53. Sleep Now
Benji's POV
"I still don't understand why I have to learn about all of these old guys. Aren't they dead?"
"It is important for you to learn about your ancestors. You need to know their mistakes so you don't make them yourself in the future."
"It makes sense that a combustion spell would ignite a volcano! I have common sense."
"Okay, so that lesson may be common sense, but there are many other past issues that you can learn from. Remember the story of the great master Vincent?"
"Which old guy was he again? Can't remember if hes the one that got his nut sack bitten off by an alligator or the one that intentionally drowned himself to see what would happen."
"Please pay attention. There was no guy that drowned himself! Vincent was the one that froze to death in the mountains and was found 20000 years later. He's one of the earliest recorded masters!"
"What am I leaning from a guy that froze in mountains? In case you haven't noticed I live in Georgia and it's the twenty first century."
"You're learning that just because you're dead doesn't mean your useless! I mean, look at what I'm doing to you!"
"I don't want to be here anymore."
"Don't be difficult or it'll take longer for you to get back to your friends!"
"These people don't effect my life!"
"This is why we train you all from a younger age. Benjamin, they are learning examples!"
"The paleolithic era is very different from now! I don't think anything they did will be able to help me."
"You know what, fine! Figure it out yourself!" Master Genova shouted, and he threw twenty books right into my chest. I fell back against the stone with a loud oof, and before I could register what was happening I wasn't on the mount anymore. Instead, I could hear a constant flutter of motion around me, and I peeled my eyes open.
The room I'm in is a sickening white color, and the smell of disinfectant was burning my nose hairs. A balding man in a cyan blue mask turned his head over to shout at one of the others, and soon almost 10 people were crowded around my head. I couldn't tell if they were talking behind their masks or not, so I just focused on one of the ceiling tiles. The emptiness in my chest remained, and everything around me was slightly hazy. A flurry of motion occured from outside of my vision, and the the masked men and women moved out of the way from a speeding shape. My vision couldn't focus on it until it crouched down next to me, and I looked deeply into his black-brown eyes. Mikey's hand glided through my hair in a tender motion, and I closed my eyes to enjoy the pleasant tingling in my spine. His chin was resting on my upper arm, and I could feel that he was talking from the movement of his jaw. I could taste the recycled oxygen from the mask I was wearing, and the stupid sterilizer all over it made me want to vomit.
Finally my hearing rubber banded into shape, and I flinched at the sudden loudness of everything. The annoying beeps from beside my head were piercing my skull like a bad hangover, and someone had just dropped glassware in the distance. Mikey's eyes came into focus on the corner of my vision, and I used all of the effort I had left in my system to look at him. His fingers still combed through my scalp, and I was able to focus out all of the background noise when he began to talk to me again. "I was so worried, Benji."
"I-I-I w-w-wa-a-wa-was-was-was f-f-fi-fi-fi-ne-ne," I breathed out through the mask, and my voice sounded so weak I internally cringed at the gravelly noise. His dark brown eyes were all I could focus on, and I felt a kind of pull that my barely conscious mind couldn't even fathom to explain.
"Don't try to talk for now. I want you to save that energy for healing." I nodded my head like a sloth on weed, and a crack slammed right through my ears. The harsh noise broke my focus on Mikey, and my eyes floated over to the frazzled teenager standing in the doorway. Water droplets cascaded from his long hair down his body, and the breaths in and out of his chest were harsh and uneven.
"Why did you send me outside for a plant that doesn't exist, in the rain!?" my cousin raved, and Mikey's face turned into a joking smirk. We can be pranking buddies!
"It does exist."
"Michael I am wet and smell like deer shit, go ahead and tell me it exists."
"Well it does exist, but you can't see it. It's a warlock herb."
"You are the worst person on this planet. Oh hey, Benji woke up!" Connor was about to walk over, but two arms wrapped around him from behind. I didn't recognize them in the slightest, but the way my friend sunk into them made me want to squeal and go tease him. Conny has a boyfriend~~
"You need to clean up first," the small voice commanded, and Connor opened his mouth to reject for a moment before the person behind him continued. "You really do smell. I'm sure the poor boy doesn't want your poo stench." Mikey started to laugh hysterically from beside me, and I'm pretty sure Connor's ears had turned a bright red. However, his shoulders also started to shake, and soon the entire room had burst into laughter. I wished that I could join them, but I really shouldn't be doing that much moving. My body feels as if I was run over by a stampede of headless cows, and my skull was being pounded with a hammer. Even giggling is too much work in my current state.
"Okay, I'll be right back." Connor had left before I could see the person he was with, and I relaxed against the bed farther. My mind was swallowing me whole again, and I just wanted to sleep the pain away. Of course, the hand through my hair wasn't helping at all. My mom– well, kind of mom– used to do this to me when I was too energetic to close my eyes and go to bed. The feeling still brings back fond memories that I knew my mind would never erase. I miss my old life, but I'm glad I found my new path. I've made my peace with my childhood, and I think I'm ready to move on from here with a fresh mind. If I wasn't here, the citizens that live here wouldn't have made it out alive. Connor might have never made it out alive, and I hate that thought. I don't like it when people leave me... It hurts.
"Sleep now, Benji. I'll wake you if poop boy comes back." My eyes drifted closed as soon as Mikey gave them permission, and my brain slipped over the edge of sleep.