Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of its characters.

From now on, most chapters will be in Odette's PoV, or maybe Castiel's.

CHAPTER SIX- THE CEILING IS BENDIN'

If I was being honest with myself, I think I'd already known what my choice would be when I'd walked away from the cemetery. I just didn't want to admit it to myself.

Dazed, I went back to my house, curling into a ball on my couch, numb.

I took a shaky breath, trying to digest all the impossible things that had just happened.

Monsters were after me. Amy had become a ghost and murdered all the girls who had died this month. I was being hunted. The beautiful man I'd seen tonight had wings. Ghosts, werewolves, demons were real.

My head spun. I breathed in slow, concentrated gasps. I couldn't break down. Not now.

I was faced with two choices- stay in Maine and live a normal life...until the monsters ended it, or give up my education, my friends, my house, all to go with three strange men whose names I wasn't even sure were real.

I gripped the soft foam under me tightly. The decision was hard.

If I stayed here, my death was certain. The men had been clear on that.

Castiel's (if that really was his name) words echoed in my head. "Trust me, I know the signs. You're being hunted."

"We came here to get you." The other agents (were they even FBI?) had said the same.

"All that won't matter if you're dead."

"Come with us. We can protect you."

If I went with them, would I really be safe? They hunted the supernatural themselves. What if I was caught in the crossfire?

I looked at the purple bruises blossoming on my abdomen.

Bruises Amy had put. Amy, my best friend. If they hadn't been there, I would be dead. I owed them a phone call, at least, even if I wasn't going.

Was I going? Would I really be safe?

Then I remembered Castiel. Amy'd been kicking and struggling so hard, but he looked completely unaffected. She'd punched him, and he hadn't moved a muscle.

There was something about him I couldn't quite place. He had that quiet aura of power and danger that had me unsettled. It was as if he was tensed, ready for battle, at any second.

I looked around the room. If I wanted to face facts, I'd have to face the biggest.

I was living a half-life here. Maine was beautiful, I knew that, but it wasn't home. I'd left my home far, far away, and it was somewhere I could never return.

I was numbly going through my life here, perfect grades, perfect reputation, and a cookie cutter life, except for the main catch. I wasn't living, just being. I wasn't happy. Truth be told, I was miserable, living like a robot, remembering everything I'd left behind, everything I'd lost, and everything I could never have.

He was gone. I'd made sure of that. I shuddered; I couldn't let myself remember. Not this. And then something clicked.

The way he'd changed, turned, the thing that had taken him, it all made sense now. It had been after me. And he'd gotten in the way.

It hadn't been his fault; I'd known that from the very beginning. And now I knew. It was mine; all mine. My entire fault. And now he was never coming back. I'd made certain of that.

"My fault," I whispered, "All mine. I'm so, so sorry," my voice broke on the last word. And then I couldn't hold it in any longer.

I sobbed, then, rocking to and fro. The tears flowed, hot and wet, like the guilt that welled up inside me, seeping out from under my eyelids, proof of my shame. All the tears in the world wouldn't absolve this.

I cried for him, for what we had, for my dreams, the kind of life we'd had, the family I'd had. I cried for us.

It was all gone now. Dissipated, evaporated into nothingness. Gone. Gone. Gone.

My tears slowed, gradually, bit by bit, until they stopped altogether. I wiped away the last of them.

I couldn't let it happen again. Couldn't let somebody else get in the middle of whatever was after me. I couldn't be that selfish. I wouldn't put myself before the others. My friends, my teachers, everyone I knew, they were in danger now. Solely because of me.

I looked at the clock. I'd wept the night away; the sun was out now, the sky a pinkish-gold with streaks of red. I had a lot to do.

It was 8:00 AM. Almost time for school. I looked at the number that had been given to me and brought out my phone. I'd made my choice.

I knew what I had to do.