The Bender Games

Chapter Ten

The Bender Games

Chapter 10: Before It Begins

    I walk up to the balcony, and am relieved that I see Benjamin waiting for me by the railing. As soon as he hears my footsteps, he turns around to face me, his elbows leaning against the railing, a cocky expression on his face. I twiddle with my fingers as I approach, unknowing of how he will respond at the question I am about to ask.

    Benjamin watches me come forth, and when I am directly in front of him, he smiles. I let out a exhale, and stare up into his big blue eyes that are filled with humor and life.

    “Benjamin,” I start.

    “I know what you are going to ask me.” He interrupts. This catches me off guard and turns my face crimson. I open my mouth, which has suddenly gone dry, and begin to speak hoarsely through my throat.

    “B-but you d-didn’t let me finish.” I stutter, still a little tongue-tied from him cutting me off. Benjamin drops his arms against his side,throws his hands in his pockets, and takes a step towards me.

    “You were going to ask if we could make an alliance.” He says, taking the words right out of my mouth, which hangs down. I stand in front of Benjamin in complete awe and starstruck. The only question on my mind in regards to the previous events is how did he know? I am almost about to ask him when he raises his hand to cut me off again. “Ariel, don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t be allianced with you. I’d be putting you in danger, and I wouldn’t want to come in between you and your chances of ever seeing your family again.”

    I stand there in awe at Benjamin. I don’t know how to take in his words. I was relying on him to help me, to be my partner in this. And now he is bailing on me. I feel as if all the life has just been sucked out of me, like my whole existence in now destroyed - shattered even. I grab a hold onto my necklace, which feels like it is the only thing holding me in place right now.

    “But if we were alliances, we could protect each other, and we could both win.” I blurt. I look up at Benjamin and try to see what could possibly going on through his head. And with those words, something inside Benjamin began to change. The emotions in his eyes flickered with some form of mask that was keeping his feelings undetected and lost, almost as if they began to go hollow and blank. His body language changed too. One moment he was leaning nonchalantly against the railing, and now he stands stiff, straight, with his hands in his pockets and his head hangs parallel to the ground. He takes one long look at me and parts his lips to utter a few short sentences.

    “Ariel, I won’t win. I won’t come back, not this time.” he says. His voice is low and monotone, driving out any emotion or thought in my head. The thought of Benjamin not coming back is almost unthinkable. And yet somehow, he truly believes that will happen. His Jaw twitches, and he pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers as he lets out the longest sigh I have ever heard. Then a hiccup escapes his lips accompanied by a nervous laugh. “I just can’t shake the feeling that I won’t survive this time Ariel. And I can’t drag you down with me….Not like this.” And with that, he pushes past me, and leaves without saying anything else; leaving behind the sense of despair, and the crushed hope that I was actually was going to survive the Bender Games.

Monica pushes the button on the elevator, so we can descend down into the lobby. I feel odd about going down there. When we were in the room a few minutes ago, Monica emerged from her room out of nowhere and ordered us all to go take showers. After some time, Monica ran into our bathrooms and knocked on our shower doors yelling at us that we were late. We got out of the showers, still dripping wet (except for me, I bent myself dry. I guess that’s one of the perks of being a waterbender) and we had time to only throw on our bathrobes. To our luck, the robes are very long and comfortable. I just feel weird going out in public with it on. I wouldn’t mind if we were only going into the lobby, because no one is going to be there aside from employees and other contestants. But that is not where the interviews are being held. Instead, we have to go on the other side of the city. And in order to get there, we have to go outside where paparazzis and cameras and video cameras are going to be. We will be the laughing stock of the Bender Games.