Madhouse | Ethan Dolan

4

Octavia woke up the next morning, sighing deeply.

The room wasn't very quiet considering the fact that Ethan was quietly snoring. She looked back, her stomach wrenching at the sight of him.

She truly didn't like him. The truth was though, they were both quite similar. Smart tongues, witty, good looking and everything else you could imagine.

Quietly, she got up from the bed, running her hands through her fluffy hair before taking a long look at Ethan.

There was a partition of pillows between them that stayed untouched. The sheets alone rested predominantly on her side, but he had a decent amount.

"Ethan." She mumbled in a weak attempt to wake him up. "Ethan." She repeated.

She stirred to the left, humming to himself.

Octavia growled, slouching to the blinds. She didn't want to wake him up. Partly because she thought he looked peaceful. The other part was because she wanted an hour or two of silence without him.

Then again, she knew that they were to be up by 8:46 sharp. It was 7:30.

Octavia pulled back the curtains, squinting at the sudden burst of light herself.

Ethan let out a forced sigh, twisting his torso to the opposite side of where he felt the light. "5 minutes!" He grunted, pulling the sheets up to shield his face.

"Why're you so difficult?" Octavia seethed, walking over to pull the covers from him.

She succeeded in pulling them past his knees, but he quickly grabbed a hold of them, pulling them back up. The sudden loss of contact made Octavia gasp as she pursed her lips and went back to pulling.

"I will fight you!" Ethan groggily said, continuing to pull.

"Try me!" She shot back, pulling with more force.

Ethan opened his grasp, making the duvet slip back and Octavia fall down with it.

The second Ethan heard that sickening thud, he quickly raced to the edge of the bed, looking to see Octavia.

"Are you okay?" He hastily asked, getting to the edge.

Octavia stayed laying, clutching her head with her hands over her face as she rolled to her side in pain.

"Oh my fuck..." Ethan breathed, stepping down and to her side. "I s-swear I didn't mean for you to get hurt!" He stuttered, searching her body for bumps or bruises.

Octavia mumbled something.

Ethan turned his head. "W-what?"

"Dick!" She repeats loudly, pushing him over with a huge smile on her face, clearly faking.

Ethan chuckled to himself as she giggles loudly, getting up to her feet.

"At least now you're awake." She huffed, crossing her arms as she tied her hair up. "Fix the bed, I'll make breakfast."

"That was really cold." Ethan said, raising his eyebrows. "I expected better though, you're a trash actor."

"Then why did you look so scared?" She teased back in a singsongy tone.

"That was me being nice." She playfully scoffed, fixing the bed.

Octavia laughed sarcastically. "You're trash at lying."

Ethan rolled his eyes, smiling to himself as Octavia walked out of the door.

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When Ethan was finally down, an omelet and some bacon was placed upon a bowl for him. Except, Octavia wasn't there.

Instead, Ethan was greeted by the man, who was propped up against the wall, his arms folded.

"The girl is gone for the show...." he says in a demonically low voice. "I get you can't wait for yours!" He giggles, extenuating every word. "Now now.... Hurry up and eat. Then I'll take you to go too!"

Ethan felt his appetite disappear and instead felt queasy. "I-I don't want to eat.... L-Let's go."

"Okay!" The man chirps, holding Ethan's hand as if he were a child.

Questions swarmed through Ethan's head as he searched the hallways for a slight clue as to where he was going.

__

The man pushes open a badly painted wooden door, shoving Ethan inside with it. It almost looked like the room he got his jawline butchered in.

Ethan thought about that moment, unconsciously bringing his hand up to his chin where the stitches ended. It was still rough and still pinched him a little.

The man stepped behind him, poking him in the back. "That makes you look ugly." He childishly pouts, pointing to Ethan's jaw.

"Well....." Ethan calmly replies, taking a breath trying to contain his anger. "Maybe it wouldn't be there if it weren't for you." He seethes a little the second time talking.

The mans eyes narrow as he pulls Ethan's wrist towards another door with a short walk ahead. He could see a bright light on the other side.

"Go." He darkly booms.

Ethan looks back, hesitantly walking forward towards it.

He keeps walking and sees a full stage with red curtains tightly bound together.

"Hello friends!" The man yells to the 'audience.' "Welcome to our 25th show! Here are our stars! The boy!" He exclaims as a bright light follows him on the stage shining directly over him.

But there was no audience. The seats in front of him here in bad condition, but empty.

Ethan looks up in confusion, shielding his eyes. If someone pointed this light at him, there's gotta be someone else here.

"Say hello...." The man grumbles into the mic, making Ethan wave weakly.

"And the girl!" He yells, pressing a button to make a box appear from the ground.

Ethan gawked in horror as Octavia pounded on the plastic box from the inside, screaming. Except he could only hear muffled yells and cries for help. Tears stained her cheeks, visible on her makeup.

Ethan turned his head furiously towards the man. "She has no oxygen in there!" He shrieked, pointing towards the box. "Get her out."

By now, the yells have quieted down.

The man forcefully pushed his foot to the floor making a loud thump noise. "Stop ruining the show."

"Get her out." He spat back.

Grumbling, he trudged towards a lever.

Ethan nodded in accomplishment turning around to see Octavia.

She wasn't upright.

She was on the floor.