It was all blank. I didn't have a rational thought running threw my clouded mind as I was thrown back into the time warp and landed safely in the motel room.
"Scar?" I jumped, Sam and Dean were both standing by the table when I had whipped myself around to catch sight of them.
"I saw it." I blurt out watching them attentively before turning to look at the ground. "I watched Crowley kill me." A painful flash of images come flooding back and I could remember it threw my own eyes. The last thing I could remember was Sam and Dean. Their almost relieved faces before it was all taken back. "I felt the knife," My voice catches in the back of my throat as I look up to face them. Sam had a pitying and worn expression burned onto his face while Dean just stared at me, almost guilt written. I wiped my teary eyes, turning away from them. "sorry." I murmur, pushing stray red hairs out of my face.
"No Scarlett." I look to Dean who is walking towards me, past Sam. "Don't do that. Don't do that to yourself." He is standing right in front of me now, our gazes locked on each other. "We both know what you just saw. You saw what I did to you."
"Dean-"
"No Scarlett," He snaps. "I killed you. Me." He say to me, taking my shoulders. "Not Crowley, not some demon, it was me!" I raise my arms, taking his and pushing his own down.
"I saw Dean," I tell him. "I saw everything." I don't continue on but he looks at me, questioning.
"Well get angry or something. Tell me you hate me." He says. "Don't just act like it's OK because if you killed me, I'd be pretty pissed." He continues looking at me seriously but I couldn't conceal a giggle. A small smile breaks onto his lips but he tries to hide it. "Serious talk here, now. Come on." He takes my arm again, pulling me into a hug. I wrap my arms around his neck, returning the embrace. "Glad to have you back." He says to me. I let go of him, looking him in the eye.
"Glad to be back." I say to him, punching him playfully in the shoulder. He smiles but still had the same guilty eyes as he looked down on me. Finally, I looked past him and saw Sam staring at us with longing eyes.
"So how bad do you feel now?" Sam asks as I slowly made my way towards him.
"Whose to say I feel bad?" I ask him. He looks at me with his famous do-I-look-like-an-idiot look. I shrug. "Sam, I really do feel fine."
"You should know that the last time I heard that and the guy was telling the truth," Dean says from behind me. "he didn't have a soul." Sam's mouth twitches as he sighs heavily.
"I just wish you guys would quit asking me if I'm alright. I am honestly OK." I walk past Sam and for the washroom. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower." I say, shutting the door behind me, locking it. I walked to the mirror, looking at my reflection which I was less than impressed with.
My hair wasn't in it's natural volume or whip straight fashion. It was wavy, slightly messy and fell longer than it ever has. I was more pale than usual and upon taking off my sweater I saw my collar bones were close to popping out of my skin along with the bones in my neck and basically every other bone in my body.
Finally sick of my reflection, I turn away and start my shower.
I wrapped the towel tightly around my body and noticed a bag full of fresh clothes placed on the bathroom floor by the door which I am asuming Sam had brought in earlier while I was in the shower. Fishing threw it, I found my old clothes. Stuff I had worn what felt like hundreds of years ago. A few pairs of ripped jeans, a couple plaid shirts, t-shirts, leggings and some dress clothes. I easily decided on the concert t-shirt I got when Dean, Sam and I went to see Kiss in Ohio with a pair of gray leggings.
After I had dressed, I towel dried my hair then pulled it into a clean braid before exiting the washroom. They both were lid down on the bed, sleeping more than soundly as the TV blaired. I walked over to it, turning it off. Dean rolled over, fluffling the pillow slightly before falling right back to sleep. Sam didn't budge. I scowered the room quickly for my keys before finding them on the table, snatching them up and darting outside.
The wind was cold, air damp and sky a tired gray. My beautiful red pick up called me forwards, pleaded for me. I went without question, igniting the engine and pulling out of the motel parking lot, taking off down the road.
After a half an hour, I pulled into a decent looking diner and walked inside being greeted by a more than familiar smiling face.
"Scarlett, my oh my! I haven't seen you in forever!" Mary Jay smiles cheekily at me, rushing over to pull me into a hug. She hurls her arms around my neck. Mary Jay has lived in Austin all her life, what she's doing in Florida is beyond me.
