by E. S Night
were saying, anyway.
“Oh baby, what’s happened to you?” Mum said gently, I could hear her from outside the door. I breathed in heavily and walked into Logan’s room. Seeing him lying there knocked the wind out of my sails. I’d seen the kid in hospital before but this was different, now he had to struggle to survive. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling, he looked so helpless.
“Hi son, it's dad – I don’t think we have long with you before they kick us out of here so I’m just going to tell you what I couldn’t say to you before. I’m sorry that I’ve not been a good dad to you and Abigail. I was managing my pain of losing your mum and my dear friend and it just became easier to become someone else rather than stay and fight for the things that I really needed in my life. I made you pay for my mistakes. You and your sister are the best things I’ve ever done in my whole life, I love you more than anything and I want to make the last three years up to you, so you have to be okay, do you hear me? You have to fight Logan.” Dad spoke before crying out in pain. Mum pulled dad close to her chest to console him, she was trying to hold us all together.
Mum stroked her son’s hair. “Logan, my sweet boy – You are everything I’ve ever wanted in a son, you’re the most perfect thing on the planet. I remember when you were three, and you accidentally fell into Abigail’s pool and scared me half to death. Your sister rescued you within seconds, you’ve always looked out for each other and that’s why you can’t leave her yet because one of you doesn’t belong without the other, right? I have two children. Our family for the last three years has been this mechanical thing, handling things strongly together as we went along. I guess what I’m trying to say – badly I might add, is that I can’t do any of this without you; I don’t belong here without you, so you need to get better for us. I want us to be a whole family again with your dad and we will be the best bloody family anyone has ever seen, but I need you Logan. I’ve never loved anything as much as I love you and your sister, so please come back to me. I can’t lose you. I won’t survive it.” Mum moved her head towards my dad’s shoulder.
I guessed it was my turn to say something, but I had no clue what to say, after all, it was my fault. I gathered my thoughts and just spoke. “Hi
Logan - it’s Abigail, but you probably already knew that. I love you so much - you’re the best brother I could have ever wished for – the truth is besides Riley you’re my best friend and that’s why I need you now to fight, more than anything else in the world because you can’t leave me here alone. I don’t want to be alone!” I screamed out, falling to my knees in agonising pain. Mum and dad had to lift me outside and hand me to Grayson; I could feel his arms carrying me all the way to my seat. I sat there for ten minutes holding Grayson’s hand before nurses edged my parents out of my brother’s room. Mum came straight over and touched my face; I gently moved towards her hand.
“You should ring Riley and tell her to get down here.” Mum said causing me to get the phone out of my pocket.
Suddenly, an alarm came on, deafening everyone in the waiting area. Two nurses and a doctor went rushing into Logan’s room, they shouted for the other members of staff to help them. In those moments, I felt little of anything, you’d think I’d have felt sheer horror or devastation but I didn’t, I was numb and I could only watch as they tried vigorously to save my
brother’s life. I heard the doctor shout out the word de-fib and we all knew my brother was dying. A nurse came out, moved us away from the window, and tried to escort us all to one of the private rooms. My mum and dad were kicking and screaming to stay with Logan, so much so it took three attendees to push us all into one room; all we had to do then was wait.
Fifteen minutes later, one of the senior doctors came to see us all in the family room; his expression was enough to convince me that my brother had just died.
“I’m so sorry; there was nothing else we could do.” The doctor spoke compassionately, leading us all to cry out in agony, even the Hales who had only known my brother a short while were inconsolable. Ella fell into her mother’s arms, screaming that she didn’t even get to say goodbye to him. My parents fell to the ground suffering, Kaleb and Maria tried to comfort them. I collapsed into the door handle, unable to catch my breath; Aidan caught me and handed me over to Grayson. He held my head devotedly as I glanced down to see my mum and dad still on the ground in total despair. I still couldn’t believe it; for the first time in my life I was without any
sensation, I felt anaesthetized.
My brother was dead.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Redemption
The doctor continued to give us all a detailed analysis of what had happened to Logan, in uncomplicated terms, he’d suffered a cardiac arrest - his heart just gave up. He explained that he would not issue my brother’s Death Certificate as he wanted to conduct a post mortem, I guessed that would happen, after all he was bitten by a wolf. He described how Logan would be moved downstairs to the hospital mortuary if any of us wanted to say our last goodbyes to him.
I spent over an hour in the chapel room, contemplating whether to see my brother one last time. I could see the disappointment written all over my mum’s face because I wasn’t going with her, but she didn’t have the energy to fight with me. I persuaded Grayson to go with them to support Ella who hadn’t stopped crying since she heard the news. The past few months were persistently playing through my head as I stared at the blank TV screen ahead of me. I slowly
held my fists to my mouth, forcing out a silent scream, attempting to release some of my anger, it didn’t work. How can someone be able to feel so much pain but feel so numb at the same time? It was as if I was slipping away gradually out of existence.
