Born Again

Chapter nineteen

One day, after school, Thomas was helping Alby pass out his pamphlets before meeting Minho for track.

   "Did you hear?" Alby asked, handing a random boy one of his papers.

   "Vote for Alby," Thomas told a girl before turning back again. "Hear what?"

   "Ben's back in school."

   Thomas nearly dropped the pile of pamphlets. "What?"

   "He just got back today," Alby explained. "I talked to him. His parents took him to a counselor, he's getting help. He told me he wanted to apologize to you."

   Thomas shook his head, dumbfounded. He'd known Ben all of two days before the boy beat him to a pulp. And now he wanted to apologize? He has a hard time believing that. It sounded like a completely different person.

   He handed out another paper. "Are you sure this is Ben we're talking about?"

   Alby laughed. "Yes. You should find him after track. See if you guys can patch things up. Ben is really a great guy, I promise. He just has—had—issues."

"Um yeah," Thomas said flatly, handing out his last paper. "Sure."

Alby sighed. "Talk to Minho about it. He'll tell you. They used to be really close, you know."

"What happened between them?" He asked, walking towards track.

Alby gave him a confused look. "Ben attacked you. Remember? He'd always had anger issues but that was the tipping point for Minho. He didn't care to be around somebody who attacked Greenies like you."

"Oh." That just made it more obvious that he shouldn't talk to Ben. First, Thomas gets him hurt, then starts hanging out with his best friend. On top of that, he joins the track team when Ben was kicked. How could Alby expect things to ever be alright between them?

But that wasn't what really worried him. In his dreams, after Ben was banished, he died. Thomas never saw him again. Given the fact that he was back meant that Thomas had no idea how the conversation would go. That scared him almost more than knowing the future.

"Well, I should probably go," Thomas said at last. "I have practice and all. But I'll talk to Minho about it. See what he says."

"Alright," Alby said, giving a satisfied nod. "Good luck running, I guess."

"Good luck getting people to vote for you, I guess."

He laughed. "Thanks."

Thomas nodded, grinning as he jogged off towards track.

   Alby was pretty cool.

   Hopefully he still had plenty of time before his dreams would strike again and kill him too.

~~~

Fortunately or unfortunately, Thomas didn't have time to talk with Minho. His friend was already talking to Ben.

The two were laughing like nothing had happened and Ben wasn't completely insane. Thomas didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

"So, Ben's back," Newt said casually, walking over from where he sat on the bleachers.

"Yeah," Thomas said. "Hi, by the way." He pulled Newt into a quick hug.

Ever since their conversation the other day, Thomas began to realize how little time he had left with Newt. He couldn't tell when he was going to die but he knew it was going to happen soon. Until the time came, he wanted to appreciate all the time they had together.

Newt sighed slightly. "You've been gettin' all touchy lately. Is it because of what I told you?"

Thomas shook his head. "No." He still hadn't gotten enough courage to tell Newt what happens to him in his dreams. "There's no reason. Anyway, what were you saying about Ben?"

Newt gave him a curious look before shrugging. "I was just saying he's back."

"Oh," Thomas said, watching Minho and Ben argue about something that ended in laughter. "Yeah. He is."

"You should talk to him," Newt said. "He told me he was really sorry about what he did to you. It would seem he's changed."

"I don't know," Thomas sighed.

"Scared?"

"Sort of." Thomas went on to explain Ben's fate in his dreams and why he was concerned about his return.

Newt scoffed. "I thought we discussed this. They aren't accurate anymore, remember?"

Thomas wanted to point out reasons why they were still accurate but he didn't want to argue with Newt. He wanted their last memories together to be good ones.

"I guess," he said instead. "Maybe I'll talk to him later."

"Maybe you don't have a choice." Newt nodded in Minho and Ben's direction. They were walking towards them. "Look."

"Hey Newt," Ben said with a strained smile. It seemed to turn into a grimace when he looked at Thomas. "Uh, Thomas." He nodded.

Thomas shot a glare at Minho who was snickering. He turned back to Ben. "Hey."

Minho rested his arm on Thomas' shoulder, grinning as if the whole situation was just a big joke. "You could cut the tension with a knife in here."

Newt rolled his eyes. "Come on, Minho. Let's give them a minute."

"Don't you mean a minnewt?" Minho asked as they walked off. He earned another punch from Newt.

Ben smiled at them before turning back to Thomas and scratching his head awkwardly.

"I'm sorry," he said at last. "For what I did to you. That was wrong. There's no excuse for what I did and I . . . I'm sorry."

The apology caught Thomas by surprise. He did expect lame excuses, or for Ben to continue blaming Thomas. He didn't expect a genuine apology.

"It's alright," Thomas answered and he meant it. He'd never held a grudge against Ben in his dreams. In fact, he always felt guilty for Ben's fate. But things were different. "All is forgiven."

Ben let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, man. Also, congrats on getting on the team. I heard you're pretty fast."

Thomas opened his mouth to respond but coach blew his whistle, calling the Runners to the field.

"You should go," Ben said. "Can't wait to see how fast you really are." He gave him a small grin. "Maybe even faster than me."

Thomas laughed and that's when he realized Ben was alright. Things would really be okay between them.

"Maybe." He started to run off but Ben caught his arm.

"Thank you, Thomas," he said.

"For what?"

"Forgiving me," he answered. "I know I don't deserve it so . . . thank you."

Thomas nodded with a smile. "No problem."