Who We Were | Book One

35. Parental Guardian

Ben led the way across Carnelian, strolling so casually it was clear he knew the place like the back of his bruised hand. He walked lopsided in front of me and his face had begun to swell, the skin turning to a multitude of red and purple colouring. His body turned as a little girl ran up beside him, a beaming grin sealed on her face.

"Ben!" She shouted, catching his attention.

A smile pulled at his lips, reaching to his eyes as he shrugged on the jacket he held and lifted the girl into his arms, holding her against his hip effortlessly.

"Hey, Sophia," he smiled, his eyes lighting up for the first time. "Where's your mum?"

"She's working," the girl pouted, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Working? Gross," Ben exclaimed, screwing up his face. "This is Em," he added, pointing a finger towards me. "You going to say hi?"

The girl gave a shy grin. "Hi," she said before hiding her face into Ben's shoulder.

He laughed and began tickling at the sides of her neck. "What are you hiding for, huh?"

She stopped laughing for a moment as she pulled back from Ben's chest. "Are you back for good now?" She asked, her bright face hopeful.

"Yeah," he nodded, glancing in my direction. "I'm back."

"Good," Sophia said as stern as she could. "Nobody else plays hide and seek properly."

Ben dropped the girl off just before we turned onto the driveway of a house. She ran off as Ben took hesitant steps to the door. Bushes lined the terracotta-coloured brick, suffocating the building as they wrapped around. A white porch outcropped from the structure, its once glass windows now patched and reinforced with wooden boards blocking out the sunlight that tried to force its way through.

"Are they all boarded up like this?" I asked, remaining fixed on the house in front of me.

"Yeah," he replied. "Most of the people here have been here the whole time, these are the homes they lived in before all this."

"Was this your home?" I pointed a weak finger to the door.

He shook his head quickly in response. "No. I didn't live around here," He took a brief glance around the town. "Will was a family friend."

He held a clenched fist up to the white door and knocked three times. My stomach twisted with nerves as we waited in the doorway and my pulse jerked at the veins in my wrist.

The door opened to a woman. She was older and looked to be in her late thirties. Her hair had been pulled back into a loose ponytail and there was a distinct contrast between the deep brown on top of her scalp from the blonde streaks that hung down her neck, the clear remnants of former bleaching. Her green eyes enlarged and glistened as she took in the boy beside me.

"Ben?" She greeted in disbelief as her lips slowly pulled into a wide smile, revealing a line of perfectly straight teeth.

Ben gave an awkward, crooked smile. "Hi, Zoe."

She appeared flustered as she flickered quickly between the two of us before taking a step out the door and slapping Ben across the shoulder.

"Ow," Ben groaned, reaching up to clutch his arm. "What was that for?"

"I thought you were dead," she breathed before pulling him into a tight hug. "I thought you'd never come back," she whispered into his hair.

"Well, here I am," he replied, pulling away. The woman placed a hand over her mouth, her face a picture of relief as he kept a hand on his shoulder. "I hope you haven't replaced me as a housemate."