She's Not There

Chapter 1: Valentine is Done

Pitter, patter.

She did tell her mom that she needed picking up. The stupid motor scooter was at home, unable to start. The engine produced strange sounds and conked out as she tried to start it, making her a bit scared to take it out. So she left it. Now she needed picking up. The rain continued to trickle lightly on the roof. Unfortunately something came up and her mom said that she had to hurry over to the hospital.

Couldn't she just catch the bus home? That would have been possible earlier in the day, when the bus was still available. It stopped an hour ago.

Julie kicked at the tennis ball beside her foot while releasing a frustrated sound. The yellow ball rolled into the glistening grass. Dots of rain water darkened the yellow color. There was still the fluorescent light from the covered section of the tennis court that connected to the washrooms. The school was relatively bright even if the sky was darkened. It was even darker from the rain clouds.

She could wait for her dad to finish work, but that would mean being stuck there for even longer. Five hours until her dad was finished working overtime. She was hungry and tired. After that rigorous tennis practice, all that she could imagine was the soft comforts of home.

It wasn't that she blamed her mom for the issue. It wasn't her fault that her grandmother needed to be rushed to the hospital. Nonetheless, like most people, she still resented the fact that she had to be stuck in the tennis court waiting for no one.

Pitter, patter.

Whatever. She was going home.

Picking up the tennis rackets, she hurried over to the lockers and stuffed them inside. She couldn't bring them home because they added to the things she had to carry and her bag was filled to the brim with books. She still needed to study some math and science. Her teacher hinted at the start of the year that he would give them 'surprise' tests on math. Being so focused on getting to the grand finals match of her school's tennis competition, she was starting to slack on her studies. With the weekend coming up, she'd have plenty of time revising her work.

With her bag hefted on her back and her pink hoodie on her head, she strolled outside of the campus. There was a shortcut. Sort of. It would take her about thirty minutes to walk to her house unlike the longer walk through the main road - this would have been five minutes if her mom was there. She released another frustrated hiss.

Either way, it was still better than five hours staring at the rain.

Pitter, patter.

He's been driving through that stretch of road for a while. The road was relatively empty. There was a new road that passed by stores and was relatively close to civilization. He liked to use this one because it was empty and he could get home faster.

Now he was really too sleepy. He could have sworn he saw a strange light and a woman with long pale hair suddenly appear on the side of the road as he sped past. Must have been his imagination. The fact that he was sleepy was a bit strange, considering it wasn't even that late. It was probably the work at the office that exhausted him so badly.

Either way, he was close to home now. He could speed a little faster to get there. Another strange light. What in the world?

He opened his eyes. Shoot. Focusing even harder on the road, he noticed briefly that there was a figure walking on the footpath. The person was illuminated rather badly by the occasional lampposts.

When he opened his eyes again later, he was in an entire world of hurt. From what he could see through the haze of pain, the lamppost in front of him had caved in. It collapsed on top of his car roof that it dented it low enough to reach his head.

The air bag was preventing him to see something. He should have had that chair fixed because the crash had shifted his chair towards the dashboard and wedged him in place. Trying to shift even through the pain, he was able to notice something pink. With a lot of red.

Oh, f-

The alarm rang. He shot out of bed with a lot of flailing limbs. Grogginess plus growing teenage body had produced the unfortunate formula of falling out of bed in a crumpled heap. Groaning, the Savior of the Universe collected himself for his imaginary audience.

Monday mornings were just great. After stumbling gracelessly to a stand, he stretched lazily and yawned. He didn't feel like he had enough sleep but that happened most Monday mornings. He hated having to force himself awake to go to a place he disliked.

After taking a bath, he started brushing his teeth and stared at himself in front of the mirror. Occasionally he fidgeted and brush back his wet hair out of the way. It wasn't really bothering his view.

"So I was thinking, did you want to go out sometime?" No. That sounded uncertain and nervous. Girls liked self-confidence. Well, that is, if Kevin was a legitimate example. "Do you want to go out sometime?" Maybe not with that much confidence. He sounded like he wasn't going to get to get a 'no'. He coughed. As he opened his mouth again, there was a knock on the bathroom.

"Ben, why are you taking so long?" a female voice asked. "You'll be late for school."

"I'll be out in a minute, mom," he called out.

The night was his actual life. He wasn't saying that in a weird way or anything. It was just that after school, when everything normal teenage life was over, he was able to do what he did best. Kick bad guy butts.

"Took you a while to get here," the darker haired boy greeted.

He closed the door of his DMX. "I was busy doing something," he reasoned out dismissively. He looked around with greater alertness. "So how far into completion is that ship of the Forever Knights?"

"What were you busy doing anyway?" Kevin continued to insist, a smirk rising on his face. "Let me guess. Elena?"

"Bw- wait, wha-?" the over confident savior of the whole entire Universe stuttered. Defensively, he nearly half-shouted out in nervousness, "I haven't even asked her out yet!"

"Wuss," was the simple response.

Half-lidded in annoyance, he said, "Shut up." A red-haired girl was strolling to where they were, the pink energy from her eyes disappearing as she stepped towards them. There was slightly hopeful smile on his face. "I just need a little push, okay?"

"No way," she bit back almost immediately. Gwen and Elena just loved being fre-nemies. They were friends because they backed each other up and fought to keep the other alive while in battle. But looking at them at a peaceful, normal environment would give other people the wrong idea. They were like Ben and Kevin back at the start of their team-up, except in a more subtle way. It was probably a girl thing. "She calls me a freak." Which was true. Elena had a habit of resenting most other Plumber's kids. They had their powers and she had none. Elena had to fight for her position harder than anyone else. "I'm not helping you get a date with someone who calls me a freak." This made Ben's shoulders droop. Irritably, she changed the subject, "Can we get back to more important things, like the Forever Knights?"

