[ CHAPTER EIGHT]
PINKY SWEARS
AS A CHILD, LUX'S MOTHER- like most mothers, would lull her daughter to sleep with fictional stories.
Ranging from golden haired princesses to futuristic space astronauts; the tales were always exciting and permanently concluded with the illusion of a 'happily ever after'.
As Lux blossomed into a bubbly, charismatic child, the stories had begun to change. At the time, Lux hadn't realized this was due to her mother's new found faith.
From seven-years-old onwards, many of Lux's Sundays were spent singing hymns, listening to the town preacher; a rather boring and tedious man and murmuring along to prayers.
The stories that had once consisted of beautiful princes' and galactic yet friendly aliens soon shaped into tales of God and his children.
Her mother would speak of God's eldest sons; the archangels, Michael the strong, Gabriel the messenger, Raphael the healer and Lucifer the traitor.
Lux could even vividly recall her mother telling her about the Virgin Mary; the young prestige woman who birthed Jesus Christ.
Even at the age of twenty-one, Lux could strangely remember the conversation.
It was hardly an impacting moment in her life, but for some reason the conversation had stuck. If asked, Lux could have created a word-to-word script of the memory.
It had been a cold night, something which wasn't too uncommon in Indiana.
Due to the negative temperature, Carol had covered Lux with at least five fluffy blankets, as well as her usual duvet when tucking Lux in at bedtime.
Even with it being the coldest night of the year, Carol still couldn't afford to turn the heating on.
She needed to keep the household bills as low as possible.
After making sure her daughter was covered chin-to-toe in blankets with no escape, Carol had taken her regular place by Lux's side.
As soon as she relaxed on the bed, her fingers automatically weaved their way through her daughter's golden, glossy tresses; soothing and reassuring Lux.
While her mother had begun the tale of the engaged virgin, nine-year-old Lux had cocked her head to the side.
Inquisitively furrowing her brows together, Lux had somehow managed to slip her hand from the many layers and had tapped her mother's arms, capturing Carol's sudden attention.
"But mama, Mary didn't choose to carry God's baby; so that's not very fair." Her nine-year-old daughter had interrupted as Carol gently ushered Lux's hand back under the covers, not wanting her daughter to become cold.
"Shouldn't he have asked?" Lux had continued innocently.
Carol had been momentarily quiet, biting her lower lip as she debated on how to respond.
What should she have said?
The woman in her late twenties hadn't wanted to lead her daughter into thinking a mortal man could rape a woman and justify it as "Ma said any child is a blessing".
Sure, God hadn't raped Mary, but he hadn't asked the woman for consent of having his child.
It was all rather complicated and thinking about it had given Carol a headache.
Perhaps she had been looking too deep into it, after all; her daughter was only nine.
Continuously weaving her fingers through tousled curls, Carol had frowned. "He should have asked, baby. But God knew Mary was the chosen woman to carry his child as she and her husband would love the child unconditionally. And I imagine Mary made the best of it, after all; nothing is more precious than your baby."
As she had said the words, Carol's hand had moved from Lux's hair and travelled down to her daughter's cheek, her fingers stroking along Lux's rather prominent cheekbones.
"Like how I love Mr. Snuggles, mama?"
A laugh had left Carol's lips. "Not quite, baby. When you're older you'll understand. But you're not having babies till you have a career and married to a person who loves you as much as you love them."
At the age of seventeen, Carol Everdeen had found out she was pregnant, the baby the result of a one night stand with a boy in college.
The boy had been Reese Moore, an arrogant college Freshman who had moved from Texas to Indiana to study computer science.
According to her mother, Reese had been in denial at first, but reluctantly owned up to the new responsibilities of a father. He had dropped out of college and gotten a job as a restaurant busboy while Carol had gotten a job as a store clerk.
Everything had been running somewhat smooth, well- as smooth as it could in their situation, in till Lux was three months old.
Reese had been fired from his job after multiple customers complained about his crude and cruel language.
However, instead of going out job hunting, Reese decided he would stay home, play his computer games and party with his friends- sometimes even spending the whole of Carol's wages on drink.
During this period; Carol had cleaned the house, solely looked after Lux, worked long, tiring hours and cooked all the meals.
It had seemed like they argued constantly, especially over Lux.
Carol would never forget the day she came home from her shift to find Reese and his idiotic college friends smoking from a bong in the living room, three scandly clad, giggling girls draped over the sofas. In the corner a three-month-old Lux sat, wailing in the high chair as her father ignored her.
Although her mother was beyond furious with the man, she stuck with him; wanting her daughter to have a father.
So, for four years, Carol put up with the man.
And it wasn't till he disappeared to go to the shop for a six-pack of beer and skipped states with all their money, Carol had realized her stupidity.
She hadn't needed the man, she only needed her baby.
Lux had looked up at her mother, her big eyes fogging over with exhaustion. "Okay, mama, I promise."
Carol had smiled, holding out her pinky. "Pinky swear?"
Wiggling an arm out of the covers, Lux lazily linked her pinky with her mothers. "Pinky swear."
Leaning down, Carol had simply pressed a kiss to Lux's head. "Get some sleep baby."
"Okay mama, love you."
"I love you too, Luxanna."
However, as she grew with age; Lux's belief began to falter. Her faith in God faded like lost history, leaving behind a trail of inquiries and disbelief.
