Anchored
With sheer reluctance, Logan took him out for a walk. The boy 's face leapt with glee. Lucas had already begun ceaselessly asking questions about their adventure:
'Where are we going?' 'What do you want to do?' 'Ooh let's go to the park or the cinema - we haven't been there in a while!' 'Then we could read a book on a bench' 'Oooh stop by and get some ice cream on the way to the bakery. 'I'm hungry, are you? Let's get pizza! Can we have that for dinner… please?'
But Logan paid no heed to the boy. His mind transfixed on the upcoming work deadline. We’re just going out for a short walk, then we’ll come back to work. He ruminates in his head, painfully aware that his groggy body yearned to be bathed in sunlight.
‘Enough, it’s just a short walk. Be on your best behaviour.’
The boy nodded in compliance.
Before they ventured outside, Logan latched his hand onto Lucas as an extra precaution.
The clanking metal chain between them swayed in the afternoon breeze. The sunlight gleamed on the steel manacles bound across their wrists.
The restless boy didn’t mind; he began frolicking across the pavement with a skip in his steps. The sagging man was towed along behind him.
Strolling down the street together, the pair roamed between two different worlds.
Logan pondered about his future peppered in uncertainty. A promotion was in the midst of his mind. But only if he consistently excelled over the coming weeks. He could already feel his phone buzzing in his trouser pocket. No doubt an email notification from his supervisor: a harmless query about extra workload on the project due Monday morning. Logan dared a look, acknowledging the bleak outcome that lay waiting for him.
He scanned the email in dismay. Unfortunately, he correctly guessed it. He’d have to buckle down over the weekend. He was already exhausted by the sheer workload he’d handled over the past month. Logan felt despondent at this relentless pursuit for “efficiency” at this company. Bitter resentment seethed in. He thought to himself, A toxic workplace that always wants more from me… shall I just sell them my soul and be done with it?
Now, the mantle of potential leadership weighed on his mind.
Do I really want more responsibility?, a consideration that pressed firmly on his forehead like a jabbing headache. A migraine festered on the horizon.
Meanwhile, Lucas was elsewhere. All around him the world illuminated with fantastical dreams: minstrels sang praise of the lofty heroic deeds of “Arthur” and “Merlin” as the pair strolled down the city. Crowds of people cheered as they passed by them, knights rode into battle galloping across the streets, ready to fend off the dragons that flew across the skies roaring with all their might.
It was a mesmeric sight to behold.
Lucas’ face lit up with exhilaration.
Captivated in his daydream, his feet began drifting off the ground. The boy floated into the air, weightless in his wonder. His head flourished in the clouds.
The clank of chains rustled upwards. The tether between them dangled in the air. Logan suddenly felt his arm raise above his shoulder.
Panic surged through him. A startle seized him into action.
He retracted his attention from the phone, and swerved his head to see the boy floating away like a human hot air balloon.
Oh god, not again!
He quickly yanked him down with all his might. His hands in agony as they clenched onto the cold steel.
Lucas was uprooted from his fantasy. His feet firmly planted on the ground.
Brought back to bleak reality.
‘Cut out this nonsense!’ Logan barked a few inches from his face, now bending over to meet the boy’s height.
A petrified expression claimed the boy's face. A quiver in his lips broke forth as he murmured with a stutter:
'B-But, why?...'
Logan recognised the twinkle in Lucas’ eyes. A trickle would soon commence, just like it always had done before. But he wouldn’t take this transgression lightly on himself yet again.
He continued his tirade: 'Daydreaming is gonna get us nowhere, kid. It was fine when we were young, but now it's insufferable. Get your head out of the clouds! We have responsibilities now. You need to grow up!'
He pulverised the boy’s ego. He saw it cast on Lucas’ face: whatever semblance of frivolous dreaming there once was had now been laid to ruin.
Lucas looked down dejectedly at his feet. He stifled back his tears, hoping to avoid further rebuke from his older half. He nodded stiffly, forsaking his own whims.
Suddenly aware of passersby glaring at them, he muttered sheepishly an apology that fell on deaf ears. They hurried along further down the road. The boy walked sullenly alongside Logan, not uttering a single word during the rest of their outing.
With each stride, the guilt became thrice as heavy. Logan tried to appease his mood, but the boy did not relent for one moment.
They returned home in silence.
Once Logan unshackled the manacle across their wrists, he saw the red bruise engraved into Lucas’ slender wrist. He tried reaching out to console him, but the child had already wandered off down the hallway.
What have I done?, he reprimanded himself in his head.
From then on, the boy no longer took flight. Lucas remained on the ground, his deflated spirit an affliction seared across Logan's mind.
He had maimed his inner child.
Months passed before they’d speak another word to each other again.
In the meantime, the incessant manure of workload piled higher than ever before. Though it did not matter to him anymore. Plagued by his outburst, Logan became tormented by the realist nature brewing inside of him.
How long had he let this happen?
How did he become this way?
Will we ever make amends?, he thought as he sat at his desk workspace, peering at the little boy wandering between the rooms of his apartment.
Later that evening, the clank of the metal chain resounded one final time as he tossed the manacles into the trash.
A piece inspired by the eternal discord between the dreamer and the realist, the choice between responsibility and pleasure.
Day 25 - This piece was posted as part of the 31 Days of Content Challenge that I undertook in March 2022.