Earnest Ben cont.

Ben spent the rest of the day waiting for the pills to wear off so he could think about Lucy's secret. He had frightened her, he knew, and it made him anxious. Ben did his best not to let the anxiety or excitement show. If They noticed, They would give him another pill.

In the dark, Ben lay on his cot an listened. He could hear people walking the halls, people talking, people in other rooms flailing about. He could hear his own brain returning to normal. The pills left huge holes in his thoughts, but at night the pills wore off. The sound of his brain regrowing to fill those holes was like the sound of his mother making peanut butter sandwiches.

When things sounded normal, real, again, Ben let his mind go to work. He told it what he had learned about Lucy so far, told it that there was still more to learn. The pieces of his mind were slow to get moving, clunky from their recent regeneration, but they soon got the hang of it.

Ben fell asleep still smiling, confident that morning would bring answers just as surely as it would bring more pills. He squeezed his pillow tight and nestled in.