"What's your story?" Dean asked.
"A fairly long one." Alex said with a sigh. "It started about three weeks ago. Two of my friends wanted to go see the new Hunger Games movie. I couldn't have cared less about the movie, but I said I would go. Well it came around, and I did what any normal teenager does when they don't want to go somewhere. I faked sick. They were mad and could tell I was faking, but there was nothing they could do. They were on their way home when a squirrel ran across the road. My friend swerved to miss it but hit a sign. It cut through the car and killed them both almost instantly. I was almost there with them." Alex said with a shudder. "Then a week ago, my dad was on his way home from work. I was jumping out front with Grave when he turned around the corner. All of a sudden he swerved and I saw..." Alex paused at this point. "I saw my friend, Abby. She was in the car crash and dead. But there she was. He hit a tree and was killed instantly."
"When did you start being, antisocial?" Dean asked. Alex gave a forced laugh.
"I've always been antisocial. And as 'bad' as I am now? About a year ago. But that's another story that you don't want to hear." Alex said, a bit of a sad smile crossing her face. Sam looked at her, his eyes clearly saying that he did want to hear it. Alex rolled her own. "Let me rephrase that. I don't want to talk about it."
"We understand." Sam said gently. Alex smiled at him.
"What about you guys? What's your story?" Alex asked. "Shouldn't you be in college or something?"
"We're just taking a summer road trip. You know, brother bonding time." Dean bluffed.
"Cool." Alex said. She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. She looked up and pulled her horse to a stop. Sam and Dean did the same. "This path can be a bit rocky, just warning you. It shouldn't be a problem though." she cautioned. She nudged Grave back into a walk.
"You were playing good music earlier. What other bands do you like?" Dean asked, trying to start up the conversation again.
"I have a rather, eclectic, music taste. Mostly modern rock though. I like Black Veil Brides, Three Days Grace, Green Day, Rise Against, Linkin Park, Breaking Benjamin, and Bring Me the Horizon to name a few. What about you?"
"Uh Metallica, AC/DC. Lots of classic rock." Dean said. They reached a split in the path.
"I'm gonna leave you two here for a minute." Alex said.
"What for?" Sam asked.
"I told you. Grave needs a real workout. Hold your horses tight. Wait here. Try not to spook them." Alex gave brief instructions. Then she turned to the right path and kicked her horse into a canter.
"What isn't she telling us?" Sam asked.
"Huh?" Dean asked.
"The 'other story' that she didn't want to tell us. There's something else wrong. Worse than friends dying. Which is bad." Sam said.
"We'll get it out eventually." Dean said. At that second, Alex came galloping around the curve a couple hundred yards away. Her horse jumped over the logs laid across the path. He jumped the last one, and Alex slowed him to a walk. She patted his shoulder as she approached, a wide grin on her face.
"Wow." Sam said. Alex's grin broadened.
"Best feeling in the world. Flying free." she said. "We can go back now."
"Is this how you spend your free time?" Sam asked.
"Pretty much. It's really the only thing that keeps me going. Life sucks. But out here, I can forget about all of it." They all turned their horses around and began walking back.
"Just wondering, why was your mom so okay with us just staying?" Dean asked.
"She's still pretty shaken up about my dad's death." Alex said with a shrug as though she couldn't understand the feelings.
"You know, for someone whose dad just died, you don't seem very upset." Sam said.
"I don't waste my time on emotions. Being sad won't bring him back." Alex said bluntly.
"I'm guessing you two weren't real close." Dean said.
"We could have been. I chose for us not to be." Alex said, sounding almost remorseful.
"Why?" Sam asked.
"I've learnt that in the end, people always leave. They die, they move away, or just fade out. And it hurts when they leave that hole in your heart. Don't get close to people, less holes. Less problems." Alex explained.
"Isn't it hard though? Being lonely?" Sam asked.
"I'll take lonely over broken apart all the time. There's a saying, 'You can't protect from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.' It's a price, but worth it in my opinion."
"Who'd you lose?" Sam asked.
"What do you mean?" Alex asked.
