Logan of Two Worlds

Still stiff and sore, Logan raised himself onto his own feet. His first thought was to wonder why Heather didn’t help him up. Though he’d heard what she’d said, he assumed it to be a joke because she was always teasing him. She and the rest of his closest friends, those he called the inner circle, were the only ones he allowed to do so. But it was always good natured ribbing. Instead, Heather kept her distance, watching like he was a wild animal as he stood, found his footing and dusted himself off.

“Very funny, Heather,” he said while looking around himself.

Getting his bearings was essential to knowing what had happened when the cannon hit him and how far he’d been flung. Standing on the grassy verge of a gravel path, he saw familiar trees and the recognizable swell of the mountain behind Silver Lake. So, he was still close. Behind Heather, he saw Ashley standing with a nervous look on her face, no doubt guilty for having led Logan into a trap, and behind them a cabin. It was small, only one story, and though he had vast experience with Silver Lake park’s many trails, he didn’t recognize this place. There was something so familiar about all of it, but everything felt slightly off.

“You say my name like you know me,” Heather replied, giving the young man a once over. “But I don’t think we’ve ever met.”

“Har har. We can roleplay later,” he turned around on the spot, trying to gauge how far it would be from there to the Krassuer place. “We have to find Dylan and…”

“I’m not playing,” Heather insisted, placing her hands on her hips. “Now, you showed up at my cabin, out of nowhere, so before we find anyone, you’re going to give me an explanation of who you are and what you’re doing here.”

Logan paused for a moment and stared at his cousin. It was true that there was something different in the way that she was looking at him. Ashley too. Heather was a good liar when she needed to be, but he knew the seriousness in her voice. That same tone was used by Robert to reprimand his employees. A rare occurrence, Logan had only heard it once or twice, but Heather had never used it on him. He still didn’t want to believe it, but it was that voice, without any love or compassion for her cousin, who had lived and grown with her like a brother, that made him trust that this wasn’t an elaborate joke.

“You really don’t know who I am?” He looked from Heather to Ashley and back again, both girls shaking their heads. “You don’t remember what happened at the Krassuer house?”

“‘Krassuer’? There’s nowhere by that name around here.” Heather told him thoughtfully. “I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but you’re lost. This is Ravers Cabin at Silver Lake.”

“I know Ravers Cabin,” he gestured at the meagre building behind them. “And that’s not it.”

“I’m Heather Ravers,” she proclaimed. “I should know.”

“Ravers cabin is a grand structure, with a third story, a game room, a sun room and about seven bedrooms, more if you count the cot and the bunks in the boathouse.” Logan argued, frustrated that he had to tell his cousin, of all people, about their family’s holiday retreat. “Does that place even have a hot tub?”

“Y-yes!” Taking a breath, Heather calmed herself down. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Why don’t we start with something simpler, like your name?”

“Trust me, my name will only complicate things further.”

“We can’t help you if we don’t know who you are,” Ashley chimed in sweetly.

Against his best judgement, he inhaled deeply and introduced himself. “I’m Logan Ravers, your cousin, son of Daniel Ravers.”

“Ah, I see what’s going on now. You’re a shyster, out for the Ravers fortune. Nice try, but a word of advice, Daniel doesn’t sleep around like my dad. You’d have better luck claiming to be my illegitimate brother,” Heather sneered. “But feel free to try and sell your story to the gazette if you’re that **** for a pretty cent.”

“I’d have better luck selling it to tattlerocks,” he muttered.

“What’s a ‘tattlerocks’?” Ashley asked curiously.

Oh god, he thought as he ran his hands through his dark hair and realized that nothing was how it should be. It was like he and everything he knew had been completely erased, leaving behind this world that he wasn’t a part of, where everything reminded him of home but no one recognized him. With horror, he finally understood what Dylan had meant by a ‘world without Logan Ravers’. And the bastard had succeeded. It was Logan’s worst nightmare. He didn’t care about the money, or his status, but having no friends, no family, sitting on the sidelines, watching his life move on without him; that was his idea of hell.

