Storiesonline.net ------- Sounds by Barneyr Copyright© 2012 by Barneyr ------- Description: This is a tale of woe, but it is mainly about what we hear and what we don’t and why we need to pay attention to everything so we don’t mistake love for something else, like lust or comfort. Codes: MF cons het cheat slow ------- Sounds, they are something most of us live with and there are many sounds we take for granted and hardly hear anymore. Sounds like traffic, or trains, if you live near a busy road or railroad track where there are many trains during a day passing through. Other sounds tell the tale of our lives. Blind people need sound to be able to compensate for their loss of sight. Sounds guide them through this maze we call life. Then too there are sounds that make us all soft and cuddly inside, like a child's laughter, a kitten meowing or purring; the sounds of a loved one saying 'I love you'; the sounds of a new spring day as the sun rises and you hear birds chirping or singing. There are other sounds that make us happy, like the great crack of a ball hitting a bat and you know it is out of here; or maybe the laughter of a child or one saying 'I love you Daddy!' But just like the good sounds, there are bad sounds too; like shots in the night, a dog's growl, a woman or child crying or screaming. These sounds make us fear things we cannot see. This story is about those sounds that make us afraid, very afraid. Let me give you some background first and then we can hear the sound of fear. I'm Steve Logan; I'm 26 years old, 6'-1", 189 lbs and fit between working out at the gym and running. I have wavy blondish red hair and am considered quite handsome by the opposite sex. I own my own business, although it is not a real money maker yet, but it is coming along nicely. I have many friends and one in particular is my best friend, next to my lovely wife; that is Joe Peterson. Joe and I met in second grade, I was bigger and he was much smaller than your average second grader, so he came to me to see if I could stop him being bullied. I said 'sure, no problem' and we hung around together from then until high school graduation. Joe ended up to be fairly handsome, but short compared to me. His 5'-9" height and 165 lbs, added up to a nice package, but he is a pussy hound and is pretty good at it. He can just about talk any girl into his bed if he puts his mind to it. During our high school years, I can't count the number of times that my size, features, and athletic abilities brought girls flocking to me and Joe's charm and gift of gab got us both laid, a lot and I do mean a LOT. After graduation, I received a scholarship to the state university located about three hundred miles from our home town. Joe with mediocre grades and a fancy free lifestyle stayed around home and got a job selling used cars, at first. He actually was a good salesman and soon worked his way up into the new car dealership in town. For me, I played football as a wide receiver and baseball as a great shortstop for three years until my knee was torn during a football game in October just before Halloween. I was sidelined for football, but my baseball hitting was unaffected and fielding suffered a little so I was repositioned to first base. But that was after being redshirted the rest of my junior year and part of my senior year. Since I still had one year left of my eligibility I was back to playing baseball for my fifth year as a senior. I had not been lax with my studies either. I was able to get a Bachelor's in business management with an Associate's in computer drafting and with my five and a half years at University I came home with a MBA as well. I made good use of the scholarship and then paid separately for the summer schools I went to, to be able to get my masters before I left school. I started my small business in designing and setting up renovations for new businesses or when a business wanted to expand. While in college, I met a lot of nice girls, but one stuck out like a rose among daisies. This was Cynthia Jean Thornton. Cyn was 5'-7", 125 lbs loaded into a 36C-25-35 frame. She was a natural blond, and cute as could be. She was a cheerleader and the head one when I had my accident. Surprisingly she never gave me a look until that fateful night in October, the 28th to be exact. The next day at school I was trying to juggle my books, my notebook and my crutches at the same time and it just wasn't working. I dropped my notebook and she retrieved it and then relieved me of my books and said, "Where to Handsome?" To say I was stunned would be an understatement. Here was the head cheerleader; someone who previously wouldn't have given me the time of day, if asked; was suddenly helping me. I mumbled something about going to Economics class and she said, "Lead on Handsome, I'll follow you." Well she didn't actually follow me, she walked right beside me and when the hallways got crowded, she spoke up saying things like, "Make a Hole, important cargo coming through," or "Football Star needs some space to walk here." When we got to my classroom and she helped me sit down in the aisle seat and then sat right next to me. I had to ask, "Do you have this class?" "Sure, handsome, I usually sit up there," as she pointed to the last