Sleeping At The Wheel

Nine Hours

CHAPTER 14

Juniper's POV

I had nightmares last night. They were about Jade, about her get hurt on a hunt, or dying, and I wasn't able to save her.

Dean woke me up when I started to mumble in my sleep, and I awoke to his worried expression and a damp shirt. He asked if I was okay, if I wanted to talk to him about my dreams.

"No, I'm fine." I replied quietly.

I managed to fall back into a lighter sleep that allowed me to escape more nightmares, but I woke up the next morning feeling just as tired as I was the night before.

Now, Sam, Dean, Jade and I were all crammed into Dean's Impala, with him in the drivers seat cruising down the highway. The Winchesters had convinced me to let Jade come along, telling me that a simple salt-and-burn case was a good place for Jade to start. Sam insisted that he had told her everything she would need to know in order to help us out.

"Are you guys sure?" I had asked worriedly.

Both boys nodded. "Absolutely." Sam had replied.

Finally, I had begrudgingly agreed, and it was made official; Jade was going to hunt with me and the Winchesters.

I kept telling myself as we drove down the road that Jade would be fine, that Sam and Dean were right. She'd be totally fine. I also had to tell myself not to fall asleep on our long road trip. More nightmares would surely come if I slept.

"So what would you do if this person was cremated?" Jade asked.

Sam responded as I tuned into the conversation. "Well, since there are no remains of the person to burn, you have to find something the ghost can attach itself to. Something significant in the person's life, an object that would've meant a lot to them."

Jade nodded in understanding, looking over at me. "This'll be a piece of cake, right Juniper?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure." I mumbled with a yawn. "Piece of cake."

Dean glanced at me through his rearview mirror. "Why don't you take a catnap, kid?" He suggested.

I shook my head adamant opposition. "I'm fine." I said.

Dean gave up, seeing as it was a lost cause, and returned his gaze to the road.

"Where is it that we're going again?" Jade asked. She had a lot of questions today.

"Nashville, Arkansas." Dean answered.

Nashville was several hours away from Lebanon, Kansas, and we had just gotten in the car to head out a few minutes ago. This was going to be a very long trip.

Nine hours to go... I thought.

~~~~

After finally reaching Nashville, we didn't spend much time in our motel. We stayed there long enough to drop off our things and get somewhat situated before getting back in the car for another, much shorter road trip. We drove to the old house that the ghost had lived in before it died, in search of something that this ghost could have attached itself to.

"Jade, stay close." I reminded her.

"I will," Jade mumbled, looking around the outside of the house as we walked up to the porch.

Dean pushed open the door, and he and Sam went off to explore the upstairs while Jade and I stayed downstairs.

I was hesitant to let Jade get very far away from me, but she wanted to help search. With one eyes always on my sister, it was much harder to conduct a decent search of the place.