Lost and Found

*Tre’s P.O.V*

The morning rays burst into my room and I shield my eyes, grunting. I throw off my covers and reach for the half empty bottle of whiskey at my bedside. I drink thirstily and throw away the now empty bottle. It lands with a smash and I shrug. Fuck it.

I stare at the date on my alarm clock. Why do I know this date? Logan’s happy face pops into my head and I grab my temples, crumbling to my knees.

“No! No! I don’t want to remember! I don’t want to remember anything!” I scream and sob loudly. Her 20th birthday…

“Damn it!” I growl and rush into the bathroom and into shower. If I don’t hurry I’ll be late. I shower quickly and shave my grown in stubble. I comb my hair and bush my teeth. I have to look my best today. For her.

I slip on my black suit and her favourite bugsquashers which she forced me to buy ha-ha. Picking out the tie she made me with mine and hers name on it with a smiley face and ‘PUNX 4EVR’ written on it in luminous green paint. I try hard to make it work. For fucks sake work you stupid thing!! I’m interrupted by the front door, and growling I leave the tie as it is to answer the door.

Running down the stairs, I open the door to see Mike, Billie Joe, Adie, Joey, Jakob and Helen, Mike’s girlfriend. What the hell is she doing here? I stare at Jakob and a small look of despair comes across his young innocent face. He was the last to see Logan alive. It must hurt for him so much. He told us how she stood strong even though she looked like she was dying. He also told us that she protected him until the very end, until he was found. He told us what she said, how she would rather die than let them harm Jakob.

They smile at me and I try to smile the best I can back. Adie sees my tie and looks sad but does it for me. I smile gratefully.

“Logan made you that tie on your birthday,” Billie whispers and I smile.

“Yeah.” is all I can say and I leave the house locking up. I turn on the engine and take the long drive to the location of Logan’s memorial. Her favourite place in the world. A cliff over-looking the sea. She would sit for hours under the tree just staring. She hated the beech and being in the sea water and this was as close as she was ever gonna go near it but she loved to watch the sea. She told me a story once, that her mom told her that there were creatures living in the sea, dancing all the time and that is why there were waves constantly. She used to just sit there for hours.

I sigh, taking a long drink from my hipflask and I park my car. Billie leads the service. She deserves at least this and I’m going to make a small goodbye speech. It’s the least I can do. Billie invites me to take my speech and I nod, swallowing hard. We nod at one another as we pass and we stand centre-stage.

“Hey. Logan, wow, she was… amazing. Obviously Billie Joe’s daughter, she had such a short temper.” I say and laugh nervously. I was here with Logan. Before she disappeared. Damn we were so drunk, it wasn’t even fair. I smile upon the memory and a new confidence fills me. She’s here with me, smiling. I can almost feel her holding my hand.

“I first met Logan on a flight from Scotland. She was sweet, just 17 years old and on a quest to find her father, you Billie Joe. She was so brave, she was willing to die for me on that flight as she saved everyone on that plane from two people who tried to hi-jack it. She cracked three ribs, for me. It was strange because only a few minutes before I found out that she was Megan’s daughter. It wasn’t fair, the way she was stolen and murdered. She didn’t deserve it but, she died the way she wanted to. Protecting her family. Protecting her family was like breathing to her, second nature. While protecting all of us, she touched our hearts, taught us things we never knew about ourselves. Logan will never really be gone because how can we forget the one girl who would die to protect everyone, she would do anything for us and I know, I’ll never forget,” I say and smile. Everyone claps quietly and I glance over to Mike, who is holding his girlfriends hand tightly, on the verge of tears. How dare he bring her to this? She didn’t even know Logan! But, I bite my tongue and swallow my anger, turning to the sea. Everyone stands up and joins me, Billie Joe standing next to me. We smile at one another and he throws a single rose into the sea. Tears spilling over, he turns and leaves with his ex-wife and kids who are crying too. I scatter the cherry blossom petals in my hands and the wind catches them, making them dance in flutter. Logan loved cherry blossom trees. As they flutter into the distance, one comes back and I catch it, smiling. Logan will never die, she’ll always be with me but she’ll come back. I know that she’ll come back.

A car pulls up behind me and I turn around to see a police cruiser. Shit what have I done?

2 officers approach me and I light up a cigarette, turning to the sea.

