SUPER SUPER SORRY FOR MY DELAY FOR CHAPTER 3, I'VE BEEN WORKING A LOT AND I FORGOT ABOUT THIS. BUT CHAPTER 4 IS BEING PREPARED AND EDITED AS WELL AS CHAPTER 5. YOU MIGHT SEE THOSE BEFORE OCTOBER OR NOVEMBER. AGAIN SORRY ABOUT THIS GUYS TRYING TO WORK OUT THIS UNIVERSE AND PACE IT OUT IN A GOOD WAY. THANKS FOR BEING PATIENT AND I APPRECIATE EVERY COMMENT AND REVIEW ON THIS! I'LL KEEP DOING THIS STORY, AGAIN THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT! :D :D :D :D:D
It had been two weeks since both Delilah and Henry had recovered Ben. So far no reports back from Joe about where his family is. Ben doesn't really talk much about them. It seemed so strange that he wanted to keep to himself about those type of details so it made it harder for the police to track down his family.
Delilah was preparing herself a cup of coffee as she stood in front of the counter, she had a coffee mug in one hand as she waited for the coffee to prepare in her coffee maker. She stared at it like it was the only thing that mattered.
She was tired of course. So making a coffee would help perk herself up, she turned her head over to the window of the kitchen, it had just began snowing and it was late in the morning. It hadn't snowed since the night Ben fell into their lives.
Delilah would have to speak to Henry about what they'll end up doing if the police can't find Ben's family. That was their first concern, as well as the difficulties of the city around them. She took a look at one of the latest newspapers wrapped in a plastic bag by the delivery boy.
Even through the plastic she could see the words of important news.
'DARK CREATURE STRIKES AGAIN!' in big bold letters and a photo of an artist's reference of the creature sneaking among the shadows.
She let out a sigh. It was too dangerous in their city of Woodcastle. The thought of moving occurred many times, but she and Henry couldn't afford it and this was the closest distance from her mother's house.
Her eyes still on the paper until she heard a familiar yawn.
Delilah turned her head and noticed Ben wiping his eyes and wearing the blue polka dotted pajamas she had bought for him last week.
"Morning." He said walking over to the table to sit down. His eyes still visibly tired.
Delilah wore a fake smile and walked over to him as before she did she shoved the paper away into a drawer. Hoping Ben would be too drowsy to notice it.
"Good morning, sleepyhead. How'd you sleep?"
Ben blinked as he again wiped his eyes quietly. He murmured in a sleepy voice.
"Okay-ish." He looked at her. "Didn't really dream of anything just slept good for once."
Delilah wore a smile and asked.
"So, would like some breakfast? We don't have much but I'm going grocery shopping later."
Ben shrugged again. He pressed his head against his hand as he stared down at the table.
"Eh it doesn't matter." He replied with a yawn.
Delilah walked over to the fridge and looked through it. It was quite clear that she definitely needed to do some shopping sooner than later. She swallowed hard as she noticed that some of the stuff in the fridge was moldy.
She grabbed a bottle of milk and sniffed into it. Yanking herself away after taking a sniff.
"Errr...Maybe something not from the fridge." She chuckled nervously and looked at the young boy who just kept quiet. "Maybe some toast?"
Ben was still silent as she closed the fridge and walked back over to the boy.
"Uh, you okay?"
Ben looked up at the woman, then back at the table. He wasn't sure what to say since he had been there for two weeks and he felt like a burden towards them and well, it didn't help that nobody could locate his family.
He had overheard the phone calls from the nights over the last two weeks. It raised questions on what was really going on. Apparently there weren't anyone by the name of Sandra or Carl Tennyson. It seemed that he didn't exist on this earth either.
Nothing added up. Police suspected that Ben was some kind of abducted child from someplace and that was why they couldn't connect anyone to him. All of this sounded wrong. He was raised by Sandra and Carl, he did have Max Tennyson as a grandfather.
Why would this all just suddenly change?
Was it magic by Charmcaster and Hex? Was the forever knights in his brain again? Vilgax maybe? The more that Ben thought of it the more it just seemed more confusing and terrifying.
What if he would never wake up and he'd forever be in this world?
"I-I'm fine, Delilah, just tired." He weakly smiled up at the young woman.
