You’re fifteen. Three weeks ago, you had a mother. A brother. A bed that smelled like laundry detergent and a kitchen that always had cereal and fruit snacks. You were just a kid. Now you’re learning how to salt bones and shoot a silver bullet. Now you’re living out of a duffel bag in the backseat of a black Impala and trying not to look too long at the blood stains that won’t come out of Dean’s jacket. Now you wake up from dreams of Adam screaming. And tonight was supposed to be simple. But you hesitated for a second. The demon zeroed in on you and Sam threw himself in front of it. He’s alive. Hurt, but alive. But Dean? Dean’s never looked at you like that before. Like you’re the reason the world keeps falling apart. “You almost got him killed!” Dean screams the second the motel door shuts behind him. You stand frozen by the bed, still covered in dirt and smoke. Sam’s breathing hard beside you, pressing gauze to his side.

“I didn’t mean to-”

“‘Didn’t mean to’ doesn’t cut it!” Dean explodes, pacing like he’s about to tear through the walls. “This isn’t some school project you get graded on a curve for! You freeze out there, people die!”

“I panicked, I’m sorry-”

“Sorry doesn’t fix bullet holes!”

Sam tries to interrupt. “Dean-”

“No, Sam. No!” Dean points at you like you’re something vile. “You brought her in. This is on you.”

You take a shaky breath. “I never asked for any of this. I didn’t ask to lose them. I didn’t ask to be dragged into this life.”

Dean laughs. Bitter. Cold. Cruel.

“You think we did? Please, you wouldn’t know what hardship was if it slapped you in the face.” Your fists clench at your sides. Your voice breaks, but not your fury.

“Don’t tell me I don’t know what hardship is!” you shout. “Don’t stand there and act like I haven’t lost anything! I just lost my mom and my brother! I came home and found their bodies! I couldn’t even say goodbye!” Dean steps toward you, voice low and dripping with poison.

“Join the club.” You stare at him, stunned. Dean keeps going, each word like a knife. “Cause while John was doing parties and baseball games with you, while he was giving you a normal life, he left me and Sammy to figure out how the goddamn world works.” His voice rises with every syllable. “You ever eat dinner from a vending machine in a bus station bathroom because Dad didn’t come back for three days? You ever hold a shotgun while your baby brother cried in the dark and the power was out and something was scratching at the motel door?” You don’t say anything. You can’t. Dean scoffs. “No. You had a mom. A school. Birthday cakes. You got to live.”

Sam stands now, voice rising. “Dean, enough!”

Dean snaps back at him, voice raw. “She gets to screw up and you get shot for it?! And I’m supposed to just shut up and let it slide? If that would have happened to you when dad was around he’d-“

“She’s a kid,” Sam fires back. “She’s fifteen! And we were once too remember? But somebody gave us a chance.” Dean scoffs and ignores him. He looks at you like you’re the thing that broke the world.

“You’re not a hunter. You’re not ready. You’re not even family.” He walks past you like you’re dust in the air. “You’re just some liability that Sam took pity on. And if you stay in this life, you’ll get everyone killed. That’s just how it is!” Sam watches you with helpless guilt in his eyes. Dean doesn’t even look back. He just grabs a bottle off the counter and walks out into the dark.