Due to the distance and solitary nature of WiFi on cruise ships while on the high seas, which resulted in cell phone carriers charging exorbitant fees, his mother had told him not to expect her to call unless there was an emergency. Otherwise, she would check in by text a couple of times each day. It seemed she’d regarded whatever she hoped to share with him as crisis-worthy.
He pressed his ear to the phone to hear everything she’d say from here on out. He listened to her inhale and exhale for a few seconds, both of which seemed to come without as much stress as the last few moments.
“I wanted to wish you a happy birthday, Logan,” she said in a softer, more affectionate tone. “I’m glad we celebrated your nineteenth birthday yesterday, and I really do appreciate that you were so selfless to let me leave on this special day. It shows that you have a lot of character. I’m really proud of the man you’ve become, not just around the house, but also how much you’ve grown as a person. I’m still nervous about leaving you three alone, but I know you’re responsible enough to handle Ashleigh and Tyler.”
He really appreciated those words. After all, three months following his father’s suicide, she’d given Logan the “you’re the man of the house now” speech, which put a ton of pressure on him to become a worthy role model for his siblings, so they wouldn’t pick up any bad habits from him. So to hear that his mother thanked him for handling that responsibility made him tear up a little.
“I’ve been waiting ten years,” his mother said, “to give you a message from your father. More than anything in my life, I’ve dreaded the day I’d need to pass along what your dad needed you to hear.” She took another measured breath. “Logan, I’m truly sorry to say this, but from this point forward, and I mean until the day you die, you must never…”
The line went dead.
Heart pounding hard, gasping for air, Logan pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at is as though there had been some interference, but no, the dial tone remained constant. In the year or two following his father’s death, Logan had inquired about his father quite often. Since then, however, he only mentioned him to reminisce with his mother, since Ashleigh didn’t really remember him, and Tyler never had a chance to meet him.
So to hear that his father needed to pass something along to him on this day, a decade after he’d killed himself, irritated the hell out of Logan, since he was now frantic to learn what his dad wanted him to know.
He immediately dialed his mother’s number, and when it started ringing, he tried to regain his composure.
Her line buzzed five times before going directly to voicemail.
“Mom? I just listened to your voicemail, but I didn’t get the whole message. You were going to tell me something important, but then the line cut off. I didn’t find out what Dad wanted to tell me. Can you call me back? You sounded really worried. I hope everything’s okay. So call me back, okay? Thanks, Mom. Love you. Bye.” He disconnected the call. Only then did he realize that he could have shared that he’d lost his job. But that would only make his mother worry and make it difficult for her to let loose and relax. Besides, that news seemed to pale in comparison to whatever his father hoped to tell him from his grave.
In the hall, the floor creaked again beside his door.
Maybe Tyler was still amped up about Christmas Break, making it difficult for him to fall asleep. Well, if he wanted to mess around, Logan had no problem giving it right back to him.
He got out of bed, crept across his bedroom floor, and wrapped his hand around the doorknob. Logan took in some air as a smile surfaced on his face. After that voicemail, he was keyed up right now and eager to catch his brother by surprise. In one quick motion, he turned the knob and swung the door open, after which the hinges awarded him with a quick squeal.
The corridor was empty.
Since he hadn’t otherwise made a sound, Logan suspected that Tyler had intuited that his big brother would try to catch him in the act and scampered back to bed before getting caught. Logan took a few steps and entered his brother’s room.
Sure enough, Tyler lay in bed on top of his blanket with his eyes closed, once more clad only in his briefs. Which made no sense because Logan always lowered the temperature by five degrees before their bedtime, and Tyler had never before knocked off without getting under the covers. In other words, Logan caught him.
Still, it surprised him that Tyler’s chest rose and fell at such a measured rate. It seemed like he’d been asleep for at least a few minutes, which meant he couldn’t have infiltrated the hallway moments ago and hustled back to his bed without getting a little winded. But again, lying on his blanket gave Logan all the proof he needed to catch on to the truth.
Ordinarily, he would have let his brother pretend to have gotten away with it, but he was on edge after his mother’s message got cut off, and Logan didn’t want to pass up the chance to call him on it. He ambled over to Tyler, who didn’t stir, didn’t even break into that mischievous grin whenever he caught him goofing around. Logan had to give him props: Tyler’s poker face had vastly improved over the past couple days. Perhaps it had something to do with knowing their mother wasn’t around to admonish him.
Logan stopped by the bed, but Tyler still hadn’t moved. That was odd. He’d thought Tyler would never possess enough self-control to keep up the act this long. “Hey,” he said quietly, so as not to wake Ashleigh. “I’m onto you.”
Tyler squinted, snapping his lips and reached out with a hand for his blanket, only he couldn’t grasp it since it lay under him. Bewildered, he opened his eyes and tilted his body towards Logan. When he spotted Logan, he shot backward in a panic. His head thumped into the wall beside him, and he gasped for air.
“What the…?” Tyler squealed in a girlish voice. Wincing, he placed a hand to the spot on his head that had connected with the wall. “What’re you doing, Logan?”
