AUTHOR'S NOTE: My pinky is broken, my ring finger is not. No surgery, thank goodness! My pinky is splinted and buddy-taped to my ring finger and it can take up to 8 weeks to heal. I'm trying to keep it pretty still for now. Since my thumb and other fingers are free I can do some typing but my hand does start to hurt after a short time. Would you rather I publish short chapters like this, as I write them, or wait and put together longer chapters after a few days?
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When I woke up in the morning it was cold. We had gotten to the cabin late at night, and since it was in the middle of the woods there was no light except our flashlights, and hard to see everything. We had laid out sleeping bags on the living room floor and gone to sleep.
I stretched and then sat up, looking around. The room was huge, a combination living room, kitchen, and dining area. To the right of the door was the kitchen, with a wooden island and then a table and chairs in front of that. I was over next to the sofa.
I got out of my sleeping bag and walked over to the kitchen area. Grandpa John was standing by the counter, pouring a cup of coffee.
"There she is! Did you sleep okay?" he smiled at me.
"I guess," I shivered, "I'm cold."
"Yeah, I just turned the heat on a little while ago. There's a fire in the stove, come sit over here," he pointed to an old-fashioned looking stove made of black metal that was in the corner behind the table. I walked over and sat in the chair nearest to it. The air was warmer over here.
"Are you hungry? I'm getting ready to make breakfast," he said.
The front door opened and Daddy came in carrying our duffles, followed by Uncle Sam carrying some cardboard boxes.
"Hey, sweetheart," Daddy said. I got up and went over to him. He leaned down and kissed my cheek. "Want to come see the bedrooms?" he asked.
"Yeah!" I followed him down a hallway. There were two bedrooms each with a big bed in them, and at the end of the hall, a large room that had two smaller beds and then a bunk bed at the far end.
"Ooh, can I sleep in the top bunk?" I asked excitedly.
"Sure," he put the duffles down on the beds, "We'll need to put sheets on the beds once we get settled in."
We went back out to the kitchen area. Uncle Sam was unpacking food and putting it away. Next to the kitchen was a small door that led into a pantry, that was like a walk-in closet. I had never seen one so big, it had shelves that went all the way up to the ceiling, stocked with rows of cans and boxes of food and jars of things like home-made jelly and pickles.
"This is a cabin for hunters to stay in if they need to, and the guy who owns it likes to keep it well-stocked," Grandpa John told us, "It runs on solar power too, it gets stored up during the day and uses what got stored at night. There's also a wood stove for extra heat and a fireplace. There should be a generator out back too just in case something happens. We'll have to check the supply of wood, you boys may need to chop some extra if we stay here long."
"Can I help chop wood?" I asked.
"No you may not, that's way too dangerous," Daddy said, giving me a look, "and speaking of that, right now I don't want you going outside either."
"Why not?" I asked.
Daddy and Uncle Sam both got a funny look on their faces and did the 'talking without words' thing.
"Well, I guess now's as good a time to talk about things as any," Daddy said. He got himself a cup of coffee and then sat across from me at the table.
"All right," Daddy said, "The reason we're here is that we're hiding out. Right now, I'm wanted by the police, because of the shifter. We're going to stay here for a few days until the investigation goes cold, and then we can move out."
"But- what about Thanksgiving? What about going to Lisa and Ben's?" I looked from Daddy to Uncle Sam, who was leaning on the counter.
Daddy looked uncomfortable. "Well, Lisa...doesn't really want me around right now," he told me. He sighed and rubbed his face. "Turns out the shifter was spending time with her...and he wasn't...he did some things that...weren't nice. And she thought it was me, so now...she feels funny about me being around," he sighed and closed his eyes for a long moment, then opened them again and looked at me. His eyes looked sad. "She doesn't want me around her or Ben right now, she knows in her head that it wasn't me, but...things got messed up because she thought it was me and she feels...like she can't trust me."
"That's not fair!" I protested, "You're Ben's Daddy, you need to be with him! If she knows it wasn't you then she should be okay, right?"
"Well...sometimes your head knows something and your heart feels something different. It's just something that happens. It'll take time." Daddy took a drink of his coffee.
"That was mean of that shifter, why'd he do that?" I frowned.
"I don't know, Charlie, like I said, we don't know the motivations of why they do the things they do. I'm just...dealing with it," Daddy looked down at the table, and I felt sad for him, because his face looked sad and defeated.
"We're going to have Thanksgiving here," Uncle Sam piped up, "We bought a turkey and all the stuff you're supposed to have, and we need to make the pumpkin pies today."
