Angela Conlin had been a stay at home mom for three years, before that she was a nurse. Used to always being on her feet and working long hours she was no stranger to hard work and being tired, but something was different.
"Mommy, is everything alright?" Her daughter Miranda asked sweetly as she looked up from her bowl of cereal.
"Everything fine, I'm just a little tired." Angela said trying her best not to show her exhaustion.
"Will you play with me?" Miranda asked excitedly.
"Not right now sweetheart." Angela said as she sat down across from her. "I will bring you over to camp soon." She added knowing how much her daughter loved the winter activities the community provided.
"I don't want to go to the camp." Miranda pouted catching her mother off guard.
"But you love winter camp." Angela said.
"I don't want to play with the other kids I want to stay with you." Miranda suddenly exclaimed as she stepped off the stool she had sat on and raced around the counter to hug Angela.
Something was wrong. Something had been wrong for days but she had chosen to ignore it. Still Angela ran her fingers through her young daughters brown hair and comforted her, promising to stay home with her today.
The two would play outside in the light snow around the house until Miranda accidentally kicked her ball up onto the roof. Angela was pleased for the excuse to go back inside and rest never once noticing the haunting look her daughter would give when she turned her back.
...
JJ was out for her morning run. Being an experienced profiler she knew the dangers of sticking to a precise routine that left her vulnerable. This knowledge was well known in her household, which is why when she informed Will she would taking a different path on her run he did not question it as she had no formal route.
It was a long run and the purple coat she wore was little more than a hard shell that protected her from the wind. Even in the cold winter JJ never needed anything more than a few layers and a good hat for her morning run. When she finally reached Angela's house her face was slightly red, her legs tired, and she was out of breath, but if she learned anything today then it would be worth the pain. Out of breath JJ half jogs up the steeps to the front door and rang the doorbell.
"Hi Angela." JJ greeted when the door opened.
"JJ are you alright?" Angela asked not knowing why she was there. JJ and Angela were friends, their kids went to the same school, they went to the same community functions, exchanged Christmas cards, and met occasionally for lunch and play dates but showing up unannounced to one and others house was not common.
"Yeah I'm fine. I was just out for a run can. I come in for a moment?" JJ asked.
"Of course, come in." Angela nodded, not about to leave the woman out in the cold.
"Sorry to barge in but I haven't been keeping up with running lately between work, Henry and the weather I guess I overestimated how far I could go." JJ said as if to explain why she was there.
"Its fine, come sit down." Angela said as she led the way to the living room.
"Didn't you have a mirror here?" JJ questioned when they passed a small table in the hall which she distinctively remembered having a large wide framed mirror hanging above it.
A half sigh half laugh escaped Angela's lips but something about it lacked and humor. "Miranda was playing and knocked it over a few days ago."
"It's lucky she wasn't hurt." JJ said politely, but truthfully all JJ could think about was the eerie feeling she had gotten when she had spotted Miranda only a day ago.
"You weren't at the camp for the kids today." JJ stated
"Miranda didn't want to go" It was the same solemn tone in her voice that let JJ know something was wrong.
The two continued to talk, discussing work, the weather, and other trivial matters before JJ tried pressing the issue.
"Angela, is everything alright?" She questioned with the same gentle tone she used when addressing witnesses on the job. "Has something happened recently?"
Angela looked away for a second as she rubbed the back of her neck, a nervous tic that told the experience profiler that she was on the right track.
"Yeah everything is fine." Angela lied stiffly.
"If something is bothering you, any thing at all, you can tell me." JJ continued.
For a moment it appeared that the conversation was over, but then Angela set her glass of water on the coffee table between them and her expression turned serious.
"It's Miranda." Angela said in almost a whisper. "There's something not right with her." She was to afraid to say what she was really thinking. The clinging personality, the feeling she got when she touched her, it was as if she wasn't Miranda... as if she wasn't her daughter but she dared not voice her thoughts out loud.
JJ did not looked surprised by what Angela had said, almost as if she expected it. "What do you mean?
"I'm not sure, she hasn't been her self lately." Trying to play it off as if it were nothing
"Whatever is going on I'm sure everything will go back to normal soon." JJ continued unsure if she should ask what exactly had been different about Miranda. Should she ask if it was her appearance had changed, her mannerism, or her behavior? What answers would suggest a normal child phase, and which would suggest a paranormal cause?
JJ didn't have time to ask any more questions before the gentle footsteps descending from the staircase caused the two adults heads to turn.
"Mommy." The soft-spoken brown haired child called.
"Miranda, you remember Jennifer don't you." Angela said, and to her credit keep her voice as normal as possible when JJ could see the uneasiness in her eyes.
Miranda only nodded before moving to sit beside her mother, gripping her arm and holding herself tight to her side. JJ left soon after that.
...
JJ was sure something strange was going on but she did not know what. Her investigation continued with the one element of the supernatural world that she knew best, omens.
Pulling up dozens of files she tried to find a clue to what could be happening in her neighborhood, but she found nothing. There were no electrical storms, no strange deaths, nothing she could use to narrow down what could be wrong with Angela's daughter.
Fear and anxiety overwhelmed her as the memory of Lilith telepathically pinning her to the wall of a dust covered motel room. A lump formed in her throat while a knot tightened in her stomach and she struggled to draw breath.
There was nothing she could do. She was sure that if Sam or Dean or any other hunter were where they would be able to figure out what if anything was wrong someone who had lived their entire like in this world.
JJ had stumbled into the world of demons, monsters, ghost and ghouls barely a year ago and had no way of separating fact from fiction.
Not one to give up JJ did the only thing she could do. She walked into the town library, sat herself down in front of a search engine and started the long process of figuring out what was going on.
It was worst then looking for a needle in a haystack. At least she knew what a needle looked like. JJ didn't know if she should be looking for a ghost, a demon, a rugaru, or a dozen other possible creatures.
Turning the yellowing pages of an old book JJ looked over the gruesome images with the same detachment as she did with crime scene photos, analyzing them clinically to decide if the creature's profile matched what she felt was going on in her town.