Until The End Of Time

Chapter 5. The aftereffect

Sam's hand was large. His long fingers were covered in calluses. It looks like the hand of someone who often did hard labor. Warm and dry, it made Kye feel safe, but at the same time, she secretly and unreasonably expected a tingle when their skins touched. That thought dampened her mood. Kye turned away and pulled out a pair of mustard-colored slip-ons from the tote bag. She changed into them and handed the old sneakers back to Sam.

"Thank you for the shoes," she smiled. "Let's go."

They walked side by side to the kitchen. The sky darkened quickly thanks to the rain earlier. All the outdoor lights had already been on. The silence thickened around them like a wet blanket. Kye slowed down in her pace.

"Can I ask you something, Sam?" She looked up at the man.

"Sure, anything," Sam shrugged.

Her head was a little below his shoulders, but Kye appeared much smaller and more fragile in the moment. Her arms folded tightly to her body, her thin eyebrows furrowed, and her lower lip turned white with her biting on it. Her little nose and cheeks were red. The cold wind blew her hair into a brown mess. She looked like someone who had lost everything and was all alone in this world. Her large sparkled brown eyes were the only things that still looked lively and beautiful on her face.

Kye reminded Sam of himself sixteen years ago when he and his brother had just arrived at the camp after losing their mom. At least he always had Dean. Sam knew Kye had her mother and younger brother back in Ayham, but there was no way to tell when or if she could ever see them again after what she, Bobby, and Ruby had pulled. Sam didn't know much about the relationship between Kye and the archangel, but he would not bet her safety on some feelings Michael might or might not have for her. Not after her betrayal. The compound was also hundreds of miles from Ayham. To get back to the city, they would need to pass several checkpoints with both angel and human law enforcement and then the City Wall. Not impossible, but also not a breezy task.

"Why me?" Kye's voice cut through Sam's train of thought. "What's so important about me that you guys were willing to trade the artifact for, right after you had just gotten it? It wasn't easy for anyone to get a hand on that thing in years from what I've heard. Sure, wasn't easy for me, no matter how much of an advantage you guys thought I had with Michael..."

Her eyes started to fill up with tears of frustration. And guilt. It was not a good feeling being kept in the dark, especially after everything she had put on the line and lost. Kye knew she had made the biggest mistake of her life and now was stuck with the consequences.

"Look," Sam clenched his hand in the pocket. It was hard to look into someone's eyes and lie or not tell the whole truth. "I don't know the whole deal, but from what I've heard, the bosses have some new plan regarding the weapon." He gave her a vague answer. "About you, I really don't know what they have in mind. I'm sorry for what you've been through, but please believe me when I say this, we didn't mean for you to get hurt and will not let any harm come your way. I promise."

Kye was not very convinced by what he said, but she bit her tongue and continued on her way. She didn't expect to get anything out of him anyway. Sam walked slowly behind while staring at the back of her head. He hated when the innocents got hurt in a fight like some kind of collateral damage, didn't matter if that fight was for a noble cause or had the whole of mankind's fate hung on to it.

The closer they got to the kitchen, the clearer the sounds of people talking and dinnerware clanking were. They stopped at the door and looked inside through the glass pane.

"I'm gonna have to leave you here, Kye..." Sam exhaled.

He put the pair of sneakers down and pulled out his small notebook from the jacket's pocket. He wrote down a phone number before tearing the page and giving it to Kye. "This is my number. Please let me know if you'll ever need anything." Sam gave her a genuine, sad smile and nodded to himself before picking the shoes up and walking away.