[h2]Esme[/h2]
As Esme walked to the park, she continued to clutch the bag tight to her chest. Almost as if she feared someone was going to come up and take it from her. Her reason for going to the park was not only to give Duke space to think about what he wanted to do but to also give herself time to think and to somewhat get back to what she was doing before getting tangled up with the group. She felt that she had been pulled away from it for too long and needed to get back to it. Before she had heard of Dean returning from the dead, she had been chest-deep in research, looking for answers on what took the lives of her father and other family all in one day. Esme still felt the need to find out what had really happened and what monster had done it, and then deal with the monster to avenge the death of her family. She could only hope that looking at every inch of her father's journal, which she carried in the small bag, would reveal all if not most of the answers she was so desperately looking for.

At the sound of Duke’s truck door slamming, Esme flinched, then paused in her tracks. She didn’t dare turn around to see him driving out of the parking lot. She couldn’t bear to watch him drive away. She knew that he was someone who needed to drive to clear their mind, like her,  but knew that he could still decide to leave while taking that thought-filled drive. However, she still wanted to have hope that he would return. After the sound of Duke’s truck faded away, Esme started walking to the park once more. Once there, she sat down at one of the tables, then pulled her father’s journal from the purple bag she had been clutching to her chest. She placed the bag flat on the table in front of her, then placed the journal on top of the bag opening it. Before looking over its pages, she looked over at Sarah, who had apparently decided to stay close, to see her lying on the ground next to her. “You don’t have to stick so close. You can wander around if you’d like.” she whispered softly to the Hellhound. Sarah gave a small sigh in return but didn’t move. 

[h3]Forty five minutes later[/h3]

As she poured herself over the pages of the journal, the scent of rain was brought in on the breeze, and the sounds of thunder could be heard in the distance. However, that was all drowned out by how focused she became on the pages in front of her. She didn’t smell the rain and she didn’t hear the thunder anymore, she didn’t even hear the other people and their dogs that were in the park. When the first few raindrops appeared, she was still stuck within the pages of the journal, it wasn’t until the sprinkle got heavier did she even notice the rain. She was pulled from the pages and noticed she and Sarah were the only ones left in the park. Quickly closing the journal, she slid it into the purple bag, stood from the table, and looked at Sarah. “Let’s head back to the room before this gets even heavier.” she told her. After receiving a bark in response, Esme tucked the bag under her jacket and jogged back to the room with Sarah close at her side. At the door, she pulled out her key and unlocked the door, letting Sarah in first and then following in after her. 

Once inside, she pulled the bag from under her jacket and placed it on the dresser, then shrugged off her damp jacket, and hung it on the back of a chair. As she went to the bathroom, to dry her hair with a towel, the first thing she noticed was how empty the room was without Duke there. In just the short time he had been around, she had gotten quite used to him being there. After tending to her hair and drying her face, Esme headed back to the main part of the room and looked around with a sigh. There wasn’t much she could do without a car or until the others were up and getting around. So she decided to get back to what she was doing in the park. Going to her bag she dug out an iPod and a pair of headphones that she had swiped from some douchebag teenager a couple of weeks before running into Natalia. She then walked over to the bed, grabbing the journal as she walked by the dresser. Adjusting the sheets and blanket, Esme climbed onto the bed and made herself comfortable after propping herself up against the headboard. 

Laying the journal on her lap, she placed the headphones on her ears and turned on the iPod. After selecting a song and turning up the volume, she placed the iPod on the bed next to her and opened the journal, getting lost in its pages once again. When Esme closed herself off from her surroundings, Sarah went over and jumped up on the end of the bed and laid down by Esme’s feet. Sarah laid her head on her paws, making sure she could see Esme and the door at the same time. A short time later, Sarah’s head rose from her paws when she heard movement outside the door. She looked between the door and Esme, almost as if she was trying to get Esme to notice someone was at the door. Then came a gentle knock on the door, Sarah looked at Esme but she didn’t move. She even nudged Esme’s foot but she didn’t seem to notice. Sliding off the bed, Sarah walked over to the door and opened it with a bit of difficulty. Using her paw and nose, she pulled open the door and looked at Duke who was soaked.

Sarah carefully stepped forward and gently took hold of the corner of Duke’s jacket and slowly pulled him into the doorway. Once he was inside, Sarah backed away and went back over to Esme, who hadn’t noticed Duke yet. She nudged Esme’s arm, then poked her in the ribs with her nose, which caused Esme to jump and look over at Sarah. “What is it?” she asked a little loudly. Before she saw Sarah look towards the door, Esme saw someone standing at the door out of the corner of her eye. She jumped in surprise and took to her feet, causing the journal to fall to the floor at her feet. When she realized it was Duke, she pulled the headphones down to rest around her neck and looked over at the sad wet cowboy, surprise written on her face upon seeing him. “Y…. You came back?” she softly questioned. She honestly thought when he made the decision to stay, he wouldn’t have returned until later in the day. And even though she was surprised he had come back so soon, she was overjoyed to see him standing there but hated seeing him so sad. She wanted to go over to him, to hug him, and to kiss him, but after thinking of him leaving without a word, she hesitated not knowing how he’d react.