Your keys made a slight jingle as you unlocked the door and stepped into the dark apartment. Your weary hands tossed your bag onto the worn couch as you made your way to the bedroom. “It’s not that bad, s’it feel like it’s coming out?” You heard Tyler’s careless voice ringing out along with the sound of the sink running…and the bath. You had warned the two men about running the sink and bathwater at the same time, it almost always made the rusty pipes bust and usually ended with the toilet overflowing.

God, you needed a new apartment.

You entered the bedroom and saw the odd assortment of crimson colored clothes in a messy pile by the bed. All stained by the deep red, clotted colors of blood. Your eyes made a slight roll and your head turned to see through the open bathroom door.

Tyler held a washcloth to his punch-puffed eye, a toothbrush hanging halfway out of his mouth as he inspected Jack and his wiggly tooth. “Rip it out.” The idea came quite quickly to Tyler and so he blurted it out.

No. Do not pull your tooth out. Is the immediate thought that rushed to your brain. A thought you’d never had thought you would soon have to say to two adult men. The cracked bathroom mirror started to fog as mist from the piping hot water filled the porcelain tub, the copper rust spread up the corners from wear and water exposure in the past.

“I can’t get a grip on it,” Jack mumbled, fingers exploring around past his swollen mouth, dried blood embedded under his fingernails. The thick heat of the misty bathroom weighed heavily as the toilet started making strange noises, bound to start overflowing any minute.