Barely Breathing//Ethis

44||

Chris' point of view:

Two days. He's been gone two days and neither Jakob or I have heard anything from Ethan.

It would be an understatement to say I'm worried.

I could call him but part of me is still scared to, I could make it worse and there's no way I want to do that.

"If you don't call him, I will" Jakob bargains

Maybe he should, Ethan's parents don't hate him. I know they probably don't like me now.

"Okay" I give in watching him press call on Ethan's contact and putting it on loud speaker, my nerves only continue to grow when he doesn't pick up

"I'll try again." Jakob half smiles trying to reassure me but I can tell he's just as nervous as I am

He picks up.

"Hello Jakob." His mum speaks

"Hi Nicole, is Ethan there?" Jakob asks sounding calm, his mum would only pick up if Ethan couldn't.

"He's here." She replies giving us no other information

"Do you have any idea of when he'll be back, we have recording today" Jakob tells her, I just hope she believes him

"Oh of course, I'll bring him now" she replies hanging up, I stare down at his phone wanting for Ethan to call and it actually be him this time, reassuring us that he's okay and he was only asleep when we called, but he doesn't.

I wait half an hour before I hear a car pull up in the driveway. The front door opens and I hear the shuffling of feet before Ethan stumbles into the living room and he almost falls over. He quickly finds his bearing and stands up straight, I get a better look at him to see bruises and cuts covering most of his body from what I can see.

"Oh my god Ethan!" I rush over to him noticing that he's got a hand firmly pressed against his side with what looks like blood on his shirt as well as a few splatters on his hand.

He stares at me with a blank expression and I can tell he doesn't intend on saying anything.

"Come on" I say grabbing his hand and pulling him with me, as we walk up the stairs I notice that he's limping slightly and he's finding it hard to put pressure on his left ankle. 
I lead him into the bathroom, I let go of his hand and I turn the shower on. I turn to face him and he stares at me with almost no emotion at all, all I can see is pain.

I make sure the temperature of the water isn't too hot and I motion for him to step in, he does so and just lets the water completely soak his clothes and parts of his hair cover his eyes, blood mixes with the water and soon the water is pink but he doesn't seem to care at all, it's like he's just stopped completely. I push the hair from his eyes and he looks up at me almost scared.

"Ethan, you're hurt. Can I look?" I ask softly, he nods slightly and I gently pull his shirt over his head letting it fall to the ground.

I look back at him and now his head is low and I can tell he's resisting the urge to cover himself.

He's practically covered in bruises, some are bigger and darker than others but the small ones look just as painful. There are a few cuts on his chest but they seem to be healing.

I reach for a hand towel that was resting on the counter and I lightly dab it on some of the cuts trying to clean them, he winces and I quickly apologise.