I wake up in my own bed, the one I have slept in for all my life. I groan as I blink out the sunshine on my face. I sigh when I remember that I am back in the real world and I have school. I get up and get dressed. I notice in the mirror that the awful bruise is gone from my head. So maybe it is a really vivid dream and none of that had I just witnessed.
I drag myself to school and dread the awful morning ahead. Feeling a bit anxious, I take out my necklace from its usual hiding place under my uniform and toy with it. I remember what Sam and Dean had said about it when they saw it. They said the pentagram keeps the literal demons away, and the stylised patterns would be a spell or ward of some kind. It made me feel much safer with my necklace on. If it can keep away actual demons, maybe it can keep away the ones I face every day.
I huff again, wishing and praying that the last two nights were real and not just me. But it goes against any logical explanation. I reach my school gates and brace myself before I walk in through the school gates.
I get to my class and avoid any interactions with other people although I do get a few weird stares but nothing out of the ordinary. It all started when my pendant slipped out of my shirt collar during PE about two years ago. This girl, Jessie who wasn't (and still isn't) particularly nice to me, saw the pendant and spread the rumour saying that I worship the Devil. Since then, few people wants to talk to me and when there are new students that come along to be friendly, Jessie just dishes the dirt and they too stop talking to me.
I have no idea what she has against me, but she is known for holding grudges longer than the Federal Archives, no matter how trivial. I don't what did I ever do to her in the first month of my first year in secondary school. I do try and ask her but she only ever replies with cutting insults, on the best days she gives up and walks off.
I sit down at my place in the back of the class and pull out books for my first class. Everybody else is chatting to their friends or catching up with some sleep and I leaf through my homework that I have to hand in today. In an unfortunate moment, I look up and catch Jessie's eye. She sees me and cuts short her flirting with the boys and saunt over to my table.
Leaning purposefully over my homework, Jessie sneers, "Good morning, Pierce. Is this the work we're supposed to hand in today? Thanks for helping me do it." She laughs and waves my hard work around. She straightens it and reads through my essay with a smirk on her face the entire time. She looks up at me and stares at my chest. She isn't being a pervert, though. "Are you still going around worshipping the Devil? You're a freak, Pierce."
I reach one hand up to cover the pendant I forgot to hide back under my uniform when I took it out on the way to school. This explains the extra dirty looks from some people I walked past earlier. I wordlessly tuck it into my collar but don't break eye contact with Jessie who is gloating so much she is starting to resemble a frog. I can hear Dean's voice pointing it out and I chuckle at the thought. My change of character catches her off guard. Normally I don't talk back and let her taunt but with Sam and Dean swimming around in my head, I feel so much stronger and confident.
"What's so funny, Pierce?" She asks.
I shake my head with a crooked smile on my lips, "Nothing. It's just that you're a pathetic person."
Her eyes narrow to slits, "You think you have the upper hand here, do you? You just proved to the entire class what I've been saying for two years. You're a Satanist, and a freak."
"Satanist?" I laugh. "What makes you think that?"
"Are you stupid or something?" She scoffs. "You have that thing hanging of your neck."
"What thing? Oh, this thing?" I pull the pentagram out and dangle it for her to see. "It keeps demons out. It's on Google if you don't believe me. You should really do some research before shooting your mouth off like that. It might make you sound stupider than you already are."
"You're a freak," she hisses. "Your whole family are freaks. Who even names their daughter Pierce?"
I shrug and reply, "I like the name, really. It gives me a bit of character. Judging by your ear, though, I think Pierce would fit you just nicely." This line earns some laughter from the crowd gathering around us.
She scowls and hisses, "I will get you one day. You don't belong here, or anywhere for that matter. You're a freak."
"Jeez, you really need to learn a few more words there, Jess," I answer back. "Freak is started to wear out."
The class laughs but is cut short by the teacher entering the class. Jessie gives me one last look and I swear that her eyes turned entirely black. I shrug it off. She already has small eyes and she was squinting at me so I reckon it's just a shadow.
After a long day at school, I drag myself back home and unceremoniously throw myself on my bed. I close my eyes for five minutes and get back up again to wash up and do my chores. After chores, its homework and then I fall back onto my bed again and welcome the waves of sleep washing over me. Today was torture and I half hope that I will wake up with Sam and Dean around to take my mind off the crazy day.
I swim in black nothingness for a while before getting woken up by sounds of shuffling feet and low conversation. I feel the coarse fabrics around me and how they scratch at my skin. My upper body is wrapped in something woollen and warm. I'm sweating quite badly, really. I decide to come to and groan.
"Good morning, sunshine," I hear Dean greet.
I sit up and look at them. I smile despite my grogginess and say, "Boy, am I glad to see your faces."
Dean looks at me strangely and Sam huffs, "Tough day back home?"
"Yeah," I yawn. "School is as good as hell."
"School ain't that bad," Dean scoffs. "I've been to Hell, I know."
"Well, I believe you," I reply and walk into the bathroom to change and brush my teeth. Through the door, I ask them, "So what are we doing today?"
"Sam and I are going back to the house to check it out," Dean replies.
"What about me?"
"Homework, you're going to read up on some lore and maybe find out if there were similar killings in the past."
Great, so I have to do homework in my dream/alternate life thing as well. Some things don't change. "Homework is not my most favourite activity, you know," I try to weasel my way out.
Unperturbed, Dean says, "Yeah, well it's the safest activity. Come on, we got to get you to the library."
I am not too pleased about escaping to another world just to do more mundane work but Sam and Dean tells me that they don't want me to be put in harm's way, or the law's either. I grudgingly accept the dull day that is put before me and let them take me to the local library. I am to ask the librarian for archives of local newspaper and get hold of a computer to do some research. At least I get to use a computer maybe I can check my blog and see how it's holding up with me having not updated it for a few days.
They stop in front of a grand stone building and I sigh. As I open the car door to get out, Sam shuffles and calls out. I lean back in and he gives me a reasonable wad of cash. I take it and cock an eyebrow questioningly.
"In case you get hungry," Sam explains. "Also you can go get some supplies you might need, there's a minimart around the corner and a coffee shop opposite."
"You know this place well," I comment.
He shrugs, "I went out for a drink last night."
I nod and thank him before getting out of the car. I sling a backpack they gave to me earlier over my shoulder and tuck the 100 dollars into my pocket before turning back to wave them off. Dean rolls down his window and I bend over to hear what he has to say.
"Remember," Dean instructs. "We want to everything similar to these two deaths, find a pattern. It could be anything: the area, the dates, the cause of death, anything. Also, no talking to strangers, you don't know who they are or what they want with you."
"Yes, mother," I mock and he rolls his eyes with a protest on the tip of his tongue. "Alright, alright. Good luck with the scene."
"Yeah, okay," Dean nods. "We'll be here by five. If we don't come by call us and get back to the motel. Got it?"
I nod and watch them drive off. Once the sleek back of the car disappears around the corner, I walk into the cool, quiet interior of the library. The place is made out of marble and solid wooden furniture. It's nothing compared to some libraries I've read about but it is certainly the best one I've seen in my life. Yes, I don't like homework but I do like reading and I do amateur writing on my blog. Libraries fascinate me along with other arty building designs. We don't get that a lot of nice buildings back home.
I finish gawking at the stately interior design and walk over to the big counter where a pencil thin, middle aged woman is standing. I take a deep breath and smother the pathetic anxiety that comes with meeting strangers. I decide to milk the privileges of looking different from people in the area.
"Excuse me," I start, laying my accent slightly heavier than I usually do.
The lady looks up from her computer screen and smiles at me. The accent works but I also earn some stereotyped, slightly annoying, attention. She greets me back a little bit louder and slower than what she would've done with the locals.
"Good morning," She says first. "How can I help you?" Some hand gestures go along with the question. I don't speak fluently, I'm not deaf but I tolerate it.
"Yes," I nod. "I want old local newspapers."
"Of course," she says. "How far back do you want it?"
"As far back as possible," I reply.
She nods and excuses herself to the back room. I hesitantly find a table near the last computer and set my bag down on a chair. The place is empty so I decide to explore the racks and shelves while I wait till librarian comes back with my newspaper archives. The books here are old and well used. Most of them are leather bound and embossed with gold or silver letterings. They're breathtaking.
The librarian comes back and sets two boxes down on my table for me. "Thanks," I say and get right down to work. "Can I use this computer, as well?" I ask her, gesturing to the one nearest to me.
"Of course," she replies. "Why do you need all these? If you don't mind me asking, that is."
I look up from my newspaper and shake my head, "No, I just like learning about towns I visit. History is fascinating."
The librarian accepts this answer and goes back to her table with a "If you need any help" line. I focus on the tedious work before me. The research is boring stuff. I flip through every page until my fingers feel numb and I write enough notes to make a nerdy college student proud. I read through every stabbing case in the archives to make a copy of each one to hand to Sam and Dean later. The strangest thing is that many of the mysterious, unsolved cases involve one male victim stabbed twice and left for dead while trying to escape. The photos of all the men show them lying face down in similar positions as this new victim.
After a few hours, I get bored of the archives and decide to switch to the computer for a break. The computer is on stand by and I shake the mouse to bring it back to life. I go straight onto an internet browser and habitually onto my blog. My blog login page shows up so either this is indeed real or my dream world also has my blog with a sudden decline in my follower count. I whimper in despair as I lost almost 50 of my hard earned followers because of a few days' hiatus. Other than that, my blog is exactly how I left it last time. I decide to believe that this is the real world and magic exists.
I read a few more posts from others I follow and continue to search for related deaths online. I find a few of cases from the archives and a couple others. It's difficult to screen through the search findings because some of the results are merely amateur writers or crazy people looking for attention. More interesting results include shapes and sizes of different knife cuts and how to tell them apart.
Finally I see the article I need. A solemn looking, young girl looks out at me from a grey and white photo. I click the link and read the article. A maniacal smile is probably forming on my face but I don't care. I print out the article and a page full of links. My work is done for today, I can finally eat and walk about. I haven't had the chance to explore much of the US since I got here. I get a free trip here (dream or no dream) so I'm going to find out about this new world as much as I can.
I tuck all the notes and papers into my backpack and walk out of the library, thanking the librarian for the archives. The sun is bright but the air is still chilly. I slowly adjust to the new climate and make my way to the little coffee shop Sam mentioned earlier. I order a hot cup of coffee and a sandwich and sit in the corner alone, watching the pedestrians walk up and down the street. I finish my meal and find out that I have just enough time to grab some personal things from the mart before they come fetch me.
I buy some hair elastics, a hair brush and some makeup because you never know what you might need. I pay for the items and trudge back to the front steps of the library where the Winchester's sleek car is already parked waiting for me.
