Take It Easy

(Sunday Afternoon)

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Ben, but we have a problem," Dr. Robert says before he sits down at his desk.

Ben frowns, "How bad is it?"

"Well, you won't be taking that sling off today," he frowns in return. "The x-ray shows that it's almost as bad as when you started."

"I should be healed by now," Ben thinks aloud.

"Yes," the grey haired doctor solemnly responds, "I would have thought so too, but it looks like you're going to have to suffer the same amount of time a human would." Ben looks away from him. "Do you know what could have caused this?"

Ben's eyes shift, "You know how guys can be." before he awkwardly smiles.

"Roughhousing?"

Ben meets his blue eyes before looking off, "I guess you could say that."

"I told you to take it easy," he reminds him.

Ben faces him, "I thought I was."

Dr. Robert nods, "It's something to learn from, I suppose, but now you know better."

"Yes." Ben glances down, "I suppose I do."

The doctor rolls his chair an inch closer, before he seriously addresses, "You need to know that even after you are healed enough to take the sling off, you will still not be fully healed. It will take a full year for that." Ben's frown deepens, and the doctor looks intensely into his eyes. "If this kind of thing continues to happen during the year, I cannot guarantee you that you won't need surgery."

It takes a moment for Ben to say, "Okay." and then the doctor nods. "Is that it?"

"Not quite," Dr. Roberts answers, and he pauses in observation. "Sinclair's notes say your blood pressure and heart rate were higher than usual. I would like to take a moment to discuss that."

Ben nods, "Okay."

"I know you're into sports," the doctor recalls. "Have you been taking energy drinks by any chance?"

Ben shakes his head, "No." before he wets his lips. "Maybe I'm just anxious." He tries hard not to look away, "I knew that my shoulder wasn't better when I came in here."

"It must be very serious," the doctor concerns, "if it's also affecting your heart rate."

"No. Um," Ben glances down. "It's just…" He faces him again, "I really wanted to get out of this sling today, you know, and I feared I wouldn't."

Dr. Roberts nods, "Okay. We will just have to see if there's a difference next time."

Ben hesitates, "Are we done?" and the doctor nods.

When Ben stands he comments, "Just one last thing." and Ben turns around. "As you know, you've always had a higher blood pressure than most people." Ben eyes the floor. "It has been and continues to be my recommendation that you do what you can to keep it lower."

"You know meditation hasn't worked," Ben frowns.

"Then another calming activity," Dr. Roberts recommends. "I know being king must be stressful, and extra stress is not something your heart needs. It's important that you can take some time for yourself too. After all, there is no kingdom without a king."

Ben nods, "Right."

The doctor smiles, "Take it easy, and have a good day."

"Good day," Ben attempts to smile in return, but it immediately falls as he turns around and leaves the room.

"Yes," Ben's mother agrees. "The theater did such a great job of recreating our story."

Ben looks between his parents, "You mean the play we saw a few years ago?" and they face him. "That wasn't accurate at all."

His mother sighs, "Ben. It's the thought that counts."

Ben shakes his head, "I'm going to grab a soda." before he stands and heads for the kitchen; however, after he gets the soda he hears the large footsteps and turns around.

His father steps forward, "Ben. I'm sorry about what all happened the other night." and his eyes shift. "It shouldn't have happened."

Ben waits before saying, "And?"

"And I'm apologizing," his father unsurely frowns. "Aren't you going to accept it?"

Ben observes him, "No."

"I don't understand. I said sorry."

"Yeah," Ben nearly smiles in disbelief. "You said sorry, but you always say sorry. Coming from you, it's lost all meaning."

"I just want us to be able to move on from this," his father informs.

Ben furrows his eyebrows, "This is not the time for social customs, Father." and he takes a step forward. "Look at me. What do you see?"

He lifts a hand, "My son."

"And?"

"And what?" his father asks.

"And what else?" Ben grits his teeth, but his father doesn't respond. "This stupid sling," Ben almost shouts. "I was supposed to be able to take it off today, but thanks to you now I can't." He gulps as the tears fill his eyes, "And the doctor said that the next time my shoulder gets hurt, he can't guarantee that I won't need surgery."

His mouth gapes as he slowly says, "I didn't mean—"

"You never mean it," Ben interrupts, before he laughs, "But you know what the worst part of all this is? It's not the extra few weeks with the sling. It's not all of the agony you have unwittingly put me through." He smiles as the tears fall, "The worst part of all this is that I've stood up for you. I've made excuses for you, have even told myself it's my fault for not being able to be as patient as Mother… And now, now that you've done this, whenever people ask if you've ever hurt me, I can no longer say that you would never lay a hand on me." He takes a shaky breath, "Because, you did lay a hand on me— you gripped my fractured shoulder— and I can't just say that you've never hurt me, because knowing it or not you've done that in several ways. Sure. It may have just been psychological, but I'm telling you it still fucking counts."

"I'm sorry," his father can't help but say.

Ben shakes his head, "Of course, you are." before he gulps down the soda, tosses it away, and goes to grab another.

"You just had one of those."

Ben faces him with raised brows, "And?"

