Casey (Ben 2)
Edit 1: Please keep in mind this is a first draft for my newest story, Casey. The story should be finished by August 10th. Thank you for your understanding.
Edit 2: Although, this is not the full story, I hope you enjoy… Casey (Ben 2) Part 1! Part 2 has no clear release at this moment, but it should be out by September. (Sorry for the late releases, I lost track of time.)
Edit 3: So sorry, but I was sick this Labor day weekend and was unable to work on the second half of the story. I hope you all under stand. The current release date for the whole story as of 9-2-25 is 9-10-25 which is a little more than a week from the previous date, sorry again.
It’s been about seven years since I guess “my?” funeral. I met someone who changed everything. It went like this…
It was a Tuesday, and I was observing my family’s dinner party. Then I saw something strange out of the corner of my eye. Well at least I thought I did. I THOUGHT I saw a napkin move in the gust of wind when I “flew” by. I thought it was strange but I shrugged it off, figuring it was someone else.
But then I saw her. I saw someone floating over the floor. I stared at them. They were hiding their face from my view and hugging a young girl who was sitting at the table. I watched as someone asked if the young girl would like a piece of bread. Then I saw it, I saw them look at me. I made eye contact with them then they looked away. She looked at the young girl’s plate, full of green beans, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. She whispered, “Oh darling, I miss you so much. If only I was still with you.” Then my wife, Paisley, asked if “Cleo” would like more pie.
Cleo… Cleo… I wondered why I knew that name. Then, I froze. I knew exactly where I knew Cleo from. I knew her name from Iris. Iris is my daughter. My daughter, the one I lost six years ago. She passed away in a car accident. Iris was due to give birth only a few days later. By extreme chance, her child survived. I, sadly, never had any type of relationship with Cleo because, as you can infer, my body was pronounced dead, and my soul fights for access to the “real” world. But although I had found out why I know Cleo, there is still something I am missing.
A week later, I was wandering around my granddaughter’s birthday party when I spotted the woman from the week before. She was teary eyed while staring at me. Then I felt a rush of what I only can describe as joy. The woman… is my daughter.
“Iris?” I started to cry tears of joy.
“Dad?” She called out,“I, I, I can’t believe it!”
I “floated” over to her as quickly as I could. As I hugged her, we cried. I knew she knew. I knew that she had known who I was for a long time, but for now, I found my daughter, and that’s all that matters. A few hours later after catching up while I cried, I asked,
“Where have you been! I missed you… I saw you last week. Why didn’t you say anything?” I questioned. It had been only three hours since I realized who she was and that was long enough to wait for an answer.
“I, I, well… I didn’t know if you…” Iris’s voice trailed off and then she spoke again, “I was worried for my daughter. I need her to be safe. I knew who you were since the beginning, but this is the first time in six years that Cleo has been safe and happy enough for me to take my eyes off of her. I lost my father because he looked away for seconds. I don’t want my daughter to ever face the same pain. Even if I’m not with my daughter I trust Owen to keep her safe.”
“I’m so, so, sorry…” I said weakly.
“Look, it was several years ago, I’m passed it, but I know everything.” She said with such sorrow that I wanted a black hole to open up under me and swallow me whole.
“What do you know?” I asked
“I know that you didn’t die seven years ago, I know in my heart that you died long before that.” Iris paused before continuing, “I’m not sure how, but the father I had as a child was strangely better than the father I grew up with as an adult.”
“I always knew you were smart.” I said softly.
“What do you mean by that?” I didn’t answer,"Dad?" Iris asked.
“I mean… you’re right. I’m not the father you knew for so long. I’m not the father that fell off a bridge. I’m not…” I had to stop myself, we both started to tear up, “I don’t think you will believe me but that “other father” in my body, was, well… he was Ben.”
Iris gasped, “You mean… my best friend… might as well have killed my dad? No! Ben would never. It’s not true…”
I hugged her. Ben and Iris were friends. Good friends I might add. Every time Ben appeared (which was a very rare occasion) he would play with my two daughters. Although Jasmine was terrified of him, Iris only saw a kind heart. I didn’t know why Ben would ever want to switch places with me. Well, until he did. Life as a body-less soul is boring. I mean BORING!! I can’t even eat my favorite foods or hug my daughters or my wife or leave their side. Ever since the night I was “possessed” I haven’t been able to leave the house without “following” someone out the front door. But it makes life hard. I have been in this “ghost-like state” for almost twenty five years but Iris, only seven -which don’t get me wrong it is still a long time but compared to twenty five, not really -and Iris already found a way to get around on her own. I NEED to figure out how she does it. Iris, of course, is VERY intelligent. I mean the type of intelligence that could build a complex drone in twenty minutes, and she has. But either way, I want to know how she can freely roam the city.
I “flew” over to the chair in the corner that Iris was in a day or two after our last conversation, “You know Iris, for the years that I have been “dead” I have always had to follow someone to get around. But you can aimlessly wander through the city without a care in the world.”
“Okay?” She questioned, “Why does that matter?”
“I want to know how you-” I got cut off.
“No you don’t.” She said quickly.
“But I just want to-” She cut me off again.
“I promise you you don’t want to know.” She said as she “walked” away.
“Please Iris… please.” I pressed although she had me questioning if I really DID want to know. After a few minutes of pleading, Iris cracked,
“Fine. But you're going to hate me…”
“Please Iris, please tell me. Nothing could ever make me hate my daughter.”
“You’re still connected to a body…”
“You mean-” Iris cut me off but this time was different, instead of arguing she agreed with me…
“Ben’s not dead, he left.” She said downheartedly
“Where is he?”
“Tony’s Supply Store. He’s selling his friends to others. He’s haunting the city.” She paused, “Hundreds of ghosts have been sold already. Our neighbors bought a ghost named Cassie. She seems genuinely nice. But she is young. My daughter's age. I heard her talking to herself last night, she wants to steal her body. Like Ben did you.” Iris started to cry, Iris was panicking, realizing what she had said. An hour later, Iris was still crying, screaming how even Owen can’t protect Cleo, telling herself that Cleo is no-longer safe, telling herself that she is a horrible mother.
“Honey, Cassie is a child. You are a children’s doctor, WITH a bachelor's degree in child psychology. You are smart. You can save Cleo.” I whispered, “Now get some sleep, in the morning we will think of a plan.” She nodded.
The next morning I woke up Iris. She had clearly been crying before she fell asleep. I hugged Iris and told her to be strong.
“...For your daughter.” I said.
She nodded with tears in her eyes. “I think I found a way to fix everything. But I’m no murderer.” Iris looked at the floor.
“What do you mean? I know that you're not a murderer.” I asked, fearful of the answer I knew was going to come.
“Ben is still in your body. He is still hurting people. He is still smart. He still needs to be stopped.”
“What, you went to the funeral, you saw him, he is gone, Iris, he can’t hurt Cleo, Cassie can’t know him, she’s too young.” I started to panic, was Ben still alive? Could he hurt Cleo? My stomach dropped, what if she’s right? I know Iris is smart but she has to be making this up, this can’t be real, but then Iris continued.
“Dad, I know,” She paused before continuing again, “but he’s not dead, tonight, tonight I’ll show you him. I’ll warn you now, he is nothing like you remember.” A tear rolled down her face.
“What do you know?”