row where there were several jocks and some other cheerleaders. I usually got to class early and sat up front so I could get the most from each class. "Thank you so much ... ah..." I started, but I really didn't know her name at that point. "Oh, I'm Cynthia Jean Thornton, but most people call me Cyn. And you are Steve Logan, star wide receiver or were anyway and holder of several school records in both football and baseball. I heard that your batting average last season was an impressive .403 with 35 homers and 78 RBI's." "Ah ... I'm pleased to meet you, but why did you suddenly decide to talk to me and even help me to class this morning?" "Well, I kind of wanted to meet you for the last couple of weeks, but I heard that you don't think much of the jocks and cheerleaders that don't study and just squeak by. I'm not much better than them, but I do try hard to get something out of my classes. I need some help in some of my subjects and since you're out of commission for a while, I thought maybe you could help a poor girl out." About then the professor walked in and I said quietly, "We can talk after class." We both then concentrated on Economics and tried to learn something. That is how it started, I helped Cynthia with her studies and she helped me get around the school and to some parties on the weekends when we weren't studying. By Christmas break we were a couple and I took her home to meet my parents. I said that she was my girlfriend and that we dated exclusively. The reason we were together I believe is that she really liked me after she got to know me. As for me, when I was near her I felt different, I felt love, kinda like when I was around my mom. They liked her right away, but my dad asked me later when we were alone, "Son, are you sure that you want such a pretty girl for a girlfriend. A lot of them pretty girls have a wandering eye. Now you just watch careful before you commit to something that's gonna break your heart later on." I had explained how we met earlier in the evening and mom had Cyn in my old bedroom and I slept on the couch during our five day stay. I think that my small town parents and their old fashioned southern ways may have changed Cynthia's feelings toward me as she didn't say a whole lot on the trip back to school. She had gone shopping at the mall for some presents for my family, but when she came home she seemed different. I just thought she was missing her parents and their celebration. I told her that we could either go to her parents for New Years or Easter. She seemed to perk up then, but was still quiet most of the trip. When we got back I didn't see much of Cyn for a couple of weeks and then it was just like nothing had happened. We hadn't had sex yet as I was kinda taking it slow. We had made out quite a lot and we had both done oral on each other. When I made oral love to her, it took at least an hour and she was always limp as a wet dishrag when I was done. That's why we always had her do me first. We did go to her parent's home in St. Louis, Missouri during spring break. It was a long trip by car so we flew by way of her parents sending her the tickets. I was surprised, when she told me about them springing for tickets for both of us. I slept in the spare room at the end of the hall next to her parent's room. Cyn was in her old room downstairs. I got the distinct feeling that I was totally beneath them and that I was just poor white trash. I did talk a little to John Thornton regarding my records at school and my possible baseball career. I had been drafted by the Chicago Cubs as a shortstop, but then they said first base would be ok too, if my hitting could cross over into their Double A minors team the Tennessee Smokies. I guess he wanted to have his daughter bag some rich guy at school and I was not it. For all I knew they already had someone picked out for her. The four days we spent there I hardly even saw Cyn. Her mother and she were always gone and I was left alone with the maid. Needless to say I was mighty pissed when we got on the plane to go back to school. Cyn wouldn't talk about the stay, she said she was tired and went to sleep, or at least it looked that way to me. Thank God we didn't live together yet. Monday morning first day back to school, I didn't see Cynthia at all. In fact I didn't see her until Friday morning of the next week. She came by my room before I left for class and asked if I was going to take her to the party that night at the Frat house. I told her I didn't even know about it but if she wanted to go, then I would take her, but I did ask, "Cyn, what happened, I haven't seen you since we got back from our trip to your folks?" "I was busy trying to study for a test in computers. I didn't know I had to clear everything through you first? Maybe we just need to break this off now before things go too far." She turned around and left. I didn't see her for the rest of the semester. While I was working at a club after school during the summer break, I saw her come in with Joe Peterson. I didn't even know she knew him. I hadn't introduced her to him when we were home because I never saw him. They didn't see me as I was short order cook and part-time bartender at a club off campus to pay for my summer school. But I sure saw