Sumner's alarm woke me up. 7 am. My head was between Sumner's legs, my cheek against his now-soft cock, and Sumner's cheek lay on mine. I managed to slap the alarm off without disengaging from Sumner. Both awake now, we kissed and caressed each other hard. He wanted to try having me fuck him, but I told him that I preferred being fucked. It's true, I do. We had one last, sweet orgasm, and lay together for a few minutes. Then I pushed him away. We had things to do.
We sat together on the edge of Sumner's bed, Sumner holding me as I stroked his headfur and kissed him.
Sumner smiled. "Big day today, huh?"
I laughed. "Your biggest ever. Let's take a shower, and then you write down what you want me to say, and I'll make a list of what we need to get done."
Sumner nodded. He took my hand and led me into the bathroom. Our tiny shower stall wasn't meant for two, but we squeezed in together and soaped each other, laughing as we rubbed each other's most private parts.
We spent half an hour scribbling things down on a notepad between pauses for thought. Sumner turned around at last to look at me. "I'm done. You?"
"I always get to the point where I feel sure I've forgotten something, but can't think of anything else. I'm there now, I guess. Oh!! I know! What should I do with your stuff?"
Sumner thought a moment. "Just keep it, and anything you don't want, throw it away or see if anybody wants it."
"You sure? What about your family?"
Sumner shook his head. "I left my brothers everything I wanted them to have already. Really, everything here is yours now. Okay?"
I smiled. "Okay."
Sumner slapped his own cheek lightly. "Oh, I need to tell Gil or Brian when I want my family told, right?"
I spun back to my list. "There! I knew I was forgetting something. You know they can wait till the end of the year, right? They'd hold on to part of your pelt and get it to your family then. I'm guessing that's what you want, right?"
Sumner sighed and nodded. "I'm okay with dying today, except I just didn't want my family to know I crapped out quite this fast."
I nodded. "The school understands that. I think most boys want to wait on telling their families until the year is over. Anyway, we can tell the dorm parents on the way to breakfast. Feel like breakfast?"
Sumner grinned. "Sure. One last meal."
We held hands all through breakfast. It was awkward eating with my left hand, but I managed. I waved at Larry and Leo when they came in. The two Second Year students came over to our table once they'd got through the serving line.
Larry smiled at my roommate. "Hi, Sumner." He blinked as he saw why I was eating lefthanded. "Didn't know you guys were getting this close. Are you going to get a single bed?" He beamed at me.
Sumner burst out laughing. "I guess that's one thing you don't need to put on your list, Wynn." I laughed with him.
Larry looked at Leo to see whether he got the joke, then looked back at Sumner, mystified.
Sumner laughed again, seeing the look. "You guys are going to be getting swatches of my fur." He paused. "Oh, wait. I think only the First Years get me, right?" He looked at me.
I nodded. "I think that's what the handbook said. When a Third Year dies, they share his fur with the Second Years, but there's so many First Year students there isn't enough for the other years plus his personal requests."
Leo's jaw dropped open. "So you're the First Year's demo today? I'm..." He stopped, looking at Sumner. "I was going to say 'I'm sorry,' but I'm getting a feeling I don't need to."
Sumner looked at me and grinned. "Well, I'm okay with it." He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers. "Wynn thought of a way to make it a lot better."
Larry and Leo fell into the same puzzled looks as before.
"We're kind of putting on a little show before the demo. Nothing as elaborate as the Hanging Boy scenarios the graduates go through, but just to give it some of that feeling."
Tighe, one of the First Years, was walking by, heading for the service line. He stopped, his jaw dropping. "Sumner? It's you today?"
Sumner nodded eagerly. "We're going to have a little fun with it first."
The chinchilla looked at Sumner with admiration. "Well, I'm really sorry you had to go so soon. I wish I could have got to know you better. But I promise I'll always remember you." He bent down and hugged Sumner.
Sumner gave him a surprised look and a smile. "Thank you. And don't just remember me, okay? Remember what you learn from me today." He tapped Tighe's head and squeezed my hand.
A smile spread on Tighe's face. "I think I see what's helping you deal with this. And I will remember." He hugged Sumner again, and went on to get his breakfast.
It took just a few minutes for the word to spread around the cafeteria. One by one nearly all of the first-year boys, plus some of the Second and Third Years, left their tables to exchange a few words with Sumner and give him a goodbye hug — nearly ninety altogether. Far to the left, Maverick looked bemused and was shaking his head slightly. I was glad he didn't come over and spoil the mood.
At the door of the hair salon, we discovered it wouldn't open until nine. Sumner threw up his hands, exasperated. "What should we do till then? Are there other preparations we need to make?"
I shook my head and smiled. "Got a better idea. This way."
