It’s always been strenuous for Ben to sleep at night. Every dream he thought was a dream was only a bitter nightmare that unraveled the future his body would take on. Most of his nightmares were ones of death and sorrow he faced the next day or further on in his life. His dreams he had never fully understood. Some of them were positive dreams full of enlightenment and love. However, they never occurred in real life. Only his nightmares had shown him glimpses of his future. The nightmares occurred every single night. They haunted him night by night, taunting his mind.
Ben sat up on his bed with bags under his eyes. He had attempted to take a nap with little hope of success. All he wanted was sleep. This nightmare had gone on longer than the ones he used to have about his grandfather. Every time the nightmare occured, there was an agonizing, feminine scream but no face shown. The only characteristic Ben could identify about the victim was her long, curly, golden hair. Her fate: getting hit by a car. Ben had thought about her death all day, wishing he could remember who the girl is. Her hair was familiar to him, but he couldn’t place his finger on her identity. While he sat on his bed thinking, he heard someone call him.
“Ben, you ready?!” asked his mother.
Ben had almost entirely forgotten. It was a Wednesday that day, a church day. He mainly went there for friends, but mostly for a girl. Church days were the only days when Ben could see her on the account they didn’t go to the same schools. She was a small, beautiful girl with the loveliest personality any guy like Ben could wish to have. Whenever she spoke, the only words she said were kind. Unlike Ben, she was fond of church and almost never missed a service. On the days she would miss a church service, he would wait for her in the cold outside the church, wishing her to come. He wasn’t missing church that day.
Nearly falling, Ben stumbled down the stairs. He had forgotten to be careful when he was tired. His vision was usually deprived when he was tired. His mother, a brown-headed woman with pointy glasses and a button nose, waited for him at the foot of the carpeted stairs. She, like usual, was well dressed. Ben himself was poorly dressed in a black jacket, jeans, and red shirt. To a majority, Ben dressed like a hobo, despite his best efforts. He followed his mother out of the house and into the garage where the car was already turned on. In the back seats of the car sat his older brother and younger sister. Both of them bantered with each other as Ben slowly entered the car.
“My gosh, Tim, you’re such a jerk.” laughed Jin, Ben’s thriteen-year-old sister.
“You’re just jealous of my beautiful acne!” Tim, Ben’s older brother, joked.
“What is there to be jealous of exactly?”
The two of them laughed. Normally, Ben always appeared to avert their banter. At that moment, it was all he desired. In the car, he thought of all the people he knew to have blonde, curly hair. Nobody in his memory came about. In desperation, he turned to his family.
“Hey, mom?” he asked.
“Yeah, Ben?” she looked at him through the car mirror.
“Do you remember how I told you about the nightmare I had about grandpa?”
“Are you having another one?” said the mom questionably
Jin and Tim stopped talking. Concerned, they listened to Ben’s question. The whole family had known about Ben’s nightmares and their relations to death or morbid things. There had once been a case in which Ben predicted Jin would get her earring ripped out as she slept the following night. Jin could still remember the pain she felt in her earlobe. Tim had never really believed Ben’s nightmares to be real. He always figured they were coincidence. The topic was still interesting to him nonetheless.
“Yes. This time, I can’t tell who the victim is. I only know them by their hair and voice. I can’t put my finger on who it is, but they die from getting ran over. I don’t suppose y’all know anyone with blonde, curly hair.” explained Ben.
“Doesn’t your girlfriend have curly, blonde hair?” replied Tim.
“You have a girlfriend?!” shouted Ben’s mom.
“Who do you mean? Also, she’s not my girlfriend.”
“Well, she should be. You two hang out with each other at church more than you should.” Tim continued.
Ben’s heart dropped to the lowest area of his chest. That’s who it was. She was going to die. His nightmares were teasing him. The one day he was getting to see her, she would get hit by a car. He had no way to control it. Yet, he wanted her to stay.
“Wait. Did you dream about her?” asked Jin, shocked.
“Well, technically it was a nightmare,” interfered Tim, “so I guess he nightmared.”
“Please take me seriously.” Tim stopped talking.