Daddy sat up straight and looked happy. "Oh yeah, and I'll be the taste-tester for the pies!"
Uncle Sam chuckled, "We won't need a taste-tester, Dean, you'll have to be patient and wait."
"Is Castiel going to come here?" I asked, feeling a little excited at the thought of being able to see him again and actually talk to him, "Why'd he say that stuff about protecting me and that I'm in danger?"
Daddy glanced at Uncle Sam and they both shifted.
"One of the types of supernatural beings that we've dealt with is demons, do you know what they are?" Uncle Sam asked.
"Yeah, they're devils from h-e-double hockey sticks," I said.
"Not really, they were once human, and after they spent time in hell, they turn into a demon. They have no body, and can possess a human being, by going into their body and taking it over. Do you understand that?" Daddy explained.
"The same way that Castiel said that he's in the body of that man?"
"Well, I think what he's done is a little different. He said the man asked for him to enter him, and demons don't need permission." Daddy said.
Uncle Sam set a stack of paper plates and plastic utensils on the table, and began to hand them out.
"Why did he say that demons are searching for me and that they're aware of me?" I asked nervously.
"Since demons communicate on a psychic wavelength, anyone with psychic abilities is more prone to being noticed by them. And if someone is working on their abilities, or they're really strong, that's like an alert. That's what Missouri told me," Grandpa John spoke up. He brought a pan full of scrambled eggs to the table and served them onto our plates.
"Why are you looking for one?" I looked up at him, remembering what Castiel had said to him in the hotel room.
Grandpa John looked a little surprised. "Jesus, kid, how do you remember everything you hear?" he muttered, and then he sighed. "Mary—my wife, your grandmother- was killed by a demon. I've been searching for him all these years and he's been- in hiding, or something, for a long time. But some things have been showing that he might be around again, and so I want to- I want to track him down and—get rid of him."
"Are you gonna kill him?" I asked Grandpa John quietly, "Can you do that? Kill demons?"
"Yes, you can. That old gun that I just got, the one that you- 'read'? It's a special gun, can kill anything. Anything supernatural. And I'm going to use it to kill the demon."
"Castiel said he's aware of me," I said, feeling a cold chill, "What does that mean?"
Grandpa John, Uncle Sam, and Daddy all looked at each other. "Well, it means that the demons that are out there are now aware that Dean Winchester has a kid, and that she's a psychic kid, with pretty strong abilities. And they might try to—to take you, to try and get back at me." Daddy told me.
"Why would they want to get back at you?" I asked uneasily.
"Well, we've exorcised a few demons in our day and sent them back to hell, trying to get info. They don't really like us all that much," Daddy said.
"Oh," I said, and shivered.
"So we need to be extra careful right now, and keep a close eye on things," Uncle Sam said, "And that means you have to be safe and not go outside, since we're in hiding here. We want to stay out of sight as much as possible."
"I can't go outside at all?" I complained, "But there's woods outside and we could go exploring and hiking and stuff!"
Daddy looked at me seriously. "No, you can't. Not right now. I mean it, Charlie, it's too dangerous. Understand?"
I sighed. "Yes, Daddy."
Grandpa John set a plate with bacon on the table and a plate of toast next to it, and sat down. "After we eat, we should check the warding around the perimeter," Grandpa John said.
"What's that?" I asked.
"It's symbols of protection that have been placed around the outside of the house, in the woods." Grandpa John explained.
"I'll go with you," Uncle Sam said.
After we ate, Daddy and I went to the bedroom. He got some sheets out and I helped him put them on the beds, then I climbed up on the top bunk of the bunkbed.
"This is really cool!" I said to him.
"Well, you be careful. Always use the ladder, no climbing up the end, and no jumping off either," Daddy gave me a look, "We're pretty far away from a hospital if you end up with a broken bone."
"I won't, Daddy!" I told him, "what are you doing?"
He had a large container of something and was pouring it out on the windowsill. "It's salt, it...protects against demons being able to enter."
"Salt?" I laughed, "That's funny!"
"Well, it's no laughing matter, it keeps us safe," Daddy said seriously, "I'm going to go and check all the windows." He left the room with the container.
I climbed down the ladder, jumping off the last rung, and went to get my backpack full of toys. I carried them up the ladder to the top bunk and began to set them up to play with for a while. I pretended that they were living on the top of a mountain.
Uncle Sam came into the bedroom carrying some plastic bags. He looked up and saw me. "Oh, there you are," he came over to me and stood next to the bed, "I'm not used to looking up to find you," he smiled.
