Jacob clambered up the steps to the apartment building. He had been here thrice before so memorization of the path was not beyond the realm of possibility. However, his ability to do so lacked in this regard.
He wound up several flights of stairs, discovering dead ends nearly none else had seen, then explored the extended hallways wreaking of putrid waste from the homeless population. Yet, the path did not trouble him so, as evident from the manic grimace that portrayed an unsettling madness infesting his grimace.
The boy's feet wobbled as each step provoked a greater sense of tiresome ideology. Ideology which founded gruesome sleep as its advent. He was afraid that even as he glided up the final set of stairs, his body may give out to crumple into ash. There was not a sense left in him that hadn't been tainted throughout the months.
Fear slashed his eyes.
Cowardice clogged his ears.
Shame welled off all touch which prickled under the iron poke, hot to the end.
Sloth ate away at the nostrils, dining to their delight.
Lastly, Greed plucked his tongue out from its home.
Were he to stay beside Kage those emotions may drown him entirely. Suffusing the boy into a great ocean that yearned to illuminate his being with the idea of regret. For that was truly what his life became, a harbinger of regret that blossomed evermore. Further it notched along his arms as if to mock the potential beneath.
Jacob knelt before the door, breaths heavy in that regret. This weight came down like a rocket upon him at the sight of his friend's face. Kage trusted him but that trust was lost. The boy knew this because he knew who his friend was.
A deeply disturbed person, unable to comprehend the true subtlety of society. His dreams vast, his desires more so. There in his soul lay someone with a great oak wishing to branch out to aid those unknown, while willing to waste those who fought against that wish.
Jacob was a branch no more. In the midst of that defeat Isaiah couldn't be allowed closer for if he was, Kage would surely lash out. It would become a fight that Jacob sought not to have. One that would end in Kage's death then regret exploding all over them would come again. Thus, he ran to all he had left.
Sam.
Another element that one may deem fate, but Jacob tossed aside the concept. Fate was a bastardization of one's own ability to move forward by their lonesome will. He found Sam himself and he took her himself. It was an action that even now with the departure of Daniel, erosion of Kage and all the rest, Jacob saw no guilt. Guilt could not transpire so long as the recipient of it simply ignored what sat, cross-legged then smitten, before him. Regret left at the door he belabored to enter.
His perfectly manicured hand placed itself on the surface of the door. A sharp double prong dent tore a chunk from the plaster. It was proof of the story Sam had told him.
Early in her time living alone in this dump of a city, she turned to harassers as well as abusers to make ends meet. Every night they came then left with her pocket change of a salary. A damp moisture caked the room as nets to catch the insects from invading were plucked full of holes. A life built by desperation to leave such cramped discomfort but found none other than more ironic desperation. Sam laughed as she recited back the tale, the irony was not lost on her either.
She slept here for years without a respite in the operation that bestowed such an uncomfortable environment. Time passed but nothing felt the need to change within her life. At night men came, morning, men came, afternoon men came. A cycle that drew gazes from none for they all had their own problems. No one wanted to interrupt the dealings of a beggar mixed with that of gang members.
So continued her life. A divulging drag of rampant poverty unable to discover a means to escape.
However, one night she heard a ruckus outside in the hallway. When she peered out to see the purpose, she saw a child flail against the men. His face filled with vigor as it sought to fight them off. That child did as much but not before the men took turns busting his skull against the wood of the door.
As Sam peeked to see them off, one called back antagonizing her, "Fuckin' pitiful bitch! Only a sickly child could have more confidence!" After that night the men never returned to collect on a tax that was stolen due to her own incompetence of self-worth. Sam was a pitiful existence at that time. Yet it was what gave her Daniel.
Jacob backed his hand off from the door, splinters sticking through into his palm releasing the subtle imprint of a blood besmirched echo. A grimace scrunching his mug as he remembered Sam's cheerfulness when mentioning that boy. The falling of that smile welted something in his heart. Since the day of Daniel being captured, he watched over Sam without her astute observation.
She battled brutes, tore the faces from their bodies as they begged for mercy, then fell into despair countless times over. Yet, through it all he made sure that the wreckage of Kage would not become hers. Jacob did not have the right to impede her search for her friend, in fact, he attempted to be ignorant of the cause she pursued.
Alas he stood before her home with a decision to be made. The answer sprung forth without a need for more stalling. If he brought Sam along to save Daniel, then she may meet the end that Jacob saw on the winds of Dark energy that flowed through his friend's body. Similar were the floating crescents of wispy energy that Jacob remembered them surrounding his mother. There was simply nothing left to be done. It was a similar figment that entwined all of them, except that of Sam. Were she to accompany them then undoubtedly her end would fit theirs as well.
Jacob placed his lips against the entrance, muttered a soft soliloquy, then disappeared from the building back into the falling skies of the world. The boy retrieved his glasses from the bridge of his nose, stuffing them into his pocket. On the clouds far above a stream of intangible matter spoke of a path he needed to follow.
Barely a choice left in his form, he arbitrarily followed the stream as regret would surely be stilled once he arrived at its end.