Return of Winchester

Chapter 10 Confined Spaces

"How have you not gone insane in here? It's been a day and I already wasn't to chew off my own foot as entertainment." Dani sighed pacing her cell from end to end.

A humourless laugh came from the other side of the wall.

"Yeah, honestly you're the most entertainment I've had in what feels like forever." His voice came out strained followed by a few pants. As far as Dani could tell he was doing push-ups. It was probably a good idea to keep moving. Exercise could keep her mind from turning on her too quickly, especially if she ended up being here as long as he had, but she had faith in Sam. She was sure he knew she was gone by now. The puffing stopped.

"I just realised I never asked your name?" He called his voice getting louder as he neared the vent.

"Dani, my name's Dani." Dani slid down the wall sitting cross-legged on the blanket. She pulled it around herself. The pyjamas that she was kidnapped in weren't the best at keeping her warm. The weather hadn't only gotten colder as October rolled in.

"You don't seem all that freaked out about getting snatched from your bed by a shadowy figure. Wanna tell me why that is?" She heard his quiet scrap sliding down the wall on his side.

"It's not the first time I've been around stuff like this. Ever heard of a Hunter? Not the kind that hunts animals...well not regular ones at least."

"Yeah. I kind of am one."

"Well maybe whatever this is, is targeting hunters."

"You are too then?" He said surprise lacing his voice.

"Yup."

"How old are you? I mean you sound young."

"Twenty-one, twenty-two in about a month. I'm a 2000 baby."

"Wait if you're twenty-two this year...What year is it?" He sounded utterly confused.

"Uh, it's October 2022. Why, have you been time-travelling?" She said mirth lacing her tone.

She heard him muttering something to himself that she couldn't make out.

"You alright in there?" She asked.

"Yeah, yeah fine."

He fell silent after that. Dani sighed and got up to pace again, she was getting colder the longer she sat in one spot. Her bare feet slapped against the stone floor. 

The sound of metal sliding against metal echoed outside the cell followed by a thunk. Footsteps could be heard. They passed Dani's cell and then stopped outside her neighbour's.

"You know the drill." A honeyed woman's voice offered to the man. Dani could hear the metal panel identical to the one in her cell being slid across. She heard a clatter. "Now that's not very nice. I bring you food and this is how you treat me?" The voice was sickly sweet. Just the sound of it made Dani's head feel a little fuzzy again. But at the same time, she hated the way it sounded, like someone who was trying to calm a wild animal. Dani pressed her ear to the steel cell door to try and hear better.

"Let us out of here you BITCH." The man bellowed.

"Ah "us" So you've talked. How do you like your little gift? It took me a while but I finally got her alone."

Dani flinched back as the metal panel on her own cell slid open. A pair of molten golden eyes peered at her through the slot.

"Hello dear," She cooed.

Dani kept her distance her guard up.

"You do not have to be frightened of me. I'm here to help you. A tray was pushed through the gap under the door. "You must be hungry. Go on take it."

Dani simply stared on definitely. The golden-eyed woman scoffed.

"So alike." Her eyes flicked in the direction of the neighbouring cell. "Though one clearly has more manners." The swirling gold fixed on her again. "I am Hestia. I have come to grant your wish."

Dani frowned at this. Hestia, Hestia where had she heard that before?

"Godess of the Harth." Dani muttered aloud unintentionally. The eyes peering at her brightened the gold in them swirling a little faster.

"Very good. Better than he did anyway."

"What wish?" Dani asked.

"To be united." Dani saw the goddess's eyes crinkle like she was smiling though she couldn't see her whole face. "And I almost have the full set."

Dani squinted in confusion. The deity stared for another agonising moment. 

"Eat up." The panel was slid shut again.

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Sam was seated at the table that Dani used as a dining table. He was hammering away at the keyboard. He had been scanning the screen for hours. He had called Jody to get an extra pair of hands on the research front. He had recounted the whole story to her, detailing everything he had observed from the apartment. He felt a sudden wave of nervousness. Sam had been feeling these waves since he'd pulled up to the apartment. Both his niece and brother were missing with barely anything to go on. The possibility of being alone again like he had been for that long year made a pit form in his belly. He couldn't lose them. He wouldn't.

He huffed getting to his feet and flicking on the coffee maker that sat on Dani's kitchen counter. Duct tape covered the sides of it. When Sam had commented on it when he had visited her not long after they met he had found out that it was an old one that Hal had been threatening to get rid of. She had repaired it to a degree but you still had to thump the top of it to get it to start filtering. Sam wandered through the rooms while the coffee brewed. 

He took in Dani's room. He liked her apartment her bedroom in particular. Dani, he found had the ability to make any space seem homie and safe and comforting. But now that he looked at the place without her in it with the fairly lights unlit and music not playing it felt hollow and cold. 

He flipped on her desk light. A framed photo of Daniella and her Mom from not long before she died. They were both sat on a park bench with great big grins on their faces. Dani's hair was shorter and pulled into a ponytail, freckles dotted her face. They seemed to have faded as she had gotten older. Jewels was a very pretty woman. Her mousy brown hair was pulled into a messy bun a few strands framing her face. Behind that photo, there was two others blue tacked to the wall. One that Sam had seen before of Dani, Jason and Hal outside the diner. The second was new. One of Dani and Sam leaning against the impala looking deep in conversation smiles on both their faces. He pulled it from the wall the light from the desk lamp shone through the photo revealing writing on the other side. Upon inspection, he found that written in Dani's messy linky scrawl was "Me and Uncle Sam 8/19/2022❤". He tucked the photo into his jacket. He'd return it when he found her. His eyes drifted back to the photo of her and her mom. Something familiar rang out in his brain. The article he had come across.

Sam sped back through to the living room he flicked his laptop open. After typing for a moment there it was in big bold letters.

"Adopted Persons Going Missing."

AN: Fighting off some wicked writer's block at the moment so sorry if this chapter isn't great will be improving soon. 

Write again soon

Meg ❤️💙💋