Saturate

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The next week wasn't much better. AJ finally decided to go back and try to get those last few credits that she needed to graduate. She didn't like English because she knew that she would have to sit next to Ben. She sighed as she sat in the back table.

The clock ticked away as more students walked in. They were talking really quietly to each other, she looked up when she seen Shelly turn towards her.

"Did you hear?" She asked.

AJ leaned forward, "What?"

"Ben moved to California." She said.

"What?"

"I thought that you knew... His father was abusing him so he and his mother packed up and moved. AJ, are you okay?" Shelly asked as she watched AJ's eyes roll up in the back of her head.

AJ felt like she couldn't breathe as she held on to her head. Everything felt like it was spinning around her. She didn't hear anything except a weird buzzing noise in her ears as she fell to the floor.

Ben woke up in his new room with a start. He sighed as he rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe he was away from his father. He heard footsteps approaching as he turned and seen his mother. "What is it?"

"I just thought that I heard you... Umm... Well I have to tell you something." She said as she sat on his bed and held his hand.

"What is it?" He asked, his voice filled with concern.

"Well, I've got a job offer here; so I thought that we might as well just stay here in California for a while. And the place that I'm going to work at will also be a couple of rooms for us to stay in. So what do you say?" She asked as she rubbed his hand.

Ben smiled, "Sure. That would be great."

"Good. I'll call them back and tell them." She said as she stood. She kissed Ben on the forehead before she left.

Ben smiled to himself. He sat there for a moment while staring mindlessly at the television screen as images blinked brightly. He heard the phone ring from the other room.

His mother came into the room, "Ben, it's for you."

Ben frowned and took the phone, "Hello?"

"Ben, I think that something's wrong with Jane."

"Shelly? What's wrong?" He asked as he sat up.

"I don't know. I just told her about you moving and then she passed out. She must've hit her head really hard because she slipped into a coma."

Ben sighed, "Alright. Could you call me if anything changes?"

"Yeah. Well, I've got to go. Bio's going to start."

"Alright. Talk to you some other time."

"Bye Ben." Said Shelly as she hung up.

Ben hung up the phone and put his head in his hands. "Oh, Jane. How could you do this to yourself?" He asked quietly. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Mom, you scared me."

"I'm sorry. It's just that I couldn't help but over hear..."

"It's fine." Said Ben.

"Listen, I know that Jane means a lot to you. I wouldn't mind if you wanted to go back. You're father left already. He's gone to New York. So we can go back if you want to." Said Jasmine as she rubbed her thumb on Ben's shoulder. She knew that he wanted to see Jane. And she just wanted Ben to be happy. She was sorry that she didn't see the bruises before. "So what do you say, Ben?"

"I'll be fine here for a while. Jane needs sometime to realize what she's doing." He said finally.

Jasmine nodded, "Fine. We'll stay here for a couple of weeks then we'll go back." She said sternly as she left.

Ben chuckled to himself, he liked it when his mom pretended to be stern. She couldn't do it very well.

Jane laid in the hospital bed. Her parents both surrounded her as she remained unconcious.

"Angel, please wake up. You need to be awake for your graduation." Said Julie.

James nodded, "Come on Jane. You're a Dennison. Dennison's can do anything. So we need you to give us a sign of something. I know that you're thinking hard about something because your brain activity is off the chart." He chuckled.

"Sweety, I've got to go. There's other patients that we have to tend to, but we'll be here every second that we can." Said Julie as she leaned down and kissed AJ on the forhead.

James did the same, "Come on baby, you can make it." He said as he pushed some hair away from her face. Then he turned and followed Julie back out to the ER.

Ben sat down on his couch as he turned on the TV and decided to watch a movie. The Wizard Of Oz was on so he just decided to watch that. It reminded him of Wilkes-Barre.

The way that the tin man would smile resembled Aaron. The scarecrow somehow in a very creepy way reminded him of Raquel. Oh, how silly she could be at times. Then there was Dorothy, with her innocence and curiousness that reminded him of Jane when she was with him.

"Ben, look! I'm flying!" Said AJ as she stood at the very end of the cruise ship. The air whipped through her red hair that made her look like an angel. She had a huge grin as she spread her arms out and balanced herself on the railings.

Ben laughed, "I hope that you know if you fall, I'm not coming after you."

AJ laughed as she got down and shoved him, "That's so mean."

"Well, look down there. It's a long fall. Besides, I was just kidding."

"If you fell, I'd go after you."

"I'd go after you too." Said Ben as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her.

He sighed as he shut the TV off and he got up. "Mom, we need to go home!" He yelled through the apartment.

His mother came from her bedroom smiling. "I thought that you would want to do that." She said as she held onto her luggage. "If we go now, we can make it there in about fourteen hours." She said.

"Alright." Said Ben as he began grabbing his stuff too.

They hailed a cab and began making their way back home. Ben watched as California disappeared from view. There was no place like home, even if horrible things happened. Wilkes-Barre will always be his home.