Chapter Twenty

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Chapter 20

Faith

"Ben, wake up; we have to go see Doctor Frethers today," Faith said quietly as she shook Ben's bare shoulder to wake him up.

His eyes slowly opened, and he looked around with a confused look. "What?" he asked groggily, his eyes still slits as he tried to adjust to the light seeping in through the blinds.

Faith chuckled softly. He was so adorable, even with bed-head and a drool-laced pillow. "We need to get going. The doctor just called."

He sat up and rubbed his eyes with his palms, moaning in protest. His comforter slipped down from his chest, revealing the scars he had told Faith about. Some of them were still a mystery to her, like the slashes on his side, but she didn't want to ask about them today. She wanted Ben to feel secure.

Instead of saying anything, she tousled his already messy hair and laughed when he gently swatted her hand away.

"Yeah, I'm up," he mumbled as he stretched out his lanky arms.

"Get dressed and we'll head out," Faith giggled.

"Sure." Ben grabbed one of his new shirts from the bag on the end of his bed and slipped it on.

"I'll be downstairs."

He nodded before Faith shut the door behind her and travelled down the flight of stairs.

"Good morning, sweetie," her dad said behind the newspaper as she entered the kitchen.

"Morning. What kinds of cereal do we have?" She opened the cupboard, not bothering to wait for his reply.

Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cookie Crisp...

She grabbed the box of Cookie Crisp and got a bowl out. "Alright, I'm going to ask this time, considering the great crisis of last month... Do we have any milk?"

Her dad chuckled at her melodrama. "Yes, we do. Your mother, the superhero, ran out to get some yesterday."

She nodded, grinning, and shook the cereal out, then added the milk. After a few bites, she turned to glance up the stairs, checking for Ben. When she didn't see him, she spun back to face her father.

"Dad?" she said as she tossed the rest of her cereal, suddenly full.

"Hm?"

"Ben and I are going out again, okay?"

Faith's dad looked at her over his reading glasses and folded his newspaper. "Where could you possibly be taking that boy?" he asked as he set the paper down on the kitchen table. "You dragged him all over town yesterday."

She blushed, trying to determine how much she should tell her father. She didn't know how he would react to her searching for her own solutions to Ben's case. "This isn't a social outing, dad," she finally said, choosing her words carefully as she went. "I'm taking Ben to see Dr. Frethers again. He might be able to give us some answers."

"Answers to what questions, Faith? Is something going on that I don't know about?" The look on her dad's face was firm, yet curious.

She sighed. "Do you remember when we first brought Ben to the hospital? I asked the doctor to run his fingerprints, just to see if he was ever reported missing or had any records at all. There was nothing, dad."

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