Things weren't quite the same after that night they shared. Two weeks later they were back in Texas at the old Strider home. It was different. It felt different. Dave had tried time and time again to enter Bro's room, but to no avail. Instead he shut the door and tried to avoid it when he had to walk past. He refused to go through any of Bro's stuff or move anything from where it was. It didn't take his new guardian, Jake, long to find a new job which was great. They needed the money; however, while the Australian's shift was from eight in the morning to five in the evening he was out until after Dave fell asleep every night. It wasn't long after that that things became like they did with Bro the first sixteen years of his god forsaken life. These events led him to cut again. He didn't hide it this time. It wasn't like anyone cared enough for him to cover it up.

Dave kept his word to John and called him every day. He was only allowed a few minutes, but he took that time to fill the boy's ear with events in his day and his ideas and stupid shit like that. Eventually though talking to someone who couldn't talk back became disheartening. Shit, he wasn't even sure John could hear him. These events led him to start Googling weird things:

Why do people commit suicide? How to cure depression? Ways to commit suicide?

Suicide hotline numbers…

How to make a noose…

He read up on the Wiki-how and shrugged. It seemed simple enough. He managed to find some of rope in his room and scurried back to his own. He followed the instructions until he'd made the perfect noose. He threw it over one of the rafters and ties the other end to his bed.

Jake opened the door to the Strider home and sat exasperatedly into Dirk's computer chair, swiveling around once before logging into the computer itself. The room looked so strange from the other side, no matter how long he stayed in here, lived in here, slept in here… Every time he sat at this computer he remembered skyping Dirk, looking at the background of his room and seeing his gorgeous face in front of it… He sighed, shaking his head before logging into his e-mail. Jake didn't even finish his password before he got a call on his cellphone. He didn't recognize the number at first, but the area code is what made him answer in the first place.

"Hello, Jake English speaking." He murmured into the speaker, listening for a voice. After a moment of silence, Jake's eyes widened. "What? That-That's bloody fantastic news! He's- Oh Gosh yes we'll be there as soon as we can hitch a plane!" He grinned from ear to ear, not having felt this happy about, well…anything, in quite a few weeks. Jake smiled and tossed his phone into his pocket, rushing out of Dirk's room and up across the long hallway, opening the door without knocking.

"Dave! Dave I have absolutely astonishing news, my lad! Pack your things, we're going to see John an-" He was cut off abruptly, mouth agape as he stood there frozen in place as if it would stop time, and moving would make time continue. "D-Dave no- Dave no get down I-John- Dave don't do- I-" He was at a loss, trying not to move physically but instinctively wanting to move forward and bring him down from the chair himself.

Dave looked down at the boy and glared, "Why shouldn't I? I'm so alone anyway and I just.." Tears started to fall and his fingers tightened more around the rope making it burn between his fingers. "I just want to stop feeling so alone and so isolated, okay?" He said, inhaling deeply. He didn't want to get down. No he just wanted to end it all here.

Jake took a slow step towards the boy, holding his hands up in a mock-surrender. "Dave no... Dave dont end it like this... I have really great news." He smiled sadly, hands shaking a bit as he held them up. "Would you like to hear it?"

Dave's eyes stared the boy down, "...What?" He asked, glaring. "What could possibly be so great." He asked. He didn't see anything that could possibly be better than eternal serenity, but he'd give the boy a chance anyway.

Jake sighed quietly, taking another step towards him "Come down from the chair, Dave." He urged gently, holding out one of his mock-surrendering hands to the boy to help him down. "I promise it's worth it, it's worth living for."

Hesitation filled the air before he took the boy's hand and hopped down. "What could possibly worth living through hell for another 3 months?" He questioned. Jake was relieved, beyond relieved, as he helped Dave down and pulled him into a hug, whether he wanted the hug or not.

"Oh Dave." He held him tightly, expressing without words how absolutely grreatful he was to still have him here before pulling away and smiling faintly.

"Dave, John woke up."