Chapter 10: Couple?!
Your P.O.V
BEN sat beside me in a withered bench. But he was silent. He seemed distant as if reminiscing something.
This boy here is that boy who used to be red from crying a lot. The kid who was lonely, isolated from the rest of the children. My memory is fuzzy right now, I can't exactly remember how he looked.. I remember extremely little of him, but I do remember how happy he was to see me back then and how other children ignored his existence. That's about it. But the forlorn look in his eyes tells another story.
He's just a phantom now.. He's Dead.. He said so himself.
His name? Well, it's "BEN Drowned" now.. Right? His real name? Benjamin... Something. I don't remember.
Did the facility do this? To him? The odds of reuniting with a person you've separated with after so many years seems almost astronomical . And yet, here he is. A boy who I seem to have known.
I closed my eyes and tried my best to remember anything- anything else. The silence was eerie. The only faint comfort found in this creepy and broken-down amusement park was the presence of BEN. The wind softly howls as leaves danced around in sync with it. The creaking of the rusty gate didn't help either. But, there was no use. Nothing comes to mind. Nothing but entire, blank darkness and a little headache.
I opened my eyes and sigh in defeat.
BEN was just like me and everyone before. But I just know that he wasn't like this.. He was human. Think back, (Y/N). When was the last time you ever saw BEN? Was it here? No.. No it couldn't be. Was it on a school? A playground? My house? No. My mom would have recognized him then. Then, how could he have possibly just.. disappear and reappear? I don't even know what year I met him was.
From the corner of my eyes, I stared at him intently. Thinking that maybe I could remember even just a tiny scrap about him. He was looking down on the ground, watching nothing in particular. Until he looked up at me.
"So, are you gonna sit there and stare or do you want the answers to your questions? A promise is a promise." BEN said, breaking the silence. "But then again, I can't blame you since I can be a sight to behold." He added a grin.
"I-I wasn't staring," I speedily denied. "Heh. That's what they all say." He retorted.
"Anyways. I.. I wanna know why you tried to harm James.. You seem to know who he is. Why did you do that? How the hay did you even make those explosions??" I asked those questions really quickly, I was beginning to wonder if BEN even understood a single word that I said I should repeat. "And also.. Those people .. People you.. Killed.." I said in a hushed tone.
BEN sat upright on the withered bench that gave a croak of protest when he did so. He dug around on his pocket for a while and spoke.
"Those men I killed? Those men were planning to kill us." He answered. "What?" I asked, slightly surprised.
"Each of them had these." BEN fished out a plastic card from his pocket. An all too well and familiar type of key card. "Members of the facility." He said before I could utter another question.
BEN sighed. "It must have been a horrid sight to see heads fly." He said. I remained silent.
"At the time, they may have seemed to be there to 'rescue' you and James from the 'terrorist' or 'villain', yours truly. But should they have succeeded on rid of me first, they would have gotten you afterwards, make up some bullshit story about their fake heroism and how they weren't able to 'make it in time' for the girl- type of shit." BEN scornfully ranted. "Wow." Was all I could say about that.
"But.. It is still my fault. I'm sorry." BEN hesitantly apologized, pocketing the key card and avoiding eye contact. I gave him a bewildered look. id he just apologize?
"Don't look at me like that. I don't say that word often. Treasure the rare occurrence," he humored. "How do I know that you're not lying?" I asked.
"I don't lie." He simply answered. "I won't gain anything from lies." He solemnly paused. "Never again." He muttered under his breath.
Almost immediately, my head began to ache. My vision blurred and everything became white. I would have reacted so afraid if it wasn't for the pain in my head. Then from the depths of my mind, a vision played out.
***
"What's that behind your back?" A little girl curiously asked a boy who seemed busy reading some articles of paper scattered about a table.
The boy jumped and turned around. I... Can't see his face. His face is.. Blank. It's like his face has been.. Erased. Literally erased. But that was until I strained my eyes. It was BEN. A younger version of him, that is. Maybe about 5 or 6 years old.
