Hello hello hello! Here's Chapter 4! It's kind of long and there's not alot of really important things in it, not to say that it isn't good or anything. But let's just say, I wouldn't be mad if you just skimmed it. I originally had it separated into 3 chapters but then I combined it into one. I didn't want to have 3 sort-of-non-important chapters up in mah story. The next few chapters will be exciting though, promise! Well, enjoy! And review too if you see fit.


Chapter 4

The entire ride home he thought about Jeff. He thought about the accident and replayed the way Jeff looked as he sat in the vehicle, unconscious. He also thought about Allison and regretted arguing with her. She was right- he shouldn't have just left. But he knew he couldn't have stayed in there any longer.

When he pulled in the driveway, he saw a light on in the living room. He got out and walked in the door. He walked into the living room and his father was sitting in the chair- his mother on the couch. His mom saw him and jumped up and ran to him, his father following behind her.

"How is he?" His mother asked. Ben shook his head,

"He didn't make it, mom." He whispered, still not fully believing it.

"Oh my gosh." She whispered, putting her hands over her mouth.

"Oh, honey." She embraced him and they hugged. His father put his arms around them and they stood together for a while. When Ben pulled away, his father said,

"I'm so sorry, Ben." He nodded and whispered a thanks. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 8:30. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep but he needed to be alone.

"I'm going to go to my room, okay?" His mom nodded,

"Are you okay, sweetie?" He sighed,

"Yeah, I'll be okay."

"If we can do anything, let us know." His dad said.

"Okay, thanks." He walked to his room and laid on his bed. He tossed and turned for an hour before going and taking a long, hot shower. He got out and put on a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt. He want back and laid on his bed. A few minutes later, the phone rang. He turned over on his stomach and then heard someone come in his room.

"Ben?" He turned over and saw it was his mom.

"Honey, the phone's for you."

"I'm not here." He said, rolling back over.

"It's Jeff's mom, sweetie." He turned around,

"What?" She nodded and handed him the phone.

"Hello?"

"Ben?"

"Yes?" He asked, wondering how she got his number.

"Hi, this is Jeff's mom."

"Hi." He said, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm sorry for calling you right out of the blue, but Emma gave me your number and I wanted to call you and thank you." He was surprised,

"Thank me?"

"Yes. Allison Johnson told me about the accident and what you did." He smiled, again regretting arguing with her.

"She did?" He asked, still smiling.

"Yes, she told me how you drove all the way up to Burgaw and helped pull Jeff out of his truck and that you wouldn't leave him or the other boy that was helping him." Her voice started to crack and he could tell she was about to cry.

"I wanted to thank you so much for trying to save him." He shook his head,

"It's no problem, I wouldn't have left him for anything." She took a deep breath, and he apologized for earlier.

"I'm sorry for leaving the hospital earlier, I shouldn't have just left like that." She sniffed,

"It's okay. Oh, and I wanted to tell you, we're going to have Jeff's funeral whenever you come back on your next leave."

"What?" He asked, shocked.

"Yes, we want you to be able to be there."

"Wow, thank you." He said. She sighed,

"You're welcome. And thank you so much again." He nodded,

"You're welcome."

"Well, if you will, will you call me when you come back on your next leave so I will know when to schedule his funeral?"

"I sure will." He promised.

"Okay, my number is 765-0957."

"Okay." He said, writing it down.

"All right, well, I'll be waiting to hear from you."

"Okay, thank you again." He said,

"You're welcome, good-bye Ben."

"Good-bye." He hung up the phone, still shocked. His mom came back in.

"Hey, mom."

"Hey, honey, what did Mrs. Duvall say?" He smiled,

" She wanted to thank me for trying to save Jeff and wanted to tell me that they were going to wait to have his funeral until I come back on leave again." She came over and sat on the bed beside him,

"Do they know that it could be almost a year?"

"I guess, but they said they would wait for me." He said.

"Well that's good then." she took a break,

"Can I ask you something?" He looked at her,

"Yeah, sure."

