Freak Me Out

Chapter 24: Unexpected Love for Burgers

"Illianna, wake up."

"Mmph..." I rolled over to my side and flinched. Injured. Sore Right. Don't do that.

"You've been asleep for about five hours. You need to eat something."

I looked up at Dean while trying to get my eyes to refocus. He was holding a plate of food and a glass of juice. I slowly pulled myself up into a sitting position and untangled my earphones from my arm.

"What time is it?" I yawned.

"Nine o'clock," he set the glass on my nightstand and gently put my plate on my lap. "I let you sleep a little longer, I know you've been having sleeping problems. Here, I hope you like homemade burgers and fries."

"You cook?" I asked, a little too shocked.

"Yes, I cook." He chuckled and pulled my desk chair over to my bed.

I picked up the burger and took a small bite: burgers weren't my favorite, but I was willing to eat it. Food is food. This time, I took a bigger bite. Dean knew how to cook pretty well. This was probably the best tasting burger I've ever had. I glanced up at him while I was eating, he was looking all around my room. I knew that look all too well: he wanted to talk about something, but didn't know how to bring it up. So instead of pushing him, I sat quietly and finished my meal and waited to see if he would bring up whatever he wanted to talk about on his own. We sat in a mutual silence as I ate and he looked around; though, he did end up wandering to my overflowing bookshelf and was looking over all the books I owned. I knew I had a lot. Any time someone came to my room for the first time, they always made a comment on how I have my own little library, or that I had so many books. Just like everyone always commented on my height. It was just something I knew was inevitable.

"You know-"

"I know," I sighed and he gave me a puzzled look. "You were going to say 'you have so many books.' Right? Yeah, I know."

"Actually, I was going to say that I never really got into reading. Then again, I never had much of a chance to read unless it was to do research for a case."

He chuckled and went back to reading titles and looking at covers. I contemplated what he said. He never got a chance to read, I wonder how many other things he 'never got a chance' to do... The possibilities were endless. I wonder what the life of a hunter consisted of. Lots of travelling, obviously, and lots of secrets and cover stories I'm sure. The more I thought about it, the sadder I got. I started to pick at the bun of the half of the burger I had left.

"Hey Dean?"

"Yeah kiddo?"

"Can I, uh, ask you something?" I looked up at him.

"Sure." He sat on the edge of my bed and looked at me expectantly.

"What's... What's it like being a hunter? If you don't mind me asking."

He raised his eyebrows as he leaned back and gave me a long, thoughtful look. I finished my meal as I patiently waited for him to speak up. In the short time I've known Dean, I knew he was the 'no bullshit' type; that he wouldn't sugar coat it and would just tell me the truth.

"There's no way to make this sound pleasant, really. It's a sucky lifestyle if I'm being honest. We're always on the road, we stay in shady motels, and we see things that would send most people into an insane asylum. Sometimes people get hurt or killed, innocent people. We have to lie a lot of the time and pretend to be someone we're not, go undercover I guess you could say, just to get access to places and people we need to.

We run into creatures and demons and bad guys way too often. It's definitely not a family friendly lifestyle. Honestly, there really isn't a 'way out' of it either, or even a chance at 'growing old' in fact. It's very dangerous, hard and tiring. But... Knowing that we save people keeps me going. It's not something I would recommend to anyone, but it's what I know I do best."

I looked at him while he talked, watching all the years of pain and madness he's gone through resurface and come back to him. I knew it was a tough lifestyle, but that's all I knew. I wanted to know more about it, about the things that were only myths to me just a few weeks ago. Now, they're all a reality. I mean, for gods sake, I'm basically a myth. There was so much I wanted to know, wanted to ask about. I knew I didn't have time for everything though, because soon, they would have to leave and go back to America. Going back to their lives, their bunker, and their jobs. It was inevitable and it made me sad. I didn't want them to leave for multiple reasons: they knew everything. They knew about my real parents, they knew what was happening to me, what was going to happen to me and basically everything I needed to know. I glanced up at Dean.

"There's actually something I need to talk to you about..."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Well, I know you know that we're here to take care of you and protect you while your brother and his friends are on tour. There's actually more to it than just that, though. We know you need answers and help. You did just find out the truth about yourself," He let out a deep breath and looked at me before continuing. "We want to help you, but I don't think we can in the few months we have before they get back. It's just not enough time."

"Then just teach me what you can. Even if it's not enough, it's better than still being in the dark about all this," I laughed humorlessly. "I can't control anything that's happening to me, and I don't like it. I don't know anything about my real family, I don't know anything anymore." I shook my head and turned away, not wanting to get to emotional about all this.

"Hey, hey, hey... Don't do that," Dean sat on my bed and gently pulled me into a hug. "I wasn't even done talking. Look, Sam and I were talking earlier, we both know we can't teach you all the things you need to know. It just can't happen in the short span of two months and we can't stay here forever. We gotta get back home to America at some point. So Sam brought up an idea, of course you can say no, but we thought maybe you could come home with us? We could teach you everything, you'll be completely safe, you could explore the world even."

I stared up at Dean in utter shock. They wanted me to leave my home and go with them? I didn't know what to think. Was he serious? I couldn't answer him.

"You don't have to have a definite answer just yet. It was just a thought anyways, but think about it a little. Okay? If you do come with us and end up hating it, you can come right back."

"Okay," I nodded. "I'll think about it."

He smiled and gave my shoulder a squeeze as he got up and picked up my plate and cup as he headed out of my room. I gave him a small smile before he shut the door. I let out a deep breath and just stared at my blanket. America? Could I really handle it there? Could I really leave Liam? I shook my head and reached for my phone. I checked to see if I had any new texts or anything. There was one from Liam about two hours ago.

I hope you're doing okay. Love you. <3

I smiled and sent a quick reply before putting it on 'Do Not Disturb' and shut off my bedside table lamp. I decided maybe I needed a little more sleep. Tomorrow I'd tried to get one of them to tell me more about hunters, the creatures that actually exist, and maybe even more about me and maybe more about my parents.