As soon as Sumner realized where we were headed, he gasped. "Oh, yeah!" He started leading, pulling me onward.
Sumner opened the door of the Hall of Honor slowly, a look of awe on his face. "I was here before once, but I didn't feel like this. Now it's kind of... personal."
Within the Hall, the displays of heads were arranged like the stacks in a library. We came into a narrow walkway between two sets of shelves on either side, each shelf holding the niches in stacks of three, from near the floor to just above eye level, in which the honored heads of former students resided. At the end of the walkway, there was a left turn to further walkways, with more recent heads as one came farther from the door. Eventually one came to a partially-filled row, with open space beyond it for sacrificed students of future years.
It was even more difficult than in a library to speak loudly in here — a hushed voice was all most of the boys could muster when we visited.
Sumner read the plaque in one of the niches nearest the door. "Belarry Masters." He looked at the date, whispering, "Wynn, can you believe he's been here for eighty years? Well, maybe not this same room. I suppose they probably moved the Hall somewhere along the way when they needed more space."
I looked at Belarry's head; he'd been a dark gray zagouti with slightly brownish underfur. I stroked the boy's headfur softly. "The plaque says he was nineteen when he died. He does look like that. He was born almost a hundred years ago!" I shook my head, marveling.
"Let's go see some of the newer ones. I want to see if I can figure out where I'll be." Sumner pulled me along again, eager to explore. He did walk slowly, though, feeling the weight of history that filled the air. Heads of former students looked toward us from both sides as we passed by.
I stopped at the entrance to one row. "I think this is the last one that's been used so far... Yeah, I see blank shelf space down at the far end. This is where the latest ones are." With Sumner still holding my hand as if he'd never let go, we started down the row.
We stopped as we arrived at the end of the heads. On the shelves behind us, heads filled the niches all the way to the far wall, but the heads in front of us came to an end here.
Sumner took a deep breath, wide-eyed, as he reached out tentatively into the empty niche in front of him. It was on the second of the three levels of niches. The niche immediately below it contained a pretty blonde rat-boy's head, the one above it was empty.
I looked at the plaques for the heads immediately to the right. "Let me make sure..." I looked at the dates, "Okay, this was the last one here, and this one was just before him..." I straightened up. "Yeah, I see the order they're doing it. They'd put your head in this one."
Sumner bit his lip. "That's one more bad thing about being the first in our class to go. I've never met any of the boys here. I'll be with all these... strangers."
"Well, there'll be more of our class here soon, you know. They'll be grateful for a familiar face. You'll be kind of a... trailblazer, I guess."
Sumner chuckled. "You always find a nice way to look at it." He turned his back to the niche and pressed his neck against the shelf at the base of the niche. I understood: Sumner wanted to see what he'd be looking at after his head was mounted here. He pointed across the aisle. "I'll be looking right at that panda the whole time." He stepped across the aisle. "Henry Morrow. He's been here... six years, I guess. Oh!!" Sumner pointed at the date on Henry's plaque. "He was the first in his class to go too! We've got that in common. Let me see what's in his drawer."
Sumner pulled open the small drawer at the bottom of the niche. Within it were folded sheets of paper, some with little hearts drawn on them. He opened one of the sheets, and read it out loud. " 'Dear Henry: I wish I'd had time to get to know you better...' " That seemed to be a common sentiment. " '...I'll always remember your sweet smile.' " Sumner looked at the boy. "Right now he's just got that little smile preserved heads usually have, but he does look happy. Think so?" He looked up at me.
I nodded. "Like he was somebody who always saw the best in everybody."
Sumner put the note back and closed the drawer. "He'll be kind of like my partner here. For..." His eyes widened. "How long will I be in this room, do you think?"
I grinned and shrugged. "I'm trying to picture where this room is in relation to the outside of the building. I have a feeling when they need more space they'll just be able to expand the room, instead of moving you all to a bigger place. So you might be here for..." I blinked in astonishment. "...centuries!"
Sumner gawked at me. "For real?? Like in two hundred years other boys might come in here and see my head here? And see my name, and maybe read the notes I got?"
I nodded, open-mouthed. "Isn't it cool?"
Sumner took a deep breath. "Wow!" He fastened his eyes on me. "You'll come and see me, won't you?"
I gave him an exasperated look. "Well of course I'll come and see you! What do you think, I'm just going to forget about you? I'll come in here every chance I get, as long as I live, especially if I'm feeling down, because remembering you will always bring me back up again."
Sumner threw his arms around me and squeezed tightly against me, whispering "Thank you, thank you!"
I held him for a long time. Finally I said, "Hey, the hair salon should be open. We better get moving."
"Oh! Right!" He took my hand once more. We left the Hall of Honor and ran down the hallway.