Chapter 2 - London, 1949
Benjamin C. Whittaker led a quiet life. He was 22 years old and belonged to an aristocratic family, which owned a big ship-builder company. Ben – as everyone called him – loved ships and always had interest for his family's business, which made his parents, Henry and Emily, very proud of him. He had always been a good son and a brilliant student, which he kept demonstrating during his marine engineering course at university.
Ben was a very handsome guy, and he was considered an excellent match. Many girls desired him, but none of them seemed to arouse his interest. His parents wanted him to have a good marriage, but they respected his privacy and didn't insist when they realized he had no courting intentions towards any of the young aristocrats who were introduced to him. They knew Ben had a sensibility which was unusual to the boys of his age, besides being romantic and having already let them know that he would marry only for love, unconcerned with social interests.
What they didn't know was that Ben had already in his mind an image of the woman of his dreams. Actually the picture was not entirely clear, but one element he could see clearly: the bright blue eyes, as the most precious sapphires. He had always dreamed about those eyes, since childhood, and he was sure that one day he would find their owner, and she would surely own his heart. And he couldn't wait for that moment to come.
One night, Ben woke up suddenly. He had just had a dream, the same that occasionally visited his sleep: he dreamed of a portal, opened up into a tree, through which some people crossed. That dream made him feel anxious, for he had the feeling that a piece of his heart was going through that portal, leaving him shattered.
Again this dream... and again this pain... I wonder what that dream means and why I feel this emptiness in my heart...
Ben spent several minutes trying to remember details of the dream, but it was useless. He couldn't distinguish faces, and he didn't know the context of those events. Who were those people? What was the meaning of that portal? The only thing he saw clearly was that pair of blue eyes that haunted him now and then. Their owner also disappeared through the portal, and that was the source of Ben's anguish.
Amid so many questions, Ben was eventually won by fatigue and fell asleep again.
"For goodness sake, I can't take this anymore!", Susan exclaimed, abruptly closing her book. She couldn't wait to finish her exams and just go on vacations. It was all so boring... She liked her psychology course, but going out with her friends was undoubtedly more interesting than being locked in her dorm room studying for exams.
At age 21, Susan was in her third year at university. After finishing school, she showed a great desire for knowing new places, at the same time that she had no idea of what to do for the future. Believing that it was useless to leave her confined at home or force her to go to college without knowing exactly what she wanted, her parents allowed her to have some traveling experiences.
Although her siblings were displeased with her because of her current stage of complete denial about everything that referred to Narnia, they decided to support her travels and helped convince their parents to allow her to take a rest. In their opinion, she wasn't emotionally fine and she needed a "vacation" from her own family and from Finchley, to be away a little and maybe retrieve her reason, which – as Edmund used to say – had been left in Narnia together with his new torch.
After spending a whole year with travels and parties, Susan finally decided to go to college. Despite her disinterest in studies, she felt she owed it to her parents and decided to attend psychology, career for which she felt some sympathy. But her interests were still concentrated in futilities.
Peter criticized her behavior, but she didn't care. Edmund and Lucy said nothing, but she knew they thought the same as Peter. The truth was that they had become extremely annoying. It seemed that they were refusing to grow up, especially when they tried to convince her that that fantasy world called Narnia was real. Luckily, since entering university she spent less time with her siblings. Susan spent all week in the university dormitory, going home only on weekends.
"Enough for today...", she said, laying her books aside. It was too late to call some friend to go out, so Susan decided to sleep early. Moreover, the next night there would be an incredible party, so it would be good if she slept enough now.
On the next day, Susan attended one of her exams without paying much attention to it, just thinking about the upcoming party. She would have another exam on the following day, but she believed she had already studied enough. In addition, her fun was more important, and she would finally use for the first time her newly bought make-up set.
"Miss Pevensie?", the teacher's voice caught Susan's attention, awakening her from her wanderings.
"Yes, Mr. Turner?", Susan replied, trying to disguise her previous distraction. How long had he been calling her?
"Would you come here, please?"
The professor was at the door and Susan noticed that there was someone else outside. Who could it be and why were they calling her in the middle of an exam? Susan stood up, being watched by the other students, and went to the door.
"Miss Pevensie, Mrs. Hallward wants to talk to you", he said in a sorrow filled tone.
Susan began to get worried and turned to the coordinator.
"Is there something wrong?"
"You better come with me, dear."
Susan looked at the professor and he nodded with a sad expression. Then Mrs. Hallward led her into the coordination room and sat on a sofa, inviting Susan to do the same.
"What happened, Mrs. Hallward?"
"Susan... You need to be strong..."
"What is going on, Mrs. Hallward? I'm getting nervous!"
"Honey... There was an accident..."
On the next morning, Ben woke up early, got dressed and went downstairs to have his breakfast with his parents, as usual. The Whittaker's house was relatively close to the campus, so Ben didn't have to go to the university dormitory in order to attend it. It was a privilege to come home every day when most students had to stay in dormitories, since their homes were very far from it.
As Ben approached the dining room, his parents' talk reached his hears.
"Poor people... May God have them in peace...", said Mrs. Whittaker, touched by the news her husband had just read.
"It was a terrible fatality, Emily... That train always seemed to be so safe... I can't understand how such an accident could have happened."
"Good morning, Dad. Good morning, Mom. What are you talking about?", Ben asked, coming in and sitting next to them.
"Good morning, son!", Emily replied.
"Good morning, Ben. Oh, you can't even imagine... There was a train accident yesterday, a very terrible one...", said Henry, giving the newspaper to Ben.
Serious train accident kills dozens of passengers in London, said the headline. It said that among the victims was almost an entire family, a couple and three of their four children. It was too sad... Someone had just lost the whole family. Ben felt something strange when reading it. He was sure he had already heard about this before. A similar accident, maybe...? But when?
"Ben? Are you okay?", Emily asked, noticing the strange expression on her son's face.
"Yes... yes, I'm fine. I'm just... shocked."
"It's hard not to be shocked... Poor people..."
Ben took his coffee in silence, thoughtfully. He was sure he had already heard about a similar accident. No, it wasn't a similar accident, he thought. It was the same accident. That was really strange... It was as if he previously knew about that tragedy, as if that information had been asleep somewhere in his mind, but only now came to the surface.
Impossible, Ben concluded. Is that what they call déjà vu? Maybe it's just that... a déjà vu...
Hello there! I hope you liked Ben! I guess there's no need to say who inspired me to name him that... LOL
I would like you to take a look at my other Suspian fanfic as well, When it's Love: English version. As the title says, it's a translation too. I'm really enjoying to do this! =P Please keep up with the reviews! I love them! :)
Review Reply to Sazz: Ow, thank you so much! I'm happy you found it interesting, I'm trying to do my best! :)
