SEVEN: Cursed Souls

CHAPTER 29: ESURIENCE OF AN EMPTY HEART (GLUTTONY)

Two years later when Logan was hospitalized due to his weight gain as he became obese. His parents were worried about him and tried to control his diet but the more that they restrict him to one food, the more that his appetite gets voracious that as if he never gets himself full.

Doctors suspect that Logan have diabetes when he got a check up but the cause for his sickness was not it but rather dengue.

Logan was admitted to the hospital and gradually healed. Days later, he was discharged, but it is an event that Logan only hoped happened later.

On their way home, when they were not far away from the terminal of the jeep that they rode, a truck driving rouge approached the jeep while it reaches an intersection.

Logan, who was just waking up from his sleep heard his mother screaming then felt his Uncle Javier jumping towards him to get him at the back side of the jeep.

Screams of the other passengers mixed with the horns of the jeep and the truck. Some passengers at the back-most part of the jeep were able to jump out.

Logan's Uncle Javier hugged him tight as the impact of the collision of the truck and the jeep toppled the jeep to it's side.

Logan woke up to his Uncle pulling him out of the jeep, he looked at the piles of bodies behind them and saw his mother bathing in blood and underneath them is only a hand but he knew that it is his father's when he saw the bracelet he is wearing.

"Uncle Javier! M-Mama... and my Pa... THEY'RE DEAD!" he cried and hugged his Uncle Javier when they got outside.

He no longer is the innocent Logan two years ago, the kid who is clueless to what death is, but now he immediately knew that in his parents' state, they could already be both dead.

Days continued that Logan stopped talking to anyone nor eat anything until one day, the smell of adobo filled their house and a memory that Logan only wished he could come back to flashed into his head. The memory of two years ago where both his grandfather and parents are still alive, eating the adobo with him.

"Logan, you should also eat. I know that this is your favorite but grandpa wasn't able to teach me his recipe," his uncle Javier offers him a plate of adobo. Logan only looked tearfully at the adobo in front of him.

He hesitates to eat but seeing his Uncle Javier who is taking care of him and still waiting for him to take a bite of the adobo, he felt guilty and decided to take a piece. The taste of his Uncle Javier's adobo is far from the sweet yet aromatic taste of his grandfather's recipe, his Uncle's, though aromatic, is mildly salty which compliments the current feeling inside him which is no longer sweet like when his grandpa and parents are still alive.

He ate and ate, and it somehow takes him away from the thought that he is now orphaned, left alone by the three most important people in his life. Javier had seen Logan's appetite in the past years after their grandfather's passing but what happened to him next after his parents' death is more drastic.

He understands that the food may be filling parts of the void inside Logan--a void that even his presence cannot fill-- but he cannot help but worry.

***

Another year had passed after the demise of Logan's parents.

Logan was walking at the playground when he heard the cries of another child, his feet promptly ran towards the sound that would lead him to another kid who may also be just his age.

"Why are you crying? Want some candies?" Logan asked while he offers the other kid a candy.

The kid stopped crying and looked at him before bursting into laughter.