Ohio, 15 December 1990 C.E.

[hear_the_voices]

The mall is crowded, on a Saturday with only a week and a half until Christmas. Anna has been given very specific instructions from her parents: Stay with us.

And she means to. It's just one of those things that happens, in the crowds and the chaos. Anna gets distracted by a display of nutcrackers when her parents decide split up for five minutes, and when she looks up again, she is alone.

(Her mother and father -- not that Anna knows this -- are meeting each other at the other end of the department store, with horrified statements of I thought she was with you.)

Anna looks around, puzzled and a bit worried.

And then decides that if her parents are lost, well, she's just going to have to go find them.

Comments

[thursdays_angel]

Castiel can see Rich and Amy Milton at the opposite end of the store, frantically talking to an employee. And from his vantage point, he can also see Anna.

He did not come here for the purpose of seeing her. Of course. This is a time of year when people in parts of the world congregate in a wide variety of venues for a wide variety of reasons. The mall is very crowded. There are hundreds of people here to watch.

Anna is no more special than any other. She is just another human being.

She does not warrant special consideration.

She is not his responsibility.

She......is going completely in the wrong direction.

Had he the proper form, a very loud sigh would be emitted right about now.