Barely Breathing//Ethis

59||

Chris' point of view:

I walk into Ethan's room and see that he's now under the covers with them pulled up to his chin.

This is one of the many times I wonder why a beautiful person like him could ever be treated so badly, why would anyone want to harm him or take advantage of him?

"What are you staring at?" He asks breaking me out of my thoughts

"You." I state tilting my head and smiling at him "you're beautiful, no matter what and I don't want you to ever forget that"

"Okay" he blushes

"You look tired" I note walking over to him, he nods closing his eyes briefly

"Maybe just a little bit" he hums

"You should get some sleep then," I whisper kissing his cheek "goodnight"

He rolls over and closes his eyes, that's when I walk out his room.

I walk into my room and pull my shirt over my head dropping it at the foot of my bed. I leave my door open just in case and I climb into bed, I open my messages and look at the photo again, this time noticing new things.

His hair is in a tangled mess, his face is red, he's got little beads of sweat on his forehead and it looks like he knew this photo was being taken.

I get an Instagram notification telling me that Ethan had posted a photo so I immediately click on it.

It's a photo of him that I assume he just took, I scroll to look at the caption and skim over it.

He's telling them it's true, that it was him in the video and it did actually happen. He's asking them to be patient with him because he's having a rough time dealing with it at the moment but he also can't stress enough that things will go back to normal soon.

I know they won't. Nothing has ever been normal for him.

The one thing I am worried about is, if Jeremy has my Instagram he will have Ethan's as well.

I'm almost asleep when I get another message. It's from the same unknown number, with a video attached this time. I click on it and let it play.

It must have been straight after the last photo I was sent because he brings a very shaky hand up to his mouth, wiping it with the back of his hand. For a few seconds he's just kneeling there, breathing heavily and crying.

"Please, no more" he cries

He's pulled up roughly by his hair and he let's out a small yelp in pain.

The video ends.

I feel a tear slip down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away locking my phone and trying to get some sleep.

My alarm rings loudly in my ears forcing me awake. I pull myself out of bed and sleepily wander out my room, Ethan isn't in his room so he must already be up.

I find him huddled on the couch, a cup of coffee in his hand, looking wide awake but still exhausted.

"Are you, okay?" I'm slightly confused, I know he hates coffee

"Yeah I'm fine, haven't slept, too much to think about" he tells me briefly, taking a sip of his coffee and standing up. I follow him into the kitchen and he continues speaking