"O-Oh, (Y/N)? Th-This is..." He turned his head to the papers strewn about the table then to the girl. "...Nothing." He lied. "It's just some.. Old junk my parents keep. Y-You don't need to worry. Come one, let's go outside." He said. The girl slightly cocked her head to the right in thought. But smiled and agreed. "Okay. If you say so, then it's just junk to me. Come on, I wanna go play cops and robber! I'll be the robber this time." She mischievously said as both of them had exited the room.
Curiously, I tried to strain my vision towards the papers. But like the boys face, it was all blank. But it seemed to.. shift. I could make out some letters. Maybe if I focus..
"(Y/N)." Another voice said. But I ignored it.
"(Y/N)." It called out again as I was close to deciphering what was said in the paper. But all I could make out was "N...:..(Y/N).. Ge...Pha...se..3....Non... Ote... Cheer..ful...A.. live..."
"(Y/N)!"
***
I snapped out of my trance-like state and blinked a few times until all traces of whatever the hell I saw disappeared. "What?" I mutter. I was back at the amusement park, with BEN. "What's wrong?" He asked me with wary eyes. "N-Nothing.. Just got a little headache." I answered. Was what that just now..? A vision? Two children.. I must be going insane.
BEN gave me a look, but didn't ask me about whatever just went down a couple of seconds ago. We continued whatever we were talking about.
"... As for Ivory, we have met before. But that was about a year or two ago." BEN paused. "But after, I never saw him again after."
"I'm guessing that didn't go so well." I remarked.
"At the time, I've recovered enough of my strength to be able to overdrive and cause various malfunctions to the internal systems of anything electronic device in the hospital." He added. I raised a questioning brow, but didn't ask.
"To spare you the details, I just wanted to.. Test out how much of my power I have left. And Ivory was.. Standing in my way." He said, choosing his words slowly.
"Look." He opened his palm and electricity came alive. "How do you do that?" I wondered aloud. He chuckled shortly then lightly tapped on my arm with his free hand. "Zap~" He said.
There was a tiny and mild electric shock upon his touch. "Ouch!" I yelped, rubbing my arm. "What was that for?" I asked, slightly annoyed. "You're being too serious, lighten up." He said with a laugh. The electricity dying from his right hand.
"You said something about him somehow being at fault for something. What do you mean by that?" I asked, going back on track with the topic.
"... I said that?" BEN said, suspiciously feigning forgetfulness. "You did. Don't play the clueless part, What did you mean by that?" I ask him again.
"...Can't you just pretend I didn't say that?" He replied. I gave him a stern look and wanted to ask about more but he shook his head stubbornly. "Next topic."
"Fine. So.. The facility. What exactly do they do there anyways? What do they do to the prisoners?" I asked. "They lock them up, the only times they are allowed outside are when they're summoned and called for in experimentation." BEN answered.
"They Dissect, Butcher, put them under series of physical tests and mental turmoil. It was a hell that even demons can't fathom." He said. "Cut them up, see what makes them tick, then stitch them up again, and store for later use. They treated us like lab rats." BEN enumerated. From my peripheral vision, I could see lightly him tug at the end of his shirt. "Agonizing." He mumbled.
"What? That's-"
"Horrible, awful, gruesome- yes. I was lucky enough that I wasn't majorly wounded. Though I do start to question my sanity sometimes.." BEN said in thought.
"I won't tell you to trust me. However," BEN looked me in the eye with sincerity. "Keep your distance from the facility.. I know it's difficult to even listen to the words of a murderer, but I can assure you, I won't gain anything from lying. They won't hesitate on murder. Any encounter with them can be fatal." He said. "I don't know which of the people will be a part of the facility. But just.. Stay close." He added.
"You said you're a.. 'Phantom' or 'ghost'? How come I and others can see and touch you then?" I curiously poked at his arm. Nope. Didn't go through.
"It's something I haven't figured out yet. But I see no point in trying to figure out what I am exactly. I can age and physically change, if I will it." BEN paused. He closed his eyes and snapped it open. Revealing a spine-chilling darkness where the whites of his eyes should have been. His one blue pupil changed into a crimson red.
