The Runt of the Litter

Flickering Worlds

Note: Thank you very much to everyone who read, voted, and/or commented. It means so much to have any and all of your support.

This one's short, but I wrote it from my dorm room!  Things are already so busy, and with everything being virtual, I barely know what day of the week it is (Happy Saturday, I think!) 

Anna is eight years old. I hope you enjoy it although it's very short! Hopefully the next one will be longer.

Flickering Worlds

They were between cases and in one of those places of relative calm where it was like they existed in their own bubble of a universe. The grass was cool as Anna ran her palms back and forth over its pointy blades. On either side of her were booted feet crossed ankle over ankle as each of her two brothers leaned against the Impala's hood sipping on bottles of beer and looking at the stars. These were her favorite nights, way better than motel rooms and even a little better than nights spent with Bobby.

The night grew slowly darker, the stars slowly brighter, the moon slowly more definite.

When she could no longer see the grass through the veil of darkness, Anna looked around expectantly for the fireflies she liked to chase whenever she had the chance. There were bucketloads of them around, flickering in and out of sight. She had all the energy in the world to run around chasing them after the quick getaway they'd made in the middle of last night and a subsequently long day of nothing but driving in the car. She hadn't had the opportunity to really run and play since two weeks prior when they happened to be at a playground for a case, and before that, it had been another week.

Just a foot or two in front of her, a small flash of light had Anna scrambling to her feet, sneakers squeaking against the damp grass. She could hear little snorts of amusement behind her as she pursued the little lightning bug with wide eyes, cupped hands held at the ready. She waited for the light to flash again and stepped that way, then caught sight of a different one to her right, much closer. She turned on that one and swiped out expertly as it flashed a second time. She closed her hands immediately and peeked through the darkness to see if her hands were empty, or if she'd been victorious.

When a brilliant light blinked several times in a row, Anna squealed in delight and raced back over to the car where she could show off the firefly she'd captured. "Look!" she said as she slid to a stop and thrust her hands up toward Sam and then Dean, each having barely a second to gaze at the bug before she'd pulled her hands back to look for herself again. Then, eagerly, she was showing each of them a second time, again barely giving them time to look before she was peeking between her fingers again. "He's so pretty!"

"You're getting pretty good at that," Dean complimented subtly and took a swig of beer as he glanced up at the sky.

Anna grinned at the praise and looked happily at the firefly in her hands again. "They're fast, but there's a gajillion million of 'em." She turned on Sam, as he was the geek of the group, and asked, "How come there's so many here?"

"Well, we're in Tennessee, kiddo, and they like it hot and humid. That's why they come out in the summertime."

"Oh," Anna said thoughtfully, squinting intently at the little blinking light cupped in her hands. "So, they're like people, then?"

"How do you figure?"

"They like hot better than cold. You think some of 'em like cold better than hot?" she asked earnestly. Sam didn't even have time to prepare an answer before she let out a little breath and continued. "Maybe we should show him Canada," she suggested so seriously that Dean nearly did a spit take and had to set aside his beer.