Guardian Angel

Chapter 2

I open my eyes and quickly sit up. I find myself in a dark hallway with black tile floors and smooth gray walls. Plain doors lined with small plaques line the hallway.

I get to my feet and examine a door to my left. The plaque reads "Daydreams." I open the door and find a tiled hallway with windows in the walls on both sides. I take a step inside, leaving the door open, and peek into one of the windows.

I see a daydream I had when I was five, of being an archaeologist when I grew up. I watch the way my young mind worked for a few minutes, slightly smiling.

I step out of the Daydream hallway and close the door. I turn around in time to see Castiel appear.

"What took you so long?" I ask, only half joking.

"I was looking for you. I went to your dreams and you weren't there," Castiel answers, looking around the hallway.

"If we're not in my dream, where are we?"

"We're in your inner mind," answers Castiel as he approaches a door. Gesturing towards the door, he adds, "This is where I was."

I step towards the door and see the plaque reads "Dreams."

"These doors must lead to different parts of my mind," I say, awestruck.

"Exactly why we're here," Castiel explains. "There may be a part of your mind that leads to what you are."

Castiel and I begin walking along opposite sides of the hallway, silently reading the plaques on the doors. I stop when I reach one with a black doorknob and a plaque reading "Hell."

"Cas?"

"What?"

I take a deep breath before asking, "Would anything from my experience in Hell be helpful?"

"It's possible. We should go inside and look."

"You can. I won't."

Castiel looks at me strangely, but lays a hand on the doorknob anyways. I back away and he opens the door and goes inside, leaving the door open a crack. I begin reading the plaques on the doors again when suddenly the door labelled "Hell" bursts open and Castiel is flung across the hallway. I run to Castiel as the door slams shut.

"Cas, what happened?"

"I was thrown out of your memory of Hell."

"Yeah, I get that. What happened in my memory?

"The only thing that happened was an explosion."

"Do you think the explosion had anything to do with what brought me back?"

"Possibly," says Castiel. After a moment's hesitation, he adds, "It may also help find out what you are."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The explosion came from your memory."

"And?"

"And only certain creatures have the ability to explode with that much magnitude, especially from a memory."

A moment of silence hangs heavily in the air. Then I suggest we continue looking through my mind. We read the plaques on the doors and find nothing interesting until we reach the end of the hallway. There was a door with no plaque. I try the doorknob and find it locked.

"This is probably it," I tell Castiel. "This probably has what I am."

"May I open it?"

"Go for it."

Castiel stands in front of the door and I stand back. He looks at me and I nod. With sudden force, Castiel goes to kick in the door.

As Castiel's foot meets the metal of the door, I wake up with a start and find myself in the backseat of the Impala. Castiel is beside me, unconscious.