Uni-Q

Benni-14

“Are you ready?” Haley Marie said bounding up to Benni. Benni turned and smiled.


“Yeah we’re going bowling right?” Benni put the curling iron down and pulled her half curled hair up into a ponytail. “Let’s go then.” She checked her face in the mirror one last time and pulled away.


Haley clapped in her hyper way and sprinted out the door, Benni walking slowly behind her.


Benni watched her friend disappear around a corner. They had been friends since they were young and Haley had always been hyper and sort of like a dog, always putting her nose where it did and didn’t belong.


Benni rounded the corner and the hair stood up on the back of her neck as she peered down the alley way where her friend had gone.


Two figures stood close to the wall half hidden by the shadows. One form leaned against the wall. “Haley?” Benni asked loudly. One of the figures looked towards her and motioned with their hands to the other one. Their conversation became more rushed, and Haley bounded away from the other shadowy form and up to Benni. “Who was that?” Benni asked slowly.


But Haley grabbed her hand and pulled her along not even casting a glance back. “Just an old friend.”


They reached the bowling alley and were quickly joined by John and Marcus. Marcus kissed Benni on the cheek. John and Haley wrapped around each other, into a full make-out session while Benni and Marcus got the shoes and the lane.


Benni won as always, but Marcus was close and Haley and John barely even picked up a ball. They were on their last round when Benni started to feel weird. She sat down, dizzy and her heart picked up speed till it felt like it was going to pound out of her chest.


Marcus came up and wrapped his arm around her. “You going to bowl or not?” Benni pulled away trying to act normal.


“Of course I am.” She slipped her fingers into the bright orange ball that she had chosen at the beginning of the game, set up and let it fly. The only problem was that the ball didn’t go down the lane. As a matter of fact, the ball disappeared the second it left Benni’s fingers.


Benni stared down at her hand. “Hun,” Haley said coming up behind her. “What’s wrong? Are you going to bowl or not?”


Benni glanced at her then stared back at her fingers. “I just did.”


“No Hun.” Haley said looking at her strangely but there was something hidden in her eyes that startled Benni so much she had to look back at the seats where Marcus and John talked. “You never even picked up a ball. Maybe its time we go home?”


Benni nodded. “Maybe that would be good.”


Haley and John had a romantic good bye, while Marcus and Benni had a simple hug and Marcus said “Hope you start feeling better.” Before Haley started walking Benni home.


“I swear I picked up a ball.” She inspected her fingers one by one as if she would find a bowling ball hidden between them. Haley smacked her hand away from her face. “Everyone has their bad days. Go home and go to bed. Everything will be better tomorrow. I promise.” Haley left Benni at her door and Benni entered quietly and tried to make it up to her room before her mom noticed.


“Benni Shawn Carval, where have you been?” Her mother’s shrill voice called down the hall from the living room which was illuminated in blue from the television.


“Bowling with Haley, Marcus and John.” Benni said and crossed the hall to her mother. “We lost track of time.” She gave her mother a peck on the cheek and pulled away to go upstairs knowing that her mother would melt from the kiss on the cheek. “I am really tired though. I need to go to bed.”


Benni’s mother did just as predicted. Her shoulders sagged. “Be quiet though. Your father is asleep he has to get up early tomorrow. I will be at work early too so you will have to go yourself ready for school. Don’t be late.” She turned back to the television.


Benni nodded and slipped upstairs. She quickly undressed and lay in her bed, staring at her hand. Eventually she fell into a fitful sleep. Her dreams had always been weird, like of a man and woman she somehow knew, but tonight’s topped the list. She dreamt of a boy she had never seen.





Dark hair covered one of his hazel eyes and he was surrounded by a group of kids wearing mostly black but with bright splashes of color, like blues, reds, pinks, and purples. He seemed relaxed, in his school like surroundings, but as Benni’s view of him got clearer he tensed as if aware of Benni’s presence.


The boy leaned over to his friend. “I feel like I’m being watched.” He muttered his lips barely moving, and his eyes getting real serious.”


His friend stared at him for a second before grinning and pushed his shoulder. “You are so paranoid. Last time, a hobo guy was stalking you.”


The group started laughing but the boy’s pretty gaze stayed serious. “He was. I swear it!” Then he grinned as if remembering something. “You were the last one who I remember being paranoid that the group of hot girls at the bowling alley was talking about you.”


The boys face fell. “They were and they weren’t saying good things either.” The group laughed again and the boy’s friend looked around as if he had been betrayed. “Not cool Jax. Not cool.”


“Hilarious.” Jax responded his smiled getting bigger. A bell rang and the group slowly began to disperse into the schools different hallways. Benni followed Jax to the rest of his classes that day, unable to escape from the dream, and he appeared to not notice other than looking over his shoulder a few times every once in a while.


The day ended and Jax met back up with his friends, who Benni had come to know as Leon and Clara, his closest friend and his girlfriend. Clara greeted him with a kiss that made jealousy spark in Benni’s chest and Leon greeted him with a high five. They walked home together; Clara was the first to split, as her house came up first leaving Leon and Jax alone.


“I still feel like I’m being watched though it’s more like stalked since the feeling is still following me.” Jax said and shuddered as if he had just gotten cold.


Leon stared at him. “You are so weird!” He said then pulled off the sidewalk to his house leaving Jax to walk alone. “I don’t know why you are stalking me. I am really not that interesting, but if you could leave me alone, I would be eternally grateful.” Jax said to the open air.


You really are weird, Benni thought as Jax came up to an apartment building and disappeared up the stairs.





Benni’s alarm clock went off, pulling her from the strange dream. She lay in bed for another five minutes until her phone went off as her back up alarm. She pulled her self out of bed and shook her head trying to shake the dizziness from her thoughts. She decided she wouldn’t tell anyone about this. They probably all thought she was weird from her incident yesterday.


Somewhere inside she wished she could be as open about her feelings as the boy from her dream was