Chapter 2 1/2 [Ben's Dream]

Loss has an odd sensation. When you loose someone, you check every alley you walk by, look at all the cars in the lot to see if there's is there, but no matter how hard or where you look, you always know, deep down, that you won't find them. Whether it's a quick glance backwards through a door, lowly closing, or holding an elevator for just one second longer, excpecting them to come running through the closing doors.

But this time she was there. Erin called to him. "Ben! Let's go Ben!" Ben asked where they were going. "You know!" she called back to him joyfully.

Ben tried to follow her through the grassy knoll bordering the woods blooming with fresh green, but he couldn't pick his foot off the ground. As he was thrashing for movement, she shouted to him, almost to the woods this time, "We're gona be late, Ben! Come on! Rege wanted us to meet him 5 minutes ago!"

But called to her. "I can't move -- help me!" She giggled and walked into the woods.

And then Ben woke up.