WHEN IT'S OVER

DANCERINTHEDARK101

The war is over and society is beginning to rebuild. Ben struggles to cope with the prejudice against harnessed children.

-FALLING SKIES-

Ben sat at his desk with a pencil in his hand, quietly doodling on the paper in front of him as the teacher droned on about something meaningless. Gazing out the window, he looked at the sprawling school fields surrounded by tall fences and dotted by the forms of children playing.

It had been five months since the aliens had packed up and left their ruined planet. Ben remembered the day very clearly. The 2nd Mass had been putting the final touches on one their plans to infiltrate Boston and attempt to take it back when a sentry had come running in and yelled something about a retreat.

Ben had rushed outside along with everybody else and had stood, amazed at the sight before them. The city of Boston was being evacuated. Hundreds of ships were slowly rising above the skyline of the extensive city, hovering for several minutes before rocketing upwards and disappearing into the distance.

It had taken several weeks to confirm what their wildest dreams were – the aliens were gone. It had also taken another month of no alien sightings for everyone to start relaxing and start believing that it was over; that they were free.

Now, months later as Ben sat in a school classroom ignoring what the teacher was saying, he realised that he missed it. He missed the action and thrill that the war had brought. He missed having a purpose; something to fight for. Before the attack, all he had wanted to do was go to college, get a good job and maybe settle down and have a few kids. Now though… after everything he had been through, it seemed stupid.

Reaching over his shoulder, Ben ran a hand down the back of his neck, relishing in the feeling of smooth skin – no spikes in sight. That was probably the best day of his life – the day the spikes finally disappeared.

He had woken one morning in agony. Waves of white hot pain began sliding up and down his spine as he struggled to keep himself from screaming. It lasted for hours and nothing, not even morphine, was helping curb the pain. But when it was over, the spikes were gone. He had, however, kept some of the abilities the harness had given him. The amazing stamina and increased physical strength had stayed; enabling him to still defend himself if need be.

It didn't make a difference though, not to the general population. He still had scars from where the metal spikes had pierced the skin and on one of the first days of school he had taken his shirt off to change and another classmate had seen the scars.

Since that day, no one wanted to speak to him. The whole school knew that he had been a razorback; and someone had obviously done some digging and found out exactly what regiment he had been part of – had found out what he had done.

Ben had overheard a group of kids talking one day, about what they thought the newly elected government should do about the harnessed kids – the razorbacks. The ideas that sprung forth had ranged from detaining them all in prison to issuing a nation-wide kill-on-sight order. Not one of them had wanted any of the razorbacks anywhere near them.

He could handle the teasing and torment from his classmates, but it was when Matt had come home day with a black eye that Ben had snapped. Some kids in his class had been teasing him because he had a razorback for a brother and had proceeded to beat the crap out of him. Ben had immediately gone to the basement to pummel the punching bag they had down there to work off the anger racing through his veins.

The blonde-haired teenager was brought back to the present when he heard the teacher call his name. From the sound of it, it wasn't the first time either.

"Uh, yes?"

He winced. Was that the best he could do? Dammit.

"Mr. Mason, would you like to expand on the idea that we are currently discussing?"

Ben quickly looked to the black board at the front of the room to see what they were discussing and froze. In the middle of the board, surrounded by lines of writing, was a crudely drawn image of a Skitter.

"Uhh…" he stammered, feeling his hands begin to shake. Quickly shoving them under his desk, Ben glanced around the room. Everyone's eyes were on him.

"Today would be nice, Ben."

"They were green?" he answered, inwardly wincing at the stupid answer.

Snickers erupted throughout the room at his words. "Surely you know some more interesting stuff than that Mason!" one of the kids called out.

"Yeah, Mason! Weren't you nice and friendly with the Skitters at one point?" The last sentence was laced with anger and Ben felt his body tense. Why wouldn't they just leave him alone for once?

After a few more taunts from other kids (and the teacher just stood there and watched), Ben had had enough.

"Yeah, I've been up close and personal with Skitters before… James," he said in a low voice, standing. "I've been so close that I could feel their breath on my face as I forced a hunting knife in their mouths and up into their brains. I've felt their blood on my skin as they died by my hand. And maybe none of you care about that, but I do. I was harnessed against my will and after I was freed, I did everything in my power to make them pay. Say whatever you want; do whatever you want - I don't give a fuck anymore. Screw you all. And leave my family the hell alone!"

Silence followed his statement. His classmates were staring, open-mouthed in shock as he leaned down and grabbed his bag before making his way to the door. He didn't care anymore. No matter what he said or did, nothing was going to change the prejudice that was sweeping across the country. Screw having an education. He was strong, he was agile and he could fight. School wasn't the best option for him anymore – the Army was.

"Ben? What are you doing home so early?"

His dad was in the kitchen, making what looked like a pot of soup on the battered stovetop.

"I quit."

"What?"

Ben looked into his father's eyes as he dropped his bag on the floor. He felt tears brimming in his own eyes as he slumped into a nearby chair.

"I quit. I can't handle it anymore, Dad." He took in a deep shuddering breath as it all came out. "I can't handle the stares and the comments anymore. I've seen what everyone thinks of us – the harnessed kids. I've seen what they did to Matt because of me, and I know that Hal is getting trouble because of it too. I thought it would end after the war, but it's not going away! Why can't they just leave us alone?"

His father came and sat next to him, an arm wrapping around his shoulders as he shook; just being there for him was enough for Ben. Leaning into his father's embrace, Ben cried.

-FALLING SKIES-

Tom Mason held his middle child as he cried. He knew that he had been getting a hard time at school because of the harnessing situation, but he hadn't known it was bad enough to send his normally stoic son into tears.

As much as they had all wanted to believe, the world hadn't changed much. Being attacked by an alien faction had brought humanity together for a while, but as soon as the threat was over it reverted back to how it was before. The prejudice and hate that had once been reserved for the Skitters and Mechs had transferred to the last living tie to them – the harnessed kids.

The war hadn't changed the world for the better; it had just temporarily displaced the hate onto a different species for a while. And for a lot of people, they had come out the other side worse off than before.

Because when it's over, nothing's really changed at all.

Prejudice (unfortunately) always had and always would be a part of their world.

Well, a slightly depressing end there. But I don't think that after such a large-scale invasion, the world would change to a happy-go-lucky place. Judgement of those different will always be there, no matter what happens.

Please review and let me know what you thought.

-Rachel