He was a mess, and Gene deserved better.
That was the bottom line.
Every second of his day, and every day, Ethan was chased by the demons.
Unfortunately for him, they changed daily.
As if this whole thing could get any worse, today’s demons were particularly nasty.
They were the ones that told him he wasn’t worthy of anything.
They were currently screaming in his brain that he was a product of this Hellhole, and he’d never escape.
EVER.
To him, it was clear that the universe hated him because just when he got his footing, and started to feel like he was worthy, they came tearing back into him.
He was here because of one thing.
As he made his escape from the cold, hard reality, there were no voices of reason to talk him down.
NOT.
EVEN.
ONE.
Without that voice of reason, usually Gene, he was in a free-fall.
It was just nonstop misery for Ethan.
The flight there had been delayed, and that in itself had been torture. Because of that, he’d not arrived in Utah until the early hours of the next day. Now, all he wanted was to find some silence.
Some peace.
Because at that moment, exhaustion was an understatement.
When he hit the rez, his body went on autopilot, and it took him to one place.
Not his grandfather’s cabin.
Not his father’s.
His brother’s.
It always brought him back to the same person each and every time. As a child, taken by CPS, when he aged out, he and his black trash bag of possessions headed home.
Not for Timothy.
No.
For Callen.
And now, here he was, in his home.
Sadly, for Ethan, even that wasn’t easy.
Before barging into his brother’s home to hide, it took him five whole minutes of sitting in his car outside of Callen’s cabin.