I sat up and looked at him. "I'm taller than you for once, Uncle Sam!" I said gleefully.
"You're at just the right height for me to do this," he reached through the bed railing and tickled my side, and I giggled.
"I got you some things, Charlie," he told me.
"What things?" I put the figurines down that I was holding and climbed down the ladder quickly. He walked over to the bed and opened a bag. "Since the weather is getting colder, I got you a winter coat and some sweaters."
The coat was puffy and made of shiny blue material, with a soft fleece lining. The sweaters were a little bit big on me, but I didn't mind. One had different shades of pink stripes on it, another one was blue with white snowflakes knitted into it, and there was a red one and a pink one.
He pulled some more clothes out of another bag. "I got you some long underwear too."
"Long underwear!" I laughed, "what's that?"
"You know, long johns? You wear them under your clothes? It might get kinda cold here, so it's good to have them." He showed me the package, it was a long sleeved shirt and leggings, white with little pink flowers on them.
"Oh, right," I said. I had seen them before but never had a set.
"I found some fleece pajamas too, and Grandpa John found this," he pulled something out and handed it to me. It was a white hat, but it was Hello Kitty's face, with ears that stuck up and a red bow on the side. There were strings that came down on the sides, and matching gloves.
"Ooh, I love it!" I pulled the tags off of the hat and put it on my head. I hugged Uncle Sam. "Thanks for getting me this stuff!"
"You're welcome," he hugged me back, "I remember when we were packing your clothes that you didn't have a lot of winter things. Do you want to help me make the pies?"
"Yeah, let's go!"
I followed him out to the kitchen and he started to get the ingredients out. "I've never done this before, have you?" he asked me.
"Mommy used to make the pumpkins pies sometimes, and I would watch. She would let me put some ingredients in," I said, "We usually went to other people's houses for Thanksgiving," I felt sad, "Last year, we, uh...Mommy was too sick to go anywhere, and the smell of food and stuff made her sick, so we just...stayed home. Aunt Janice asked if I wanted to come to her house but I didn't want to leave Mommy. The year before that we went to Aunt Janice's and Mommy slept in the guest bedroom."
"So you didn't do anything for Thanksgiving last year?" Uncle Sam's face looked serious.
"Uh...no." I felt a little guilty, I had wanted to go to Aunt Janice's, but then I hadn't wanted to leave Mommy either. I had ended up staying with my Mom because I was worried about her.
Uncle Sam cupped his hand around my head for a moment. "It sounds like you didn't do much of anything last year, I'm sorry you had such a rough time," he said softly.
I shrugged.
Grandpa John came into the kitchen through a side door, carrying an armload of logs. He dropped them into a metal box that was next to the wood stove and came over to us.
"You like your hat?" he asked me, smiling so that his dimples showed.
I got off my chair and hugged him. "I don't like it, I love it, thanks!" I smiled back at him and he put his hand on my head and laughed.
Uncle Sam got an electric mixer out of the pantry and we started to make the pumpkin pies. He let me measure and pour the ingredients and he poured the mixture into the pie pans.
"Oh, crap," he said as he turned to the oven, "I forgot to pre-heat the oven!" he set the pie down and the liquid slopped over the edge. "Oh well, we can wait a few extra minutes," he shrugged.
"Wipe the liquid off the crust or it will burn," Grandpa John said.
"How do you know that?" Uncle Sam gave him a look.
"I used to watch your mother make pie, and help my mother when I was a kid," Grandpa John said, "I know my way around the kitchen a little."
Daddy came into the room just then. "I was on the laptop, and there's been more weather patterns cropping up north of here," he said, "A lot of electrical storms."
"Let me take a look," Grandpa John said, and they went back to one of the bedrooms.
"What does that mean?" I asked Uncle Sam.
He looked uncomfortable. "It's a sign of, uh, supernatural activity," he said, and I got the feeling that there was something he wasn't telling me. He looked at me. "You make sure you tell us if you have any dreams, anything at all, or if you get any weird feelings or thoughts, okay?"
"O-kay, why?"
"Just because. You're more sensitive to things, so you might pick up on...something being out of whack."
"You mean I might pick up on if there's a demon out there?" I felt scared, "Is that what you mean? Are they going to come here and try to get us?"
"No, they won't, we're safe," Uncle Sam said soothingly, "Don't worry about that."
The oven beeped and he put the pies in. Soon the room was filled with the smell of the pumpkin pies cooking.