Ben smiled as many kids crowded around his desk. All of the other children desperately wanted to question about his dad, Dean, the cool new gym teacher. Because yeah, Dean was so the coolest guy ever. His car made the boys like him and Dean's physical appearance captured the girls. It had been two years since Dean came to live with Ben and his mom, and Ben couldn't be happier. Classmates had started to question about the man who hung around Ben's house all the time when Dean first came home, but talks died down a month later when Jesse got his frog. Now Dean was a teacher and people's interests were raised once again. It was slightly annoying, but it made Ben popular, so he just basked in the attention.
. . .
Ben caught the ball with a practised motion. Dean and him had played catch so many times Ben was sure he could catch it in his sleep. However playing catch with his friends never ceased to be amusing, how could it with so much playful bickering? He threw it to Jesse but the ball flew over his head and out of the school fence. "I'll get it!" Ben exclaimed, running joyfully to the sidewalk just outside of the schoolyard. Ben frowned as a foot appeared next to the ball. He looked up and saw a man with unnatural blue eyes staring intensely at him. "Ben Braeden?" the man asked. His voice was deep and gravelly, and Ben was getting really weirded out by the way he was staring at him. Ben nodded slightly, all the things teachers said about the bad things that happen to children who talk to strangers running through his mind. The stranger reached into the pocket of his creepy beige trench coat and pulled out a necklace. He offered it to Ben, telling him to take it, and once Ben had he left without another word. Ben stared at the necklace. It was a brass human head with bull horns on a black string.
. . .
"Mom, Dad?"
Ben said, standing in the kitchen of their house. Lisa was chopping
lettuce for a salad and Dean was washing plates. It had been a week
since Ben had met the stranger, but Ben had noticed the man watching him
on several occasions.
"Yes Ben?" Lisa asked looking over at her son.
"There's
been this guy following me for like, a week," Ben said. Lisa's head
snapped up, creases showing up on her forehead. "and he's really creepy.
He has this weird trench coat -" Ben was cut off by his father turning
around and shouting "Son of a -" then trailing off breathlessly. "Oh,
and he gave me this," Ben finished shooting a strange look at his father
and pulling out the necklace. A weird change came over Dean then. His
previously tense body relaxed and the panicked, angry look gave way to a
sort of sadness. Dean gently took the necklace from Ben, eyes glassy,
and said, "I threw this out a few years ago. Always regretted it."
