"Come on, Janey, it'll be fun." Chrissie turned and urged her friend on. "Besides, if we back out it'll be all over school tomorrow."

"Chrissie, this is just seriously creepy. You know what Jake was saying last week, people have gone missing." Janey glanced at her petite friend walking determinately down the tree-covered drive.

"You seriously don't believe that crap do you? I mean come on. who does Jake know that went missing. It's just a load of bullshit." Chrissie strode down the crumbling driveway, determined to prove she was no chicken.

It had been yesterday that one of the most popular girls in the senior class had dared Chrissie to visit the local haunted house. She knew that this was a test, if Chrissie passed, she'd be welcomed into one of the most popular cliques in school. If she couldn't summon the nerve, she'd be labeled a child, a loser and would be banished, made to suffer through her senior year amongst the unknown.

Janey walked reluctantly by her best friend. "I just don't see why we can't get drunk and make out with strangers instead. This place has a seriously creepy vibe." Janey reached out and grabbed her friend's arm, spinning her around to face her. "Plus, I heard that gang members and Satanists hang out here. I mean who knows someone could be up there right now, watching us."

Chrissie rolled her eyes at the dramatic sigh that followed this outrageous speech. "Satanists, gang members, have you forgotten we live in Furlong? I mean come on, Janey, who do you think in this town is a practicing Satanist, Mrs. Hanson our fourth grade teacher." Chrissie turned and resolutely began walking up the quickly darkening drive.

Janey quickened her pace, anxious not to be left behind and snorted a laugh. "Well, you know if anyone is, it would be her. Friggin' nut job."

The two girls continued up the drive. Finally, as the trees began blocking the last rays of dying sunshine, they switched on the flashlights they had brought. As they neared a clearing, the remains of a house came into view. The house was huge. Made of solid brick, it had three stories, a wrap around porch, and two wings balanced, gracefully, on either side of the main house.

Even now, people in town referred to it as The Mansion. Abandoned around the 1950's, it had changed hands several times but had remained empty. Rumors abounded as to why no one ever occupied the palatial home again, but over the years, the stories had become more and more outrageous. It had become tradition for the local high school kids to 'dare' each other to walk the grounds.

Tonight's mission, though, was a bit over the top, Chrissie admitted to herself. Tara, the senior, had insisted that Chrissie and Janey actually go inside. As proof of their visit, they were to take something from the inside. Chrissie was hoping beyond all hope that they could manage to just sort of lean into the abandoned home and grab their proof.

As the two girls reached the front of the home, flashlights bobbing, they glanced at each other nervously. Although, the main part of the house was still standing sturdily against the elements, the wings of the home, which had been made of wood, were a wreck. The porch looked saggy and unstable, and the stairs leading up to it where all but rotted through.

Chrissie drew in a determined breath and said, "Let's try around back. I don't want to risk the porch and there must be other ways to get in."

Janey reached out and grasped Chrissie's hand, firming her jaw she nodded. "Alright, but I'm telling you we are going to grab something and get out. This place looks as if a strong wind might knock it down." Janey breathed a sigh of relief at Chrissie's agreeing nod.

Holding hands, the two teenage girls made their way around the right side of the house, following the driveway once more. As they edged around the house, darkness descended for real. The house became nothing than a hulking shadow that towered over the girls.

As they rounded it, they noticed years worth of abandoned junk lying in heaps on the ground. Hulled out mattresses, broken tables, chairs, car parts and even the rusted out frame of an old VW bug, had been abandoned. And of course, there was also the requisite broken beer bottles, discarded coolers, and various pieces of clothing.

Janey gestured to a bra hanging from the hulked out remains of an old ford pick up truck's rear view mirror. "I don't think there's a guy on this planet that could convince me to take my bra off here."

Chrissie grinned wickedly. "Oh, I don't know. I've heard tell you're willing to pull yours off just about anywhere."

Janey reached out and punched her friend on the arm. "Like you're one to talk, I heard you taught half the boys in our grade how to undo a bra strap one-handed."

Chrissie snorted and grinned, she was about to reply as they turned the corner of the house. Instead, the sight of the back of the house caught her attention. "Oh, it must have been beautiful back here."

Janey could only nod in reply. What looked to be a stone patio stretched out from a set of what should have been French doors. Large broken urns and flowerbeds surrounded the patio. Even with only the moonlight and a dim flashlight in her hand Janey could see Chrissie's point. "What a shame no one ever moved back in. Can you imagine growing up in a place like this?"

Chrissie and Janey moved forward onto the patio, with the intention of entering the house through the double doors. It was only as they shined their lights into the doorway, both girls noticed how dim the flashlights had become.

"Uh, Chrissie, you didn't bring spare batteries did you?" Janey asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.

Chrissie drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. Gripping Janey's hand even tighter, she moved forward in a hurry. "I'm going to shut mine off, we'll use yours until it goes out and then we'll use mine. If we hurry we should be on our way back down the drive before they're both dead."

Practically dragging her friend behind her, Chrissie hurried through the glassless doors. Using Janey's dying light, Chrissie began looking for something, anything that would convince people that they had entered the house.

Shining the light toward one wall, Chrissie noticed the ragged and mildewy wallpaper that still clung to parts of the plaster walls. Dropping Janey's hand, she darted forward. Carefully climbing over the piles of debris, she grasped a loose end in her hand. Pulling carefully, she wrinkled her nose at the sudden smell of mold. Chrissie pulled a large strip from the wall, spinning triumphantly and waving the paper in the air, she called out, "See that, Janey, easy as ... Janey?"