I steadily pulled my legs up on the seat, positioning myself in the foetal position, hugging my knees. I heard the wooden door creak open, much to my annoyance; it was Grayson staring back at me with pity in his eyes.
“Abigail, I need you to listen - what happened to Logan is not your fault, none of it is. You need to come down to the mortuary with me, it’s important that you say goodbye baby – please.” Grayson whispered, doing his best to encourage me out of the room.
“Did you ring Riley like I told you to do?” I spoke, taking Grayson by surprise.
“Yes, I did but there was no answer – did you hear what I said Abigail?”
“Yes, I heard Grayson! I don’t think I can do that right now.” I moved my head away from his hand.
“Okay, well I will get your parents to eat something or at least make them have a drink. I’ll
be at the cafeteria upstairs, Ella’s still down there saying goodbye with my dad if you change your mind.” He kissed the back of my head. I could sense he was lingering outside for a few more minutes, waiting for me but I didn’t want to go out whilst he was stood there.
I turned my head around so I could see the door; I couldn’t see anyone through the narrow window. I shifted my legs back down to the floor, my limbs felt as heavy as rocks, each movement harder than the next. I walked towards the door and checked that Grayson wasn’t outside. I wanted to do it on my own. I cautiously edged out of the doorway; two nurses smiled at me in sympathy, everyone on that floor knew I was the girl whose brother had just died.
I had no clue where I was going, I figured that the hospital mortuary had to be down in the basement somewhere, so I staggered to the elevator barely being able to breathe. In the lift, there was a sign, stating the mortuary was on level B, which was just above the car park. As I pressed the key to take me down there, I couldn’t help imagining how Logan would look. I’ve only seen one dead body in my whole life and that was my grandma, my mum’s mum. I
remember her looking like some sort of wax doll, she didn’t seem real, my grandma’s body seemed to have lost any connection to her soul, and she was a shell, a vessel without a life force. I learned in my heart that day that God existed and that her soul had reached some higher plain, I felt it.
The elevator opened, the air was colder down here. I could feel the chill hitting my face as I stepped out of the lift. Silently, I crept down the corridor, seeing Kaleb and Ella standing outside a huge glass window, at least then I knew I was in the right place.
“Abigail, I’m so sorry for your loss.” Kaleb walked towards me. He gave me a soothing hug as I glanced through the window to look at my brother.
“Why is there no staff down here?” I asked, releasing his body.
“I’ve got a lot of strings around here Abigail, they’re on a break.” In other words, he compelled them all to leave us alone.
“Of course.” I looked through the glass.
I thought I’d cry, lose it radically, but I didn’t. I watched him, pressing my hands against the glass to feel closer to him. There wasn’t a word
created yet in the dictionary to describe how I felt. I couldn’t understand how I was supposed to get through any of this and carry on living. I wanted the world to stop spinning. As harsh, as it sounds I needed everyone to just stop what they were doing, just stop rushing about, because my brother was dead!
Ella was still crying wildly expressing her grief for Logan, I walked over to her, hugging her from behind. She turned around to face me still holding my body. I rested my head-on top of hers for over ten minutes, touching her head with my right hand. Funnily enough it was easier to console someone else than directly dealing with my loss.
“Come on Ella, let Abigail say goodbye on her own, we’ll be at the cafe if you need us Abi.” Kaleb explained, as Ella reluctantly released me from her grip. They moved to the elevator, looking back at me as they walked down the hallway. As soon as I heard the elevator climb, I knew then I was alone. I could smell the stench of chemicals they must use to preserve the bodies, it was almost enough to make me sick. My brother was lying on a stainless-steel table, the industrial tiles on the walls and floors made it
seem so impersonal.
The more that I stared at my brother; the more that I felt sick, my stomach felt unbearable. I crouched down to ease my abdomen; my body was reacting to the pain of losing Logan. After a few minutes, it eased, and I stood up again inhaling slowly. As I looked back through the window to where Logan was, I noticed something strange was happening to his leg. I moved my head closer to the glass to see what was happening to my brother. His veins turned black as if a poison was forcefully running through him. I couldn’t move; I was absorbed by what was happening to his body, the black toxin moved faster, making its way to Logan’s heart. I should have called out for someone, but I couldn’t speak and something inside me was telling me not to, so I watched. I progressed to the glass door as it beeped loudly activating itself. I reached for the handle and it opened with no difficulty.
I ran to my brother’s body, I don’t know why but I held his hand almost as if I was wishing him back to life. The venom was now surrounding his heart, I kept looking towards the glass window afraid of one of the staff coming back from
wherever Kaleb had sent them and I didn’t know how long his power would work for. Without warning, Logan gasped for air causing me to shoot back into one of the metal tables at the side of the room.
“Oh, my God, Logan!” I screamed. His eye-lids snapped open, revealing gold eyes that were eagerly searching around the room.
“Abi, where are we?” His eyes were unnerving me as he spoke. I couldn’t believe I was talking to my brother again after what had just happened only hours before.
“You don’t remember anything?” I asked, still in total disbelief.
“No, why? What happened? Why are you crying?” The blackness in his veins faded away.