Delilah decided to not push it today, considering he was going through enough as he was. Seeing a child with a frown often concerned her and well, a sad face always made her just feel useless. She wanted to try and make things better for him. If not for him, but for his parents.
They must be filled with worry. But from what Joe told her, his parents could be kidnappers, and it just didn't make any sense. Ben spoke about these people like they were his family and they had never done anything wrong other than the usual child's view of how 'bad' their parents are when looking out for them.
She walked over to the counter to the now finished coffee. She grabbed the pot and started to pour the coffee into her cup.
"Do you drink coffee, Ben?" Delilah looked at the boy who looked back at her.
He shook his head.
"Not really, I've never had it. It's probably pretty gross anyways." He said looking a little disgusted at the end.
"Oh." Delilah barely said as she was lost in her own thoughts. She had to think of something to do for the day. To help Ben get things off his mind, what could a ten year old boy do while at home? They had already played all the board games she had, and Ben was already bored playing them.
She wasn't exactly in the position to buy Ben anything too flashy like a video game. Considering he could be found by his parents or guardian.
That's when it hit her, she could take Ben shopping with her. That could definitely help. A smile appeared on her face after she took a sip of her black coffee as she stared at the ten year old.
"How bout you come shopping with me?"
Ben was a little surprised. He wasn't expecting this, especially right now. It came out of nowhere. He wasn't sure how to reply to this, shopping wasn't exactly something his parents would do. Especially Sandra. He remembered one time…
Sandra had arrived to another aisle of G-Mart. She waited as she noticed her eight year old son was missing. She turned her head to side to side. Trying to find the little brunette.
"Benjamin?" Her voice rung through the aisle.
She was about to panic until she noticed Ben rushing over with two boxes of cereal, a big smile on his face as he stopped right in front of her.
"Benjamin what did I say about running off?"
He quickly answered.
"To not do it, but I found some cool cereals!" He grinned ear to ear. Holding the boxes up close to his mom. He was about to beg.
Sandra didn't like it when he was about to beg.
"Can I buy two cereals?" he gleamed.
Sandra raised an eyebrow. She was going to entertain him but wasn't going down without a fight.
"How much….?"
Ben was about to answer.
"For each box?" She added in before he could speak.
"Three dollars and fifty cents." He said.
It added up to seven dollars. She wasn't going to spend that much cereal on Ben. He didn't need several bowls of cereal in one day, nor did he need that much sugar.
She spoke up with a stern look.
"No, put those two away and get the smaller box."
His gleaming smile then was replaced by a look of frustration.
"I thought you wanted me to eat my breakfast." He pouted, he wasn't getting angry yet. But he was close to.
Sandra put a hand to her hip.
"You don't need that much cereal in a week, and there's so much sugar in both of those." She laid out the line hoping Ben wouldn't cross it. She needed to be stern to a point so he could grow up and understand that he couldn't get everything.
Ben again pouted, walking back to the breakfast aisle with a few muttered words under his breath. It was clear that he wasn't liking the idea of not getting his way.
Sandra tapped her foot waiting for her son. She hoped it wouldn't take him too long to come back. She looked around as people passed by. It was getting late, and she needed to get home so she could make dinner for Carl for when he got home.
Ben then arrived back with a smaller box of cereal...and a box of poptarts.
"What are those?" Sandra asked in confusion, as Ben tried to put the items into the cart.
The young boy looked at his mom, trying to act innocent.
"What is what?" He replied back.
"Those...poptarts? Didn't I say to bring back a smaller box of cereal?"
Ben nodded. He then answered back looking more bold.
"You said to get a smaller box, you didn't say I couldn't get a box of poptarts."
Sandra seemed annoyed by her son's response. She looked back towards the aisle she was about to enter. She had to get home, so she moved forward into the aisle. She would have to be fast in order not to get Ben to try and shove more unneeded junk food into the cart.
It pressed on and on, but finally they were in the frozen food aisle. She always saved going to the frozen aisle last to make sure nothing got warm and melted. Sandra grabbed a few frozen pizzas and a bag of popcorn chicken. She had just finished the shopping.
Now it was time to check out, she was about to turn her cart until she noticed Ben carrying three big containers of ice cream.
