Elder Benson is dead.
He had a gift of taking pictures in a surreal manner and didn't care people thought he was strange.
When his body is found with a bluish substance in his system, everyone concludes that he overdosed on drugs.
And no one cares...
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Days passed and neither Malachi and Simi had seen each other. The pressures of lectures were on them and Malachi had already failed a quiz and had to take a make-up quiz. The university was popular for making its students take weekly quizzes to test how well they understood topics.
Malachi had kept the photo of the hierarchy table hidden somewhere only he could find it and told Simi that he'd burned it. They made up for not seeing each other by texting when they had free time. Simi was also getting more acquainted with Bahija, her roommate, looking for an opportunity to ask her to set a date with the University SRC president for Simi.
Four days after asking Malachi to destroy the photo of the hierarchy table, Simi went to pay a visit to her childhood best friend. These past days, after learning what could be the possible cause of his death, she missed him more.
With her earbuds blasting songs from SZA's Ctrl album, she took a shuttle to the graveyard area. She was getting nearer to the main gate of the cemetery was when she saw Elder's sister, Julia, leaning on the Benson's Pajero.
She took the earbuds out of her ears as she got close to Julia. It was always nice to see someone with whom you grew up.
"Julia. Hello," Simi said to Julia but her mind was so focused on her phone that she didn't hear her.
"Julia?" Simi tried again, this time her voice an octave higher.
Julia finally snapped back into reality. "Oh hey Simi. Sorry," she quickly put her phone in her pocket.
"Came to see El too?" Simi asked her.
Julia shook her head. "Too painful. Came to accompany my mom. She's there." She pointed to the cemetery.
"Oh okay. I'll see you later."
Simi gave Julia a hug and braced herself for Mrs. Benson's sad face but when she got to Elder's headstone, Mrs. Benson was anything but sad. She was sitting cross-legged before the headstone narrating memories of Elder. She sat down beside Mrs. Benson and muttered a hello.
"Hello Simi. I was just sharing some memories of Elder with him," Mrs. Benson beamed. Simi nodded and put her head on Mrs. Benson's shoulder.
Mrs. Benson went on and on, narrating when Elder had walked for the first time. How he had given them all a heart attack and hid in a cupboard. When Mrs. Benson finally found him, she swore to never leave her boy's side.
Another time, during church service, Elder was just 5 years old and he had learnt the word 'liar' from his sister's argument with their mother. When the pastor was in the middle of the sermon with the whole place quiet, Elder shouted 'liar'. Everyone turned to the Bensons and Mr. Benson muttered a gruff sorry and put his hand on Elder's mouth throughout the sermon.
Simi remembered that day vaguely. Her family were close to the Bensons so they mostly sat behind them during their community church service. Mrs. Benson kept on narrating the memories with a smile on her face until Simi dozed off.
