Fragile // Sequel to Torn

6. |

// Chris' point of view //

Jakob is out and Ethan is quiet. I'm trying my hardest not to think about Melika but when you're left entirely alone with your thoughts, that's hard to do. I would give anything for some sort of distraction. Anything. If it's not going to come to me, I'm going to go to it. I stand up off my bed and make my way down the hallway. Silently, I open Ethan's door. He's just laying on his bed, staring at nothing.

"Are you okay?" I ask, already knowing what he's going to say but knowing the real answer.

"I'm fine."

"You've been like this for a while now." I observe, walking over and sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I think I need to go to bed earlier," Ethan shrugs, sitting up to talk to me better. "I'm just really tired."

I don't mention the fact that he spends almost every second of the day in bed now. Instead, I pick my brain for something to start a conversation. Then I find something that he should be happy about.

"At least Jake is finally moving on now, right?"

"I still wish he wouldn't do it with my best friend." He says with no hesitation, staring down at the bedsheets.

"At least you won't have to walk around feeling uncomfortable anymore." I try, unsure of what else to say.

"That's true."

The room goes silent for a few seconds as I keep searching for things to say. It's quite obvious that he doesn't want to talk but I'm so desperate for a distraction that I'm literally willing to do anything.

"Should we do something? Go for a walk? A run? The beach?" I suggest.

"We could go for a run." Ethan finally nods, a smile actually forming on his face. Yes.

"Awesome. Well, I'll go get ready. You do the same."

I walk out of Ethan's room and back to mine, glad we can finally get out of the house and do something. Quickly, I change into short and a T-shirt, walking back out into the hallway to find Ethan already standing there. He leads the way down the stairs and I can't help but notice something. His legs are skinnier than than they were last time I checked. He's been wearing jeans a lot lately. Now I'm going through my head, trying to work out how many meals he's eaten in the past few days. I'm so distracted I come within a centimetre of bumping into the doorframe.

"The door is this way." Ethan laughs. I laugh at myself with him, glad he's smiling.

We jog down the driveway and stop at the end, deciding which way we want to go. In the end we choose to go right and we start running. It feels good to run. It's like I can finally run away from everything without feeling guilty about it. Ethan and I are racing each other along the beachfront. To the right are buildings and small Cafes the other side of a wide stretch of green grass scattered with seagulls. To the left of us, over a low wall, is the beach. I start noticing Ethan falling behind so I slow down. Then he just stops so I do too. I turn around and face him, catching my breath. Then I realise that something isn't right. Ethan's just staring at the ground, blinking a lot. He moves over until he can lean on a post and then closes his eyes fully.

"Are you okay?" I ask, walking over to him. He instantly slides his other arm around my shoulders, holding himself up.

"I, I'm... I don't feel well." Ethan manages, leaning more on my shoulder.

"It's because you haven't been eating, okay? You need to sit down." I tell him. Slowly at first, he starts to squad down. Then, when he's almost there, his knees give way and he falls.