Tyler did such a fantastic job of acting that Logan almost believed he hadn’t done anything wrong. But Tyler played these horror-film-centric tricks so often and had gotten such a rise out of Logan getting caught unaware that lately, Ashleigh had also begun joining him. Logan suspected they had even begun planning these endeavors as a team.
“I’m onto you, little bro.”
“Onto what?”
“Trying to scare me. I’m not falling for it.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“You and Ashleigh are always trying to creep me out. If you keep at it, you may be surprised what I might do.”
Tyler’s eyes widened as the silence remained unabated. Then he squiggled his body in flexible ways until he finally slipped under the covers. “Are you just going to keep standing there like a psycho?”
Usually, Tyler was a good sport. He dished it out, so he’d always expected to be on the receiving end of a joke. Under ordinary circumstances, the limited number of times Logan had caught him unaware, Tyler had appeared impressed and on a few occasions had even given him a high-five to show his approval.
Not this time. In fact, he looked far from accepting of the circumstances.
So had Tyler really fallen asleep? Doubtful. It was far more likely that Logan had pissed him off, and Tyler wanted to make him feel bad for resorting to the same tricks that his little brother relied on daily.
To keep up the creepy guy angle he’d so far manifested, Logan purposely didn’t say a word. Instead, he smiled and ever so slightly began stepping backward without looking behind him. It took plenty of balance and agility, especially in the darkness, but when he finally snuck out of Tyler’s eyesight, he actually got a thrill out of acting so ominous. Now, he understood why his brother got such a kick out of frightening him. It was kind of fun.
“Psycho!” Tyler called out.
He sure didn’t sound like someone who’d been playing a joke on Logan only moments ago.
3
The next morning, after taking a shower and getting dressed, Logan returned to his room, prepared to remove his cell phone fro
m the charger on his desk to see if his mother had gotten back to him. The phone wasn’t there. He always charged it there instead of any other location in the house so he wouldn’t lose sight of it. So where had it gone?
It took only a couple seconds before he put two and two together and figured that Tyler had stolen it to get back at him for freaking him out last night. Logan also wondered if he’d been acting out because he missed their mother. It seemed like a logical explanation.
Logan contemplated whether he’d been too tough on him. It didn’t take long before shame pressed his shoulders downwards. Tyler was far from a mama’s boy, but maybe he only played that off as ridiculous. Or maybe he just wanted to know she was around in case he needed her. Logan could certainly identify with that.
Rather than wake up Tyler and blame him for hiding his phone, Logan planned to make a peace offering by cooking scrambled eggs and toast for everyone, since it wasn’t fair to exclude Ashleigh. He needed a major distraction to overlook the desire to check his phone for a message from his mother. Nevertheless, he got things set up in the kitchen and before long, the delicious aroma of his barely passable cooking reached upstairs and he heard siblings getting out of bed.
“Mom?” Ashleigh called down. “Is that you?”
“Yes,” Logan responded in a deep tone.
“Oh,” she said, dispirited.
“No worries,” he said. “I can eat your portion.”
“Oh,” she repeated.
Hearing the uncertainty in her voice made Logan laugh. “I’m kidding, Ashleigh. Come on down. It’s almost done.” He prepared his voice to deepen even further. “Tyler? Ready for breakfast?”
“Ah, yeah. Okay.”
That wasn’t so bad. There didn’t seem to be any animosity in his voice. Perhaps he felt guilty about his prank last night. For that reason, Logan decided not to press the issue.
A few minutes later, after his siblings sat down at the table and he’d served them, Logan had a seat and scooped some eggs onto his plate. “Have either of you seen my phone? I’d set it up to charge on my desk before taking a shower, but when I got back it was gone.”
Both of them shook their heads. Tyler had downcast eyes, while Ashleigh surveyed the area in the kitchen, despite knowing that a phone couldn’t travel downstairs and plop itself on a kitchen counter. But at least she cared enough to make the effort, and since she didn’t look the least bit guilty, Logan knew that it wasn’t an act.
“Tyler?” he asked. “Any ideas where it could be?”
He shook his head again and shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth.
Did he do that on purpose so he wouldn’t have to reply? Logan couldn’t tell. “Well, I’m waiting to hear back from some employers. I’m hoping one of them will ask me to interview for a position, so if either of you find it, please let me know ASAP, okay?”
“Of course,” said Ashleigh, eyebrows standing upright, even though she didn’t meet his eyes.
“Sure,” Tyler said, stuffing a piece of toast down his throat and chewing extra slowly.
Based on that response, which differed from his ordinarily wolfish manner, and his unwillingness to meet Logan’s eyes followed by moving the eggs around on his plate, Logan hoped that his brother would do the honorable thing and return his phone. Logan spent the rest of breakfast chatting with Ashleigh about the flick they were supposed to see tonight, pitting odds how much they might like it compared to previous Pixar films. Since they had rarely talked during the past semester due to his busy schedule, he hoped it would fare as a portent of better relations going forward.
As for Tyler, he reversed direction and scarfed down his food and finished in record time. Had he done so to avoid talking, lest the subject of Logan’s phone come up again? Most likely, considering that when he finished, Tyler placed his dishes in the sink and bolted up the stairs.