"What happened to Jeff?" He looked away and she quickly said,

"It's okay, honey, you don't have to tell me." He shook his head,

"No, it's okay."

He told her about Emma's phone call and trying to get Jeff out of his truck. He also told her about the telephone hole and it collapsing on Jeff's truck and his trip to the hospital. When he finished, she had tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Ben, I'm so sorry." He nodded and took a deep breath.

"It's okay." They sat there for a minute before they heard his dad call his mom,

"Megan!" She turned toward the door,

"What?"

"Come here, please!" She turned towards Ben."

"It's okay." He said.

She kissed him on his forehead and walked out and shut the door behind her. He laid back down and put his hands behind his head. He stared at the ceiling, daydreaming. He thought about his day and couldn't fathom the fact that he would be headed back to the Air Force tomorrow afternoon. Before he came home on leave, his commanding officer had told him and Jeff that they wouldn't be returning to Edwards. They were going to be sent to Afghanistan.

He couldn't believe he had come home on leave with his best friend and he would be returning without him. He also thought about the conversation he had had with Jeff's mom. He also thought about Allison. Strangely, he wasn't surprised when Mrs. Duvall said that Allison had told her about him and what he did. He wasn't surprised because it seemed like something she would do. Granted, he barely knew her but, from what he could tell, she seemed like the kind of person who wouldn't say a mean thing about anybody.

He smiled and thought about her some more. He realized that he liked the fact that she had followed him out of the hospital and called him out on what he did. As he drifted off to sleep, the last thing he thought about was Allison.


When he awoke the next morning, his arm was hurting. He laid in his bed for a while, thinking maybe he slept on it wrong. After ten minutes, he figured maybe that wasn't it. He uncovered it and saw that it was cut and bruised. He realized that while everything was going on yesterday, he didn't even pay attention to his arm. It was cut from the middle of his arm all the way up to his shoulder.

It hurt when he moved it and he decided to get on up. He went into the kitchen to take some pain medicine and his mom and dad were sitting at the kitchen table. His mom was reading the paper and his dad was sitting there, talking to her. His dad saw him walk in,

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" He walked to the medicine cabinet and took out three pills.

"Okay, I guess." He had actually hardly slept and, when he did fall asleep, he had nightmares.

"Good. Hey, we were planning on going to the grocery store, then heading to the battleship for a picnic, do you want to go?" His father asked. His mom looked up at him and saw him taking the pain medicine.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" He a glass of water and popped all three pills in his mouth and swallowed,

"Oh, nothing, I have a cut on my arm from yesterday and it just hurts a little bit." His dad looked up,

"What? You're in the Air Force, a little cut isn't anything." His dad said. His mom shot him a look,

"Hush, Mark. Come here, Ben, let me see it." He walked over to her and lifted his sleeve. The skin around his cut was severely bruised.

"Oh my god, Ben, what happened?" Exclaimed his mom.

"I don't know, like I said, I think it's from the accident. But, like dad said, I'm in the Air Force, a little cut isn't anything." His dad shook his head,

"No, Ben, this is serious. You need to go the doctor and get it checked." Ben immediately shook his head, thinking no way was he going back to a hospital.

"No, it's fine. I'm fine." His mom looked at him,

"Honey, I know why you don't want to go to the hospital. But you don't have to go to the hospital, you can go to the medical center. But you're going to one of them so pick." He sighed,

"Fine."

He took a quick shower and threw on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt. He grabbed his keys and walked out the door, not bothering to say good-bye to either of his parents.

By the time he got home it was almost 2:00. When he got home, his parents were sitting on the porch, drinking hot coffee.

"Why are ya'll sitting outside?" He asked, coming up the porch steps.

"It's nice out here. What'd the doctor say about your arm?" He lifted his sleeve and showed them that it was bandaged up.

"I had to get a tetanus shot and two other shots. I remembered that I cut it on Jeff's rusty mirror so I had to get the tetanus. And I was overdue for two other shots so they gave me those while I was there."

"Well, I'm glad you got it taken care of" His dad said.

