Even though such a short amount of time had passed, as Bimsley moved to lift Ethan so that he could be carried to the private room, as instructed, the boy was already drifting back into the lands of sleep. The ride wasn’t nearly as turbulent this time around though, and for the most part the trip was void of any dreams or nightmares. There were some vague memories of being carried down a hallway and being placed on a comfortable couch, but nothing else but darkness.

It was the subtle shifting of the cushion below his lower back, followed by the gentle placement of a cool cloth against his forehead, that started to bring his mind back to working order. It took a second before he realized he was laying down on what felt like a couch, the separate cushions beneath his body giving it away, and then took even less time for his trauma from earlier in the day to slam full force into his mind and stomach. Stomach one may ask? Well yes, he was terrified and immediately felt his heart drop down into his stomach as the saying goes.

Lurching into a sitting position with a yell he sent the cloth from his forehead and into a heap in his lap before twisting around in fear. He expected to see the crazy receptionist there with that terrifying smile, but instead saw... no one. Well, only for a second, then he started to see a waving and blurring of the wall and the back of couch before it, as dizziness set in from suddenly sitting up the way he did in his condition. Leaning forward with a groan he grabbed his head before swaying back and forth like a solo tree in a medium breeze. A second later he fell onto his back, his hands now covering his face while his palms rubbed his eyes.

“Guuuuuh.” Was that a word? Nah, it was a sound.

“Really? How ridiculous.”

Ethan’s hands instantly stopped when he heard a voice, a feminine voice, make the statement on his stupidity. He didn’t recognize the voice, and it sounded younger than any of those he had met that day. Despite this fact there was an air of superiority carrying the words and for some reason he sensed... agitation? Very slowly, and very childishly, he pulled his hands lower so he could peek out from between his fingers. What he saw took his breath away and he felt hot and dizzy for a completely different reason.

“If you say something like peekaboo I’m going to slap you.”

Ok, there was a third reason he felt hot and dizzy, what an avalanche of emotions! He tried to swallow though his dry mouth didn’t help too much. Instead he shook his head and meekly said.

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“I wasn’t....”

“Good.”

Sitting next to him on the couch was a girl, older than him but didn’t look to be a woman or young lady. What had taken him was her flaming red hair and purple eyes, their vibrant color standing in stark contrast against her lightly tanned skin. He was so enraptured with her beauty that he didn’t even realize he was staring, a fact that seemed to annoy her slightly, though he didn’t even register that either. Without a word she reached out to pick up the cloth from his lap and in equal silence his gaze followed her hand.

In life, regardless of one’s gender, sex, sexual preference, or lack thereof, there are moments that can define a mortal, or at the very least remain with them for all time as a moment of pure embarrassment. Years... decades later, they’ll be doing something random that will spark the terrible memory to rear its ugly head into the forefront of their minds. They will freeze, physically, emotionally, and mentally, no matter what they were doing, and then collapse inward, clutching at what little stability they have left. Well, Ethan was about to experience one of those moments for himself.

If the boy hadn’t been present during the events that quickly transpired he wouldn’t have been able to believe the sound that filled that room, and really the whole block around the bathhouse, had come from him. Even the painful wail he released earlier in the day paled in the utter and sheer terror that now escaped his body. The only reason it sounded human at all was because of the immense amount of shame and embarrassment mixed in with the scream. Though, despite the eruption of such a soul rending, existence shaking, and high pitched sound the red haired beauty remained stock still with the same annoyed expression on her face.

The source of all the tremendous upheaval that threatened to tear apart the very fabric of reality? Well, it all comes down to when Ethan, upon seeing those delicately slender fingers take hold of the cloth on his lap, noticed that he was only clothed in a towel, and even worse was the fact that the towel had pushed forward when he jolted into a sitting position earlier. Therefor, the boy was so certain he would have staked his life on the very fact, convinced without a shred of doubt, nothing could convince him otherwise, that this crimson angel had seen little Ethan!

As the squealing wail, so aptly described already, tore at his throat on its way out Ethan was scrambling back while clutching at the towel. He didn’t dare consider the possibility that he was showing even more of himself as he basically walked backwards, like a crab, to the end of the couch. Soon he was sitting in a fetal position, the towel haphazardly covering his body here and there, his eyes wide as dinner plates, what short thin hairs on his arms and legs sticking out straight as if he had been hit by lightning, and his chest heaving at an impossible tempo. If he had been a cat the hair along his back and his tail would have been sticking straight up at the ceiling. All that was missing was the hissing and spitting.

As the boy cowered in the corner the girl casually folded the cloth and rested it in her lap. Taking a second to make sure he wasn’t going to scream again she simply stared at him before saying simply.

“Really? How ridiculous.”