Ben’s heart raced. It couldn’t be her. It just wasn’t. He couldn’t have dreamt of her. She was a young, smart, and strong girl. She wouldn’t get hit by a car. She would look both ways before crossing to make sure she was safe. She just wouldn’t die. She couldn’t. Before Ben knew it, the car had parked in the church’s parking lot. His friend was in the courtyard area of the church, waving at him from a safe distance. His body stiffened. What was he going to do? He didn’t know what to do. For all he knew, his nightmares could’ve been wrong all along. It could’ve all been coincidence. He couldn’t make one mistake on this day. If he did, he would never see her again. Ben walked up to his friend with a fake smile. His hands were placed in his pockets to block the cold from entering his body. His friend looked up at him and smiled her sweet smile. He loved that sweet smile.
“Hey, Ben. How’s it going?” she asked sweetly.
“Good. What happened with you today?” Ben responded, trying not to sound nervous.
“Today, these two boys got into a fight with each other over cake. It was great.”
Ben laughed nervously. All the while, his heart felt shattered in his chest. The shards of his heart poked at his lungs, keeping him from breathing regularly.
“Today, in class, we had to make a skit about how badly maintained the food industry was during Roosevelt’s presidential term. One of my friends had to pretend to be killed by the meat-shredding part of the machine. I’ll race you to the swings!”
Out of nowhere, Ben ran to the swingset at full speed. His friend followed behind him at a slower pace, half unsure. The swings in the courtyard were hardly used by most of the kids there. Since it was bare, Ben decided he would be able to come up with an idea of what to do. Plus, his friend would be distracted there. She sat down on the swing neatly as she brushed her golden hair out of her face.
“The stars look amazing tonight.” she commented as she gazed at the sky.
“Yeah. Kind of like you.” said Ben sheepisly
Ben’s friend blushed. She never fully activated the swing. In reality, she sat on it and watched the sky like she was waiting for something. While sitting on the swing, she pulled out her purse and began to look through it. While she searched for what she wanted, her purse toppled over and spilled onto the ground. Ben bent down and began to help her pick up the millions of papers that flew from the bag. Ben picked up one paper and stopped. He looked at it in awe. The papers were all her church notes from previous years. Each one had a specific drawing on it. He had no idea she could draw so well. He stopped in his tracks and looked up at her.
“Did you draw these?” he clutched the church note.
“Yeah. They’re stupid.” she blushed harder.
“No they’re not. They’re amazing.”
Ben picked up more church notes. There were multiple drawings of bunnies and people he had never met. People only she knew. That was when he had an idea.
“Can I keep some of these? Great art should be appreciated.” he smiled.
“Sure. I don’t need those notes anyways. The lessons are outdated.”
The church part of church lasted an hour. Just an hour. The hour was painful to him in those long services. He had chosen to sit next to his friend this time. For, he feared for her life. He could barely remember what happened in those brief hours. The next second, the two of them walked back out of church into the courtyard. They sat on the swings together as they waited for their parents to pick them up. Ben stuck by his friend’s side the whole time, watching every car that passed. Eventually, his friend’s car arrived. She stood up from the swing and smiled.
“I guess I have to go.” she softly said.
“May I walk you to your car?” Ben asked politely while holding his arm out.
“What? Why?”
“I have to tell you something. Just listen to me for a few seconds if you can.”
The car was fairly far from the church’s courtyard. The walk itself was a fair distance to have a conversation. Ben cleared his throat and flashed a sad grin. Tears began to roll down his face. He knew what was going to happen next. It was going to happen. Nothing could stop it from happening, so he said what he wanted to say to his friend first.
“I love you. Or, I think I do. I always have. I’ve been having nightmares for the longest time about certain things I might never be able to describe. Right now, whatever happens next, I love you. I wished I was old enough to date you. All I wanted to do is marry you so we never part. Yet, it may never happen.” Ben confessed.
“I_” she stopped, trying to think of what to say next.
Ben looked up to see a large vehicle heading at full speed towards the two of them. The driver appeared to have lost control of their brakes and was trying to swerve in a non-harmful way. The driver constantly honked their horn. His friend froze in the middle of the road like a deer. Violently, Ben pushed her out of the way. She stumbled into one of the parking lot’s cars as Ben stood frozen in the road. There was first a scream, then a loud thud. Afterwards, silence.
What follows death is always silence.
Short Stories
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This started so sweet, and I was utterly gobsmacked by the ending! I did not see that coming. “What follows death is always silence” That’s tragically beautiful.