Never Too Late: Five Hargreeves

Chapter Twelve

Five's P.O.V.

"I should've gone back for her. But, I let my anger take over," I sighed, putting the notebook to the side. "And the snowball keeps rolling," Vanya barely whispered. She was right, Anna's notebook started with little reasons, and now the reasons were becoming bigger and bigger with every page. "Well, since Ben's dead, who's gonna read his story?" Luther asked. I couldn't bear to read anymore. The guilt from the day I left was making that weight on my shoulders heavier.

"I'll do it," we all looked up and saw Klaus holding his hand out. I was hesitant to give him the notebook. I didn't want him to think of Ben negatively if he read it out loud. We all knew that he and Ben had a closer relationship growing up. "Are you sure? There might be things you didn't know that happened between Anna and Ben," I asked. "Five, I'll be fine. Just give me the notebook," he answered. I reached over, and Klaus took the notebook from me.

*******

After I spent hours trying to find Five, I eventually gave up and ran up to my room, where I cried for so many hours. During the night, I heard a few people walk past my room. But nobody bothered to knock on the door. Nobody bothered to ask me, "Anna, are you okay?" That only made me feel worse, and I cried even harder. But then I heard the door open, and I saw someone was standing outside my bedroom.

Ben, this one is for you.

Ben, just like Five, your name doesn't belong on this list. I feel horrible that I added you in here even though your, you know, dead. But I need you, along with everyone else, to know why I'm no longer here. I looked up, and I saw you were staring at me. A small part of me was scared that you were going to hurt me just like the others did, but you just walked into my room and smiled as you sat down next to me on the bed.

"Why are you crying?" you asked, gently placing a hand on my knee. I squirmed a little and moved away from you. I feel bad looking back at it now because you were just trying to comfort me. "Where's Five?" you asked. When you mentioned him, I started to cry harder as the memory of him storming out of the dining room in anger replayed in my mind. No words were spoken. But the look on my face probably gave you a good idea about what the answer was, and you asked if it was okay to hug me. I nodded at you, and we held each other for a long time as I soaked your clothing with my tears.

You stayed in that room with me all night, just talking and holding me tightly in your embrace. Soon, I had no more tears left to cry, and I fell asleep with my head buried deep in your chest.

"Wait a minute, why didn't you tell me this?" Klaus asked, looking behind him. None of us knew who he was talking to, but I had a feeling that maybe he was talking to Ben's ghost, and even though we couldn't see him, Klaus could. He continued talking behind him for a while until he let out a loud sigh and continued to read the words on the next page.

The next morning, I woke up later than I usually did, and I saw there was a small food bag resting on my rocking chair. And when I opened it, I saw there were two chocolate chip muffins along with a small bottle of apple juice inside of it, on the outside there was a note that said,

I hope this cheers you up! - Ben

I couldn't help but smile as I read that note. I thought that you were just comforting me because you felt sorry for me. But over the next few months, we started talking more and more, and we helped make each other feel better. And I thought that maybe I would get through this. But then something happened. And no, to those of you reading this, Ben didn't betray me. It's something far worse.

Death.

Just thinking about it is making me cry all over again. Why, you may ask? Well, I suppose I should start at the beginning, we were sixteen years old, and we had heard that there was another robbery, but unlike the many robberies we had infiltrated, there were more people who had bigger and stronger weapons. Allison, Luther, and Klaus had taken out the thugs that were carrying sniper rifles, and after that, Ben released his tentacles and took out all the thugs. Or so we all thought.

Father had told me to look out for Ben. And to make sure that nobody was approaching him from behind. When Ben had taken the thugs out, we got the hostages out of the bank, but when I looked behind me, I saw a man was on one of the counters and pointing a gun at us before I had the chance to use my telekinesis abilities, he shot Ben in the chest. Diego threw one of his knives at the thug, hitting him right in the chest, and he fell to the ground dead.

I collapsed onto my knees and pulled Ben into my lap, where he was struggling to breathe. "Ben! Stay with us! You'll be okay!" I said frantically to him. You tried to say something, but you were cut off by blood pouring out of your mouth. "Please don't leave," I continued to beg, but you took my hand in yours in your final moments, and you fell limp in my arms. I had never lost someone like that before, and at that moment, I was frozen. I couldn't stand up. I couldn't say anything. All I could do was look down at my slain friend.

When I was pulled away from Ben, I started screaming and begging for you to wake up. And it didn't help that Father told me it was my fault and that I should've paid more attention. The funeral happened a few days later, and I broke down sobbing as I looked at Ben's white coffin, which was in the center of the backyard. When father went back inside, everyone looked over at me with looks of disgust.

"This is your fault, Anna!" Luther shouted. Everyone soon joined in except for Vanya, who just stood there and cried as she looked at the coffin. As they continued to blame me for his death, anger rose inside of me, and I started screaming, "SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" I screamed as I ran inside and ran towards my room.

Ben, I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I could've stopped them, but I didn't. I hope you don't hate me for what happened. Hopefully, I'll see you on the other side.