Disclaimer- I own no rights to Supernatural, the plot is my own, obviously you know which characters are mine and which are the "real deal." Please read and enjoy!
Break In.
Riley awoke from another nightmare, her labored breathing the only sound echoing around the room. She reached to her right, flicking on the small nightlight on the nightstand. She sat up and looked around, trying to relax her mind and body as she grasped her surroundings. Just her normal apartment, the decorative posters and wall art strategically placed on the four walls, the two dressers sitting against the far wall and the walk-in closet closed as it always was during the night.
Still, the room seemed to carrying an uneasiness to it, a creepy feeling, a creepy almost chilling feeling. The same feeling she had the last few nights. With a heavy sigh she got out of bed to retrieve a glass of water. She should've gotten a pet, a dog or cat certainly would've nice for this kind of thing. She was supposed to have her boyfriend but due to an unfortunate accident he wasn't with her. Standing at the sink she tightened her hand around her glass, trying to forget about the lost of her boyfriend. Conner Her love, her future partner, her parents favorite person outside of their immediate family.
The car accident had a been a freak event, he had just gotten his car checked. He was supposed to be on his way to the store from the apartment; he wanted to figure out exact measurements of certain things so he could get the placement of their stuff correct. They were supposed to go out to dinner afterwards. He had even taken the day off for that purpose. Riley had wanted to take the day off with him, to have gone with him, but they both knew how much she hated repair shops and hardware stores. Still, she couldn't help but think she could've done something had she went. Maybe she would've heard a strange sound and convinced him to stop.
She shifted on her feet, knowing there was nothing she could've done to prevent it. She was at work when she got the news; her parents had called and asked to see her. She met them for lunch and instead of going home, she went back to work. She had to work. She had been sent an email with the police report early afternoon and had read it numerous times she still couldn't wrap her head around what happened. No one could; Conner's parents were just as shocked. They were the only ones going through a harder time than Riley. They had been a great help to Riley through the whole ordeal, they helped paid the first month of rent while Riley's parents helped pay the security deposit.
A sudden creak drew Riley's attention back to reality, the same creak she heard every time after she awoke from her recent nightmares. She knew what followed, so she held her breath, though it was clear the air was thick, she just didn't want to see her breath. It made no sense, the heat was tenant controlled, there was no reason for it to be this cold. Not wanting to think about it any longer she distracted herself by putting her jet black hair into a high ponytail. She rinsed her glass out and went to the bathroom, the room in there cold too.
After a few minutes she emerged, the apartment back to its normal temperature but it still felt odd. Riley turned the ring on her right forefinger, the one Conner's parents gave to her after his death. It was a nervous habit, turning things, but at least it distracted her. She sat on the black leather sectional in her living room, turning on the television. This was how it always ended up. An unexplained nightmare, a cold chill around the apartment, a short grievance for her loved lost one, and then a couple of hours of mindless television before passing out on the couch.
As expected, the sun shining in through the blinds lightly woke Riley up. She stared at the blank television, happy she had the timer turned on. She started at the clock, it was going on seven-thirty, she had to be to work by eight-thirty. Unless she took the day off. She hadn't given herself a day off in forever. She knew she had build up personal, sick and vacation time from the three years she worked as a Director's Jr. Assistant at the nearby state college. They had suggested she take some time off after Conner's death but she refused. The last thing she wanted was to be alone in this big apartment. Not that she was really alone. She had neighbors and they were kind, but she didn't make friends that easily.
Maybe she should call in, she didn't feel well. Hadn't been feeling well in a while; of course it didn't help that she barely got even a full six hours over the last few weeks. Sitting up she pulled the covers off, slowly standing up to look around the place; the place always looked so different in the light. She went into the bedroom, taking her phone off the charger. She was calling in; if she could make up for missing so much sleep in one day it was totally worth it. Especially if she didn't want her performance to suffer.
"Hi, Glenn?" she said as the secretary answered the phone.
"Lee! Good morning sweetheart," Glenn answered. Riley smiled, happy to hear Glenn's upbeat high pitched voice. He was the friendliest person she knew, a very flamboyant older gentleman with the heart of an angel and the humor of dirty trucker. Everyone at the office loved him. "How are you my darling?" he asked as Riley sat down on her bed, playing with a lose string on her pajama top.
"Um, I was actually calling in...I need the day off" she said, nervous for some reason, everyone understood her situation, but it wasn't that easy for her.
"Oh huh, of course you do! You know how we all feel about what happened and you've been looking brutally dreadful the last few days" Glenn replied. Glenn was also incredibly honest with very little idea what a censor was.
"Jee, thanks" she responded, trying to sound indifferent about the bluntness.
"Is there anything you need?" Glenn asked.
"Nope, I'm honestly all set, I just need some time to sleep, I've had a rough couple of nights" she explained though they both knew it was more than a couple.
"No problem, I'll let the boss know, you get your sleep babe" Glenn encouraged. Riley agreed, they said their goodbyes and hung up.
After being on the phone Riley sat on the bed, unsure what to do with herself, she couldn't remember the last time she had a day off on the weekday. Maybe she could get some groceries, and ask the landlord about the heat, and the weird occurrence where the lights flickered. Maybe there was some issue with her apartment and she just needed help to find the source. That or there was some serious other problem.