"I did ask before," he remarked in annoyance. "Where's Ship?"

"He only comes when he can be bothered, Ben," Gwen responded simply, shrugging. They met the Galvanic Mechamorph going through a drive that night, where the symbiote followed Kevin's car to lead them to the injured Baz-el. The Mechamorph had taken over the car and Kevin's attempts to get rid of it were all thwarted, even their attempt to leave the car which Kevin protested to. They couldn't even do that because they were locked in. They were lead straight to the crashed ship. Since Baz-el no longer needed the symbiote, Ship was left with them. Gwen volunteered to keep the Mechamorph. She only kept him when Ship cared to stay.

"Okay," he said uncertainly, an eyebrow raised in question. "Have we got a plan B?"

"Dude," Kevin raised both hands in laid-back manner. "My plan B's called Rustbucket number two."

"It's space-worthy now?" Green eyes widened excitedly. "Can I drive it?"

There was a derisive male laugh. "No."

Surprisingly, the action didn't take long and they didn't even need to drive Rustbucket II into space. Which Ben found to be a bit of a shame. Now they were all on their way home.

There was renovation on the main road. Most of the drivers going through took that road regardless of the traffic. Since Kevin needed to drop his cousin off, he was forced to take that road just like all the other motorists. That road was closer to her place but the traffic probably won't make it seem like that.

The dark road wasn't patrolled, it was also old which meant it was pock-marked everywhere and pitch black except for the occasional lamppost. The road he was taking was stupid and risky. While Kevin was usually the kind of guy to do what he was currently doing, Gwen's presence on his passenger seat was inclining him to be a little less reckless. He also didn't need to drop off Ben, who now had his own car.

Ben was incredibly enthusiastic about the freedom. Now that he was alone in the car, he was able to get away with doing something stupid without someone berating him for it.

There he was driving through a dark road and every now and again there was a light other than the one from his headlights. There was limited light on the area. It was getting kind of creepy. The most inopportune thought decided to pass through his head as he drove through the street. Aliens were real. Were urban legends and ghost stories so farfetched in the face of that fact?

Then again, those things were totally different. One was scientific and the other wasn't. So the others couldn't be real. Exactly. Sort of. One thing was for sure, though: late night plus little stimulation plus overactive imagination equalled visions at the corner of his eyes. Being Savior of the Universe was nothing in the face of something he couldn't punch.

His foot was pressing harder on the accelerator.

To try and combat the overwhelming silence, he turned up the radio. The quiet tune of the music that got louder filtered past the noise of his car engine.

"Seasons don't fear the reaper," the singer crooned in a haunting voice. "Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain. We can be like they are." Now he was getting too scared. This music wasn't the best one to play at that time, so he tried to crank it way down but the radio was refusing his attempts and remained the same loudness as it used to be even at zero volume. Goosebumps ran along his skin.

"Come on baby, don't fear the reaper. Baby take my hand, don't fear the reaper." Not cool. What was wrong with his car?

He tried to change the channels. After a moment of static, the music continued to play. It just bridged the lyrics of the previously sung parts.

Static. "…gone. Came the last night of sadness. And it was clear she couldn't go on." He turned off the radio. Thankfully, it stopped. The next sound that came to his ears was his heart pounding, his breathing heavy and the car engine revving - speeding - over the bumpy streets. He needed to slow down or aliens wouldn't kill him one day. It would be some dumb car accident.

As he slowed to the proper speed limit, posted at the very start where it was practically falling off its pole, he noticed a figure on the sidewalk. Now that was just weird. Who would have been walking through that place at that time?

From where he was, he noticed the person had a pink hoodie and a white skirt on. As his car drew closer, he noticed how drenched the clothes were, how much the skirt stuck to her legs and the hood drooped around her face. That was just strange. The weather report was surprisingly accurate that day and there was no rain. What was she doing at the time? Taking a shower with her clothes on and walking through a dark road in the middle of winter? He raised his eyebrow. Either way, weird as the girl was, he couldn't help but feel inclined to help her out.

She probably needed a ride. It would have been easy to get through the road if she was in a car but not if she was walking.

So he slowed down as he neared her. She continued to walk. He rolled down the mirror. He could see the black tendrils of hair through the hood, dripping every now and again. The girl wouldn't even look at his car.

"Hey," he called out, a little shyly.

He was not good with girls. Even after the explosion of fame he had through the revelation of his Ultimatrix to the public. All the girls afterwards were put through a screen of distrust and Gwen only further reinforced that belief. Fifteen minutes of fame was ensured when they stuck themselves to his arm. While he wasn't quite as cynical as Gwen, his confidence wasn't enough to trust just any girl. He tried dating this incredibly famous actress once. That turned out just damn perfectly.

Not the time to annoy himself though.

She still hadn't turned around. Maybe she didn't hear him. He stated louder, "Do you need a ride?" The girl looked on forward, as if she didn't even hear him. Now he was just a little ticked off. At least she just needed to say that she didn't need a ride.

"Fine," he muttered. "Be that way." He stepped on the accelerator. He didn't even look back.

It was probably a good thing that he didn't because if he did, he would find that there was no one there.

A/N: Pairings: Julie/Ben/Elena (I'll bring her in shortly XD). Kevin/Gwen.

Genre: Angst/Romance/Horror (just little smidgeons here and there. ;P)

I'm hoping to maintain Ben's character through this especially since it handles his POV primarily.

I actually dreamed of this plot and I've been juggling it secretly to myself ever since my returned obsession to Junji Ito's works and "Fuan no Tane". My brain knows I loves the Benlie angst and keeps suggesting ideas. I was originally more of a horror writer, not a romance one. :D That's why I'm so partial to urban legends and dark romances.