"But it certainly does have it's perks." He looked at me, I flinched upon seeing the lack of eyes. He gave me a curious look. "Scared?" He stared at me intensely with a smirk. I flinched. His stare gave me a full view of his eyes. Deep inside, there was that intimidating, dim. red glow.
"Eyes are the windows to the soul. I see a girl trying her best not to scream. What do you see?" He asked, some-what amused. "Er.. I-If you still call those 'eyes', th-then.." I stammered, unable to correctly answer.
"I'll have to ask you another day then. When I'm sure you won't be scared anymore." He said, closing his eyes and opening them again to reveal blue eyes. Yet, something changed in them. They looked brighter and slightly filled with life since that time I saw him at the facility.
"How cute of you. You might make a ghosts pale skin turn pink with that stare of yours." He cheekily added and I blinked, looking away. Taken aback. Without even noticing, my cheeks went rosy.
"C-Cute?" I stammered. BEN grinned and leaned back even more on the bench. Panicky moments have passed. tried calming myself. Wait. Why am I flustered?!
I furrow my eye brows. "Benjamin," I paused, considering my next words with seriousness. "What happened to you? How did you wind up in that place? The facility. How did you... Die?" I asked this in the most gentle and passive voice I could muster up after a few moments. BEN hummed and shifted in his seat.
As if there was an inside joke found in my question, he said in an amused tone, "I drowned." Not even a slight quiver was found in his voice. "Ice cold underwater, unable to swim or breathe. Wanna get a gist of how it feels like?" He added. "What? N-No!" I shook my head furiously.
BEN chuckled. "Calm down, I won't do that. And, it's just BEN. All caps. Don't wear it out." He said.
"One more question and I won't bug you anymore today," I said. "Hm, sounds promising. But I think I prefer getting bugged. You talk more that way," He said, laughter fading.
"You... Saved me. Hell, you risked jumping for about 3 or 4 floors! Why?" I asked, still baffled by it myself. BEN furrowed his eyebrows as if confused why I'm even asking. "Then again you do need to survive and you need my 'help'.. I guess I shouldn't question that." I mumbled.
"But.. I guess I do have to thank you. So.. Thanks." I said genuinely, giving a half-smile of gratitude. BEN gave me a look then refused to make any eye contact this, for he looked away and took his time in answering.
"Refer to rule number 1 and 3." He simply said. Right. Those weird-o-rules.
BEN stood up, he held a straight face. Tried to anyway. There were traces of pink in his pale skin, maybe he's sick? No, ghosts don't get sick.
"Now that all of that's out of the way, come on. We're going elsewhere." He offered me a hand. Eyebrow still raised, I retorted, "I can stand by myse- Hey!" I was cut off as BEN grabbed me by the hand and ran, making me run too. My hand tensed upon the contact but didn't recoil. His hand was cold. Deathly cold.
"Hm. I don't like this outfit anymore." He said. Immediately, a hurricane of pixels enveloped him. Then he was back to the green tunic and hat he wore before. Even his eyes turned into black and red.
"Won't people freak out when they see you like that?" I asked. "The little hospital feud's over. Besides, there's a cosplay event in town. I'll blend in perfectly."
BEN looked back at me. His lips that were always set to a neutral, thin line most of the times twitched up into a genuine smile which caught me off guard. Because of that, his eyes didn't seem so scary anymore.
"As I said a while ago, we're going out. And you agreed. There's going to be events at town!" He energetically beamed. "It's been so long since I've been there.."
Normal P.O.V
In a hidden building surrounded by the forest, a group of people had an assembly.
There were fifteen people gathered. 2 of them were women in lab gowns, twins with red hair and brown eyes, Professors Tammy and Annie. 10 were people who seemed to eye each other in either wariness or just silently sit there, members of high authority within the facility. 2 were men in security guard-like outfits. Guards from Security Unit 03. And there was a boy who sat quietly- youngest of them all. James.
