Chapter#05: Finding Ben

Dara came back to her seat. That boy wasn’t there. “Where is he?” time passed but he still wasn’t there. William came and sat beside Dara. He teased her during the lectures and the boring day turned into a pile of fun and laughter.

On the last period, that boy showed up. William rolled his eyes and got up from his chair. That boy sat beside Dara. “Where have you been?” she asked. He ignored her and only peeped outside the window. “Why is he like this?” Dara thought.

She tried to focus on her lectures but could not. There were many things popping in her head. She wasn’t thinking about Wade. She was thinking about what wrong had happened to that boy. Meanwhile in a period while the teacher was out a boy threw a pencil from behind towards that boy’s head. It hit him on his head. Some of the students started to laugh. “Stop it!” Dara got up from her chair, turned around and yelled. It was silences in the class. Everyone stuck at their place. Dara then sat back on her chair.

“It’s no use yelling.” the boy next to her spoke.

“Why not? They were trying to bully you.”

The teacher came in the class.

“Charles.” The boy said while looking straight to the board.

Dara looked at him.

“My name. It’s Charles.” he said again while looking forward.

Dara smiled and continued to focus on her lecture.

The departure bell rang. Students rushed outside the class.

“Want to hangout for a while?” Dara asked Charles from behind.

He only looked at her and then went away. “Well at least he told me his name.” she smiled and said to herself.

“So what are your plans for tonight?” William came from behind her and grabbed her from her waist.

“Oh!” she exclaimed and chuckled, “You scared me.”

“Come I’ll show you the place around.” William said.

“Mom is expecting me home.” Dara told.

“It’s a small party at eleven. I’ll be expecting you there.” William winked and moved away.

There was something about that guy. No doubt he and his friends were the coolest in the whole school. He attracted her a lot. “How am I going to find Wade?” she thought.

Ashley passed by. “Hey Ashley!” Dara called her. She turned around and Dara went close to her. “I think we should go now to find your brother.” They both came out from the school building. Dara’s car was waiting for her outside the school gate. Dara went to car and told the driver that she would walk back home with her friends. She called her mother and told her the same thing, “Mom I’ll be fine.”

“Dara you don’t know this place.” Ellen spoke on the phone.

“I’ve a friend. Her name’s Ashley. I’ll be with her and will be at house in about an hour.” Dara told.

“Okay sweetie. Take care then.”

Dara hung up. Let’s go. Dara and Ashley started to walk. “What is his name?” Dara asked.

“Ben.”

Dara held Ben’s photo in her hands and started to walk.

“How do you know where he is?” Ashley asked.

“I don’t know. It feels as if I know the way.” Dara was also confused.

“My father died a year ago and after that it was all on my mother to take care for us two…” Ashley told her story, “Uncle Stephen was very humble to help us. After my father’s death, my mother got badly depressed. It was hard for her to recover but she recovered. Now Ben got lost. It’s been a week. I’ve searched him everywhere I can. I haven’t seen Mom coming out from his room from four days. She stays there all day and talks to his toys. I can’t see her like this.” She started to cry.

“Hey…hey…” Dara put her hand on Ashley’s shoulder, “He’ll be fine. I can feel that. Don’t worry.”

They walked and walked.

“It’s the jungle.” Ashley stopped.

“I think he’s in there somewhere.” Dara spoke.

“This can’t be.” Ashley looked afraid, “the woods are filled with wolves. If he went there, he won’t be alive till now.”

“He’s not dead.” Dara suddenly uttered.

“Ho..how’d you know?” tears rolled down Ashley’s eyes.

“I want you to trust me.” Dara held Ashley’s hands, “I’m not even sure if he’s here or not but we can’t lose our chances because I can feel that he’s here.”

“I feel stupid to believe this but let’s do it.”

They moved in the woods. It was dark and cold.

“Ben! Ben!” they both started to call him. Dara suddenly stopped and turned to her right. “He’s there!” she said and started to run. “Wait Dara!” Ashley ran after her.

Dara stopped and found no one there. “This can’t be. I can see him here.” She held her head and sat on the ground covered with dry leaves.

“I think we should go now.” Ashley said.

“I’m not leaving without your brother.” Dara replied.

“Dara these woods are dangerous.”

Dara suddenly got up and turned around. “There!” she pointed at a pile of broken trees and weeds.

“How can he be there?” Ashley asked.

Dara started to move towards it. She tried to move the weeds and woods to find a way, “Come on help me.” Ashley ran to her and started to help.

“I think he went through here.” Dara pointed at a ways which led inside a cave or something. “I’ll go check it while you stand here and if anything happens just call me.” Dara said this and went inside.

She had to crawl. It was not a cave. It was kind of a small tunnel. It didn’t take her long when she found a boy laying inside there unconscious. “Hey Ben wake up.” she tried to wake him up. She pulled him outside.

“Have you found him?” Ashley asked Dara when she saw her legs moving out from that tunnel.

“Help me pull out.” Dara uttered.

Ashley helped Dara to pull out from that tunnel. She saw her brother. She quickly helped Dara to pull him out form that tunnel. Her eyes filled with tears. They put him on the ground. He was still out of count.

“Ben wake up!” Ashley tried to wake her brother up.

Dara took out a bottle from her bag pack and splashed some water on his face.

“Uhh…” he murmured.

“Ben you’re okay.” Ashley hugged him.

Ben looked at Ashley and then at Dara. “How’d you find me?” he asked.

“Tell us what happened?” Dara asked him.

“I was playing with my ball and it came in the woods. I couldn’t find it. I started to hear the wolves. I saw one too and I ran. I hid myself in there but couldn’t come out. I had a bit of water and a sandwich which kept me alive I think. But how’d you both find me?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re safe.” Dara spoke.

“Wes should get out from here now.” Ashley said.

All three of then stood up and turned around to move but suddenly saw a wolf standing. They stuck to the ground. Dara’s heart thudded hard in her chest.

“Whatever happens, try not to panic.” Dara said in a low voice.

The wolf then ran away and they three started to run to find their way outside the jungle. They started to hear the wolves. “They’re coming for us.” Ben shouted. Those three ran as fast as they could. Suddenly, Dara saw Charles going in the woods. She stopped and yelled, “There are wolves there!” but no one was there.

“What’s the matter Dara? We can’t stop.” Ashley grabbed her hand and started to run again.

They came out from the forest and walked towards Ashley’s house. Ben ran inside the house to meet her mother while Ashley stood outside with Dara.

“Thank you Dara!” she hugged Dara.

“I just want you to do me a favor.” Dara uttered.

“I’ll do anything.”

“I want you to keep this a secret from everyone and tell everyone that we only went to see if Ben was there or not and we found him.”

“Okay Dara but can I at least know how’d you know where he was?” Ashley questioned.

“I don’t know. It just appeared in my eyes.”

“Thank you again.” Ashley smiled.

“Is there any boy named Wade studying in our school?”

“Never heard of any Wade. Were you expecting someone?”

“Don’t know about me but my Mom’s expecting me home.” Dara chuckled.

“Won’t you come inside?”

“Some other time.”

“You’re always welcomed.”

Dara walked towards her house. It was an exhausting day. She was covered with mud and dirt. “Now what’s Mom going to say?” she thought, “I hope not to get scolded.”