#ben_drowned

An alarm blared, jolting you out of a dreamless slumber. The phone beside your ear rings, and in grabbing it you see what was the issue. ‘Now’ was the only context your sleep-addled mind was given by your phone alarm, and you groaned. Throwing a heavy blanket off yourself, you crawl out of an all too warm bed, and find yourself falling onto the floor. Another groan, and all too weak arms push you up into a sitting position. A yawn ripped past your lips before you can stop it, your arms pulling away from each other in a stretch. You grab onto the bed, lifting yourself up. Thankfully, you were the only one ever in your dorm. A sigh leaves from deep inside your chest, and instead of fully changing, you throw a dark colored hoodie over your night shirt, and replaced fluffy pajama pants with a pair of looser fitting jeans. 

You walk over to your mirror, and wince at the state of yourself. Your eyes had deep bags under them, somehow managing to dull the actual [e/c] of your eyes. Maybe you should start doing a better skincare routine, you start to mutter to yourself and you run a hand through your hair. “Eh, good enough.” You shrug, walking towards the mini fridge. You pull out a large water bottle, closing the door with your foot and grabbing a breakfast bar from the ‘counter’. In reality it was a foldable table you threw everything that wasn't meant for your bed. 

The phone rang again, making you nearly jump as you scrambled to grab it. Glancing at the contact name, you sigh and answer it. “Yeah mom? What's up?” You tuck the phone between your ear and should as you continue getting ready for the day. “Good morning sweetheart. Just calling you to give you the rundown on thanksgiving plans. Were you going to join us this year? Yaya is coming over.” You can hear some type of chaos on the other side of the call, but dismiss it. “Oh, uh.” You pause, thinking if there was any plans you forgot about with Damien, before you shrug, “Yeah, I can come down. You want me to drive or were you planning to come grab me?” In pulling on your shoes, you toss a bag over your shoulder, shove your dorm key in your pocket, and head out for your classes for the day. “I can’t come down there before hand, there’s so much food i have to make.” You hear a sigh, and a small smile crawls up the corners of your lips. “Are you alright to drive down?” “Yeah mom, don’t worry about it. But, ill call you later, I gotta get to class.” “Alright! Have a nice day! Ill see you next week!” “See ya. Love you,” You smile, pulling the phone from your ear. Your thumb hovers over the ‘End Call’ button, waiting for the- “Love you too! Ba-bye!” And you hit the button. Walking outside of the dorm building, your hit with the nice fall air. The leaves are still they're beautiful orangey-red hues, only just starting to fall to the ground. There was a calmness to the air, and you relax into it as you head to the most boring classes of the day, scheduled back to back. Sneakers hit slightly wet pavement, the morning dew still clear on the grass. You arrive at your first set of classes at about 10 am, the earliest most of your classes started. Most of the others around you seemed just as bored as you, and as the professor walked into the room, you started your day of only being half conscious and fully planning on stealing the English/math notes from Damien later on today.  The only class you really payed attention too was your arts course, as that was what your major was going to be. 

