Barely Breathing//Ethis

93||

Jakob's point of view:

Chris said that Ethan was acting strange and now I understand. He doesn't want to leave the house and he especially doesn't want to go to the studio, even when we're so close to being finished with all of our recording that we need to do for the EP.

Chris is currently in the recording booth, we've practically finished Honest now and I couldn't be any more excited to release this.

I'm listening as Chris sings some of his final back up vocals, I don't know where Ethan is but he's not here with me and neither is James.

Chris and Owen come out of the recording booth and Owen sits at the control panel.

"Do you want to hear what you've been putting together for the past few months boys?" Owen asks looking at us each with a smile, he seems just as excited to hear the finished product as we are.

"Wait where's Ethan? We all need to be here for it." Chris says noticing that Ethan isn't in the room

"I'll go get him" I say standing up from my chair and walking out the room before either of them can stop me.

I know Ethan doesn't have his phone on him because it was on the table with me.

I walk down the hallway and there's no signs of Ethan or James in any of the rooms I've looked in.

I'm about to enter the bathroom when I hear talking coming from inside, I hide behind the wall and peer inside.

I can't quite make out what the voices are saying.

One of the stall doors opens and Ethan walks out, I'm about to go inside when James follows after him and I stay put.

Ethan goes to stay something but he doesn't get a chance to when James pushes him up against the wall forcefully with his forearm across Ethan's neck. James uses his other hand to pull on Ethan hair and force him to look up at him.

I'm too shocked to move.

"James.." Ethan struggles to speak "James I can't breathe"

He tries to break free and move James' arm away but he can't and instead he leaves his arms by his sides in defeat.

James doesn't move though, instead he leans in close to Ethan's face and speaks:

"If you tell anyone I'll hurt you more than Jeremy ever did, got that?"

"Yes. James, I ca-n't breathe." Ethan says closing his eyes for a moment

James steps away and Ethan falls to the ground coughing and wheezing. He brings a hand to his throat and doesn't move. James leaves the room like nothing happened. I do too when I hear my name being called.

I walk back into the room that I left Owen and Chris in, James is here now. He's leaning back in his chair with his feet resting on the table.

"Where's Ethan?" Chris asks seeing that he's not with me

"Oh he's coming" I say resuming my seat like before

Sure enough Ethan walks into the room completely fine two minutes later. His neck is red and his hands are shaking but he's trying to hide it.

"Woah Ethan what happened to your neck?" Chris asks as Ethan sits down beside him, James taps the back of his chair with his foot like its a reminder of what just happened.

"Oh I um I guess I've just been scratching it too much, I think I'm getting a rash" Ethan lies with a smile

One things for sure, this boy can act.

"Well we've officially finished Honest and now we're all going to listen to the finished product." Owen says pressing a button on the control system, the intro to Honest immediately starts to play.

It's better than I could have imagined, I'm so proud to say this is mine. My single, my song.

"Wow." Chris says after the song finishes, I nod.

"It's amazing" Ethan adds but I really don't think he was paying it much attention.

"Well done boys, now you can finally announce a release date" Owen smiles at us all

"Does this mean we can go home now?" Ethan asks leaning forward in his chair

"Let's go." Owen says picking up his keys

•••

When we arrive home Ethan goes straight to his room and Chris and I stay in the living room. Should I tell him what I saw or should I talk to Ethan about it first? I know I can't leave this unaddressed.

Chris is on his phone and we aren't talking much so I decide to talk to Ethan about it before I do anything else.

I walk up the stairs and knock on his door, I wait for him to answer before I walk in closing the door behind me.

"How long has James been abusing you?" I ask just deciding to come right out and ask it

His head snaps up to look at me and his eyes are wide with both shock and fear.

"Wha-uh, I no he-I-" he stutters trying to find the right words to say

"Ethan, I saw him in the bathroom with you. He choked you. Your neck is still red too." I sigh walking closer to him

"No it's not what it looked like, it-I uh-" he says still trying to cover it up and lie his way out of it. Still stuttering, he bursts into tears and gives up holding his head in his hands.

"Ethan, how long has James been abusing you?" I ask again sitting beside him and putting an arm around him

"I don't know," he shrugs "all together probably two weeks, something like that"

"This is what you were talking about yesterday? The thing you couldn't stop." I ask

"Yes it is. Jake please don't say anything, James can't know that you know." He rushes with worry

"Ethan I don't know.." I trail off, Chris at least has to know

I stand up and he does too, engulfing me in a massive hug.

"Please Jake, Chris can't know about it either. Promise you won't tell anyone?" He asks me pleadingly

"Okay, I promise. But you have to promise me something too"

"What is it?" He asks pulling away from the hug and looking me in the eye

"Promise me you'll tell me if James does anything else?"

He looks down and nods "I promise"