CONTROL

CHAPTER THREE: RAINY DRIVES

ELANA found that while the two boys weren't in the car with her, they were just as annoying as she'd heard. More so the older one than the younger boy. The one Alanna seemed to be silently pinning after, but she knew as well as the next that being a hunter meant she could never have those relationships, those friendships, no matter how much she wanted to.

Once you joined the hunt, there was no way of leaving it.

They knew that better than anyone.

It wasn't until a half-hour to noon that they finally pulled off the road of one of the towns they'd begun to drive through and into the parking lot of a small diner. Elana let out a huff, if it had been up to her, they wouldn't have been stopping so soon, they could've waited a few more hours, hell, maybe even waited till they arrived at their destination.

But Alanna, on the other hand, seemed somewhat relieved to be able to step out of the car and stretch her limbs, but mostly she just wanted to get away from the music they'd been playing for the last five hours.

Her eardrums felt as if they might explode from her sister's bland taste, not that hers was much better, so the second the car stopped she hopped out and moved as quickly as possible to get away from the noise her sister's car was creating.

Elana stayed in her seat for several moments before popping her door open and swinging her legs out, in one of her pockets, on the inside of the coat, she had a flask of whiskey ready to be poured into the orange juice she was going to order while they were there. And that was the one thing that gave her good reason to get out.

She trailed behind the two boys- her sister drawn up at Sam's arm as they talked- she scowled at the sight of them, she wanted to get their hunt finished and take a nice long nap, but it seemed more than obvious that she wasn't going to get that anytime soon.

Dean was the first at the door, the older of the two boys pushing the door back and holding it open as his brother and the girl stepped inside. Frowning from ear to ear, he waited till Elana was close enough to reach out and touch the door to step inside and let it shut behind him, in her face.

Closing her eyes to try and relieve the newfound anger that had begun to simmer within her, she reached out and opened the door with a sigh before following in after the trio. The smell of burnt pancakes smacked her dead in the face as soon as she went to breathe, it was absolutely terrible, to a point she thought she might actually throw up.

Meanwhile, Dean had somehow charmed his way into getting a booth that a small family had wanted and had gleefully seated himself beside his brother while Avanna took the side across from Sam.

Elana wanted nothing more than to grab the two boys by their ears and toss them out onto the lawn, mainly Dean, but also Sam for showing the slightest interest in her sister, Avanna didn't need any more distractions than she already had, any more and she'd probably lose her head; literally.

She watched as a waiter came around the room towards their table- stopping just at the head of it- with menus in her hands, "can I start you guys off with some coffee and give you a chance to look at the menu?"

Elana shook her head, "I'll take a large glass of orange juice, no pulp." slightly frowning, the woman nodded her head and jotted it down on her small notepad before glancing around the table again, "we'll take two coffees, and a water for him." Sam spoke nodding his head in his brother's direction, "alright, I'll have those to you guys here in a moment." she smiled setting the thick slabs of paper on the tabletop.

"Avanna, is there a coloring thing in that?" rolling her eyes, her sister leaned forward and sifted through the menus before producing a small coloring sheet with a green and blue crayon inside, she watched as her sister plucked the thing from her hands and squeezed the green crayon between her thumb and index.

"You are such a child." she mumbled her gaze barely reaching the edge of the menu pile, "it's called age regression, and with all the shit I put up with I think I deserve to act like a kid every now and again."

Sam was the first to snatch up a menu, and boy did he take his time looking it over. He looked it over twice, and then a third, the idea of reading it that many times was enough to make Elana's head hurt.

Avanna was the next one to pick up her menu, and then Dean. Elana couldn't even be bothered to pick hers up as she tried to color in the drawings as neatly as possible, everytime she passed one of the thick black lines she cringed at herself, she hated how imperfect it was, how the slightest of mistakes ruined the picture altogether.

Setting her crayon down, Elana watched as the waitress returned, a tray balanced in her hands as she stopped in front of their table and began to hand out the drinks. It wasn't until the woman left that Elana slid her knees under her bum and carefully glanced over the edge of the booth to make sure the waitress wasn't in her vicinity.

She seemed especially joyful as she slipped the flask out from her inner pocket and unscrewed it before pouring the strong liquid into the orange juice condensating in front of her, Avanna let out a sigh as her sister emptied the contents of the flask into her drink.

"What?" she questioned quickly returning the flask to its home in her coat, "I can't believe you sometimes." Elana rolled her eyes, "it's five somewhere, might as well get a head start."

