Ethan went to the tree house in Chloe's parents yard to cool down. He was frustrated with the whole situation, not just Carter. He was angry at his dad, annoyed with Carter blaming himself, and angry with himself more than any of the other two. He stopped to look at the rope ladder that had always led up to the treehouse, unsure how he was going to navigate this right then.
He grit his teeth and pulled himself up the ladder a rung at a time, pushing through the pain until he got to the top and sat down on the edge to try and catch his breath. He looked down at his coat to see he must have torn his stitches open because the sleeve was starting to get bloody.
The longer he sat there, the colder it felt. The spring air was still chilled and he could feel it deep down in his bones now. This was a stupid idea, and as his temper cooled down, the more he realized that.
Carter was right that the temper could be a red flag, especially if he let it run wild. Ethan really tried to keep it in, or let it out in healthy ways, but this whole situation was like all of that anger, anxiety, and fear were bubbling right under the surface ready to come out at the wrong provocation. Maybe he did need a therapist.
He crawled his way inside of the tree house and sat there for a while thinking about what he wanted to do. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there when he heard someone call his name. He got up and came out of the treehouse door to see his dad standing by the trunk at the bottom.
"What the hell do you want?" Ethan asked.
Peter frowned when he saw his son. "Your arm is bleeding."
Ethan looked down at it and nodded. "Yeah, well, glass cuts. We just had a demonstration of that, didn't we? How did you even know I was here?"
"The Wrights saw you on their cameras," Peter replied. "I may have acted in some haste. Come back to the house, we'll clean that up, and we can talk."
Ethan moved over to stand near the edge where there was a rope they used to use for swinging down from the treehouse as kids. He rested his left hand on it as he considered what he wanted to do. His car wasn't far from here, and he was faster than his dad usually but he was also injured. The only thing that actually stopped him was the look on Carter's face after he had snapped. Maybe talking to his father would be okay. If he could at least come to a peaceful resolution here then no one needed to feel guilty except his dad.
He was about to move toward the rope ladder when the board he was standing on cracked and gave way. The board had probably been getting weaker and weaker over the years. Ethan reacted quickly, grabbing onto the rope and ungracefully riding it down to the ground. He hit with a thump and rolled to keep from getting more injured than he already was, but his ankle had already rolled when he first landed and he could only hope it was only sprained. He let out a hiss once he was seated on his ass on the cold ground, the blood coming out of his arm wound more than it had been.
Ethan pulled off the jacket and discarded it on the ground, looking at the open wound where stitches used to be.
"Come on, Ethan, we can fix that at home," Peter told him.
Ethan grunted in response and got himself up. He followed his father back to the cars and did as he was told almost on autopilot. He followed his dad back to the house limping and hesitantly walked in. Ines looked at him with worry as he came inside holding his bleeding arm. She rushed to grab something to put over it to stop the bleeding, worried for her young charge.
"Ethan, you should not be here," she whispered to him in her thick hispanic accent. "It is not..."
"Ethan," Peter called out.
Ethan could see the worry in her eyes as Ines looked up at him, and it gave him some pause, but he was already in the den of the wolf. It wouldn't do to run out of it now. He patted Ines on the arm and then followed his father into the living room, hoping for the best while his mind wandered to Carter. He wanted to talk and fix things soon, but this had to come first.
****
Ethan didn't show up at home the next day, and there was no word from him either. By day two of him not coming home, Jeremy was freaking out. At that same time, Carter hadn't heard from Ethan at all, and it left him feeling dejected and full of despair, as if the relationship might actually be over. When Jeremy got ahold of Chloe and Wayne, they also hadn't seen him, and so Jeremy called the cops, as well as his brother.
Chloe and Wayne showed up at Ethan's house before the cops did, and Jeremy told them everything that had happened from the dinner up until now.
"Normally Ethan burns off his temper in a night, though," Chloe pointed out, before looking at her husband. "Well, sometimes. He stayed mad at you and the football team for much longer. Like, I think he was planning to go to his grave angry had you not tried to do something to help Jeremy's predicament with the cops."
Jimmy asked, "Where do you two think he would have gone? Wayne and I don't know him as well as you."
Chloe and Jeremy exchanged a look before Chloe replied, "I mean, there's a few places he might have gone, but none are great ideas for him to be there that long, especially not with how cold this spring still is."
"Like the treehouse," Jeremy added. "It wouldn't keep him warm though, and he shouldn't be climbing up there injured."
"Well, we have to start somewhere," Wayne said, "Lead the way!"
"Take them, I'll deal with the cops," Jeremy told Chloe, who gave a nod and moved back towards their car.
It didn't take long for the cops and Ryder to show up, and Jeremy told them everything he knew about what was going on. He gave them the information as to where his friends were checking, as well as information on what hotel Carter had gone to in case they wanted to check with him whether he had heard from Ethan, because Jeremy hadn't spoken much to him since he left. Jeremy had tried, but Carter had been mostly non-responsive.
When Wayne, Chloe, and Jimmy got to the treehouse, they found the broken board and the bloodied jacket, but no sign of Ethan anywhere. The grass was dry and cold, so they could see some footprints but it was hard to tell which way they went or how many there were. Ethan could have been pacing back and forth for all they knew. Jimmy called Jeremy and relayed this information to him, as well as where they were going next.
"If he injured himself more, he might go to get help," Ryder pointed out.
