Authors note:
The time line for this story is season nine, though it will follow its own story line. I do not own Supernatural. First FanFic ever!
An Unwelcome Guest
She was lonely, all the time, though friends called her day and night inviting her out and about on the town. As her cell phone rings, she instinctively reaches in her pocket and presses the power button quieting the ring tone. It doesn't matter who is calling, she isn't interested in talking. Sitting down to her desk Elsie McNair stares into the blank screen on her laptop; she shakes her dark auburn hair from her brow and looks into her own chestnut eyes. "I want to go home" she finds herself thinking, again, always that thought. Even now, sitting at her desk in her own apartment sparsely furnished just the way she prefers it, she still has a feeling. A sensation of emptiness, a strange yearning to get out, an instinct that she doesn't belong here in this mediocre apartment in this unimportant town.
Elsie boots up her laptop and logs onto her e-mails, seeing nothing but the usual from her clients requesting odd jobs here and there, she opens another tab and logs onto her ShareLife account, a social networking site that allows Elsie to see what her friends and family are up to, what they're interested in and, what she considers, a complete waste of time that she just can't help but to join in on. She scrolls through the updates, Jessica is gone to the beach, Brian just got a new dog, and Kevin is no longer in a relationship, the usual. Sighing, Elsie turns off her laptop, stands and meanders about the room finally stopping in front of the window facing the parking lot in front of her apartment. Looking out she watches a mother loading her young child into a car seat, hair in tangles round her head, stress cutting lines across her forehead. Her name is Mrs. Lovings, a mother of five and definitely not in need of anymore meaning or purpose in her life, Elsie is sure of that. She lives three doors down on the right, her husband works nightshift at the convenient store around the corner, Elsie can't fathom how they can afford to keep all those mouths fed and live in a three-bedroom apartment without killing each other.
A forceful knock at the door breaks Elsie from her musings increasing her irritation at the world; couldn't she just for the day have peace from the constant blathering of the few comrades she allows into her inner sanctum? Walking to the door she looks out of the peep hole, but sees nothing.
"Are you kidding me?" Elsie smacks the back of the door with an open palm in frustration.
No noise from the opposite side of the door could be heard so she shrugs and turns heading back towards the window and more morose thoughts when the knock sounds again. Growling and mumbling to herself she strides to the door wrenching it open like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Standing there with a ridiculous grin on his face, about four inches taller than her five foot four inches, a superior stance with one hand in his pocket, stands a ghost from Elsie's past.
Elsie stares, in shock, trying to take in the sight of him. At just 25 years of age, it has been 15 years since she has seen his face. His face, it hasn't changed, hasn't aged a day since 1997. Elsie struggles to remember every detail. The same wisp of dark brown hair against his forehead, his round face with seemingly permanent 5 O'clock shadow, and his deep-set hazel eyes that hint of cunning and mischief, his nose angled sharply, and that constant smirk plastered to his face. He looks to be in his late 40's though she can't recall him ever telling her how old he truly is.
"Crowley?" Elsie chokes out the word.
"Hello darling, nice to see you too. I know, I know, it's been forever and a day. Glad to see your manners have improved; do you still chew with your mouth open? Thanks for inviting me in, you're too kind." Crowley walks with a confident step into the apartment glancing about and twirling a set of keys on his right pointer finger.
"I thought I got rid of you ages ago"
"Got rid of me? I'd love to see you try! I grew bored of you, went to find other things to do. You were always so depressing! My God you have grown, turn around and let me check you out."
Without thought Elsie begins to turn around, hands out by her side, spinning around slowly like merchandise on display.
"Mmm... petite yet curvy with a nice round buttocks and full sensual lips… Why are you barricaded in this shabby dungeon instead of out lip locked with some bloke? What's wrong with you?" Crowley looks about the apartment with horror as if he's discovered he is standing in a garbage pit.
"They told me you weren't real, I had to go to therapy!"
"Well, if it's true what they said… if I'm not real, well then I think you've gone mad! But what if it isn't true. Here I stand flesh and blood before you, what if I am real? Come on now, I know you are dying to find out! If you can see it, touch it, feel it then it has to be real!"
Elsie walks towards Crowley, arm reaching outward towards him, eyeing him like a spring-loaded trap she is about to disarm. She reaches quickly to him, jabs his arm and pulls back crouching slightly with her fists guarding her face.
"Ouch! Really Elsie, you've grown on the outside but you're still that same silly girl inside, aren't you?" Crowley rubs his arm where he'd been jabbed.
"You are real…you're really real! But...how can this be?"
"This is why I prefer children's simple company to adults. You adults have no sense of imagination, you presume to understand how things are, and how they work. But if given the secrets of the universe, you still would be searching for understanding. You would try to break down everything, to put words and definitions the mysteries that cannot be defined!"
"You adults? And exactly how old are you?"
"There you see, case in point. You don't ask why I'm here or why I came to you as a child. You ask the most basic and moronic questions. And rude to boot, you never ask a girl her age!"
"Ok, why are you here? What do you want?" Elsie asks rolling her eyes at Crowley's womanly reference to himself. Some things never change.
"Now isn't the time, we'll talk later. Put some trainers on and let's go."
"Go? I'm not going anywhere until..."
"NOW!" Crowley shouts completely altering the happy go lucky tone from the moment before into something a bit more disturbing.
Elsie jumps to attention throwing a thin, tight t-shirt over her cami and slipping on a pair of cheap flip flops. Together they hurry from the sparse apartment, Crowley giving the room one last look of utter revulsion. Walking down the stairs Elsie begins to question her sanity, why exactly is she following this unwelcome ghost from her past? Has she gone completely insane? She stops suddenly at the bottom of the stairs as Crowley continues to walk towards the parking lot, turning on her heel she has every intention of heading back upstairs and securing herself inside forever.
"Hey! Where the hell are you going?" Crowley impatiently waves at Elsie's back.
"I've had a moment of clarity, and I am getting as far from you as fast as possible."
Irritation floods Crowley's face and he mutters something under his breath. A shadow falls across his face and at the twist of his wrist; a regal gesture of his hand, Elsie's apartment goes up in flames.
"Oh my God, my apartment is on fire!" Elsie turns to Crowley, her face white as a sheet, "Call the fire department!"
"Nonsense we can't afford to waste time. We were headed out anyway, let's just go. Someone will call, I'm sure off it."
Crowley tosses Elsie the set of keys he had previously been twirling about his index finger. She stares down into her hand and tries to comprehend just how he got a hold of her car keys before he ever even entered her apartment. There is no time to ponder however for Crowley is already climbing into her car and she can hear the sound of sirens in the distance. She jogs to her car, jumps in, revs the engine and takes off. Looking into her review mirror, she watches her building go up in flames and she knows this is the last time she will ever see this complex again. An inexplicable feeling of euphoria overcomes her as she steers onto the road screeching tires and leaving behind black tire marks and the burning remnants of a life of normalcy.