"Mary Jay, what are you doing here? What about your job? And your promotion?" I wonder, letting go of her as she takes my hand, leading me to a table.
"Honey, we need to talk." She tells me. "Let me go get your coffee." Mary Jay had a great job in real estate in Austin with her family when I straggled in on leads for a case. Her father killed a family in a drunk driving accident and the spirits were back, ready to take Mary Jay's family. Strongest avenging spirit case I have ever seen. It killed her husband and her father and was about to take the kids when I finally shot it down with rock salt and kept it away long enough to salt and burn the bones...of all 4 bodies.
In a few seconds, Mary Jay was hurrying back with two cups and pot of coffee. "Now," She settles herself down, untieing the elastic that held her blond hair back into a neat bun. "I couldn't live in that house where my husband was killed by that thing." She says, pouring up the coffee.
"No, I couldn't expect that of you. Why Florida?" I ask her.
"My mom lives here. I am staying with her until I can get a good job to put us on our feet." She tells me. I nod, taking a sip of my coffee. "Keeping yourself busy?" I lay my coffee down and sigh heavily, shrugging. "Oh I don't like that."
"I uh," I didn't know how to tell her anything so I just looked up and smiled as sincere as I could. "real busy."
"Got yourself a man yet?" She wonders. I laugh a little bit. "Don't laugh! Girl like you shouldn't have any trouble with that."
"I can barely hold down a meal," I say, still chuckling. "let alone a relationship."
"My word I knew you were too skinny! You like sickly! Come stay with me, get out of that motel room find some peace. I'll take care of you my dear." She says seriously, topping off my cup with coffee again. "We might even get a night on the town if you're up for it."
"I hate to turn you down Mary Jay, I really do, but I'm looking into some cases." I say which wasn't a complete lie. "I was hoping to rob you of a newspaper and a cup or two of coffee." She stands, wiping her apron down.
"Newpaper coming right up. But we have some catching up to do." She tells me, shaking a finger in my direction before turning and walking back to the front. I laughed again, how she made me laugh. Suddenly, my phone was ringing. I fished it out of my handbag to see Sam's name flash across the screen. I flipped it open.
"Yes?" I ask.
"Scarlett? Where are you?" Sam snaps. I look around. Where was I?
"A diner," I say. "half an hour away. Why?" I ask, downing another bit of coffee.
"Well you kinda took off. I woke up and you were gone, sorry for worrying." He says sarcastically before breaking into coughs.
"Hey, are you OK?" I ask but my only response was Sam's continuos coughing. "Sam?"
"I'm fine," He chokes. "fine, just uh...I'll be there in a second." The line goes dead and I stare at the phone, questioning.
"So, what exactly are you in town for?" Mary Jay comes up behind me. I take a deep breath in, looking to her as she lays the newspaper in front of me.
"It's, uh, quite a long story actually." I chuckle. "One for another time." I tell her, opening up the paper. "Tell me, how are Lily and Benjamin?" I wonder, skimming over column after column.
"Benjamin is leaving soon." Mary Jay tells me. I look up to her and realize the sad expression on her face. "He wants to move back to Texas, so he is."
"Don't like the idea very much?"
"He's only eighteen!" She says, harshly but whispering. "What if, I don't know, another ghost comes. He won't know how to protect himself!"
"I know lots of great hunters living in Austin, you won't have to worry about that." I tell her. "Ben is a strong kid anyway, Mary Jay." I say, setting down the paper and looking to her. "He saved you and your daughter when your house burnt down. Carried you both out on his back."
"I know, but he's still just a kid." She tells me.
"I understand your worry, but have a little faith in the kid." I respond. She sighs, her head dropping as if she were relaxing her neck. "Your forgetting I think, I was eighteen when I saved your family."
"Mary Jay! Back to work!" Some one calls from the back of the room. Her head props up and she stands, taking the elastic from around her wrist and tieing her hair back on top of her head.
"It's been too long kid," She says, putting a hand on my shoulder. "don't be a stranger."
"I won't." I assure her as she smiles lightly before turning and walking to the front of the diner. I take up the newspaper again, looking at the obituary for odd deaths cause I know I wouldn't get away with it under Sam and Dean's radar.
I see a woman, smiling brightly and the name underneath Cornelia McCrae. Upon reading further on I realized it was probably my type of thing.