James wore an unusual type of uniform. A white trench coat with red trimmings over a plain grey shirt and black pants. His brown hair was looked down upon by the artificial light above and gave a bright shine. Despite his brightly themed appearance, he held a sullen face which he rarely ever wore around (Y/N). Except for meetings such as these or in serious occasions.
"This is unacceptable." A woman spoke. Starting the conversation.
"Right when I was gonna dissect him!" One of the twins, Professor Annie pouted. Some shook their heads at her.
"Professor Annie, please don't stray from the original topic," A man lazily scolded. "Our James here has been attacked by your specimen. Care to tell us how that happened?" Another woman joined in.
"We found that the cams was breached and all of its recordings were deleted. A total of 7 inmates escaped from Station 2." Professor Tammy joined. "But we found one modified and restricted pistol that was drained of electric energy. TS-659 escaped, lightly recovered from his weak state most likely because of that pistol." One of the men in the security guard uniform added.
"We chased the inmate just as we saw him leave the room and with an outsider. A girl with this key-card," The guard held up the said card, "W-We don't know if she was aiding him intentionally, the inmate threatened her as a hostage. She seemed lost, sir." The younger guard added.
James, who had been silent up to now spoke. "She wasn't an outsider. She's from the Metamorphosis Project." The room was filled with whispers and mumbling as people.
"Interesting. And why was one of those here?" A woman spoke up. "We were attacked in the midst of camping. She ran for help while we were distracted with an inmate that attacked us." James explained.
"We have no explanation as to how she obtained the card why there was an unassigned guard that entered the wrong station. But she must have heard the alarms and have been drawn to it. The secretary must have also thought she was a new recruit." He added.
"For the last goddamn time, replace that old wench! She's too feeble and careless. We need to dispose of the girl before she leaks information!" One men fumed. "Calm down, Fernus. Is the situation dealt with?" A woman asked.
"TS2-659 is still on the loose as well as every other escapee's. TS2-659 was last seen still with the girl earlier today at an abandoned amusement park. But we made sure that the media and the public gains false information. Fake eye witnesses, fake theories, fake expert advise, and of course, a fake murderer to replace the existence of TS2-659. So the public doesn't know the truth yet~" Professor Annie sang strangely.
"We still need to eliminate them! Those psychos are running around, it wouldn't be long before they start to re-group and defile us! Gerard, you lazy coot, take responsibility for the actions of your son!" The short-tempered one, Fernus, turned to a man who was sitting quietly and watching the meeting play out. James' father.
The man was the splitting image of James himself. Only, he looked rather older than his original age and his hair was a lighter shade of brown due to the fact gray hairs are starting to appear. He looked to be a whimsical and curious fellow, but James knew better. He was anything but kind and reasonable. Gerard Ivory.
"Fernus, I couldn't agree with you more. However, we cannot just rush. Specimens of the Metamorphosis project are very.. Unpredictable." Gerard replied. "This will not go unpunished, however. Hunt them down and dispose of them." He paused. "And the girl."
James tried to protest, but his father held up a hand to silence him. "Send unit 07. If they can prove themselves worthy for a better punishment than death, capture them. I don't care." The man waved his hand dismissively, seemingly uninterested.
From under the table, James felt something drop into his pocket while Fernus argued with his father about how sending unit 07 for the job would be an entire waste of good men. He glanced at the person in his left, Professor Annie, who gave him a small wink. James decided to ignore it for now as to not rouse suspicion from people in the room.
"We'll inform the unit, sir. Please excuse us." The two guards excused themselves and left for the door.
"Oh, and kill those buffoons for failing to do their jobs right within the next shift." Gerard said once the two guards left.
"Surely, we can't just dispose of the girl. What was her name? May? Delila? Amber?" Professor Annie began to make up random names aloud. Until she snapped her fingers. "Ah yes! (Y/N) was it? It'd be such a waste if we would just dispose of her." She said.