them being all lovey-dovey, but since Cyn had broken up with me after out trip to St Louis, I couldn't complain. Cynthia was two years behind me and so when I graduated I went to Kodak, TN and played for the Smokies. Kodak is about 20 miles east of Knoxville on Interstate 40. I played baseball and worked on setting up an internet business doing research for companies trying to revamp, reorganize or relocate. I would research vacant buildings or properties and usually did so during my travels with the team, I could get close to a site and look it over and give a report back to the company. Yeah, I know it all sound like BS, but it really started to become the in thing for companies to do. Word of mouth and some catchy internet listings got the attention I needed. I started small with Knoxville; then I expanded to Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis. Then I got a client in Ashville, NC and then Charlotte, Atlanta and things started really taking off. My baseball career was going better too. I went up to the show a couple of times when they had some injuries, but they only had a Double A and I really needed to go to a Triple A team to get much better. You see baseball farm teams are set up going from bottom to top with Rookie, A-team, Double A, and Triple A until you reach the real team. They call it going up to the 'bigs' or the 'show' when you graduate to the major league team that sponsors the farm teams. To make a long story short I got traded to the Texas Rangers Triple A team, the Round Rock Express, in Texas just outside Austin. This is the team that the Ryan family got started after Nolan retired. Now we were talking, I was only fifty miles from home now and I could go visit often. I had invested my money from playing into my business so I was doing pretty good plus getting paid better than for the Cubs. I was even able to buy some sports injury insurance in case I was hurt bad enough to have to quit baseball. I got a half million dollar policy from Lloyds and thought that would hold me over if anything bad happened. I had played two years for the Smokies and then a year and a half for the Express when the unthinkable happened. First Cynthia found me and moved into town, and then within two weeks during a home game with Cyn watching I was hit in my bad knee with a hot line-drive along the first base line. I didn't even have time to react before I heard a snap that I'm sure some people in Austin heard. I went down and stayed down, mainly because I passed out from the pain. I woke up in the hospital with a knee that was wrapped up and looked like I had a soccer ball inside the bandages. Cyn was there by my side and so were my parents. I was still groggy but soon the doctor came in and when I asked, "How bad Doc?" He replied, 'I hope you can play the piano, because baseball is out." That is how my mediocre baseball career ended and I became a limping business owner. To say that seeing Cyn again surprised me would be a gross understatement. While I played baseball I had periodically received e-mails from Cyn saying what a fool she was to break up with me and that she hoped I could see my way clear to visit once in a while. I wrote back and said I would try, but not to count on it. She had just one more year left at the university. The really interesting thing was that Cyn knew all about my fledgling business and offered to help as her degree was in computer systems, and website design. So Cynthia joined my small company and after I recovered from my injury, she and I were the only employees. I poured myself into my business, with Cyn's design work and answering the phone, things started getting better, much faster than before. Of course I now had to pay for my travels, but my expenses were paid for by the clients. I had a much broader client base now as I was working Texas, Oklahoma and most of the southern states. They were pretty much the states that represented the south in the 'War of Northern Aggression'1. I was also getting inquiries from other states too, but I had found a couple of competitors up north and out west that we had a mutual agreement that we would point prospective clients to the business that handled that area. 1 For those who don't know what the "War of Northern Aggression" was, that is what we in the south called the War Between the States or Civil War. Within a year, we were doing quite well and I asked Cyn to marry me. We were living in the same condo complex and enjoying some frequent lovemaking sessions in either my place or hers. We were at the Olive garden when I leaned over the table and took both her hands and asked, "Cynthia Jean Thornton, will you please do me the honor of being my wife?" All the wait staff and even some of the customers heard my question and waited with baited breath for her answer. That was about the longest 30 seconds of my entire life up to that point. I saw a great many emotions run across Cyn's face as she waited to answer me. She looked around the restaurant and then to her parents while I sat there hoping against hope that I was doing the right thing. I had started to pull my hands away from hers when she quickly grabbed my hands and pulled them back to hers as she softly said, "Yes Steve. Yes I will marry you." Then