I Can Save You
Chapter 2
By: Makena
Benji couldn't bear to put his shirt back on once he had gone back inside after a long nap on the front lawn - his back was incredibly red.
"I told you to put sun screen on," Joel said with a grin.
"Yeah, well you weren't the only one," Benji said, filling a plastic zip-lock bag with ice.
"Wadda ya mean?" Joel asked.
"That Fey girl came over to tell me to put sun screen on," Benji said, placing the ice pack on his back.
"Fey?" Joel asked. "Oh, Fey! The girl who lives across the street."
"Yeah," Benji said. "She's... weird."
Joel didn't say anything, but he looked at his brother with a raised eye brow.
"Okay, okay, I get it... I'm not exactly "normal" myself," Benji admitted. "But I kept telling her to go away, and she didn't get mad at me once."
"Well YOU'RE nice to our neighbors," Joel said sarcastically. "Go away... psh..."
Benji made a face and wandered into the living room where he clicked the TV on (the cable had gotten hooked up that afternoon) and laid on his stomach again so that the ice pack could sit on his back without falling off. Not too long into his TV show, he began to hear something like violin music coming from - where was it coming from?
"What the fuck...?" Benji said, muting the TV so he could hear better.
"What?" Joel asked.
"Listen..."
"So?"
Benji sighed and got up and wandered to the window, ignoring his burning back.
"What are you listening for?" Joel asked.
"That... music," Benji replied. "I don't know where it's coming from."
Joel just shrugged and turned the mute off. Benji rolled his eyes and grabbed his t-shirt from the couch and went outside. He could see Fey through her window playing a violin. Her window was open.
"Hey!" Benji yelled. "HEY! Knock it off over there!"
Fey looked up at Benji through her window, but didn't stop playing. Instead, she just smiled and kept playing.
"Jesus," Benji muttered, walking to the end of his drive way. "Seriously... shut your window or something."
Fey grinned and kept playing, watching Benji from her house. She quickly switched songs and began to play the song she had told Benji about earlier.
"Oh no," Benji said, shaking his head. "No no... stop playing that!"
"Hey, shut up buddy!" another guy yelled at Benji. "Let Fey play her damn violin."
"Shut up!" Benji screamed. "All of you just shut up!!"
"Oh, for fucks sake, Benji!" Joel shouted from the door. "Just let her play the damn thing!"
Benji turned around and was about to shout something at his brother when Fey stopped playing.
"You got burned today, didn't you?" Fey asked him. "On your back... you got a sun burn."
"SO?!" Benji screamed.
Fey just smiled and said "I told you so" before playing a new song. Benji knew he wasn't going to win - Fey was just too... too... Benji didn't know what, but she was winning and she wasn't going to give up. Benji walked back to his house and slammed the door behind him. He hated her with a passion and he didn't know what to do about it.
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Benji woke up and his back stung a little worse than the day before - he must have slept on it. He would have asked Joel to slap some lotion or something on it, but he didn't want to bring that subject up again. Instead, he took a cold shower and threw some clean clothes on before heading down stairs. He didn't know what he was going to do that day - he usually just wrote songs when he was on the tour bus and he didn't want anything at the store.
"How's the burn?" Joel asked as Benji entered the kitchen from the stairs.
Benji groaned and didn't answer as he went to the fridge to look for something to drink. He found some orange juice and drank from the carton instead of looking for a glass.
"Nice," Joel commented, biting into a slice of toast.
Benji shrugged and shut the fridge.
"What's the plan for today?" Joel asked randomly, throwing his napkin away.
"TV, I guess," Benji said with a shrug. "Why?"
"Well THAT'S a creative way to spend your time off," Joel said sarcastically. He paused and took a piece of paper from his back pocket and held it out for Benji to take. "This came for you."
Benji frowned and took the folded piece of paper.
"It's too early for mail," he said out loud, noticing that his first name had been printed on the outside and that was all. "It's not even in an envelope."
