Over, Gone, and Lost

P A R T 5

"Let's play twenty questions to pass the time. I'll go first," Ben spoke without giving much chance to deny him.

"What's your favorite color?" Ben asked as she turned onto the highway. Why was Ben asking all these questions Caroline had never been asked before? Did that make him weird or her?

"Umm, Yellow," she said without looking over at him.

"Why"

Caroline thought for a moment before answering, "I had a friend in high school that got me a flower one time. It was yellow" she smiled at the memory of going to a park with Augustine. She had told him that she liked nature and flowers, so he made her close her eyes, and he picked a bright yellow tulip from a batch and handed it to her.

Ben smiled at her before motioning for her to ask him something. Caroline thought about what to ask, she didn't think it mattered too much since she would be dead in a few hours, but she would ask and listen anyway.

"Why did you stop earlier when you picked me up?" she asked.

"I was bored and saw you, so I thought I would ask you what you were doing, and now here we are" he smiled at her before looking back at the road.

"My turn, what's your middle name?" he asked.

"I don't have one," she answered.

"Why not"

"Children born and raised into foster care don't usually get middle names," she answered simply. It was true, or at least for the area, she lived in. Middle names were often given to a child with meaning, so when you are born without someone meaningful to provide one to you, you don't get one.

"Ok, follow up question, if you could have a middle name, what would it be?" he asked.

"Aria, it is a simple name, but it also means air in Italian," she responded. She learned a little Italian in high school as part of her class requirements. However, that was one word that really stuck with her for some reason.

"What is the worst thing you have ever eaten?" Caroline asked.

"Oh, easy, I had a buddy back in the police training academy that brought me home for thanksgiving, and his parents are like these super-rich and stuck-up people. Anyway, that was one word that really stuck with her for some reason. They served snails as part of the main course, and I tried it to be nice. I was throwing up for hours after that" he laughed at the memory, and Caroline turned her head to look at him for the first time in twenty minutes. She liked his laugh, it was warm and welcoming, and it made her laugh too.

Ben looked over at her with the same look she gave him a moment ago. Her laugh was cute. It sounded like it had the potential to light up an entire room, but it was also clear she didn't laugh every often by the way her face scrunched up.

"Umm, my turn. Who did you love the most in your lifetime?"

This was easy for Caroline. There was only one person that she ever loved, "My friend Augustine, he was everything to me, the family I never had," she said with the ghost of a smile.

"May I ask what happened to him?" Ben asked cautiously

"He died. Drunk driving, he had many issues, but wherever he is, I'm sure he is happy" she smiled sadly. Ben nodded, knowing that nothing more needed to be said on the topic. 

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