Agent Benjamin Ripley

Chapter 8

"He's bound to wake up soon... You found him where?... Paralyzing drugs in his system... Vegetative state." Voices blended together, and all I could sense was the warm hand holding mine. I couldn't open my eyes. I didn't know how long it was that I was asleep, but I could hear every conversation. There was Zoe and Mike talking to the doctors. I tried calculating the time in my head, but without the sun and other factors, it was nearly impossible. 

"....Three weeks, no change..." The doctor said

"Are you sure?" Zoe sounded worried.

"Will he be alright?" You could tell Mike was holding it together, if not for Zoe. He was my first best friend. I saw shadows beneath 

"Please, Ben, you have to wake up... Don't give up on me... You've survived so much!" Erica was pleaded with me, and all I wanted to do was get up and hug her and tell her I'm okay. But I couldn't. A cold drop of water hit my face. Was Erica... crying? Was my mom there? I thought I heard her voice talking to me, but it could have just been a memory. I hadn't seen my parents in what felt like years, but was only six months. Was that the last time I would see them?

"You have to wake up, Benjamin. Do it for Erica." Catherine Hale, Erica's mother said to me. I could see her, but I heard her accent, and smelled gunpowder and blueberry muffins. I remembered the first time I had met her. 

"C'mon, Ben. I know you can do it." This time, it was Alexander. The man who had been my idol when I had first come to the school.  The man who had bluffed his way to the top of the CIA. He could also be my father-in-law someday. I saw a dark shadow reach out to me, and I opened my eyes to see a room with white walls. 

"Is this a dream?" I wondered aloud. Murray appeared in front of me, along with Ashley and Warren. I tried to lift my arms into a fighting stance, but they wouldn't move, and they felt like two lead blocks. 

"Of course it is. We wouldn't be here otherwise. We're dead, you see." Ashley's voice echoed back to me. She looked the way she did when she died. Memories enveloped me and I remembered that day on the beach, playing sneak attack and planning to go to Disney world. 

"Trust your instincts, Ben... You're going to forget everything now..." Murray smiled at me. He looked like the devil. 

"Do it for Erica... do it for Erica... do it for Erica..." Catherine's voice echoed back to me, and I sat up in the bed, panting. Where was I? More importantly, who was I?

AHHHHH CLIFF HANGER!!! ENJOY IT!!!! I'M IN MATH CLASS RIGHT NOW, BUT I'LL TRY TO UPDATE SOON!