Chapter Four
Bens POV
Ben was having dream. Well, a nightmare actually.
He could tell it was a dream, but at the same time, he couldn't will himself to wake up.
He was standing the middle of a vast field, littered with what seemed like masses of gray and blue flowers.
Ben frowned. That can't be right.
Slowly, he glided forward to get a closer look at the supposed flowers.
Once he reached a mass of gray, his eyes adjusted to light reflecting off of the object.
He leaned in, squinted his eyes and saw--
a human body.
Ben yelled and fell back.
A human body? Thats immposible! W-where are the police? Shouldn't they be here investigating?
Suddenly, the field seemed to tilt.
Ben screamed and fell on his backside, tumbling down the bloody field.
He shut his eyes, willing this nightmare to be over with all the strength left in his body.
Please, be over soon.
He felt himself bump into soft and cold.
The field stopped tilting.
Relieved, he turned around to see what had stopped him.
A pair a cold black eyes stared back at him.
Ben yelped and jumped back.
The black eyes of a dead human being still stared back at him, relentless, merciless, pinning Ben down with its stare.
He had bumped into another dead body, similar to the previous one he had seen, but instead this person was wearing a blue uniform.
Ben spotted a badge on the dead mans clothes, and curiosity beat away the fear that had enclosed him earlier.
He slowly streched out a shaky hand and reached for the badge.
It read:
Union Cavalry, 1863
John Wilbury
Huh. Ben contemplated the name. It sounded farmiliar somehow.....
He looked at the mans face. It had young features, a person in his mid twenties and an african american. The man had midnight black hair in a buzz cut.
Bens eyes narrowed.
Suddenly, he heard a scream echo into his ears.
It was a womens voice, cutting through the silence of field like a sharp knife through butter.
"My baby! No please! Not my baby boy!"
Then, another scream.
"Mama!" the voice cried. It sounded like a childs.
The screams and desparate cries came in from every direction, piercing his ears.
Ben looked around wildly, but he couldnt find the source of the screaming.
"Mama!"
"No! Please! Not my only son!"
Ben squeezed his eyes shut.
Make it stop!
"Don't take him away from me!"
"Mama!"
Just when Ben thought he could take no more, he heard a mans voice.
"Ben!"
He opened his eyes.
"Ben!"
Who...?
"Ben, wake up!"
Suddenly, the sky turned black and the dead bodies around him vanished.
The next thing he knew was being swallowed by the ground and left in complete, utter darkness.
******************
Something was shaking him.
Or rather, someone.
Groaning, Ben muttered something under his breath.
"Five more minutes, mom"
A mans voices echoed through his mind.
"Time to wake up, Ben" the voice said gently.
Ben groaned again and attempted to open his heavy eyelids.
"Uhh...Where am I?"
He opened his eyes, but immediately regretted it.
Sunlight poured into his vison, causing him to wince and roll onto his stomach.
"Ben, it's me, Mr. Patterson" a strained voice said.
Ben stiffened.
Carefully pushing himself up to a sitting position, he rubbed his sore eyes.
Before he even opened his eyes, he knew something wasnt right. The ground beneath him felt soft, like grass. Sun rays beat down on him relentlessly as if forcing him to open his eyes. What was going on? Why was Mr. Patterson with him?
Finally relenting, Ben Ryder opened his eyes and let his pupils adjust to the sunlight.
Where in the world was he?
A field spread out in front of him. It reminded him of the field from his dream, except for the fact that there were no dead bodies. Instead there were tombstones.
Lots of tombstones.
"W-where am I?" Ben turned around to face Mr. Patterson.
The middle aged man sighed. "I have alot of explaining to do, don't I?"
"Where are my friends? Wheres Mom?"
Mr. Patterson looked downwards. "They aren't here"
"Brett and Brandon?"
Mr. Patterson shook his head.
"Samantha?" Ben tried.
No answer.
Ben opened his mouth to ask another question, but Mr. Patterson ducked his head and raised a hand as if to say, 'I'll explain'.