The Monday afternoon droned on; your three classes ending at about 2. But still, you yawned as you walked, heading to the nearby café area to meet up with Damien. The walk itself takes only about 15 minutes, walking by a fairly quaint little collage town. This café is a small place, thankfully not nearly as busy as the nearby Starbucks. You didn't think you could handle studying and working in such a crowded area. You sit down in one of the only booths in this place, pulling out your laptop from your bag and setting it down. Opening up to your English work, you started on it as you waited for Damien. He usually got there at about 2:30, his classes usually went on a tad bit longer. The waitress walked over, a sweet lady named Amanda. She was pretty, but in that textbook way. Curly blond hair, fair skin, all that stuff. “Hey [Y/n]. You getting your usual?” She asked with a small grin, having already been writing in her notebook. “Um. Yes please.” You nodded, and she chuckled. “Always predictable, huh?” she teased lightly. An eye roll followed. “I like my coffee goddamnit.” You crack a small smirk. While you wouldn’t call Amanda a friend, you two were friendly towards each other. She let out a small giggle, before half turning. “One boring, black coffee coming up, your dullness.” You laugh a little as she walks towards the counter. You flip one of the white mugs on the table so Amanda could just pour in the coffee. Time to start the dull research process. Why the hell was Damien making you do this, you may be asking. You two had the same professors, just different times. You two picked the same project subject for this exact reason. Amanda came back over with a simple coffee pot, and a plate in her hand. “Mom made some apple pie for next week. Figured Id give some out to customers for a taste test.” She said, putting down the plate as well. You glance up at her. “Uh-huh. And your not trying to fatten me up to cook me into the stew?” You joke. She covers her mouth in a snort. “If I wanted to fatten you up id give you the whole pie.” She smiles behind her hand. “I’m assuming your friend is coming too? Ill get started on his order.” Amanda turns to walk off once again. The café was rather empty. Only you, her, and an older man. You glance over at him out of a sense of curiosity. His jacket looked neat. Old as hell, but it seemed to be some sort of tanned leather if you had to guess. You were snapped out of your thoughts as Damien slid into the booth. “Man, does Professor Richardson ever shut up?” He sighed, nearly collapsing onto the booth table. You chuckle, and one quick look at him you could tell there was a difference. “Nope,” You chuckle, “But, You braided your hair?” you ask, raising an eyebrow. “Looks great.” “Thanks.” He sighed, sitting up and leaning against the seat. “Took me like 4 hours last night.” “Your kidding.” “God I wish.” He said, fiddling with the charms he braided into his hair. “So, whatcha got so far?” He asked, adjusting in his seat to lean forward, as if trying to read the back of your laptop. The two of you started to talk quietly. Drinking coffee and snacking on apple pie for the next hour or so. The two of you got a solid rough draft going, each having similar, but differently worded points. Amanda came over a few times, just refilling coffee and chatting a little. “Amanda, when do you get out of work?” Damien asked as you started to gather your things to leave,  “You need someone to walk you home?” Recently, a lot of odd and scary shit had been happening in the towns nearby. People were being attacked, maimed almost. So far there wasn't any deaths, but its better to be safe than sorry. Amanda, however, shook her head. “Stayin till close, Dad’s driving me and mom home. Thank you though.” She gave a small smile. Damien nodded. “Good, wouldn’t want you to get hurt.” He smiled a little in return. “What about you [Y/n]?” “Oh Im fine. Just gonna take a walk and go back to the dorms.” Damien gave you a look, his eyebrow raising. “Seriously? You trying to die some white girl in a horror movie death?” He asked. You laugh. “Yeah, actually. Maybe Ill finally have a use for someone.” You smirk as Damien reached forward, lightly hitting you across the head. “Alright dumbass. If you die I get to be in charge of your funeral music.”  He rolled his eyes. You both pay your tabs, leaving Amanda your usual combined tip, and headed out. You waved Damien off as you headed towards the park. In rummaging through your bag, you pull out a set of airpods and plop them into your ears, getting your phone set up with a playlist. The fall air here was just wonderful. Cold enough for a light jacket, but not so much that your freezing your ass off. The leaves around you fell peacefully onto concrete, than gravel roads. The houses turning into a open field and a parking lot. You continued on, walking into the peaceful woods. Mothers were out with their kids, pushing strollers around and playing with toddlers. A smile tugged onto your face. Just a small one, a twitch of the lips more like. This wasn’t your hometown, but it was close enough it might as well be. The woods were always such a nice place, almost grounding as you move away from the the normality of this town. As you continued to walk throughout the paths, the concrete turned to gravel, the gravel turning to dirt. As you walk, you notice a pinprick at the back of your head. A small, dull pain at the back of the head. Probably from a lack of water. You continued to walk, as dull as the writing sounds. Adjusting your hair, and changing the song on your phone occasionally. These woodland walks were something you did often, never straying off the paths. The pain in your head grew, each step seemed to add to it. Until it grew to the point it blurred your vision. Stepping to the side of the path, you sit down. Crossing your legs and pulling your phone out. It was only about 4pm, you had an hour to get home before dark. Your head hit the tree behind you, eyes drawing to a close. You blinked. That's it. A quick closing of the eyes, before you appeared in this pure white room. The walls and floor seemed to be made of smoke, with two floating panels in front of you. The panels were made of what looked like glass, and as you stood up to see further, there was a sense of weightlessness. Walking through the smoke felt like walking through water. It dragged you back towards where you used to be, each step a difficulty within itself. As you approach the panels, you see two words written on both. The panel on your left was labeled ‘Find them’, the one on your right labeled ‘Find You.’ “What the fuck?” you mumble, reaching out towards one of them. There was a tingling feeling in your hand, as if these panels themselves were some type of electricity. You pause, not touching it.

 What were you supposed to do? What was this? Where were you?