Stranger in Love, prologue
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PROLOGUE
Do you believe in destiny? It is a good opening gambit for any cliché love story. We all know the drill: two people meet, look deep into each other's eyes and they connect. Then, according to most stories, live a doomed life ever after. Destiny may result in stepping into a path far-away from pleasant. All things considered, it’s kind of funny that we’re repeatedly advised - and usually by wise men - to discover one of those pesky little curses for our own.
Pearl Marsden refused to believe in destiny. Or a greater plan of any kind, for that matter. A while ago, she'd heard about people whose boat had sunk far out at sea. They had floated aimlessly on the water before the sharks that had been circling them for hours like clock hands had finally attacked. Pearl enjoyed the indisputable clarity of that situation. There was no point for anyone to spend their last moments like that.
That taken into account, her encounter with Sam Winchester must have been fairly disturbing. When Pearl looked into his eyes, she knew she had truly found her soulmate. And that was just the half of it.
So fine, to be accurate, Pearl did not exactly meet Sam. But someone sure did and then it all came to pass.
When Sam saw across the street how a mighty Alsatian flexed its muscles, he started running on instinct; most beasts who are determined to strike give it away similarly. It took a couple of seconds for the dog to pull the lead from its lady’s hand, but it still wasn’t enough time for Sam to reach the girl jogging first. She got bitten on her thigh before Sam grabbed the Alsatian by its nape, forcing the dog to let go, then he grabbed the collar in a firm grip in his hands .
The dog’s owner came running, eventually.
“Butcher! Butcher, stop!” She reached for the lead but Sam had no intention to let her handle this.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened, she’s never bitten anyone, she’s the sweet-” the lady cut off, apparently realizing this just wasn’t the right crowd to praise her dog to. “I am so sorry.”
“Just call an ambulance, ok?” the girl hissed. She was obviously pissed, in pain and bleeding. Still, not once did she take her eyes off the dog and Sam’s grip on the collar. The dog’s owner was actually shaking and the longer she looked for a cell phone in her handbag, the more she hurried and trembled. Overall, her actions were getting nowhere.
“In my belt pack,” said Sam nodding slightly to his left. The lady walked up to him and her dog jerked again barking, which made the women jump in their places.
“Please tell them to bring sedatives,” Sam murmured while the call was being made, and the words brought out the first smile he'd seen on the girl’s face and a confused look from the still seriously panicking dog owner.
This was when the girl seemed to take Sam in for the first time; she looked at him like she’d just noticed the guy behind the hands on the collar and her eyes lit up. Seriously, visibly lit up.
“Let’s not shake hands,” she told him while sparing Butcher a cautious look. “But my name’s Pearl”.
“Sam.”
“Thanks, you know.” She pressed her hand to the wounded leg.
On the phone, Margaret Bennet was making introductions of her own. She sounded seas away.
“How’s your leg? Bleeding badly?” Sam asked.
“I don’t think so.” Pearl shook her head. “Still, far from pleasant.”
“I know.”
“Yeah.”
Six weeks later Sam met Jessica Moore in one of his classes. It wasn’t until the Summer holiday, eight months from then, that Dean so much as heard his brother’s voice again.
A quarter of an hour after the ambulance had left, Sam’s cell battery discharged and next year Mrs Bennet found it misplaced behind the torn fabric of her handbag. By then, she was taking small walks with her dog again, just up and down the street as the Alsatian had calmed down considerably.
As for Butcher’s victim-to-be, she fell in love that very day. Utter, overwhelming, true love. She still refused to believe in destiny, but from that moment on she had been sold on the idea of soulmates. And maybe it fit; after all, she'd always known better than most how one encounter could easily shape a life.
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