Who: Tobias, Chase and Kiley Where: Chase and Kiley's room When: A little while after this
Tobias sat on the floor for a while after Scotty left, letting the pain ease from his stomach and throat until he felt like he could get to his feet. He felt a bit numb, and tired and scared and he picked up the Drano bottle to take into the bathroom where he tossed it into the small trash can beside the toilet. Checking out his throat in the mirror he saw minor bruising from Scotty's hands, but nothing super noticeable. Still, he pulled up his hoodie and tightened the strings until it closed a bit around his head and covered up the sides of his neck.
He knew Scotty had posted to the network but Tobias had no desire to check it at all. Instead he just wanted to get out and hide and just disappear. His room had always been the ideal place for that, but what if Scotty came back? No, Tobias wanted to be somewhere else for a while. With his friends. The only issue was he was on the fourth floor and he'd have to go downstairs. What if Scotty saw him and freaked out again?
Christ, stop being such a pussy.
The voice sounded an awful lot like his stepdad's and Tobias turned away from the mirror to leave his room. He didn't take anything with him, but moved quickly, like he could somehow not be seen if he tried to disappear into his hoodie and walked fast enough.
He made it to the second floor and realized belatedly that Scotty's room was on the same floor as Chase and Kiley's. His stomach bottomed out and Tobias all but ran to Chase's door, pulling his hand from his hoodie pocket to knock quickly, but quietly, just in case someone on the floor heard him.
Kiley heard the knock from where she was hanging out on the sofa with her phone now. She didn't think it would be Scotty, Simms Junior, but figured it could be Lennon or Tobias and she got up to answer the door before Chase could try. His foot was still healing and she'd rather he not be up limping around if he could help it.
She opened the door to find Tobias and Kiley's brows drew together thoughtfully as she stepped back to let him inside. He looked pale, and like he'd been crying. Which made her think he saw the network, or Chase's message. Kiley didn't question him, but shut the door after he came inside. Tobias walked almost immediately to the couch and sat in the corner, almost like he wanted to curl up inside himself.