Author's Note: Hey, all you cats and kittens! I'm pleased to note that I've been able to maintain my writing schedule and this is the 5th week in a row that I've published-I'm proud of myself! So I guess we can safely say that Friday is Aly's Day!

mugglemom2, Potternerd353, Princess of the Fae, Woman of Fantasy, 21jumpstreetJD28, Lau Whisperer, smolscott, samdean5398, THANK YOU for following Aly's story and WELCOME, I'd love to hear what you think of the fic so far! If you're new to the Aly-verse, check my page out for more fics- I have lots of one shots of Aly at different ages. A Big THANK YOU to all of you who have left reviews, they make my Muse happy and that inspires me to keep going! Beta'ed by Edge_of Clairvoyance and thanks to Edge for the 'Busty Asian Beauties' line, lol! The text Aly is reading is paraphrased from the SupernaturalWiki website.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

I woke up with a start when someone knocked on my door, and then it opened.

The room was dark, and Dean was back-lit in the doorway. "Aly? You awake?"

"Yeah, m'up." I mumbled, propping myself up on my elbow and turning on my bedside lamp. I sat up and winced- the weight on my rear end made it throb. And then everything came back to me as Dean walked over.

He was holding a glass of ice water and a plate. "Here's dinner." He said in a clipped voice.

I looked up at him- he was avoiding my eyes. "Dean?"

Dean held the glass out to me, still not looking at me.

I took the glass and set it next to the lamp. "Dean, what-are you-are you mad at me?"

He gave me the plate and then folded his arms over his chest. "Yeah, Alyson, I'm pissed. All this talk over the past few days, you wanting us to treat you differently, to trust you, and then you go and pull this? I mean what the hell?! Makes me wonder how much of what you told me is actually true. For all I know you could already be dating that Marc guy, you could already have plans to sneak out with him-"

"I don't!" I exclaimed. "I don't have any plans like that, honest!" Tears came to my eyes. "Please, Dean, I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, well, I need some time." He uncrossed his arms and ran a hand through his hair. "You really messed up this time, kid."

The tears spilled down my cheeks. "Dean-" I choked out.

"One of us'll be back later to grab your plate." He turned to leave the room, closing the door hard behind him.

I bowed my head, wringing my hands. The tears dripped down onto the hamburger bun on the plate.

I had really screwed everything up this time. If Dean was mad at me, that meant that Sam probably was too. I hadn't thought this through- I had gone ahead with my plan to sneak on the field trip, and not considered what might happen if something went wrong. Wasn't that something that hunters did, they looked at a hunt from all angles, and tried to figure out the best way to make it happen successfully? I was so stupid, assuming that I could do this and nothing would go wrong. Dad was right, I had just gone ahead and did what I wanted, and I had ended up in trouble. When would I learn that I couldn't do that, I couldn't just give into my impulses?

I sniffled and wiped my cheeks, then I moved the plate over and laid on my side, propping myself up with my elbow again to take the weight off of my sore bottom.

I picked up the burger. It tasted like sawdust, and I really wasn't hungry. I forced myself to eat a couple bites anyway and a couple forkfuls of green beans, then I set the plate on the foot of my bed. I grabbed my purse and pulled out my cell phone, then laid on my side again. I thumbed the phone on and scrolled down my messages. I had a bunch from Jenny.

"Today was really fun! Those kids were so cute!"

"One of the guys who's in Mathletes said that the school doesn't take care of the engines of those vans and they break down on the regular. Who knew?" Then she texted a face with the tongue sticking out.

"Guess what, talked to Marc, he said he's gonna ask you out tomorrow! So get ready!"

"Dude, where are you? Talk to me!"

Dad had said "No extracurricular activities", so I guessed that meant no going on a date either. I didn't even want to ask him about it. And now I was going to have to say no to Marc. Tears filled my eyes again. It was my own stupid fault. I sighed, and then decided to text her.

"Hi, sorry I wasn't around. I kinda got in trouble before. I signed my Dad's name on the permission slip because he said I couldn't go on the field trip, so he was really pissed at me. I'm pretty much grounded from everything for the rest of my life."