Normally it was just two, one flavor for her and Carl, and the second one would be for Ben alone. Of course, they wouldn't let him have it unless he did his chores and homework.
She stopped in front of him as he was about to put the ice cream into the cart.
"Benjamin Kirby what are you doing?"
Ben looked at her.
"We almost forgot the ice cream. So I got us some."
Sandra wasn't going to deal with Ben trying to sneak his way of getting everything he wanted. She looked at him in a serious face.
"Put it back." She said.
Ben was confused.
"But we always get ice cream when we get here."
"I said. Put. It. Back." She was getting a little more annoyed.
"No. We don't have any at home." He defended his actions.
"I don't care, we don't need any ice cream at home. You've been having troubles doing homework at school and you don't do your chores, so we're not getting ice cream. Put it back, Ben."
It was quiet between them, Ben wasn't backing down to putting this away. He just kept staring at her, annoyance in his eyes.
"Why can't I ever get anything!" He muttered, marching back to where the ice cream was. He seemingly put the ice cream away. He followed Sandra back up to the counter where the check out was.
She went over to the cashier as the young man started to scan the items and placed them into gray bags. Sandra went through her wallet as the sounds of the scanner kept beeping every few seconds after scanning an item.
When the man was finished, she handed over a card, and it was finally paid. When getting to the car, she pushed the cart as Ben kept quiet. Sandra felt bad about being annoyed, but she needed to make sure he understood he couldn't always get what he wanted.
The car ride home was quiet. Sandra didn't mind, it kind of helped keep her at ease. She continued to drive until they got home.
After putting the groceries away, she would finally get dinner started. Ben had left for his room. He took a bag of the snack of his choice to it, she didn't mind, she would check on him briefly to make sure he wasn't going to ruin his appetite.
For the time being she focused on making dinner, she let the spaghetti boil and the meat sauce to warm up. She decided to check on Ben now, it would be better to do so now. She left the kitchen and went up to Ben's bedroom.
Opening the door slowly, she found Ben eating a gallon of ice cream.
"Benjamin where did you get that?!" She asked in shock, she knew there wasn't any ice cream at home or did she buy it.
He swallowed the ice cream slowly, his face stained by the sweet chocolate cream. His hand holding a spoon, and a look of confusion remained on his face.
"What ice cream?" he tried to play it off. But he knew it wouldn't work.
Sandra wasn't having it. She walked over to Ben and snatched the container away.
"You bought this without my permission!?" She glared.
Ben was speechless, obviously not sure of how to continue this discussion since he had no reason doing what he did to deceive his mother.
"Ugh, I can't believe you would do this." She grabbed the top of the ice cream shoving it on. Walking back to the door of the room. Then looking at Ben. "No supper for you tonight, young man." She slammed the door as she heard a loud annoyed sound from the room.
She wasn't going to let Ben walk over her. It was stressful enough knowing that Carl was having difficulties adjusting to his new job. He always came home so sore and tired. He could barely keep his eyes open.
He was so worn out, he wiped the sweat off his forehead, the heat was coming back and she knew Carl didn't have the energy to talk. But that day was different.
"Do you need a drink?"
Carl nodded his head and noticed the ice cream.
"Busy while I was gone?"
"No, Benjamin bought this behind my back and was eating it before dinner. So now he's not getting any."
"Oh." Carl said tiredly, as they didn't know Ben was watching them from up from the corner of the second floor. Keeping hidden.
They always did hide what they spoke about. That or Ben just didn't care. Maybe he didn't try hard enough to understand his parents.
"I don't know what I'll be able to do with him...he never listens." Sandra sighed.
Carl sat down at the table, staring at his wife.
"He'll never listen."
Ben felt the words go through his mind repeatedly until he finally heard his name.
"Ben?"
He looked at Delilah.
"Oh uh...sorry..I was...lost in thought."
"So are you coming?"
Ben nodded. He looked at her with a smile.
"S-Sure." He got up from the table and went to 'his' room to get the jacket that Henry let him have due to it not fitting him anymore. It was very cold, so hopefully they could buy some delicious warm foods to eat and enjoy those.
