Anna talked for police for what seemed like hours. Tears stained a path down her face. After the second officer came to take her statement she pulled a cigarette out and tried to light it. Her hand was shaking so badly that she couldn't manage starting the lighter.
A hand pushed hers down while the other pulled a golden lighter out and held the flame out in front of her. Her fingers shook as she lit the cigarette before looking up. Her brain barely recognized it was Dean before she looked back at her hands.
"I killed her." She whispered between puffs.
"No you didn't." It was Sam's voice as his hand slipped over her shoulder.
"She wouldn't have been here if I hadn't called her. She has kids. I need to go get them. My dad isn't here yet; I want to leave before he gets here, I honestly don't know what I'll do if I see him. I have a cabin about an hour outside of town you guys are welcome to stay there. Or you can go I know you said Ohio." Anna kept talking because it felt better than thinking about what she saw. "How did all of her skin come off? All of it, she was still dressed but it was all gone. She couldn't have done that to herself." Anna shook her head.
"We're here now, we'll figure out who or what did this." She saw Sam throw a pointed look at Dean before the older brother spoke up.
"Yeah we can stick around for a little while." He grunted.
Anna could hear the reluctance in his voice but she couldn't be bothered to care.
"Thank you." She whispered. "Crap." She muttered as she saw her fathers Honda pull up to the building. He got out dressed in full dress uniform. She watched him yell at the police before flashing his identification card and pointing over at Anna. The man let him through and Anna stood up before smashing her smoke out on the ground with her boot. Out of habit she straightened her hair and adjusted her blue dress.
"Anna!" He barked as he walked up to her.
"Yes, Sir." She responded with a small salute. It had been the same greeting since she was eleven.
"What did I say would happen if you left this family?" He shouted and Anna flinched back.
"Sir, due respect -" she started but he didn't give her the chance to respond before he slapped her across the face.
Anna stumbled back holding her cheek but she didn't say anything.
"Hey!" Sam yelled and stepped in front of Anna in an attempt to protect her. She placed her hand on his shoulder trying to tell him to back down.
"Sam, it's fine really." She whispered. "I'm fine."
"Back down, boy." Her farther growled. "This is a family matter." His glare turned back to Anna, "you were supposed to protect your sisters and now they are dead because of your selfishness. How many people do you have to kill before you understand?"
"I'm sorry, Sir." She responded finally. "I'm back now, I'm going to take responsibility."
"Of what? Your family is dead!" He yelled. "And you were running around with strangers." His voice rung with disappointment at her actions. "Go home we will deal with this later."
"Sir, I am sorry for what happened but I'm not going home with you." She tried to remain strong. "I can't." She grabbed her bag and walked off. She made it all the way to her car before she broke down.
She let her head rest on the window as she closed her eyes. Suddenly the sadness that overwhelmed her turned to pure hate and anger. Anna's eyes opened and she looked at the bed of the truck. In one of the metal boxes she kept a baseball bat. She didn't think about it anymore as she opened the box and pulled the wooden bat out. She stormed over to her father's midsize sedan and smashed the bat into the mirror. She let out a scream and she could hear others around her scream and back away from her.
"You think you can slap me around, you think you can order me to do whatever you want? Well you can't!" She shouted at the building, she knew her father was watching. "You can't blame me for her death! I didn't kill her! I didn't kill my sisters! I loved them; I loved them more than you ever could. Your heart died a long time ago." She smashed the windshield several times before she moved to the windows. "You were never their parent! I was the only person she ever knew as a mother! You were nothing! I was her mother!"
She felt someone pulling her arm from aiming another blow to the metal of the door. Anna spun around and saw Dean standing there. The anger wasn't gone but fatigue trumped anger as she let her arm drop and she folded herself into him.
"I was her mother." She repeated as she stained his flannel with her tears. "I was her mother, I should have been there, not Nikki, me. I was her mother." She felt his hands run through her hair as she wrapped her hands around his waist. "I was her mother." She muttered again. "It should have been me."
Anna felt Dean walking her away from the smashed car but she couldn't be bothered to look up until she stepped into the car and saw that it was the passenger seat. Sam was behind the wheel and he gave her a small smile before starting the engine.
"Where am I headed?" He asked quietly.
"Back on the freeway West." She muttered, resting her head against the window. Sam nodded but didn't say anything else. It was the first time they had spent any time together fully clothed without yelling at each other.
She gave him directions as needed and before too long they were in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. The winding unsealed roads made the car shake around violently reminding her of a cheap roller coaster at the county fair.
