family business - supernatural

1: Unexpected guest

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

But how can it be that a family so happy just loses all of its happiness in a matter of minutes?

The Winchester family was a joyful family by the handbook, almost as if they followed a set of rules on how happy a family should be and act. They were not anything special by any means but they had enough and they had each other. Parents, Mary and John, had been blessed with three healthy children, two boys, and a girl.

Winchesters were ordinary in their way of life. Mary would bake pies and try her best to keep the house from becoming a giant mess with the kids running around while still making sure the youngest, who was a baby at the time, had clean diapers and was well-fed. John was in charge of bringing money to the table and loved to enjoy a beer or two on an occasion, especially on Sundays when the whole family watched a movie together, or a football game. And the kids? They were like any other kids you can imagine; pouting when it was bedtime and cheering when John took them out for ice cream.

So, what happened?

Simple, sooner rather than later, destiny found a way to break that shell of glee. And just like that, Winchesters found themselves in their unique path of unhappiness which made them nothing like other families. It swallowed everything they knew and loved.

Emilia Winchester was only eight when she went to bed only to wake up with her life in ruins. Over the years, a lot had changed for her, she changed. However, not a day passed without her thinking how her life would have turned out if that night never happened. If her mother was still alive, if John was not consumed by anger and pain if she got to grow up in her home with her brothers, if she had a chance to choose what to do with her life. So many ifs.

She trained herself not to dwell on the memories, not the good ones, not the bad ones, rather keeping them all locked behind an imaginary door in her brain. Nevertheless, she still found herself missing that feeling of family. Her house often felt empty, even though she had a family of her own now to look after.

It's better this way.

Emilia clenched the book in her hands as she realized that her eyes were lazily roaming over the same page for quite some time without ever actually reading the words. It was a long day after all and even a longer week, it felt like. Reading Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was not the best choice for tonight.

Sighing she picked herself up from the couch grabbing the mug with leftover green tea before quietly making her way to the kitchen. It was dark and empty as it always was and she did find some peace in it. The clock showed it was barely ten o'clock, usually too early for her to call it a night, but not today.

She tried making as little noise as she could while checking if the front door was locked once again, an old habit Emilia could not let go of, nor did she want to. It is best to make sure. Peeking through the small window next to the door, she was pleased to see her run-down Ford Mustang in the driveway just the way she left it.

Everything seemed to be in order and if her eyes were not trained, she would not have noticed a small glimpse of a figure moving swiftly. It was discreet enough that she had almost missed it. Her shoulders tensed up and it did not take more than a few seconds for a gun to find its way to her hands.

The house was still quiet as it was before and nothing could be heard besides her shallow breathing as Emilia leaned against the white door, trying to shake away the uneasiness stabbing her in the gut. She prayed it was nothing and that she was just being plain paranoid. The silence was heavy as she stood still, afraid to move from her spot.

The next thing she knew, the lock started moving as if someone was trying to pick it. Picked the wrong house, buddy. She had handled a lot worse than burglars. Not giving herself time to think, she unlocked the door and pointed her gun at the man before her who instantly put his hands up.