Forgotten

Twilight Sighs

Ben awoke in the golden hours of sunset when the sky shifts from shades of gold and orange into lilac and dusky blues. The sky stretches over the ocean and they mirror one another as the array of color reflects off the ocean's surface sandwiching the horizon, the isle in dreamy sunset. The sky and sea seem to echo a taunt to remind him of his dreams. He had just had another one about his dream boy again. He had run off with a fear of dogs from the tourney field. Ben had found him halfway up a tree terrified. Ben slowly introduced him to the dog. It was the first time Ben let slip that he might not be as straight as he usually pretends. He had called his freckled crush a good boy in an attempt to comfort him but quickly pretended it was a slip of the tongue.

Ben so far gone for this chocolate eyed teen that even now he could feel the telltale swell of love in his heart. It made him painfully aware of how alone he was now. Ben had tried to date but he just couldn't find it in himself when he knew his heart already belong to someone, he was certain didn't exist. However, if he didn't truly exist then why did he even bother with the proclamation in the first place? Because deep down, Ben wanted it all to be real, he wanted even the painful memories to be real just so he could love his monochromatic haired boy.

Ben had spent long enough wallowing on his balcony contemplating as the cool even breeze graced his face. He turned around and picked up his bookbag in an attempt to distract himself from his dreams. The math homework made his head spin a bit and the English was painfully simple, but it was the history work that he got lost into. Lost in a time long before now when fairytales were happening left and right. The simple beauty of fairytales is in how childish yet unendingly beautiful they are. Childish because that kind of luck and magic isn't seen anymore and to hope for one is for children now. Growing up means that the prince doesn't end up with his true love. Sometimes the prince simply ends up going mad and single for the rest of his sad royal life. "Bleak" Ben whispered to himself realizing all too quickly that he had just hurt his own feelings. He didn't mean to follow that logic so harmfully back to himself. He let out a worn-out sigh and put his homework back into his backpack and slid back into bed.

Without meaning to Ben had missed dinner again for the third night in a row. He knew his parents would worry but he didn't have much of an appetite right now. All he wanted to do, no matter how damaging it was to him anymore was to dream of his isle friends, his black and white muse, and sleep. He felt so tired that it was truly in his bones now, making him feel decades older than he truly was. Weary from his own thoughts Ben nestled himself amongst the bedding and did his best to will his body to sleep. It took surprisingly longer than he had hoped for but after a while managed to convince his body to relax and let the darkness take hold. This dream wasn't like the others. He was trapped in the dark calling out to anyone, but no one was there, it was just Ben all alone. He kept searching anyway, glimpsing flashes of purple, blue, red, and yellow. The room started to spin slowly as he could hear whispers of voices, he swore he knew all saying his name and telling him not to forget, the room began to spin faster, pitch black and nauseating. The voices became so loud and overwhelming he couldn't think or feel it was all one loud overlapping of the same thing.

"Ben Don't Forget." It was so overwhelming that when he woke to the dark of the morning his body lurched unnaturally, and he sprinted to the bathroom. His stomach emptied itself of its own bile as he vomited into the toilet like a drunk partygoer that had drunk more than their body could handle. Once the retching stopped, he stood up and quickly brushed his teeth and washed his mouth out before taking a heavy dose of pain reliever for his now forming headache. His stomach growled now demanding food since it was now empty. Ben couldn't help but grumble and head to check his phone. His father texted him that the teens he selected would be coming short notice today so they could have the weekend to settle into their dorms at Auradon Prep before starting school.

For the first time, Ben smiled. How could he not? He was finally going to see if these dreams were truly dreams or if what was happening to him was something else. Some form of premonition maybe? He had no real way to know as believing in his dreams would be disastrous without some form of proof that they weren't simply dreams. So naturally, this first proclamation would help him get answers to whether these were simply fantasy or if some of it was real somehow. How it could be real he could not fathom as he knows that they did not happen but that was a problem for future Ben. Current Ben just wanted something to eat and the pounding in his chest to stop. With much effort, he convinced himself to go down to the kitchen and heat up some of the leftovers from dinner that night. His made plate sat wrapped in cling film as if Mrs. Potts knew he would need to eat it later. Bless that woman in her forward-thinking wisdom. Ben ate his meal alone at the table before going back to his room to get ready for the day. He was too excited about the villain descendants coming from the isle that he could not go back to bed. He couldn't do anything beyond prepare himself mentally to both potentially be right or wrong. His stomach filled with knots. He decided to finish his homework now to distract from the fact that he had tempted fate and now it was just a waiting game to find out whether or not he was going mental or not.