Cinders: An Intrulogical Story

Chapter 3

A week later it was time for Edward to go on yet another business trip, his family gathered at the front of the house to see him leave and he couldn't help but notice how sad they were.
He joked that he'd never seen so many sad and gloomy faces around his home before but that did little to quell the sadness.
He bent down to Logan and gave him a big hug.
"I'm counting on you and Picani to show these three the ropes around here.
Roman isn't used to getting his hands dirty." Said Edward.
He mounted his horse and began to ride off, Roman looked towards his two sons "Come along boys, you have lessons to attend.".
"Wait!" Yelled Logan, they turned to look at him confused.
"He always waves at the gate, it's tradition!".
Roman rolled his eyes and ushered his kids inside, Picani and Logan were taken aback by this but Picani tried to make Logan feel better by playfully tussling his hair "it's their loss Cinder.".
After waving good bye they headed inside and things were fairly normal for a while, although there did seem to be a barrier between Logan and his step family.

It seemed like every thing Logan tried to do to make them closer only made them drift further apart, Logan did feel hurt by this but dealt with it since Picani was much more fun to play with anyways.
One day though, everything changed, it was the day before Logan's dad was supposed to come home, he had been up all night waiting for him to come home and just couldn't contain himself.
He had been gone for a whole month which to Logan felt like forever, he was playing chess with Picani when he heard a knock on the door and eagerly opened it.
He expected it to be either the mail man with a letter or his father home early, sadly it was neither of those, instead he saw one of his fathers business partners, Mr. Cortez, looking terribly sad.
Logan's expression dropped "What's wrong Mr. Cortez?" he asked innocently.
He took off his hat, held it to his chest solemnly and took a deep breath.
"You're father is... he's dead." Said Mr. Cortez, his expression was one of disappointment and complete misery, the pain in his eyes was like the kind you would see in a sad dog, clinging to life.
He often squabbled with Edward and didn't even consider them to be friends but he still felt truly sorry about what happened to him, nobody deserved what he went through.

Logan froze, it didn't feel real, it felt like a bullet just pierced through his torso and the pain hadn't registered yet and that any second now he was just gonna collapse.
He stared wide eyed at the ground, if Patton or Roman could see his expression they would of probably made fun of him, his hands covered his mouth instinctively as he let out a tiny whimper "H-how-" Logan tried to speak but he choked on his own words, the room fell silent.
Mr. Cortez shook his head "There was an accident when he was riding through the woods.
He encountered a wolf and his horse became so frightened that it flung him off of it's back.
Then it tried to flee but ended up trampling him in the process." He placed a hand on Logan's shoulder.

Picani gasped, feeling heart broken while Logan's step family gathered around him, staring wide eyed and shocked.
Logan sniffled as tears began to stream down his cheeks, he thanked Mr. Cortez for sharing the news with him and closed the door.
He pressed his back against it and slid down, crying as Picani inched closer towards him to comfort him.
Roman looked to be deep in thought, he didn't say anything but merely motioned for Patton and Virgil to follow him into the other room.

Virgil looked hesitant to do this, he wanted to do something to comfort him  but struggled to figure out what so he just stood there looking lost and confused about what to do, he couldn't marinate on it for too long though since his father walked back in and yanked him on the shirt forward into the living room.
Picani remained silent through the whole ordeal but shot Roman a death glare as he coddled Logan in his arms.

Logan soon became withdrawn and quiet, refusing to meet anyone's glances, even at the funeral. He just silently stared at the black coffin in the stained glass church, wistful and with a heavy heart. Father hated black, it was such a dreary and depressing color, and life wasn't supposed to be dreary or depressing at all, life was about happiness. Yet, here he was, laying dead in a plain black bombazine tux, as everyone crowded around him with out a pop of color in sight.
People poured out of the church in heaps, whispering among themselves but taking no notice of the slow small boy right beside him. Upon arriving he home he had hoped to have some alone time to mourn by himself but was called to Roman's office-- formerly his fathers, for a brief discussion on the future of the house hold.