Home Again

Seeing Things

Claws raked across his back as he clambered the steep incline; the searing pain ripped the breath from his lungs and he fell to his knees, he glanced up to see Benny reaching down with a bloodied hand, Castiel stood at the man's shoulder calling Dean's name. Looking back, Dean’s eyes met with those of a monster so terrible that even God thought it unwise to unleash them upon human kind. He tore his gaze away and heaved himself to his feet; shaking from exhaustion and dizzy for lack of blood he caught Benny’s hand and - with the help of both the vampire and angel - was hauled forward; away from the creature’s grasp.

Dean sat bolt upright; gasping for air as he looked around wild-eyed, there were no monsters, no makeshift lean-to’s, he was alone in the backseat of a stolen pick-up truck, under the foliage of a large oak leaning out over the layby - where he had parked after swerving into oncoming traffic; bleary eyed and half asleep.

He shook his head and rubbed his hand over his face in an attempt to chase the last of his weariness away, the stubble of his unkempt beard grated on the skin of his palm as he slumped back into the warm leather. He hadn’t had so much sleep for what felt like a millennia – which of course had only been a year in purgatory but there seemed to be no difference.

Dean looked past the driver seat at the canary yellow clock on the dash, he groaned; it had been an entire day. He climbed between the two front seats and situated himself in front of the steering wheel, his vision went black and he gripped the wheel to steady himself; he hadn’t eaten properly in days and his body was growing weak because of it. Dean lent over to the passenger’s side and opened the glove compartment, he rifled through the mess of receipts and empty crisp packets looking for any spare change; he was in luck, his fingers brushed against rough leather and he tugged the wallet free of whatever mysterious substance stuck it to the bottom of the compartment, he wrenched it’s worn folds apart and grasped at the crumpled papers within – 50, 100, 150, $220 dollars lay in his shaking hands; despite it not being all that much it felt like a God send, Dean’s head fell back against the head rest, he closed his eyes and sighed with relief. “Thank God!”

He stowed the money in his jacket pocket and started the engine; it roared to life with a satisfying rumble which helped Dean to relax a little – he wondered if he would ever be accustomed to hearing the sound of manmade vehicles after spending a year amongst the most unearthly beings he was certain had ever existed.

As he drove down the unfamiliar road Dean’s mind wandered back to the chaotic forests of monster heaven; it hadn’t been too long before he had found Benny, they had met during a fight with a Vampire; Benny had dispatched the thing after freeing Dean who had been pinned under the creatures fierce grasp. The other vampire - whom Dean had come to think of as something of a brother – had known of a way to escape purgatory; they could have escaped almost immediately, but Castiel was still out there and there was no way in hell Dean was leaving without him – Cas. Just the thought of him stuck in that wretched, dirty place sent shivers up Dean’s spine, he gritted his teeth and clutched at his chest; the thought was accompanied with a terrible ache, images were brought - unbidden – to the forefronts of his mind; Cas reaching out toward Dean as they neared the gate, Cas calling his name as his hold on the angel loosened, the betrayed look in his friend’s eyes as they were torn apart from each other. Dean screwed his eyes shut, he pushed the memories to the back of his mind and looked up at the road ahead - dammit Dean! Your back in the game now; you’ve fixed Benny, all’s left to do now is find Sammy and we can drag Cas’s ass back out of purgatory some other way – Dean focussed on this thought and continued to drive.

Pulling up at a Gas ’n’ Sip Dean got out of the rusty orange pick-up and started to fill the tank, while he waited he looked around the gas station; people milled about their daily businesses, a mother scolded her child for stealing a bar of chocolate – he was promptly escorted back into the shop by his ear – others stood beside their cars just as Dean did. He shook his head a blinked a few times; he wasn’t entirely sure this was all real, he had lost count of the times he’d dreamt of finding Cas and returning to Earth but this time was different; he hadn’t immediately returned to Sam for one, another thing was the detail; everything was crystal clear now: people’s faces, the plain Gas ‘n’ Sip sign with the rising sun beside it (If ever the gas station had come to Dean’s mind during his time in purgatory the picture beside the words had always gone forgotten), the tar covered roads and the clear skies, all of it had been murky and unclear in previous dreams; this fact alone gave Dean hope that what he was seeing and experiencing was in-fact reality.