CHAPTER 4
EVENING TEA
«To sum up» Sam said for the umpteenth time while Dean, next to him, snorted exasperated. «After Everlyne died, the house passed to the daughter, who disappeared, and now everone that tries to approch, suddently vanish into thin air»
«Exactly» nodded his brother, tired. He already heard that speech like a thousand times since they left from police station.
«And where are we supposed to go, now?» asked Sam, nodding his head toward the makeshift road through the windshielf, where the rain still drumed, ceaseless.
«To the house, obviously» said Dean, with a little grin. «Maybe we'll desappear too. Who knows?»
Sam couldn't undestand what his brother found so enjoyable in the situation, but he gave up and said, in a low voice: «Be careful»
Dean ignored him and he stepped harder on the accelerator, turning up the volume of the radio with an air of a calmness. The younger brother couldn't understand how Dean could stay so relaxed, always.
The trip continued on in near silence as Sam read the notes he took during the conversation with Redstone, sometimes thumbing through the pages of his father's diary, as if to take his cue from it. Dean was humming.
After a few minutes, he spoke again.
«We are almost here» Dean said, pointing to a big mansion a short distance from them. Even from that distance, the building had something imposing and stately about it that Sam didn't like, at all. «That's strange, we haven't had any problem yet»
«Don't speak too soon» said Sam, who still felt vaguely in danger.
But Dean was right. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. Even when they pulled in the front of the ancien house parking in the middle of a big patch of mud and earth that was studded with gnarled trees.
They exited from the car, sheltering themselves with their jackets. They stipped for only a few seconds to admire the mansion. It was really old and made entirely by wood that once was white. Both floors of the house were full of windows that looked into as many rooms that were pitch black.
«Scary, isn't it?» said Dean with an amused smile. «Come on, let's go».
They came to the main door, going up the two or three worn steps, and Sam knocked.
«What are you doing?» his brother exclamied, incredulous. «That is an abondoned house, and you are knocking?»
Sam grumbled. «Look at that, Dean. There's a light on. There must be someone inside».
The brother keep himself from replying, because, actually, there was a little light coming from one of the rooms. And in confirm Sam's word, a thin voice answered them.
«Come in!»
The brothers pushed the door, that was already slightly open, and they went through a narrow corridor, in the direction of the light. They came into a room down the hall without consulting one another and they went in.
They were into a little kitchen: and, sitting next to a whitewood table, deep in sipping a cup of tea, there was the strangest little girl they had ever see.
She was pale, unnaturaly pale so and her slight face brought out her enormous blue eyes, with shadows undernaeth them. Her hair was blonde, and it fell untidily down her back. She was dressed strangely, giving the impression of a antique, creepy doll that had ran away from an old toy shop.
The child looked at them. She lowered the cup putting it on the table, and smiled, tilting her head.
«Good evening» she said, in a frail, but decided voice. «May I ask who you are?»
They were so astonished that they needed a couple of seconds to respond with a comprehensible answer.
«I... I am Sam, and that's my brother, Dean» he answered, without taking his eyes off her.
The little girl seems to not hear him. «My name is Jane Everlyne» she said calmly, and the two brothers exchanged a meaningful look.
It fell silent. Sam's brain was working feverishly, trying to understand, while Dean was still gaping at the child, confused.
Jane spoke again.
«You know, I've never had many guest, so I'm not an expert at good manners» she said, slowly. «But I guess I should at least ask you to sit down. Make yourself at home» she said, pointing to two chairs in front of hers.
The two brothers were quick to obey.
«So... ahem... Jane» said Sam, hesitant. «You're here... all alone?»
She waited a few seconds before answering. «Let's say yes» she said.
«And there's not some adults that take care of you? A guardian, so we can talk to him?» he asked again.
The girl shook her head. «No, there's only me» she said strongly, like she wanted to clarify the concept once and for all.
«And... yours parents?» asked Dean, as Sam kicked him under the table. Your parents? What kind of a question was that, if they already knew that they died an year before?
Jane, however, keep her look unchanged. «I don't think my parents are going to come back» she said, and her voice trembled a little.
«I'm sorry» Sam said at once, trying to caress her hand, or at least touch her, but she stood quickly.
«I'm sorry, too» she said. «I don't want to seem rude, but can I ask you to avoid that topic, please?»
Sam and Dean nodded immediately. «Yes, excuse us» said Sam, surprised by the child ability to string along them.
«Never mind» Jane started sipping her tea agian, but she stopped, pensive. «Good manners say that it's not polite to drink when there is not enough to share. I would offer you some tea, but there is hardly enough for me»
«Dont' worry» said Dean, waving his hand to dismiss the thought. «Listen, how can you live here without anyone who looks after you?»
«Like everybody, I guess» the child said with a twisted smile. «I eat, I drink, I sleep... the usual things»
«And you never think that... you need someone? Someone with you, to takes care of you?» Sam asked.
Jane wasnt' looking at them anymore. She finished her tea and she set down the cup on the table. When she spoke, her voice had an angry tone that the brother didn't like ar all.
«Really, I don't want to be unkind with the only person that I ever met in all this time» she said, and her blue eyes twinkled. «But your in my house, and that makes you my guest. And seeing that you are starting to annoy me, I beg you to go away». She stopped herself for a second, that she added: «Obviously, only if I am not too impolite»
«Oh, yes, of course, we're just leaving» said Dean, standing up and starting toward the door but Sam, reaching the brother, stopped him by taking his arm.
«What are you doing, you want to leave her here?» he asked, surprised, in a low voice.
«Well, what's your suggestion?» he wishpered, raising his eyebrowns.
«I... I don't know, anything else! We can't leave, she's too little for living alone!» Sam protested.
«Come on, she survived until today, she keep doing it without us» said Dean sceptically.
«And what about the case? The missing people?»
«Sam, if we stay here, we would just bother her even more, and I don't think that's the best way to make her trust us!» Dean murmured annoyed.
«You're right» Sam said, surprised by his own words, before turning himself towards Jane. «Now... now we are leaving, but, who knows? Maybe you'll see us again» he said, trying to smile encouragingly.
The girl didn't seem too delighted.
«And... maybe you need something?» asked Sam after a moment of reflection.
When she heard that, Jane immediately jumped from her chair and came next to them.
«Oh, yes!» she exclaimed, passionatly. «I need food! There weren't much here, and now it's already finished...»
«But, what have you been eating all this time?» Dean asked, surprised.
«The food in the reserve in the underground room» the child answered, and when she saw their confused expression, she said: «The underground room! The room where we go if there's an earthquake or a cyclone...mom and dad filled it with food, but now it is all gone. For two days I have had nothing to eat but only the tea».
Dean was simply astonished at the idea of a human being, a child, who could survive thanks to tea bags for two days, was beyond his comprehension.
«All right, we'll try to bring you all that we can» Sam said, and he can't help showing that he was worried.
«Thank you a lot» she said, and for the first time, a real, radiant smile brighted her face. «And... oh, wait!»
Jane ran away from the room, and when she came back, she had a little box made of porcelain in her hands, like a case. She opened it, and she took out of it a couple of banknotes.
«This is for your charges» she explained, giving them to Dean, who was really incredulous.
«I can't understand you, Jane» said Sam, looking at her confused. «You have the money... why haven't you just gone shopping?»
The smile on Jane's face vanished. She closed the box slowly, and only when she leaded it upon a shelf, she looked again towards the two brothers.
«I can't going outside the house» she said. «And now, go away, and goodbye».
And, sitting again at the table, she didn't speak again, until the two brothers closed the main door behind them.