"Turn right at the end of the road." She muttered. "It's the only house up here."
The log cabin Sam stopped in front of always used to look so appealing, now it scared her. She remembered sitting in the back of a police cruiser relaying the story again and again as she watched Robbie's body be carried out of the house. Anna took a breath before letting herself out of the car and walking up to the porch and grabbing the hide-a-key.
Walking in she thought everything should be different but it was exactly the same as the way she left it almost a year ago. The large television still sat above the fireplace, wood rested in the basket.
"So, make yourself comfortable." She tried to sound unfazed by the events of the morning. "There are a couple beds in the loft upstairs and there's a bedroom back there she made motion towards the kitchen. The bathroom is just over there. I think there's some coffee in the kitchen if you want it." She dumped her bags on the chair and wiped at her eyes. "I can stop at the store in a couple hours."
"You lived here?" Sam sounded in awe.
"Yeah, it belonged to my grandfather but when he passed he left it to me. Do you guys want a fire?" She motioned to the fireplace and set about making a fire without waiting for a response. She just needed to do something.
"Why don't you get some rest?" Sam offered.
"I can't sleep. I keep seeing her body all skinless every time I close my eyes. I need to catch whomever - whatever did this. I'm going to find them if it kills me."
The small house was silent as both Sam and Dean made themselves comfortable in the spare room but Anna couldn't make herself enter the bedroom. Every time she took a step closer she could hear the pop of the gun. She sat in front of the fire for an hour before she couldn't stand it anymore. She grabbed her things scrawled a note on a scrap of paper next to the coffee maker.
"Went to pick up kids and get food, be back in a couple hours." She headed out trying to make as little noise as she closed the door behind her. She looked at the note one last time and decided she needed to work on her handwriting.
As Anna pulled up to her sister's house in the suburbs she sucked in a breath. How was she going to tell her nephews that their mother was dead? She let herself in and forced a smile on her face.
"Hello? Where are my two favorite men?" She called with a chuckle.
"Aunt Anna!" She heard the scream before she saw the small child barrel into her side.
"Oomph!" She grunted as the air was knocked out of her. "Damn boy! You ever going to stop growing?" She laughed as she held Michael at arms length. "Where's your little brother? You're keeping him safe, right?"
"I try but it's hard sometimes. I told him not to run down the stairs by he did and he hurt his toe." The eight year old explained.
"Ugh I know baby's never listen that's why you're the only kids in my life. You always listen." Anna dramatized her actions. "Hey, I thought I would take you up to the cabin until your dad got home."
"Excuse me, can I help you." A young girl that looked no older than fifteen came around the corner. Her eyes were puffy and red. It didn't take a genius to realize she knew.
"Hi, I'm Anna, Michael and Tobias' aunt." Anna held her free hand out to shake with the girl. "Do you think we could talk in private? Go take care of your brother, little man." Anna pushed Michael towards Tobias.
Anna and directed the young woman over the to staircase away from the boys.
"I take it you heard about my sister." Anna started trying her hardest not to show her sadness.
"Yes!" Suddenly the girl burst into tears and flung herself into Anna's arms. "The police called and Michael answered the phone before I could get it. I think he knows, I'm so sorry they were trying to call Mr. Martins!" She openly wept into Anna's shoulder. "He's not supposed to get her until this evening. I was only supposed to work through the morning, Mrs. Martins was supposed to be back."
Anna stood there awkwardly wrapping her hand around the girl's shoulders.
"She never changed her last name." Anna whispered, for some reason that information felt very important. "Her name was Fulton."
"I'm sorry." The girl wiped at her tears and blew her nose on her sleeve.
"It's okay I just wanted to thank you for staying but I think I should take care of my nephews until their father gets back. I don't know how much Nikki was going to pay you for your time but I will definitely compensate." Anna dug in her bag for her checkbook. "I'm sorry I don't know your name."
"Louise." The girl sniffled. "Louise Milton, I'm just friends with their regular sitter, I'm not even supposed to be here."
"That makes two of us. Here, just take this and head home." Anna wrote her a check and led her to the door. As sweet as she was sure Louise was she really wasn't in a place to be comforting strangers that barely knew her sister.
As soon as the door shut behind her she felt a tug on her shirt. Turning she saw Michael looking at her.
"Where is Louise going? Why was she crying?"
"Back home and we are headed out for ice cream! Sound good?" Anna clapped her hands together as she bent we knees slightly so that she was at eye level with the kid.
