𝔪𝔞𝔡𝔢 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔪𝔢

𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔴𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔶-𝔬𝔫𝔢

screaming this is absurd.

Jacey turned off the water in the bathtub and looked at Jimmy, who was standing there in his clothes. "Can I play in the water first?" he asked, and Jacey nodded her head with a smile on her face. The hotel was kind enough to provide them with a few bath toys when they noticed the young child with them when they checked in earlier. She put the rubber duck and the other bath toys in the tub for him.

"Call me when you're ready to get washed up, okay?" Jimmy nodded with a huge smile on his face. Jacey decided he was old enough to remove his clothes himself and get into the tub without any problems, so she walked out and pulled the door behind her, leaving a crack in it so that Jimmy could be heard when he called.

Jacey made her way over to one of the beds in the room. She plopped down on the one opposite Tyler, picked up her phone, and opened her Twitter app. "You know, you can at least make an effort," she said to Tyler as she composed a tweet and sent it.

@ComeTyMeUp: Change of plans. Won't be home until tomorrow afternoon. Wait until @DearAbby and @KayEyeEm hear about what i had to go through today. [ 2 seconds ago via Twitter for iPhone ]

"What?" Tyler turned the TV down a bit and sat up to sit on the side of the bed to face her.

"I said you could at least make an effort, don't act like you didn't hear me," she told him all a bit too rudely as she scrolled through her tweets on her timeline.

"He doesn't even like me," Tyler stated defensively.

"I wouldn't like you either. Besides, it's not like you are trying to get him to like you," Jacey retorted with a noticeable attitude.

"You still need to drop the attitude, Jacey," he told her.

"Look...All I'm saying is, first, you defended him, and now you're treating him like dirt. If this is your plan, you should take him back. At least he'd have a chance to be loved...'Cause clearly you don't care," Jacey explained, trying not to raise her voice too much.

"I'M READY!" Jimmy called from the bathroom. Jacey glanced at Tyler, who didn't budge, then got up and walked to the bathroom. She opened the door, and while walking in, she grabbed a washcloth off of the counter. When she looked at him, she gasped. There were bruises and welts all over his small body. There were many on his back, a few on his chest and around his rib cage, and some on his legs.

"TYLER!" She screamed as she kneeled beside the tub. Tyler came sauntering into the bathroom.

"What?" He asked, sounding slightly disgusted. Jacey didn't reply to him. Tyler looked down to look at Jacey, when he saw the bruises and welts all over Jimmy. Tyler left out and rushed to his phone. He called the Prescotts but didn't get an answer. This didn't surprise him. Tyler sat with his head in his hands for a moment, thinking of their options. He knew he couldn't take Jimmy to the ER. He had no explanation for what happened to him. He figured Jimmy must be okay because the fire was only a couple days ago, so he would have been examined then. He knew that he wasn't ready for a child, but he was Jimmy's last hope. He got up and went back into the bathroom. Jacey was barely touching Jimmy, yet he was screaming from pain.

"Get him washed up as best you can, please. Then we need to go to the store," Tyler said as he watched Jacey try to bathe the child.

"Turn around so I can wash your back," Jacey told Jimmy.

"No, No, NO." he whimpered.

"She's just trying to clean you up," Tyler explained, and Jimmy turned around. The moment Jacey touched Jimmy's back, he let out an ear-piercing scream. Jacey dropped the washcloth and left the bathroom in tears. Tyler went over to the tub and knelt down. He picked up the washcloth with a shaking hand. He wanted to just take him out of the tub, but he knew Jimmy needed to be cleaned. "I'm sorry," he said, looking into Jimmy's eyes. He began to wash his back as gently as possible. Jimmy screamed and begged for him to stop. Tyler tried to ignore his cries but couldn't. He barely washed his back before giving up and rinsing the soap from his body. He took Jimmy out of the tub and wrapped a towel around him. Once the towel was around him, Jimmy ran out of the bathroom and over to Jacey, who was still crying a bit. When she saw Jimmy, she wiped her eyes and forced a half smile. Jimmy climbed into her lap, and she held him close to her.