As he grasped for some hope, he looked at the two girls in front of him. Not everything had been erased. Ravers Cabin might be different, and this world might not look the same, but his friends still existed. They just weren’t his friends yet. But he knew these people, he knew their determination, and their high spirits. With them, he could figure this out and set everything back the way it should be. He just needed to convince them that he was worthy of their trust.

“Wait,” he called to his cousin as she began to turn away from him. “I can prove I’m a Ravers.”

“What? You got some forged paternity papers on you?” Heather rolled her eyes. “That’d be convenient.”

“No, but I have this,” he said, reaching for the chain around his neck.

Slowly he pulled the necklace from under his shirt, taking care with one of his most prized possessions until the lion-headed pendant came free. The lion's face shone brightly in the sun, although it was the glittering twinkle of the sapphire eyes that drew the most attention.

“Oh, Heather, it’s gorgeous,” Ashley cooed, momentarily forgetting herself. “It looks just like yours.”

“A well crafted fake, I’m sure,” she said, but, for the first time since he landed, Heather Ravers moved closer to him. She walked right up to him and took the lion’s head in her palm, surveying it closely with her own eyes. “Although it is exquisitely made, almost identical…except for the mane, of course…who ever made this was a master…to replicate it without mine to copy.”

Her hand left his pedant and moved to her own necklace. Freeing it from under her blouse, she demonstrated that her own heirloom had never left her person.

“So, it is a fake?” Ashley sounded disappointed.

“I don’t know. I can’t tell,” Heather admitted. “But there is something about…”

She was looking up into his face now. Without thinking, she extended a hand towards his cheek, as if to pinch the mirage of a young Daniel Ravers standing before her. He felt her fingertips tickle the light hairs on his skin, electricity flowing through the air between them, but before she could make contact, she caught herself and withdrew her hand. Backing off, she folded her arms over herself and hung her head in thought.

“Okay, let’s say that we accept what you’re saying. That you’re a Ravers,” she relented. “What is it that you want exactly? Money? A place at the company?”

“Neither. I just want to put everything back the way it was. This might sound hard to believe, but we grew up together.” He looked to Ashley. “And you and I are best friends. I lived at Ravers Manor. For eighteen years, that was my life. The way things are now isn’t the way this world is supposed to be.”

“I see,” Heather replied slowly, giving him a momentary glimmer of hope. “You don’t want money or power. You’re just crazy and delusional.”

“Damn it,” he growled. “Where’s Vicky?”

“You think Victoria will believe you?” Ashley almost laughed.

“No, but at least she’ll want to investigate what I’m saying,” he explained heatedly. “She won’t stop until we get the truth.”

Heather shook her head. “Until I’m satisfied that you’re not dangerous, I’m not letting you anywhere near my friends.”

“Besides, she’s with her boyfriend. They’re packing up her things.” Ashley noted.

“Boyfriend? So, she finally moved on from Dustin. Good for her. Or maybe Dustin never left…but why would erasing me mean that Dustin…”

“You know about Victoria and Dustin?” Heather said, breaking Logan from his ramble.

The girls were looking at him warily. He’d made the comment without thinking, and realized that perhaps, from now on, he should be more careful with revealing how much information he knew about them. On the one hand it might convince them that he was genuine, but much more likely was that they’d assume him to be an insanely dedicated and obsessed stalker.

“Of course,” he confirmed, since there was nothing he could do about what was already said. “For eighteen years, your life was my life.”

“Okay, so you’re saying that this timeline is broken and somehow you’ve been ejected from your place in the universe,” Heather surmised. “And if you fix everything, will we remember you?”

“Yes!” He cried happily, before quickly sighing and slumping, with his arms hanging loose. “…Maybe…I don’t know. For all I know, when I got hit by the cannon, I slipped into a coma and this is all just some crazy nightmare.”

“You got hit by a cannon?” Ashley raised an eyebrow.