I set the phone down as my chin wobbled and the tears started to flow again. I wiped my eyes after my phone chimed.

"Oh dude that sux! I signed my mom's name on an interim once and didn't get in trouble, but then later I DID because all the interims that get sent home show up on report cards! I got grounded for like a month for that!

"I guess I'm not gonna be able to go out with Marc." I texted a frowny face.

"Oh, no, did your Dad say no to dating too?!"

"No, I haven't told him yet, but I'm guessing I won't be able to."

She texted a sad face with a teardrop. Then, "Wait and see, maybe he'll take pity on you."

"Doubtful. When my Dad grounds me, he means from everything."

"That sux."

"Yeah. I better go. See you tomorrow."

"Okay, see ya."

I put my phone back in my purse and then set my purse on the floor next to my bed. Dad hadn't said anything about me losing the phone this time, maybe he was going to let me keep it.

I rolled over onto my stomach and closed my eyes. I had left my backpack at school, thinking I'd be back to pick it up, so I couldn't do my homework. Great, another thing to possibly get in trouble for. I might as well try to sleep.

I had fallen into a doze when there was a knock on my door. "Come in," I called.

The door opened and Sam came into the room. "Just getting your plate." He didn't look at me.

I raised my head. "Sam, are you mad at me too?" I blurted.

He stopped leaning down to pick up my plate, and straightened up, putting his hands on his hips. "You bet I am." He said in a hard voice. "That was irresponsible and dangerous! What could have happened if-"

"Okay, Sam, I get it. I suck."

He huffed. "No, you don't suck, you just made some bad decisions. I just want to know when you're going to stop making those kinds of choices. You keep doing this to yourself."

Tears filled my eyes. "I know." I whispered. "I don't know what to do."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to think about it. Did you do your homework?"

"No, I left my backpack at school."

He leaned down to pick up the plate. "The only thing you can do is get some rest, then."

"Sam-please-" I felt desperate, needing to feel like someone was on my side.

"I don't want to talk about it any more." He said in a terse voice, and he left the room.

I put my head back down on my pillow and started to cry again. Eventually, I fell into an uneasy sleep.

In the morning, Dad was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee.

I came into the room and stood awkwardly by him. "Um, m'sorry about yesterday."

He stood up and put his hand on my shoulder. "We dealt with it, it's clean slate now, remember?" He pulled me in for a hug. "You don't have to keep apologizing."

"Does that mean you trust me?" I asked.

He let me go, looking me in the eyes. "No, Alyson. Like I said last night, you're going to have to show me that you can be trustworthy again."

"How can I do that?" I tried to keep the whine out of my voice.

"By telling the truth. By doing what you're told and not making excuses. I'm going to be giving you assignments to do and you need to get them done. I need to see that I can trust that you'll obey me."

I sighed and went to the cabinet for a bowl. "Okay."

As I ate my cereal, Dad started to make some toast. "Would you like some?"

I shook my head. "No thanks."

He sat down across from me to eat. "With regards to training, either tonight or tomorrow the boys can start sparring with you. And one of us will go over gun safety rules and the parts of a gun. Once you're comfortable with that, and you've shown me that you're serious about learning, we can move on to shooting."

"You're still gonna trust me with all that?" I asked glumly.

"Yes, it will give you chances to show me that I can trust you. If I tell you to memorize all the parts of a gun, and you do, that proves to me that you are going to do what I told you to do, and it will build a little bit of trust back up. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah." I said, still feeling down. The last time this had happened, when he had lost trust in me, he had had me do things like make a ton of salt rounds and translate pages into Latin and memorize things. I had thought it was just busy work, but what he was saying made sense.

My phone alarm chimed and I scooped a big bite of cereal into my mouth. "Shoot, I gotta go." I stood up and set my bowl and spoon into the sink. Dad stood up too as I turned to go.

He pulled me in for another hug. "Have a good day, Alyson."

"Thanks, Dad." I hugged him back.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

I sat uncomfortably in the last class of the day, ready for everything to be over. My rear end was only a little bit sore, but it hadn't been pleasant sitting on all the hard school chairs. Today had been a shitty day all around.

