A long time before Logan ever moved away from Gainesville to go to college in San Francisco, before he underwent the surgery that would forever change his life, he was a very emotional toddler of the age of 4. Out of the preschool class, he was the four-year-old thinker who got self-righteous and angry easily. The other children liked his boldness- or, his parents told him that his teachers noticed they did- but since he was only four, he didn't really have any close friends yet. He preferred to read by himself, as books were new and all the rage in the preschool class- everyone had just learned to read. On the Saturday that everything changed, Logan was reading a Bob Book in the living room with his mother.
They were sitting on the couch together, his mother holding the book while he sat on her lap. He was wearing a rainbow shirt and black pants, his sharp green eyes peering out from behind his black bangs to read the thick pages. His mother was wearing a pale blue dress with black heels, her long black hair straightened unlike usual and dark red lipstick coating her lips. All in all, Logan thought his mother was very pretty today, and he did not question why she had made herself up like this. When they had reached the second to last page of the book, Logan's father emerged from the hallway. He was wearing black pants and a dark blue shirt. "Ready to go, honey?" he asked his wife, bending down to Logan's eye level. "Hey, Logan, we're gonna go back to the hospital. When we leave, things are going to be a little different, but you'll be all better. No more of those scary, serious people, and especially no more of that scary man with the yellow eye. Does that sound like a good idea?"
"Promise?" Logan asked. He'd seen that man with the yellow eye so much lately, and he always talked with big words Logan couldn't understand- like 'craniotomy', 'chemotherapy', and 'tumor'. Whenever he asked what they meant, his mother always told him that he'd know when he was older. His father nodded and took his small hand. "I promise. When we leave, we'll get some ice cream, okay? To celebrate, and because you deserve a reward for your patience in all this."
"What does 'patience' mean?" That word was unknown to Logan. Even though he had progressed in his reading much, much faster than everyone else in his class, there were many words that remained mysterious to him. He wanted to know every single one. Of course, he wanted to know everything about everything- he could always feel this gnawing instinct that made him want to learn. To experience, to live, to find out everything he could about the world around him. It was such a big place, and it was so, so amazing. Every new thing was a wonder to him, and he wanted to know what it all meant. His father thought for a moment before responding, "When you are patient, or you have patience, it means you can calmly and/or willingly wait for something. You have had a lot of patience with going to the hospital so much. Does that make sense?" When Logan nodded, he picked the boy up and headed over to the front door, his wife following close behind. "Alright then, let's go."
The drive there was long, like always. Or, it felt long. Everything seemed to take its time when they were going to the hospital. They went there so often, though, that it was starting to become this void of time that lasted forever during it but afterwards Logan thought it had been so short a time. This was the period of time when he would play with his stuffed unicorn. Its name was Blue, as it was a fluffy pale blue unicorn with a pink horn and big, round pink eyes. Usually, he would discuss the books he had been reading with Blue- like how compelling it was to find out that Jackie had apparently been teaching a dog that had randomly appeared how to roll over this entire time- or about what had happened at school. Blue had a funny voice that for some reason came from the front of the car instead of from its own mouth, but Logan didn't question it too much. For now, though, he was very curious about why this was to be their last visit to the hospital, so he leaned forward as far as he could against the seatbelt to speak with his parents. "Why aren't we coming back after this?"
YOU ARE READING
Lies #3: Craniotomy
Horror~A Sanders Sides horror fanfic~ Logan is a doctor in San Francisco who specializes in the brain. When the hospital is locked down from an outside threat, Logan realizes that the danger may be inside their own walls.
