“You need to keep an eye on that bobber,” Jeff said.
Not even two seconds after Jeff had finished his sentence, Jeff’s bobber started shaking. Jeff could feel the tug as he began to reel in the line.
“I got one, son. How about that!” Jeff said excitingly. He was let down though, as he discovered he caught a carp fish. He took the hook out of its mouth and threw it back into the creek.
Things got quiet for the next ten minutes. “Well, I think I’m going to put a worm on my pole, they don’t seem to like my minnow,” Jeff said.
Jeff reeled in his pole, and he walked over to the cup of worms preparing his fishing pole.
“If we don’t get anything soon, I think we are going to have to call it a day. What do you say?” Jeff asked Ben.
As Jeff turned to Ben, Ben’s bobber went into the water. Ben quickly began reeling in the fishing line fighting the tug from the fish.
“Keep it coming, son. You got it!” Jeff exclaimed.
As Ben reeled in the fish, they both could see right away it was a bass.
Jeff looks at the somewhat large bass. “Well, son, you did much better than me today. Congratulations.” Jeff smiled.
They went on to fish for another half an hour. Ben would go on to catch three carp that were all thrown back in the creek. Jeff caught two carp and a catfish and threw all three back in the creek as well. Jeff realized that they couldn’t cook much, so they gave their bass away to a couple that were fishing about fifty feet away.
“Well, son, I hope you had fun today,” Jeff said.
Ben had a large smile on his face. “I had a lot of fun today. Thanks, dad.”
“I know I haven’t always been there for you,” Jeff said.
Jeff and Ben walked happily to the car, thinking that this was the first of many great adventures. They both couldn’t have been more wrong.
Three weeks had passed since Ben went fishing with his father. Ben is in the grass area way passed where most kids played. He was hoping for some peace and quiet. He sat on the ground lost in thought when he got a tap on his shoulders. He turned around and was face to face with Ryan and his cronies.
“Good afternoon, sunshine. It looks like there is nowhere for you to go. Your luck has finally expired,” said a gleefully Ryan.
Ben was near the side of the road, and his only hope would be for a driver to stop to help him. He is at the minimum fifty feet away from the closest kids. Ben thought long and hard about running but knew there was no chance he could outrun all three.
“What exactly is it that you want from me?” Ben asked in a frightened tone.
“Do you have $20?” James asked.
Ryan quickly began to speak before Ben could open his mouth.
“The three of us will walk away. All you have to do is give us $20,” said Ryan.
“But, I don’t have $20,” said Ben.
“Well, that’s too bad,” said Ryan.
Ryan looked over at Michael nodding his head. Michael came forward and threw a solid punch right into Ben’s chest. Ben dropped quickly as Michael couldn’t have thrown a more beautiful and accurate punch to Ben’s midsection. As Ben had his right arm over his chest trying to fight the pain, James cocked back and swung as hard as he could at Ben’s left eye. Ben fell to the ground on his back. He got back to a kneeling position trying to rub his swollen eye.
“Well, look at you kneeling before me,” said Ryan. He began to laugh along with his two buddies.
Ben wanted to say “fuck you” but knew it would only anger and entice Ryan to hit him as hard as he could, so he stayed quiet. In all reality, it didn’t matter, as Ryan brought his knee hard into Ben’s chest causing him to lie in pain. Tears began falling out of Ben’s eyes. He hadn’t cried since he was seven. He was raised not to cry. His crying only drew more laughter.
It appeared that they were done. Michael and James began walking away, but Ryan felt like it wasn’t enough.
“We really need to teach this boy that we mean business,” said Ryan.
Ben had gotten himself to a crouched position. Ryan ran full speed to a crouched over Ben and kicked his face. Ben fell over half knocked out. The three began parading punches and kicks to his face, stomach, and arms. Several minutes had gone by and Ben had passed out from the hard blows to the face and body.
“What’s going on here?” The recess teacher asked.
