E M P T Y - A Sanders Sides Story

E X P L A N A T I O N

Point of View: Roman, First Person
Timeline: Present Day, Two Weeks After the Funeral

"Hey Virgil," I poked my head into Virgil's room.  I scanned for a moment before my eyes settled on Virgil, who was sitting upright on his bed - surrounded by papers.  He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and plaid purple pajama pants, telling me he probably had been there for a while.  Virgil hardly seemed to notice me or even care I was there, only glancing up at me through my bangs."Your boss is on the phone," I said, holding out my phone towards him to take.

"Ugh," Virgil groaned, dropping his head in his hands.  "Why not now?  What else could possibly go wrong today?" He grumbled.

"Uh, do you want me to tell them you're not here or...?"

"No," Virgil sighed, running a hand through his hair but his bangs just fell back over his eyes.  "It's just - ugh - I have to go through all this legal stuff and everytime I try to start, I get interrupted by something," he explained.  Virgil got to his feet, walking over and I handed him my phone wordlessly.

Virgil took a deep breath before answering.  "Hey, Joan."

Not sure whether to stick around or not, I hovered awkwardly in the doorway as Virgil continued the conversation on my phone.  Why his boss had called me instead of Virgil I had no idea, but that was a question for later.

"I've been... fine, I guess.  Look, I appreciate it but I don't really wanna talk about it, is there a reason you called?  No, I haven't had a chance to even look at my phone recently, what's up? Oh, uh, I'm still not sure - Friday?  I - okay then, I'll be there.  Thank you, bye," Virgil said promptly, frowning at my phone in distaste.

"That bad?" I asked, taking my phone back before Virgil decided to impulsively throw it out the window.

"Ugh," Virgil responded drly, dragging himself back to his bed.  But instead of sitting upright, like he had been when I came in, he flopped backwards - facing the ceiling.  "Joan says I gotta go back to work on Friday."

"Well isn't that a good thing?" I offered, taking and couple steps forward into the room and leaning against the wall. "Maybe working will help, jumping back in the swing of things."

Virgil's glare was the only answer I needed.

"What's so wrong about going back to work? I thought you liked working at the bar."

"Oh that's not the problem," Virgil waved a hand at the ceiling dismissively before it flopped unceremoniously back on the bed.  "And its not Joan and Talyn either, they're both great bosses.  Super cool, both of them.  It's just that... that Logan's ex likes to hang out there."

"Ohhhh, I get it," I winced sympathetically.  "Well can't you just ask the bouncers not to let him in if he comes?"

"And deny Talyn and Joan a customer? No.  Besides, he'd get in the bar if he wanted, no matter who I told.  He's a manipulative little prick."

"Well, then what are you doing to do?"

Virgil threw his hand up in defeat.  "I dunno! Try not to kill him I guess!"

"Virgil -"

"No, you listen for once, Princey.  This dude did something that I will never be able to forgive him for.  He got a tattoo of Logan's name just to take advantage of him.  He lied and manipulated him and then broke up with him when Logan, inevitably, didn't have De's name on his wrist.  And as if that wasn't bad enough," Virgil continued his rant pointing a finger at me.  "Then went on to say that Logan never really loved him at all when we both know that wasn't true.  And that statement started Logan down the path of believing that he didn't have a soulmate, that Deceit was right he couldn't love someone even if they were his soulmate - so he took his own life," Virgil spat before suddenly going silent.

I walked over to Virgil and sat down on the edge of the bed.  Both of us sat in silence as I tried to comprehend what he just said.  "How... how do you know that?" I whispered.  "How did you... what?"

Virgil closed his eyes, before getting up from his bed again.  He walked over to his dresser and opened his sock drawer.  But instead of pulling out a sock, he pulled out a folded paper - handing it to me carefully.

"What...?" I took the paper from Virgil and gasped as I realized exactly what this was.  "Is this... Logan's suicide note?  I didn't think he wrote one..." I murmured, tracing a gentle finger over Logan's messy handwriting.

Virgil shoved his hands deeper into his pockets.  "While you guys were calling 911 and trying to stop the bleeding, I noticed the note of Logan's desk.  And I took it and read it as soon as I went upstairs, and I've kept it here ever since.  But it explains... well, it explains everything."

"I had no idea..." I mumbled again, but my brain couldn't - no, my brain wouldn't process the words in front of me.  "God, Virgil, you've had this since... since it happened?"

"Yeah," Virgil avoided eye-contact, instead choosing to focus on a loose thread on his pajama pants.

"W-Why didn't you tell us?"

Virgil squirmed, uncomfortable.  "I didn't think you were ready to hear it.  Please don't be upset, I justed to protect you guys," he added softly.

I thought about responding, before deciding otherwise.  I leaned forward and gave Virgil another hug, who stiffened before returning it lightly.  "You don't have to explain yourself.  You did what you thought was best," I said finally.

"... thank you."

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