thefolksbetween | 2019 Writing Challenge

⭐ The Challenge:
Four times a week, we follow the same prompt to write something at least 150 words in length. It can be over but never under. It can involve any character or no character at all. At least one of the four days must be tailored toward a writing skill that we know we need to work on. The prompts can be from a website or from our brain - one word, many words, a setting/location, or anything that will inspire.

Drabble Header:
Week #, Day #
PROMPT
Name/Canon
Word Count

⭐ Prompts Week One
Day One: Freak
Day Two: Numb
Day Three: You appear in an infinite white room with nothing but yourself and a piece of paper saying "You have been banned from existence."
Day Four: You run a tattoo parlor. Every couple of weeks, the same customer comes in, always requesting the same tattoo - an additional tally mark on an ever-growing cluster of tally marks.

⭐ Prompts Week Two
Day One: "I accept no responsibility, and I would do it all again."
Day Two: Try Again
Day Three: Dance/Dancing
Day Four: Venom
(I got that) adrenaline momentum
and I'm not knowin' when I'm ever gonna slow up
and I'm ready to snap any moment.
I'm thinkin' it's time to go get 'em.
They ain't gonna know what hit 'em.

⭐ Friends:
bullethewords
arabbitholeofwander

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ben found he went through stages as a ghost. Stages around Klaus. When he first appeared he was upset and happy all at once. He wanted to talk and talk and update his not life with everything the other was doing. Not needing to sleep was a problem though, and Klaus' addictions was another problem.

The far end of the scale was where he was at now. Wanting to nag the other to stay sober. Pushing him to try and deal with his powers and the ghosts around him. If he could push enough to make him get sober and use his powers he could HELP some people. SO he pushed and he nagged and he got pushed back at often enough. Klaus almost never stayed sober.

There was some point in the middle ground that he didn't feel anything at all though. A numbness that hit him at one point that he couldn't explain. He didn't talk as much, and he wasn't nagging yet. He just was.

Ben would sit there in the same room as Klaus, but his interactions were minimal to none. Resting with his hands in his pockets and staring off at nothing. When Klaus was on a bit too much but not enough to disappear him, he'd just sit there, feeling almost stoned himself.

Numb.

It was like being trapped sometimes. Trapped in a small box and unable to get out. He had to stick around Klaus, and Klaus rarely did anything he wanted to do. And he knew it wasn't fair to want Klaus to do shit he wanted. This wasn't his life. He had lost that already. This was Klaus' life and he had no place to make demands of him. He couldn't tell him to go places nor could he tell him to sober up. It wasn't fair.

While sitting with Klaus in Rehab, he sat in the corner of a bunk bed, staring off at nothing. Hoodie up and hands in his pockets. Rehab was just as boring to Ben as it was to Klaus. Sitting in one place for 30 days to try and get clean. It was the loudest he could be, once Klaus was sober. And yet even then he didn't feel up to being much for entertainment. Klaus did what he normally did, schmoozing with the people in Rehab and pushing their boundaries. Ben generally enjoyed watching Klaus be loud and obnoxious, but when he felt too numb to care, he honestly didn't interact or react to it all.

A few times he even saw Klaus snap his fingers in his 'face' to try and get his attention. 'Ghost bro, are you awake?' Ben let out a deep sigh and waved off the hand simply saying "You'll look crazy talking to the air like that." And closed his eyes.

The Numb phase didn't last too long. One too many times of being called emo, perhaps. He hated being dead. It felt slow and everlasting. Like there would never be anything to do that he COULD do. He just had to bare it and realize there wasn't anything to be done. Which is when he started to push Klaus again. Push him to get sober more often. Push him to make good choices. Push past the numbness to something more lively.

Let's go to the Ocean.

Let's go to the Movies.

Anything that wasn't a drug induced coma for Ben. Anything to keep from feeling so numb again. If that meant Klaus got in a bit of trouble, so be it. He'd deal with it with him. Anything to feel alive again.

2019 Writing Challenge

Week 1, Day 2 | NUMB | Ben Hargreeves/The Umbrella Academy | WC:604