Logan’s body changed. His skin was turning a dark greyish colour and then instantly it would disappear. Logan lifted himself up off the table. He raised his hand up to his mouth, feeling some discomfort in his jaw, he opened his lips displaying his teeth. I jumped back in a fright. We both looked at each other as Logan touched his huge canine teeth that were now emerging from his gums. His fingernails became longer, almost like they were changing into claws, then all at
once they’d become normal again. There was no question about it, my brother was transforming into a wolf.
We needed to move fast. I searched all the cabinets for any clothing that Logan could wear. I found some green overalls stuffed inside and threw them at him urging him to put them on. I hunted for a way out of there without using the elevator, I couldn’t risk anyone seeing Logan alive and there wasn’t time to call any of the Hales. After Logan, had dressed, he leapt off the table and sniffed peculiarly through the corridor; he noticed a row of metal lockers. He turned his head to the side glaring at them, almost as a dog does when they find something interesting. Logan pushed them further down the wall uncovering a door that must have been used as fire escape at some point.
He grabbed my hand and led me towards the door; I didn’t even have time to comprehend the newfound strength he’d just used. Logan warily opened it; it looked like the stairs were heading towards the car park in the basement. We ran down the steps, thankfully, we were right and arrived straight in the middle of the car park. I heard voices coming towards us; I noticed there
was a ticket machine right next to us. Logan in a hurry picked me up and dragged me behind one of the cars; I noticed how much his body had changed. My brother’s muscles were now prominent and strong, he looked like Logan but completely different, it was so weird. As we waited for them to leave, Logan had his own ideas of how to get us out of here. He broke into one of the smaller cars although he had to wait until his claws appeared again to do anything; he didn’t seem fazed by any of this, which worried me.
I manoeuvred myself into the driver’s seat and waited for Logan to get in the car. I had no idea how to hotwire a car and neither did my brother, which was clear to see. Bizarrely, the car just started on its own, just like the door in the mortuary when it activated. Perhaps, Logan had some sort of power that enabled electricity or something; we both glanced at each other fascinated with the car. Whilst Logan was looking at me, I could see that his ears were becoming more pointed and a canine snout appeared on his face, his transformation was happening faster, I needed to get him to Grayson’s house and then I could call them home to help us.
Suddenly, it hit me I hadn’t even passed my driving test yet, I kept on putting it off every time my driving instructor signed me up for the God-damn thing, you wouldn’t even believe the excuses I used. I glanced over to the side mirror to see another person walking towards the ticket machine; I knew I had no choice but to drive the car. Everything was fine for the ten minutes we were on the road and then out of nowhere Logan choked heavily, winding down his window to catch his breath. He was touching his throat, I couldn't understand him. I heard the word water, so I pulled up to the nearest supermarket.
“I won’t be a minute; I’ll get you some!” I shouted at Logan, whilst getting out of the car in a panic. The automatic, glass doors slid open allowing me to run over to the fridge doors. I grabbed a basket from the end of one of the aisles and filled it to brim with water bottles; I guessed dehydration must be one of the side effects when a human transforms. I needed Grayson, who was I kidding? I had no clue what I was doing with Logan, none whatsoever.
My mobile phone vibrated in my pocket; it could have been one of them ringing from the hospital so I answered it, putting my basket on
the floor. “Hello?” I said, no one answered. There was someone on the other line but they wouldn’t say anything. No doubt, it was the Lasair intimidating me again, but I hadn't time for it, I picked up the basket and headed towards the till. Luckily, there was a person to pack my bags for me whilst I kept my eye on Logan. I collected the two bags, all filled with water, two huge chocolate bars and a packet of sweets I'd thrown in and headed back to the car. I ran back and handed a water bottle straight to Logan and he guzzled it down in a hurry eager for the next.
I got back into the car and dropped the bags on Logan’s s
ide, so the water was easy enough for him to reach. I continued driving to the Hale mansion, worrying with every minute that went past about my brother’s rapid alterations. As soon as we reached the driveway, I somehow knew Logan would be fine.
Whilst still in the car I contacted Grayson, holding the phone up to my ear. “Grayson, it’s me – you all need to come home now! Bring my mum and dad, Logan’s not dead.” I yelled to him as Logan looked at me confusingly.
“What are you talking about Abigail?” Judging from his question, I knew the hospital hadn’t
found out that my brother was gone yet. Kaleb’s power must be strong, I thought pinching myself back into reality.
“He turned in the mortuary whilst he was on the table, he’s transforming into one of you Grayson – it’s happening right now! He keeps changing and then stopping, is that normal?” I worried for my brother.
“Abigail, that’s impossible, our kind doesn’t change like that – it’s a myth! We can’t transform through biting or scratching.”
“Well you should tell my brother that because he is on the verge of turning into a black wolf.” I was getting annoyed with Grayson’s attitude.
“What did you say? A black wolf! What colour are his eyes when they turn?”
I sighed. “They keep changing to a bright gold colour, why? Is that bad?”