If God was real, why would he create a world like this? A world plagued with suffering and pain. A place where blood spilled and violence radiated.
Innocents starved- emotionally, physically and mentally, while the cruel thrived. If God was real, in Lux's eyes; he was one cruel son of a bitch.
Lux hadn't chosen to be an atheist, she wanted to believe in the illusion of righteous angels and saviors, but her realism had swiftly flattened that vision.
She wished she had the mind of her mother, the mind of a believer who never had doubts.
Shaking her head, Lux pulled a glass out the cupboard and placed it under the tap, her trembling fingers turning the faucet- allowing cool water to run into the glass.
Once the glass was half-full, she turned the faucet and picked the glass up, taking a long-needed drink of water.
The cold water soothed her throat, it was just a shame it didn't soothe her worries.
Placing the empty glass on the side, Lux paused and arched a curious brow when she noticed the yellow sticky note pinned to the fridge by an Indiana state magnet.
Lux plucked the note from the fridge, moving the magnet aside as she scanned the rough handwriting.
'Dinner is in the fridge, baby. Xxxx'
A small smile laced across Lux's lips at the thought of her mother. However, that soon faded.
Should she tell her mother about the three men- the three batshit insane men who she had invited into the house?
Her common senses screamed 'YES', but Lux didn't want to worry her mother. Carol had enough to worry about as it was.
Before she could think any more on the subject, her text-tone caught her attention. Placing the sticky note back down on the counter, Lux pulled her phone from the charger, her eyes scanning the lit-up screen.
'Can I come round? It's extremely important :/'
Sadie.
Sighing, Lux argued with herself as she texted the redhead back, telling her to come round, unaware that it would be a decision she'd deeply regret.
...
Leaning back against the dark, leather interior of the impala, Dean clutched the steaming paper cup between his calloused hands.
His rough fingers brushed against the cups side as Sam leaned down and took a sip of his own coffee, his nose wrinkling in disgust when the bitter liquid took over his taste buds.
As Sam discreetly placed the discarded coffee into one of the Impala's makeshift cup holders- which happened to be one of the side pockets, Dean let out a bored sigh.
Sam was grateful his brother didn't notice him dumping the coffee cup.
It had been a couple of hours since a highly emotionally Lux had kicked them out, so while they were bored out of their skulls; Cas was god knows where.
The angel had finally taken Dean's advice and left to give Lux some space, however, they all knew the angel would be back within three or four hours.
"It must be tough."
Dean's head whirled to the side as Sam's voice caught his attention. "Huh?"
"That girl; Lux, it must be tough on her. Y'know, having this normal life and being thrown into this hell-hole of a reality."
His eyes softened, the gray iris' focused on Dean, who seemed rather tense. "Yeah." Dean quietly agreed.
Sam rolled his eyes.
He had known Dean all his life, following him around and trying to be just like his big brother. Sam could read his brother like a book, even when he hid his emotions- an annoying trait of his.
It was evident Dean was hiding something that was festering within him and causing him bother.
"Okay, that's it. What is wrong with you?"
Turning to his brother, Dean furrowed his brows together. "What?"
"You heard me, ever since you saw that girl you've been acting weird. So what's up?"
"It's nothing, Sammy." Dean tried to play it off, but was cut off by Sam.
"Dean!"
For a moment Dean was quiet, his lips pursed as he tried to register some form of words. "Uh, I, uh, dreamtofthisgirl'." The words were rushed and quiet.
Sam didn't catch a word, his brows furrowing together in bewilderment. "What?"
Shifting tensely in his seat, Dean rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I dreamt of her, okay Sammy? I had a freakin' dream of that chick- Lux, giving birth."
Sam's eyebrows were raised in surprise. "Like a... vision?"
His older brother quickly shook his head, scowling. "What?! No! Not like a vision."
"Dean..."
Said brother rolled his eyes, crossing his arms defensively. "It was a coincidence, Sammy. A weird, borderline insane coincidence."
Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's denial. Upon dreaming of Jessica's death, he too had been in denial. "And you dreaming of this girl- this chosen girl, giving birth to God's baby, is just a coincidence Dean? That's impossible and insane, Dean."
When his brother didn't reply, Sam decided to pipe back up. "How long have you been having these... Dreams?"
Dean was momentarily quiet before he reluctantly answered. "Every night for a couple of weeks?"
"A couple so; two?"
When Dean didn't answer, Sam continued "Three?"
He raised his brows "Four?"
"Five." Dean answered, causing Sam to scoff.
"You've been having these dreams every night for over a month and you didn't tell me?!"
Dean didn't answer, instead he turned to the window, taking a sip of his coffee as a petite redhead walked into the apartment reception.
"Look, Dean. Could you just tell me what happened in these dreams?"
Dean snorted. "Alright, Dr. Phill."
The younger brother ignored Dean's jibes. "It starts off with some alter- not the usual alters we see. No baby bones or animal carcasses, just white candles, some flowers and this weird sacrificial slab. Uh, Lux's then dragged through the church by three angels."
Sam's brows raised in surprise. "Angels?!"
Nodding, Dean continued. "Yeah. They drag her onto the stone, holding her down as she screams."
Sam pretended not to notice the chill that ran down Dean's back. "Then what?"
"That's it. It ends before the baby's born."