I closed my eyes tight and pinched the bridge of my nose as bits and pieces of everything that had happened prior to the crash fell into place. Exorcising Meg with Bobby trying to convince me otherwise… Meg using her last living moments to try and tell Sam and I where our father was… finding Dad in Jefferson City and saving Sam… the cabin and Dad’s possession. Then there were the things that yellow-eyed bastard had said to and about Sam… those phantom claws ripping my flesh… Dad’s plea for Sammy to kill him in order to kill the Demon, the Demon getting away… Dad berating Sam in the car for not doing what he’d asked… the lights and grille of the truck coming for the Impala and the sound of shattering glass… the feeling of my head hitting the door and losing consciousness… I remembered everything.

According to that news article, both Dad and Sam were alive and well, for which I was more than thankful, but knowing the truth made me feel worse and miss them even more – especially Sam. Who was going to look out for him if Dad had long since gotten back into the hunt and I was in a coma? Was Sammy okay? Had he stayed in Jefferson City with me all this time?

Time. There was something else I couldn’t grasp. An entire year had passed? It explained why Sam looked so exhausted – he’d probably spent at least a whole afternoon with me every day –, and why he was talking about me in third person as though I wasn’t there. To Sam, I wasn’t, leastways not up and about. That also explained the one duffle bag; mine was probably in the trunk of the Impala.

The Impala. She’d looked as good as new. I knew Sam had restored her to her former glory, and that brought a ghost of a smile to my lips. My brother was probably the only person in the world who completely understood how much that car meant to me – she was second only to Sam.

Sam… Damn I missed him. I wished I could just wake up, be there with him, just see him. I wondered if he’d been hunting in that year or if he’d gotten himself a job somewhere in order to pay for my medical bills. I had a feeling it was the latter.

A question then egged at me. If a year had passed and I had only ‘woken up’ two days ago, what the hell had I done in all that time? Where had I gone? What had happened in that year? I had absolutely no recollection of it; the only things I remembered was the crash, then waking up in Sam’s motel room… That was an entire year stolen from my life; a year I would never get back again. And that bothered me. So did knowing I was in two places at once and I was away from my brother with no way to talk to him or even see him. I just wanted to make sure that he was okay…

I heard the stairs creak and soft footsteps enter the living room. I opened my eyes to see Lyse looking at me.

“You okay?” she asked carefully. When I didn’t move or answer she sat down on her knees in front of the couch. “You want to talk about it?”

I turned my head to look at her. Her eyes held nothing but genuine concern. “Talk about what?”

“If you remember the accident, what happened before the accident, how you feel about all this…” Her voice trailed off and she swallowed nervously. “You’re kind of scaring me with the silence thing.”

I winced inwardly. I was scaring her? That was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d never admit it, but I was the one who was scared, and I needed her to be the strong one.

I sat up and scooted to the other end of the couch. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. I chanced a look at her. “I remember.”

She got up off of the floor and sat beside me. “What, the accident?”

“Everything,” I answered. “The accident, everything that happened before the accident.” I kicked myself mentally. I’d said more than I needed to – again.

“What did happen?” she asked.

“What do you mean? You saw the article.”

“I know, but I want to hear it from you,” she said. “All of it.

“Including everything before the crash?”

“If you feel up to it.”

In truth, I didn’t feel up to it. I really didn’t want to lie to her, but what would she do if I told her the truth? Sure, she knew about out-of-body experiences – which I wanted to ask her about –, but what about her reaction last night when I told her I thought I was ghost? She’d chalked it up to a drunken hallucination. Of course, she eventually dismissed that theory earlier…

If I wasn’t going to tell her the whole truth, what was I going to tell her? What could I say that she would believe? I couldn’t just omit what happened before the crash; not after I’d told her I remembered all of it.

I looked over to her and suddenly wished I could tell her the complete and honest truth. Just the look in her eyes, like she needed to know the truth of what happened. But, I remember the last time I opened up enough and told someone the family secret. She’d immediately called me crazy and jumped to the conclusion I just wanted to dump her, which couldn’t have been farther from the truth. I didn’t want the same thing here. The last thing I needed was for Lyse not to believe my story.

‘Just keep it simple’. I heard Sam’s voice in my mind, and again wished he was here; he’d have just the right thing to tell her – a story she’d believe.

I took a breath, hoping that what I was about to tell her would be believable.

“Sam, Dad and I were deer hunting, and we’d rented a cabin in the woods outside of Jefferson City. I don’t really know what happened, if Sam went after a deer and Dad got in the way or what, but Sam shot Dad in the leg.” I looked up at Lyse. Her eyes had never left me and she appeared to be buying the lie. “With no cell reception, Sam and I got Dad into the Impala and we were about ten minutes away from the hospital when the truck hit us.”

She didn’t say anything for quite a while. Her eyes had glazed over, and it looked like she was trying to take in what I’d just told her. Meanwhile, I continued to hope she’d bought the story.

“Wow,” she whispered. “That’s amazing.”