Fernus snorted. "Complete waste of effort and resources." He grumbled, but everyone ignored him. "Hm, well. Meeting dismissed." Gerard announced. Everyone started to leave the room. Everyone except one boy and his father
"Father..." James trailed away as his father rises a hand to stop him from saying any more.
"We've already went over this, Daniel. My answer remains the same. No." His father answered. James cringed at the name 'Daniel'. Only strangers who barely knew him called him that. But then, that's what his father always called him too. He didn't really like the name much. "You are given a job. Treat it like a job." Gerard added.
"Don't forget your place, son. You were sent to watch over her. Nothing more, nothing less. Play your cards right and you might just have a chance to interfere with the odds of her ending up dead." He paused. "Though, I am quite interested of what would happen. You do remember how that one child had just.. Exploded like fireworks, hm? That was quite a morbid event."
"She doesn't deserve any of this!" James argued.
"Daniel.. It is not your place to complain. And surely, you didn't watch over her for more than 9 or 10 years just to let her go today. She was chosen as a sacrifice for the future and improvement of human kind. She can change the world- We can change the world!" James' father gave him one final and firm squeeze on the shoulder. "Make this old man proud, son." Gerard grinned and left. Leaving a guilty boy.
James dug into his left pocket and found a small vial of an unknown and bubbly, neon liquid along with a note. And on inner coat pocket, he withdrew a syringe with a very pointy and threatening needle.
"Here it is, James! You owe us. BIG time!
Use it sparingly.
PS.. Hide it from everyone! We'll never get that seasonal raise, especially if your father sees this!
-Professors T and A."
James tucked the items back into his pocket and left the room. As he did, a girl was standing just outside. "We have an assignment, Bridgette." He said. "I heard." She replied. On the upper sleeve of her uniform, there was the number '07'. James had the same number sewn into his uniform too.
Your P.O.V
"So these are the new games that I've been missing out on?!" BEN silently gaped, shocked as he looked at the newly arrived game racks. I inspected the variety of video games before me as well. I'm a gamer girl as well. "There's even a bunch of re-makes." I said.
BEN and I went straight to this game store around the west of town, there were a lot of people. He seemed extremely hyped and eager to visit this shop. As we went, I would see cosplayers walk around the street. Some would even role-play and act accordingly to the character they imitated. BEN did blend in quite well. As sometimes I would even see some people with the same looks as he! Well, not exactly, but you get the point.
His mood turned rather cheery all the sudden. He seemed to enjoy being at the town. He was like a kid in a candy store.
"Why didn't I look into these ones before?!" BEN said as he stared intensely at a recent CD of the Legend of Zelda series. I raised a brow. "You've played games before?" I asked. Then BEN's excited face turned into a neutral but nostalgic expression.
"I'll never agree to live a life without video games." He said with nostalgia written over his face as he casually wandered off to other shelves before I could reply and think more of the subject.
As BEN was picking games and humming to himself while in the process, I looked around as well. There were a decent number of cosplayers in the store. One of them I recognized. A girl from my school. Most specifically, a girl named River.
Our eyes met and River smiled. "Hey (Y/N)!" She beamed and excused herself from the previous people she was talking to. "Thank god you're here! Those people wouldn't stop pestering me about signing up for some boring campaign." She whispered. I sheepishly laughed.
"Are you okay? You look paler than before!" She asked with a concerned gaze. At least she was nicer than most girls from the school.
"I haven't gotten much sleep lately.. Nice costume by the way," I complemented. She smiled. "Thanks! Took me a long while to get this done. Hey! you know what? You should come with me to the- Oh my god. Who's that piece of eye candy?" She pointed behind me and I followed her gaze. She was staring at BEN.
"Er... He's a new friend of mine.. Sorta." I answer. She made a little squeal. "I haven't seen him around before! Whats his name??" She fan-girled. "Hm. You know what, he looks familiar.. Might have seen him somewhere.. Is he a model? No wait. Is he Link?" She said in thought. "Model?" I repeated.
She grew a bigger smile (If possible) when BEN came over.
'
"A-Aren't those too many games?!" I asked looking at the bag of games he held. "No worries, I already paid for it.. In a way." He said suspiciously. "I doubt that." But then, he showed me a receipt.
I raised a brow. "Prove it. Go through the detectors." I challenged. BEN walked towards the detectors in the main door of the store, it didn't beep to alert the store owner of a thief. He raised his arms to signal that he was clean with a grin.
"Hey! I'm River!" River beamed with a goofy, love-struck expression on her face. "The name's BEN." BEN simply said as River fawned over him the second he spoke. "I love the Contact lenses. Where'd you buy those?" She asked. Oh if only you knew those weren't lenses, River.
"No lenses. These are my eyes." BEN answered. River giggled. "Staying true to the cosplay huh."
"What do you think of my outfit? Isn't it nice~?" She flirted. Oh boy. This might be the start of a new fanclub. I inwardly sigh. "Admirable. But not as much as the one wearing it." He cheekily replied, topped of with a smirk.
River turned red upon the complement. "(Y/N)! We have to hang out some other day! Maybe tomorrow?" She asked. "Sorry. But I can't. I enjoy my quality time with (Y/N)." BEN said before I could answer her myself.
"What." Was the only thing I could say.
"Oh.. You two are a couple?" She frowned. I immediately shook my head in embarrassment. But before I could speak while BEN slung an arm around my shoulder. Immediately, my heart did a small, nervous flip. "Something like that." He said with a grin.
River's happy face turned into a disappointed one. "N-No! W-we aren't!" I said, stepping away from BEN. "Oh, wait til everyone hears this shocking revelation. (Y/N) (L/N), the shy wall flower finally gets a boyfriend!" She exclaimed. People in the shop looked at us strangely.
"Good. Because I might just kill anyone who gets too close for comfort." BEN said with a big grin.
"I can sense the double meaning in that.." I mumbled.
River squealed. "(Y/N), I'm extremely jealous!" She said as she looked at her watch. "Hold on, he's just a fr-!" I stammered. "Whoops! I'm late for the cosplay contest! See you in school (Y/N)! Have fun~" River left in a hurry.
I turned to BEN who had a amused smile on his face. My face was still reddened but I gave him a glare and stepped away from him.
"What was that for?!" I said, punching him on the arm. He muttered an 'Ow' and rubbed his arm. "I'm doomed when everyone in school mistakes us as.." I mumbled as I turn away from him and go out the store.
"You've been so serious, (Y/N)." He said. "Oh, don't be so uptight. Look on the bright side! Me," BEN retorted, keeping up in walking with me. But I tried to block out his presence.
But I guess this is.. new. He was all serious when I met him. But now.. he's kinda acting less intimidating. Egotistical even. But still! Now someone thinks we're a couple.
"Let's go already." BEN said as he led me out the store by the hand. I protested but he didn't let go. Enthusiastically, he began to look by the windows of stores they passed by- interested in little trinkets displayed here and there.
"I can run by myself you know!" I said as we ran through the streets. "Yes, but we're late." He said. "Late for what? You don't even have a watch!" I replied. "Right now, it's 3:45- No, 3:46 after 3 and a half seconds." BEN guessed. I took out my phone from my pocket and opened it. I got a glimpse of 3:45, but then it indeed turn into 3:46.
"Lucky guess." I said. BEN gave me his trademark grin. 'Lucky' isn't in my vocabulary. It's natural talent and brains." he retorted.
Along the way, I seemed to have adjusted. It's weird. But the conversations and constant cheeky remarks BEN seemed to throw every once and a while lightened up the mood. My fear of him went away, replaced by- do I dare say it? Fun. He was fun to be with, I found myself enjoying the events. Shocking, I know. But there was some sort of unknown charm to his recent change of personality.
He held my hand along the way, which made me slightly uncomfortable because as we ran, people who we passed by gave us looks. And the majority of them were either female cosplayers who had their eyes on BEN or couples who smiled at us. Whenever I tried to retrieve my hand, he would tease me about being all shy around my so called 'recent boyfriend'. And I ended up losing against his remarks. He has a way with words.