Marc was out sick- he had texted Jenny that morning that he was running a fever- and Haley was also out sick as well. I had spilled my lunch in the cafeteria and everyone had laughed at me. Then I got a huge assignment in Social Studies and another one in English. I wasn't looking forward to going home, either, with the prospect of learning what else Dad had in store for me and finding out if my brothers were still mad.

Dean didn't look at me when I got into the car, or say anything. Crap, that meant he was still upset. After we had been driving in silence for a couple of minutes, I said, "Dean, are you-are you still mad?"

He glanced at me. "What do you think?"

I twisted my fingers together. "But that-that's not-" I didn't want to say 'fair'- "I got in trouble for everything, it's clean slate now!"

He sighed. "Just because it's clean slate doesn't mean I can't still be upset. All the talks we had over the past week or so, y'know, I thought you were being honest, and it turns out you weren't."

"But I was! I was being honest with you!" I protested.

"You were honest with me, while the whole time you were plotting to sneak around and disobey Dad. Can you see how that kinda throws everything else off?"

"Okay, yeah." I looked down at my lap. "I'm sorry, Dean."

"I know, kiddo. Just give me some time, it's gonna take a little bit for me to work through this." His voice was kind now, and I hoped that meant he was going to be able to forgive me. I hated when my brothers were upset with me.

When we got home, Dad was going through one of the duffles. "Pack a bag, I'm taking you to Bobby's." He told me.

"What? Why?"

"Because we've got a case, and I'm not leaving you here alone."

"Dad-"

"Alyson. I want to get on the road ASAP, it's a four hour trip to Singer's house."

"Can't we go tomorrow?" I complained.

"No, we're meeting someone tomorrow. Now move it!"

I sighed with annoyance and stomped to my room. I pulled my duffle out of the closet and packed some clothes and books. Then I went to the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush and other toiletries- I prefer to use my own shampoo and conditioner, Uncle Bobby just has generic shampoo that makes my hair all gross.

I came back out to the living room, my duffle on my shoulder. "I'm ready."

Dad came over to me holding a book. "This weekend, I want you to copy ten chapters from the lore book."

"Ten chapters? I just got two big assignments I have to work on for school!"

"Each chapter is only a couple of pages." He explained. "You can get started on the copying on the way. I'm sure you'll figure out how to juggle everything. And give me your phone."

"What? Why? You didn't say anything about that last night!" I protested.

He frowned at me. "It's already established that you've been sneaking around, and I'm sure you did some of that through texting with your friends. So, you lose the phone."

"This is so not f-" I stopped myself. "What about calling every night to check in?" I dropped my bag and leaned down to unzip the front pocket of my backpack and pull out my phone, handing it to Dad.

"Bobby Singer has phones at his house, ya know. I think he could rustle up a phone that you can use." Dean said with a smirk.

"Shut up, Dean!" I snapped.

Dad snapped his fingers and pointed at Dean. "Enough with the sarcasm." He pointed at me. "And you, lose the attitude."

Sam came into the room carrying a duffle and his laptop bag.

"Hi, Sam." I said.

He glanced at me. "Hi." Oh no, was he still upset with me too?

Dean looked over at him. "We ready to pack up?"

"I'm ready." I picked up my duffle again, and Sam nodded.

I followed them outside while Dad locked up the house. Dean took my duffle and set it in the trunk of the Impala. "You want to stow the backpack?" He asked.

I shook my head and lifted the lore book. "No, I should get started with my copying."

Dad came over and opened his arms, and I stepped into them. I closed my eyes as he hugged me, inhaling the smell of his leather jacket. The feeling of his soft flannel against my cheek and his arms around me made me think about how, when I was little, his hugs always made me feel safe and loved. For a moment I wished I was still that little girl who rarely got into trouble for anything, and who was easily forgiven after punishment. "Behave for your brothers. See you in a few." He kissed the side of my head and let me go.

"See you." I said.

He said goodbye to my brothers and climbed into his truck. I opened the back door of the Impala and tossed my stuff in, then got into the back seat.

