Family?Home?

3

"Damn I can't believe what happened." Lionel said, his head between his hands.

"Yeah that's fucking messed up." Brice agreed, sitting across Lionel's seat. They just heard of Ethan's family and life tragedy this morning. The shocking news had left most of the class speechless, but it affected Brice and Lionel the most.

For they were the only people in class who Ethan considered as friends.

"He literally lost his sanity." Lionel mumbled.

"You can't really blame him, I guess. That project was all he cared about. He worked on it for months and got to see it burnt to ash. Imagine the agony he had to face."

"But to beat his father into a vegetable, and break a few of his mom's bones, not to mention to deal so much property damage that it was inhumanly scary..." Lionel stopped, unable to continue.

Sound ceased to exist in their ears.

"I think we should better tell them." Lionel suggested.

"Tell who? Cassie and Jerry?" Brice asked.

"Otherwise who? He has no one else."

Unanimously, they exited their classroom and walked towards the row of classrooms that resided students one year their junior.

At the fourth classroom, they stopped, steadied their emotions, and pushed open the door.

Cassie and Jerry were from different classes, but that hardly stopped most of the couples in the school, despite the rules against dating. So long as they did nothing the discipline office could hold against them, no couple could get into trouble.

Cassie was sitting by her desk, scrutinizing a drawing. Jerry was standing by her side, looking expectantly.

"With the angle you're drawing in, she seems a little scrawny." Cassie commented.

Jerry leaned in. "Yeah I still haven't figured out how to draw bodies with this particular angle yet." He admitted.

Then Cassie noticed Lionel and Brice. "Oh hi guys. Where's Ethan?"

She literally hit the nail embedded in their hearts right on the head. They swallowed and each took a seat. "I think you should do the same too." Brice said to Jerry.

After Jerry was seated, they told them the story.

When they finished, Jerry's face was grim, while Cassie was red in the eyes. "How..."

"We don't know. We don't know what the fucking hell is wrong with him and his family, but that's what happened." Lionel said.

"How is he?" Jerry asked.

"He's currently unconscious, might wake in a few day." Brice supplied, "His father is much worse, but his mom is awake, though grief-stricken. His brother..."

"Is literally half out of his mind." Lionel continued, "Might spend a few weeks, even months in a psychiatric ward."

"God if Ethan ever wakes up-"

"When." Jerry and Brice insisted simultaneously.

"When. When he wakes up, how would he take the news?"

"Probably better than we think. I've seen some of his dark writing. His fantasies are fucking sick. His mindset is ready to even accept death." Lionel said.

"We don't know that. He just imagines it. He's never experienced it." Jerry reasoned.

"No, but we've got to have faith in him."

Again words failed to pass through them.

"Do you think we should tell her?" Brice asked Lionel.

"Who?" the couple asked.

"I'll tell you later." Brice returned his attention to the big guy next to him. "Well?"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lionel tilted his head, "She might not be thrilled to hear his name again."

"None of us could tell if she would be or not anyway. She hides her emotions behind that smile too well. But for Ethan, she's the only person left whom he cared about."

"The feelings from her to him might not be mutual." Lionel sighed, "Fine, let's give it a shot and see how she reacts. If she's willing to help us, maybe we can bring him back from the dark corners of his mind."