BIRTHDAY BASH!
( the case of the missing life guard part 1 )
"What's wrong with me? What did I do wrong?" Mike ranted from where he laid out on the couch, a bag of Dorito's resting on his chest. Ben was laying on the floor with his eyes closed. Mike was giving him a headache, and he honestly wanted to go home, but Lucas and Will begged him to stay over with them.
"Nothing," Lucas answered.
Mike continued ranting, mouth full of chips, "What did I do wrong? What could I have done wrong?"
"Do I have to go through this again?" Lucas sighed, pacing the room. Will was setting up a D&D game. Unbeknownst to the boys, they were being watched. "I just don't understand what I did to deserve this."
"Nothing! Nothing. That's my whole point! You are the victim here," Lucas reassured to Mike. "I know. It's just, why is she treating me this way? I don't know–"
"Mike–"
"Maybe if you hadn't lied and been a dick she wouldn't be treating you this way," Ben spoke up from the floor. He didn't open his eyes to see Mike's reaction, he already knew he'd be faced with a heavy glare. "Like you know anything about girls, Ben," Mike retorted.
It wasn't a very harsh dig, but it still made Ben clench his jaw and sigh deeply. Mike rolled his eyes and continued ranting, "What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong?!"
Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose, "Mike, stop," he grabbed Mike's legs, "Relax. Just relax. Okay? Stop asking rational questions."
Mike sighed, "I know, I know. You're right." Lucas hummed and Mike went on, "Because women act on emotion and not logic."
"Precisely. It's a totally different species." Lucas agreed.
Ben scoffed and sat up, bringing his knees up and resting his forearms on them, "That's stupid. And sexist."
Mike looked over at him, noting the way his messy hair had grown so much that it was starting to fall over his eyes. "What are you? A girl whispered? You don't know shit about them– you don't even like them!" Mike retorted.
"Two of my best friends are girls, and I also live with a girl. You pick up on a few things. You should know since you date one. Or, well, dated one," Ben smiled smugly and gave Mike a wink. Mike's mouth fell open in offense.
"Guys, it's ready." Will announced from the table. Ben stood up and stretched, his shirt riding up and showing a sliver of skin on his back. Mike avoided looking. "I don't know anything about D&D, but I'll watch you guys play," said Ben.
"Will, not right now." Lucas said calmly.
Will threw his arms out by his side, "They broke up with you! What else is there to talk about?"
"Tons!" Lucas countered.
Mike nodded, "Yeah, we're trying to solve the great mystery of the female species." Ben rolled his eyes. Mike then burped loudly and chuckled. Ben thought it was gross. "Dude, you can smell the nacho cheese," Mike said while holding up a Dorito.
Ben and Will both made sounds of disgust.
Lucas smirked and nodded, "I got that beat."
"What?" Mike questioned, raising an eyebrow. Will shook his head rapidly, "Oh, no."
"No, Lucas, no."
"Please don't."
"No!"
"Lucas! Lucas!"
Then Lucas lifted up his legs and farted, loudly. It sounded disgusting, and it smelt disgusting. Ben gagged and lifted his shirt up to cover his nose. "God, Lucas! Really?!"
The sound of loud medieval music playing from a boombox woke the boys up the next morning. Lucas and Mike sat up quickly, groaning and rubbing their eyes. Ben just mumbled something incoherently and pulled his blanket up over his head. "What are you doing?" Lucas asked Will.
"Yeah, Will, can you turn down the music?" Mike whined.
"Please address me by my full name," Will said as he stood right in the middle of the room. Ben peaked out from under his blankets to see him in a purple wizard costume holding a stick that, Ben guessed, was supposed to be a staff.
"What?" Mike asked.
Will slammed the staff on the ground, "My full name!"
Mike sighed and shook his head, "Oh, my God. Okay, Will the Wise, can you please turn down the music?"
"That is not music. That... is the sound of destiny!" Will retorted, waving his arm forward. "I have seen into the future, and I've seen that today is a new day, a day... free of girls!"
Ben sat up and yawned, "So it's full of boys then? Count me in."
"What is happening right now?" Lucas asked.
"Will, come on." Mike whined, yet again.
Will went over to the table and hovered over it, waving his arm over it, "A tribe of villagers are under threat from an evil force from the swamps of Kuzatan."
Mike ran his hands over his face, "Will, it's so early."
