Switched

Prologue: Despise

As the sky was filled with shining stars, Alice was laying in her bed, counting sheeps to help her fall asleep. Even though her body was completely relaxed, sleeping was not an option. She had been afraid of monsters for as long as she can remember. Her parents always told her that they didn't exist, but she kept checking her closet for them, just in case. Tonight, it was worst. It was dark in her room and the house was silent, way too silent.

Suddenly, she heard noises coming from the hall. Noises that shouldn't be at 4 in the morning. At first, Alice thought she was overreacting, but the noises were getting louder and louder until the house was silent again. Even if Alice was only 11 years old, she was one hell of a brave kid. Pulling up the covers to get out of bed, she walked over to the door, turned the knob and slowly opened it to get out of her room. Carefully, Alice went down the hallway and headed straight for her parents' bedroom. Just like she did with hers, she opened the door as silently as possible. At the view of monsters over the dead corpses of her parents, Alice couldn't help but let out a huge scream, but a what seemed like a younger hand stopped her just before. Her eyes opened wide, thinking monsters were coming after her now, but it wasn't. A boy around the same age as her grabbed her hand and lead her outside. On their way, Alice noticed the house was on fire.

It was only when she got out and breathed fresh air that Alice started crying. Only then she realized her family had been torn apart and that she didn't have anything left since everything she ever loved was burning before her eyes. The little boy felt bad for her, so he gave her a kind smile before running off near a man who seemed to be his father, because of the similar traits they've had. Although the boy had just run to him, the tall man walked towards Alice.

''Hello sweetie," the man crouched so he could be at her height. ''My name is John Winchester and that's Dean over there," he continued while pointing at the little boy standing further apart. John asked Alice if she had any ideas what happened that night and she nodded. ''You believe in monsters?'' he questioned her. ''Yes, I saw them," she replied. John was curious to know what had happened in there since he was the one in charge of setting the house on fire. Alice told him the whole story and the man before her seemed impressed with her bravery. ''We were on a case," John explained. ''But we were too late.'' He then grabbed Alice's hand and walked with her to the car. ''Do you have any family elsewhere?'' said John, but she shook her head no. Dean and his father exchanged an eye contact. ''You can join us, Alice," he said.

Even to this day, she can still remember every detail of that evening. The heat boiling her skin, the bright light of the flames reflecting in Dean's eyes and that sick smell of smoke filling the air. How horrifying was it to see her parents killed by supposedly non-existent monsters?  That night changed everything in her life, mostly the conversation she had with John. Monsters were a thing. Earth became such a darker place now. Alice decided to join the family of hunters, identifying to these men who believed in monsters, too.  On the other side, Dean wasn't the happiest. Sure, he liked Alice, but he didn't want to be in her shadow. Since then, he knew Alice would forever be John's favorite hunter.