Joel just shrugged.
"It was under the door," Joel explained, starting to go up the stairs.
Benji looked at it for a second, then unfolded it and noticed it was on lined note-book paper.
Benji,
If you want to,
I can save you,
I can take you away from here...
I can and I will save you.
It wasn't signed, but Benji knew it had been Fey that wrote it. Benji looked out the kitchen window and noticed Fey, who was in her front yard and washing her car. Benji muttered something under his breath and dashed to the front door and ran outside.
"Save me from WHAT?!" he yelled at her. "I don't need to be fucking saved!!"
Fey looked up and waved at Benji.
"Morning!" she shouted back cheerfully.
Benji frowned and marched over to Fey's yard.
"What the fuck do you mean?!" he asked her. "Save me from what?!"
Fey's smile slowly disappeared, but she wasn't really angry. She cocked her head to the side slightly out of curiosity.
"You don't know?" she asked.
"NO!" Benji yelled.
Fey smiled and began to wash her car again.
"Fucking answer me!! Why the hell are you so fucking interested in "saving me" when I don't need to be saved?!"
Fey turned around and squirted Benji off with the hose. Benji didn't move for a moment - he just stood there, his fists balled at his sides and his eyes closed, dripping wet. He breathed deeply for a second, contemplating on what he should do. He opened his eyes slowly and saw Fey, washing some soap off the top of her cherry red Honda civic. Having nothing to say in return or anything to do to her (he couldn't hit her) he turned around and began to walk back to his own house.
"How's that burn, by the way?" Fey called after Benji.
Benji narrowed his eyes and flicked her off.
Benji got home and dried off as best as he could. He hated her - he couldn't stand her. And he had only known her for a day.
"Dude," Joel said as Benji threw his clothes into the dryer. "What the hell happened to you?"
"I decided to go for a swim," Benji said sarcastically.
"Seriously," Joel said. "What the fuck happened?"
"Fey," Benji spat. "I hate her."
"Ah," Joel said, still not really sure what had happened. "At least you put some boxers on."
Benji shrugged and looked down at his dry t-shirt and his red and white boxers.
"Oh!" Joel said. "What did that note say?"
Benji shrugged. He wasn't really sure what the note had said himself, but he didn't want to share it with Benji. As much as he hated Fey, he felt like the note had been personal for them both.
"Whatever," Joel said. "I'm going to the store... you want anything?"
Benji shook his head. He had planed on going into the mall for a quick stop at the music store later on, but he was going to go by himself. Again, all he wanted was to be alone.Joel took his car to the store, leaving Benji all alone (again). Having nothing to do - again - Benji went outside to take a nap in the summer sun. He took his shirt off again, and tired to put sun screen on his back, but it didn't work out too well seeing how he was the only one there.
"Hiya, neighbor," he heard as he was about to give up on the sun screen.
"Oh shit," he muttered, looking up to see Fey crossing the street to his house. "Don't you have a job or something?"
Fey giggled and shook her head.
"It's Sunday," she said.
"You should work on Sundays," Benji said, adding "Joel's not home."
"I know," Fey said. "I came over to see you."
"You can see me from over there," Benji said with a frown, pointing to Fey's house.
Fey laughed.
"I can see you better from over here," she said simply. "Do you need help with that sun screen?"
She motioned at the bottle in Benji's hand and knelt down beside him, like she had the other day.
"No," Benji told her. "I don't need any help... ESPECIALLY from you!"
"Come on," Fey said. "Just give me the sun screen and turn around so I can put it on."
Benji growled something under his breath but finally decided that sun screen would feel better on his already burned back, and he couldn't possibly get any more burned without having to kill himself first. Fey smiled and started to pour the cream on Benji's back.
"You got really burned yesterday," Fey said, as if he didn't know it already.
"Yes, I realize that," Benji said, resting his chin on his folded arms as he lay on the grass.