"And your mother's done research on this," his father lets him know. "Even just one can a week can shorten someone's life by several years."

Ben blankly stares at him, "And yet, I fail to care." before he walks past him to get back to the dining room.

"Can you at least tell me you've been eating properly back at the school?" Ben's mother concerns near the large, ornate front doors.

Ben frowns, "No. That would be a lie."

"You could have at least had some gravy with your potatoes." She glances off, "I don't understand." before she meets his hazel green eyes. "Why are you doing this to yourself? What is so bad about meat that you can't have it?"

"I would like to have some normalcy in my life," Ben softly responds.

"Humans eat meat," his mother counters. "It's not that big of a deal."

"It is when people can't help but bring it up," Ben firmly disagrees, and then his mother silences. He glances down, "Look. I need to ask you something." before he meets her sad, brown eyes. "Why wasn't I taught English?"

"Oh, honey," his mother sighs. "Is now really the time for this?"

"I need to know," he asserts.

She takes a deep breath, "Alright." but it takes her a minute to collect her thoughts. "You need to understand, a child that young cannot be expected to keep a secret."

Ben stands straighter before cautiously inquiring, "You did this purposefully so that I couldn't tell anyone anything?"

"It was the only way," his mother insists.

"Bullcrap," Ben furrows his eyebrows.

"Okay. Look." His mother lifts a hand in reassurance, "Your father insisted that we keep things from you, because he feared you would tell someone those things. It was me who decided to keep you from learning English." Ben looks away. "I wanted to be honest with you, to be able to let you know the truth."

Ben faces her again, tears in his eyes, "And what was so wrong with withholding those secrets until I was old enough to learn how to keep one?"

"And have you hear everyone else's side of the story before ours?" his mother disbelieves. "Honey. They would have brainwashed you with all sorts of nonsense. By the time you would have been old enough, there would have been no way you'd understand."

"So, like those cults people call religion," Ben counters, "you decided to get me to your way of thinking while I was still young and impressionable."

"It wasn't like that," she denies, before she watches the tears fall to his cheeks and places her hand on his shoulder. "Honey. All I ever wanted was to have an honest relationship with you. This was the only option. There's no way we would have been on such good terms had I built everything we've said and done on a pile of lies. Surely, you can understand that."

"How could I?" Ben sadly responds. "I'm forced to lie every day."

"Oh, honey," his mother comments, before she sees more tears fall and goes in to hug him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you have to go through all of this."

He feels his shaky breathing begin to settle at the closeness of her scent, each breath a calming embrace of it. He eyes down and sees the bare skin of her neck, and his stomach growls as he feel his teeth ache. He's so close. Just a couple more inches and he'd have her. "No." He pushes her back, and they separate.

"Honey," she comments in confusion.

"I have to go," Ben merely says, before he turns around.

"I love you," his mother lets him know.

Ben looks down, "I love you too." before his eyes meet the door again and he opens it.

- DeathCrawler Thank you.

- Danifan3000 I don't think you're truly missing anything, but I'm happy to explain. First off, the so-called truce was mainly just a political move. Since Ben's family rules the country and Audrey's family has only been designated to one kingdom, it's very important for her family (as well as any other royal family) to have a decent enough relationship with Ben's family. The truce was less about making things right with Mal and more to do with making things right with Ben, as he is the ruler of the country now... Moving onto Audrey's concern for Mal's safety when she thought Ben might be emotionally hurting Mal, that's probably just her feeling guilty that her ex could have hurt someone else regardless of the other girl's species or religion. A good Christian girl has a duty to bring her significant other to God's worship, so since she was both unable to do that and because he may have been mistreating the people he was dating after he had dated her, it's ultimately her fault... Or at least that's what she would probably think. The main reason she contradicts herself would most likely be due to her religion. Not of offend anyone here, but because the Bible contradicts itself someone who follows its teaching are very good at separating them and interpreting them in a way that they won't contradict... I don't know how you would do that, but for instance: in that last scene with Audrey she quoted a passage from Deuteronomy which said that enchanters and witches are an abomination to the Lord, but I bet if I looked up some parable or quote from Jesus that it would say something along the lines of love your neighbors like you love yourself and to not hate the sinners but the sin. That's how Audrey can be on semi-okay terms with Mal and still believe that she is not a creation of God, and if you attempt to think about it from her perspective it's not very contradictory at all actually... She's just probably not going to want to be around Mal very often, because Mal is a demon trying to convince people that being bad feels good and to act on that sin... I hope I answered your comment. If you still have questions... or non-questions like this last time, then feel free to post them. If you're confused about it, then other people might be too. PS: I don't think Mal is actually a demon, and Ben is not the antichrist. Man, so I had this brilliant idea for the novels. If you look up the descriptions of the first and second beasts from Revelations, it is said that the first beast had a deadly wound of which was healed. Trust me, when you read it it fits Ben's father's story perfectly for him to be the first beast. Awesome, right? Of course, Ben (Beau) being an atheist would probably just say that with enough time any prophecy can come true, and because the novels are going to take place 50 million years into the future, it would not be that hard to believe that it would have happened by then... I feel like I'm all talk. I have to write it.

- Post: 12/05/2018