I unzipped my backpack and pulled out a notebook and pen to start copying.

My brothers got into the car and Dean started driving. He found a classic rock station on the radio and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel along to the beat of the music.

By the time I had finished the first two pages, my hand was hurting. I sighed and set the pen down, flexing my fingers. This was going to suck!

I saw Dean glance at me in the rear view mirror and caught his eyes. "How am I supposed to do this? My hand already hurts!"

Sam turned to look at me. "You brought it on yourself."

"Sam! That's not-" I stopped myself. "Are you still mad at me?" I couldn't help the whine that crept into my voice.

"Not as much as I was, mostly disappointed."

Tears came to my eyes and I blinked them away. "I'm sorry!" I hated hearing that he was disappointed in me.

"Well, you should've thought things through before deciding to disobey Dad." He said sternly.

I looked at him and then at Dean. "But you guys-both of you did things in the past, you disobeyed him and got in trouble, and that was that! No one was still mad!"

Dean shook his head. "Not true. When I got in trouble for stuff, yeah, Dad whooped my ass, and it was clean slate, but he didn't trust me and would question me and come down harder on me for a while afterwards. And when Sammy got into trouble, same thing, except he got it from both me and Dad sometimes. You don't remember because you were little. And this is your first time dealing with this type of situation."

"You have to learn to deal with the repercussions of your actions, sometimes it's more than just getting a spanking." Sam said.

"But-how long are you going to be mad?" I asked, and dangit, there was the whine again. More tears came to my eyes as everything seemed to overwhelm me- the stressful day I had had at school, how bad I had felt yesterday when I had gotten in trouble, and knowing that they were taking me to Uncle Bobby's because Dad couldn't trust me. I shoved the notebook off my lap and pulled my knees up in front of me, wrapping my arms around them. The thought that my brothers would continue being angry with me made me sad. "Please, I just-don't be mad at me any more." My voice broke and tears dripped down my cheeks.

They both turned back and looked at me, then they glanced at each other and did the 'talking without words' thing. "I'm not upset with you, kiddo." Dean said kindly.

"It'll just take some time to rebuild trust, Aly. I'm not mad anymore." Sam reached back to squeeze my knee and gave me a brief smile, then turned to face front, sighing and rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"You doin' okay?" Dean asked him.

"Yeah, just have a mild headache, I didn't sleep well."

"Well, I was gonna stop for dinner, you want some caffeine?"

"That might help." Sam agreed.

I started copying again, making sure I wasn't holding my pen too tight. Dean went through a fast food drive through, and when he passed me back my food, he handed me a milkshake too.

"Got you chocolate." He smiled at me, and I knew he was forgiving me. He always brought me chocolate to make me feel better when I was younger.

"Thanks, Dean." I smiled back at him.

I ate my food and then tried to copy some more, but I got caught up in reading the book itself. I forced myself to start copying again, but my mind started to wander. I wondered if Jenny had talked to Marc again. I wondered what it would be like to go on a date. If he wanted to hold my hand or kiss me, would I let him? I wasn't even really sure how I felt about him. I imagined going to the movies with him- would he try to sneak his arm around me like guys did in romantic movies? Would we kiss in the darkness of the theater?

I came to gradually, realizing I had fallen asleep with my head leaning back on the seat.

I heard Sam say quietly, "I don't know why I had to come along, you and Dad and that other guy are gonna be there already."

"You know why." Dean replied just as quietly. "You've got the best Latin, and you've got the right stuff memorized if we need it."

Sam huffed. "I think Dad's insisting on it because he doesn't want me working on the John Doe."

"Well, Sam, can you blame him? Looking up info on that guy, it's a dead end-see what I did there?" Dean chuckled.

"Not funny, Dean." Sam said sourly. "It's something that matters to me."

"Look, dude, this is one of those times that you need to put your crap aside and concentrate on the bigger picture."

"We don't even know if this is gonna be relevant to the 'bigger picture'!" Sam snapped. "And it's not crap to me."

"You're gonna have to let it go for now." Dean said. "You need to get your head in the game for tomorrow. This could be a break in the hunt."

