Out

It had always been that way.

"Alright, let's go."

Nicodemus peered down from his pickup truck and immediately spotted Dmitri's blood stained knuckles. He felt his breath catch in his throat as he climbed down.

"What are you doing?" Emily whined from the passenger seat, no one responded.

"Jesus Christ Dmitri." Nicodemus sighed
"Is he in there right now? I swear to God I'm gonna fucking kill him, this isn't okay, you're just a kid for Christ's sake."

Dmitri held him back.
"I did it. I got mad and took it out on the bathroom mirror, just stop, please, he's not even home right now."

Nicodemus took a deep breath and shook his head.
"Where is he?"

"I can't remember where he said he was going, he didn't do this, I did."

"Nicodemus, what the hell are you doing? get back in the truck. Let's go."

"Emily, for the love of god!" Nicodemus yelled, shutting her up.

"Let's just go to the party, please, my hand really fucking hurts, I need a distraction."

"He's not home?"
Dmitri shook his head
"Then we need to take care of your hand."

"Nicodemus, don't go in there."

"It's either this, or I drive you the hospital right now."

"Fine," Dmitri huffed "just don't... say anything."

"Fine. Emily, stay here, alright?"

"Well, What about the party?"

"God, you just don't care about anything but yourself, huh?" Nicodemus chuckled angrily

She crossed her arms
"Fine. Kevin's picking me up."

"Good."

"You don't care that I'm going with another guy?"

"No. In fact, I want you to. Kevin can just take you to all your parties, alright?"

Nicodemus followed Dmitri into the trailer, trying not to look around too much, he didn't want to be angry.
"You have a dog. You didn't tell me that."

"Oh yeah, that's Banana, he's a good boy, he doesn't really fit in here." Dmitri laughed as he led Nicodemus to the bathroom, sitting on the closed toilet.

"Where do you keep your towels?"

"Cupboard just outside the bathroom."
Nicodemus grabbed a hand towel and carefully wet it under lukewarm tap water. He looked over the mixture of shattered glass and blood strewn about the bathroom.
"I made a mess." Dmitri said quietly, suddenly realizing how angry Vadim would be.
"He's going to be so mad at me."

"I want you to get out of here." Nicodemus whispered as he gently pat away the congealed blood on Dmitri's knuckles with the wet blue towel.

"I know. As soon as I'm eighteen, I promise I will."

"That's a year." Nicodemus sighed, his stomach pitting
"What if- Dmitri what if you can't... what if you don't."

"I know this seems bad to you, but this is just my life, I've lived like this since my mom mom died, I can go another year, I can take care of myself."

"You shouldn't have to." Nicodemus bit at his lip, putting the wet towel on the dirty counter. The bathroom was disgusting, the door was a brown magnetic curtain, and the walls had turned an odd off-white in the years past. Spiders had made the corners their home.
"Do you have any pressure bandage per chance?" Nicodemus sighed.