Smile - CrankGameplays

9. Severity

The following morning, Ethan Nestor woke up with a throbbing sensation in his right arm. Stings of pain carried throughout his knuckles as he retracted his finger back into his palm over and over again.

A strip of bright sunlight poured into the room from his window, instantly warming up his face. He pushed the duvet off his body, an aching feeling coursing through his forearm. The blue boy lifted up his wrist and eyed his hand, wondering why he was in so much pain.

He peered his baby blue eyes across his knuckles and his heart skipped a beat. His once boney knuckles were now swollen with tiny purple dots around the flesh of his skin. They were beaten down and red causing him to skepticize how hard he had punched Tucker.

Ethan sat up from his bed and shook his head, the sleep finally leaving his eyes. He started to walk towards the bathroom when he saw his tattered Spiderman costume leaning against his desk chair. Why did it look so rough?

He emerged into the bathroom, stripping off his pajama pants and his slightly damp white t-shirt. He fingered through his messy locks and turned the nozzle to the shower, allowing for the lukewarm water to escape out of the head. Ethan threw a foot over into the tub and closed the curtain, examining his knuckles with each passing second.

The hot water cascaded out and down his naked back, falling into a puddle and circling towards the drain. He hummed softly, loving every second of the warm water dripping down his body. This was something he needed, the sweltering water relaxed his racing mind. Halted all the overthinking.

He pressed his forehead against the cold porcelain, shutting his eyes in pure bliss. Voyaging his hands down his chest and towards his pelvis where he sought relief. Images of last night appearing in his head while he began to focus on nothing else but that stunning portrait he caught last night.

And what a relief it was.

The two taller boys sat at the dining table, flipping through pages of notes as they held pens in their hands. After a long day of classes, it was only logical to come back and study the material they didn't learn during lecture.

Tyler fumbled with his reading glasses, squeezing the bridge of his nose as he let out a long sigh of frustration. Mark bit the tip of his highlighter as he began to unnecessarily mark lines in his notes with the neon yellow ink.

As the two were focusing on their studies, the door emitted two soft knocks.

Mark leaned back into the chair, stretching his arms above his head. "Tyler... can you get that?"

Tyler rolled his eyes and stood up and stretched a little bit himself, "You would be lost without me."

He made his way over to the front door and peered through the peephole.

"Who is it?"

Tyler took a step back with a raised eyebrow, "It's Reese."

Mark stood up from the table and watched as Tyler perched the door open.

"Hey," mumbled Reese, "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Tyler stepped aside so she could walk in.

"Is everything okay?" Mark asked, "You're always welcome to come over... but what are you doing here exactly?"

Reese furrowed her brow and sealed her eyes shut, "You guys seemed to leave pretty early after what happened. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Tyler bit his lip back, "Yeah, it got kind of crazy. Is he okay?"

She nodded, "Well, it's broken."

Mark crossed his arms over his chest and winced, "Sorry to hear that. Some punch he got."