Chain Reaction 4.5: Clear Vision

Benjamin

     I can hardly believe my life is real. As soon as I aged to teen, my music career took off. My cousin Alaric Goth started up a music label, and Mom became my biggest cheerleader, sending him stuff we'd recorded. There was some concern my voice would change too much when I aged up, but Alaric insists it's just gotten better.

     Right now, for the fun of it, I'm fooling around on my karaoke machine. It's good to give the chords a stretch and not be sitting at the piano while doing it.

     I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm famous. I have an album out, and it's doing okay. But it's not like I'm stopped on the street being recognized. I have a little laugh with myself that all I typically have to do is put on my glasses, and it's like Klark Cent to SuperSim. Sad thing is I may have to stop going to my high school since I'm too much of a 'distraction.' That's life, I guess. I'll take the payout. In terms of money, I want to help my family.

      My grandmother's mind is gone. She doesn't know who I am; she typically treats me like I'm a guest, like I must be one of her kids' friends. One time, she even asked me if I had my own home to go to. Mom looked like she wanted to cry, but I just rolled with it and told Grandma that my parents were still at work and that Ethan said I could just hang here. Then she'll ask me who Ethan is because she doesn't remember her own son. She remembers Mom (or pretends that she does) because she sees her every day.

     Anyway, Mom and my step-dad Braydon frequently have a nurse come by to help them out, and I want to help pay for it. They won't let me. Braydon gets this look in his eye whenever I ask. I get it. He's working at his gym a lot, and he feels guilty that Mom has to shoulder much of the burden that Grandma is. He insists on paying, so instead, I have a savings account filling up.

     One morning, my life changes a little more:
 

     I later find out that Mom and Braydon had been trying. It's a bit weird for me that I'll be fifteen years older than my sibling, but I guess I can be happy for them. This'll be Braydon's first child.

 

      Braydon will make a great dad. Hell, he already does.

      I know people always say that kids want their parents to stick together, but honestly, my parents are happier apart. Mom married Braydon, and Dad got a new job... working for my cousin Alaric, ironically. He's a talent scout, and he's married to his job.

      Grandma acts like Mom is pregnant with me, like she's thinking she's back in time. The nurse says that it's good that she's remembering something that recent, but for me, I get to hear all about what Grandma really thought of Mom during that time because she doesn't filter her words. I was an accidental pregnancy, apparently, from a rebound hookup. Yeah, Mom and Dad probably shouldn't have gotten married.

     I will not make the same mistake they did. 

     My second album drops, and I start getting recognized a bit more.

      I think I'll be more like Dad, married to my job. I don't know how long this famous-thing will last, but even when it ends, I hope to work somehow with Goth Records like him. My cousin Alaric says I'm very grounded, whatever that means, for a fifteen-year-old. Is that a compliment? I just know what I want.

     And I don't think I want a family. I guess growing up, I never saw what a couple in love looks like. Sure, I'm happy for them, but it feels so foreign to watch Mom and Braydon gush over each other. I'd say it's almost annoying--but not really.

 

      I have to quit my school, but Alaric gets a tutor for me. Then, before I know it, my life changes a little bit once more:

      I have a baby brother: Jace McCullough.

 

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Sorry if this felt cut-and-dry. It's partly due to how Ben's mind works. Even though musically gifted, he's pretty left-brained. He's not glass-half-full or glass-half-empty; he's more of a glass-with-water-in-it kind of guy. 

 

I basically wanted to include the chapter to show some more background on him as well as give a peek into Isabella and Braydon's life and their lil' one.

 

Ben's little story arc will really include the background I've set up in this one, quite possibly to his detriment, but we will see.