After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 87

"Why?" Ralph Langley asked, his voice low and angry, nothing like it ever normally sounded.

Jack Merridew stood across from him in the doorway, too stunned by the sight of Ralph to even hear what he said. It was the middle of the night on Saturday, or arguably very early on Sunday. Ralph's face was beat red with emotion, his eyes glossy with tears, and his white sports car t-shirt was soaked in blood along the collar and part of the way down the front of the shirt itself. His neck was also was covered in blood, so much so that Jack couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from, or if it was even his.

"Why?" Ralph spat the word out more aggressively this time. He looked like he was one wrong word away from killing someone, probably Jack by the sounds of it.

"Why what?" Jack asked in an absent tone. He was unable to pry his gaze away from the bloody mess on Ralph's neck. "Is all that your-- are you bleeding?" he struggled to gather his thoughts. They came out more like quiet mumbles than actual words.

"Why'd you do it?" Ralph firmly demanded to know, the anger making his face go redder, almost enough to match the mess on his formerly white shirt.

"What? I-- what are you talking---"

"Jack?" a soft voice from behind him cut Jack off mid-sentence. The blond boy turned around to see his sister holding herself up on her elbow tiredly as she rubbed at one of her eyes. "What's going on?"

"Why'd you do it?" Ralph practically yelled, ignoring Paige as if she weren't there at all. He grasped Jack's shoulders as he repeatedly himself, forcing the older boy to look back to him again. "Why'd you say all those awful things about me!?"

Jack was barely present in this moment, unable to process what was happening on next to no sleep and a head full of sugar and confusion. Before he could even think of something to say to Ralph, Paige came up behind them and gasped so dramatically, it caught even Ralph's attention.

"Oh my fucking god" Paige practically choked on the words, the sight of the blood bath on Ralph's person rendering her otherwise speechless.

Ralph kept his eyes on Paige for only a moment longer before turning his attention back to Jack. He tightened his grasp on his shoulders and asked him why for a third or fourth time now.

"Ralph!" Paige snapped, shifting the boys' focus once again. "Is that your blood? Are you bleeding?" she asked in a panic.

"What?" the brunette boy questioned, evidently caught off guard. His voice was no longer full of anguish, his grip on Jack loosened, and the murderous look in his eyes faded.

"Get in here, both of you, right now" Paige demanded in an effort to take control of the situation. Jack gladly backed up to put space between himself and Ralph, and Paige inserted herself between them to get to Ralph. She grasped his arm and pulled him into the room, closing the door right behind him.

Paige latched onto Ralph's shoulders after she turned on the light and attempted to figure out where the blood was coming from, assuming it was his, and he hadn't just stopped by on his way in from a homicidal rampage.

"Geezus Ralph, how did this happen? Where did all these cuts come from?" she asked worriedly.

Ralph glanced up at her, then down at his own chest, then up at her again. His eyes immediately started to water and his chest started heaving quicker and harder and he still hadn't said another word. Ralph started to wordlessly hyperventilate, while Paige still kept staring at him in anticipation for a response.

"Okay shit, just come 'ere" she quickly said in a panic, grabbing his hand and towing him behind her into her's and Jack's bathroom.

Ralph stood there as Paige began rummaging around under the sink in search of towels or washcloths or anything to help the situation. When she found a few white washcloths she'd surely have to throw out after this was over, she looked to Ralph only to find him staring at his reflection in shock.