The Frown
By:
Me
I own nothing, but sure would like to own Atticus Mitchell. Just saying.
OO
There was no way to coax a smile out of him anymore. His smile had died the day that he had found his best friend in his room lying so still upon the cold floor. He remembered the way Ms. Weir had shrieked on the phone to 911. He remembered how his best friend's father had begged his son's forgiveness as he cradled the teen's limp body. He remembered as Benny was loaded into the ambulance. He remembered and it hurt.
He walked through the hospital doors and took the elevator. He walked down a long hallway until he came to the room he was looking for. Doctor's thought that Benny had slipped into a coma due to abuse. His best friend's body had been a mass of fresh and partially healed bruises. Benny had hidden the fact that his father was beating him on a regular basis. It had made him wonder what else his best friend had been hiding behind his smile.
The teen stepped into the room to find his friend lying still and pale in the hospital bed. Benny's hair had grown longer over the last few months. It hurt to see all of the IV's in his hands and to hear the slow beat of his friend's heart on the heart monitor. Ms. Weir looked up as he entered. Looking at her he remembered their conversation in the emergency room on that tragic morning.
"What happened Ms. Weir?"
"Benny drank the elixir of eternal sleep. He…he knew what he was doing when he mixed that potion, Ethan."
"Why? Why would he do that? Didn't he know what that would do to us?"
"I think he was trying to escape from pain. He must have been hurting a lot to give up like this."
Pain? How could Benny have been experiencing pain without anyone knowing? Why hadn't he said anything to his best friend? Guilt pricked at him as he remembered all the times that he rejected Benny's offer to spend time together. It hurt to admit that he had been a contributor to his friend's anguish.
"I'll be back in a couple of hours," Ms. Weir said as she stood, "Thank you for keeping my grandson company while I go clean up and get some more clothes."
He numbly nodded as he took up his best friend's hand in his as he remembered hearing the news of Benny's condition.
"Benny is in a form of a coma. His body will continue to function until it starves to death. The hospital will probably keep him on life support."
"Can't you mix up a potion to make him wake up?"
"No, Ethan. I know of no potion to wake anyone from eternal sleep. I only wish he had come to me. I should have reached out to him more. I should have known what his father was doing to him. I don't think I was really emotionally there for him. That poor child. How much did he hurt to have gone through with this?"
He had spent hours begging his friend to wake up with no effect. His friends had also visited and tried to get through to Benny. He never responded. He never moved, or joked, or laughed, or smiled. It hurt to have his best friend so close, but yet so far.
"Hey, B," he greeted as he rubbed his thumb across Benny's palm as he held his friend's hand, "Your father's trial was today. He pleaded guilty to all charges. He is going to pay for what he did to you."
He sighed when he got no response.
"That is probably not what you really wanted, Benny," he continued, "I think what you wanted is for someone to care. That's what you were trying to tell me, wasn't it? But I was too busy with my relationship with Sarah to spare the time for you. I am so sorry!"
Tears stung his eyes as his heart throbbed. He remembered going back to school after Benny had fallen into the eternal sleep and hearing everybody's fake condolences. His whole attitude changed as he grew sullen and angry at the world.
"You never cared for Benny before! You only ever made his life miserable! How does it feel to know the depths of your cruelty? You were all a part of his pain! I hate you!"
"Mr. Morgan that is quite enough."
"You! How many times did he ask you for help? You're the damn principle! Benny needed you and you let him down!"
He had been suspended from school many times for starting fights with Benny's tormentors. The bullies were taken aback at the depths of his anger and now tried to avoid the "insane" teen. He sighed again as his words replayed in his head. "Benny needed you and you let him down."
"You needed all of us and we all let you down," he said to his comatose friend, "I think back on some of the things that our friends and I said to you and I feel like the worst person in the world. How could I have been such a fool? Please wake up so I can beg for your forgiveness."
His parents and little sister avoided him these days. He had grown distant from his friends. Nothing felt right or important anymore. The world felt dull and colorless.
"What kind of a Seer am I if I can't even protect my best friend?" he lamented as he stood and began to pace in front of Benny's bed, "Why wasn't I given a vision to help you? Why did you hide your pain from me? I could have helped you!"