“He hurt my friend, James. So, I stepped in,” said a lying Michael as he was pointing at Ben.
“Is that so, where did he hurt you at?” The recess teacher asked, not buying the bluff.
“He threw me down and hit me in my lower stomach a few times,” said James, obviously lying.
The recess teacher gave James a look of “I’m not buying it.” The recess teacher noticed the child (Ben) isn’t moving.
“The three of you get to the principal’s office right now!” The recess teacher exclaimed as she walked over to Ben.
She crouched down and put her hand on Ben’s arm. “Are you alright?” Ben is still half out of it. He looked up to the recess teacher and his vision is blurry. The recess teacher noticed a group of girls were huddled near her.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Go to the principal’s office and call the ambulance!” The recess teacher exclaimed at the group of girls. The girls ran to the building as the recess teacher stayed with Ben and waited.
Ben is seated in the principal’s office. Also seated were Ryan, Michael, and James. Ben is wearing a cast over his broken right arm. Ben also had a bloody nose as well as a left black eye. They sat from left to right in that order right in front of the principal’s desk.
“I’m absolutely disgusted! Who wants to start?” The principal asked.
Michael began pointing Ben. “It’s his fault. We were just trying to rescue James.”
“So, James needed the two of you?” The principal asked, obviously not buying the story.
“Well, he is our friend, and we stick together,” said Ryan.
“Even if that were true, why then did you go as far as you did with your beating on Ben?” The principal asked. The principal noticed Ben never said a word. “What’s your side of the story, Ben?”
Ben hesitated on whether he should rat his three bullies out or not, but he realized he had no choice. “I wouldn’t give them $20, so they beat me up,” said Ben.
“That’s a pile of bullocks!” Ryan screamed.
“You shut up!” The principal yelled at Ryan. He then looked at Michael and James. I don’t want to hear another word from the three of you. I want to hear Ben’s side of the story.
“So, this was all over money?” The principal asked.
“Well, not exactly. They have been picking on me all year long, actually. This was just the first time it went past threats and pushing,” said Ben, who was having trouble speaking due to hesitation and pain.
“Did you ever do anything to them for them to behave this way towards you?” The principal asked.
“I have no history with them, and I have done everything in my power to avoid them. I have never done a darn thing to any of them!” Ben’s voice grew loud with his last statement as if to say “I don’t deserve to be accused.”
“How are you holding up?” The principal asked.
“I have fractured ribs, and as you can see a broken arm,” said Ben.
“I’m sending you home for the day. You can go next door and make a phone call home.” Ben got up from his chair and began walking to the office next door. “One last thing…” Ben turned around as he was almost in the hallway leading to the other offices. “Make sure you get plenty of rest,” The principal said. Ben nodded his head and proceeded to walk to the other office.
Ben is seated in the dining room all alone. His mom heard about the incident at school shortly after it happened. When the school notified Tina (Ben’s mom) of what happened to Ben, she demanded that the three bullies that harmed Ben be banned from ever attending the school again. She had notified
the police who were already well aware of the ordeal from being contacted from the principal. Ben’s mom currently is in the living room. She’s on the phone venting her frustration and steam to friends and family about Ben’s fight at school. Ben heard his father coming in through the front door. Within seconds, Jeff is in the dining room with Ben.
“I’m proud of you, son,” said Jeff with a huge smile in his face.
Ben was caught off guard and showed a bewildered look on his face. Ben was thinking, I just got my ass whipped and you are proud of me?
“You finally stood up for yourself. There is no better way to get rid of a bully but to defend yourself. They run away when that happens,” said Jeff.
Ben’s face went from shock to disappointment. He wanted to tell his father the truth about not defending himself, but he didn’t want to ruin his father’s happiness. Heck, Ben didn’t even throw one punch. He never attempted to fight back because he knew it was a no-win situation. Plus, he figured that they would put an even bigger punishment on him. Of course, if he knew how badly they were going to hurt him, he would have tried making some type of attempt. A part of Ben wished he would have tried to make a run for it, but he also knew deep down they still would have caught him.