“Not a cannon cannon. It seemed like some kind of sonic weapon, I don’t know. The science behind it is a complete mystery to me,” Logan confessed. “What I do know is that both of you were my best friends. Heather even though we were cousins, you were more like another sister to me. And I thought of you like family too, Ash. I don’t know how to return things to the way they should be, but what I do know is that I can’t do it without your help. I need both of you, and Victoria. I know it’s going to be difficult to do, but please…can you place your trust in me?”

Ashley grabbed Heather’s arm and pulled her out of earshot of the strange young man.

“Maybe we should get Vicky,” she suggested in hushed tones.

“What? You believe him…?” The word ‘too’ very nearly rolled off Heather’s tongue.

“I’m not sure. Everything he says is so outlandish, yet he’s so convinced it happened. Maybe he is delusional, but he doesn’t sound unstable. Just sad.” Ashley explained with some difficulty. She usually had no problem expressing her feelings, however, she didn’t know quite what to feel about this new arrival. “I think we need to get Vicky and hear the full story. Then we can decide.”

“Yeah…there’s something about him…the story is hard to believe but he seems…trustworthy…” The raven haired girl idly fingered the pendant as she sorted through her own thoughts. “Okay, but we’re going to gather everyone, not just Victoria. I want Kurt and Brandon there, just in case.”

“You think you’ll need both?”

Heather glanced over her shoulder at Logan’s frame, hidden under his shirt and pants, watching as he stared deeply at Ravers’ Cabin.

“He looks lean…but strong.” She realized she was staring and, flustered, turned back to her blonde friend. “Don’t you think?”

“Oooh, has Heather finally found a teenager that suits her exceptionally high standard in men?”

“He does have an air of maturity about him,” Heather said, not quite thinking about what she was admitting to. “And it’s not a high standard, it’s called taste, but you’re dating Brandon so you know nothing about that.”

“Well, maybe you can bone him once this is all over.”

“I won’t be ‘boning’ anyone. If what he says is true, then we’re family,” Heather insisted, though she couldn’t stop herself from glancing over at him once more. “I ain’t no backwards hick cousinfucker.”

“Oh, so that wasn’t Kurt I peeked on you giving a handjob to last nig-”

“Alright, Logan!” Heather called to him loudly, ending the conversation with Ashley. “It’s time for you to meet the others.”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s gather the Inner Circle,” he said as he almost skipped across the yard to catch up to her.

“The Inner Circle?” Ashley echoed while falling in lock step with the other two.

“Yeah, it’s what we call our group of friends back home. You don’t call it that?” Both girls shook their heads at him. “Okay, who’s in this group of friends that you don’t have a name for?”

Ashley tilted her head thoughtfully as she listed them off on her fingers.

“There’s Heather and me, of course, and Victoria is our best friend. Then there’s my boyfriend, Brandon Cole.”

“Hey, shouldn’t you know this already?” Heather interjected. “If my life is your life?”

“A lot has changed it seems. For instance, Brandon isn’t part of the inner circle. Don’t get me wrong, you too still date, but he’s not part of the core group, which consists of the you two, Victoria, Sharon, myself, Charlie and Dustin, or at least it did until he left for Black Well.”

“Sharon? That bitch is one of our best friends?” Ashley snorted.

“As you can infer, you won’t find Sharon here today. But you will meet my other cousin…”

“Kurt Johnson,” Logan finished the sentence before Heather could say the name. “And he always calls you squirt.”

“I’ll admit you’re either telling the truth or an extremely dedicated stalker,” Heather chewed on her lip, unsure which one she wanted to be true. “Beyond that, there’s the last three, who we only really got close to this week; Chloe McRose, Gavin Westher and Zack Bishop”

“Zack Bishop?”

Heather stopped and turned to face him, while holding out a hand to keep him from going any further towards the cabin.

“You don’t know who Zack Bishop is?”

“No, but…” Logan began, his eyes shimmering as his features darkened. “It was a Bishop who built the cannon that sent me here.”