TINTED ▷ Sam Winchester [1]

22 | SOUL EATER'S NEST

Waking up surrounded by the smell of leather is something I've grown accustomed to in the time I have been with the Winchesters. I think it has something to do with both the feel and the smell of the leather, the reason why I sleep so well in the back of the Impala.

Even with all these things, I still wake up before the sun comes up. The sleepiness still lingers in my head and I forget where I am for a moment, but then I see Sam lying asleep in the front seat. I glance outside and see the faint outline of headstones in the distance. We are in a cemetery. Images of last night come into my mind, of Sam and I digging the graves and finding nothing but ash.

Instead of overthinking about what I said to him about myself, what I confessed, I think about the case. I think about poor Naoki and her unconscious daughter, hoping that we can solve this in time to save the poor child.

The first time a child died on a case that I was on nearly broke me. It was a long while ago, maybe six or seven years now. It was a boy; he must have only been ten years old. His parents and older sister had been so worried, and I kept reassuring them that I would find their missing boy, and I did try. It took four days, but when I did find him, he was barely alive, in some barn being held by a nest of vampires. I have the worst luck with vamps, for some reason.

I rushed that little boy to the hospital as soon as I took care of the vampires, which might have been a mistake. Looking back now, maybe if I had made sure the kid was taken care of first, he might've lived. He died on the way to the hospital, having lost way too much blood.

There's no way I'm letting another kid die because I'm too slow to solve the case. That's not happening, ever again.

Sam shifts in the front seat and I notice he's awake. I compose myself, trying to make it look like I wasn't just thinking what I was thinking. "Morning," I say to Sam as he sits up.

"Hey," he says, his voice a touch deeper from just waking up. It's a nice thing to hear so early in the morning, his voice. "When did you get up?"

"Few minutes ago," I reply, though it's probably been longer than that.

A few moments later, after Sam takes a look under the hood of the car to figure out why it wouldn't start last night, we drive back to the motel, still tired from only just waking up.

After getting our fed suits back on, we go back to the hospital, still not completely sure of what we are hunting. We'll ask around the hospital staff, this time more thoroughly.

"Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you," I say, ending the call on my phone. After coming back, we discovered that not only is the little girl still in a coma, but now her mother is, too. The same thing happened last night to the mother that happened just days ago to the daughter. And after making a call, I was informed that this very same thing happened about seven or eight years ago. A mother and her son.

"This has happened before," I say as I notice Sam approaches me, but he says it at the same time, causing me to scrunch up my eyebrows in confusion. How does he already know? "You first," I say, gesturing for Sam to talk first.

"Just— come here," I try to ignore the small physical contact he makes with me as he reaches his hand out and touches my shoulder. It's only brief, he takes it away a second later, but it stays in my mind. It does not seem to be a big deal to him, as he turns around and walks back in the direction he came. I shake my head and follow him. Now isn't the time.

"Doctor Richards, this is my partner, Special Agent Granger," Sam introduces me to an older looking woman with short red hair. "This is Doctor Richards. Now, she's retired, but—"