It was a few hours before Cal woke up again, he was slightly alarmed by the drain which was now attached to him but after a brief explanation from Ethan he soon settled down knowing that there was nothing to worry about.
Ethan hadn't dare ask him about the bruises, he decided he would let Cal be the one to initiate that conversation if and when he ever wanted to.
A few days past and Cal had been moved to a side room, he got regular visits from his younger sibling and the police occasionally came but were beginning to give up on his as he wasn't giving them any information and he had refused several examinations.
"You're being discharged this afternoon." Ethan smiled happily as he enter Cal's room after just finishing his shift.
"Great." Cal forced a smile.
"Don't sound so enthusiastic about it." Ethan commented. He knew that Cal had been feeling down lately even if he wouldn't admit it Ethan just knew and in all honesty was worried, something he never felt for his brother.
"I am, I'll be glad to get out of this pace." Cal again smiled.
"Do you want to stay at my place for a few nights? Until you feel yourself again." Ethan suggested, he never liked living with his brother as a child but didn't want him to be on his own for a length of time after what had happened.
Cal hesitated not really wanting to admit that he didn't want to be in the house himself but just nodded knowing Ethan wouldn't think anything of it.
"Ok great. You can have the spare room, I'll see if I can get you out now yeah?" Ethan suggested to his older brother and Cal nodded in response.
After getting Cal discharged Ethan had driven them both home. Cal wasn't ok, he wasn't making jokes, he wasn't laughing or smiling and even more concerning he wasn't making fun of his brother's driving. Ethan knew that this would be difficult for Cal, it would be difficult for any man but Cal was proud and prided himself and being strong and not really feeling any emotion. Arriving at Ethan's flat they both exited the car silently and made their way inside.
"The spare room is all set up, just drop your things in." Ethan smiled as he pointed upstairs.
Cal nodded and just headed slowly upstairs he just felt so lost and ashamed. He had been starting to remember bits of what happened that night and the rest he was able to fill in the blanks. It was pretty obvious to him what had gone on and he knew that even though he never admitted it to anyone, everyone knew too.
Reaching the spare room Cal went in and closed the door behind him as he threw his bag on the floor near the bed and sat himself down on the edge of the bed letting his head fall into his hands. From nowhere Cal felt a sudden anger build in him, he got to his feet and walked around to the dresser and looked at himself in the mirror. He was shocked himself at what he looked like. His eyes dull with bags under them. His skin pale and his hair an overgrown mess.
He gritted his teeth as he suddenly lashed out without thinking and punched the mirror causing it to shatter. He didn't stop there. He grabbed the dresser and threw it to the side of the room before beginning to kick at the wall.
Downstairs Ethan heard the glass shatter then he heard a thud and then more banging. As quick as he could Ethan shot up the stairs two at a time and swung the door open to Cal's room to see the pace pretty much wrecked with his normally cool and collected brother punching and kicking the wall shouting with blood running down his arm and making patterns on the wall where he was hitting with his bleeding fist.
"Caleb!" Ethan shouted and went over to him grabbing his arms so he could move them and dragging him back away from the wall.
"Get off me!" Cal shouted fighting to get away but he just didn't have the strength.
"Just calm down!" Ethan retorted and spun him around shoving him to he sat on the bed. "Don't move, just… just calm…"
Cal looked up towards Ethan from the bed, he looked shocked. That was to be expected, he had just found his sibling wrecking his room. That wasn't normal behaviour. Cal then looked around the room to see the mess he had made.
"I'm sorry… I'll tidy it… I'll pay for the damage." Cal spoke his voice shaking.
"Don't worry about it." Ethan smiled a little. "We will sort it later. We need to go clean that hand." He told him causing Cal to look down at his hand which was dripping blood over the clean bed sheets.
Cal just sighed and nodded. He allowed Ethan to take him to the kitchen and wash the blood from his skin and check there was no glass left inside. He barely even winced, he just felt so numb.
"What's going on?" Ethan asked as he dabbed a few more of the cuts with a wipe. Cal stayed silent. "Caleb." He spoke again to get his attention.
"Hmm?" Cal responded.
"You're on a different planet." He laughed a little taking Cal's approach in making jokes.
"Yeah… wish I actually was." Cal looked him in the eyes.
That was Cal's way of describing how he felt and Ethan knew that was pretty much all he was going to get out of him and he was going to have to work out the rest for himself.
"Let's get a few bottles, order a pizza and just watch rubbish TV all evening ey?" Ethan suggested knowing that other than partying that was Cal's favourite pass time.
Cal nodded. "Sure…" he looked down at his now bandaged hand. "Thank you."
Ok so I'm going to be honest and say I really didn't know whether to continue or not but since I have no other ideas for fics I decided to just go for it and write another chapter. Let me know what you guys think plus ideas for other stories that you may like to see. J J x