Alex's POV
That voice was enough to jolt me awake.
I opened my eyes and darted them around.
There it was. The cramped room but now scented with plumeria, the dingy window now having a few pots of succelents, warm lighting filtering through camel suede lampshades and not to forget, a chic coffee brown almirah with a full length mirror reflecting my state.
My hair was damp and flying in strands above my head, eyes sullen, lips dry and parched, body buried in white sheets, drenched in sweat.
But there was one thing.
I was back in my body as Alex, and this was my room, or as I assume, Ben's?
As I turned my head around, I saw Ben stirring a pot over the metallic cooking range. He was in a beige hoodie, sleeves up his elbow, covered with a black apron. Like everything else, the kitchen was now turned into a modular one, with peach tile back-splashes, sage green pots and white pans.
He looked at me, pulling his lips into a smile, almost sarcastic, "seems like you're back."
"What even happened?" I asked, squinting my eyes and pulling my legs to the edge of the bed, straightening my back.
"You don't remember?" He said, pouring out some kind of soup into a peach colored ceramic bowl, "when you asked me not to leave, and passed out, Margie thought it was serious for you and actually let me stay."
He walked over to my bed and handed me the soup. I stirred the spoon, blew on it a few times before putting it in my mouth.
"How is it?" He asked, with his dead eyes piercing through me.
"Mmm... It's okay."
"I know you like it," he scoffed, walking back to the counter.
...
A dead silence panned as I finished the rest of the soup.
"I wanted to know," I spoke up as I walked towards the island, "if you don't mind telling me, why do you miss your mother? Where is she?"
A darkness panned over him as soon as I asked the question. His eyes darted straight towards me, almost snatching the bowl from my hand. I tillted my head, awaiting an answer, refusing to move.
He simply turned his face away, towards the sink to wash the bowl clean.
"Ben?" I asked softly.
He turned his back to me, now arranging the utensils, "she was perhaps a tangent I was never meant to cross."
What?
I mean it could be a coincidence.
There's no way he was there, was he?
I shook my head to brush off the thoughts. Taking a deep breath, I looked at him as he threw bowls with the plates and made sure it was loud.
I simply walked away back to the bed, since I had no energy to fight back.
He glanced at the clock and shook off the water from his hands, as he took off the apron and threw it over a chair piled with other clothes. My eyes caught the sight of the white and orange jacket, though covered in pale mud stains.
"I'll leave now," I said, getting off the bed and running towards the door.
As I tried to open the door with one hand, I felt a grip on the other. I turned back to look.
It was Ben, grabbing my wrist with three of his fingers digging into my arm.
His eyes were darkened, but wet, "ask me about... anything... but my mother," he said in a quivering voice.
I had nothing to say.
I was obviously not trying to pry or anything.
"Okay... okay, I won't," I said as I tried tugging onto my hand. This punk was strong.
"Thanks!" He said, letting my hand go and smiling widely. He then rushed out the door, shutting it behind himself.
I was still inside, since the only problem was him.
As soon as I heard his steps dissappear, I got to work.
"System error suspected, need to review activity logs."
This was the cheat code.
A large, floating screen appeared in front of me, glowing in blue, with all activities being recorded by the second. I looked over and scrolled down the screen, looking for the timestamps where I'd been missing in this dimension, four hours back in the day.
Alas, I could find nothing.
"Search function activate."
A search bar popped up with mic icon next to it.
"Ben with keyword Tangent," I narrated.
No such records found.
Huh? How did he know about it then?
"Ben with keyword Tangent," I repeated.
Nothing.
"Ben keyword Tangent," once again.
"Ben AND Tangent."
Nothing yet again.
"Ben Margie Tangent."
But this time, the response was slightly different.
The screen began to scroll down and up faster, as error windows began to pop up on the screen, one by one, overlapping each other and covering the screen.
Did I break it?
What could this even mean?
"Error detected. Machine overheated," it began to chant again and again.
I tapped the screen to get it working but it didn't do what it was supposed to do. Instead, the entire thing collapsed back on its own, leaving me alone in that place.
Powerful guy. Powerful cover-up too, I guess.
But like everyone, he too had a weakness.
His mother.
I began to look around the room for some kind of clue why he's so hung up on her, and finally came across some photograph of a lady.
As I picked it up. I noticed she wouldn't be someone who would have seen the luxury he lives in even in her wildest dreams. A frail woman with a lean build, covered in a white dress to her calf, black hair in a bun, low-rise nose and deep-set eyes. Her lips were the only one full of life, shaded pink and glossy, turned upwards into a smile.
For some reason, I felt a pang tug at my heart as I glanced it for longer.
"Leave my son alone! He has done nothing! How can you do this to him?"
A voice pricked my ears.
I immediately threw the picture off my hands, as I noticed the smile had now turned into a frown.
My legs began to shake, and breath became heavier. I picked up myself and ran out the door, without looking back for once, stopping only in front of my room.
'What the f*ck was that?" I said, panting hard.