Normal

Living the Dream

She'd decided to quit. She had always dreamt of a life different than that of a hunter. Alex had been brought up in the life since her father had been a hunter. He had trained both her and her mother. For a while they were quite the trio, until something went wrong and a werewolf killed her mother and wounded her father. Alex hadn't been there when they were attacked, so of course she blamed no one but herself. It was when she was sitting beside her comatose father's hospital bed, listening to the wheezing sound of the respirator, that she made the decision. She would give a normal life a shot. If the hunter life caught up with her, then so be it. At least she would have tried.

Two months later the doctors had told her that her father had been diagnosed as brain dead and that they needed her consent in order to turn of the respirator, the only thing keeping her father alive. It didn't take long for her to consent. She knew he was dead, and she knew he wouldn't have wanted her to hang on to false hope. Leaving the hospital, she could still hear the monotone beep the monitor had made when her father's heart had stopped. She jumped in what now was her car and just drove. She drove all night only getting a couple of hours of sleep in her car, parked in the parking lot in front of a small diner, waiting for it to open.

Alex walked into the diner, resembling a zombie. There was only one other customer in the diner. She passed the occupied table, her only goal being a cup of coffee.

"Nice car." Said the customer. She stopped in the middle of a stride and looked at the man. He seemed quite tall, even though he was sitting. He was wearing a leather jacket and had sandy blonde hair and piercing green eyes.

"Thank you, it's my fathers." The red and black 1970 Dodge Challenger had been my father's pride and joy. "I mean it was my fathers." She corrected herself, lowering her eyes. The man seemed to notice her body language.

"Did he pass recently?" he asked in a soft voice in a way that didn't feel invasive. She looked at her watch.

"About nine hours ago." There was no need to lie. For a split second he showed he was shocked by the brutally honest answer. But then his face returned too normal and he offered the seat in front of him.

"Then I think we both need some company." He said, and She realized that she'd really like someone to talk to. Instead of beating herself up about the whole werewolf thing. She sat down and he called the waitress over and ordered a coffee for her and she added some eggs and bacon to the order.

"I'm Dean." He said reaching over the table to shake her hand.

"My name's Alexa, but I prefer Alex." She said and shook Deans hand. He had a firm handshake, something she knew her dad favored in a man.

"If you don't mind me asking. How did you father pass?" Dean asked, making sure not to be to straight forward.

"A car accident." She replied. "Two months ago. My mom died in the crash, but my father ended up in a coma. They declared him braindead last night." She explained. It was easier than she'd expected to talk about it. And it felt really good to actually tell someone. Her parents had been my only family. Of course she couldn't tell him that it was a werewolf that killed them, so she went for the explanation that rarely spawned further questions.

"So now you're just driving to get your mind of it?" Dean asked in a way that made her think he knew the feeling.

"Exactly, driving calms me down." She answered and Dean nodded in agreement.

"I know exactly what you mean. I lost my brother a couple weeks ago and I don't think I've really realized that he's not coming back until now." Dean said, lowering his eyes.

They kept talking for hours. About everything that came to mind. It started out with memories of the ones they'd lost and the feeling of being the one left alive. Then it went on to cars, movies, music and so on. Alex really enjoyed Deans company, and he seemed to enjoy hers.

On the anniversary of her father's death Alex woke up with a heavy heart. She sighed and turned in her bed. What she saw when she turned made her heart a lot lighter. Dean was there, leaning on his elbow, he had obviously been watching her sleep. She met his emerald eyes and smiled.

"Good morning, lovely." He said and kissed her on the forehead.

"Good morning." She answered in a rough morning voice, which made Dean laugh. She coughed a couple times and tried again.

"Good morning, Jerk." She laughed, sounding like herself again. She kissed him and then left the bed and headed for the bathroom. She stood, watching herself in the mirror, and thought about the last year and how her life had changed completely. Dean and Alex had traveled around the country for a while since none of them had a real home since they both lost your families. Eventually they found a small town in the middle of nowhere where they moved in to a small house with a big garage. The garage was the important part since none of them would get rid of their car. Dean had a beautiful black 1967 Chevrolet Impala, and Alex had her dad's Dodge Challenger. The town was perfect, very low key, and very of the radar of potential demons or monsters that could be after her. Dean seemed to like it as well. Alex got a job as a teacher at a kindergarten school and Dean started working at a small auto shop. She had really found that normal life she wanted, and she loved it.

"Breakfast's ready" yelled Dean from the kitchen, snapping Alex back to the present. She walked into the kitchen and smiled. Deans cooking had improved during the months they had lived here. At first his repertoire had consisted of a few basic things, but now he had prepared a full English breakfast and he even made dinner sometimes.

After breakfast they kissed goodbye and took their cars to work. Alex had almost arrived at the kindergarten when she saw something in the woods moving. She tried to tell herself that she was just paranoid, that it was nothing. But she couldn't ignore the bad feeling that was bubbling inside of her.