“Well, I still got beat up,” said Ben.
“But that’s ok. The important thing is, you finally learned to stick up for yourself,” said Jeff, who was still smiling.
Jeff got up from his seat and patted Ben on the shoulders. “You really should get some rest for those fractured ribs,” said Jeff. Jeff then went upstairs to get ready for bed. Ben stared lost in thought.
Chapter 4
Two months later- Ben is seated at a large table in the school’s cafeteria next to many students from his classroom. Ben’s bullies had gotten ten days outside of school suspension, but they ended up being away from the school much longer, as all three of them had to do thirty days in the juvenile detention center. Ben noticed Ryan and his two buddies while sipping his soup. Ben is fully healed from his injuries. He could see Ryan and his two buddies looking at him and then sharing a laugh with each other. Ben just hoped that they didn’t bother him. They were a table over. The three bullies got up from their table and began walking towards Ben. Ben pretended not to notice that they were only a few feet away.
“So how is ‘pussy bitch’ doing?” Ryan asked.
Ben looked over at Ryan as if he didn’t just get insulted. “I’m doing ok,” said Ben.
Ryan and his three friends burst out in huge laughter. Surprisingly, not too many students around Ben were laughing. Most weren’t paying any attention as they were too busy talking to their own friends. One classmate sitting right across from Ben did hear it. Ryan and his three friends began to walk away.
“What a loser,” said James as the three of them walked towards the exit door of the cafeteria.
Ben slowly ate his soup trying to pretend that he just wasn’t insulted.
“What is wrong with you?” The classmate across from Ben asked. Ben tried to pretend he didn’t hear the classmate, and he put his spoon into his soup bowl and began to drink from his small carton of chocolate milk. The classmate just shook his head. “If you don’t stand up for yourself, they will never leave you alone.”
The classmate then got up from his seat. Ben nodded in agreement, though the student didn’t see the nod, as he was already up and out of his seat.
Two weeks came and went. It appeared Ben’s bullies had moved on to other students. Every once in a while, they made fun of him but that was to the extent of it. Maybe they felt that they had cracked Ben and mentally scarred him for life, and perhaps, that was their goal. Since, in their mind, they had finished their goal, maybe they felt it was time to move on to new victims. It could also be that they got into a lot of trouble for severely beating up Ben. Whatever the reason was, Ben is just thankful that they “just” let him be.
“Looks like things are coming along nicely for you,” said a smiling Beth (counselor).
“Yes, they sure are!” Ben exclaimed proudly.
Ben’s excitement was because his parents had gotten along much better in the previous weeks and appeared to have finally reclaimed their marriage. Ben’s grades had gotten much better as he began to care much more for his grades.
“I came close to having you sent to Doctor Coording (Psychologist), but I don’t think that’s necessary anymore. They really hate to put kids on medication your age,” said Beth.
“Well, I have to thank you for my improvement,” said Ben.
This was nothing more than a bluff from Ben. He didn’t think Beth helped him at all, and he even kissed up a little hoping that she would notify his parents that she didn’t think he needed counseling anymore.
“Well, that wraps up things here. You take care of yourself, and have a good weekend,” said Beth.
“You too,” said Ben.
Ben left the building just as Jeff was pulling up to the building. Ben jumped in.
“Well, how did it go?” Jeff asked.
“It went great, dad,” said Ben.
Jeff had the biggest smile on his face that Ben had ever seen.
“What’s going on, dad?” Ben asked. “You seem really happy.”
“I’m taking your mom out for her anniversary tomorrow, and don’t you say anything to her!” Jeff said excitingly.
Ben smiled. “I won’t. I’m really happy for you, dad,” said Ben.
