“The One and Only” Ch. 4

“Hey!” the voice demanded. ”Hey buddy you can't sleep here.”

Groggily, Dionysus opened his eyes, his sight meeting the gaze of the young policewoman looking down at him. Her hair was a light blond, her eyes blue. She couldn't have been older than thirty, her voice clear and lacking a threatening tone.

Rubbing his temples in a vain attempt to clear his head of the pounding headache, he slowly lurched himself up the tree where he had only intended to rest for a moment. He was thankful it was reaching twilight, as the light dim was not bright enough to offend his vision. He checked himself, making sure he had his wallet and other belongings. Then he grabbed his pack and started heading down the road once again.

“Hey,” the woman said quickly.

Dionysus ignored her.

She gritted her teeth. “Hey!" she shouted, this time with more bark.

The tired god stopped, sighed and turned around.

She thought for a moment. She really hadn't expected him to stop. “Do you have a home buddy?”

“Not anymore.” he said, then he turned around again and began walking.

“Will you stop for a damn second,” she said, walking quickly towards him.

Dionysus stopped again, turning around again to face her. “What?”

“Listen, I can't just leave you out here if you don't have a home. There is a shelter a few minutes away in town. They can help you get yourself together. Even have a hot meal if you want it. I know the guy who runs it. Isn't a half bad cook.” Dionysus closed an eye and rubbed his neck in irritation. “You really don't want me to do that.”

“This isn't a request. I am trying to be nice here but it gets cold around here. And what you are wearing isn't good enough.”

“Am I breaking any laws?”

“Technically you are trespassing if you try to bed down here around dark. It's private land.”

He rubbed his eyes, trying to friction away some of the sleepiness from his vision. “You are irritating me. Go away,” he said sternly. Then he turned around and headed down the road.

Her jaw dropped as she watched him walk.

As he walked he looked up, the sun peeking its way through the trees for the few minutes that were left of daylight. He was about to retrieve a flask from his inside pocket when he felt himself being struck from behind, tumbling to the ground.

“This wasn't a negotiation,” she said, placing handcuffs on his wrists and hauling him to his feet. Then she clicked her radio attached to her vest. ”This is officer Lawrence. Taking person to the local shelter. Will return to route in twenty.”

”Copy that Lawrence.”

Officer Lawrence returned her gaze to the man, who was tossing the handcuffs to the side and picked up his flask. She heard herself audibly huff as she moved forward and, picking up the handcuffs, grabbed his wrists to secure the handcuffs, only to see that they wouldn't secure. Dionysus looked ahead blankly, as she reached onto her belt and retrieved another pair of handcuffs. Only when she applied them they also refused to set in place. She tried again and again, observing them closely as she tried to figure out what was wrong. She then tried zip ties, but they too refused tighten. She was overall distracted, which was exactly what he wanted.

As she pondered, she felt something pinching her legs as she looked down, simultaneously concerned and dumbfounded as she watched vines wrapping around her legs in thick clumps. Dionysus for his part shook off the zip ties and let them hit the ground as he turned to look at her, taking a long drag from his flask. She tried to tear the vines off, only to eventually find herself wrapped completely, unable to move.

“I killed virtually every single person around me the last time someone tried to secure me against my will,” he said blankly. Then he turned around again and began to walk away, ignoring the calls of the officer behind him.

As he walked around the bend, he noted another person in a long brown coat and a low drawn hat approaching from the opposite end of the road. Dionysus ignored him, taking another drink. The officer had stopped calling now, trying to work herself free of the vines. As the two figures along the road passed each other, Dionysus detected a smell that set the hair on the back of his neck on end, as he quickly turned to run into the woods. Only the figure in the brown coat was now on the same side of the road with him, a long, glistening sickle in his hands.

“Do us both a favor and die this time.”

With that, the figure drew back the blade and swung hard, driving the blade deep into Dionysus's chest, the blow running him through completely as he swung through the air, his body colliding with a nearby tree. The blade stuck fast, pinning him to it. He roared in pain, unable to properly work his limbs as the flask fell from his hand.

The figure in brown came up to him, like he was stalking him though he had nowhere to run.

”Die this time,” he said. Then he rocked the the blade back and forth as Dionysus's vision began to darken, pain shooting through his body in waves. Then the figure walked away, unwilling to stay for any disappointment the action might bring.

Where the officer stood the vines withered and died, crumbling upon the officers struggle to escape. And at the tree Dionysus found it increasingly hard to breathe, as he fought against what he knew he wanted more than anything.