Will stood up straight and looked at Mike incredulously, "Is it? Is it early, Michael?" Lucas and Mike shared a look, and Ben watched from the floor in amusement. He didn't like being woken up with music, but he wasn't mad about it anymore. "Tell that to the villagers crying for your help, the children so frightened, they cannot sleep. Are you truly going to let them perish? Or are you going to come to their rescue and become the heroes you were always meant to be?" Will questioned powerfully.
Lucas raised his hand slightly, "Uh, can I at least take a shower first?"
After Lucas showered the boys were sat at the table. Only Lucas, Mike, and Will were playing since Ben never learned, so he watched with curiosity and amusement.
"Do you guys hear that? It sounds like... thunder. But, no, wait! That's not thunder. It's... a horde of juju zombies!" He slammed four zombie figures on the table. "Sir Mike, your action," he looked at Mike expectantly. Mike just looked bored. Ben felt bad for Will.
Mike looked to Lucas, "What should I do?" Lucas just shrugged and suggested, "Attack?"
"Okay, I attack with my flail," Mike answered with boredom, rolling his dice. "Woosh! You miss," Will countered. Ben rested his cheek on his fist and watched everything. "Your flail clanks the stone, the zombie horde lumbers towards you, and... the juju bites your arm. Flesh tears! Aah!" Will exclaimed, acting it out. "Seven points of damage."
"Oh, no, my arm," Mike whined sarcastically, holding his arm for emphasis, "Ben, Lucas, look, my arm!" Lucas snickered and covered his face to stop from laughing too much, Ben couldn't help but snort. Will brought his lips into a tight line for a second, then turned to Lucas, "Sir Lucas, the zombie horde roars! Do you fight back, or, do you run?"
Before Lucas could answer, the phone rang, gaining everyone's attention. Will stood up abruptly, "No! It's a distraction! A trap. Do not answer it."
Lucas and Mike looked at each other and grabbed their books, stood up, and rushed to the phone. Will's face fell, "What... No!
Mike grabbed the phone off the wall and asked, "El?" He then sighed, "No. Sorry, not interested." Mike hung up the phone and turned to the others, "Telemarketers."
"Maybe we should just call them," Lucas suggested. Mike's face scrunched up in confusion, "We can do that?" Lucas nodded and shrugged slightly, "I think so."
"Yeah, but what would we say?" Mike asked.
Will slammed his staff on the floor again, "We'll say nothing! The Khuisar tribe still needs your help."
"All right, then. I'll use my torch to set fire to the chambers, sacrificing ourselves, killing the jujus, and saving the Khuisar. We all live on as heroes in the memories of the Kalamar," Mike said, annoyed and sarcastic, and Lucas gave him a high-five. "Victory," Lucas said.
Will looked defeated. He gave up and ripped his hat off and set his staff down, "Okay. Fine. You guys win." He turned off the music, "Congratulations."
Mike frowned once he noticed how upset Will was, "Will, I was just messing around." Will said nothing, only tore off his costume. "Hey, let's finish for real. How much longer is the campaign?"
"Just forget it, Mike." Will spat back.
"No, you want to keep playing, right?" Mike asked softly, trying desperately to make Will less upset. Lucas nodded, "Y-yeah, totally."
"I wanna keep watching you guys play. Will, please," Ben chimed in genuinely.
Mike gestured at Ben. "See! We'll just call the girls afterwards."
Will turned around, face red with anger and frustration, "I said forget it, Mike! Okay?!" he yelled in Mike's face, causing him to frown. "I'm going home."
"Come on, Will," Lucas tried to stop him from leaving, but Will shoved past him and darted up the stairs. Ben gave Mike a glare and followed him up the stairs. It wasn't until then that he realized it was his birthday. And they had all forgotten. Ben didn't necessarily care that it was his birthday, but it still hurt that they forgot.
Ben followed Will out to his bike, "Will, hey, I know he's being a dick but–"
"Will, come on. You can't leave, it's raining," Mike said as he stood next to Ben, watching Will get his bag ready. "Listen, I said I was sorry, all right? It's a cool campaign. It's really cool. We're just not in the mood right now–"
Will turned around to look at him, "Yeah, Mike. That's the problem. You guys are never in the mood anymore. You're ruining our party!"
"That's not true!" Mike retorted.
"Really? Where's Dustin right now?" Will questioned, and the look of realization on Mike's face made him continue, "See? You don't know and you don't even care. And obviously he doesn't either and I don't blame him. You're destroying everything, and for what?! So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?!"
Mike scrunched his face up in anger, "El's not stupid!" He glared at Will, "It's not my fault you don't like girls!"
Ben was sure he could feel Will's heart shatter. His mouth fell open in shock as he looked at Mike, "What the hell Mike?"
