Short Stories

Never Saw Him Smile

(So....I had a thought.....what if Anubis was never sent back. What if he never met Wolfie?)

Funerals are an odd thing. They are parties to say the last goodbye. Lynx had gone to several funerals before this, but his son's was different. He never really knew his son, yet here he was, standing by the grave, several hours after the funeral had ended. The last words from Anubis, looming over his head, hauntingly. Lynx couldn't pin his emotion to a word. It couldn't be sadness, nor could it be joy. He couldn't take to the boy. He was too optimistic for a demon, so maybe it was disappointment.

The boy was always chasing some dream. Despite the boy's aspirations, he never spoke about them. After a few years, he rarely spoke, the few times he did speak, it was quick and self-destructive. Soon after, he quit coming out of his room. Maybe it was the torment from his sister, perhaps the cruel words from his brother, or maybe even the negligence of his own parents, but it was clear he was unhappy his whole life. Lynx could've sworn he had seen him smile....hadn't he?

Funny enough, it was Luci who finally spoke up about it. She had tried to reach him, but no one ever answered. One by one, they all had tried, yet still, no one came. That was until one late eve. Lynx had knocked, irritated the others were making such a big deal out of this. Anubis finally opened up. He looked agitated, pale, and almost starved. His voice was rasp and weary as it hadn't been used.

"Anubis. You are coming out of that room. Your charade is done." 

Lynx winces as he remembers his words, yet the worst of it was the response.

His son stared, cold and as emotionless as Lynx had always been. "Oh? So if you found a body in here, would you say the same thing?"

"Of course not. Now your mother and sister are worried. I think it's time you saw someone." Lynx had been trying, though he knew he couldn't fix this.

"Good to know. I'll leave and make it easier for them," Anubis steps out and pushes past Lynx, "Never had a reason to stay anyways."

"Where would you go? You have nothing but your family," He had only ever been around Anubis when the boy was an infant, he really knew nothing about most of his kids.

"I have no family." Anubis spoke solemnly when he slammed the door.

That's what the emotion was. It was the feeling of seeing his baby boy now dead. The feeling, that he could have prevented this. As he stands there, he realizes, he never saw him smile.