*This fanfic is underneath my folder titled “Creepypasta fandom”. Gacha Club character designs are underneath this forum: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=116005&start=1275. The main character, Ben, is a Creepypasta character called “Ben Drowned”. You may google him if you like. This is my AU of him. He’s a young child in this fic. The year is 1998 in this fic. Anyway, enjoy!*

Ben twirled a strand of his long, blond hair as he stared at the other kids running through the maze of water slides and waterfalls, laughter and screams swirling around him.

He was standing in a dark corner, underneath one of the slides. A deep pool was right next to him. There were pools in almost every part of the Slashopeia Indoor Waterpark. Ben knew to except this when he begged his parents to go there, but he didn’t expect there to be so many people.

And the pools looked too hard to swim in. He thought that they would be shallow, but most of them were eight foot deep, with the shallow pools being too small, up to his ankles.

Ben was eight years old. He had to swim better. He couldn’t keep going in the shallow end, because that was for babies. He had to stop hiding and swim…he had to…

But what if he died? What if the lifeguards weren’t fast enough? He saw TV shows where people drowned in water parks because they weren’t saved fast enough, what if it happened to him?

Ben took tentative steps towards the pool. He would not tell Mom and Dad how he felt. If he did, they would be mad that they drove him so far from home and he didn’t want to make them mad. He was going to be a big boy. He would swim in the big pool. It wasn’t a big deal.

He had to stop worrying. He had to stop thinking about what would happen. He was going to jump in and be okay. He was in third grade. He shouldn’t be scared. He was going-

He didn’t know how it happened, but it did. Two hands pushed him into the water, the wet cement ground slipping under his cold feet. Somebody laughed behind him. Ben held onto nothing as he fell into the pool. The water splashed in his ears and then…and then…

The water was all around him. In his eyes, in his ears. It would get in his mouth too if he opened it. He couldn’t, no matter how much he wanted to scream, because if he did, then the water would get into his lungs and then he would NEVER get out of the pool.

Get out…get out…he had to get out…he had to swim to the silver ladder…but…the water was making his eyes blurry…and he couldn’t swim because…because everything was so, SO heavy. The water was heavy. He could not move. He didn’t know how long he would be able to hold his breath. He was already tired…so tired…was he going to…would he…no…no! No! Nononononononononononono-

Somebody had pulled him from the water. Somebody was carrying him from the water. A lifeguard. A teenager. He had blue eyes and blonde hair, just like Ben, except his hair had cool purple strands in them and Ben didn’t have colorful hair.

He was wearing a charm bracelet with Sailor Moon characters, Ben’s favorite show. The way it sparkled under the fluorescent lights, it was so…so pretty. It was a nice thing to look at when his eyes were blurry with tears, when he still felt the heaviness of the water inside of him even when he got out, even when he was coughing it out of his mouth, even when it dribbled down his nose in a gross yellow-green color.

He was still shaking when the lifeguard gave him a towel, told him it’d be okay. The lifeguard was nice. So nice.

But his knees heart and his heart was beating so fast and he was still crying and there were kids laughing at him, he could see it, he could see it, he could see the people looking at him.

He almost drowned.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“I knew you’d get yourself into a near drowning situation, but you kept on asking and asking-“

“I didn’t mean to, Mom! It was an accident!” Ben cried out.

His parents were driving him back home after they had taken him to the waterpark. Ben wasn’t a good swimmer, they all knew that, but he still wanted to have fun. He still wanted to try.

The tears started to well up again as he held his Hello Kitty plush close to him. There were other toys that he brought with him in the car, other toys to keep him company, but he liked Hello Kitty the most.

“When we tell you no, it means no. It means you listen and don’t bring it up again.” Dad said firmly.

He was right. Mom was right. They were both right, but it was an accident. Somebody pushed him. He didn’t mean to get himself hurt.

“Eight years old and you still can’t swim. You know, back in my day, kids were more active.” Mom said, shaking her head.

“You didn’t even look behind you. Didn’t even pay attention to your surroundings. That’s not going to help you in the future. You know, maybe we should enroll you in a swimming class, so you don’t drown. Then we can donate your video games-“

“NO!” Ben yelled. He didn’t mean to yell, but his parents kept going on and on about the things he wasn’t good at and it made him feel weak.

He felt as weak as when he was under water, the heaviness of it weighing him down.

“No? But you’ve had those for a long time and-“

“Dad, I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Both his parents sighed and shook their heads as though they were both upset with him and knowing them, they probably were.

But he didn’t mean it. He didn’t mean any of it. He just wanted to try and have fun, even though he couldn’t swim. He wanted to have fun like the kids in the commercial.

Ben closed his eyes, holding Hello Kitty up to his face, as if she would be able to protect him somehow.

He just needed to sleep.