"I doubt it'll peel," Fey continued, tossing the bottle on the grass carelessly. "But it'll tan nice - you need a tan anyway."
"Gee... thanks," Benji said sarcastically.
Fey didn't say anything as she started rubbing the sun screen in. Benji didn't say a word - the way she was doing it was perfect and nobody had ever really touched him like that... even if she WAS just putting sun screen on him.
"You're lucky you have a brother," Fey said randomly, still rubbing his back even thought the sun screen had long since disappeared. "I always wanted one."
"Are you done now?" Benji asked, suddenly remembering how much he didn't like her.
"Yep!" Fey announced, quickly slapping his shoulder. "All done."
Benji winced in pain and watched her leave.
"I'll see you later Benji boy," she called happily, crossing the street to her house.
Benji narrowed his eyes at her and put his headphones on. Why couldn't she just leave him alone?
Benji walked around the garden for a while, not really sure how he had gotten there. It was fall - at least, it felt like fall. It was slightly chilly and the trees were bare, not to mention that all the leaves were scattered around the stone walk way so they crunched beneath his feet. A little cold in just his black t-shirt and his shorts, Benji scooped out a Roman looking building that didn't have any walls, but was held up by stone pillars instead.
'At least there's a roof over it,' he though, walking over to the structure.
He stepped up and into the building and was surprised to find Fey there. She was sleeping naked on a high, stone bed, covered in the reddest rose petals he had ever seen. Her hair wasn't a light brown - it was a dark blond and she wasn't wearing any make-up. She looked so natural and beautiful, sleeping peacefully while rose petals fell around her.
'I should go...' Benji thought, but he couldn't bring himself to leave.
Instead, Benji stood where he was and just watched her sleep, and he watched rose petals fall from nowhere around her now seemingly pale skin. And she was the only beautiful thing here - there were dead ivy plants wrapped around the pillars, and the dead leaves were scattered about the ground and the sky wasn't sunny and blue - it was cold and gray.Finally, Benji decided to stop watching her. He was about to turn and leave when the rose petals stopped falling and all of the petals that had landed around her sewed themselves together to form a silk blanket that covered Fey from her breasts to just above her knees.
"Don't leave yet, Benji," she said, her voice seeming to echo.
She sat up and held the silk to her.
"Don't come over here," Benji warned.
Fey smiled, but didn't move or get up.
"Come over here," she said. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Benji shook his head and slowly began to back away. He stumbled as he heard Fey shouting for him. He tried to get to his feet to run, but he fell again and was face-to-face with a giant serpent. It hissed at him, but made no passing glance as it slithered past him and into the place Fey was still sitting. Benji stood up and watched as the snake wrapped itself around Fey's legs, then up and around her arms, leaving fang marks every here and there. The snake was destroying the only beautiful thing in this place, and Benji didn't want to watch as the blood began to slowly show up on Fey's body.
"I can save you, Benji," Fey said, seeming to not notice the snake at all. "If you want to, I can save you - I can take you away from here..."
"No!" Benji cried. "NO!! NOOOO!!"
Benji shoot straight up in his bed. He blinked and looked around, looking for the source of the noise that had waken him up. It was loud music coming from - Fey's house. Benji walked to his window and threw it open. Fey was in her own bedroom with the radio pushed to the window just about anybody to hear.
"Jesus christ," Benji muttered. "Turn that crap down! I'm trying to sleep over here!!"
Fey looked out and waved at Benji, adding a wide smile.
"Fey!" Benji yelled. "FEY!"
Fey just smiled and pointed to the radio.
"LISTEN TO THE WORDS!" she shouted back.
"I KNOW THE FUCKING WORDS!" Benji retorted. "You've repeated them to me several times now, thank you!"
Fey shrugged but didn't move the radio out of her window until the song had ended. Benji slammed his window shut and went back to bed - the only place he could really be alone.