“Okay, so we got the box,” Logan said after several minutes of smoking as he lit up his third cigarette. “And,” he started to say but stopped to think about how to word it. After a few minutes he just decided to grab the arrow from the back seat of his car and show it to Ian and Kyle.

“What is this?” Kyle asked as he grabbed the arrow from Logan’s hand.

“Someone shot us with arrows,” Logan explained. 

“Are you serious?” Ian asked as he eyed the arrow in Kyle’s hand.

“Yes, looks like someone didn’t want us getting the box and they were going for the kill,” Logan said as he remembered how the arrow went by his and Max’s heads.

“Are you both okay?” Kyle asked worriedly to Logan and Max.

Logan just nodded as he lit up his fourth cigarette. Max just looked at Kyle but didn’t answer at all.

“You are not,” Ian said after seeing Logan’s and Max’s reactions. “So, why do you think that someone attacked you?” Ian asked Logan as he was the only one explaining things.

“My guess is to get the box,” Logan said as he shrugged. “But a bow and arrows is an odd choice for a weapon, I know demon hunting is an ancient practice but this is not the middle ages,” Logan reasoned out loud. “Or perhaps this person has a Robin Hood complex,” he finished saying as he laughed.

“Have you checked the box yet?” Kyle asked Logan.

“No,” Logan said before turning to his car to grab the box. “Let’s see if this was worth almost getting killed for,” Logan said before putting his hand on the top of the box.

“Why are you not opening it?” Ian asked after Logan stayed with his hand on top of the box without opening it.

“What if it is a trap and my hand blows off or something?” Logan asked worriedly. “I can definitely see that happening,” Logan said as Kyle snatched the box of his hands.

“Is empty,” Kyle said once the box was open. 

“There’s nothing inside,” Ian said after he looked inside the box. Max just nodded in agreement after he saw that the box was empty.

“What?” Logan said as he let the half smoked cigarette fall from his mouth. “Did we just get through all that to get nothing?” He said angrily as he forcefully snatched the box from Kyle’s hands.

Once the box was opened and in Logan’s hands it started to ooze a faint white mist. 

“Can’t any of you see this?” Logan asked, gesturing to the mist.

“See what?” Ian asked Logan, he could just see the box in his hands and nothing else.

“The mist,” Logan said as he put the box closer to Ian’s face.

“I can’t see it either,” Kyle said.

“Me neither,” Max said, finally participating in the conversation.

“What?” Logan asked, confused. “I can definitely see it, am I going crazy?” Logan said as he walked in circles. His friends looked at him in concern.

“Okay, I can see it but any of you can, that’s actually completely normal,” Logan reasoned, trying to make sense of the situation. 

“What if I put my hand inside?” Logan asked, looking at the mist coming from the box. “Maybe there’s something that only I can get,” Logan explained, he didn’t want to believe that all they’ve done was useless.

“Okay,” Kyle said to Logan. He was concerned about Logan because he was starting to sound a bit crazy. 

Logan, uncertain, decided to put his hand inside the box. Once inside he felt his hand go cold and then numb, an expression of worry and concern took over his face as he was not able to feel or see his hand anymore.

“Are you okay?” Kyle asked once he saw Logan’s expression.

“Yes,” Logan said with a fake smile as he moved his hand around the box, it seemed way more deep than it looked. As he felt around the box his hand finally touched something hard. His face lit up and he quickly grabbed it and took it outside. 

“You can see it right?” Logan asked as he held up a small, dark green, velvet box with a golden cross on top. 

“Yes, we can,” Ian said as he looked at Kyle and Max who were as surprised as he was after they saw that the box had indeed something inside. 

“Is that a jewelry box?” Kyle asked once he saw the small box in Logan’s hand.

“Looks like it,” Logan said as he eyed the small box carefully. “I swear if this thing is empty or has something that only I can see I’m losing my mind,” Logan said half serious, half joking before opening the small velvet box.

Once open the box revealed a silver ring with a white stone on top. “That’s it?” Logan asked, grabbing the ring from the soft white lining that protected the ring. “I mean it is cute but how is this useful?” Logan asked his friends.

“Try putting it on,” Kyle said. “Maybe it does something,” 

“Okay,” Logan said reluctantly as he put the ring on his left hand ring finger. 

Once he had the ring on, the white stone started to glow and separated itself from the ring, flying a couple of inches over it. 

“Is it flying?” Kyle asked amazed.

“Yeah,” Logan answered as he looked at the flying stone. He couldn’t believe that putting it on would make it do something. As they all looked the stone started to change form until it turned into a small spear. 

They all looked as the spear started to rotate as if it was a small drill and stabbed itself onto Logan’s finger.

“Oh my god!” Logan exclaimed in pain as the spear drilled into his finger and through his bone. “Someone cut my finger off!” Logan kept screaming in pain as he felt the spear slowly go through his bone. After a few minutes of screams filled with pain the small spear finally went through from the hole that was holding the stone all the way down to the other side of the silver band. 

“I think I’m going to faint,” Logan said between sobs as he looked at his bloodied finger. His relief didn’t last long as he suddenly felt an extreme heat going through his veins. He felt how all of his limbs started to get weaker until he fell to his knees without being able to stop the fall with his hands. 

