Camp Cretaceous: Its death time (rewritten)

4. What's your problem?

Darius asked, "So, Ben. How's it going?"

Ben answered, "Fine. Just making a Bumpy sled, so she can help carry the paragliders," not understanding what Darius meant.

"Wow. Cool," he complimented, "BESIDES the Bumpy sled, how is it going? Like, going-going?"

Ben realized what he meant, "Wait, why are you asking me how I'm doing? Did Kenji put you up to this?" With saying that last sentence, he picks up a stick and yells, "Kenji! If you're pranking me, oh YOU'RE gonna regret it!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, no-no one's pranking you. Kenji just went up the gondola," I tried to calm him down, then muttered, "Jeez, aggressive."

Ben heard it, though, "Totally."

I calmly explained, "Look, Darius and I thought something was bothering you so we both just wanted to come check on you."

"I'll be FINE," Ben replied.

Darius gasps, "There it is."

Ben asks, "What?"

Darius caught it, "You said you were going to BE fine. Which means you're NOT fine right NOW."

Up at the point, the four teenagers got out. Kenji and Sammy ran towards the binoculars and enjoyed the view while the other two teens were headed to the gliders. Yaz saw them enjoy their fun, "Sure. We'll get the paragliders. You two can just keep looking at things."

"Sounds GOOD!" Kenji replied.

Brooklyn looked at the gliders. She told Yaz confidently, "Yaz, why don't you stay here? I unboxed paragliding in Mozambique so it's probably best for ME, the EXPERT, to handle the glider."

Yaz denies, "Nah. Those things look heavy, anyways. So it's probably best for ME, the ATHLETE, to do the heavy lifting."

"Please. I insist."

"No, I insist." And they argued their way to the gliders.

Back down there, Darius and I were guessing what's the matter with Ben. I asked, "You are insecure about your headband?"

"No."

"Out of hand sanitizer?"

Ben scoffs at that question, "Never."

"You have a phobia of some sort. Acrophobia?"

"No."

"Auto phobia?"

"What's that?"

"I think it's being afraid of being alone?"

"Isn't everyone?" I asked Darius, slapping my forehead.

"Oh yeah," Darius gave up at the point, "But whatever it is, I'm SURE we can help."

"No, you can't!" Ben told him, getting frustrated at this point, "Not EVERY problem has a solution."

"Yes it does," Darius muttered.

Ben heard him, "Not this one."

I told him, "Well, if you tell us what it is, we can figure it out."

Darius started guessing more, "You have carbon issues. You're out of clean underwear!"

Ben got tired of Darius guessing what his problem is, so he let it out, "I don't wanna leave Bumpy ever again! Okay? THAT'S my problem."

"Oh." We looked at Bumpy and began to think of something.

"Well, you don't HAVE to leave Bumpy," Darius tries to comfort him, "We'll build a BIGGER raft."

I sighed, "Darius, we talked through this many times. No matter how big of a raft we build, her weight is going to sink it. We can't build a raft that can hold an eight thousand pound dinosaur. In other words, she'll NEVER fit on a raft."

Ben continued, "I have to leave her here. It's the only way." He took a pause, and then continued, "When I saw her back at camp, I realized it was a mistake leaving her here. She was always there for me. And I..." Ben was on the verge of tears, but he tried his best to hold it back, "I just abandon her? I can't do it again. I just can't."

I tried to comfort him, "Ben, Bumpy will be okay without you."

"Of course she will. She's a survivor. It's just that...I don't know if I'll be okay," he turned back to us, "I appreciate what you're tryna do, you guys. But some things...some things just can't be fixed. Darius and I looked at each other, then sighed in misery. We couldn't help our friend.