She was 22, her fiance found her in pieces in their apartment. No signs of forced entry.
I take up my coffee again, sipping from it before the chair across from me is pulled out. Sam plops down, staring at me.
"That was fast," I say, laying down the cup and returning the stare. He doesn't say anything. "how fast were you going?"
"Why did you leave?" He asks me, grinding his teeth in an un impressed manor. I shrug.
"I was peckish," I say, about to fold the newspaper up before Sam snatches it from me.
"Uh huh," He says, flipping it around. "that's why you were reading the obituary." I sigh heavily, knowing I was caught red handed. I stand laying ten dollars on the table.
"Alright, you caught me." I say. "But now you have to 'fess up." I tell him. He looks up at me, confused. "Are you sick or something? You're a lot more pale then I remember, and the coughing." He rolls his eyes about ready to speak when I cut him off again. "Actually, you sound kind of hoarse now to mention it." I turned on my heels, walking slowly towards the door. I hear the clatter of Sam jumping to his feet behind me.
"Scarlett, we need to talk." Sam comes up from behind me, speed walking to my side. "There are some things we haven't told you that you should know."
"Oh really? More surprises?" I ask, getting to the door and pushing it open.
"Seriously, can you stop for a second?" He asks, pushing himself out the open door and standing in front of me. I stop, giving him an expecting look. "Crowley escaped."
"What?" I choke, my palms became sweaty, heart pounding faster and my mind was clouded. I wouldn't let fear over run me again. I looked away from Sam, my legs started shaking but I shrugged it off. "When?"
"Last night, I think. Castiel said he had him, but Crowley had the upper hand."
"Alright," I say. "Uh, any apocalypses I should know about?" He laughs, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well, we have the word of God. And a prophet." Same says. I tilt my head, a brow raised and I was more than confused. "We are going to shut the gates of hell."
"So let me get this straight." I say, Sam, Dean and Castiel all stood around me, awaiting my take on the situation. "There's a rock,"
"A tablet." Castiel corrects me. I nod once.
"Right, a tablet with weird writing on it which is supposedly the word of God which only one guy can read,"
"The prophet." Sam says. "Kevin."
"Okay, So Kevin the prophet is the only guy who can read the word of God which is written on a tablet and it tell's how to close the gates of hell. You do so by doing trials?" I sum everything up that the boys had just explained to me. "I don't understand the term 'trial' though."
"Basically they are tests and once Sam complete's the other 2 the gates of hell close." Dean says to me. I open my mouth to ask but I'm cut off by further explanation. "The first one was bathe in the blood of a hellhound." I cringe, looking at Sam who has the same look of disgust on his face.
"And the other two?" I wonder.
"They are being translated." Sam tells me. I nod.
"So is that what's making you so sick?" I wonder. His face goes ashen as the words leave my mouth and he adjusts himself uncomfortably.
"Your sick?" Dean asks.
"You didn't know?" Castiel and I interject in unison. Dean looks to us then back to Sam who shrugs.
"I'm not sick, really." He says. "Just a little, unadjusted to the whole trials."
"Yeah, right." Dean says, unconvinced in the slightest.
"Seriously guys. I uh, I just feel a little bit underneath the weather. Nothing to serious. Like, I wasn't in hell for 4 years or so." Sam turns to me and so do the boys.
"Not this again." I complain.
"Scarlett, we really need to sit down and talk about what's next for you." Sam says. I tilt my head, confused.
"What do you mean what's next? I'm not a sitcom, I-"
"Scarlett." Dean stops me. I turn to him. "You were in hell for 4 years."
"Really?" I ask sarcastically. He bites his lip to hold in any...colorful words.
"Scarlett, You watched yourself die. You were put in constant torture for 4 years. You aren't OK." Dean tells me. "We know that they used our faces to torture you. You were jumpy for what? Half a day?"
"Well you know what I realized? I can't hide in some hole." I say. "I can't keep letting fear over run me. It's there, all the time, but it's not going to run my life. I am. I'm doing the best I can to convince myself that I'm not afraid anymore but it's starting with you guys. I have to convince you guys as well."
"Scarlett, we want to believe you, but-"
"But what?"
"But they can't. You're lying." Castiel speaks up. I look at him, inquisitioning. "You may not realize it, but your mind has been tampered with."