Fractured

Memory Lane

The ride to Lawrence was long. The entire car ride no one spoke, neither Dean nor I happy to be back. We both swore to never return, but I was angry for more than one reason. Sam knew I was in potential danger and he didn't tell me. The situation I was in could've been avoided. I feel like I'm always mad at one of the Winchester brothers. They keep pushing my buttons, and I don't have many more that can be pushed. A girl can only handle so much pain.

We slowly approached their childhood home and Sam asked, "Are you gonna be alright man?" His question obviously targeted towards Dean. They were the first words muttered within hours.

I stayed silent in the back seat as Dean answered, "Let me get back to you on that."

I looked at Dean through the rearview mirror, and saw a sadness in his eyes I haven't seen in a long time. It's not fair, the position that Sam is putting us in. He was a baby when his mom died, so he isn't affected the way Dean is by the traumatic incident. His eyes reached mine through the mirror, and he gave me a small nod signalling he'd be fine for now. I knew him though, and sooner than later he was going to break, and I'd be there for him. The same way he's been there for me for the past several months.

Sam made the first move to get out of the car, Dean hesitating a minute before doing the same. I trailed behind them slowly, as we made it up to the front door. Sam knocked on the door, and we patiently waited for the owner to answer.

A blonde woman answered the door, and looked at us in confusion, "Yes," she questioned.

"I'm sorry to bother you ma'am, but we are with the fed-"

"I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother Dean. Uhm, and his girlfriend Devyn. Uhm we used to live here," Sam cut Dean off. "You know we were just driving by and we were wondering if we could see the old place?"

The woman smiled kindly at us, "Winchester. That is so funny, you know I think I found some of your old photos the other night."

Dean took in a deep breath and asked, "You did," fidgeting a bit.

The woman hesitated at first but ultimately allowed us into the house. Sam entered quickly, while Dean slowly walked in. I found his hand as we walked around the corner, and entered the kitchen trying to comfort him in the moment. This is his first time back in this house since the accident with his mother.

A little boy was bouncing in a playpen repeatedly saying, "Juice," and an older girl was sitting at a makeshift table working on something.

"That's Ritchie, he's kind of a juice junky," the woman jokes. She then introduced her daughter to us. I smiled politely at them and waved, making a silly face at the young boy after. This caused him to laugh."Wow, your good. That's the first time I've heard him laugh since we moved," the woman praised me. I smiled sheepishly, and looked to the ground.

"So how are you liking the house so far," Sam asked her nicely, as she made her way to the sink to put a dirty dish in.

"Well all do respect your childhood home. I mean you probably have lots of happy memories here, but this place has it's issues," she said, turning around to face us. I couldn't help but notice the strained smile on Dean's face when she mentioned happy memories.

"What do you mean," Sam asked confused.

"Well it's just getting old. Like the wiring you know, we've got flickering lights almost hourly," she began to list off everything that was wrong with the house.

Dean scrunched his face, but quickly replaced it with a smile and replied, "That's too bad. What else?"

"Uhm, well, the sink is backed up, there's rats in the basement," She continued. I couldn't help the anger that started to bubble up inside of me. She was completely bashing the place, and I could tell that Dean was barely holding it together. I cleared my throat and sent her a look, pretty much telling her to stop. Dean squeezed my hand, thanking me as she started to say, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain."