CYPHER

Stairs of Redemption and diss

They finally stopped running when they were a safe distance away and out of the woods .

They were all panting and looking around them to make sure they were in the clear and they had not been followed.

They had not heard any whirring or humming , so it seemed like a good place to stop .

Dean looked up at the building that they were standing in front of , they had stopped outside a small church .

Dean and the others fell on the chapel stairs , a picture of exhausted sinners come for redemption , while Hairs stood , remaining on his feet as he kept looking around frantically , he was staring at the way that they had come .

Dean had not even noticed him as they ran , he wondered what had become of the other guys , he hoped they had also been able to escape .

May pushed something into his chest , pushing him further into the stairs .

He looked down to see that it was the box of chloroform from earlier , he had totally forgotten about it .

" Thanks ", He whispered to her .

He opened it to make sure none of it had broken , hoping that they were all still in good condition .

They were all still in good condition .

At least in better condition than Hairs who was currently rubbing his body furiously , his lack of clothes had somehow become insignificant to Dean and the others as no one was complaining of his very visible butt c***k .

" I... I should go , need to find shelter from those devils ", He stuttered , his eyes frantic as they moved everywhere .

Devils was one way of describing the golems , especially poetic when you were standing in front of a church .

Hairs fidgeted as he talked , he looked nothing like the man that had snuck up to Dean in the forest , maybe it was a confidence in numbers thing.

Blade pushed himself off the stairs and held on to his hairy arms as he tried to force Hairs to sit too , he really did look like he needed it .

" Won't you at least tell us what your name is first ? ", he asked , not that he was particularly interested in his name but because he needed him to sit down and breathe .

Hairs looked up at Blade as if considering his request , his eyes eventually cleared .

" Trevor ", he muttered .

So , Hairs was a Trevor .

He did not seem particularly interested in their own names seeing that he did not ask and Dean had an intuition that he was just Trevor with no last name or other means of identification .

His fingers crept into his already gaping mouth as he began to chew his nails noisily .

He was obviously suffering from some anxiety order , but then witnessng the golems close up was enough to give anyone anxiety .

Dean unzipped his bag and pulled out two bottles of water and some of the protein bars , he held it out for Hairs to take .

Trevor grabbed them hurriedly and Dean had to outmaneuver him at the last moment to prevent them from touching each other's hands .

He had seen Trevor's hands several times as they caressed his butt and came dangerously close to the c***k in between and he wanted nothing to do with those fingers .

Trevor nodded shakily at all of them , his eyes still moving about at a frightening speed , he moved further away from them .

" I really got to leave now ", He whispered , his voice faint .

He took off down the streets , running awkwardly , like he had just learn to walk .

" Why are you looking at him like that ? ", May asked .

Dean turned to see that May was looking at him , she seemed to have been watching him for a while so Dean shook his head .

" He seems really shaken and he looks like a totally different person from who he was half an hour ago ", Dean tried to explain as best as he could but the truth was that he did not think that Trevor should be running about alone .

Blade and May exchanged knowing looks and sighed .

Blade pointed at a piece of Trevor's cloth that he had ripped off as he scratched his body.

" He is obviously a junkie , probably has been for all his life . Lord knows how he was convinced to come here ", Blade said , he sounded empathetic to Trevor's condition .

Dean observed Blade as he talked , he was empathizing with Trevor .

Blade was either a rehabilitated addict or knew someone that was using .

He looked over to May who was still staring off the way that Trevor had run.

If her mum was a gambler , she was probably doing drugs too .

As if on cue , May turned to him , her eyes were glassy and she was glaring .

Dean was afforded the noncoveted opportunity of watching her face morph in a second as she adjusted her expression once she saw that he had been watching her .

Her face suddenly took on a teasing look , her eyes losing their glassiness and becoming sharp , she grinned at him .

" Do not stare at me like that Hun , you would make me think I had a chance ",She spoke sensuously , a misplaced attempt to cover what Dean had seen on her face .

Dean chuckled as he moved farther away from her , he was finally figuring her out .

She was the type to corrode whatever weighed her down with a false veneer of fleeting excitement .

A strategy that had never worked for Dean , he was a born over-thinker .

" So , want to tell us why you went bat s**t crazy on Trevor's friends and why your clothes suddenly look like you already completed your seven days ?", She inquired , recovering almost immediately from his ignoring .

Blade too moved forward to hear this story , Dean was going to ignore them but they were staring at him like he was the definition of hope .

" They took my book ", he said simply.

May and Blade's excitement physically collapsed into sudden disinterest .

" Oh ", they both chorused .

Dean looked from one of them to another , surprised at their reactions, what had they been expecting ?

" It was a really important book ", he added so that they could properly grasp the situation.

Blade's gray eyes suddenly lit like a light bulb had turned on in his head .

" Where did you learn to fight like that then ?", he asked , obvious sourcing for a better story .

May leaned forward too , looking quite interested .

" Were you a street fighter ? Ohhh , an underground ring fighter ? Part of a gang ? Oh . My . God , the mafia ?!! ", her voice kept rising with excitement .

Dean frowned , all of her options were basically the same thing .

" I worked part-time at a Judo studio and picked up a few things ", he told them.

They looked even more bored now .

Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath , he was no longer that person that was constantly seeking validation .

He opened his eyes and bent to pick up his bag that held everything he had recently acquired , including the journal .

He picked up the bow too , the satch was noticably lighter , he would have to do something about the arrows before they finished .

" What are you doing ? "

She sounded like his sister whenever he had been keeping something from her .

Dean smiled at this memory that tugged at him .

" I need to find shelter too ".

He needed somewhere away from people to study the journal and make a draft of all his theories on the gameverse.

He also needed somewhere to hide and mourn the fact that he had seen people actually die .

People with families , thoughts and desires , the game was so improbable that he could become one of them any moment from now .

But , he couldn't .

Jaymie was waiting for him .

So , he had to try every possible thing , he had to do everything he could to try and go back to Jaymie .

He looked up to bid them farewell and saw that they had both picked up their backpacks and looked ready to go .

Dean took a step back .

" I meant alone . You are both great friends but I need to do this alone ".

Blade shook his head as if he couldn't make sense of what Dean was saying .

" Pal , did you see us together ? We were on fire ,we would make a great team , you don't got to do this alone man ".

May nodded too , she looked ...looked quite sad , almost distraught .

" You both don't understand , I can't afford to lose or die here , so I need to work and survive whatever this is and I don't need you two and your ...your unseriousness ".

Dean had yelled the last part and instantly regretted it , their faces had immediately closed off .

May scoffed and stared at him bitterly .

" Afford to die ? Do you think any of us can afford to die or want to die ? You seem to think that whatever awaits you outside is more important than what awaits us but you're so wrong ".

She closed her eyes and sat back down on the stairs , when she opened them again , she looked different .

Older and in pain.

" Dean , don't you see ? Don't you see the difference between us ? You came here unaware of the consequences and we came here knowing all of the consequences and yet not minding because it would take us just one step closer to what we wanted . Do you think you would have come here if you knew what was at stake ? "

She looked at him as she asked , making Dean question himself .

He would never have .

Jaymie would not have let him and he would not have even considered it .

" Now , do you see that you are by no means as desperate as we are ?"

Dean was quiet , quiet and sorry .

He should have known to control his mouth when she had told him of her mother's addiction .

Addiction didn't start one day and it left the rest of the family in hell as they watched, hoping for a change .

It was so like how he had watched his sister's heart gradually decline everyday .

No one person's issues were worse than another person's.

Blade stood off to their side , he was staring at the sky , his face glistening with unshed tears .

" I am sorry ", he iterated softly .

Dean wanted to say more but that would have to suffice .

May jumped up , her face was suddenly no longer grim , Dean lost his footing surprised by her suddeness and yelped .

She ran forward and caught Dean before he fell , she was grinning .

" If you are really sorry , can we find shelter together ?", May asked .

Dean grimaced , he had been thorougly had .