Chrissie stared in confusion at her friend. Janey was staring, unblinkingly, at a door that led deeper into the house. Chrissie followed her gaze and gasped, dropping not only the wallpaper, but also the flashlight, which slid across the floor and winked out.

Chrissie moved blindly toward her friend, unable to take her eyes off where she thought the door was. As she shuffled across the floor, her foot snagged on a loose board, and she fell to the ground.

Barely able to catch herself with her hands, she scraped both palms on the rough wooden floor. Not bothering to stand the young girl crawled forward. Pain ripped through her hands and knees as she scrabbled over the refuse that littered the floor.

"Janey, answer me, Janey," Chrissie called out, desperately. She thought, she was moving toward her friend but she couldn't be sure. In a moment of panic, she found herself wondering if she'd managed to get turned around and was heading for the doorway instead. Chrissie was crying in desperation, when her hands felt the familiar feeling of a canvas sneaker. Wrapping her hand around Janey's leg, she ignored her friend's full-throated scream.

"It's me, Janey," Chrissie reassured her, over and over again, practically pulling herself up the girl's leg, until she gained her feet. Feeling for Janey's right hand, Chrissie gasped in relief at the feel of the flashlight.

Preparing to turn it on, she was surprised when Janey gripped her wrist tightly and said, "Don't, we'll lose our nerve. Just head for the doorway."

Chrissie was about to protest, but instead, reached out and grabbed Janey's sweatshirt. Determined not to look back she fled toward the rectangle of light that beckoned her forward.

It was only as the two girls stumbled out into the night, they noticed a low, vicious, growl emanating from directly behind them. Breaking into a run, both girls stumbled through the night.

888

The young man lay prone on the hood of the car, his back, heated by the sun-warmed combination of glass and metal. Sunglasses blocking the intense light, a sweating bottle of soda resting between his jean-clad thighs. Shirt off, skin already tinted with bronze and a faint sheen of sweat, the man seemed oblivious to his surroundings.

Oblivious to the sounds of the stream that flowed swiftly by, filled to bursting from spring rains. Oblivious to the sounds of children playing and dogs barking, even the noise from the nearby paper factory didn't seem to disturb him.

Sam shook his head at the sight of Dean, lying back against the Impala's windshield, warming himself in the afternoon sunshine. Sam couldn't say that he blamed his older brother for wanting to soak up the first real rays of spring sunshine.

They'd spent the last week, in the dark. Cold rain pounding on their backs, as they dug up grave after grave. Yeah, mass hauntings not exactly the Winchester brothers idea of a good time.

Sam started across the parking lot. He was now regretting that he'd volunteered to check out the library, located across the street from the township park. Normally, he didn't mind an hour well spent in a library, but today was the first harbinger of spring. And to Sam, playing hooky suddenly sounded like a grand idea.

He was within a few feet of his brother, when he noticed a group of people not more that ten feet from the Impala.

Frowning in confusion, Sam noted that the group was made up of woman. Most looked to be moms with small children and a handful were older teenage girls. There even seemed to be a grandmother or two.

Watching, he hopped onto the hood of the car next to his brother and shrugged off his sweatshirt and long sleeved shirt. Clad in only a tee- shirt, Sam noticed a ripple of noise go through the gathering ladies.

"Go ahead, Sam, give them a show. Liven things up a bit for them," Dean said, in a low voice. Even though he remained still as stone, Sam could hear the laughter in his voice.

Sam stared at Dean in incredulity. "You knew they were there. Dean, there's like fifteen woman in the group, half of them could be your very older sister and the other half scream jailbait."

Dean finally gave up pretending to sleep and grinned at his little brother. "Come on, Sam, a guys got to amuse himself somehow. You were in there forever." Dean sat up and gestured toward the library, smiling in amusement at the ripple of appreciation that floated through the crowd.

Sam took in his brother's smug smile and couldn't help but return it. Leave it Dean to give the woman of Glen's Crossing something to talk about.

Dean slid off the hood of the car and threw a wave to his 'audience'. Shrugging on his tee-shirt, he grinned at Sam, before disappearing into the open, driver's side door.

As Sam slid off the hood, his intention was to ignore the shouts and catcalls from the crowd. However, as he opened the door to the car and prepared to climb in, he heard Dean say, "Come on, Sammy, just give'em a wink and wave. Just give them a bit, you know, just enough, gotta leave them wanting more."

Sam looked at Dean's grinning face and realized it had been awhile since he'd seen his brother truly smile. What the hell, thought Sam. Turning toward the crowd, he flipped them a wave and grinned as he slid into the car.

As Dean pulled out onto the tree-lined street in a burn out worthy of a racetrack, Sam couldn't help but laugh, waving a hand out the window. The cheer that followed the boys down the street would have rivaled any crowd of beered up, race fans.

"You're such a sucker for attention," Dean said, as he leaned forward to snap the knob of the radio on. Head bobbing in time, attention focused on the road, he nonetheless could feel his brother's outrage.

"Dean, are you kidding me, you're the one giving them a peep show, all I did was wave." Sam snorted.

"Ah, Sam, you're too easy. Now get your mind out of the gutter and tell me what you found." Dean laughed. "Peep show, please, Sam, have you ever even been to a peep show?" Dean glanced sideways at the slow grin that spread across his baby brother's face. "Oh, Sammy, Sammy we'll get back to that story in a minute. Now, where're we headed?"

Leaning back against the hot leather, Sam allowed the spring air to flow past him. Ready to enjoy a bit of the afternoon light, Sam said, "Furlong, Pennsylvania."

Dean reached out and clapped Sam on the chest. "Sit back and relax, princess, we've got miles to go."