I Fell

(Day 99-100: Sunday Night – Monday Morning)

"So, eh." Ben and his mother look at his father as he motions with the fork, "How's the shoulder?"

Ben frowns at him for a moment, "Fine." before he looks back at his plate. "It's fine."

"So, it doesn't hurt or anything?" he makes sure.

"Only when I move it," Ben softly responds before using his fork to pick up a clump of cheesy smashed potatoes.

"At least you heal fast," his mother cheerfully reminds him.

"Yeah," Ben mumbles.

"Although, you should wear it longer than that," she thinks aloud, "just to keep up appearances and such."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Ben whispers, before he sets down the fork to get his bangs out of his eyes. "Whose idea was this?"

"What ever do you mean?" his mother asks.

"Rare steak and cheesy potatoes," Ben pointedly looks at her. "It must be a real special occasion for you to go against your well-cooked meat policy."

"We're just trying to make things easier for you," she tries to reason.

"You know what would make things easier?" Ben loudly counters. "Being able to use my damn arm. You know how hard it is to button pants with one hand?"

"Honey," she sighs.

Ben's father inserts, "We can't change what happened."

"Exactly," Ben furrows his brows at him. "It happened, and making me my favorite foods won't change that."

"What do you want me to do?" he questions. "Go down on my knees and hail you? Oh, King Ben I'm so sorry this happened to you."

Ben's mouth gapes as he stares at him for a minute, before he reminds him, "If it weren't for you this would've never happened. All I want is for you to take some responsibility."

"It's not my fault you fell," his father defends. "I tried to save you. All you had to do was take my hand. If you did, then it wouldn't have happened."

"Well, what can I say?" Ben softly comments, "I guess I just trusted the stairs more than I trusted you."

"Ben," his mother intervenes.

"No," Ben quietly rejects, before he meets her eyes. "Like Father said." He wets his lips, "I fell. There's nothing else to it." before he lowers his eyes to the table. "May I be excused?"

She notices his plate, "I want you to finish your dinner."

"I'm not hungry," Ben continues to frown, and when he sees her hesitation he explains, "The steak was enough."

When she still doesn't answer his father says, "You're excused." and after facing him for a second Ben stands from the table to get out of the room.

"Nice to have you back, Ben," Mr. Turner smiles.

"Good to be back," Ben manages.

He eyes the blue sling, "That must be one nasty injury. How did you get it?"

"Oh, that," Ben glances down at it. "I fell."

"You fell?" The history teacher smiles, "Not from walking the plank, I presume?"

Ben nearly laughs, "No. Uh, stairs." before he smiles at him. "Wasn't watching where I was going."

"Ah. I see," he says before picking a piece of paper up from his desk. "Well, I suppose you will be needing your assignments for Atlantic Studies."

When Ben takes the paper he nods, "Thank you." before his eyes shift in recollection. "There was an, uh, a listening option. Right?"

"Yes." The teacher takes a textbook from his desk and opens it, before he points at the back of the cover, "You just go to this website, and you can listen to it there."

"And they have it in other languages, right?" Ben slowly inquires.

"They do," Mr. Turner unsurely answers, "but I wouldn't recommend it. Especially for science classes. The terminology doesn't always translate right."

Ben frowns, "Terminology?"

"Well, you know, the vocabulary," he explains, but then he frowns at Ben's blank expression. "The words that you need to define." Ben fails to respond. "The dictionary?"

"Oh, uh." Ben awkwardly smiles, "Right."

"Ben," his brown eyes narrow in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ben gulps. "I just, uh, forgot." His eyes trail off, "I guess." before he wets his lips and walks backward. "Thank you for the homework."

"Are you not staying for class?"

Ben's quiet for a moment, "Well. Um. I just thought I should do these first." He holds up the paper of assignments and attempts to smile, "My time would be better doing that than… not knowing what you're talking about, wouldn't it?"

"Perhaps," Mr. Turner nods, before he holds up a finger, "But I expect you back in class tomorrow. Understand?"

Ben frowns at the last word. It's used a lot. He should look it up. "I will be in class tomorrow," he reassures.

When Ben walks up to the psychology teacher Mr. Conrad smiles, "Good Afternoon."

"Good afternoon," Ben smiles back.

