What's Left [SAM WINCHESTER]

Chapter 7

Aries felt like the temperature dropped thirty degrees. She was shivering. Yet her cheeks were blushed and her blood was boiling. That wasn't her initial reaction however, at first she'd felt an iciness begin at the tips of her fingers and then move up her arm, traveling all over her body. She'd been afraid. And then she wasn't quite sure what happened.

And then she wanted to laugh because she felt like an idiot. She felt like an idiot for running, for asking Sam for help and for exposing Daniel to the witches and therefore leading him into his inevitable end. But then once she stopped feeling sorry for herself, for wanting for a time machine to exist so she'd be go back in time, a new feeling surfaced. And it was anger.

It was anger like she had never felt before. She said goodbye to Emily and left. She offered to drop her off home but Aries refused. She needed time to think. She needed time to think if she was going to do something with her anger, with Daniel's death or if she'd simply let it go and continue running.

But no, she decided not to. She couldn't run the rest of her life because if she did, she'd never really have a life, she'd never really live. She'd never plant roots. She'd never settle down or would be able to let her guard down. And maybe killing Jacqueline had been wrong. But she didn't regret it. It had to be done. And maybe in doing so she'd saved the lives of a couple people and that, to her meant something.

It was early December in Portland. And snow had been falling for the last couple of hours. She felt numb from the cold but she kept walking. The streets were mostly empty, with the exception of a car here and there. It reminded her of the road when she'd been on the bus, coming here to Portland, the road had been full during light hours. But when the light hid, the cars disappeared one by one until there were only a few left.

Her apartment that she shared with her roommate, Phoebe, was only a mile and a half away from the diner. But today, the walk seemed endless, the miles countless. She felt almost nothing, not her feet inside her boots, they were too numb and not her hands hanging by her sides because she'd forgotten her winter gloves, they were too, numb. But she saw houses, restaurants and shops miles ahead, dimly lit by street lamps.

But what she heard was the most interesting part. She heard the sound of snow compacting together as someone stepped on it. She stopped. And the noise persisted. And then a few seconds later, as if noticing she'd stopped, the noise stopped too. Her heartbeat quickened. And she knew someone was following her. She couldn't turn around, not less she wanted to alert the other person she'd seen them.

Aries zipped her purse open and started walking again, not faster than before but also not slower than before. She grabbed out some chapstick and small compact mirror she kept inside her purse. She dabbed on some chapstick, but instead of paying attention to her lips, she grabbed the mirror in a position she'd be able to see behind her shoulders. And much to her surprise, it worked.

She saw someone in the distance, following her. Her heartbeat quickened and her anger turned into fear and then into anger again. Maybe they'd tortured Daniel for information about her she lived and worked. Or maybe they'd known where she lived alone and just wanted to take someone she loved or could have come to love at least.

She developed a plan as she walked home. She was going to inside her apartment, just like she had a hundred times. She'd pretend no one was following her. And then she'd go inside her room, she'd open the top drawer of her night stand, grab the book containing spells and potions she'd collected over the years and she'd use one. Her plan seemed like a bad one, because she wasn't sure how she would distract the person following her long enough to grab the book or what spell she'd use. But simply having a plan made her feel a little bit better.

She turned the key and the door open. She held on to her keys as she walked inside the apartment. She closed the door behind her, locking it. She tossed her purse on the couch and walked in the darkness, towards her bedroom. There were only three doors, and she'd walked in the darkness enough times to know what was what. The two doors next to each other were the bedrooms and the other door was the restroom down a small hall.