I wake up once again in my own world, surrounded by my soft pillows and softer blankets. Hmm, this happens when I fall asleep, no matter how light my sleep. I feel exhausted as if I didn't sleep at all. I reach for my phone and turn it on, blinking at the sudden light. I have a full night's sleep ahead and I fall back onto my bed.
I went to school again and put up with the same things as I did the day before. Today, Jessie seems to be looking at me more than usual. I catch her always hanging around me and when I look up she sneers at me. I brush off her weird behavior because it doesn't affect me in anyway. After school, I decide to hang around the library to escape my mother's nagging for a while.
I find a seat in the empty building, somewhere nice and secretive to do my homework in peace. I don't have to call my mother about my being late because I have a curfew of three hours after school to do whatever I want. Usually I don't use this given free time because I don't have friends who want to hang out after school, but today I need an escape.
I stop my writing halfway through my homework and booted up one of the computers in the library. I search for Rebecca Moore's old article to ease the curiousity that is nagging at me. The results came up true. Each and every article of what happened in Louisiana is true. So the Winchesters are not just figments of my imagination. This is really, really weird.
I type in weird things like transporting without your body into the search feed but only got questionable answers from unreliable sources. After an hour of fruitless searching, I give up and decide to go home.
On the walk home, the sky becomes grey and winds stronger than usual bluster around. I walk briskly to avoid the impending storm. I feel cold but can do nothing about it. I brave it and walk even faster home. Finally, I see my house up ahead and jog the last stretch.
When I step into the compound, the wind stops. The sky returns to its light blue state. No sign of a storm anywhere. I scowl at the odd weather. Last I remember it's not even the rainy season. The phenomenon unnerves me. I am caught surprised when I turn to see my mother standing at the door silently. She looks into the distance before looking at me strangely.
"Where have you been?" She asks.
"I was at the library," I reply. "It's not past curfew yet."
"Oh, okay," she mutters in a distant voice.
"Are you okay, mum?" I ask as I walk past her and through the door.
"Hmm?" She looks at me as if she didn't see me before. "Yeah, I'm fine. Dinner's just ready, you should go get cleaned up."
I take cautious steps up to my room, turning back to check on my mum every few seconds. Something is very wrong with her. My mother is not known for being dreamy and lost. She was always in control, hardly ever drifting off from reality like what she did just now.
I strip of my uniform and pull on my denim shorts and a grey tank top. I tie my hair back into a neater ponytail and go back downstairs. My dad is already back from work and seated at the dining table with my mother serving him his dinner.
"Hello, Dad," I greet. "How's work today?"
"The usual," he smiles and says. "How was your day?"
I shrug, "I went to the library after school today."
"And today of all days," my mother interrupts as she sets down the chicken. "Your friend just came over when you were away."
"Friend?" I ask. "'Which friend?" My parents aren't aware of my nonexistent social life.
"Jessie, I think she said her name was," Mum answers.
"She's not my friend," I mutter.
"She isn't?" My dad looks at me. "Then who is she?"
I stab my piece of chicken savagely and say, "She is my classmate and all she does is make fun of me. We're hardly on talking terms."
"Okay," my mum says a bit too cheerily. "Let's eat."
I decide that it's not just me being paranoid. My dad is also looking at my mum eat as if she grew another head. I catch his eye and he looks at me with concerned eyes. Today, everything is weird. That would be a great diary entry.
After dinner, I sit in front of the TV flipping through meaningless programs. I don't do this often because I usually take this time to do my homework. I did my homework in the library so I am free for the rest of the night. My dad sits beside me quietly while my mother does the washing up alone in the kitchen.
"Are you going to ask me help mum?" I ask, getting off the couch.
"No," my dad shakes his head. He looks at the kitchen before saying, "She can handle it herself."
"Okay." I sit back down and cross my legs on the sofa.
"Listen, I have to talk to you about something," Dad says. He sounds as well as looks tired. "Something weird is happening and I have to tell you now before it's too late."
I stare at him wordlessly, waiting for him to continue.
"You- You're not like other people," Dad starts. He peers at me through his glasses and I raise an eyebrow. He doesn't even know the beginning of it. "You have a special gift. An angel came down and gave it to you. I was there at the time, and the angel explained everything."
"An angel?" I'm surprised to hear my father say that. He's not a very religious person, and this sparks a few arguments between him and mum every now and again. "I didn't know you believed in things like that."
"I didn't," Dad says firmly. "But that night, you were about six months old and you started making sounds in the middle of the night. I went to see what was bothering you and this man was standing there. He told me he was an angel of the Lord and he showed me his wings and all. He told me that you are in grave danger, and that he imparted you a gift to help you along the challenge that would come."
"What danger?" I sat straighter at my father's grave tone. "Why would I be in danger?"
My father sighs, "There are mistakes I have made in my life. This one in particular seems to have effect on my only daughter." He smiles at me sadly. "You'll be turning sixteen soon, the angel said that you would experience something strange prior to your birthday. Have you, um, travelled to a different place in your sleep before? It's a stupid thing to ask; all these years I don't even know what to believe."
"Well, you can start off by believing the angel that you saw," I say matter-of-factly.
"You've been going to places in your sleep? When did this start?"
"Since Tuesday night," I tell him. "Does mum know about this?"
He sighs sadly and shakes his head. "No, she doesn't. The angel told me that besides you and me, anyone can be out to kill you. I was hoping that it wouldn't be true, the travelling in your sleep thing. Now that it is, there's nothing we can do, can we?"
"So what's so special about me that other people want me so much?"
"You have a key," Dad tells me. "It's inside you," he says pointing to my head. "It's the key to summon everything evil that don't even belong in hell to earth. You probably don't know what it is yourself and I would like to keep it that way. So you don't have to lie if you ever get caught and tortured."
"You said that it is because of a mistake you made," I prod. "What did you do?"
"It sounded a lot like a gift when I heard about it, but I was wrong." I wait for him to continue. "There was this set of instructions to get the Key. I followed them to rid the chances of the Key ending up in bad hands, to destroy the instructions to the key. It is said that this key, once retrieved, would reside within the person who completed the instructions or his offspring. Many believe that it is a physical thing but I found out through that angel that it is not. It is a line of words in a language long extinct, a spell if you like. I wish I never did that. Let the creatures of hell get to it. Anything so you don't have to suffer."
"What is done is done," I reassure him. "I don't mind doing anything at all if it's for a good cause. So how does my gift help me in anyway?"
"It sends you to another place far away from here. The angel told me that he would do his best to send you to someone that can help you and keep you safe if anything bad happens to you here."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that you have two chances at life," Dad explains. "If you get… killed here, your soul would go someplace else and become a solid human being again. The angel said that he can only do this once. The power he had to use to give you this one extra life has affected heaven so much, anymore would bring heaven down crashing and burning. The travelling in your sleep is a sign that the gift is taking effect and crazy stunts like that attract evil things."
I take in everything slowly. "If I have something they want, they won't kill me right?"
"With the things they can do to you, I'd rather you die than suffer that," he says. "Not all these creatures are sane beings. If you frustrate them enough, they will kill you without a second thought. Others believe the death of the key holder will reveal to them the key. So they will be out to kill you. The angel told me that when you die, the switching between places stop and will lose whatever is out there to get you. From there, find this person and he will keep you safe."
"Who's tha-?" My question is cut by a loud crash at the door.
"They're here," Dad mutters. He pushes me to the back of the house where the door leading to the basement is.
"Come out, come out wherever you are," a familiar voice rings out. It's Jessie.
Dad continues to push me towards the basement door. We get in and he closes the door quietly and locks it. I stand on one step and watch Dad look for something on the wall. A secret door slides open on the top step and Dad gestures for me to get in. I go in and he closes the door.
"What's going on?" I ask, on the verge of panicking. "What's Jessie doing outside?"
"That's not Jessie anymore," Dad says while running around turning on lights in the room. The room is full of scary knives and guns. Dad goes and grabs some guns before turning to me. "There's something possessing her. He reaches for my necklace, "This will be enough to stop them from possessing you." He holds me by my shoulders and looks me in the eye. "Listen to me," he says, "I want you to get out of this place as fast as you can through that window. Just run as fast and as far as you can." He starts for the door and says, "Whatever you hear, don't go into the house."
"Where are you going?" I ask confused and close to tears. "Don't go out there," I plead.
"I have to," he says. "I have to buy you enough time to get away."
"But where am I supposed to go?" I demand.
"Go into the forest, it's safer in there than out here," he says.
"No, please don't go," I beg. A sharp shriek pierces the air. Mum.
Dad comes over and hugs me tight. In a soft whisper, he says, "I'm sorry, I have to go. Take care, baby girl. I love you." With a swift kiss on my head, he tells me, "Look for John Winchester." Then he's gone.
Winchester. The name rings a bell and binds me to the spot. I was with Sam and Dean Winchester. I am roused by a gunshot sound and get to the window. I lift it and climb out as quickly as I can. I watch through a lit window, my father against a large group of attackers. Another gunshot and I run straight in the direction of the forest. As I run, I think about the last four words dad had whispered to me. The angel did a pretty good job of getting me close to the Winchesters. I just have to find out who is John in relation to Sam and Dean.
I get into the forest and continue straight for I had no idea where to go. I hear a river trickling somewhere on my right and I head toward the area. I run and run, not caring for the thorns poking me and tearing my skin apart. The forest is too quiet, no crickets or frogs are singing but I am too scared to think deeper about the signs. I hear another gunshot and this time it is followed by a sharp pain in my kidney. I stop and look down. There is blood spreading through my t-shirt where the pain is. I turn around and face whoever it is that shot me.
It is Mum. Standing there with her hair whipping crazily around, she doesn't look like Mum at all. She points the gun at me again. A flash of light and another wave of pain send me taking a few steps back. After the pain resides, I go numb and fall to my knees. I don't look at my wound this time but look straight at my mother.
Her eyes go all black before she says, "Give me the key." Her voice is cold, and I know that's not mum inside anymore. I can't help the tears that pour out.
"I don't have it," I croak. Another gunshot and I fight to stay conscious.
"Give me the key," she demands.
I shake my head wordlessly. Before she could fire another shot, someone stabs her from behind and she screams, a yellow glow coming from where she is stabbed. When she falls, she reveals her killer. It's Dad. With tears in his eyes and bruises everywhere, he stays where he is, holding mum's body but looking at me.
"Goodbye, my girl," he says in a croaky voice. "Stay safe."
And my world fades to black.