The Next Generation (FIRST DRAFT)

Chapter 33

Ben sat at the edge of the lake of his subconsciousness, crying freely, thinking about everything that had happened to him since he had gotten his powers. He had gone through more than most people go through in their entire lives in just a matter of months. It just wasn’t fair that it was going to end like this, people destroying every aspect of his mind, piece by piece. Memories of his childhood were fading, all his happiest moments leaving him. His own mother’s face blurred, coming to the point that Ben was having trouble recalling what she and anyone else he knew looked like.  He had done nothing to them to deserve such a fate, so he didn’t see why he still had to suffer through. 

    Deciding he was going to do something about it, Ben stood up from the edge of the lake and wiped away his tears, replacing them with determination. He turned and walked to the edge of the woods, wanting to know what was hiding in there and why he had never ventured into it before. He stopped for a moment, peering in through the branches, before he proceeded. As he walked on, he could feel himself getting lighter and lighter, almost like he was fading away. 

    “Is this what it feels like to pass on?” he thought. He continued anyways, unshaken by the thought. 

    Suddenly, the world around him went dark and he could feel his feet leave the ground. He was surrounded by the darkness, completely blinded by it. He fumbled around in the darkness, trying to swim through it, like an ocean of ink, but there was nothing there. Ben began to panic, scared that he had made a mistake. He didn’t know how the mind worked, so why did he think it would be a good idea to explore blindly?! 

    “Help!” Ben screamed into the darkness at the top of his lungs. 

    Not even a full second later, a light appeared, floating a couple leagues away from him. Not thinking logically, Ben swam as fast as he could towards it and reached out to touch it. As soon as his hand made contact with the object, the world around him shifted. 

    Ben was laying down on a surface, the springs from its well worn shape digging into his back. All around him, Ben could hear the sounds of monitors beeping in time with his racing heart. There were people all around him, talking to each other. They seemed to be worried about him for some reason. Ben tried to open his eyes but found that they were almost glued shut, too heavy to open. The best he could do was make them flutter and cause his eyes to move beneath them. 

    One of the people around him suddenly shushed everyone. They seemed to be watching him now, having seen his attempts to wake. After a couple of minutes of struggling, Ben finally managed to get his eyes to open. All around him, Ben could see people, doctors, nurses, his mom, friends from school. Any one that cared about him for any reason was there. 

    His mom looked at him with tears in her eyes before leaping forward and wrapping her arms around him. 

    “It worked!” she whispered into his ear. “Ben, you did it!”

    Ben was confused. He didn’t know what the heck they were talking about. Last he checked, the only thing he had done was cry in a corner about all he had gone through. 

    “What…?” Ben finally managed to croak out, too weak to do much of anything else. 

    One of Ben’s old friends from high school, Jayden, stepped forward. “You fought it, Ben,” he explained. “You won.”

    Ben blinked at him, utterly lost. Having regained enough strength to move his head, Ben tried to look at his surroundings. He looked to be in a hospital room back at the one he had broken out of months before. 

    “Where’s Lizzie?” he asked quietly. 

    Ben’s mom looked at him in confusion. “Honey, I don’t know anyone named Lizzie. Who are you talking about?”