Sam sighed. "Dad always thinks that there's going to be a break in the hunt. The thing is, these demons always seem to get off on riling everyone up, and we never learn anything new."

"Shhh!" Dean hissed.

"She's asleep." Sam said.

"All right, just… we still need to investigate, you know that."

"Yeah, I know." I heard the leather seat creak as someone shifted.

After a moment, I heard the sound of a tape sliding into the tape deck and then Bad Company began to play at a low volume.

I sat up, yawning and rubbing my neck. Dean looked at me in the mirror. "Good nap?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You were pretty out of it."

"Yeah." I rubbed my eyes and turned to look out the window. It sounded like they were going to talk to a demon! I knew that Dad had mentioned that he had "dealt with" demons in the past but I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know much about them except that they were very dangerous and if I ever saw a person whose eyes changed to black, I was supposed to get away from them as soon as possible and tell one of my family members. I wondered if my brothers would tell me about their investigation, or demons, if I asked, but I didn't want them to realize I had been awake and had heard them talking.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

Uncle Bobby had the kitchen table laid out with a full meal when we came into his house- two roasted chickens, mashed potatoes, rolls, and a big bowl of salad. "Figured y'all might be hungry when you got here."

"We ate on the road but I could eat a second dinner!" Dean said happily.

"You're a little tall for a hobbit." I joked, and he grinned at me.

Dad was already sitting at the table with a tumbler of whisky in front of him. "How was the drive?" he asked.

"Fine." Dean said. "A little slow near that exit where the Sioux Falls Super Mall is, but that's normal."

We sat down at the table. "If there's any chicken left after y'all are finished, I can show you how to make chicken pot pie tomorrow, Aly." Uncle Bobby said to me. "I got my wife's recipe for pie crust."

"I've never made a pie crust, that would be neat." I smiled at him.

"Oh man, chicken pot pie? You gotta make it for us when we get home." Dean said around a mouthful of food.

"If I can make it well, then I will."

The conversation turned to hunter's talk, gossip about people and the cases they were on. After we finished eating, Sam, Dean and I cleared the table, put away the extra food, and washed the dishes. Dad and Uncle Bobby had gone into the library. I was wiping the table down when Dad came to the door and beckoned to me. "Bring your backpack."

I grabbed my backpack and followed him into the library. He handed me a piece of paper that had a diagram of a gun taken apart with all the parts labeled. "I want you to work on memorizing the parts of a gun this weekend. Bobby will test you and see how much you remember."

"On top of my copying?" I complained.

"This is for training, not your punishment, so if you don't get much done, it's all right. You need to get those chapters copied first and foremost."

"Uncle Bobby, can I use your computer this weekend, please? I have two big assignments due and I want to get started looking up the basics for my outline."

He looked over at Dad, and then nodded. "Sure, kiddo."

My brothers had come into the room by then. "What are the assignments, Aly?" Sam asked as he and Dean went over to the sofa and sat down.

"I have to do a report on how the Industrial Revolution in the United States led to the creation of roads and canals in certain areas. And pick an author to do a book report on, but the only ones left are ones I don't like."

"Which ones?" Sam picked up a book from the stacks on the coffee table and thumbed through it.

"Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, or Rudyard Kipling." I wrinkled my nose.

"Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, those are always fun to figure out." Dean said. "And Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is a creepy classic."

"Also Treasure Island." Sam added. "You shouldn't have any problems with any of those stories."

I sighed. "I guess."

Dean had turned the TV on and was flipping through the channels. "Oh look, it's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Gotta love that Zhang Ziyi, she could be on the cover of Busty Asian Beauties if she was a little more-" He held his hand up to his chest.

Sam huffed. "No one wants to hear about your porn stash, dude!"

"Really, Dean?" I rolled my eyes as I sat down in a battered armchair next to the sofa and pulled out the lore book and my notebook. I continued copying as they watched the movie and chatted. I alternated between reading a couple of pages and then copying them, thinking about what I'd read as my fingers moved.

Someone patted my shoulder and I opened my eyes- I had fallen asleep. "C'mon, Aly, time for bed." Dad said.

