The Boy in the Lake (BEN Drowned x Female Reader)

Chapter 28- Is this it?

The blur of red and blue lights felt unreal. Everything seemed to melt together, my mind fogging up again. I wasn't able to process the commotion around me. How long were James and I sitting here while Ben killed Peter? What time was it now? Who else was dead? Where did Ben go? I sat in the sand, letting the questions float endlessly through my head.

Someone had dragged James off.

Peter's body was pulled out of the lake while paramedics tried to revive him.

Mike was no where to be found.

I sat at the back of an ambulance, no memory of moving there in the first place. Paramedics had tried asking me questions before, but I couldn't get myself to speak. Instead of making me say anything else, they handed me a warm blanket and a heat pad. The warmth felt like ecstacy on my skin, and I clutched onto it like a lifeline. I didn't know who contacted 911, but I was grateful.

Finally able to feel my body parts again, I wriggled my fingers and toes. A numb feeling prodded at my chest, making it hard to breathe. I squeezed my eyes shut, replaying everything I could remember in my head.

The cult.

The abuse.

Gunshots.

Ben's terrifying form.

Peter getting killed.

I watched someone die. To think that I was desensitized with the idea of death because of Ben. I was definitely in for a rude awakening. Did Peter deserve to be killed? Maybe. Did it have to happen the was it did? No, but his death was definitely ironic. Killer killed by his own victim. Ben told me before that there was already blood on his hands. Why did I have to wait to see it for myself before I knew it was true?

My mouth tasted sour and my head still pounded with pain. I watched as an officer walked past.

"Excuse me, what time is it?" I asked the officer quietly. She turned to me and glanced down at her watch.

"4:03."

My mom is going to kill me, I thought to myself. I cursed under my breath. I never should have gone to that thrift shop. I never should have moved. I never should have went digging around for information I didn't understand.

I don't think I realized how broken I felt on the inside. This whole time I was chasing a delusion, trying to help a poor ghost who just wanted to be free. BEN was a monster.

I knew that from the start.

And yet my heart ached when I thought of him.

***

After running from the authorities, Mike was finally found. Not alive, but they found him. He was found dead in the middle of the woods with a gunshot to the head. It was immediately chalked up as suicide. I didn't know what to think of him anymore. He was my first friend here, even though he turned out to be a not-so-good person. Regardless, Mike wasn't actually the bad guy in the end.

It had only been two days since that.

Two days since Peter died.

Two days since I last saw Ben.

Two days since everything, it seemed.

Fall break was over, which meant it was time to go back to school. I knew deep down that it was not going to be the same. Mike was dead, Peter was dead. Hell, how does Belle feel? She lost her boyfriend and before that, her brother.

This was the worst time to be a new kid at a small town school. There had been a news report on the shit that went down in Lunar Lake... And when there's a report on a small town where nothing happens, word tends to get around. My name and James' were mentioned in the news.

I felt like everyone was looking at me, even though most people probably had no idea it was my name on the news. They didn't plaster my face on the report, thankfully.

Yet I couldn't ignore the glancing eyes. My paranoia was telling me that they knew. That everyone knew.

As I walked the halls to my first hour class, I made eye contact with a pair of bright blue eyes. They were tired and puffy from crying, which I could understand. I immediately darted my eyes elsewhere, keeping my head down so I could walk past Belle and ignore her.

Because for some stupid reason, I felt guilty for what happened to Peter.

Yet as I tried to walk past, a hand stopped me. I looked up at Belle, who had a sorrowful look in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" she whispered. I could barely hear her.

"I should be asking you that question." I choked up at my words, fighting the sudden urge to cry.

Belle shook her head, seeming more irate. "No. Not at all. I was not forced to freeze to death, nearly killed, and traumatized by Peter. If I had known that he-"

Belle broke down into tears. Right there, in the middle of the hallway. I offered my arms for a hug, which she immediately took. We stood there, hugging as she cried while other students walked past with concerned looks. I would've cried with Belle, but there was nothing for me to cry about.

I hadn't lost anyone important to me.

I only put others in danger.

James almost died because of me. If anything, I was mad at myself.

I should've been dead.