What Remains (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 36

As Carter walked up the stairs, he could hear the water of the shower running from the bathroom. He had just gotten back from going to the convenience store to buy some painkillers for Josh. The hospital couldn't prescribe them anything since the only painkillers he'd need were innocent ones you could buy anywhere without a prescription needed.

His parents were out for dinner as well. This was one of the rare days when his father had two days off so him and Carter's mother wanted to celebrate that by going out for a dinner date. It was nice to see his parents together again. Usually it was just Carter and his mother, and she also had a job that required a lot of her time and attention.

He walked into the guest room and saw Josh's clothes, messily folded, on top of the desk.

He recognized the sweater which Josh had borrowed him a few months ago, during the rainstorm. His hand reached out and his fingertips ran over the fabric, remembering that day clearly. It hadn't been that long before he got together with Josh, yet so many things happened in between, now that he thought about it.

Carter heard the door opening and he turned around to see Josh, wearing nothing but grey sweatpants. His hair was wet and messy, and his arm was still inside the sling.

"Hey," Carter said. "Did everything go well with showering?"

"It did," Josh said as he walked back to the bed. It was hard for Carter to not appreciate the sight of the blond being shirtless, and still slightly wet on his skin. He had always thought that Josh was handsome, but only since he had moved back from Minnesota he began to realize how beautiful the other really was. As creepy as it probably would sound, he thought he could just look at Josh for hours on end.

Josh glanced inside the plastic bag that contained the medicine Carter had bought at the convenience store before giving a groan."I really hate taking medicine," he said. "I don't like swallowing pills."

"You'll just have to live with that," Carter said. "Unless you'd rather be in pain."

Josh gave a sigh and pushed his wet hair back. "I guess you're right," he said.

Carter bit on the inside of his cheek. He'd rather have Josh to not be in pain at all

"Can I ask you something?" he asked. "Has this happened before? And with this, I mean; have you ended up in the hospital before, with something broken?"

Josh turned back to Carter and he inhaled deeply before answering. "...Once," he responded. "Not as bad as this time, though. I hadn't broken anything, but when my father was drunk, a few years ago, he had thrown a beer bottle at my head. I had to go to the hospital with a concussion and the wound had to be stitched. It had been a bald spot at the back of my head for a good six months. I'm just glad that most of the hair in that area grew back again after the wound was healed."

Hearing this made Carter only more concerned. If this had happened before, it would happen again as well. And maybe next time, it could be fatal.

"Josh," Carter said. "This needs to stop. It's not right what your father is doing. He's been doing all these horrible things to you for so long and it needs to stop. Now. Before it's too late."

Josh looked away and even though Carter couldn't see his face, he could tell that he did not want to talk about this. But he had to.

"Look at yourself, Josh. Look at the state you're in. How long have you been like this? Bruised, scarred, miserable, scared, frustrated. How long are you going to let this continue?"

"Carter..." Josh said, his voice tense.

"No! Why are you letting yourself suffer? Why are you letting yourself go through all this pain? Why?!" Carter said.