I sat up, my notebook sliding to the floor. Dad was standing in front of me. I leaned forward and he said. "I'll get it, you should go up to bed." He held his hand out to me and helped pull me to a standing position. I hugged everyone and stumbled upstairs to my room, where I fell asleep quickly.

~ ~ spn ~ ~ spn ~ ~

In the morning when I woke up, they had already left. Uncle Bobby had made a platter of sausage and scrambled eggs with cheese. After I ate, I helped him clear away the breakfast dishes, and then we went into the living room and I picked up the lore book and my notebook and started copying. I took short breaks every couple of pages, stretching and wiggling my fingers.

Uncle Bobby was at his computer. "Can I use your computer later?" I asked.

"Sure, kiddo. How far did you get in the lore book?"

"Fourteen pages. I got distracted last night and started reading, it's kinda interesting."

He nodded. "It's a well written book, a good resource for newbies. I know your Dad said he was gonna start training you in the basics, are you wanting to get started in the family business?"

"I don't know, I don't even know if Dad would want me to. My brothers think it would be good- well, I talked to them about Dad treating me more, y'know, like more of an adult, like, talking to me and not always saying "No, because I said so", and Sam said if I did some training and stuff that it would help Dad think of me as more grown up and not a kid."

Uncle Bobby nodded. "It's hard not to see you as a child any more."

"Gee, thanks." I said sarcastically.

"No, I didn't mean any offense by it, it's just, when you've seen someone grow up you always have this image in your head of them as a kid, even if they're an adult."

"You do?"

"Well yeah, I still kinda see your brothers that way sometimes, too. I'll always think of Dean as that smartass teenager who tried to sneak drinks from my liquor cabinet."

One of the phones in the kitchen rang, and he left to go answer it. I started looking through the books piled on the coffee table- maybe I could learn about demons on my own. I found a slim volume called "Arcanus Demonicus", and I grabbed it and slipped it into my backpack.

I continued to alternate between copying and reading. Eventually Uncle Bobby came back into the room.

"How about we stop for lunch, and I can teach you how to make that pie crust?"

"Okay."

He made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and we finished the leftover breakfast sausage. He disappeared into the dining room while I was washing the dishes, and then came back with a small three ring binder. It said "From the Kitchen of" in fancy lettering, and then someone had written "Karen Singer" on the line at the bottom.

"These are her recipes, she started collecting them before we got married, but this was a wedding present." He seemed embarrassed as he turned the pages. "Here we go."

He collected all the ingredients and set them on the table. "The trick is not to overwork the dough." He explained. "And always use ice water."

"Ice water?"

"Yeah, it helps the dough bind together or somethin', I'm not sure, Karen always knew all the reasons why you did things a certain way, but I never learned."

We both made dough, and then he said it needed to rest in the refrigerator for an hour. He pulled out the leftover chickens and showed me how to pick the meat off of the bones. He made a gravy with chicken broth and we added the meat to it, and then he got out a package of frozen mixed vegetables and added that too.

When the dough was ready, he showed me how to roll it out and place it in the pie pan, and then we filled the dishes with the chicken and vegetable mixture. After the second crust was laid on top, he showed me how to crimp the edges, and then we put the pies in the oven. The smell of the pot pies baking made my mouth water, and we ate dinner early. Dad called as I was getting ready for bed and told me he wasn't sure if they'd be back by tomorrow.

I took my backpack upstairs with me at bedtime and pulled out the book about demons. After I changed into my pajamas, I got into bed and started to read. It was full of all kinds of descriptions. I read, "Most demons are made from human souls who have gone to hell and then been tortured until their humanity is gone. They usually have all black eyes (pupil and sclera), but there have been some reported to have all white or yellow eyes. They are manipulative and can read people's minds and sometimes enter their dreams. They have many special powers, including superhuman strength, telekinesis (the ability to move objects with the mind), biokinesis (the ability to affect a person's body, i.e. make them bleed internally or render them mute), and terrakinesis (the ability to cause tremors in the earth), electromagnetic interference, and weather manipulation."