My head snapped to her. What the hell did she mean by that? “What?”

“The circumstances I mean,” she answered. “The fact that Sam and your Dad escaped the crash with only minor injuries. And the fact that you’re still alive with all of your injuries. Any other person would be dead by now.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not any other person.” That much was true. Most people didn’t crisscross America hunting ghosts and demons all day everyday for a living without more pay than a thank you.

A smile tugged at her lips, but only for a fleeting moment. Her eyes became serious again, but soft. “Seriously Dean, you’ve got someone looking out for you.”

“Like what?”

“A guardian angel maybe,” she answered.

I snorted. “Yeah right, that’s bull. The only ones who have ever looked out for me are Dad, Sam and myself.”

Her eyes lowered. “So, you’re just going to chalk it up to luck?”

“What else could it be?”

Slowly, cautiously, her eyes rose to meet mine. “You mean, you don’t believe in–”

“What, fate?” I cut in.

She shook her head. “No, not fate. But don’t you believe that there may be someone watching over you like God, or angels or a spirit guide?”

It was my turn to shake my head. “I believe in what I can see with my own two eyes.” And that included things the majority of society refused to believe existed.

She shrugged. “Well, you’re not the only one.”

I looked over at her. “Why, do you believe the same way?”

“No, but my sister does.”

I rose an eyebrow. “Really? Then, what do you believe in?”

“God, angels.” An embarrassed blush crept into her cheeks, “the supernatural…”

I blinked. “The supernatural?”

The blush deepened. “Yeah, I know. It’s not something a lot of people believe in.”

“Oh no, I believe in it too,” I answered. “But what kind of supernatural? It’s kind of a broad spectrum.”

She seemed a little taken aback by the question. “Uh… Poltergeists mostly, but I also believe in Spirits, Demons, Vampires, Wendigos–”

“Wendigos?” Maybe I could’ve told her the truth…

“Yeah,” she answered, her expression soft, her eyes easy. “You ever heard of Kenora, Ontario?”

I nodded. Almost every hunter in the world knew about Kenora, Ontario. “That’s the Wendigo Capital of the World, isn’t it?”

“It is, and it’s right in this province.”

Whoa, back up! “What? Province?”

She looked at me for a moment, the lightness fading from her expression. “You don’t know where you are, do you?” It was more of a statement than a question.

I shook my head. “No I don’t.”

She sighed. “You’re probably not going to like this, but you’re in Toronto.”

“Canada?!” I exclaimed. “How the hell did I get all the way up here?”

“I have no idea, Dean.”

I stared at the space between the cushions of the couch. Canada? How did I get all the way from Jefferson City to Toronto? Why would I be sent so far away from Sam? Now that I was here, would I ever see him again? That question scared me more than knowing I was 900 miles away from him.

“You okay?” her voice, once again soft, cut through my reverie.

I wanted to tell her I was fine, but I wasn’t, and I didn’t want to lie to her anymore. “Not really. I’m just trying to figure everything out.”

“You and me both,” she answered. “I’m trying to figure out why you’re here; why I’m the only one who can see and hear you.”

That sent a question pinching at my brain. “Me too. The thing is, I prayed… And I don’t even believe in God or a greater good; Sam does and he believes hard, but I never have.”

Her eyes narrowed in confusion. “Then, why did you pray?”

“I don’t know,” I replied softly. I did know why, though. Again, I could hear Sam’s voice in the back of my mind, ‘Maybe it’s time to have some faith, Dean.’ I’d always ignored those words, but they were ringing far clearer now than they ever had. I looked at Lyse. “I guess I prayed for help, though, no offence, you weren’t what I was expecting.”

She smiled while her eyes remained steady. “God works in mysterious ways.”

I blinked. I’d heard those words before, from Layla only moments before Reverend LaGrange chose to heal me, a decision he’d claimed was from God.

“But, I don’t even believe in Him,” I said, maybe a little too fervently.

“That doesn’t matter, Dean,” she answered, that soft expression still on her face, her voice still gentle. “He hears a non-believer’s prayer all the time. Where do you think the believers come from?”

That made me stop for a moment. “True… But it still doesn’t make me feel much better.” Normally, the idea of being saved would comfort anyone, but for some reason it didn’t do much for me. I mean, sure, knowing I’d probably just been saved sent some relief through my body, but it didn’t do much in the way of settling me. Maybe it was because I was still confused, or because I was in a place I’d never been before… Or maybe it was the uncertainty of everything from what I’d done in the year between the accident and now, or the thought that something supernatural, like the Yellow-Eyed Demon could be behind this… Or maybe I was just scared?

“Are you hungry?” she asked suddenly. Her eyes then took on a cautious look. “Do you even still eat?”

I almost laughed. “Yes, I still eat. And I’m starving.” Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t had anything to eat since I’d stolen half of Sam’s fries two days ago.

She smiled. “Then, I think I know just what to make to help you feel better.” And with that, she got up and headed for the kitchen, leaving me rather confused.

I want more!
Whoa, whoa, back up!
Home James!