Cody was still in the small bathroom shared by him, Charles, and Charles' mother. It was quiet aside from the dripping noise from the leaking sink. He was sitting by the door now, and he had his face buried in his hands as he sobbed in silence. He had been locked in the bathroom for the past two hours, and he was starting to feel the effects of being enclosed in the small smelly space.

"Cody run, now!"

He squirmed, remembering what his father told him as he pushed him out of the door. The man had stroked his hair before looking back at the house.

"I'm going to get your mother."

Those were the man's last words. He had said before he disappeared back into the burning building. He never came out. Cody's mum and dad didn't survive. The roof had sunken in and crashed while Cody's dad had been trying to get his mum out of the flames.

Cody had remembered standing by the road and watching the house burn down as he waited for firemen to come. They had been too late, and one of the neighbors had shuffled him out of the tragedy sight before calling his father's ex-wife to get him.

He had been ten years old then. It had been eight years since his parents died, and Charles would not let it go.

Cody groaned, feeling his side sting with pain when he moved a bit. His eyes would flutter close sometimes, and he would take a nap for a minute or two to counter the effects of his crying on him. A pounding headache from the sobbing and hair-pulling was starting to create pressure in his skull. Cody couldn't think. It was too painful to think. He was having one of these brief naps when he heard someone pounding on the door.

How long had it been since Charles had thrown him into the bathroom? He didn't know. He'd been knocked out for a bit. When he had gotten here there was dim light coming through the small window at the top, but now it was nothing, but pitch darkness cast away by the faulty light bulb. The knocking was getting louder with every bang. The knocking didn't stop, and Cody could hear Charles groan in the distance.

His eyes peeled open again, and hope soon filled him, and he was soon kneeling by the bathroom door with his ear pressed against the wooden door.

The knocking grew louder, and Cody felt whoever it was must have been at the door for at least thirty minutes. Cody's breath hiked when he heard footsteps in the hallway. Charles must have been going to see who was at the door.

Cody could feel his heart beating against his ribcage as he strained his ears to listen in. He could hear Charles opening the door, and he tried to steady his breathing since he had an idea who was behind it.

The voices in the distance were muffled but Cody could still hear them. It was one of the few times he was glad for the paper-thin walls in their house.

Charles groaned. "Oh, it's you again."

Cody's eyes widened in interest. "Who? Quinn?" he muttered under his breath, hoping that it was his boyfriend that had come for him.

And soon enough Cody heard Quinn's smooth voice respond to Charles' words.

"Yes, it's me again," Quinn said. "Where's Cody? He's supposed to have come over to my place. We're worried."

"He's not coming," Charles said, and Cody's heart fell. Imagining how his brother was possibly leaning by the door frame with his hands folded.

"What? Why not? We made plans for this since last week." Quinn's voice sounded rightly confused. There was no way Cody would say no now in favor of staying in a house infested by people he hated so much.

Cody's ears zoned out of the conversation, and Charles' and Quinn's bickering were no more than whispers he couldn't pick up. The beating of Cody's heart was making it hard to concentrate on the faint voices in the conversation.

Cody sighed before closing his eyes when their voices grew faint. "Come on..." he scolded himself, holding on to his forehead as he tried to force himself to focus. He tried again, placing his ear against the door at a position he hoped would let him hear better. A smile broke across his face. He could hear them in the distance again.

Charles was saying something now. "Has Cody ever mentioned our dad?" Cody could feel his heart sinking at those words. Charles was going to lie to Quinn. The older boy was going to pin something horrible on him.

"No, he hasn't. I was asking about Cody though, so why are you bringing that up?" Quinn asked.

Charles whistled before laughing. "You need to know something important," he said.

"No, don't..." Cody trailed under his breath as he closed his eyes. His whole body was beginning to tremble as his eyes clouded with unshed tears. He wondered why Charles was doing this. He wondered why Charles would be so cruel to try and cut him off from the one person who loved him.

Cody only felt more disturbed when he couldn't hear anything at all anymore. Charles must have taken Quinn out of the house—and hence, out of earshot. He could feel his heart racing, and he could feel sweat build up under his cotton shirt as he wondered how much Charles was telling Quinn—how many lies and manipulated facts he was adding to the already worn-out accusation.

Cody sat on the bathroom floor again before pulling his knees to his chest. "Why?" he asked himself, giving up. His voice echoed in the room as the sink continued to leak in the background.

Cody coughed, sobbing. "What did I do to deserve this?" he asked himself, feeling his body shut down.

His eyes wandered to the drug cabinet just above the sink. His stepmother took a lot of aspirin. It was tempting to just get up and put one, two, three—multiple pills into his system and just give up the ghost. He didn't want to be here with Charles, and he didn't think he could go back to a time when he wasn't close to Quinn. His vision blurred, and he looked away from the cabinet. He was too tired to think of that now. What was the use? He was already a walking corpse. He didn't know what living felt like. He'd just been existing.

Cody fidgeted with his fingers as he waited, unsure of what was going on behind closed doors. He had stopped sobbing. He had no tears left to shed. His throat was dry, and he felt a bit dehydrated. His head was also pounding with pain.

Quinn wasn't an idiot. Cody didn't expect him to outright believe Charles, but your brain didn't work right when you were as exhausted, scared, and worried as Cody was. Cody closed his eyes as he tried to push all the jumbling thoughts that were giving him anxiety to the back of his mind.

"Please hurry..." he muttered even though Quinn couldn't hear him, and with those words he escaped into his mind, hoping that everything would be alright.