mentanoia - ben gross

chapter two;

Author's note: So glad you seem to be enjoying the story so far. If you have suggestions or predictions or anything, please feel free to comment them down below. ALSO I need names for some high school students so leave me your name or suggestions :)

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Chapter two;

He usually never read the newspapers, but that specific morning he did. Maybe it couldn't be defined as reading, since all he did was browse the pages for the announcement of death of Ian van der Jong. He couldn't find it anywhere, however, as if the catastrophe had never even taken place.

Ben kneed the paper up into small balls before throwing them from where he was sat into the garbage bin. He twirled around on the bar chair and glanced at the calendar.

Another twelve days he'd have to survive. Normally the business and spa trips from his parents wouldn't feel as never-ending as they did this time. Perhaps it was because usually Patty would be around to talk to him ever so often, and now even she wasn't here.

The house felt especially empty that morning.

His phone vibrated suddenly. Ben flinched and grabbed it in an instant. Deep within his heart there was a sparkle of hope that it'd be his mother or father, trying to reach out to him to see how he was doing, but of course it was just his social media.

Nonetheless, what felt like a genuine smile curled his lips up. His girlfriend has posted just another photo on her feed, but she looked just as stunning as ever. Ben zoomed in on the photo, realizing that Shira was wearing the dress he'd bought her.

And he felt happy.

~

Jane had barely written down her name on the piece of paper, when her teacher called out time was up. She groaned frustrated for only a short moment, but quickly lost the frustration to the numbness that had been controlling her these past few days. Handing in the test, she stumbled out of the classroom, tightening the grip on her pen just a bit.

She felt the hand on her shoulder before she heard the boy calling out her name.

"Jane-." His voice sounded so soothing and calm.

Jane turned on her heels and met the grey pools that looked more awoken than hers ever could. Ben was only a few inches taller than her, she noticed, but something about him made him look just as small, she thought.

"How is Pa- How are you?" He corrected himself without Jane ever noticing, "How have you been holding up?"

Nodding her head forcefully, Jane locked her gaze on his eyes. "Um." She didn't know how to respond. The feelings she had been banning from her heart felt invisible to her. "Yes, I'm fine. Really."

She saw him tilt his head a bit to the right. It made him look like an adorable boxer dog who was trying to read her eyes. He nodded once. "And Patty? I haven't heard from her in days."

Shrugging her shoulders, Jane got lost glancing into his eyes. "Yeah, uh, me neither." Realizing how odd that sounded, she coughed. "I mean, she's just very busy with everything. The funeral and all that."

The pout that appeared on his lips made her heart sink. She didn't want his pity.

"I will tell her to give you a call." Jane added quickly, "And I can come tomorrow evening again- that's not a problem. To clean, I mean."

It felt so strange to have his classmate, a girl who was as old as him but had probably been through twice as much as him, work for him. It felt wrong.