Chapter 2 – Oxygen


I came apart inside a world
Made of angry people
I found a boy who had a dream
Making everyone smile
He was sunshine
I fell over
My feet like bricks under water
And how am I supposed to tell you how I feel?
I need oxygen

Oh baby, if I was your lady
I will make you happy
I'm never gonna leave, never gonna leave
Oh baby, I would be your lady
I am going crazy... for you

And so I found a state of mind
Where I could be speechless
I had to try it for a while
To figure out this feeling
This felt so right
Pull me upside
Down to a place where you've been waiting
And how am I supposed to tell you how I feel?
I need oxygen

Colbie Caillat - Oxygen


Sam walked out of the motel. It was 6AM, early Tuesday morning. The sun was just starting to rise over the Boston buildings and Charles River. They had intentionally picked a motel near campus. Sam was aware it was really early, and especially Dean hated getting up early in the mornings. If Dean could choose, he'd probably sleep 'til twelve. However, they had better get to the morgue early, before people started wandering in and out of there. Dean was a wanted fugitive, and now Sam too, and they couldn't risk getting caught. Sam sighed as he waited for Dean.

"Dean, are you coming today or tomorrow?", he shouted impatiently.

"Yeah bitch, I'm coming", Dean gruffed."Just take it easy, I didn't get much sleep."

Sam laughed at Dean's appearance, his hair was really tousled and he looked tired and untidy in spite of the black suit he was wearing. Dean gave him the death stare before the boys got into the Impala.

A couple of minutes later they pulled up outside the city morgue. Sam and Dean straightened out their suits and walked into the office with their usual confidence. They could never show too much of that when they were working a job.

"FBI", Dean said to the secretary and both flashed their fake badges to the elderly woman. "We're here to look at the campus bodies."

"The police have already looked at them", the woman argued.

"Listen miss...", Dean said with his best smile and glanced at the I.D. tag she was wearing. "Bloomfield. The case has been transferred to us now, and we'd like to conduct our own investigation."

The woman blushed, apparently because of him calling her "miss". Sam had to admit, Dean knew how to charm women of any age.

"Mrs actually", she responded, now with a softer appearance. "Okay, very well, follow me."

She lead them into the morgue and pulled out the five bodies. "I guess you want to be alone", she said.

Sam smiled and thanked her and Dean just nodded. Once she left the room, Sam started examining the bodies.

"Dude, there's no apparent cause of death, not any that I can see anyways", he told Dean. "I suspected it could've been vampires but there are no puncture wounds and all the blood is still there."

He looked at one of the girls. She had been pretty when she was alive, long brown hair and big, bright blue eyes. Now she was incredibly pale, her former beauty faded. "Poor girl", Sam thought. This never got any easier, no matter how many times they did it.

"There are no other traumas on the bodies either", Sam said and shook his head. "I wish there was something, but there isn't. Looks like they just dropped down dead".

"Maybe we're dealing with a spirit of some kind", Dean responded and looked like he was thinking really hard.

"Maybe", Sam responded.

He covered up the bodies and put them back in their places. "We need something more to go on before starting to research", he said. "Let's get some breakfast, and then we could maybe go to campus and talk to some of the students. Maybe that'll give us some ideas."

"Breakfast sounds awesome", Dean responded. "Come on geek boy, I'm starving."

Sam couldn't help but to laugh, and followed his brother outside to the car. They quickly went back to the motel to change out of their suits into something more casual, and from there they went to a little diner near campus.


Rika was sitting at the diner, having some breakfast and working on her final paper on her MacBook. She minored in psychology, so she had decided to write about how media affects children and their behaviour. Her lectures had been cancelled due to the memorial service that was about to take place in an hour, so she had decided to get some work done. Last night had been late, as she had been patrolling the city. However, she had gotten up early as she was a morning person. She was always surprised that she wasn't tired even with only three hours of sleep, but that was just part of the Slayer package. Or so she figured. Slayers were sort of creatures of the night, if you thought about it.

She took a glance at her watch and realized that she had to get going if she was going to make it back to her apartment and get changed before Janine's service. She put her MacBook away into her black messenger bag which she then threw over her shoulder and picked up her trustworthy Canon EOS 400D from the table and hung it around her neck. She quickly gathered her books and papers from the table, and put them underneath her arm. Finally she left a tip for the waitress and walked towards the exit when she suddenly bumped into someone and her books dropped on down on the floor.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry", she heard a male voice say. "You okay?"

Rika avoided looking up, as she knew someone with that kind of voice would most likely be very good-looking. She didn't want to embarrass herself by blushing, so she knelt and started gathering her books and papers that were now strewn across the diner floor. She saw that the person she had bumped into also knelt down to start helping her with her stuff.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's okay", she replied as she gathered the last of her papers. "I didn't watch where I was going." She stood up, and the other person did too.

"You sure?", the guy asked her again. She looked up and stared into a pair of kind, green eyes

She had been right. He was absolutely dreamy as he was standing there, smiling at her. He was quite tall, at least 6'4" and she was on eye-level with his shoulders. Damn, she hated being so short at times. She literally had to look up at him, just to see his face. He had brown hair that was a bit longer and he pulled off that "I don't brush my hair" look really well. His nose gave his face a certain boyish charm, and it was very cute. He was most definitely her type, she had always had a thing for the tall, dark and handsome guy. There was another guy standing on his side, and it looked like they had entered the diner together. The other one was also very good-looking, though a bit shorter, maybe around 6' or 6'1". He looked a bit older than the guy she had bumped into though, and a bit more rugged in a brown leather jacket. She fired Mr Tall-Dark-and-Handsome her prettiest smile.

"Yeah, I'm sure", she said as he handed her the books he had picked off the floor. She put them back under her arm. "Thanks."

"Good", he said and smiled once more. "Oh, God, that smile", Rika thought.

"I'm kind of in a hurry, I gotta go", she excused herself and opened the door. She stepped out in the morning sunlight. "Wonder who that was. God, I need some oxygen." Maybe it was going to be a beautiful day after all. Then she realized she didn't even ask for the guys name. Secretly, she hoped she'd get to see him again.


When Sam entered the diner he didn't get very far as he bumped into someone trying to leave. Everything happened so fast, and the only thing he saw as a couple of books and some papers that fell to the floor, dropped by the person he had bumped into. He looked up and saw a girl, as she knelt and started to pick up her books.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry", he said. "You okay?"

She had long, wavy, honey blonde hair. He admired her lean figure. She wore a tight, forest green sweater that reached half her thighs, a pair of black, skinny jeans and some black flats. She also had a brown leather jacket. He couldn't see her face as her hair was in the way, the long sideswept bang falling over her face, keeping it hidden. She had a black messenger bag thrown over her shoulder, and a camera was hanging around her neck. He could tell she was pretty. He knelt too, and started helping her with her books. He caught the title on one of them: 'Handbook of Journalism Studies'. Ah, she studied journalism. He glanced at another of the books. Goethe's 'Faust'. That was some pretty deep reading. Her being a journalism student explained the camera and the amount of papers she was carrying. She must be pretty smart.

She was silent at first, but then she spoke. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's okay. I didn't watch where I was going."

She picked up the last papers, and then she stood up. Sam did the same. "You sure?", he asked once more, wanting to be sure she hadn't gotten any injuries.

She finally looked up, and he looked into the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. They were big and almond-shaped, framed by long, black eyelashes. And the colour. They were hazel towards green, but with tints of blueish grey and brown. He also noticed her light skin, and the tiny freckles on the bend of her nose and under her eyes. They weren't that distinct, and you couldn't see them if she wasn't standing really close. It just made them cuter. Her nose was slightly round at the tip, and she had full, peachy lips. And then she smiled, a warm, compassionate smile and he almost melt right there.

"Yeah, I'm sure", she said as he handed her the books he had picked off the floor. She put them back under her arm. "Thanks."

"Good", he said and smiled, as he couldn't come up with anything better to say.

"I'm kind of in a hurry, I gotta go", she said, and suddenly she was out the door, before he even realized she was gone. As she walked past him, her scent travelled into his nose. She smelled lovely, of wild flowers and something fresh, something along the lines of early morning dew after a summer rain.

Sam looked after the girl as she left the diner. He couldn't help looking at her behind, perfectly shaped, and how her hips were swinging as she walked. She walked with such grace that she almost looked like she was dancing. She was quite short, only around 5'5", but it made her even cuter. No, she wasn't cute, he corrected himself. Cute was an understatement. He shook his head. He wasn't usually this condescending towards girls, he didn't like to 'check them out' in the same way his brother did.

Then he realized he hadn't even gotten her name. "Wonder if I'll ever see her again", he thought. Then he became aware of his brother again, who had been standing next to him all the time. Sam turned towards his brother, and caught Dean staring at her behind too, and punched him on the shoulder.

"Ow, dude! What the hell!", Dean yelled and rubbed his shoulder.

"Stop staring at women and concentrate", Sam responded.

"Oh, don't pretend there Sammy boy!", Dean said. "You checked her out too! And I don't blame you, she was smokin'!"

Sam ignored Dean, and changed the subject. He didn't want to argue about women with Dean again. They had had the same argument a million times by now. But he couldn't get this particular girl out his his head. He felt oddly drawn to her for some reason.

"Let's grab something to eat", he suggested in an attempt to think of something else. "It's going to be a long day."


Rika opened the door to her apartment and threw the keys on the table in the hall. She sighed and removed her jacket and shoes. She looked into the mirror in the hall, and let out another sigh. She looked like a wreck.

She walked over to the bathroom and slowly got undressed. She needed to shower. She turned the shower on, and it took a moment before the hot water kicked in. When it did, she stepped into the shower, and soon she felt her tense muscles loosening up underneath the hot water, moaning her approval of the situation.

She was done in about five minutes. She wasn't like other girls who needed an hour in the shower. She blowdried her hair, and put on some fresh make-up. Then she slid into the black, strapless dress she was going to wear to the service and slipped into a pair of black stilettos. Even though she hated using heels they made her taller and that was a big plus. She pulled out a gray cardigan from her wardrobe, put on her jacket, grabbed her purse and went out the door. "Time to say goodbye to Janine", she thought before locking up.