Mike saw the shock and disappointment on Ben's face, and the sadness on Will's, and sighed, "I'm not trying to be a jerk. Okay? But we're not kids anymore. I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? We were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?"
Will sniffled and nodded, "Yeah. I guess I did. I really did." Will got on his bike, and Mike watched with sad eyes as he peddled away into the rain. "Will. Will! Will, come on!"
Ben scoffed as Mike looked at him. Mike raised an eyebrow, "I don't wanna hear it from you." He tried to walk away, but Ben grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Isn't that what you've been asking yourself the past two days? Well, I'll tell you. You're a fucking asshole that only cares about yourself. You didn't even notice Will was upset until now. You don't notice how any of your friends feel because you're too busy thinking about you and how you feel. Grow the fuck up, Mike!"
Mike glared, "Are you serious? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?!" Ben gestured for him to go on and explain what exactly was wrong with him. "You fell for me for, like, a week, and then when I tell you that I'm not gay and that I don't want you, you suddenly act like you know me. And, if you really did love me like that, why go and find some other boy to date? Some boy that probably doesn't even give a shit about you and is probably just using you. What, you almost died and lost your dad, and instead of getting actual fucking help, you get a boyfriend and use him as a distraction for how fucked up and sad your life actually is?!" Mike seethed.
"What?" Ben asked, bottom lip trembling. Then he scoffed, "You were the one that avoided me. I tried to talk to you about I feel, and you avoided me because you were scared. You're still scared."
"Scared of what?"
"The fact that you feel the same way about me, but you're too much of a fucking coward to admit it." Ben spat.
"Feel the same? Present tense? ... You still love me?" Mike asked slowly. Ben scoffed and wiped a tear that fell. "Cats out of the bag, I guess. You're a fucking asshole, so I don't know how long I can feel that way for you."
Mike frowned, "Ben..."
Ben rolled his eyes and got on his bike, he started peddling but paused to look over his shoulder. "Do you know what today is?"
"Should I?" Mike asked awkwardly.
Ben pursed his lips and dropped his voice down to a shaky whisper, "It's my birthday. Thanks for remembering."
"What? Ben, wait, please," Mike pleaded, a sad look on his face. Ben just peddled off as Mike yelled his name over and over, the sound becoming more muffled the further he biked.
He peddled and peddled, trying to get as far as he could. He was soaked from head to toe, and he was cold, but he didn't mind it. He liked the coldness, how it made him shiver and turned his lips blue, how after awhile it started to make him feel numb. The thought of just sitting on the side of the road and freezing to death crossed his mind. He wouldn't mind it. But he wouldn't do it.
He stopped on the side of the road anyway, his bike clattered to the ground next to him and he sunk to his knees, letting out sobs. He let out a guttural scream that seemed to echo through the forest. He was so angry. At Mike, at himself, at everything. He missed his dad.
Ben couldn't hear the footsteps in the rain mixed with his screaming. Something hit his head, and the next thing he knew he was unconscious.
––
Ben woke up on a cold floor. His clothes were sill wet, and his hands were bound behind his back. He tugged weakly at the ropes, and they rubbed harshly against his wrist, surely leaving marks. His head was pounding, and everything looked blurry. He pushed himself up with all of his strength into a seating position. He took note that he was in some sort of warehouse, but he was alone.
"H-hello?! Is anyone here?! Can anyone hear me?! Hello?!" Ben screamed over and over for someone, anyone.
"They can't hear you." A distorted voice spoke. It sounded predominantly male, but not entirely. He tried to look around for the source of the voice, but came to nothing. "No one's here with you. It's just us."
It wasn't until then that Ben realized the voice was coming from inside his head.
"What– What do you want?" Ben stammered, voice shaking with fear. It was so cold.
"You." He said.
"Me?" Ben repeated. "Why? For what?" Ben wasn't entirely sure if the voice was even real, or if he was too concussed and just imagining it. "We need you, Ben. Haven't you ever wondered what it feels like to be needed? Wanted?"
Ben breathed deeply, but didn't say anything. Of course he'd wanted that feeling, he longed for it. But this just felt wrong, and scary. Ben saw a black mist crawling from the shadows of the warehouse. Crawling towards him.
"This won't hurt, Ben. It'll feel a little cold, though. Just relax."
And then the smoke entered his mouth, and he felt it everywhere. He was right. It was cold. Ben tried to scream out of fear, but he couldn't talk, he couldn't move. He could hardly breath. "Happy birthday, Ben."
And then he was unconscious again.
( note! )
yall are not ready i can promise you that.