"My. Kids these days are so expressive." One woman gleefully whispered to the man walking beside her. "How cute, hey, remember the time when we were like them?" Another woman said. I got embarrassed and tried to tell BEN to let go. But he simply ignored that and told me to wait and that we were almost there. Wherever 'there' was.
"There will be so many events on town today up until midnight. I don't wanna be late so.." BEN's words went through one ear to another.
But I have to admit that I am excited. I mean, events like these only happen in my place every 1 or 2 years or so. I'll try to make the best of it and just enjoy the town events. Maybe I would even get to know BEN more.. Sounds crazy, I know. But I might as well.
"Isn't that the girl from the Hospital terrorist attack?" I heard a woman gossip amongst a group consisting of other women. BEN stopped to look at the Bakery. Not minding his surroundings.
"Yes! That is her! The poor thing.. She saw death in such a young age" Another woman said. "I don't buy it. Maybe she's even part of that whole ordeal! My friends husband was killed!" One woman raised her voice. They then hushed her up when they saw me looking their way. They avoided eye contact and moved away, but I could still hear mumbling.
I was immediately and harshly reminded of a gruesome sight. The heads. Severed heads...
I looked down on the ground and moved away from BEN. Only then, did BEN dropped my hand and stopped drooling childishly over the bakery goods. "(Y/N)?" He called out.
I don't blame those women. After all, I was there. I saw what really happened. They needed the truth. And yet I lied. It's still on the news.
But there was one thing I noticed in those reports. There was some information that I never told them. Fake information from some fake witnesses.. People who claimed to be up at that floor that day, people who claimed they saw the scene.. But in truth, they're liars. I never saw their faces up there.
Their interrogation seemed so well acted too. Almost believable tears. They reported fingerprints and those were traced back some stranger. The other day, I actually thought BEN was caught, but it wasn't him that was on the news. A complete stranger was guilty of the incident. He looked like BEN! But kinda older. Weird.. And worse of all, that stranger actually admitted to the murder freely.. Oh god, what a mess.. Who's behind all of that?? Surely, no one in their right mind would do that.
Maybe it was the facility? BEN?
"(Y/N)?" I heard BEN call out from behind again. Before I looked back at him, I tried to mask my emotions. "Yeah?" I asked, putting on the most convincing poker face I had yet.
Its a habit of mine to act anything but sad. An impulse.
BEN searched my facial expression, looking me straight in the eye with an unreadable expression. As if calculating or something. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him, shrinking away from his gaze as I walk past him. "You look older when you don't smile, granny." BEN chuckled as we continued to walk to our destination.
"'Granny'?!" I replied, sightly annoyed but my mood lightened up a bit.
***
"Sorry, folks! The wheel's broken down!" A round of complaints erupted from the long line that has been waiting for their turn to the Ferris wheel.
"Well, that's that." I mumbled, kinda disappointed. We've been waiting for 20 minutes for this and it was our turn. "Now what-" BEN disappeared from beside me.
I looked over the fence that separated the line from the ride and saw him fiddle around with the controls panels. No one noticed him as the operators were apologizing to the irritated people.
BEN stuck his tongue out in focus and opened the hatch for the inside wires. He fiddled and pulled on the cords.
I nervously glanced at the operators. Hoping that they wouldn't notice him. Then, BEN's face lit up a bit. He found two cut wires and connected them to each other. From his hands, green electric volts had sparked and writhed, but that didn't seem to hurt him. The Ferris wheel slowly began to work again. It lit up and played the joyous music from before.
The operators looked back and sighed in relief. "Okay! It seems that the problem has been.. Mysteriously fixed! Line up!" One of them said. BEN returned to my side scot-free.
"How'd you do that?" I asked him, impressed. "Wasn't that hard. Some rodent just chewed on the main cords and there was a lack of electricity." He said.
I hopped in to a cart. BEN followed behind. I glance back at him as I sat and I heard him heave a short but tired sigh. But it was only for a moment and after, he seemed totally fine. Was I just imagining that?
