Characters: Benji, Ben, & Taylor.
Setting: Ben's house, mid-2034.
Content: NSFW for traumatics.
Summary: Feeling like a burden, Benji runs away from Taylor and Eddie's house to their uncle's house.
It didn't take Benji much time to realize the strain she was placing on Taylor and Eddie. Even though Tay always tried to tell her it was okay, and even though she spent a good majority of her time in a drunken haze, it was plain to see that things weren't getting better. Eddie was getting bigger and bigger, and Taylor was working more and more. When the baby came, Benji had a feeling that the place would suddenly feel much smaller. Where would the baby sleep if she was there in the way? She didn't feel any better, as empty and lost as day one, but she had to find somewhere to go. She just wasn't sure where yet.
It was lucky that she didn't have very many things, mostly just some of her own clothes, a wallet, Kia's hoodie. It was all enough to fit into a tattered knapsack, along with some food from the fridge. She never felt much like eating in the last few months, but Tay always told her that she should. But even when she found herself standing in the kitchen with her meager bag packed, she didn't know where to go.
Lots of people in their family didn't want to see her, or want her around. She hadn't visited her own parents in a month or more now. Hunter was as bitter as ever, aunt Tatum still wouldn't talk to Sera because of Benji, and they were both as drunk all the time as she was. She didn't want to be at home. That was how she ended up at Taylor's in the first place. But now what?
She knew that she couldn't go to her grandparents. She couldn't go live with her uncle Rath either. That was out of the question entirely. Maxie might have got along well with that, but Benji barely knew them and she definitely didn't agree with them. Even drunk, she couldn't put up with a bigot. She knew that she'd end up clocking the first one who spoke ill of Kia, her sister included. That eliminated most of that side of the family, but there was still another side, and the idea hit Benji so suddenly that she almost tripped as she ran into the living room. She knew where she wanted to go.
Within a few seconds of stepping into the Floo at Taylor's place, she was soon stumbling out of the Floo in an entirely different part of the state in her uncle Ben's living room. She could smell fresh air blowing through a nearby open window, and felt suddenly refreshed, rejuvenated. It was a simple bachelor pad, but he kept it immaculate, at least in comparison to the house cleaning skills of the other Sommers. She already felt less suffocated, less trapped. She had been living in a mess of her own doing, but this was nicer. She thought that maybe he wasn't home at first, but within a few moments, he was ambling his way in front the kitchen, drying his hands on the front of his button-up shirt. It smelled like he was cooking something, the smell traveled on the fresh air from the open window. He was already going into an excuse. "Hunter, I told ya that I ain't goin, I got a date to-- oh, li'l Ben. You ain't yer momma at all,"
Though he had to say, looking at her bloodshot eyes and mess of blonde hair, they were looking more and more similar these days. He loved his baby sister, and all of his nieces incredibly. But the way that Benji was dealing didn't sit right with him, and the way Hunter and Sera were just letting it happen was sort of ticking him off. With the family was in an uproar at her, Hunter had been avoiding them mostly, coming here to his place, usually plastered. She never wanted to listen when he told her that she needed to sober up and think of her kids, she insisted they were all grown ass adults. He knew that trying to make Hunter do or talk about something she didn't want to.. well, it was a real struggle, to put it lightly. He had been reluctantly letting the subject slide, trying to do his part just to keep his sister together during all of this hell. But he half hoped she would drop in right now, and see Benji like this. He knew that they hadn't talked in months. Seeing her 'grown up' daughter standing in his living room looking like a complete mess, a mere ghost of herself, might have been just what Hunter needed for a wake-up call. He had been keeping in touch with Taylor too, especially after Benji had practically moved into her place. Ben knew just how bad it was getting, and no better.
"What brings y'all out this way?" He asked, heading further into the living room, approaching her and pushing some hair back off of her face as he peered at her. He couldn't really judge when she had slept last. She was skinny, rake thin, even compared to her usually slender build. He could never see her bones before. He couldn't remember looking this wasted, even at the height of attending college. And Benji wasn't even there yet. She wasn't going, from what Taylor had told him. People had been suggesting going back to school for university, going to campus therapy, dealing with it all.
Benji had already refused. He waited patiently for Benji to answer, and even when she didn't, he just led her over to sit on the couch. She got into the strangest dazes now, and he could never figure if it was some physical after effect of getting beaten up so badly that night, her brain
had been rattled pretty good, or if they were self-induced. He felt like Benji put herself in the daze, to get away and shut everyone and everything out. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking with such a blank look on her face, and he let her be. "I'm jus' cooking up some dinner out here, you gonna stay?" he asked rhetorically, watching her throw her backpack down on the floor in front of her. "Sorry," she said simply, making Ben shake his head.
"No worries kiddo," he assured her, before disappearing back into the kitchen. He checked the chicken he was roasting, before exhaling shakily, running his hands over his face. He was stubbly, he'd still need to shave and everything before his date got there. On second thought, it was probably best if he just canceled the date, he had a feeling that Benji wasn't going anywhere. He was already in the process of texting Taylor's phone, to tell her where Benji was, and what was going on. He had a suspicion that Benji hadn't bothered to fill her sister in before taking off. He knew things were tense with Eddie and Tay lately, and he couldn't blame them. Taking care of Benji like this every day was bound to take a toll. He knew the bouncer at the Dive that night, the one that had found them in the parking lot afterward. He thought they were both dead, he had confided in Ben when he had asked about it. They were just laying there in the middle the pavement, curled up together in the tiniest ball, Benji curled around Kia, and there had been a lot of blood. His bouncer friend swore he had been sure they were both dead, but they weren't. Kia had been dead almost from the moment the knife had gone into her back, everyone said so.
This shred of Benji, this ghost in his living room, what was left now without Kia to keep her going, was what they had left. He felt selfish for the thought, he was her uncle and he loved her, but he knew that perhaps it would have been better if they had both been dead. It would have been better for Benji. Putting down his phone as he waited for Taylor to answer him back, he walked back over to the stove, trying to busy himself with the cooking dinner and not with Benji on his couch. She had now curled up in a ball, scooted up against the armrest of the sofa. He imagined it was a lot like the way she had been curled up around Kia when the bouncer had finally found them.
Sighing heavily, he texted Taylor again, hoping she wasn't stuck at work too late; '
what should I do for her?'