Logan screamed in pain as he felt like the blood in his body was boiling. He tried to hug himself with the hand that didn’t have the ring to try and soothe the unbearable pain but it was useless. Logan cried and screamed in pain as his finger bled heavily leaving a big puddle of blood on the black asphalt of the parking lot. 

Logan felt how his tears started to turn into warm blood that flooded his face. “Not again,” Logan said between sobs as he tried to clean the blood from his face. After several minutes of excruciating pain the boiling sensation disappeared letting Logan fully collapse in the cold asphalt. 

Kyle, Max and Ian looked at Logan lying in the asphalt as he breathed heavily and his finger continued to bleed but not as heavily as before.

“Why always me?” Logan said in a faint voice, still lying in the cold ground.

Logan, with difficulty, tried to stand up but had to lean in his car to stay up. When Kyle, Ian and Max saw Logan’s blood-stained face didn’t surprise them, it happened way too much in just a few days. 

“Does someone have a tissue?” Logan asked in between heavy breaths. Max reached into his pocket and gave a tissue to Logan. Logan smiled in appreciation and started to clean his face. 

“Are you okay?” Kyle asked in concern, Logan seemed way too relaxed for him.

“Yes,” Logan said once his face was completely clean. “My finger just hurts a bit,” he said looking at his throbbing and bleeding finger. 

“Why don’t I believe that?” Kyle said in an accusing tone to Logan. Logan just averted his gaze from Kyle and didn’t answer. “You are hurting aren’t you?” Kyle asked Logan, getting a bit close to him. Logan kept his gaze away from Kyle in complete silence. “I’ll take that as a yes,” 

“Take it however you want,” Logan said, still having to lean in his car, as he tried to light up a cigarette but his hands were still weak.

“You need help?” Kyle said as he took the lighter and cigarette from Logan’s hand and lit it up for him. “Here you go,” Kyle said as he put the cigarette in Logan’s mouth. “So, where does it hurt?” Kyle asked once Logan seemed more relaxed.

“Everywhere,” Logan answered faintly as he looked downwards, making his hair hide his face.

“You’ll have to be more specific,” Kyle said, unsatisfied with Logan’s answer. He wanted him to open up and let them take care of him. 

Logan sighed tired and started to say what hurted him. “I can’t really feel my legs or arms, my head feels like it could explode and my whole body is very warm,” Logan said in a tired tone of voice.

“Does your finger hurt at all?” Kyle asked Logan as he took Logan’s hand on his to examine it.

“I don’t know, I can’t really feel it,” Logan said as he looked at his finger covered with dried blood. The stone of the ring was again in its original place but the spear was still going through his finger making it impossible for him to take off the ring without amputating his finger. “Looks like I won’t be taking it off anytime soon,” Logan tried to joke to lighten up the gloom atmosphere. 

“Okay, who here can drive?” Kyle asked Max and Ian. 

“I can,” Ian answered.

“Then you drive Logan home and I’ll drive Max,” Kyle said demandingly. “And don’t complain,” he said as he looked at Logan.

“Okay mom,” Logan answered, annoyed before giving his car keys to Ian and getting into the car. 

“Good night,” Ian said to Kyle and Max before getting into Logan’s car.

Kyle and Max watched as the car left the parking lot, now the only proof of what just happened was the blood puddle and themselves. 

“Do you think he is okay?” Kyle asked Max.

Max thought that it was nice how much Kyle cared for Logan. Just as he was going to answer Kyle’s question he cut him off. 

“Put it on,” Kyle said as he handed Max a helmet. “And grab tight,” he finished saying once Max was behind him on his motorbike.

“I think that he may not be okay now but he’ll be okay,” Max said as Kyle drove him home, not sure if he had heard him. 

***

“Thanks for driving me home,” Logan said to Ian, still inside of his car. 

“It was nothing,” Ian said as he gave back the keys to Logan. “Are you okay?” 

“It’s just a little pain, nothing to worry about,” Logan said as he waved his hands dismissively. Ian looked at Logan and Logan knew that that wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

“I guess I’m not okay, I shouldn’t be okay but I don’t really know,” Logan said with a sad face and a faint voice. 

Ian reached for Logan and hugged him. “You know that you can talk with any of us, right?” Ian said as he hugged Logan. 

“Thanks,” Logan said before breaking the embrace. “You should go home,” Logan said as he left the car.

“Good night,” Ian said as he started to walk down the cold streets, barely illuminated by the yellowish lights of the streetlamps.

“Good night,” Logan said, faintly, from the porch as Ian walked away. 

“I’m home,” Logan said loudly once he was inside his house. 

“Dinner is ready,” his grandmother said peeking from the kitchen door. 

“Let me change first,” Logan said as he went upstairs.

Once in his room Logan leaned on the closed door, he felt dizzy and his skin was pale, probably from the blood he had lost. Logan took his clothes off and left them scattered on the floor, he knew that if he bent down he would probably faint. Once he was changed he went to the bathroom and put a bandage on his finger.

“What’s wrong with your finger?” Logan’s grandmother asked once he was in the kitchen.

“Nothing, an accident at the coffee shop,” Logan replied. “Do you need any help setting the table?” Logan asked with a warm smile despite feeling as if he could collapse at any moment.

***

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34:18