What Remains (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 6

6 years ago

"Look! Another white one!" Josh pointed out as Carter and him sat in the sand of the dunes right outside the shore, looking over at the tent the adults had gathered at for the annual beach barbeque. "This one is called a Pieris Rapae. Or just the White Cabbage butterfly," he said.

Carter gave a glance at Josh before looking back at the butterfly with a smile forming his lips. "You know a lot about butterflies," he commented.

"I just think they're beautiful and interesting," Josh shrugged, his shoulder pressed against Carter's as they looked out at the shore, the Ammophila plant peacefully swaying in the wind.

Carter looked back at Josh for a moment, looking at the pale skin of his neck and arms. Even though it was always so warm and sunny here, Josh's skin stayed pale. Though it was then that he noticed a small, purple colored area on his upper arm which was almost entirely hidden by the sleeve of his shirt. He reached out his hand and carefully ran his fingertip over the area, Josh immediately turning to him as he did.

"What happened here?" Carter asked, pushing up the sleeve to see that the bruise was a lot larger than it appeared.

Josh immediately pulled his arm back and tugged his sleeve down. "...I bumped my arm into the door knob," he said, his lips curling up into a silly smile. "Stupid, right?"

"Sounds and looks painful," Carter said, though he wondered why Josh immediately got so cautious. Though he assumed he was ashamed of being clumsy. Carter sat up a little and went to sit crossed-legged. "I don't want to go back to school next week," he said before he let out a yawn. "Though Middle School is nicer than I had expected."

As Carter gave a glance back at the tent the adults were at, he noticed something going on. Someone, who appeared to be a man, was yelling something and being held back by someone else. "Hey, what's going on there?" he asked. The two boys stood up and looked at what was going on. "Isn't that your father?"

"Oh no..." Josh started to run back to the tent almost in an instant and Carter was quick to follow him.

When they reached the party tent, they heard the yelling more clearly and Carter noticed the empty beer bottles lying around in the sand.

"YOU'RE ALL FUCKING BASTARDS! DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!" Josh's father furiously yelled as he was being held back by Carter's father.

"Steve! Calm down!" Carter's father tried to restrain him, but the man only struggled in his grip.

"Dad! Stop it!" Josh yelled and he jumped in front of his father. Josh's father looked at him before he was released from Carter's father's grip.

"We're going home, right now!" Josh's father angrily spoke and he roughly grabbed Josh by his bruised upper arm.

Carter's mother had grabbed her son by his shoulders and Carter watched as Josh got practically dragged away by his father, wondering what had happened while Josh gave one quick glance back at Carter before he got yanked back by his father.

Now

It had been a very long time since Carter had been anywhere so crowded and loud. It was rather dark as well, flashing neon lights lighting up the room as a large crowd danced in the center of the room, and booths were lined up next to the bar. Paxton and Alyssa were well on their way of getting drunk. Both of them laughed loudly at their own jokes. Carter had to laugh along simply at how stupid their jokes were and at how frantic their laughter was. He sipped his beer as he sometimes looked around to see Chris and Melanie dancing between the crowd of dancing people.