bedlam erupted around us with congratulatory salutations from all. I think I knew then that I had made a grave mistake, but it was too late to do anything about it. I was blinded by my love for Cyn plus I had invited both my parents and Cyn's to supper and they were at the table next to ours. I later learned from my dad that Gertrude Thornton about fainted when she heard my question and John Thornton cringed when he heard his daughter's reply. It was too late to save myself, but did I really want to be saved at that time. As I think about it now, I realize that at that time, I really wouldn't have cared to be saved, even if I knew heartache and misery would be the result. Six months later we were married, and two years later I finally saw the light. Well more to the point I heard the sounds that strikes fear and heartbreak into the minds of men. Our business started slowly to make headway in this depressed economy. A lot of northern companies were headed south to take advantage of cheaper labor and local incentives like local and state tax breaks in order to bring work down here. A lot of places in the south were still booming in the housing market. With that trend, more workers were leaving the depressed north to head south looking for jobs. The cost of living is less and therefore our business was starting to see some small profit at the end of each year. Of course I was pouring most of our profit back into the company in getting newer equipment, better facilities, as in not working out of our home and moving into a real office. Well at first we rented a small travel trailer and parked it in a RV park. Then after two years of struggling we moved into a real downtown office with three rooms. Cyn was our receptionist, accountant and web designer as well as office manager. Me I was on the road a lot visiting sites that I just couldn't find out anything from the internet. I probably traveled three days out of every five weekdays. Our life settled down into a routine and I flew out on Sunday evening and came back either Wednesday evening or Thursday morning and the rest of the week I was home. That allowed us to party or go out on the weekend, if we could afford it. Things were starting to look rosy now. I had found another man with good qualifications in Alabama while I was on my last trip there who would be graduating in June. It was now late April and I wanted to surprise Cynthia with the news that I would be traveling less in the future. About six months after our marriage, where Joe Peterson was my best man, Joe was promoted and was able to come to Austin for the car dealer he had worked for in our home town. This was a chain of dealerships in three states that covered all the car models. I think he said that they had ten dealerships in three states. He also had married Shelia Marshall, who happened to be the daughter of one of the dealership group's owners. We saw Joe and Shelia quite often when we went out and our relationship was kinda normal. We would go out together and dance or just to see some a movie or play or even a ball game. We sometimes went out for supper and then drinks later, but it was mostly just couples fun. Joe and I would go hunting and do some fishing sometimes too. He was getting into golf, but the game just never appealed to me. Joe and Sheila did talk Cyn and me into a game or two before I realized that I couldn't take all the walking because of my bad knee. Cyn loved the game and so once or twice a month Joe, Shelia and Cyn would play a round on a Saturday or Sunday morning. During our third year of marriage and the seventh year of my business I was able to cut back on my travel and things seemed good at home. Our love life was great, Cyn and I made love at least three times a week when I was home and we tried everything and about every position we could get into. There wasn't a piece of furniture or room in the house, including the garage where we hadn't made love or even had sex on or in. Yes, sometimes it was long languid love making and sometimes it was hot fast and hard animal sex. I thought we were pretty good together. I always made sure Cyn came a bunch and since I was still young yet I could still manage at least three times a night if I needed to. Then came the night I came home early. I had gone to Memphis to a site and everything turned out to be much better than I had planned and instead of coming home on Thursday morning I caught an early afternoon flight on Wednesday and was home before six on Wednesday night. I came in the house and heard sounds coming from the bedroom. I put my bags down and went to my den and grabbed my 12 gauge pump shotgun and my camcorder. I wanted to make sure that if I had to shoot someone I could record it to show I was in the right. That is when the sounds of fear came crawling up my spine. I heard, "Fuck me Joe, ram it in harder, I need this so bad." That was my sweet wife's voice. Then I heard Joe's voice clear as day, "Can't the gimp fuck you like this anymore?" Those were the sounds of betrayal and a heart being smashed into a million pieces. It was also the when I heard the sounds that ears cannot hear; the sounds of the struggle of a broken heart trying to cope with this tragedy. Your mind hears, 'Why me?', 'What is wrong with me to drive her to this extreme?' and then comes the killer, 'Is there something lacking in me to make her cheat like this?' These are sounds that haunt you for the rest of your life if you do not get help somewhere. That is when I eased the door open with the camcorder and placed it atop the dresser there next to the door. I trained it on the bed where my wife of three years and my best friend of nearly thirty years were fucking doggy style on our marital bed. Because of the layout of the bedroom the camcorder was getting a kind of side view of the illicit lovers and I heard more gimp bashing, from both of them. They even made a date for Saturday morning at Joe's house as Shelia was going to visit her parents. "We can tell old Steve we are going to play golf again, but I am really going to fuck your brains out like we always do." That did it for me, I eased the door open a little more and filled the doorway with my body and then came the shock of their soon to be short lives. I pumped the shotgun and the sound was deafening in that bedroom that early evening. Suddenly two very embarrassed faces looked at me as I said, "I think that will be enough right there. I would suggest that you two freeze and then slowly disengage before both of you are killed in the blast." "Joe, he's bluffing. The shells for that thing are in the closet in the bathroom. That thing isn't even loaded." "No darling slut of Joe's, I moved them after our last hunting trip and I now keep them in the den in my gun safe. Now please move away from that traitorous bastard before I shoot you too." Then ensued a conversation whereby Joe thought my threat was real and Cyn convinced him it was a bluff. To stop this bickering between the two lovers I aimed at Cyn's vanity and pulled the trigger. That stopped all conversation except for screams. I pumped another shell into the chamber and said loud enough to be heard. "Both of you shut the fuck up and Joe go stand by the mirrored dresser. Cyn you lay back on that bed and shut up. This is my house and now I get to say what happens here. Joe you get dressed and I never want to see your ugly face again, because if I do I will have to hurt you so bad you may not live through it." "Steve, believe me I was not the one to start this. I..." That is as far as he got before I hit him with the butt of the gun in his mouth and he went down in a heap. Cyn had started to move toward him and I swung the gun barrel around to her and she crawled back to the other side of our king sized bed. "As for you, my whore of a wife, you get to stay naked and Joe here is going to stay just like he is right now too. I have decided that I need to call the police since I discharged a firearm inside the city. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed 911. "911 what is your emergency?" I heard and replied, "I need the police, I have had someone break into my home and I discharged a firearm to stop further damage to my life. Could you please send someone over as soon as you can, thank you," and I hung up. I then looked up another number and dialed it too. "Hello, Shel, yah Steve here ... Have you left for your parents place yet ... No, well, you might want to come collect something of yours before you leave or I have to leave ... Yes and I have some other things I want to give to you ... Yes I have a camcorder on my dresser that you need to make sure you get first thing ... Yes five minutes would be fine ... Ah and don't be alarmed if there is a police car out front. It's nothing that should concern you yet ... Ok bye, see you soon." I ended that call and leaned against the door frame and pointed the gun down. I reached over to the camcorder and focused on the bed and the cum running down my wife's leg, then I paned over to Joe sitting on the floor rubbing his jaw. "Now we wait to see just what the police can figure out as to what happened here today. I think I can see now that I am no longer blinded by the love I had for you Cynthia. I suspect that the two of you have been together for quite a while and I think the first time was the Christmas I first brought you home to meet my parents Cyn. That is right, isn't it Honey?" "No Steve, actually it goes back even further than that. My cousin lived in your home town and I spent a summer with her back before my senior year. I met Joe then, as he was going with Gail, my cousin. Joe talked me into a couple of dates even though Gail didn't know. I wasn't a virgin or anything and so we had some good times. Then when you brought me home to see your parents I met Joe at the mall and we had a quick fuck in his apartment before I came back. He came to see me at school a few times too." "Yes I know, the summer before my last year I saw the two of you at the club I worked at. You seemed to know each other quite well then. I always wondered, but never put two and two together before, but you have been cheating on me since I asked you to marry me, haven't you?" "Yes Steve, I'm sorry. God, you have no idea how sorry I am about this. It was only sex; there was no love involved, just sex." "And that makes it all right ... it was just sex, no love, just sex. My God Cyn, don't I give you enough sex? I mean when we make love it's what ... a one to two hour affair