He shook in frustration as his heart throbbed. Benny's body was starting to give out. His best friend didn't have very much time left. He gingerly took Benny's hand once again in his.
"You always smiled," he sniffled out as he shook in grief, "I thought you would always be there smiling. I took for granted the fact that my best friend would always be there to pick me up when I was down. You are my rock, Benny. I need you. Please wake up. Come home."
For him the sun did not shine, the flowers did not bloom, the birds did not sing. There was no laughter. There was no fun. There was nothing left for him anymore.
"I hate it here without you," he confessed, "I…I can't go on if you leave. I don't want to. If you leave this world I will follow. I don't care anymore. A person who can't even help his best friend doesn't have the right to live if his friend cannot be there."
He gasped when he felt himself pulled into a vision without warning. He looked around in wander before he spotted a figure walking away into pitch darkness in the distance.
"Benny!" he gasped as he raced over but no matter how much he ran he couldn't reach his friend, "Benny! Wait!"
"Why are you disturbing me?" Benny demanded as he stopped and kept his back turned as he stared into the ominous blackness ahead of him, "I was at peace and you are pulling me back into the pain. I want to sleep."
"No, Benny," he begged in desperation, "You'll die. Let me help you. We all miss you so much. Come home."
"Missed me?" Benny snorted out in disbelief, "Missed the disgusting loser? I doubt it!"
"Don't you dare!" he spat angrily making Benny turn around and stare at him with shocked eyes, "Your grandmother has barely left your side since you drank that damn potion! We've all been worried sick about you! I miss you so much it hurts! There is nothing left in the world that can make me smile anymore. I am so sorry that I have not been a very good friend to you! Come home, Benny! I'm begging you!"
He felt Benny studying him as the two stared one another down. He calmed down and gave his best friend his best look of pleading.
"We all figured out how horrible we have been to you," he admitted, "Sarah, Erica, Rory, your grandmother and I feel terrible. We were so used to you always bouncing back that we never figured out how much you internalized everything. We never knew that we were hurting you so badly."
"I was a person too," Benny choked out as he took a step backwards into the blackness.
"You are still a person and we did not show you the love and respect you deserved, he explained as he held his arms out to his friend in a pleading manner, "Please let us make everything up to you. Please come back to us. I…I can't go on without you."
"You don't need me," Benny whispered as he folded his arms across his chest as if he was cold, "You've always been the stronger out of the two of us."
"I was only strong because you were holding me up, B," he continued as he took a step towards his friend, "I love you like a brother. I need my brother in the world with me and if you can't be in the world with me then I will come to this side to find you."
Benny looked up in surprise with wide eyes.
"Come home with me, Benny," he insisted again as he took another step forward, "I want to help wash your pain away. Giving up on life isn't going to make anything better. You'll just leave unfinished business behind."
Benny blinked at him before cocking his head in a questioning manner.
"It will never be the same again," Benny denied as he shook his head, "I can't be the way I was before."
"Good," he said as he stepped forward once again, "That Benny was hiding his pain. I want to know what my best friend is really feeling. I want to know if he is hurt, or angry, or depressed. I want to be there for you through happiness or sadness. So does everyone else. Come home, Benny. Please?"
"What if I am not the smiling Benny you always knew before?" his best friend questioned as he took a baby step forward.
"I only want to see you smile if you are happy," he stated as he continued to hold his arms out to his friend.
"I don't want to hurt anymore, Benny whispered as tears streamed from his eyes and he trembled where he stood.
"We will work hard to help you so we can ease your pain," he offered as he stepped forward again, "I am so sorry that I let you down. I can't lose you, B. You are my rock."
Something must have crumbled within Benny because he threw himself into his best friend's arms as he sobbed pitifully into the shorter teen's shoulder. He smiled in relief as he comforted the taller teen.
"Let's go home, B," he breathed into Benny's ear, "Let's start over again."
"So you're saying let's not rock let's roll?" Benny offered.
"Benny," he giggled out as his best friend offered a timid smile, "Yes. That is exactly what I am saying."
He was suddenly flung out of the vision. He found himself once again sitting beside his comatose friend in a dull, colorless world. He frowned deeper before he perked up. Color blossomed throughout the world again with the flutter of emerald eyes.
He smiled and was rewarded with a smile in return.