Trappon's Tales of Forbidden Pleasure

Darius and Fatima walked into the tree house, hand in hand.

"God!" Fatima exclaimed, "It's been years since we've been up here!" She playfully skipped to the window and looked out at the village. Darius followed her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. He kissed the nape of her neck while she leaned back against him.

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we'd grown up together?" Darius asked.

"Sometimes," Fatima replied, "But then I think about what our lives would have been like if we didn't meet Trappon when we were kids."

Darius sighed in agreement. Their whole lives had changed because of that fateful meeting with Trappon. They had found a book in their parents' library that no one else could read, let alone understand. They lived in a world where people believed that magic was real, but had long since forgotten how to use it. The book contained instructions for using magic, but there was something about it that made it seem almost evil. It was because of this book that they met Trappon, the old man who lived on the outskirts of town.

The first time they'd met him, he scared them half to death by waking them from their deep sleep by opening the window of their bedroom and shouting out at them in some strange language. Then he had laughed and said something about them being young enough for him to still scare good, which only made him laugh harder until tears began to roll down his wrinkled cheeks. He taught them everything he knew - how to control their powers, how to make fire appear out of thin air, how to move things without touching them - that sort of thing. But he refused to tell them why he had chosen them over all the other children in town, or why he was so secretive about everything else in life. When they asked him about it, he would just smile and say that life was all about the mystery of not knowing everything. Still, they loved hearing his stories about magic and all sorts of other things, even though he was always vague about where he learned all this stuff from.

Nowadays they led normal teenage lives, although not quite as normal as most teenagers' lives are supposed to be. Darius still worked at his father's apothecary shop while Fatima helped out her mother who ran a small school for children who couldn't learn properly any other way than through music or dance or some other type of physical activity. She never minded working there; her mother was always kind to her and very gentle with all the children she taught - especially those whose families couldn't afford Trappon's tutelage - so she enjoyed helping out whenever she could and getting paid for doing it too!

They were interrupted by an excited voice calling for Fatima from below them:

"Fatima!" called Kailey from below, "We're going to head over to Old Man Trappon's place today! You want to come?"

"She can't!" Darius called back irritably before realizing who he'd just yelled at, "I mean..." He trailed off awkwardly as Kailey glared at him from beneath her dark brown curls before returning her attention to Fatima:

"You should totally go," said Fatima reassuringly as she patted Darius on the shoulder (which did nothing to calm his embarrassment), "I'll probably run into you guys anyway." Darius waited until Kailey had left before asking:

"What do you mean 'run into us?'"

"Well," said Fatima with a mischievous grin on her face before quickly adding: "Not literally run into you guys! I'm just going shopping today is all." She quickly changed the subject before Darius could protest further: "Anyway! Where were we? Oh yeah! We were talking about what it would have been like if we grew up together." Her face suddenly turned somber: "Do you ever wonder what our lives might have been like if... well... if we hadn't met him?"

Darius thought for a moment before answering: "No. Not really." He paused again before continuing: "I mean I know it wouldn't have been good because my parents died when I was little and..." His voice trailed off again as his thoughts returned to his family's tragic death many years ago now... but then he shook himself out of his melancholy mood and continued speaking: "I don't know... Maybe our lives now aren't perfect either but I'm glad that I met you instead." Then another thought hit him square between the eyes: "Actually... do you remember when your mom tried to marry me off last week?" He threw his hands up into the air and said dramatically: "Like anyone could marry you off!" Fatima began giggling uncontrollably until she doubled over in laughter. Darius tried not to look hurt by her reaction but failed miserably at hiding his hurt feelings upon seeing the look on her face once she regained control of herself:

"Oh My God! That was funny! Way funnier than mine..." she continued giggling while reaching forward and poking his arm playfully with one finger "...but *still* not funny enough for someone actually trying to marry you off!" She didn't wait for an answer from Darius on that one; instead she pulled away from him again so that they were separated by several feet between them. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second or two before exhaling slowly through tightly pursed lips before turning around again towards Darius with an exasperated look on her face mixed with worry:

"Are you okay?" she asked softly as she reached out towards him again with both arms extended outward towards him slightly as if ready for a hug but stopped short of actually touching him in case he moved away from her instead of accepting her embrace... which is exactly what happened right after he heard her question. He stepped backwards away from her arms which remained suspended midair waiting desperately for a hug which never came while also managing not to look directly at her face which rested its gaze on his feet instead while willing him to finally turn around towards her so that they could talk eye-to-eye like adults rather than awkward teenagers who don't know what's going on inside each other's heads because they're afraid that whatever they find there will be worse than whatever goes unsaid between them right now... so much unspoken stuff between these two whenever they get close enough together lately... then suddenly - seemingly out of nowhere - Darius turned back towards her smiling broadly despite himself and opened up his arms wide ready for a hug himself now that there were no more secrets between them anymore... but then suddenly Fatima vanished without so much as a whisper leaving Darius standing alone with wide open arms (and empty heart) once again...