The man sighed and combed his hand through his hair.
"Look Ben, I....."
It was just then that Ben saw how dishelved the man looked.
His usual gray eyes that were full of light were now dull and weary. Bags of tiredness hung from his eyes. His mop of once light brown hair now looked grayer than every. His clothes clung loosley to his skin, making him look like he was a runaway criminal.
Ben felt a pang of guilt. How has he never seen this side of his old friend before?
"I knew this day would come. So did your father, and your mother. We just never thought it would come so soon. We tried to protect you from the very beginning. We did-we really did, but as you can see, we failed"
Ben looked confusedly at Mr. Patterson.
Mr. Patterson sighed again.
"Let me get straight to the point. Ben, I can time travel"
Bens eyes widened.
"You can WHAT?"
Ben stood up and looked around wildly.
"Where are we? Where did you take me!?"
Mr. Patterson frowned, but didn't stand up.
"I didn't take you anywhere. Bruce Peterson did. I only interfered and got sucked in the time travel"
Suddenly, Ben felt sick all over. Bruce Peterson. The events that happened earlier came crashing down upon him.
The man with the scar.
Mr. Patterson screaming something about Ben being his heir.
Being thrown into darkness soon after.
Ben doubled over and clutched his stomach.
No. This can't be.
"Ben?" Mr. Patterson asked, his voice full of concern.
"What did you mean when you said 'heir'? That I was your heir?"
Mr. Patterson sighed for the second time.
"Ben-"
"Answer me!"
Mr. Patterson looked away.
"Every time traveler, like Bruce and I, need a heir. Someone who will inheirit their time traveleing abilities and be able to keep the world and time balanced. I have picked you as my heir"
"So does that mean I can time travel?"
Mr. Patterson grimaced.
"Not quite. I still have to teach you"
Ben frowned. "So who is this Bruce guy?"
Mr. Patterson grimaced again.
"Someone who you don't want to be associated with"
Ben scowled. "Well, It sems like I already am, so spill the beans"
"Bruce Peterson is a, well, how can I say this properly, an ex-time traveler. He used to be a great time traveler. One of the best, in fact."
"But...." Ben countered.
Mr. Patterson siged for the third time. "But he grew tired, and bored. He wanted more from his power. He believed that the everyday humans should know of the power we withold. I disagreed with him and tried to stop him, but I did it all in vain. Bruce still carried out his plan to reveal our powers to the human world. His plan was to take an object from the past, and a picked a dairy by a slave, to show to the human world to prove that time travel was possible. What he didn't know was that by taking the slave's diary, he broke the balance in the past and changed history itself"
Mr. Patterson paused for effect.
"Later, he realized his own mistake and tried to fix it in vain. He then found out that he himself couldn't fix it. Someone else had to fix his own mistakes for him. And me and some other time travelers refused to do it, so he turned to the heirs of those time travelers. He turned to you"
Ben furrowed his eyebrows. "You said heirs. Is it possible that other kids are stuck in the past as well?"
Mr. Patterson frowned. "Yes. It in fact is..."
"So, all I and maybe some other kids have to do is to is return some stupid diary to the slave?"
Mr. Patterson shook his head. "I wish it were that simple. The diary is lost forever. When Bruce presented the diary to the public, people laughed and mocked him, and burned the diary, along with Bruce's pride"
Mr. Patterson looked up at Ben with strained eyes. "The only way to restore balance now is to return the slave to his original family, and I'm afraid I don't know who he or she is"
Ben's eyes widened. Despite all this chaos going on in his brain, he managed to sort one section out.
The screaming child-the crying mother.
John Wilbury, Union Cavalry, 1863
An african American man in a blue uniform.
John Wilbury. Find John Wilbury.
Everything clicked.
"I know who he is"
Mr. Patterson looked up, startled.
"I just don't know if he's still alive or not. By the way, where are we?"
Sighing for the fourth time today, Mr. Patterson spoke.
"Welcome to Gettysburg, Ben. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania"