Survive, Boy, Survive

Chapter 3

Dean said" Wow. Guy goes to purgatory for a year, all hell breaks loose. Check this out. A jogger in Minneapolis gets his heart ripped out." I put four apples into the bag Sam was carrying as he grabbed one and bit into it.
Sam said" I'm guessing literally."
" Only way that interests me. And then, there's another article from six months ago. Same thing happens, also in Minneapolis. What does that tell us?"
" Stay out of Minneapolis."
" Two hearts ganked, same city, six months apart. I mean, that's got to be a ritual, man. Or at least some sort of a heart sucking, possessed, satanic, crack-whore bat."
" A what?"
" It's a case. Look, I say we hang out the shingle again and ride."
" We're on a case, Dean. Kevin and the demon tablet need to be found, so heart guy takes a number."
" Uh, we just spent a week chasing our asses trying to lock Kevin down, okay? And look at us. We're-" He looked around, confused," Where the hell are we?"
" Farmers' market. Organic." Dean gave him a look," What? I had a year off. I took the time to enjoy the good things."
" While avoiding doing what we actually do."
" Wow, Dean, does it make you feel that much better every time you say it?" I sighed,
" All right, man, look, I get it. You took a year off to do yoga and play the lute, whatever, but I'm back. Okay, we're back, which means that we walk and kill monsters at the same time. We'll find Kevin. But in the meantime, do we ignore stuff like this? Or are innocent people supposed to die so that you can shop for produce?"
I said" Can you guys go like five minutes without fighting?" They looked at me, then each other, Sam looked at me.
He said" We're not fighting, Riv."
" Whatever." I walked away from them, I heard them following me, I scratched my side. Then did a silent scream as it stung, I breathed out,
Dean said" What was that?" I gulped then turned to face them,
" Nothing." They both gave me the same look, that totally meant they didn't believe me.
Sam said" River..."
" I'm fine, it's fine, nothing to worry about at all."
" Huh, bud?" And... I just gave myself away, nice going... I'm an idiot.
" Oh, dammit."
Dean said" What's wrong?"
" It's... uh," I sighed," Promise not to yell at me?" He arched his eyebrow, nodding then nodded away from everyone.

We got away from everyone,
I said" So, Sam quit. I... well, I-I didn't..."
Sam said" What?"
" I-I might've been killing things for like half a year.... Okay, maybe more than half a year..."
Dean said" Like what, Buddy?"
" Uh... gh-ghouls, and vamps... and like 3 werewolves..."
" River Winchester." I shrunk back a little, recognizing his tones.
" You promised!"
" I'm not yelling." He was really trying not to yell, actually.
" And-And maybe..." I sighed then lifted up my shirt, showing them the bite mark, I looked down.
" A vamp?"
" I killed 'em both, though."
" Buddy, how long have you- Did you-" I nodded slowly," Sam." Dean walked away from me, my heart dropped,
Sam said" Buddy, it-" He sighed, then crouched down to get a better look, he sighed then gently touched it. I yelped and pulled from him," Sorry, sorry... did you stitch this?"
" Yeah, I swore I did it right, I just remembered what you used to do."
" It-It... okay, you know, it's not that bad, I wanna clean it though, so you're gonna have to bear with me."
" Is Dean mad at me?" He looked at me then over to Dean," Because I was hunting."
" No, River. That's... I think he's more mad at me because I wasn't there to protect you, you got hurt and we're your big brothers, we don't ever want you to get hurt."
" We got hurt all the time."
" Yeah, yeah, we did. And uh, we hated it more when you got hurt with us. It's... he's not mad at you, River, I promise."
" Then why do I think you're lying to me. This isn't fair, he has no right to be mad at me! He got mad at you for quitting, why's he getting mad at me for hunting!"
" Buddy, it's way more compli-"
" Complicated?! I left you, I continued to hunt, as best I could! It's not complicated! You guys are just hypocrites! You raise me in this life and expect me not to hunt! I can do more things than both of you combined!" My eyes glowed, a ball of black smoke circled in my hand," I've gotten way better at controlling, 'cause I didn't have anyone."
" Riv-"
" I barely ate, I don't think I can technically sleep anymore! I got stronger, you went normal!"
" River, we-"
" How's that my fault?! Normal didn't work last time for me, and I wasn't gonna do it again! So I hunted! I killed the monsters, and I did a damn good job at it too!" The ground started shaking, I breathed heavily," I just wanted to be like my big brothers!" Tears streamed down my face," That's the only normal part about me, Sammy. I just wanted to be like my big brothers..." I whimpered, crashing to my knees,
" Yeah, I know, little man. And you're way better than us." He lifted me up, careful to avoid the stitching." You're so much better than us, River, you don't even realize how much better you are." I fell asleep, resting my head against his chest, too tired to fight anymore.
———
We were in a cafe, I've been quiet, they first went to the police station then to a witness' house. Sam sat down next to me, I'm keeping my distance from Dean.
Sam said" All right, so... what's the word? What did you find poking around at Paul's?"
Dean said" Ah, just the usual- condoms, hair gel. No hex bags, nothing satanic, nothing spooky."
" So, he didn't seem like a guy who would be voted most likely to disembowel?"
" No, they never do."
" Wait a minute. Here's another one."
" What, murder?"
" And a do-it-yourself heart bypass. Two days after this one."
" What part of Minneapolis?"
" The Iowa part. Ames."
" Well, Paul was here being questioned. There's no way that could have been him."
" This guy was a cop. This is exactly what happened six months ago. Minneapolis, then Ames. Guess you missed that one. I'm just saying."