THE BRAVO BOYS - SNAKE EATER [book three]

Chapter FIFTY ONE

Dallas Nash

...A Few Days After The Fire Bombing...

What is the point of living, if everybody I love is going to die?

I could try to rationalise the pain away, after all I'm sure that's what Logan would do.. It's what he always did, and I never entirely understood how somebody could be so unbreakably strong.. Every day he would pull himself together somehow and soldier on.. He would grin and bear any suffering, all the slings and arrows of a tormented existence.. He would figure out a way to keep on going, come what may, and he would do it all for me..

But where am I supposed to find that kind of strength?
I've never been brave..

-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-

My alarm clock chirps needlessly and I jolt in shock at the shrill intrusion of its incessant trilling.. I'm not sure how long I had been laying here, staring at the boy-band posters that plaster my bedroom wall.. Unblinking, through tired, red rimmed eyes..

I haven't slept in days..

How could I, when my entire world is imploding?

Three whole days without knowing have taken their toll on my shredded nerves...
It's the waiting that kills me, trapped in the endless unknown of it all..

My fumbling hand skitters across the table top, to find the snooze button, before I sit up to rub at my tired eyes and muster what little energy I have to get out of bed..

Each day I have a little less hope that today will be any better than yesterday.. Perhaps it will be even worse..

After some pretty intense pressuring, Shelby had finally cracked and shared with me the details of the official investigation into the Alpha Tech Attack.. Not that any of her information gave me much comfort..

I now know nearby traffic cameras had confirmed that my uncle was undoubtedly inside the building when the fire at his office broke out.. I also know that even though there is no evidence to suggest he ever left, the investigators weren't able to recover his body from the wreckage..

An impossibility that seems to make no sense, yet here we are.. Living without him, as if somebody could simply vanish into thin air..

Shelby has been trying to put on a brave face for me, but I can tell that her heart aches in my uncle's absence just as much as mine.. Or maybe even more..

I don't think anybody ever cared about Shelby the way Logan did.. For me, at least I have the memories of my mom and dad, and after their passing, my uncle had poured his doting affections on me.. Always making sure I felt loved was important to him, he wanted me to know it deep within my bones..

But something tells me Shelby's bones have never been warmed by that kind of unconditional love.. She is hardened in a way I've never seen before, and it is frightening to think of how alone she must feel now..