"Logic like that. You've lost someone. And you don't ever want to feel that again. That emptiness. And even worse, that feeling that there was something, anything you could have done to save them." Sam said. Dean looked at his brother, surprised by this show of emotion.
"I said I didn't want to talk about it." Alex said. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" Sam began.
"Don't worry about it. It's fine. I'm fine." Alex interjected. By this point they were back on the paved road and turning in front of the barn.
"Well thanks for the ride." Dean said as they stopped.
"No problem." Alex said with a smile returning to her face. "I'll un-tack them. You guys can go inside. Oh wait. Dismounting. I'll demonstrate then help you guys." She leaned over her horse's neck and swung over to land on his left side. She pulled the reins over his head and tied him to one of the posts. "See? Not too bad. Dean can go first. Take your feet out of the stirrups." Alex instructed. Dean's feet flailed a bit, but he managed to get them out before kicking the horse. "Nice. Now lean forward on her neck." Dean did and almost fell off. "Woah. Careful there." Alex said. She moved a step closer to the horse. "Now just swing your right leg over, without kicking her, and slide down." Dean's slide was a bit less graceful than it should have been, Alex just chuckled. "Not bad for your first time on a real horse." she said. "Can you hold her while I help Sam?"
"Oh sure." Dean said and took the reins back.
"Thanks." Alex said with a smile. She walked over to Sam and Outlaw. "Okay. Did you hear all that?"
"Yeah. I think I got it." Sam said. He got his feet out of the stirrups much easier than Dean.
"Good. Now lean forward." Sam did and he too almost slid off right there. Alex laughed again. "You too." she said and helped push him back on center before backing away. Sam swung his right leg over and landed much more gracefully than Dean. Alex handed him the reins. Then she untied her horse and led the way inside. "Don't follow too close behind me." she cautioned. She brought Grave over to the right and Sam followed. Dean pulled over to the left side of the barn. "Just put a loose knot on the hooks on the doors and I'll take care of them. Now you're free to go. There's food in the kitchen. Help yourself to whatever. Dinner's whenever you feel like it. I'll be in in a few minutes." Sam and Dean walked out of the barn and to their car. They pulled their duffel bags out of the Impala and headed inside to the room Ms. Thurman had indicated. There was a real bed as well as an inflatable mattress on the floor. Dean threw his bag onto the real bed. Sam shook his head but set his on the inflatable mattress.
"Is everything good in here?" Alex said from the doorway.
"Oh yeah thanks. Where's your mom?" Dean asked.
"Uh probably at work." Alex said. She glanced down at her watch. "Yeah it's 6. She's at work. She won't get home until about 2 am. I can cook dinner if you guys want. I can do pasta or pasta or pasta. Or we can just throw together whatever's in the kitchen." Alex said. Her eyes wandered around the room. She seemed distracted by the bare green walls.
"You okay?" Sam asked.
"Yeah I'm fine." Alex said, her gaze returning to the Winchesters. "So for dinner?"
"Throw together sounds good." Dean said.
"Cool." Alex said. "I'll be...out back if you need me." With that, she spun around and walked out. Sam and Dean heard the door shut as she left the house. They finished unpacking before standing up and looking around.
"Let's go get the kid. I'm hungry." Dean said.
"You're always hungry." Sam said but headed out with Dean. They opened the back door and found an unfenced backyard that seemed to run to the back of the house about a quarter mile across the field. There were a lot of sparse trees and in between several of them, was what appeared to be a fort. Taking a guess, they walked towards the small circular fort. As they approached, they could see Alex inside the spiny fort. There was a solid wall of boards around the trees and surrounding it were sharp gray branches, all covered in thorns.
"Quite the fort you've got here." Dean said. Alex looked up from the paper she was writing on.
"What's up?" she asked, quickly pushing away the papers.
"We were just wondering if you were hungry. We were going to eat." Dean explained.
"Oh sure." Alex said. She picked up the stack of papers by her side and lifted a latch on the wooden slat to her right. She knocked the sharp outer branch off and pushed open the 'door.' Replacing the branch, she stood up and began walking back to the house.
"What were you writing?" Sam asked.
"Uh...stuff." Alex said, blushing slightly.
"Really no way." Dean said sarcastically. "What kind of stuff?"
"Erm...haha...uh...poetry." Alex said, her blush deepening to a crimson.
"Poetry? Really? What kinds?" Sam asked, more curious than insulting.
"Free verse mostly. Sort of about whatever I feel like. I keep 'em out here because, well, I don't want my mom, or anyone, finding them. They're kind of personal." Alex said. She smiled sheepishly at Sam. They were back at the house and Alex opened the back door into the house. She put the stack of papers on the counter and opened the pantry.
"Well we've got loads of chips, crackers. I can make rice. Got some fruit in that bowl." she said, gesturing to a bowl on top of the microwave. "Popcorn, condiments. Bread. Could make sandwiches. Cereal. Geez, does my mom cook when I'm not here?" Alex said, the last sentence more to herself.
"What do you mean when you're not here?" Dean asked.
"My parents were divorced." Alex said simply. She shut the pantry and moved to the fridge.
"Oh I'm sorry." Sam said.
"It's no big deal. They got divorced when I was two or three. Honestly, I can't even remember the time when they were together." she said without looking away from the fridge. "Let's see. Uh veggies. Gross. Hummus, yogurt, cheese. Lunch meat. Jackpot, hot dogs. Wait we have bacon? Found breakfast for tomorrow. Anything sounding good?"
"I'll just slap together a sandwich thanks." Dean said. Alex tossed him the loaf of bread.
"Can I have a hot dog?" Sam asked.
"Sure." Alex said. She microwaved two hot dogs and handed Sam one of them. "Here you go. I'm gonna watch some TV." She settled herself on the couch and turned on Doctor Who. The Parting of the Ways was on. "Crap. Different episode."
"What's wrong with that one?" Dean asked as he sat down next to her.
"It's just kind of sad. And I don't really want to watch something sad right now." Alex said. She flipped to Boom Town. "Much better." They all ate their food in silence, watching the TV intently. They finished a couple minutes after the episode. Sam and Dean leaned back into the couch.
"That was pretty funny but kind of weird." Sam said. "What was she called again?"
"Raxacoricofallapatorian." Alex said without hesitation.
"Right. Of course." Sam said.
"Family was the Slitheen. And her name is Blon." Alex added.
"How do you know all of this so quickly?" Dean asked.
"I've seen it a few times. Waiting for Season 2 is hard." Alex shrugged.
"Those monsters were pretty freaky. Like taking over fat people in the government." Dean said.
"Yeah. This show has given me a long list of normal things that are no longer safe or normal. Gas masks for one."
"Gas masks?" Dean asked.
"Another episode. One of my favorites." Alex said. "I'll be in my room if you need me." she said. She put her plate in the kitchen before picking up her papers and heading to her room. She chose one of the many pencils she had in her nightstand and resumed writing. Midnight came and went. 2 am rolled around and the front door banged open.
"Alexandra!" Ms. Thurman's voice shouted loudly into the dark house. Alex closed her eyes before slipping the papers under her bed and opening the door.
"What?" she called back in a loud whisper. "Don't wake the boys. Remember?"
"I remember just fine." her mother called her voice just as loud. She stood in the hallway. "Why didn't you make dinner? I work my butt off for you, and you don't do anything around here!" she said, her voice even louder now. "I've had a stressful day and all I ask for is a little help!" Alex stepped into the hallway and approached her mother. Unknown to both women, Sam and Dean were listening at their door. "I am sick and tired of your laziness!" She finished the final sentence and slapped Alex on the cheek.
"That's it! I'm done! I do nothing wrong, but you have a crappy day and you come shouting at me for your problems. You're always on the edge of the breaking point, yelling at something almost every night! I'm sick of you! I hate you and I wish you had died in the car with Dad!" Alex shouted. She stormed past her mother and out the back door. Her mother stood frozen for a second. Usually the teen just stood silently while she ranted. She walked numbly forward and into her room. She laid down on the bed and began sobbing quietly. Alex, who had gone to the barn, was slumped on the floor doing the same thing.