With that thought she took to the bathroom again, coming out a good twenty minutes later, showered and dressed. For a mid June, the weather was pleasantly warm and the sun dress was perfectly acceptable. She went back to her room, folded her pajamas and set them on the end of the bed, then went to the mirror, admiring her dark chocolate colored skin and her frame in the sky blue dress. It reached just below her knees and a sweetheart neckline she had come to love. Lastly was her hair. At twenty-eight she didn't want to look any older, but the high bun hairdo was her favorite; her hair got in the way a lot less. Convinced, she redid her hair and then slid on a pair of white flats and grabbed her green knitted purse.
She decided to walk to the store, it wasn't that far and she didn't need too many things. Plus, it was nice, maybe being out would relax her. As she passed the gas station she couldn't help but notice a fancy old car parked at one of the pumps. Shiny black, definitely a classic; Conner would've known what kind it was from ten blocks away, he loved classics.
On her way back she instinctively looked for the car, but it wasn't at the gas station anymore, not that she expected it to be. She had been at the store longer than twenty minutes; only coming out with three bags, barely full. But she did get all the items she wanted, plus a few treats to make herself feel better. She couldn't wait to dive into the strawberry ice cream.
Back at her apartment she searched for her keys, finally finding them deep in her purse, which meant putting all her bags down. She turned the lock and headed up the stairs, out of habit looking out the window on the second floor. She stopped, nearly dropping her bags. The Black Classic was sitting in parking lot behind the apartment buildings. She moved closer to get a better look, to see if she could spot anyone in the car, but it appeared empty.
Reluctantly she gathered herself and continued up to the fourth floor, stopping at her door. About to put the key in she paused, thinking she heard a noise from within, but that was impossible. She only heard creaks at night, during the day it was fine; then again, she was always at work by now. For all she knew there could've been a big ghost party going on inside.
Putting her ear to the door she listened, this time knowing she heard voices inside. She reached down in her purse, fumbling for her phone as she continued listening. "I'm definitely thinking we're going to get an EMF reading here..." voice one said, this voice soft but slightly worried.
"Well, it's expected, you know, because we've been casing the joint for the last week" the other voice said. This one was a little more jagged and deeper. Already he seemed like the type to use slang; but didn't casing a joint refer to robberies? Was she being robbed? If these were the men who owed the fancy car outside they could've just sold that, it was bound to be worth a pretty penny. Why did they need to rob her? Why was she not calling the police?
Again, she reached down, taking out her phone again, but when she went to set down her purse, the contents slipped out, a small bottle of perfume rolled out and hit the door. She stiffened, certain the intruders hadn't heard the sound. "Did you hear that?" first voice asked.
"No" second voice answered but first voice hushed him up, his footsteps barely audible but Riley knew he was moving closer to the door. She quickly picked her purse up, digging through it, she had a knife, pepper spray, a taser gun, rape whistle and an emergency alarm bell. Her uncle, a cop of twenty-three years always wanted her prepared. But preparation and practice were never enough for the real deal.
She pulled out the taser as the door opened, the man inside pointing a gun at her as she pointed the taser at him. "Drop it" she told him as he quickly raised his hands, a sign he meant no harm but she shook her head. "Drop it" she repeated as he nodded and set the gun down. "You too, cowboy" she told the other man who was standing further back, his gun now on the ground.
"Easy..." first voice said. "It's not what it looks like" he continued but Riley shook her head and nodded him backwards as she walked into her apartment. She'd be dammed to be robbed on her only day off from work.
"Couch" she motioned as the two men obeyed. The shorter of the two, the one with the deeper voice rolled his eyes; was this not something new to him? Riley wondered but kept her taser gun pointed at the boys; as long as they didn't know it was a gun she was safe. Unfortunately her phone was still out in the hallway and the apartment phone was in the kitchen.
"Listen, we're not here to rob you and that's not a real gun" shorter guy said as Riley tried not to show any sign of weakness or fear.
"You don't know that" she replied, wondering why she was even talking to them. "And if you're not here to rob me, why are you here? How did you even get in?" she asked, slightly annoyed with herself for continuing conversation.
"A good old-fashioned paper clip" shorter guy answered.
"Who are you?" Riley asked, not feeling comforted by the answer. "What do you want?" she continued, wondering why she was not moving toward her phone or better yet, an exit.
"You have to trust me when I say this, but, we're here to help," taller guy answered but Riley could feel her body going into a defensive pose.
"Here to help yourselves maybe" she mumbled.
"Alright, we don't have to time for this" shorter guy said as he stood up, and before Riley could aim and fire he swiped the taser from her as if it was nothing. He took aim at one of the chairs and fired, rolling his eyes and sighing as he proved it was a taser and not gun. "I'm sorry we're intruding-" Riley interrupted him with a punch in the face.
"Who are you?" she asked, her stance ready to fight.
"Okay, okay, wait" taller guy said jumping aid to aid his partner. "We're..." he trailed off to look at the other one, him rubbing his cheek. "I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean, we're...hunters..." he said as Riley didn't move, but looked from one to the other, some part of her wanting to hear more.