She really didn't know much about kids, and what she did know was that she should never be trusted with them long term.
"Cool!" Michael smiled as he walked off to tell his little brother.
She grabbed a change of clothes for both of them and dragged them out to the car.
"Okay, everyone got their seatbelt on?" She asked as she looked over at the boys sharing a lap belt in the front seat. "Remember, we are never going to tell anyone that I let you do this." Anna warned.
"Okay" Michael nodded before grabbing an unopened ketchup packet and looked at it.
"Was' that?" Tobias asked and Anna saw the older boy's smirk.
"It's grow juice. If you can eat the whole thing you get to be a grown up." He opened the package. "I bet you can't do it."
"Yeah huh!" Tobias argued as he pulled this packet out of his brothers' hands and squeezed the whole thing in his mouth.
It took a second for him to taste the flavor but as soon as he did he spat it all over the dashboard and his brother.
"Tobias!" Anna scolded as she wiped the car off with Michael's spare shirt. "Gross. Michael, if you are going to mess with your brother at least wait until we are outside of the car."
"Sorry Anna." The boys chimed together causing her to laugh.
When they pulled up to the cabin Anna unlocked the door and the two boys spilled out with their soft serves before running up to the door.
"Inside now!" Anna yelled. "And wash your nasty little hands! Ruining my car." She grumbled.
"Look Toby! I can heat up butter with my mind!" She heard Michael shout. Before she heard Toby let out a yelp of surprise and a cry.
"Dad said you weren't allowed to do that anymore!" He cried.
"If you tell Dad I did that I'll rip the head off all your stuffed animals!" Michael threaten.
Anna yawned before she walked into the kitchen. Butter was spread over the counter and Michael rushed forward.
"Don't worry, we'll clean it. Promise!" He rushed.
"Damn right you will. I treat you like an adult so you have to act like it." She scolded before lightly thumping him on the back of the head. "Be nice to your brother, he's the only one you get."
"Are you nice to your sisters?" The question was innocent but Anna couldn't answer without feeling the sadness edge back into her voice.
"Yes, because I'm perfect of course." She laughed but there was a hitch she only hoped they didn't hear. "Listen, I need you to keep it down for a little bit there are people upstairs sleeping." She explained.
"Who are they?" Toby asked.
"Just a couple friends."
"Can we go see them?"
"Only if you are quiet and stay on the stairs." The boys had run off before she could finish the sentence.
Anna started pulling out the groceries she had bought and rolled her eyes. This was exactly what she wanted to get away from. It was the exact reason she had set out in her car on the first place. It wasn't that she couldn't be a homemaker; it was that everything about it made a small part of her die inside, it was boring and expected.
She lit a cigarette as she cracked eggs into a pan and whisked them around.
"Aunt Anna?" A small voice asked from behind her.
"Yes Tobias?" She responded without looking.
"Can I help you with breakfast?" He asked again.
"Sure pull a chair up." She smiled as he totes over one of the lighter chairs and climbed up to stand on it. "Here you can hold my cigarette." Toby was so careful as he grasped the end of her smoke while she transferred the cooked eggs into a plate and started making bacon. But Anna could see the curiosity in his eyes; he wanted to try it. "Here kid, take a puff, you never know you might enjoy it." She shrugged as she watched him copy her moves.
Almost instantly he was coughing and spluttering as smoke exited his mouth. Anna laughed as she took the cigarette back.
"Now I never want to see you smoking again. They kill you." Anna waved the thing around in her hand before taking another puff.
"Why are you doing it then? Don't they kill you?" He asked with a crooked face.
"Nah, they can't kill Aunt Anna. Nothing can kill me. Go spy on those guys up there with your brother." She shooed him off the counter. "Toby," she called as he walked away. "You know you and your brother, you are my favorite little men."
"Aunt Anna! We are your only little men!" Tobias exclaimed as he ran away.
"Very true." She muttered. "Very true."
Breakfast was ready and Sam and Dean still hadn't made it downstairs. The boys were becoming impatient as they watched the older brothers sleep.
"Aunt Anna! Are they dead?" Michael called down the stairs.
"No, if you really want them up you can always poke them." Anna suggested as a joke, forgetting that kids don't learn sarcasm until they are older. The next thing she heard was screams and Toby's cry. "Jesus Christ!" She muttered as she rushed up the stars three at a time. "Oh fuck." She whispered as she took in he scene.