched my brother play with himself long before you two had even thought about a naked girl. And back in seventh grade, I even imagined giving him blow jobs before I even knew other people did that kind of thing."

"Timmy, you know I've had a thing for you for years. I've always wanted to kiss you. We haven't done anything I hadn't thought of before I started feeling... your thoughts. And as for the thing with Marsha, I'm glad that happened. Marsha has been my best friend for years. If you hadn't shown me how it feels to want a girl, I probably would have been grossed out when she started to touch me. I think I would have rejected her and hurt her really bad. So, stop feeling sorry for yourselves and let's talk about what we are going to do."

Joey and I were both staring at her, and now she started to feel a little self- conscious.

"Well, I'm sorry for whatever I did," Joey said to me.

"Joe, you didn't do anything I didn't want to happen. I don't think I did anything to you that you don't already know about, but... Shit, guys. I don't know if you should trust me. I don't think I could ever do the things my mom says I could do, but how can I show you that I won't... I just don't know how to prove it to you that you can trust me."

"Maybe you should let us decide whether or not we trust you. I for one do." Suzi said.

"Yeah. Me too. Suzi's right. Stop worrying about what we've already done, and start thinking about what we are gonna do now. I don't know about you, but I'm getting horny."

Suzi and I gave Joey a dirty look, then I punched him in the shoulder, not real hard, but not soft either.

"I was only kidding. Jeez," he said rubbing his arm.

I turned to Suzi and said, "I don't think we should swap bodies for a while. I was starting to want more than just touching you through your own hands. I wanted to use my own."

"Hey, that's fine with me." Joey piped in. "If I ever taste cum again, I think I'll kill myself."

"You enjoyed the blow job just as much as the rest of us did," Suzi argued.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to live with the taste afterwards. It made me so sick, I threw up all over the bed."

"It didn't taste THAT bad. You're just trying to be macho. Like you never tasted your own before... "

"What makes you think I ever tasted it before?"

"You can't tell me you never tasted it before. Tim has. Haven't you?"

"Well, I guess, but I think we... "

"Well I never had. At least not until you sucked it out of him like a vampire."

"Joey, you're such a dork! I bet you can't even admit that you were tasting me by the fingerful. I had go and brush my teeth to get rid of the... "

"Guys!" I yelled. "Shut the fuck up!"

They did, but I had to punch Joey again when he stuck his tongue out at Suzi.

"Look. Are you two saying you don't want to mess around again?"

"NO!" they both blurted out.

"Do you want to stop doing three ways?"

"No," they both said again.

I sighed, then said "I don't think we are making any progress here... "

"I just don't want to find myself sucking your dick again, that's all... " Joey said.

Suzi sighed, then with a mocking smile on her face. "But that's what makes it so... fun."