Survivin' - [B.C.]

Chapter 35: Handyman's Dreamworld

Sleeping was the only time of late where he could truly live without the disturbance of commands from external sources none of us can quite comprehend. This was true peace for a grieving man.

========= SURVIVIN' =========

As proud as I was of Ben, I wished he would have slowed down a bit.

It was one week after Tracy's funeral, and I had mostly stayed in my room. It was too cold to go outside for more than a minute, and it was too awkward to go downstairs to hang out with my parents.

God, it feels so weird saying that.

At one point, though, Sophie proposed a wonderful idea, and I still applaud her for that.

"Hey, what if you spent the night at Rodney's flat?" She asked me out-of-the-blue one day. I sort of just stood there and blinked at her.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" She insisted.

"N-No, I... I-I know it'll be fun, but, like, what in the world prompted that suggestion?"

I hopped up onto the kitchen island as Sophie was preparing breakfast. She looked at me and shrugged as she licked some batter off her thumb.

"I just thought, you know, you could use a bit of company, is all," She said. "More enthusiastic company. Honestly, Cal, it's far too boring around here for a spunky young go-getter like you."

I stared at Sophie. "What are you even talking about?"

She placed a lid over a pan of something and then turned around to face me.

"Dude," she deadpanned. "Tell me you don't wanna get out of here and go do something fun for a change."

I stared silently.

"That's what I thought. Go get packed; I'll take you over after breakfast."

"Okay then..."

So I walked away from the kitchen feeling very odd about this entire situation. Each step I climbed, a new explanation to Sophie's concerning behavior popped into my brain.

They're planning a heist.

They're gonna spice it up.

They're throwing a party.

They're... where's Ben?

As soon as the thought entered my brain, Ben appeared atop the first flight of stairs. His hair was messy and he looked like he'd just woken up. That was good; I was glad he was getting much-needed rest.

I opened my mouth to greet him, but he passed me going down the stairs with his pointer finger raised in the air.

"One word and I swear to God I'll push you down these stairs."

Okay.

I continued up to my room and paused before I opened the door. Why were they acting so weird? Ben is usually never that grumpy and Sophie is usually never that psychotic. It was honestly freaking me out, but I yielded and entered my bedroom to begin packing for an overnight stay at Rodney's house.

Clothes, headphones, charger, phone, keyboard... what else?

When I pulled a hoodie out of my dresser drawer, a tiny little box fell out of it and onto the floor. It was a bright green hoodie with a smiley face on it. It wasn't mine.