I met Ben when I was nine. He came up to me one day while I was sitting and staring out the window. I was still a quiet child that didn't like saying anything to anyone... Nothing had changed... But then Ben came up to the window, with his hair unkempt and hands covered in sand. He waved at me through the glass of the window and there was something about him that made me lean my head off the window glass and smile at him. And then he talked and I opened my mouth and replied him. Ben became my secret friend.
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I was still the type that shut the world out and I still never spoke to anyone, but then everyday when I return from school and enter my room, I would drop my bag and head straight to the window where I was sure Henry was waiting. And everyday, he always was...with his hair unkempt and hands covered in sand. Ben was the only one I spoke to. No one else.
Then, I discovered that Ben loved fire, especially large blazing fire.
One cool Sunday morning, he handed me a match box, led me to the kitchen and asked me to lit the place up with the small gallon of petrol from the backyard and the match sticks.
He said it's been long he saw fire.
I wanted to make Ben see blazing fire again, and so did it.
The kitchen blew up in flames and then the fire instantly began to spread. The walls...the ceiling... Everything instantly began to raze down with the fire.
I was the only one at home that day. My parents and elder sister were out.
I began to get scared seeing the spreading fire that was beginning to burn down the whole house. I even feared I would get burnt and die, but then I suddenly found myself outside and no more in the kitchen.
How it happened, I knew not.
Ben was still standing by my side outside there and people around were beginning to scream at the sight of the burning house.
I was afraid and wanted to scream too...but then I looked at Ben. The expression on his face was that of excitement and glee as he watched the fire razing down the house. Ben, my only friend, was happy...so I put my fear away and smiled brightly too, letting myself get satisfied with the fact that I fulfilled Ben's wish and made him excited.
In that particular fire, a little baby died.
A few weeks later, Ben wanted to see fire again, and in a matter of minutes, I was headed towards my parents' new room with a match box in one hand and a gallon of fuel in the other.
I was just in the process of lighting the match stick with the intention of throwing it on the mattress after soaking it in fuel when the door opened to reveal my elder sister.
She screamed out at once and rushed to snatch the match stick from me.
"Are you crazy?! What are you doing?!" Her loud voice rang out but I simply blinked and stared back at her with my lips tightly pressed shut.
"Won't you talk?!" She yelled again but then, she already knew that I don't talk to people. Not even her, not even the kids in the neighborhood, not even our parents, so she already knew that even in this situation, I probably would never say a word to her.
She sighed out with a shake of her head and took the match box from me, then picked up the gallon of fuel and began to walk out.
"Ben wanted to see fire." I spoke.
My voice was low and whispery that I'm sure she must have thought she was suddenly hearing things.
But then she turned, still, with wide eyes portraying both surprise and disbelief.
"Did you say something?"
"Ben wanted to see fire." I repeated, then watched her blink twice as she moved back to me.
"Who's Ben?" She asked and I looked beside me at my friend who was still standing right there...hair unkempt and hands covered in sand.
"Ben." I repeated and pointed to where he was standing beside me.
I watched my sister look at the space beside me, then look back at me in a way that showed she was wondering if I've suddenly begun to go nuts.
I looked beside me again at Ben who was still standing right there, now with a smile on his face, then I looked back at my elder sister. ..and that was when I realized...my sister cannot see him.
My sister cannot see Ben, my only friend who was still standing right there beside me in the room with his smile. The kind of smile he gives when he sees large burning fire. Then I suddenly realized... Ben is a ghost.