After the Ferris wheel, we passed by a sweets stall. The featured weekly chocolate was apparently exclusively for couples. BEN decided that this was a perfect way to debut our 'relationship ' and buy the chocolate. Still pretending to be my boyfriend. I tried many times to convince the guy in the stall that we weren't something like that but he only laughed it off as a 'stage of denial and shyness' for newbies in relationships.
I gave up in trying to stop him. He was persistent.
Then we went by the arcade. There was one of those claw games with cute plushies inside and the main theme and design was food. Of course, BEN gave it a ridiculous amount tries and eventually won.
He won a plushie that looked like a green, smiling gelatin. You'd think this would be a little stunt played by boys who's trying to court a girl, but nope! BEN childishly insisted that he keep it. He was so happy about winning.
"Cute." I looked at the little gelatin. BEN had a smile of triumph on his face.
"That took you 23 times though." I remarked with a small laugh.
"There's something more adorable than this. And that's me, myself, and I. I always win. One way or another." He said. "You're such a girl. Even I don't keep teddy bears anymore." I teased. Once again, I kind of got caught up in the conversation.
"Oh yeah? What about that old doll I found at your drawer." He retorted, pervily.
I blushed. Not because he found out about that doll I got 6 years ago from my parents- it was of sentimental value- but because I stashed that doll away deep inside my.. Underwear drawer..
"Y-You pervert!" I exclaimed, red faced. "You searched my drawers?!"
"..Maybe a teensy bit- Ouch!" I snatched the gelatin plushie from him and smacked him with it.
We remained by the arcade for a while. I kept attacking him with the most vicious weapon I had in hand, Mr Gelato.
***
"No no no no no!!! AAH!" I shrieked on the top of my lungs as the roller coaster cart plunged into the first dive.
I swear, it felt like the cart could detach from the railings and we would break out necks any minute now. Without even realizing, I clung to the nearest thing I could hold onto very tightly. BEN.
"Why did I agree to this?! Eek! NOOO!" The roller coaster dived in to the second curve.
BEN who say beside me was clearly amused. He had been laughing without a care in the world, enjoying himself. A grin plastered to his face whenever I would freak over a curve.
I have to be honest, I had never rode a roller coaster before. It doesn't make me sick or queasy, but it's just very surprising. At least I wasn't the only one getting freaked out. Many other people from our cart shrieked far more louder and high pitched. Hell, even the boys screamed like girls. Only BEN seemed to thoroughly enjoy the experience.
No! I'm not that scared! It just shocks me whenever-
I abruptly stopped my chain of thought as I realized it had been silent and steady. No more curves or dives. We were now slowly and threateningly going up a very high curve. Oh dear.
I let go of BEN and hang on to the safety bars instead. "You jerk! You're enjoying this aren't you!" I said. "What? No way." BEN leaned back on his seat. He looked away and snickered.
I didn't really have the fear of heights now that I've thought of it. I just hate it when things go Sonic fast. Then it all abruptly stops when I least expect it all to be. I calmed myself and looked down. It was pretty high up and people were getting smaller and smaller as the ride progressed. I could see houses and buildings. But the best part was the sky.
It was clear out to day matched with the ideal amount of puffy clouds. On the horizon was a slight mix of orange to sky blue. It must be getting near noon, but not quite. I took in the view and sighed, slightly relieved to not see everything move so fast.
"Enjoying the view?" BEN asked. The suns rays had shone over from behind his face which showed pure glee. I might have thought that he was a different person. He looks so different with a smile.
"No, move to the left, you're blocking the view," I said, tilting my head. "I am the view." BEN cockily said.
"Shoo." I said. BEN puffed up his cheeks childishly and leaned in more to his seat. I laughed.
First time I've laughed in a few days huh.
"It isn't my fault that I'm scared of- EEK!" Before I could say the rest of my sentence, the cart plummeted down the last curve. It felt unsafe to hold on to the safety bars and instead, I instinctively hang on to BEN. In an embrace of fear.
TO BE CONTINUED