"Tell me about your childhood," Ben said after a few minutes of silence.
"There's not much to tell. I never knew my parents. I grew up in foster care, moved from house to house until I graduated high school. I never had friends or family, most of the people I met sucked, but some were truly vile. The only person that was ever good to me before Augustine was my social worker, Ms. Jen" Caroline made it as simple as she could, she would take all the bad things that happened to her grave, she wouldn't tell Ben the terrible things she had to live through, it wasn't worth it.
"Where is she now?"
"I don't know. I think she is still a social worker," Caroline shrugs. Ben nods and is silent for a moment.
"What about you? What was your childhood like?" Caroline asks Ben.
"I was raised mostly by my dad even though he worked a lot. My mother had a lot of issues and died when I was ten. My grandparents and my dad were my only family until high school. That's when I met my best friend, Carter. Since then, we have been like brothers."
Caroline smiles at Ben. He seemed like such a simple person, but the good kind of simple. She didn't see that he had his own issues. She didn't know that when he said his mother had issues that he meant she was in and out of mental institutions for six years before being diagnosed with stage four cancer when he was ten. She didn't know, but he did.
"What was your thing."
"My thing?" Caroline asked.
"Yeah, you know, like, what was your thing as a kid? Some. What people like music, some like video games, what was your thing."
"Oh, art. I used to draw."
"Why did you stop?"
"I don't know. It felt wrong to draw after Augustine died" Ben nodded even though he didn't understand. Caroline had her ways, and Ben had his. He accepted that.
"What was yours," she asked.
"I played sports. I was constantly playing some sport, soccer, football, lacrosse, swimming, you name it. I played it at some point in my life" Ben smiled.
"Which was your favorite," she asked.
"Basketball," he smiled at the memory of meeting his best friend on their high school basketball team. Caroline smiled, seeing him happy at whatever he was thinking.
"Were you any good?" she teased.
"Yes," he scoffed, faking shock. Caroline laughed a contagious laugh that had Ben grinning ear to ear.
Ben wished he could hear that laugh for the rest of his life. Caroline wondered how many more times she would laugh before she died today.
word count: 450
YOU ARE READING
Over, Gone, and Lost
Short Story"Whatcha doing?" "I'm about to kill myself so don't try to stop me" "I wasn't going to, but can I make a suggestion" "What" "You should do it on the bridge over Jefferson Lake, it's higher and the water is colder so if you don't die on impact you...
