A Little Big Surprise

Chapter 23 ~Part Four~

It was as if someone had come along and injected Aria with ice water, flooding her from the inside out.  She was drowning. Inky blackness danced across her eyes like little blots of painful reality, mocking her attempts at trying to catch her breath. How could everything, she wondered, go from bright yellow to stale grey in a matter of seconds? The sun no longer felt warm. Wind whipped through her hair and made her cheeks sting. Her very skin felt too constricting. Who was she fooling? How could she ever think she could hide from her real owners? Carlise was never that, no. And she knew. It wasn't the first time she had been sold and it definitely wouldn't have been the last. A rental is what she was, because men and women get tired of the same damn thing. They would always be inclined to buy the newest toy. Just like they wanted newer phones and newer clothes they would always want newer girls. Aria knew the system well. Of course she was still a good earner being young, but as she gets older her appeal comes to its peak. Her features change, her body changes more. Soon she is only good for working the brothels and streets for chump change. Or if they're merciful, she is put down before being thrown into the river with only fish to attend her funeral. 

Sam, Dean, and Castiel suddenly popped into her thoughts and she swore her heart would break. Sobbing softly Aria brought her bloody knees to her chest, attempting to curl herself into a pile of nothingness, attempting to blend into the brick. She had never wanted to put them in the danger they were currently in. Targets were now on the back of their heads, because if Luka was able to find her that meant he knew exactly where they were and exactly how to find them. Could they run? Just how much did he know? 

     "A-Aria?!"

She flinched and looked up, knowing exactly who it was. The horror on his face made her want to burst into tears again but she controlled herself. He kneeled and moved his hair back in that frantic way he always did when he was stressed and his hands hovered over her battered frame as if he was afraid to touch her. Like she would break.

     When he finally found his voice it was strained with both worry and rage "What happened Aria? Who..did this to you?"

That did it. Everything starting from her being dragged from the car came flooding back like she was reciting a movie in her own head. Aria cried out and hid her face again, trying to prevent it from coming to the surface. His face as he hurt her. The excitement in his eyes as he had hit her face. He was suffocating. She couldn't breathe, oh god why couldn't she breathe?

Sam was yelling. He watched Aria start to convulse harshly, falling onto her side and smacking her head into the ground. Hard. Without a second thought he had picked up Aria and was running her toward the car, throwing the back seat door open and setting her inside before running to get in himself. It seemed like forever until the keys were in the ignition and he was tearing down the street faster than God himself. How he didn't crash was beyond him. Especially seeing as how his eyes were on Aria nearly the whole way through the mirror. Now she wasn't moving much at all and he didn't know if that was good or bad. He just...didn't know.

When the car was fully parked Sam took his time to calm himself, and only because he could hear Aria steadily breathing from behind him. His hands were shaking and he had no strength in his arms after feeling the weight of Aria's twitching frame in them. He had only been gone half an hour...what could have happened in half an hour? Aria was bloody and terrified when he found her, those big grey eyes holding darkness and secrets that he just couldn't seem to decipher. Slowly the behemoth of a man left the car and opened the door to slide Aria from the back seat. Why did she seem so much heavier now? Or was he just weak from the sight of her? He didn't know. Seeing her like this had shown just how much danger she was always in. How could he be so blind? Why had they stopped considering the fact that Aria was the demon tablet? 

The room was thankfully empty. Sam had no heart to explain the situation. He didn't want to relive the moment he found her cowering in an alley. Aria wasn't convulsing anymore, and her body was limp as he laid her in the bed. The bloody clothes were slipped off of her carefully so he wouldn't wake her and in the silence he treated the wounds on her knees. And he watched as tiny bruises formed on each side of her face, four on her left and one on her right. Fingerprints. He watched as the bottom of her chin purpled in yet another bruise and everything reddened. This was done by a person. A human for sure, because no demon would have left Aria alive, or in the alley for that matter. Someone had taken Aria from the car and hurt her right beneath his nose. He was right there!  If he couldn't protect her from humans how could he protect her from the supernatural?! Sam took one of Aria's hand's in his two shaking appendages and buried his face there, clenching every muscle in his body to not scream. But it wasn't enough. He bit down quickly on his own lower lip and felt the blood trickle down his chin. Why? Why did these things...why did this keep happening to Aria? It was as if danger just found her everywhere they went.

Was it their fault?

Sam shook the thought away and licked away any blood on his lips before kissing Aria's small hand. And he sat there, waiting for her to wake up.

I'm alive! And I hope everyone is being safe! Enjoy!