The Angel of Anxiety [A Supernatural FanFiction]

Chapter VI - Don't Look Back

Everyone had decided that it had been a long day and they should get some sleep before using a Ouija board. Sully hadn't even looked enthused that they were waiting until the next day. He didn't want it anywhere near his daughter. The hunting life wasn't going to be hers if Sully had anything to do with it—Kelsey was a strong believer that it was Violet's choice.

            That being said, everyone had gone to sleep. Except Leila. Who sat at the dining room table with her legs crossed underneath her. She had found a small candle in a cupboard in the living room and lit it with a set of matches that she'd pocketed after using. (She wasn't proud of it.) (Maybe she was a little.)

            Reading the small book she'd managed to bring in the Impala—the keys of which might've also been in her pocket but she would neither confirm nor deny—Leila was silent as she sat there. Her eyelids felt heavy, but not enough that she was going to fall asleep at the table. She had a bed. Kelsey had made one up for her. It wasn't the lack of bed making her unable to sleep. It was the lack of action. The idea that if she woke up, Dymphna could've done something that could've been prevented if she was awake.

            A noise of surprise drew Leila out of her reading when she jumped.

            "Shit, you scared me. What are you doing up?" Leila turned to see a fully dressed Sully Mateo with a hand over his heart, staring at her like he'd seen a ghost. She was certain she still felt like one, maybe her body had picked up on that. "It's four o'clock in the morning."

            "I don't... no offense meant here," Leila started as she fiddled with another match to light the candle again. Sully eyed the matches but didn't say anything as she pocketed them again. "I don't feel comfortable sleeping with everything going on. And I don't really know this house."

            "No offense taken," Sully said. "It'd be strange if you were comfortable with it."

            "Why are you up?" Leila said. "Don't parents, like, cherish sleep when they can get it?"

            Sully chuckled. "Believe me, I'd be asleep if I was allowed to." He stuck his hand in his pocket and walked toward her, handing her a card.

Leila looked at the card for a moment. A simple head shot, Sully's—Sullivan's—full name, a barcode, and a hospital name. She handed the card back. "You're a doctor?"

            "I am. And I gotta head to work soon," Sully said. "Mum never mentioned that over Hanukkah?"

            "I mean, she did," Leila said. "But I thought she meant... I don't know, like general PhD. I wasn't in a good spot. And there was the whole thing with Judah Macabee. And... sorry."

            "Don't be sorry," Sully said, pocketing the ID card again. "Mum told me some of what happened. You're not supposed to be okay after something like that. And if you are... well, we've got other problems than a Saint that wants to kill everyone if you do."

            "Has that ever happened to you?" Leila asked.

            "Being used as a vessel?" Sully quirked an eyebrow.

            Leila swallowed hard and nodded.

            Sully shook his head. "No. But I understand it. Mostly. I've read a lot of books on it. You know, when I was hunting."

            "You were a hunter?" Leila asked.

            "I was," Sully said. "Until I wanted to go to medical school. I was probably about your age when I stopped to follow that. Got pulled in a little bit by mum a couple years ago, though. But I'm mostly just Doctor Mateo now."