For a few minutes, he waited until Delilah finished her cup of coffee, she was quiet but once she got ready the two left for the supermarket. It had been a while since he been in one, mostly considering Grandpa Max didn't trust him a lot due to their last few trips.
So he had to be careful, he looked around the aisles in amusement. It was strange, one box had caught his eye. A man in a golden and blue uniform. He grabbed the box. He read.
'Booster Golden Crisp'
"That's a weird name for a cereal." Ben said out loud, examining the box in confusion.
"Tell me about it." Delilah laughed. "I know it's supposed to sound cheesy, but come on, there's better names. I'm still surprised this hero got his own cereal named after him."
Ben raised his head.
"He's a hero?"
Delilah laughed.
"Yeah, kind of, he doesn't do any serious damage if you ask me. But it's the thought that counts with him, I guess."
Ben slowly nodded and looked at the other cereal. He decided to go with a box of the booster golden crisp just to see what it tasted like, and threw it into the cart. He continued to follow Delilah, staying near her. For some reason he felt more safe around her now, even though she might not be his parents or even his Grandfather he was fine with her.
"Anything else you like to eat?" She smiled warmly to Ben.
Ben wasn't so sure, Sandra his mother always made the choice of what he would eat. She was always strict like that. He looked away.
"Do you have any favorite meals I could make for you?"
He slowly swallowed a bit.
"Chili with french fries."
Delilah warmed up a little.
"Oh really? I could make some spicy ones since it's cold out."
Ben lit up with a grin.
"Dude really! My mom won't ever let me have any of those!"
"Well, I want you to be comfortable." She chuckled, as they went into the canned area for foods and she got the ingredients to make the chili, and the potatoes to make the fries. She was excited to make a homemade meal for tonight.
She eventually got everything else like snacks, and other things for other meals. She was pretty content with everything and they left the store, with ice cream of course. Rocky road apparently was Ben's favorite choice.
Later on, back at home, Delilah had began making dinner. Ben watched her due to not much else going on. His eyes glued to her as he was trying to figure out what to say or do until….
"Ben could you be a dear and help me with the potatoes?" Delilah looked at Ben and he was a bit confused.
"W-What you mean me?" He swallowed.
"Uh huh, just wash your hands and come help me by peeling the potatoes."
Ben rose up and walked over, completely unsure of what to do. He's never helped anyone in the kitchen before, I mean Grandpa Max did have him help make s'mores but that was it. He walked to the counter and sink and began to wash his hands.
Finished, he walked over to the washed potatoes and a potato peeler, now more confused.
Delilah looked at Ben.
"Do you need help on how to use it?"
Ben nodded gently.
"Y-Yeah, that'd be nice."
Delilah walked over, picked up a potato and began to peel it in front of his watchful eyes.
"Now be careful, you don't want to cut yourself by accident."she finished and placed the peel to the side. "Give it a try."
Ben grabbed the peeler and began to peel his first potato. He was shocked of how nice it felt being by Delilah's side cooking. Being able to feel….trusted for once.
"W-Whoa." He said out loud. "Did I...do it right?"
Delilah nodded with a smile.
"You did great Ben." She chuckled. "Make sure to peel the rest of them.
This felt so satisfying to Ben, as he learned to peel, slice, and prepare the potatoes to become french fries. Later on, now seeing his own creations on his plate with a side of chili, he was in surprise that he helped make this. He didn't need to change into an alien or relay on someone else. He actually did something.
Henry arrived home and was appreciative of the dinner choice, he was in front of Ben at the table, taking a seat and Delilah brought their beverages some soda. She sat down next to him.
"Henry, Ben did such a great job today. He helped make this." She smiled.
"Did he? I'll be the judge of that." Henry chuckled, taking a fry and eating it slowly. He stopped, Ben felt unsure if he made them correctly. "Wow this tastes so good! Thanks Ben for these delicious fries!" Henry grabbed a few more dipping them into the chili, enjoying them.
Ben watched and felt relieved that he did a good job. He didn't think this would end well considering his own mom wouldn't trust him in the kitchen. He sat beside them and enjoyed their food.
For once Ben felt safe and secure, and not being a problem for anyone. He felt at peace. He hoped these moments would never end….not knowing what was next to come.