and sometimes all night. Then when we just fuck, that's not sex? Is that not enough for you? Unless Joe has some hidden technique that I don't know about, then what is it that is so exciting to be with him instead of me? I really would like to know?" "I guess it's because he is someone different, I get everything I ever need from you, but ... I don't know how to make you understand..." "That is when I heard a knock on the door and I said to the two of them, "Stay exactly where you are, don't you dare move, I'll get the door." I left the camcorder going and went to answer the door. It was the cops and there were three cars in the street. Guns were drawn and I opened the door and I handed the gun to the first officer. "They are in the bedroom to the right." Then I was muscled to the floor and handcuffed and led out to a waiting car where I sat for quite some time. Shelia came shortly after I was placed in custody and led a cowering Joe out by the ear and into her car and she left. When I was driven to the police station the officer asked me, why the gun and I told him, "I wanted them to know I would not tolerate any more fucking around. They have been having this affair for over ten years. I've only been married for three, but once I knew, I had to stop it once and for all. I would not live with a cheating wife." "That's kinda of cruel isn't it?" "What would you do if you found out your wife was cheating on you?" That shut him up and I never heard another word from him except as required to get me into the station and turned over for booking. I spent the night in jail. I called my lawyer for my one phone call and he was there in the morning for the arraignment hearing. I was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and discharge of a firearm within the city limits. I was allowed bail and I left the courtroom. I had my lawyer file for divorce on grounds of adultery, Shelia had seen the running camcorder and turned it off and pocketed it so we now had proof of adultery for us both. Joe was taken to the cleaners by Shelia and her dad's lawyer. He ended up destitute and jobless. I heard he was working at some buy here-pay here lot in Houston. As for me, my divorce was a piece of cake. Due to adultery, Cyn lost most of her "half" of the assets. Our company was worth about a hundred thousand dollars, the home was only a year old and the equity was zero. We owed more than it was worth, so there was nothing there for her. If I was going to jail for my crimes; then our business was dead. Without my expertise and travel, there was no business, just a website. My divorce was well on the way to be final when my trial finally showed up on the docket. I pled guilty on all counts and asked for clemency from the court due to extenuating circumstances. My video tape was admissible as evidence and showed that I had been pushed beyond normal limits. It showed that yes I had assaulted Joseph Peterson, and that I had threatened both of them harm, but by me killing her vanity and not them I was let off with time served and probation for five years. I countersued Joe and Cyn for alienation of affections and slander as they got up in court and lied about what they were doing and how long this affair had been ongoing. But after everything was said and done, I had accomplished nothing except I was free and divorced from the cheating bitch. Oh yeah, sounds – the sound of that gavel when the divorce was final was a real sweet sound compared to all the fearful sounds I heard in that bedroom that day. I still have some pretty horrid nightmares concerning that day in my house. In some of them everything is exactly like it happened, others are more like what I would have liked to have happened and then others are like I was privy to each and every time they were together and my vivid imagination provided the gory details and even sometimes the monologue to go with the acts of betrayal. Slowly I did heal. I'm now a much older and wiser man. I have my flings with single women and take what I can get. If I even suspect that they are married and they are flirting with me, I tell my tale and ask, "Is that what you want to happen to you?" Suddenly they no longer want to sit by my side. They decide that what they have at home is much too valuable to lose over a onetime thing with a handsome ex-ball player. My business is doing great, I travel a lot and I enjoy my work. I get lonely sometimes, but then it all comes back to me; the hurt, the anger and the betrayal and I try to plunge on past the hurt. Someday I may find that love and security I once felt, but then again I may have to forego that pleasure until I am too old to care. So in closing, remember that sounds can be your best friend, your comfort, the thing you live for, but then too sounds can be your worst nightmare too. So listen for the sounds, the loving ones and the clues that something is wrong and try to confront the fear sounds so that you are not hounded by the mistakes you made by not paying close attention to the sounds around you. ------- My many thanks to my editor Pepere and my proofreader Prissy_35503; without them this story would be unreadable. ------- The End ------- Posted: 2012-06-20 ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------