AIF; LOGAN EDGEWORTH POST
#1
Logan panics, eyes dancing wildly as he takes in his surroundings. As much as he can, anyway. It's black and cold, but he can hear noises - voices, happiness coming from the next room. Torturing him.
He’s lost and alone, but not yet scared. Worried, perhaps, but no fright plagues his thoughts just yet. He would just like to know where he is.
He can see a pinprick of light now, slowly getting bigger, and it’s only when he looks down at his feet that he realises he’s moving.
As he approaches, he can see other shapes, flicking in the candle’s flame. There is a hand, holding the candle, leading to an arm, a shoulder, a face. He stops.
“No… what- why are you here?” His feet are trying to walk backwards now, trying to get as far away as possible, but the ground is moving and he’s stuck on the spot, rooted but mobile, unable to tear his eyes away from the woman in front of him. She smiles, a sweet but venomous smile, and his eyes snap shut.
Her eyes are behind his eyelids, penetrating deep into his soul as her laugh reverberates around him, echoing in his ears, in his mind. All of a sudden everything feels lighter, the voices still muffled, but louder.
A sudden shout next to his ear makes him jump, eyes now wide open, taking in the sight of the busy pub before him. A figure lurks in the corner of his vision, but he doesn't need to see to know who it is. Or where they are.
The figure seems to be out with friends, trying to drink and have a fun time, but he keeps checking his watch, every minute or so, and looking at his phone even more frequently. He excuses himself to go somewhere quieter to use it, and wanders into the hall by the restrooms. Logan follows him like a shadow, feet moving of their own accord again, as he watches the all too familiar scene unfold in front of him.
A couple fall out of the ladies toilets and Logan’s breath catches in his throat. he comes to a stop next to the man he’s been following, and they somehow attract the couple’s attention. They stare at the man by his side - he is speechless and staring, and Logan wants to yell at him, ‘say something, damnit, just say something!’
His pleas fall on deaf ears as everything begins to fade; the girl turns and looks at Logan, laughing. Cackling. Nothing is funnier in the world. He tries to turn away, tries to breathe, but nothing works, his vision still darkening, throat choking, asphyxiating, falling now, paralysed, plunging and unable to stop it, gonna hit the floor, gonna crash-
BREATHE. Logan gasped, bolting upright, the laughing still echoing around the room. Reaching his hand behind his neck, he wiped away the cold sweat, shaking, sorting himself out. There was a gap in his curtains, a pinprick of light spilling through - but this one was motionless. He fixed his gaze, refusing to let his eyes shut until he’d snapped himself out of whatever state he was in.
As he lay back down, arms stretched across his bed, he allowed his eyelids to flutter shut.
Never had he been more happy to have an empty bed.
~~~
#2
"Doughnuts from Saint Mary's! Best boss ever? I think so."
"Okay, boss, but your ten o'clock is already here."
He dropped the box of pastries onto the nearest desk and sighed.
"It's only half past nine! Why does she do this to me?!"
The other woman merely smiled, shook her head and pushed Logan towards his office.
"Don't make me do this, Carol! Save me...!" He let his voice trail off as he wandered through the doorway, leaving Carol to laugh at his back, before grabbing a doughnut and sitting down to work.
~
"I can't work with these people anymore, Logan!" As expected, his ten-o'clock-turned-nine-thirty was nothing but a pain in the arse.
"I promise you, Mrs Tuckett, they are working with everything you give them." It's not their fault that your instructions are incredibly vague and you're prone to changing your mind every five minutes, he added silently. This was the fourth time in two weeks that Madam Tuckett had demanded to see him, and every time her complaints seemed more and more petulant.
"Really, Logan, what would your father think?" Her aging face twisted into a cruel smile, but Logan brushed it off with one of his own.
"My father never approved of my business, but at the very least he had moral values. He, like me, probably would not give a toss."
He should have felt bad about the gasp coming from his 'client', but the conversation had been going on far too long now; Logan knew he needed to start being stern.
"Now, is there a point to this meeting or am I here merely to be a witness to your ridiculous tirade?"
"I require only the best, Logan--"
"Mr Edgeworth, if you wouldn't mind." He interrupted.
"...Mr Edgeworth, so I demand that you take over my project, against my better judgement. I trust that you're just having a bad day."
Logan rolled his eyes and sighed, counting to ten mentally before he replied.
"I am having a bad day, but it was wonderful before this meeting. We are the best around, Mrs Tuckett, and you know that, so you should feel secure with my employees looking after you. I, myself, have other projects running that are more important and more interesting, dare I say it, than a kitchen renovation.
"Before you say it, I don't care how much you offer me, I don't give a damn about your money. I have tried placating you but nothing has worked so I'm afraid I have to be frank with you. I try to extend the same friendliness to my clients - as they are all equal in my mind, no matter how big the project is or how much money it'll earn me. I am a busy man and my colleagues try their hardest too, so if you still have a problem then feel free to take your custom elsewhere, because you are not going to get any special treatment here." He took a deep breath and sat back, looking to Mrs Tuckett for her response and trying to resist the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.
She opened and closed her mouth, flabbergasted. Before she could think of a comeback, he decided to make a swift exit.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab a drink to ease this headache that seems to have suddenly appeared." He gave her a pointed look but she was refusing to meet his eyes.
"When you decide what you want to do with my company's services, let Carol know on your way out."
Despite having a perfectly useable coffee machine in his expansive office, he stood up and walked out, heading directly towards Carol at the water cooler. After he delivered the warning, she frowned but sighed and accepted her fate.
"I really have tried to work with the old hag. All this paperwork I end up with because of your nightmare clients!"
Logan laughed and apologised, because it really was his fault; the most awkward ones were the old friends of his father's - the ones he hurriedly loaded onto other people.
"Really though, I'm sure it's just because I'm more accepting than anyone else here. Maybe it's because I'm the only female..." She smiled as she spoke, knowing his response before it came.
"You know my policies; you know my brothers. If you weren't, thankfully, a lesbian, they would have tried it on with you already!"
"Oh, honey, they try it on with me anyway, I just don't react. And thanks for the vote of confidence - nothing like a bit of gay pride around the workplace."
Logan laughed again, thankful she had such a good sense of humour. That was one of the bonuses of his job - he was able to make sure that all of his employees got along.
It was refreshing, having the freedom to do whatever he wanted. His whole life, his father had intended all of his sons to have some role in the family business, with Blake holding the reigns. Logan was never interested and ran off to school instead. Well, maybe 'ran off' wasn't the right phrase - seeing as it was his father's money paying for it all, but his disinclination to join the business had the same effect. His father had been stunned, the thought never having occurred to him that his son wouldn't want to take after him. Logan had always been the more creative of the brothers, so a degree and subsequent business in architecture had not come as much of a surprise - after the initial shock had worn off.
He could see that Mrs Tuckett was preparing to leave, so decided to make a hasty exit.
"You know what, I think I can do all of my work at home today. I might pop back later... hey- where'd all the doughnuts go?!"
"You really think an office full of hungry workers are going to leave anything for the big bad boss? Oh, and Mrs Tuckett's on her way," was all Carol had to offer. Laughing at the horror and panic on Logan's face, she called at him as he rushed out of the door.
"Hire a secretary or something - I'm fed up of your damn paperwork!"