"You worried a lot of people around here," he lets him know.

Ben frowns, "Yes. I guess I would have."

"What exactly happened?" the balding man inquires through square glasses.

"I fell," Ben softly answers.

"You fell?" the teacher skeptically questions.

"Yes." Ben stands straighter, "My homework?"

Mr. Conrad opens a drawer to his desk and rifles through the papers, before he hands him the full sheet and Ben's frown deepens at the long list. "Missing a week can be a big deal for a class like this." He clasps his hands, "Assignments are usually docked after a week of incompletion, but I will give you a month to hand these in."

Ben gets a heavy, sinking feeling, "I have a month to do these?"

"Thirty days," the professor clarifies. "After that I will have no choice but to take off twenty-five percent of the points you receive from it." He notices Ben's expression, "Is something wrong?"

Ben immediately shakes his head hard, "No. I will get it done."

The teacher smiles, "That's what I like to hear." and when Ben begins to retreat to his desk he continues. "I'm here if you have any questions." Ben nods with a frown, before he turns around and walks to his desk in the front row.

Evie laughs, "This translator is horrible." before she notices Ben's concerned frown. "Don't worry. I can still understand you."

"Good," he lets out a breath of relief. "I feel like I'm going to need all of the help I can get in this class." He tries to smile with his teeth, "Like notes, for instance."

She glances down at the app before giving him a look, "My notes are in English. How is that supposed to help you?"

Ben takes a moment, "You can scan it in the library, and then you can use the writing program to translate it. Just make sure to give me both a French and English copy in case there's an error."

Evie glances down before nodding, "Okay. But what about your other twelve classes?"

"First off," Ben smiles in defense, "I do not have that many classes. And, well…" He frowns, "Aziz is going to help me with Intro to Sociology."

Evie frowns in hesitation, "Ben. I know you're not a… You like to be alone. Do you even know anyone in your other classes?"

He lifts a shoulder, "I know people."

"You know what I mean," she asserts, and then his eyes lower. "How are you supposed to get through this when you're practically all alone?"

"I'm not all alone," Ben counters.

"Hence the word 'practically'," Evie sighs before shaking her head. She rephrases, "How are you going to get through this when you can't always have someone there for you?"

"I've been through plenty of things alone," Ben reasons. "This is no different."

"Ben," the brown haired teacher calls out, and then he and Evie look at her. "This is an English classroom. Speak English, please."

Her words are fast, but her intent was clear: English. She wants him to speak English, "Yes, Mrs. Rosenstein."

"I don't suppose you would like to declare the main theme of this novel?" she asks.

Evie notices Ben's blank expression and excuses for him, "He was gone last week. He's probably not far enough to know what it is."

"Very well," the instructor accepts. "Ms. Evie Queen, can you tell me what a theme of this book is?"

"It's about perseverance over unbeatable odds," she immediately answers. "The soldier had to complete a seemingly impossible mission, just like his son had to find a way to pay for his education and the mother had to fight the cancer she'd been diagnosed with."

Mrs. Rosenstein nods, "That's one theme that can be taken from this." before she turns to the board and writes a single word. "Another one is faith." She turns back to the class, "The mother has to have faith in her doctors, the father has faith in his commanding officer, the son has to learn to have faith in society, and as the biblical text throughout this novel would suggest, each and every one of them has faith in God and His plan for them." She pauses, "So, yes, they had perseverance, but that determination had to be fueled by something. In this case it was their faith in the Lord. Other sources of faith may be that of family, friends, or in the good of helping others." The teacher eyes over the classroom, "At your age this may be the most important thing for you to have. When you're pressured to succeed, to find yourselves, and to make a decision as to what you want to do with your lives, it can be hard to find the determination to persevere. Some people give up— some forever— but with faith you can find the will to get through anything." She picks up a stack of quarter sheets and divides the stack amongst those in the front row, before they pass them to the people behind them. "So, as an exercise, I would like you to write something you have faith in, and make sure to put your names on it. This will count towards your participation points."

When Ben receives the blank piece of paper he looks at Evie, and she whispers, "Write your name and something you have faith in."

"Faith?" Ben repeats.

"Something you believe in that wills you to continue on," she explains, and after a minute of thought he understands.

