Lightning Crashes 𖤐 Sam Winchester

Chapter Four

"UM, GREEK MYTHOLOGY?"

"I googled your friends name and it brought me to Astrape, the Goddess of Lightning. She's a daughter of Zeus."

Sam scoffed as he pulled the hot pot from the stove and poured the noodles into the strainer. "Wait, so, Astra is a goddess?"

"Former. It says that gods and goddesses lose their power by performing an act of betrayal, or if they're banished from their own world. So, it sounds like your friend did something in her own world."

Sam pursed his lips. "But she doesn't remember anything. . . So, maybe Zeus didn't want her to remember something?"

"Hard to say."

Sam glanced towards the hallway when he heard the bathroom door open. "Thanks, Jody."

Hanging up, he placed the phone down just as Astra entered the room. The girl was dressed in the clothes he had gotten from Eileen.

Her face flushed as she noticed his stare. Sam cleared his throat and smiled.

"Feel better?"
"Yeah, hot water really helped." She said, sitting at the island. Sam dumped the spaghetti noodles into the pot with the cooked meat.

"Sam, I really feel bad for staying here." Astra began. "I just don't feel right about this."

Sam stopped stirring the spaghetti. "Astra, it's fine. Really. You've been through a lot and I—"

Sam cut himself off as he stared at the counter. He turned away and grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, avoiding her curious eyes.

"I'm used to things like this. . . I'm just not used to doing these things alone."

Astra folded her hands. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He placed spaghetti into the bowl and slid it across the counter. "You're not the most mysterious thing I've met."

Astra stared at the bowl as he placed a fork beside it. "What is this?"

Sam looked at her in surprise. "Spaghetti."
She hadn't a clue what it was, and Sam didn't even attempt to explain.

"Listen, Astra, I may know about who you are." Sam explained. "You came from a different world that night, you fell from the sky. And you were in control of the lightning until your powers faded completely."

Astra stared at him. "Am I a monster?"
Sam chuckled at her fearful innocence. "No, you're not a monster. You were a greek goddess, Astra. . . Your real name is Astrape."

Astra froze in her seat as she stared back at Sam.

"Does that ring a bell at all?" He asked her.
She shook her head. "No. Which doesn't make sense as to how I know myself as Astra."

"A common nickname can be announced more than your given name." Sam reasoned. "Astrape is a daughter of Zeus."

Zeus.

That named echoed in her ears and caused her to wince. Sam watched her reaction, and the woman's eyebrows knitted together as she zoned out. She tried desperately to match the name to herself.

"Does Zeus sound familiar?"

Astra swallowed. "I—I can't remember."

Sam nodded as she became distraught. "Hey, it's okay. Don't stress about it, okay? We'll figure it out. And there's no rush."

Her dark green eyes remained on Sam's face as they grew teary. "Why are you helping me?"

The man clenched his jaw. "Because that's what my brother and I do. . . That's what I do."

Sam lowered his eyes as he grabbed another bowl.
"Your brother. . ."

"My brother died a year ago, yesterday." Sam told her, scoffing lightly. "Doesn't even feel like it's been that long."

Astra shook her head. "Sam, I'm so sorry, I can't even think of what you're going through—"

Sam reached for her arm. "Don't be sorry. I'm fine, really. It's just. . . I'm still getting used to it, you know? Um, we were really close. Until the end. His end."

"Do you care if I ask you what happened?"

The man inhaled as he forced a smile. "I can, but another time. You should eat. Before it gets cold."

Astra knew that was a sign that he didn't want to talk about it. Not because of their situation, but because he just wasn't ready.

"Right." She picked up the fork— which she had to be shown how to use. "And this is called. . ."

"Spaghetti." Sam smiled. "You just dip your fork in there and give it a twist and bam."

She watched his demonstration as he poked at the pasta and twisted his fork around, collecting the noodles and the meat. Sam brought the fork up and took the mouthful into his mouth, chewing it.

He laughed as he chewed and swallowed. "Give it a try."

Astra poked at the Spaghetti and twisted it just as Sam showed her. Once she collected the noodles, she lifted the fork and took the noodles into her mouth. The taste was foreign to her tongue, and the difference textures caused her eyebrows to dip. Sam watched her face as she chewed carefully, and then she swallowed.

"It's really good." She said. "You must be a really good cook."

The man snorted. "Yeah, not really. Kind of used to it. I did most of the cooking if Dean didn't grill or grab food from somewhere."

She poked at her food again. "Was Dean your brother?"

Sam swallowed his mouthful. "Yeah."

Astra scooted closer to the island. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask—"

"Please just stop apologizing." Sam said, and it was almost a plead. The man smiled gently, watching as she poked at her food again.

"There's a lot about me that you don't know." Sam said to her. "But you will know, I just want to help you first."

"What if I'm not worth it?" Astra said, pushing the spaghetti away. "I mean, what if this whole thing is true; I'm the daughter of Zeus. Whoever that is."

Sam lifted a finger as he darted towards his room. "Right."

Astra waited and ended up looking back at the spaghetti. Like an innocent child, she reached forward for the bowl and began eating it again.

Sam ran back into the kitchen with an open laptop in his hands, along with a book.

GREEK MYTHOLOGY

The man ran his hand through his long hair. "This will tell you about Greek Mythology. Not that it's a myth, apparently."

He slid the book across the table, and she stared at the foreign object. As she opened the book, she stared at the page of words, but her mind was drawing a blank.

"You okay?"

She looked up at Sam. "I—"

She tried to read again, but she couldn't bring herself to pronounce the large words in her mind. Fiddling with her hands, she looked up at him.

The man leaned forward. "Hey, we'll work on it, okay?"

Astra forced a smile as she nodded, blinking a few times to dry her eyes. This was only the beginning of leaving a life behind that she had no memory of.