And with that, the older of the two girls relentlessly chugged her beverage until all that remained was a small bead of orange liquid in the corner of the girl's lip, Avanna watched her sister with a look of such disapproval that it could have more than likely burnt holes into her from the intensity alone.

"Alright, you guys ready to hit the road yet or-?"

None of them bothered to reply, they still hadn't ordered anything to eat, meaning Elana was the odd one out on the situation, so she went back to her coloring while they waved the waitress over and placed their orders. God, why were they taking so long?

She almost felt like she could feel every second passing her, every second aging her just the slightest, it made her sick to her stomach, so much that she had to close her eyes for a moment to try and relieve some of the sickness, which didn't work.

"I-" she stopped the urge to throw up suddenly creeping up her throat, "I'm gonna go sit in the car." she stated as she slid out of the booth- leaving Avanna with the two men- and quickly made her way towards the exit of the small diner.

She needed another drink, and she needed it now.

Snatching the keys out of her pocket, Elana rushed to unlock the car and hop into the front seat where she searched the space behind it for one of her bottles, it took a few moments of shuffling things around, but she did eventually find something.

Better than nothing, she thought to herself before uncapping the bottle.

Seemingly unbothered by what she was doing, Elana tipped the bottle into the air and let the strong liquid flow across her tongue and down her throat. She wasn't a drunk, but in short, yes, she did meet the criteria to be one.

Twenty minutes later, the small group of three emerged from the diner, Avanna's eyes immediately falling to Elana as she drank from her bottle again. Sam offering a questioning smile gestured to the girls' car, "does she always do that?"

Avanna slowly nodded her head, "she thinks that if she's too drunk to think she can't have nightmares, they still come though, they always do."

The two boys discreetly exchanged a look before Sam wrapped his arm around Avanna's shoulder and tried his best to reassure her that her sister was alright, it only worked a little bit.

And then they were back on the road, Avanna almost wished she was in the boys' car, anything to avoid having to watch her sister down another bottle of whiskey.

It was only a few minutes into the car ride when Elana cast her sister a sideways glance and frowned, "what's got you so bummed." for some reason it came out as more a statement than a question, leaving Avanna to question just how many bottles her sister had gone through.

"Nothing." she mumbled leaning her head back against the seat before closing her eyes and releasing a sigh, "I'm just worried about your alcohol intake, it doesn't seem all that healthy."

Her sister chuckled, "look, if I can drive perfectly fine with three bottles of liquor rolling around in my stomach I think I'm more than healthy."

Avanna's eyes shot open at the statement and she glanced from her sister to the steering wheel, "you're driving on three bottles?" she practically yelled her ponytail bouncing as she spoke, Elana smiled, "yeah... I don't see the big deal, I'm fine."

Her sister's eyes only widened further and her brows rose as she gestured to the wheel, "you can't drive like this, you may think you're fine but your ability to think and your judgment are impaired, it's not safe for the other people on the road."

"I'm fine, if it's such a problem you can go ride with the bitch boys."

The younger of the two scoffed and let her body fall back into the seat, what the hell was her sister's problem? Was it that they were going to help the boys with their case? Or was it because Elana was getting annoyed?

She couldn't be bothered to care, she just knew she didn't want to be conscious as her sister drove, otherwise worry would eat her up until she didn't exist.

So, she closed her eyes and wished for sleep, and boy, did it come.

She slept till five in the afternoon, and when she awoke it almost felt like when she was a kid and had gone to bed earlier and then woken up a little bit later thinking an entire day had passed.

It felt weird.

But her sister still sat behind the wheel, her grip and gaze unwavering from the road and the steering wheel as she watched the sun begin its descent beneath the horizon, Elana hated that, hated when the sun disappeared, because then, that was the domain of the supernatural, not theirs.

And they had to survive it somehow.

Sometimes Elana wondered what a normal childhood might've been like, surely Sam had known a part of that, it was usually the younger ones in hunter families that were oblivious to the chaos their parents brought with them, not Avanna though, she'd been dragged into it at the mere age of seven.

That was when her nightmares came to life, it wasn't until their parents died that Elana's came to her every time sleep beckoned for her attendance.

But that was life, you either let it beat you up, or you moved on and got over it.

Elana chose the latter for herself and her sister.

She knew better than to give in, someone had to fight the things everyone else was blind to, otherwise, they would all fail to exist.

"Can you put some music on or something? This quiet shit is getting old." Avanna let a groggy chuckle leave her lips as she leaned forward to grab the tape box from the floorboard.

CONTROL

CHAPTER THREE: RAINY DRIVES