Ben writes his name in the corner, but as he moves his pencil to write his answer he halts. What does he have faith in? Had he been asked this question just the week prior, he would have written down his mother or friends; however, the mere knowledge that his mother hasn't been there for him this last week has hit him hard, and he hasn't even had enough faith in his friends to really tell them anything. Not that he has any words to tell them anyway; all he has is this numb feeling, like he should have known, and yet whenever he sees his mother that pang cuts deeper, as he can't help but hope he will get her back. Right now, though, there's just this distance. It doesn't matter how close they are or how she acts as if nothing's changed. She's still so far away, and when he had sat at the table with her the night before, it felt like it would always be that way.

"Ben," the teacher says, and then he looks up at her. "Have you finished?"

"Uh," he unsurely answers, before he frowns back at the nearly empty paper. He still can't think of anything, and now that he has less than seconds to come up with something his mind is blank. "I need a minute."

"You've had fifteen," she lets him know, and he swiftly turns his head back up in shock. "Class ends in five minutes. I expect it on my desk by then."

Ben merely nods, but when he sees her walk away he notices several concerned stares. Even Evie seems a little worried, before he asks, "What did you put?"

"You're not copying my answer," she asserts.

He sighs, "I just want to know."

She gives in, "Mal."

"Mal?"

"Yeah." Evie glances down, "She's the best thing in my life." before she faces him. "So long as I have her, everything's going to be okay. You know?"

Ben turns back to his paper and wets his lips. He places a hand to his forehead. With all of the time he's spent in the hospital over the years, this shouldn't be so hard. That's it. That's all he's ever told himself. He has faith that he won't get sick, or at least die from it, because it's going to be okay. It has to be. I'm going to be okay. He writes it down, and when the bell rings he goes over to hand the paper to the teacher; however, before he can leave she starts talking to him.

"This is an interesting answer," she comments, before her grey eyes look up at him. "Would you like to explain it?"

"It's just something I think sometimes," he quietly responds.

"In what situations?" He fails to answer, so she rewords, "When do you think it?"

He hesitates, "If…" His eyes move towards the door, before he faces her, "Sometimes I get sick. Or, there's times when… when things get hard."

"Hard?"

He makes a disgruntled noise before attempting to clarify, "Like… when my father and me talk sometimes."

"I," she corrects.

"What?"

"If you take your father out of the sentence, the proper way to say it would be 'when I talk' and so its full sentence would be 'when my father and I talk', not 'when my father and me talk'."

Ben's quiet for a moment, not understanding, before he moves on, "Okay."

"When you say talk with your father," she inquires, "do you mean it would be hard because it's more of a disagreement?"

She talks too fast for him to understand, but Ben hears that it's a question. "Sure."

"If you don't mind me asking, what would those disagreements be about?"

There's that word again. He doesn't remember what it means, but he can't pull out his phone to translate it. If they knew he was still this unwell, they would probably send him home. He unsurely points a thumb to the door, "I should really go."

She nods, "Okay." before she smiles. "Have a nice day."

Ben tries to smile back, "Have a nice day." but it instantly slips as he turns towards the door.

- So, in that first section when Ben's father asks if Ben would want him to get on his knees and hail him, that's actually inspired by something that happened to me. In late middle school (7th or 8th grade) I showed a drawing I made to my dad, but he barely even looked at it and just said "good" before setting it aside. When I complained that he didn't say anything else about it he went into this whole thing about if I would have him go on his knees and say how good it was... I don't really remember, but he might have actually gone on his knees as he was saying it... I really had no response to it. I don't know if I even said anything. That's pretty much where the video ends. I don't remember anything after that.

- Next Up: Ben talks to Chad, Fairy Godmother talks to Ben, and we may or may not get to Evie's surprise party... It's just really important that her birthstone is a diamond. It's intricate to a plot about... 5 to 10 fanfics from now? Like, ten years from where we currently are in the timeline. Yes, I've already thought that ahead... Actually, I've thought so far ahead to the point where Ben's daughter would have a son, which is just a completely messed up situation that I'm not giving details out about right now... Unless you explicitly ask, but it probably would just seem out there, pointless, and unnecessarily dark without knowing all of the events that lead up to that point.