The Next Generation (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 4

Thankfully, Ben had not been buried alive. 

    He had, however, been shoved in a drawer. Specifically, the hospital’s holding area in the morgue. Ben tried to push against the door of the drawer and the top at the same time, but found that the drawer was too small for him to move his arms above his head. Ben started to freak out. He had always had a fear of enclosed spaces, so this was definitely not the most ideal situation for him. He began to freak out and shouted as loudly as he could to notify anyone in the vicinity that he was trapped. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, a confused nurse opens his drawer. He leapt up from the bed while trying to hold the blanket that had been covering him to his chest. The startled nurse that had opened his drawer had fallen to the floor. She took one look at him and ran off screaming at the top of her voice. 

    “Rude” Ben mumbled as he wrapped the blanket around himself. He may have literally woken from the dead, but that seemed like a bit of an overreaction. Ben began searching around the room for any sort of clothing more than just a blanket wrapped around his waist. Suddenly, he stopped. His hand looked different somehow. It was shiny and metallic in color, with a blue toned luster exactly like that of silver. Ben ran around looking for a place to view his reflection for a closer look. After running around the halls widely, Ben found a bathroom and ran inside. Looking in the mirror, he stepped back in horror. 

His entire body was the same shiny metallic color. He carefully lifted his hands to his face and touched it. His fingers bounced harmlessly off of his skin, not even making an indentation in the skin as he ran his finger down his cheek. He touched the skin again and again, in shock. He knew that person in his dream had said he would get an ability, but he didn’t mention anything about it being so painfully visible.  Even Ben’s eyes and hair had changed. His hair was snow white and restored to its length before his chemotherapy while his eyes were an icy blue color with a glowing sheen to them. Everything about him looked cold and intimidating, nothing like his warm personality. He didn’t recognize himself at all. How was everyone else he knew going to react when they saw him? Like that nurse did, screaming and running away? Were they going to bring him to a lab and dissect him to figure out how he got like this? Ben couldn’t let any of that happen. He ran back out of the bathroom to try to find anything he could to make himself look more normal. 

As soon as he ran out of the room, he immediately ran into the nurse that had pulled him out of the drawer and all of the authorities she had gathered. “There!” she shrieked. “That’s the monster!”

Ben’s eyes widened. Grabbing the edge of his makeshift skirt and holding it in place, he ran away as fast as he could to try and escape. He ran significantly faster than he ever could before, outrunning the nurses with almost no effort. He stopped and looked around. On his left, he saw the nurses break room. Without really much thought, he ran into the room and slammed the door behind him. Inside, the room was completely empty except for one young intern sitting on the couch on her phone. She had earbuds in and did not see him yet. Ben tried to creep around the back of the couch as quietly and slowly as he could, trying not to startle her. 

“You’re really not that sneaky, you know?”

Ben flinched. “What do you mean?”

The intern put away her phone and took out her earbuds. “Slamming a door isn’t really all that stealthy.”

Ben braced himself for the screaming that would ensue as soon as she turned her head to see him, but she didn’t even bat an eye. Ben was confused. “Aren’t you scared of me? ”

“You really think you are the only one they tested?” The intern laughed. “That’s shallow.”

“What do you mean?”