A Little Bit Of Joy | ✔

Chapter Forty Seven : The Girl In His Thoughts

Third Person's POV [Logan's POV]

Logan carefully balanced the cake on his hands and lumbered towards the cemetery. The night was eerie and the air cold as the uneven, damp grass got trampled under his heavy feet. It was strange how this particular place had countless stars twinkling above, but the rest of the town had pitch black sky.

Logan had gone through more than enough hardships for an eighteen year old boy and sometimes even found himself at the brink of death, so myths like spooky ghosts and bizarre legends didn't scare him anymore. Instead, it gave him a thrill that his buried family might actually be around him or right behind him. He just had to look and imagine things.

Kneeling in front of his little brother's headstone, he unboxed the cake. He checked his watch and it was already fifteen minutes past twelve. His brother turned fourteen today- almost a man now. If only he was alive . . . If only.

Logan shifted back and sat with his arms wrapped around his legs. He gazed at the Power Rangers cake and smiled wistfully. He was sure that his brother's tastes would have changed at fourteen like any other boy- he wouldn't want his childhood favourite Power Rangers cake. But then again, he believed that his brother would always secretly like that despite of growing older. After all, he had been fourteen once too and knew how boys were that age- full of hormones, exploding energy and trying to act way cooler than their age.

Some insects hovered over the cake and Logan simply watched as they feasted on it. It wasn't like he was going to eat it, he was going to leave it at the corner where the scraggly old dog would find it or the cleaner in the morning would dump it. It didn't matter anymore, his brother wasn't alive to celebrate. The cake was meant to only make his heart feel better that he remembered his dead brother's birthday.

He recalled the days when they would sword fight with sticks in the backyard- his little brother only in a white underwear, large sunglasses and a thin towel attached to his neck like a cape. In his brother's gleaming eyes, Logan was a hero. Logan had always been a hero to him just like many younger ones adulated, worshipped and imitated their elder siblings. It was a shame that Logan never lived up to be a hero after his brother's death- he had almost done it, Logan thought somberly.

After some time, Logan got up to leave. He retrieved a handkerchief from his jeans pocket and wiped each of the four headstones. Lifting up the cake, he carried it and left it near the garbage bin. This graveyard was fifty minutes walk from his apartment in the next town and Logan hoped to find a lift back just like he had found coming here. However, there was little chance to find any sober and non-criminal driver at midnight.

Logan strode fearlessly on the empty roads and after ten minutes, he fortunately found a ride. It was a truck heading towards his town for a night break. The driver was kind and cheerful as he didn't stop talking the entire way. It wasn't annoying to hear about his whole family history considering he belonged to a huge Italian family, but it felt quite nice. It kept Logan somewhat occupied and distracted his thoughts from the yellow sunflower- Joy.

He thanked the driver and hopped down the truck once he was near his apartment. He headed towards his place only to find the lift was shut down. Great, now he had to walk twelve floors up! For a moment, he seriously considered sleeping next to the gate since he was worn out for the day.

He grumbled under his breath with each step he took. Suddenly, all he could think about was Joy. Joy, Joy, Joy, why was she everywhere in his mind? He loved her so damn much and he resented himself for telling her that. Why did he act like an idiot and blurt it all out? He should have seen her reaction coming, it was only reasonable.