“Excuse me, Mr. Wright?” One asks and I turn to him.

“Yeah, what it to ya?”

“We nee you to come with us.”

“On what grounds?”

“Please Mr. Wright this is a very sensitive situation. We need to speak to you at the station.”

In the police car, the silence is murder. Something is wrong. The tension could be cut with a knife. I take out my hipflask and with my meds in it and take a long drink. They stare at me.

“It’s my meds. You can check it if you want,” I say and the one not driving, takes it, sniffs it then hands me it back.

We pull up at the station and I walk in front with the officers behind. Shit, what the fuck have I done this time? Fear ties a knot in my stomach and a cold sweat trickling down my spine causes me to shiver involuntarily. What’s going on?

They take me into a room after the officers nod at the receptionist. A man in a black suit comes in. He looks old and frail but his eyes are hardened by pain and suffering, cold and dead, pale blue like a person who has just died. His grey hair is shaved right down to the nib so not to get in his way.

“Please Mr. Wright take a seat,” he smiles, trying to be nice but not enjoying a minute of it. I sit, still silent. He sits across from me, forcing a smile.

“I’m DI Gibson. I need to talk to you about this young woman,” he says and slides a picture across the desk in front of me. I stare at it.

“Do you know her?” He asks but I can’t say anything. It’s like something is stuck in my throat, stopping me from talking.

“Do you know her Mr. Wright?” He asks again, harsher than before. I clear my throat. God, my mouth is so dry…

“Logan, her name is Logan. Her father is my band mate and best friend. She’s my best friend too.” I
say,barely audible over a whisper.

“Hm. How long, have you known her Mr. Wright?” He asks.

“I only got to know her for about a year. She… She just disappeared off the face of the earth…” I whisper, flashes of what I said to her on hrt birthday. Her birthday of all days.

“I see. What was your relationship with her?” he asks and I snap back to reality.

“She was my best friend. She lived with me, her father and Mike, our other band mate. She meant everything to us. She was literally like the rays of the sun and the moon at night, a constant bright light in our lives. She was the best thing that ever happened to us, to me.” I whimper and he studies me carefully. I hate that. Stop that. I am not a piece of dirt you can examine and pull apart to see what’s inside. STOP FUCKING STARING.

“Excuse me please Mr. Wright,” he says and gets up, leaving the room. I clench my fingers into a fist. Why am I here?!

When they come back in, I snap.

“Listen, if I’m not being arrested and taken into custody then what the fuck is going on?!” I snarl and he places his hands up in surrender.

“Please Mr. Wright. Be patient. Would you mind coming with us?” another man asks, gentle, understanding. I nod, suddenly ashamed of my outburst. Then he begins to analyse me as we walk into another room and I feel my anger flaring up again. They tell me to sit down and I do, grudgingly. They leave and my hands curl into a fist again, knuckles turning white.

When they come back in, I stand up, enraged.

“What the fuck is going around here?! You haul my ass down here from my best friends fucking memorial-” I fume but I’m cut off.

“Please Mr. Wright will you-”

“Oh and cut the Mr. Wright bullshit! You either tell me what’s going on or I-,” I stop. Staring. It can’t be… I crumble to my knees as a woman, maybe 20 years old comes in, head down and looking like well, like death. She looks at me. Her once laughing eyes are black holes of death. Her once green hair is now blonde and lifeless longer than before too. Her skin once snow white is now grey like a corpse. The tears roll down my cheeks and my mouth opens and shuts as I try to speak. My lip quivers in denial as the salty liquid from my eyes fill my mouth. It’s not. It can’t! it can’t!

We stare at one another and she smiles that beautiful smile. I thought I’d never see it again. I smile back and laugh. I get up and hug her tightly and we both give way to distraught tears, shocked at the sight of one another. I hold her out at arms length and we smile at each other. I brush a bit fluffy blond hair out her face and her eyes return to their former glory, green with flecks of gold from the pupil. Her cheeks become rosy again as her cheesy grin spreads across her face.

“It’s really you Logan,” I whisper. She smiles.

“The one and only,” She grins and I hug her tightly.

“I’ve missed you so much! All of us have.” I smile and she sighs.

“I’ve missed everyone too. I wanna go home Tré,” she whispers, leaning her head on my shoulder.

“I’m taking you home, I promise.” I whisper and hug her tightly.