How would you really act if you met the Winchesters?
Everyone thinks they will be cool, calm and collected in an emergency. I know I did.
I'd had a few things happen over the years to make me think that. When the olive oil on the stove caught fire, I'd calmly put the lid on and removed the pan from the burner.
When my daughter set a potato on fire in the microwave, I just smothered the flames with baking soda and cleared out the remains.
But there were other hints. Like the time I was walking across a grassy field with a couple of friends when I panicked and tried to climb up one of them like she was a tree. My other friend, the shorter of the two, by the way, said there must be a snake around and went looking for it. Sure enough, she found one at the far end of the field, way out of our range of vision. They managed to get me to the parking lot where I immediately climbed on top of the car.
When I was caught in a real emergency, I stood there screaming like a girl in a horror movie. Loud, piercing, terrified screams.
I wasn't scared by the dead body at my feet. I'd stumbled over it and just went "huh!" It was dark after all and I couldn't see what I'd tripped over.
It wasn't all the blood and gore. I couldn't see that either.
It wasn't even the shimmery angry guy standing by it. He was just weird.
It was the flash when a shotgun was fired at him, and the glimpse I got of the super-tall, shaggy-haired guy who fired it.
While I was still screaming, the shimmery guy, who'd vanished in the shotgun blast, reappeared behind the tall guy. He disappeared again when a shotgun was fired behind me. I was still screaming when I heard, "Dean, behind you!" and an arm dragged me down. I felt a spray go over my head and felt a hand clamp my mouth shut. "Lady, shut up! I can't hear myself think!"
"Where the hell did you come from?" I heard him mutter. "Look, I'm gonna put a circle of salt around you. Stay put. Don't move or I'll have to knock you out." I must have struggled a bit because he said, "Look, this is for your own safety. Just stay put. Please, lady."
I nodded, too scared to move and I felt the hand leave my mouth. I closed my eyes and started to count down from 10, over and over, like I did when I was in labor. It calmed me then and calmed me now.
"Hurry up, Dean. We've got to find that grave." I heard them running away and the sound of shotguns firing. Lots of times./span/p
I think I counted myself into a trance because I was still there when the sun came up.
I didn't come out of it until I heard distant laughter, then running feet. "Oh, s-t Sammy, she's still here!" Strong hands helped me to my feet and held me up because my cramped legs wouldn't hold me up. I finally opened my eyes to see two tall handsome men looking sheepish. The shaggy-haired super-tall one was holding his left arm, but said, "Are you all right?" The other one, the one holding me up, said, "Sure she is. She's still alive, aren't you?" I nodded. "Lady, we're sorry. We forgot all about you. We've been kind of busy."
I slowly regained my senses and looked around. I saw the dead body, the blood, the gore and a now-scuffed circle of white salt around me. "What happened?" I asked.
The guy holding me up replied, "Are you sure you want to know?"
I looked at him then. Really looked at him. Then at the other guy. They clearly knew things I didn't. Lots of things. And I realized I'd been asked a good question. A life changing one. Did I really want to know
The super-tall guy looked at his watch and announced they had to go before the cops came. Something about they checked the place out every day around this time. They argued a bit about what to do with me when we heard a distant siren.
The two men half-dragged, half-pushed me to a big, black car, where they shoved me into the back seat and dove into the front. They stopped the car in the next township and turned around to talk to me.
"What were you doing out there?"
"I was looking at the stars." Seeing the looks on their faces, "Falling stars. The Perseid Meteor Showers. Last night was the peak night.
"Why here?" "It's dark out here. No one's lived at the McCoy place; it's been empty for years. I knew I could watch them without bothering anyone. My cousin farms it."
"Didn't all the deaths there bother you?" "What deaths? What are you talking about?" They looked at each other again. " I haven't lived here for years and years. I was driving across the state to visit my daughter when I remembered the Perseid. My Dad and I used to watch them here when I was little and I decided to watch them instead of pay for a motel room. I was heading back to my car for a blanket when… Should I thank you? Did you save me from something? I'm not too clear about what happened."
"They looked at each other again. They sure talked a lot without saying anything. The driver, the one named Dean, merely said, "Let's get you back to your car. Can you show us where it is?" I laughed. I'd grown up around here. I'd parked on a dirt track between two cornfields and they dropped me off there. The track peters out pretty quickly and becomes a trail the farmers used to get home from the fields–they could leave the tractor and walk faster than driving it around the country roads. They observed it was no wonder they hadn't seen my car.
Still, no explanations. No small talk. They made sure my car started and that I'd get out on the road OK. Just I pulled out the shaggy one handed me a card. "If you ever need help, or just want to talk about it, you can reach us at this number. Sometimes it helps. You'll be fine though. Everything's OK now."
They followed me all the way to the freeway and waved at me when they finally passed me. I watched as they drove out of sight.
I still don't know what happened at the McCoy place. It's next to a small pioneer cemetery, so I guess that's where they were looking for a grave. My cousin's Christmas letter didn't say anything and I didn't call or write him to ask. I guess I could have looked online, but I kept thinking about the question asked me. Did I really want to know? I've still got the card, in case I ever decide the answer is yes.