Eric approached him cautiously. He wasn’t really sure how he would react to the cold water, so he hesitantly put it on his shoulder first.

“What was that for?!” He shouted at the cold touch.

“It’s so you know what to expect when I actually clean your back. Ready?”

Ash only nodded. The minute the cloth touched his back, he expected to feel pain, but to his astonishment, he only felt the cool dampness of the wet shirt. He felt some of the water trickle down his back.

After a couple minutes, Ash felt a sting and jumped. “Ouch.”

“Sorry. I found where one of the deeper gashes are. I must have bumped against it.”

“That’s alright.” He hissed as he felt the pain again. “I’m just thankful that you’d bother to help.”

After what felt like an hour, Eric had finally managed to clean off most of if not all of the blood that was on his back. “Did you just get this recently? I’m surprised it’s already scabbed over.”

“It didn’t scab over.” Ash said through clenched teeth. “I just got it not too long ago. I’m not really sure how long, but I could say it was within the time of the last practice of yours that I was at. The burn the cuts to keep me from bleeding out.”

“They do what?!” Eric asked in disgust. “They really are messed up. Why don’t you just leave if you have it so bad here.”