Traci and her best friend Michelle had just put in their favorite movie and settled down to enjoy popcorn and comedy. The phone began to ring right after the opening credits. Michelle paused the movie when her mother, Mrs. Carter answered.
"Yes she's here. What happened?" Tears welled in Mrs. Carter's eyes as she stared at the blonde haired girl in front of her.
"Mom what's wrong?" Michelle asked when she was her staring at Traci. Traci began to feel sick. In the pit of her stomach she knew what happened. But tried her best to push that thought from her mind. "Yes I understand. Thank you." Mrs. Carter hung up the phone then sat in between the two girls. She pulled Traci in close.
"Honey there was an accident. A fire. I am sorry but your mom and brother didn't make it." Traci began to cry hysterically. She could hear Michelle sobbing but it sounded so distant. Mr. Carter came down stairs to be informed of the tragedy. Traci was inconsolable, nothing anyone said calmed her down. All she wanted was her family.
Several minutes later a police car pulled into the drive way. Traci ran to the door straight into her father's arms. "Daddy what happened?" She asked through her sobs as the police car drove back.
"A fire broke out in your room. Alex was watching TV in your room. And your mom was probably putting your laundry away. Honey I." But there were no words he could say to comfort his daughter. The car stopped in front of the driveway of what use to be a small two story home. Fire fighters were still putting out flames as the two remaining Hunter's looked over the desolation. A detective then proceeded to ask Tim about his whereabouts when the fire started and if there was any possibilities of sabotage. Tim explained he was outside and that the family was well liked. He did, however, leave out the horrific scene he saw before he was dragged out of the burning building. The detective wouldn't have believed him anyway. Traci stood by her father's side watching the scene in front g her through blurred vision.
The next week passed by so quickly it took Traci some time to process everything. They were staying in a small apartment that a friend of Tim's was renting. He was allowing them to stay there for free until they got back on their feet. Traci spent most of her time alone crying. Tim made every attempt to console her but nothing worked. The none night she came to him before her bed time.
"what is it honey?" Tim asked as he put down the papers he was looking over.
"Daddy I have s secret."
"Can you tell me?" The girl nodded then looked around to make sure no one was there.
"I saw Mom and Alex."
"What do you mean?"
"I saw them die in my dreams. I was on my bed looking up and they were up there. Then they burst into flames." Traci began to cry.
"Honey. It's okay. You didn't know."
"You believe me?" You think what I saw is what happened?"
Tim looked into his daughter's emerald eyes. He could not keep his secret any longer. "Yes sweetheart." He paused. Should he really be telling his nine year old daughter this? "When I opened the door I saw what you described."
"It's all my fault." Traci went back into hysterics.
"Listen to me Traci. Your mother and brother loved you very much. And they wouldn't want you to blame yourself. It wasn't your fault. You thought it was just a dream." Tim pulled her into a tight embrace and together they cried.
Traci pulled away after several minutes. "Daddy I want to get whatever did this. No matter what it takes."
"Baby we don't even know what did this."
"Then I will find it. Daddy I know there are other things out there."
"I know. I do too. But." He tried to come up with an explanation as to why she couldn't go searching for the killer of her family. It would be too dangerous and she is too young came to mind. But there was no changing her mind. The determination in her eyes proved that Traci was going to do whatever it took to bring her mother and brother's killer to justice. "If you are so hell bent on this then we will do it together."
For the next five years the two traveled around trying to find any information on what killed their family. Along the way they destroyed creatures, monsters, and demons that got in their way. But they never found anything about what killed their family. Tim constantly searched news articles for any strange fires. Eventually Tim did come across an article that was a little different from the others. This fire occurred in the home of the Winchester family.
"Dad do you think this John guy knows anything. I mean it could be just another house fire. You know like the last twenty we investigated."
"I know but we should at least look into it. It can't hurt." Traci shrugged. Her father saw any house fire as a glimmer of hope to find more information. And at first Traci believed it would be easy enough. She found hope in all the slightest details. Any fire that did not have a detailed description of the happenings could be another answer to the many questions she had. Yet all leads led to nowhere. The fires turned out to be nothing more than accidents or revenge or plan stupidity. She lost hope gradually that the next fire would giver her answers. But she did not lose all hope. In the back of her mind she always believed they would find something. It was just taking longer than she hoped.
Tim searched further into the article reading the details to Traci. "John Winchester and his wife Mary were at home on the night of November 2, 1983. They had just put their sons Dean, five, and Sam, newborn, to bed. The fire broke out in their sons Sam's room. John, and his sons made it out safely. Mary was the only casualty."
"Does it say how the fire broke out?"
"The officials ruled it as accidental."
"Okay Dad I have to admit this does sound weird."
"See I told you."
"Just because it sounds weird doesn't mean this is it."
"I know but hoping doesn't hurt." Traci smiled. She was glad her father always had high spirits. Several times she imaged her life if they didn't go looking. Would they have gone back to something relatively normal? Or would they become depressed and dysfunctional? As Traci thought over these ideas again her father found a number.
"Hey look it's his phone number. Can I see your phone?"
"Dad what are you going to say. 'Hey exactly how did your wife die? We need to know because we are chasing this thing and we aren't really sure what it is."
"Now that sounds ridiculous." Tim began dialing the number. After several seconds someone answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi. I am Tim Hunter. Is this John Winchester?"
"Yes how can I help you?"
"I have some questions about the death of your wife. It is somewhat important."
"What do you know about my wife?"
"I would prefer to meet in person."
"Where are you?. I am at Michigan"
"Pennsylvania. But I am traveling to Norwalk, Ohio in the morning."
"I can meet you there."
"Thank you." Tim hung the phone up then looked at his daughter.
"So we're going to meet him?"
"I'm going alone. You need to stay and help that Walker family."
"But Dad. I want to come. And I cant get rid of a ghost alone."
"Yes you can. You have before. Your nickname isn't Axe for nothing. And normally you would want to do this stuff alone."
"Yea but want to go."
"Sweetie like you said it could still be nothing. We are just going to be talking. And if its nothing I don't want to have to hear your complaining. If anything comes up, I'll call." Tim kissed her forehead then started packing.
Originally Tim was not going to leave for Ohio until next week. But this lead could be what they had been waiting for. He left early the next morning.
The following night Traci traveled to the Walker home. The family was being terrorized by a ghost that formerly lived there. The husband, Kyle, called Tim and asked for his help. Many people would have ran away when asked to destroy a pissed off ghost, but Traci loved it. She was always keen to destroy evil. That is how her father gave her the nickname Axe. Her life became hunting down the evils in the world and destroying them. Tim was impressed with his daughters determination. She was only ten when she destroyed her first demon, with her fathers help. At age twelve she killed her first demon alone. Tim learned to trust his daughter and let her do things on her own.
The ghost that was bothering the Walker family took no time to eliminate. When she was done, Traci returned home to wait for the phone to ring. But there was no call until the next day around lunch time.
"Dad?"
"Hi honey."
"What the hell. You didn't call."
"I'm sorry Traci. I've been busy."
"So am I coming there?"
"No I'm coming home tomorrow."
"But why?"
"I'll explain that all when I get back. So how did you handle that ghost?"
"No problem."
"That's my Axe. Okay I got to go honey. I'll see you tomorrow evening. Be careful."
"I always am. Love you."
"I love you too."
Traci was surprised that she was not going to see him. But she didn't mind. She just assumed that this was just another dead end. Traci turned on the TV and started watching the X-files. If only people knew half of this stuff was real, she thought.