Haunting ▹ Dean Winchester [2]

PART TWO ; twenty

      twenty ; drowning on dry land 

      ( She was hard, as ruthless as she was beautiful. ) — Unknown 

      Odessa wordlessly evaluated the contours of her calloused hands, her knuckles were bloodstained, the skin painted with pale bruises, colors varying from pallid pink and lilac. The cream-colored hand wraps she'd carelessly tossed onto the floor beside her ankles were tarnished by blood. She closed her eyes, allowing her suffused mind to wander idly for a minute as her knuckles throbbed in sync with the mellow thump of her heart. Clenching her hands erupted a bearable discomfort, she didn't wince anymore as she used to, however. 

      The moonlight poured onto the domain with a glimmering aliveness, she'd nearly forgotten she was shrouded by a slew of totaled vehicles inside Bobby's salvage yard. She didn't want to be inside, she was often suffocated by the lack of normalcy within. She couldn't even stand to be near Sam, anymore. It was all too overbearing. So, instead of masquerading behind her brother, she hauled a rickety punching bag and secured the chains around a branch of a tree nearby. She didn't know nightfall arrived until Costello shouted from the porch for her to return inside or she would be littered with mosquito bites and he didn't want to hear complaining about how uneven and red her skin would look. 

      "Sam's worried about you," Odessa didn't recoil from the voice, she could identify those distinctive stride from a mile away. "Idjit doesn't wanna show it, though." A tenuous wave of frustration flowed through her at the mention of Sam. She couldn't think of him without remembering the night he looked at her lifeless eyes and told her he couldn't look at her without seeing her kill his brother. The lack of emotion in his voice, the despair and revulsion in eyes was enough to haunt her for a lifetime. 

      Odessa sighed, and then her voice was fierce. "As if I care about Sam." She had started to say something else  but she snapped her mouth close. She tried to keep her face from expressing any form of emotion, but her voice said otherwise. "He's dead to me." She eventually muttered through clenched teeth. Bobby looked down at her as if he didn't believe a single word she'd just said, and he probably didn't believe her. He'd been around since the beginning and he knew their bond was something that couldn't be broken. Or so he had hoped. 

       Bobby exhaled a sharp breath, looking around the completely demolished vehicles scattered around the area. "I don't think you even believe what you're spittin' out." He said, his voice had a mocking edge. Odessa evaded his gaze, eyes slit with an annoyance that was clearly not directed at Bobby. "Come on, Essie. Stop lying to yourself and get inside." 

      She clenched her hand, seeming to study her bloodied knuckles intently. "I can't," She said, her voice was cold as ice, knifelike. From the near distance, from his peripheral vision, he noticed the light bulbs flicker ominously. For an odd reason, he thought she was the cause of irregularity of electricity. He decided not to comment on his observations. Her eyes were focused on the wraps still, ghost-like. "Because I can't be near him without thinking about what happened that night. Bobby, that was the worst night of my life. That night broke me completely, and I haven't been the same since. I don't think I'll ever be that person I was before again." None of them would ever have the same light inside them before that night occurred.