Finally Found You - (Ben Mason Love Story)

Part 18

            “Hello?” I say looking up from my book I see Ben come in and slide against the door, down to the floor with his head in his hands.

            “Ben, what’s wrong? Ben?” I say dropping my book and walking over to him. I sit on the floor across from him.

            “I can’t do this anymore Kali. I really can’t.” Ben says between sobs.

            “What happened?” I say.

            “I just can’t take all this right now. With everyone thinking I’m a threat, Rick saying that the Skitters will come back for us and that we still aren’t free from them. I don’t think I can handle all this Kali.” Ben says looking at me. His eyes are red and puffy from crying and his hair is everywhere. He goes to raise his arms up again but I stop him and grab his hands.

            “No Ben, you’re wrong. You’re stronger than that; you shouldn’t give up on something just because of someone’s opinion or a rumor. I promise you Ben, we won’t let them take you away from us again. Not me, not Hal, not Matt, not your dad; no one will.” I say. He leans his head against our hands and I sit beside him and hug him while he cries.

            “It’s okay, just let it all out.” I say rubbing the top of his head. I feel like a mother who is holding her son after he just wrecked his bike and had gotten a scrape. After a while, he starts to calm down and I help him wash up; to try to make the puffiness in his eyes go away. I get a washcloth with some semi-warm water and start dabbing his eyes.

            “Kali?” Ben says with his eyes still closed.

            “Yeah?” I say. He grabs my wrist for a moment to stop me.

            “Thank you. Thank you for being there for me and not calling me a girl just for crying.” He says. I laugh at his side remark of what Hal would’ve said if he knew that Ben was crying.

            “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Now let me finish you up, I’ve gotta go meet Anne and Lourdes in a few minutes.” I say. After I finally finish, I say goodbye and go meet Anne and Lourdes.

            “This is all very mysterious, where are we going?” Lourdes asks as we walk down the hall.

            “Just over here; there’s something I need you guys to help me with but it’s really important that you keep it a between us.” Anne says.

             “Yeah, I’ve always been good as keeping secrets.” I say.

            “I hope so because this is a big one.” Anne says. We walk down into the locker room where we store the dead Skitter. We all put on gloves and goggles and Anne grabs the saw.

            “So what are we doing exactly?” I ask.

            “I just want to take a look inside real quick. Don’t worry it’ll be quick.” Anne says. She cuts off a square piece of the hard skin on the Skitters back while Lourdes and I hold it steady.

            “What do you think you’re going to find?” Lourdes asks.

            “Nothing I hope.” Anne answers. They take off the piece and I lay it on the tray. I look at Lourdes and she looks a little sick.

            “You alright Lourdes?” I ask.

            “My class was still on basic anatomy when they attacked so, cadaver research was still second year.” She says.

            “Well consider this extra credit. How about you Kali?” Anne says.

            “It takes a lot for me to get grossed out over something.” I say.

            “Well now we look inside.” Anne says. She and Lourdes start to dig into the Skitters back and rip out all the muscles and everything. I stand back to let them do their work, I am so not a doctor. I was hoping to be an FBI agent for my career. Not anything near a doctor. Anne takes a scalpel and starts to cut something inside it. I go over to help them. As she starts to cut it, I see something underneath that looks very familiar.

            “Oh my god…” I say. It was a harness.

            “Oh no, this is what I was afraid of.” Anne says.

            “Skitters were harnessed? What does that mean?” Lourdes says grabbing Rick’s old harness.

            “That maybe they weren’t always Skitters.” I say.

“It’s hard to imagine but this thing, might’ve been something else.” Anne says. We all look at each other, probably thinking the same thing. I tell them I’m not feeling well so they say it’s alright for me to leave. To be honest, I really wasn’t feeling well. A billion questions started racing through my head and I just couldn’t hold them. I take off my gloves and goggles and run back to my room. I shut the door behind me and walk slowly over to my cot. I lay down and hearing the dinner bell ring, just made my head pound even louder. Finally I fall asleep after a while only to be woken up once again. People need their damn sleep you know.

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