hide & seek - rachel.

[ben]

For the last couple of days Ben found himself at a crossroads. The wind billowed outside the warmth of his car, flinging pages of the daily newspaper into the midnight sky all while Ben's eyes watched the road in front of him. It finally began to feel like spring in Capeside. This year it decide to come in roaring like a lion and Ben hoped it would go out as soft as a lamb, but the weather was neither here or there. The item at hand happened to be what he needed to do next. Where could he go from here? Since his return the only opportunity Ben got to talk to Rachel had been extremely brief. The minute phone call consisted of a long, shocking moment of silence before stumbling over one of those "I've got to go" kind of good-byes. The confusion and astonishment in his wife's voice killed Ben ten times over. Had he really been that naive to believe he could come back and everything would magically fall back into perfect place? Yes. That was the honest truth. Hearing the sound of Rachel trying her best to fight away her tears shattered the man's heart to smithereens. He made vows. He promised to stand beside her, to stand beside their son, through the emotional roller coaster of life and without a second thought Ben turned away like a useless coward. The AC/DC playing throughout his car couldn't drown out the sound of the wind trashing against his vehicle. It couldn't even drown out the sorrows occupying the thoughts running through his mind.

His hands easily turned the steering wheel to the left, setting him on a new road he assumed led to Rachel's new place. It sounded almost creepy in a way that he asked for her address from his mother. Even though Rach tried shutting Ben out of her life she thankfully kept Chris' grandparents in it. After a sigh and some fumbling with a piece of paper his sweet mother handed over the address, telling him he needed to find the man he used to be before he walked out of the old, familiar house he grew up in. Drops of rain started to fall down on the windshield and a roar of thunder followed soon after. He silently prayed Christopher's fear of the thunder's deafening rumble during his absence. Oh God. A lump formed up in the dead center of his esophagus. What did his son think happened to him? What excuse could Rachel possibly have made to make her husband still sound like a reasonable man, or did she tell him the truth? Ben's knuckles turned white while he gripped the steering wheel for support. He couldn't pull over and turn back around now. He needed to make something of himself. Tonight was the night to do it.

His headlights shined down a series of apartment buildings until Ben's eyes caught the number he was looking for through the rain now beating against his window. After finding a parking space close enough to where he wouldn't get soaked from walking from point a to point be, the man climbed out from the driver's seat and hugged his leather jacket close to him. The rain falling from above pelted against the leather, making a rhythmic beat on the material until he dipped his head underneath the stucco ceiling of the building. His lungs sucked in the humid air and exhaled slowly before he mustered the courage to bring his hand to the wooden surface of the apartment's front door. Ben rapped on the door three times and sent his hand deep into the pockets of his jacket. His blue eyes dropped to the floor in fear. He looked like shit. God only knew the last time he shaved his beard and with all the lack of sleep he'd been getting a layer of light purple circled underneath his eyes. Ben kept his eyes at the floor, feeling more alone than ever while he waited patiently for something to happen.