Chapter Ten
Dean
"She has lost much in the past few weeks," Castiel said after Annabelle had left the room.
"Really, Cas? I never would have guessed that someone who's lost her family and one of her friends has lost a lot," I said sarcastically.
"It goes farther than that," Cas said.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"I talked with her family on their way to heaven. They wanted to know if Annabelle was okay. Her mother said Annabelle was having a hard time with he deaths of her uncle's family in a recent plane crash. Her father mentioned that Annabelle's grandmother passed earlier this week. Annabelle's siblings wanted me to keep them in contact," Cas explained.
"Wow. Kid's got a lot on her shoulders. Didn't we investigate a plane crash last week, Sam? It was a demon, right?" I said.
"Yeah. Was that the same plane crash?" Sam asked.
"I believe so. They were flying from Arizona to Colorado to visit," Cas said.
"Dang. No one mention this to her. I'll find a good time to talk to her," I said.
"No need. I can hear you," Annabelle yelled over the shower. Her voice was ragged.
"Oh, crap. Annabelle, I'm sorry," I said.
There was a moment where everything was silent. The only sound was the running water.
"Let's just not talk about my family anymore, ever, okay?" Annabelle was trying hard to hold herself together. I could tell by how tight her voice was.
"No problem," I said.
"Do you have anything else for us, Cas?" Sam lowered his voice.
"Dean wants to talk with Annabelle about Purgatory." Cas kept his voice nearly at a whisper.
"We've discussed it. I'm staying with him," Sam said.
"You understand the plan, correct?" Cas asked.
"It's a simple plan, Cas. We all understand it. Let's just get it over with," I said. "Annabelle, after you're done in there, can we talk?" I yelled.
"What, are you gonna tell me that some old person's spirit pushed my grandma down the stair and broke her neck?" Annabelle came out of the bathroom drying her hair with a towel and trying to hide the tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to—" I tried to say.
"I know. I wasn't supposed to hear that, but I did. Cas, you tell my parents some great people saved my life. Tell them not to miss me," Annabelle said.
"I want to tell you where I came back from. It's a long story and no one's heard it before," I said.
"Dean, let's get the weapons out of the room first," Sam said.
I handed Sam the gun and machete that I always kept at my side.
"Why don't you want any weapons in here?" Annabelle asked nervously.
"I've had a few violent flashbacks. We're just being safe. Come sit down," I said as reassuringly as possible.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Annabelle pulled up a chair and sat in front of me. Her eyes were just as understanding and sensitive as Sam's; the only difference was they were a startling gray.
"No, I need to tell someone about it," I said as Sammy came back into the room. Cas and Sam stood protectively behind me, ready for whatever happened.
"All right. Go ahead," Annabelle said.
"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Do you remember that politician Dick Roman?" I asked.
"Yeah. It was kinda a big deal when he, you know, exploded," Annabelle said.
"Sam, Cas, and I, we know better than anyone else. We were there. Guy was a leviathan. Cas and I stood too close to Dick when he exploded. Gave us a free pass to Purgatory. I remember we were surrounded by vampires almost immediately. We had to fight our way out, but we didn't have any weapons. I told Cas to stay back and I fought for one of their weapons. Once I got one, I started hacking until all of the vamps were dead. Cas collected their weapons. I was lucky they'd just hit me with the hilts of their machetes." Trees started crowding my vision. I shrugged it off and kept going. "My adrenaline rush started to wear off. I felt pain in my rib cage and I couldn't move." The scene of Purgatory I had been describing took over and I was in another flashback.