Aloveen Rising

17. A Day Of Rest

Blake slowed the car to a stop in front of the park and got out despite the pouring rain, Ethan was sitting under a tree with his knees against his chest and his head in his hands. His clothes were plastered to his body from all the rain and even at a distance, Blake could see he was shaking.

He grabbed a towel from the backseat, opened his umbrella and rushed over, Ethan didn't respond when Blake called his name so Blake wedged the umbrella in between Ethan's arms and carried his bags back to the car.

He knelt and placed a hand on Ethan's shoulder, "Everythings packed up, are you ready to go?"

Ethan finally raised his head and instantly his teeth started chattering, Blake cursed to himself, Ethan's lips had gone blue from the cold but his eyes were red raw from crying. Blake draped the towel over Ethan's shoulders and for the second time that day lifted him to his feet. Ethan was shaky on his feet and Blake was nearly carrying him by the time they got to the car and when he opened the door Ethan collapsed onto the seat.

The doors shut with a click and Blake gently drummed on the steering wheel with his fingers, the sound of Ethan's teeth chattering distracted him from his thoughts and he quickly became aware of how cold he felt. Water dripped from his hair streaming down his face and pooling on the leather seats. He switched on the heater and glanced at Ethan, the poor kid seemed to be in shock. He was barely present, his gaze was fixated on something in the distance.

"Ethan" he called softly, not wanting to upset him, "Are you ok with coming to my place?"

For a moment it seemed like Ethan hadn't him but then he nodded slowly.

Blake smiled, "Do you want to tell me what happened or do I need to guess?"

Ethan shrugged and Blake raised a hand from the steering wheel apologetically, "I'm sorry, we can talk about this another time if you ever decide you want to."

Ethan shrugged again and Blake dropped his attempt at conversation until he pulled to a stop in his garage,

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about this?"

"Later" Ethan mumbled

Ethan bent over to pick up his bags, he let out a cry of pain and crumpled to the floor.

"ETHAN" Blake yelped rushing over, he moved Ethan onto his side and tilted his head, he frowned feeling Ethan's neck, there was a hard lump on the back of his neck and the tissue around it was swollen, He checked for a pulse, it was slow but wasn't irregular in any way. "Ethan," he called, "Can you hear me? Do you remember what happened to your neck?" He waited for a moment but Ethan didn't answer, his body was limp and his eyes were closed. Blake bit his lip in worry, he needed to support the neck until he could figure out what had happened. He ripped off his jacket and his shirt and formed a little pillow out of them then very carefully slipped it under Ethan's head. Satisfied that Ethan would be ok for a moment, Blake dialled a number and carried Ethan's belongings into his home.

Ethan felt tired and struggled to open his eyes, he rolled over and the exhaustion went away, he was lying in an unfamiliar bed wearing his wet clothes and wrapped in towels. Slowly his memory came back, he'd called Blake, this was Blake's home. Ethan froze, was he in Blake's bed? He sat up with a jolt and winced, his neck felt stiff like he had slept funny.

"You're awake," Blake said from the doorway,

Ethan smiled, "Yeah, Thanks for letting me stay here."