It made me wonder what kind of demons my dad had investigated. How would a person even begin to talk to a being that had all those powers? It made me nervous to think about how dangerous it would be-what if they used their mind powers on my father or brothers and hurt them somehow?

I was in the woods, following behind Dean, with Sam behind me. Daddy was showing my brothers something called 'navigation' which Sam said meant figuring out where you were. They each had a compass, a little round thing that looked kinda like a watch, and Daddy would leave one of them and we would walk away, and they would have to try and find us.

And then I got separated from all of them. It was like a wall of leaves and bushes came up around me and I couldn't see or hear my family any more. I turned in a circle, panicking, calling their names. And then I ran, tears in my eyes as sweat dripped down my forehead. Daddy had said I was supposed to stay calm if I ever got separated from them, but I couldn't help it. It seemed like I ran through the woods for hours, tripping over branches and getting tangled in vines. And then I reached the edge of the forest, but it was the top of a hill, and looking down I could see the Impala in the parking lot, and my Daddy and brothers getting in. I screamed their names, but they didn't hear me, and the car drove away. I began to cry.

I heard growling behind me, and turned. A beast with shaggy grayish hair and a pig-like snout stood there, its hackles raised- it was a chupacabra. I froze as it crept forward, not knowing what to do. It leapt at me, but then its body flew backwards and hit a tree. I heard a sickening snap and it fell to the ground lifeless. A tall man with a gray goatee stepped out of the woods next to me and held out his hand. "Come with me, I'll save you."

I heard more growling and looked around- there were other strange creatures moving in the woods, one that looked like a man covered in hair and dirt, hunched forward, another one that looked like a huge black dog with misformed features. I looked back at the tall man- he flicked his hand, once, twice, and two of the creatures fell over, screaming in pain. He looked at me and held out his hand. Goosebumps rippled across my skin and I felt like something wasn't right, but I took his hand, and he began to pull me through the trees. I asked him to slow down, to let me catch my breath, but he kept going. I felt a sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. I could feel myself getting weaker, I just needed to rest, so I tried to pull away. He gripped my hand tighter, and then turned to me. "Don't try to get away!" He said angrily, and then his eyes changed to black. "You won't get away!"

I started screaming and fighting him then-

"Aly- wake up, kid! Alyson!" Uncle Bobby was saying loudly.

I opened my eyes-he was holding onto my arms. "I'm awake," I sat up, and burst into tears.

He sat down on the bed facing me and put his arms around me. "You're safe, kiddo, it was just a nightmare. Nothing bad's gonna happen, you're safe now."

"I-I had the dream I used to have when I was a kid, where w-we were all walking through the w-woods and I got s-separated from Dad and Sam and D-Dean, and then they left without m-me, but then it changed-there were all these-these m-monsters, coming after me-" I babbled.

"All right, shh...let it go, you're safe." He patted my back and let me go. He picked up a tissue box from the bedside table and set it in my lap. I pulled out a tissue and blew my nose and then wiped my cheeks.

"I wonder if that book you're copyin' had an influence on your dream." He picked up the book about demons that was laying on the bed. "And this ain't exactly pleasant bedtime reading material." He said dryly. "Girl, you need to check with me before you go takin' books like this, hear me?" His voice was stern.

"Yes, Uncle Bobby, I'm sorry." I sniffled.

He looked at me for a long moment, then ruffled my hair. "I can't stay mad at you, shorty. You want to come downstairs for some warm milk or somethin'?"

I shook my head. "No, I'll be okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"All right, well, if you can't sleep or whatever, you come get me."

"Okay. Thanks, Uncle Bobby."

He stood up, taking the book with him, and left the room. leaving the door open. I put the tissue box back on the table and laid down. I felt a lingering sadness from the first part of my dream, which was an old familiar sadness from that old familiar dream. But my nerves felt like they were jangling with fear from the latter part of the dream. The man who saved me from the monsters did so with telekinesis, and then his eyes turned black, like I had read about, and my Dad had told me about how the eyes of demons turned black. But was I dreaming about him because I read about it? Or was he real?