After Logan and Ashleigh finished, Logan loaded the dishwasher, cleaned off the table, and headed upstairs, curious to find out if Tyler returned his phone. But when he got to his room, he didn’t find the phone anywhere. Perhaps his little brother truly had been acting out by moving his phone because he didn’t know how to cope without their mother.
Even if their mother wasn’t around all the time, she worked a set schedule: the family knew exactly when she’d be home every workday of every month for the past decade. Other than staycations, illnesses, doctor appointments, and other infrequent incidents, she’d never deviated from her itinerary. Until now. Put in that context, Logan also felt a trivial sense of loss, the kind that could be conveniently tucked away because she would inevitably return.
His ringtone sounded from downstairs. He bolted out of his room, raced down the steps, and tracked his phone until he found it…under the sofa in the living room. Either Ashleigh or Tyler had hidden it in a place he’d never think to look. He suppressed the urge to shout at them.
Instead, he withdrew the phone, swiped, and answered. “Hello?”
“May I speak with Logan Pryce?” asked a chipper female voice.
It wasn’t his mother. His spirits dropped, but since the caller could be a prospective employer, he tried to maintain an even temperament. “Speaking.”
“Hello, Logan. My name is Elizabeth Heinz. I work at Grubman’s Goods. We received your resume, and we’d like to invite you in for an interview on Wednesday of next week.”
Logan took down all the relevant information and assured Ms. Heinz that he’d meet with her for the stocker position at their grocery store. After hanging up, he felt a great sense of relief, especially by the enthusiasm Ms. Heinz had shown. It gave him hope that, in less than a week from now, he’d once again have a steady stream of income.
He checked for a voicemail, but there wasn’t one. He did, however, spot an alert for a text message, so he checked it.
It was from his mother. “I’m sorry to hear that my voicemail cut off. I know you’re probably working right now, but I wanted to set up a time we could talk, so I could speak with you. I’d rather not tell you via voicemail or text since you would probably have many questions that I couldn’t answer. I know you well enough to realize that would upset you.
“Your father wrote you a letter before he left us, which explained everything. I tried to locate it while packing for this trip, but I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t find it. I could have sworn that I had it in a folder in my closet, but it’s been a decade since I’d last seen that letter, and I last saw it in the days after your father’s passing. In all honesty, I may not have been as careful with that note as I should have been. For that reason, I hope you can forgive me.”
Logan tore his gaze away from the phone. His father had written him a letter ten years ago? And his mother had it this entire time but hadn’t given it to him? That sounded odd. Then again, his mother stated that Logan’s dad wanted him to read it when he turned nineteen. Taken in that context, Logan understood why his mother told him about it years ago. If she had, he’d have bugged her incessantly until she finally gave in and let him see it…before his father wanted him to, which may have negated the purpose of his letter.
Regardless, Logan placed his attention back onto his phone.
“I hope you had a wonderful birthday, Logan! I’ll definitely call you when we reach port in Cozumel in a couple of days. But until then, please do not—”
The text message ended at that point.
Logan gripped the phone tightly in his hand. Had she planned to continue writing but gotten distracted before ending her sentence? Had she accidentally hit send and then forgotten to complete her message? Regardless, Logan let out a frustrated grunt but tried to maintain his composure.
His annoyance reminded him of how the phone reappeared downstairs. It had been placed under the couch on purpose. By either Ashleigh or Tyler, and he wanted answers. But if he confronted them, they might bristle if he accused them without hearing them out, so he tried to redirect his thoughts to his mother’s text message.
He clo
sed the text message app and tried to recollect whether or not his father had told him anything in the days leading up to his suicide. After his death, Logan had scrutinized every minute of that time to understand why his dad would kill himself. In the end, he couldn’t identify even one mistake or error in judgment his father had made. Even worse, his dad seemed joyous at that point in his life, which, of course, tore Logan up inside even more because if he was so happy, why would he end his life? Of course, his dad may have had thoughts, issues, or feelings that he hadn’t shared, which may have cleared up any confusion.
Despite endless questions, the answers were probably something his nine-year-old self wouldn’t have been able to comprehend. At least that’s what he’d long surmised. But he hoped the message his mother intended to pass along to him might shine a beacon on the issues his father felt were impossible to overcome and hopefully give Logan the closure he’d long sought.
He went over to the staircase. “I set up an interview for next week,” he shouted up the steps.
“Awesome,” said Ashleigh in a bored, drawn-out manner. Tyler didn’t even respond.
“Thanks for the support,” Logan mumbled under his breath. Then he realized that getting a job wouldn’t really affect their lives, so he didn’t take it personally. He almost slipped the phone into his pants pocket but thought better of it when he recalled where he’d found it.
When his irritation ebbed, he called his siblings downstairs, and after a somewhat lengthy attempt at avoiding that fate, they finally joined him in the living room. He waved the phone before their eyes. “I found it.” Then he pointed at the spot under the sofa. “Down there.”
They stared at him, expressionless.
“What gives?”
Ashleigh folded her arms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can I go now?”
The Descendants Page 3