"What are you going to do now?" His mom asked. He shrugged his shoulders,

"I don't know, my arm is killing me. But, I promised I would spend my last day with you two. So, what do you want to do?" His dad shook his head,

"I'm kind of tired, I might head in and catch a nap before we take you to the airport." His mom piped in and said,

"I'm going to start cooking. I know you're hungry and we have to leave by 6 to get you to the airport by 6:30." He was surprised, but he didn't argue with them.

"Okay, I'm going to head to my room then."

"Okay honey, I hope your arms feel better." His mom said.

"Thanks."

He went into his room and sat on the bed. He looked in the corner and saw his electric guitar sitting there. As a teenager, he loved to play guitar. He went over and picked it up, putting the guitar strap around his shoulder. He plucked a few strings and tuned it up. He played a couple of songs he knew by heart and realized he still had it.

He put down his guitar and went into the living room and watched some television. He flipped between two shows- a fishing show and a hunting show. He loved to fish- they owned a small fishing boat and, usually, when he was on leave, him and his dad would go out in it and fish for an afternoon. Along with fishing, he loved to hunt.

He and his father were in a hunting club about thirty minutes away. Hands down, Ben was an outdoor person. He loved to fish, hunt, hike, four-wheel, water-ski, surf and basically any water sport. He liked water- skiing and tubing most of all. When he was in high school, him and his friends would take a trip down to White Lake and spend the day cooking out and being in the water.

After both programs were over, he turned off the television. His dad was asleep in the recliner and his mom was in the kitchen. It was nearing 4:00 and, with nothing else to do, he headed in his room to pack. He packed up his things and laid out his dark blue Air Force uniform. When he finished packing he sat on his bed and thought about his leave; it was definitely an eventful one. Some would call it life- changing. Ben decided he would have the outlook that as old doors close, new ones opened. Maybe by Jeff dying, another door was opened. Maybe one that would change his life, in more ways than one, good or bad.


After he finished packing, his mom called him and his dad both in the kitchen. His mom had cooked his favorite dish- Chicken Alfredo and corn on the cob. They ate mostly in silence. It was always quiet the day he returned back to the Air Force. His mom always took him going back hard- especially this time because he was getting shipped to Afghanistan. After dinner, he helped his mom wash the dished. It was nearing 6:00 and he went to his room and changed into his uniform. He got his suitcase and loaded it into his dad's car.

Wilmington International Airport was about thirty minutes away and, as they headed there, his mom mostly looked out the window and him and his dad talked about why he was being shipped to Afghanistan.

"You might get to fly a couple of planes this time." His dad said.

"Yeah, hopefully."

He hadn't flown a plane in more than a couple of months. He had been on base studying books and going over mission plans for the last two months.

When they arrived, his dad parked the car and popped the trunk. Ben got his bag and threw it over his shoulder. They walked into the airport as he looked at his ticket and gate number. He didn't go through the terminal right away. He sat in the lobby with his parents for about fifteen minutes. His plane was scheduled to board at 7:00. At 6:45, he stood up and said,

"It's about that time." His parents stood up and his mom started to cry. His dad told him good-bye first.

"Bye, son." They hugged for a minute before his dad pulled away first. He put his hands on Ben's shoulders,

"Be safe, all right?" Ben nodded,

"I love you, dad."

"I love you too, Ben." He turned to his mom. She had tears running down her cheeks as she hugged her.

"Bye, mom, I love you." She started to cry harder,

"I love you too, Ben."

They hugged for a couple of minutes before Ben pulled away. He grabbed hi bag and threw it over his shoulder. He walked towards the gate and showed the woman his ticket. She looked at it and handed it back to him. He turned around and looked at his parents. His dad had an arm around his mom. Ben waved and they smiled and waved back. He turned around, went through security, and disappeared down a long hallway.


Yo yo yo, so there's Chapter 4. Sorry if it wasn't that exciting, hey I warned you beforehand right? But, like I said, the next chapters will be exciting! So, until then! :) Oh yeah you can review it too. If you want.