“Thanks. I’m not going to lie to you, son. I honestly thought your mom and I were going to get a divorce, but all I have to say is ‘wow’ on how things are changing so quickly for us. Good job on the report card as well!” Jeff said overly excited.
Ben looks at his father with a fake smile. “I got mostly ‘C’s’ dad,” said Ben.
Jeff laughs hard. “Well, compared to what you were getting, I would have to say that’s quite an achievement,” said Jeff.
Ben laughs, “Very true.”
Ben is walking on Spring Road. It’s a little after four o’clock. Ben had just gotten off of school about thirty minutes prior and began to walk to the park. He usually went straight home after school, but his parents were going out for their anniversary tonight. He knew that they would leave sometime between five and seven o’clock, so, he thought he would kill some time at the park until they left.
Ben observed nature and people as he enjoyed his walk. Two young children around eight were throwing a Nerf football back and forth in their front yard. Most of the people Ben seen were other kids that were still walking home. He knew that they hadn’t made it home yet, because they still had their school backpacks on. He saw many people walking, talking, and laughing (mostly school kids). A girl and guy crossed the street and walked right in from of him. They were very flirty with each other. Ben quickly walked past them as they were leaning up on each other and walking extremely slow.
As Ben got much closer to the park, he noticed a bunny hopping super fast into some bushes, and shortly thereafter, a cat ran up to the same bushes. The cat used its paws at the bushes. It was walking by the bushes looking for the best entrance to the bushes. Ben is only three houses away from the park at this juncture. A car just pulled up at the last house on the street, which is directly across the street from the park. An extremely overweight, bald-headed man got out of the driver’s side door. Despite the man’s large frame, he appeared really strong. The man is a little over six feet tall with tattoos all over his arms. A girl in her teen years got out of the passenger door. The man (probably her father) began screaming at her.
“You can forget about going to that slumber party! Until your grades improve, you can kiss all your fun good-bye,” said the disgruntled overweight man. As the man passed in front of Ben, he took a quick glance at Ben before he and the teen girl headed to their front porch.
As Ben entered the park, he noticed there were already many kids around his age already playing basketball.
“Hey, want to play?” One of the kids playing ba
sketball asked.
“Sure,” said Ben.
“My name is Jacob.” As he said those words, three people left the court. “As you can see, we are losing people out here.” Jacob pointed at the only two other people still on the court. “That’s Henry and that’s Jeff,” said Jacob.
“Should be an easy name to remember, I have a father named Jeff,” said Ben.
“Well, that’s good, because you will be on his team,” said Jacob.
As they began playing it was quite apparent that Jacob was a very special player. He was making two’s and three’s left and right. His partner Henry didn’t appear to be very good, but he did land one “nothing but net” three-pointer. Ben found himself getting “hot” as he landed two three-pointers. Jeff made a couple of two-pointers to cut the deficit to seven points. Ben hoped that maybe the momentum would shift, but Jacob was a one man wrecking crew. Jacob got “hot” once again, and this time took an ever bigger lead.
“We are up by twenty-one points now,” said an arrogant, grinning Jacob.
“What score do you usually play up to?” Ben asked.
“We just play to whenever. Why do you ask? Do you have to get home or something?” Jacob asked.
“Well, I do need to get home by five,” said Ben. This was a complete lie. Ben wanted to get home to watch television and enjoy not having his parents there for most of the night.
Jacob glanced at his watch. “Well, it’s 4:45.”
Ben waved good-bye. “I really have to run. You guys take care.”
The three of them seemed disappointed, as they once again were a person short. They noticed a young boy around nine kicking a soccer ball around near the basketball court.
“Hey, do you want to play basketball?” Jacob yelled to the boy, as he was several feet away.”
Ben, by this point was too far away to hear what the boy said, but knew he responded with some type of “yes” because Ben looked back and seen the boy was walking onto the basketball court.
Hitman's Journey Back in Time Page 3