Stay (the sequel to "Forget Me Not")

Chapter 2: Suffocating

Cas slept in the following morning. Longer than usual anyway. The clock had sneaked by half past ten when the nightmare finally released its hold on him. His eyes had glued themselves shut, full of grit and hard to force open. Dean wasn't next to him. He was alone. The sheet under him was scrunched up in waves and damp from sweat. He should wash up. Friday was a good day to get some cleaning and laundry done.

Straining himself, he blinked up at the light a few times, seriously considering rolling over on his side and go back to sleep. But he reluctantly pulled the cover off of him and threw his legs over the edge of the bed and out into the luke-warm room. The house was quiet. Grace hadn't woken him up with her eight o'clock cry. Dean must have dealth with her.

He pulled on his comfortable sweatpants and zipped his dark blue hoodie halfway up his bare chest, concealing his imperfections, before he made his way downstairs. The floor was a litte cold under the soles of his feet. It felt nice. He heard his own heart beat in his ears. It was so quiet. The house lay in complete silence and the rooms were empty. Cas casually glanced around the kitchen and the livingroom before walking with quick steps down the hall to Grace's room, finding it abandoned as well. He fixed her bed spread and returned to the hall.

A low growl came from the starving pit of his stomach and drew him back to the kitchen. For a few minutes he searched for something quick to sink his teeth into without having to cook. The leftover half of a banana ended up atop some cereals and yoghurt. He leaned against the counter by the window and looked out over the garden as he ate. This was one of his favourite spots in the house. From here he always saw the sunlight glisten over everything. His own little oasis. A place where he could forget everything; where he could forget all the unpleasant things he hadn't forgotten already.

He looked down and flipped through the morning's newspaper and accidentally read words he didn't want to read. Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he quickly let his eyes shift focus from the horror stories the papers were spewing. A yellow post-it note was stuck to the countertop. A mere five words were written on it. Dean's sloppy handwriting.

"We're out. Back soon."

He took another spoonful of yoghurt soaked cereals, chewed and left the spoon in the bowl as his fingers gently touched the letters Dean had written. The paper was dry, almost rough under his fingertips. The lines of the pencil Dean had used were vaguely noticeable. Like tiny trenches in a bright yellow field.

Cas' eyes shifted up and out across the sunlit garden again. The double doors to the garage stood wide open. Something seemed to be moving inside and he peered his eyes slightly. When he couldn't figure out what was going on he took his breakfast in one hand and went out to take a closer look.

"Son of a bitch" he heard someone mutter as he got closer to the garage.

"What's this? Cirque du Soleil?" He scooped up the last of the yoghurt and put the empty bowl down on a stack of boxes huddled next to a metallic green bandsaw covered in soft-looking sawdust.

"Uh- Yes-! Yeah, hi!" Dean almost fell off the ladder he was climbing on. He seemed to have been reaching for something high up on a shelf right under the ridge of the ceiling. But when he heard Cas he flinched and pushed the... what ever it was, back in its place.

Cas could barely contain a laugh. When he saw Grace sitting on Dean's dark blue parka in the sawdust on the floor, his smile faded and was replaced by a frown. She was playing with two pieces of wood which Dean had drawn halfhearted, happy faces on. Cas picked her up, held her with one arm and dusted Dean's jacket off by waving it around right above the ground with his other hand.

"Do you want her to get splinters?" he asked rhetorically. "Or- som kind of-... poisoning!"

Dean snickered. He waved at Cas' worries with one hand and a smile. He furrowed his brows as he stepped down from the ladder.