Joe Williamson and his wife, Marge, stared at the translucent figure standing at the end of the bar. Either no one else in the bar noticed it, or they just pretended not to see it. The figure seemed to be looking in their direction, smiling and signalling for them to approach her. Joe pushed his wife aside and moved towards the figure, his hands shaking with every step he took. When he finally reached her, he gasped and forced a smile. He knew her and she didn't look anything like the last time he had seen her. He moved closer and rested his hands on the bar top. She looked down at his hands and tried to place her translucent hands on his, but they just slid through. Joe looked at her and smiled, this time it seemed genuine.
"What brings you here, Evelyn?"
Charlie opened her eyes at the sound of her phone vibrating on her bedside table. She reached for it and slid it open without even checking to see who it was.
"Hello?"
"Your grandmother paid us a visit last night."
Charlie sat up quickly and lay back down when she felt the blood rush to her head. She cursed herself for going out with Vincent and his new girlfriend. She hung up and carefully swung her legs off the bed, placed them on the floor and took her time sitting up. Once she was upright and felt the liquids in her head settle down, she called the number back.
"Hello?"
"Hey Joe, its Charlie. Sorry about hanging up on you earlier. I'm suffering from the worst hangover."
"Don't you worry, if you weren't out getting drunk I would be very worried."
"Thanks Joe. So, what were you talking about earlier?"
"Your grandmother, Evelyn McCoy, paid us a visit at O'Hara's last night. She said something about you and then suddenly vanished on me."
"Stop yanking my chain Joe. My grandmother's been dead for 12 years."
"Honestly Charlie, why would I make up something like that? It seems ludicrous to even think of it otherwise."
Charlie held her phone to her chest as she struggled to catch her breath. She had been warned this would happen, but she kept brushing it off. She waited a few minutes to collect herself and then resumed her conversation with Joe.
"I'll drive down later today."
"You don't have to honey."
"Joe, you didn't call me to just tell me that my dead grandmother had suddenly resurfaced."
"Fine. Marge thought it would be sensible if I called you and informed you. Afterall, Thomas did tell us to get in touch with you if this happened."
"Of course he did. Tell Marge that I'll come by later and if it's okay with you guys, could I stay with you this weekend?"
"Sure, I'll let Marge know. We'll be expecting you for dinner."
"Okay. Bye now."
She hung up and stared at the blank wall in front of her. The curse of being in the McCoy family was finally starting to catch up with Charlie and the only choice she had was to call two people she had never met in her life. The two people she considered to be men in her dreams, saving her from her impending doom. She pulled open the drawer on her bedside table and rummaged through the things for the photograph she was given 12 years ago. She found it, flipped it over and dialled the number on the back.
"This is Ellen, I'm not here right now. Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
Once the beep sounded, Charlie left her message: "Ellen, its Charlie McCoy. I was hoping you could give me the number now. I think it's finally time to let them handle my stupid family curse. Thanks."
She turned the photograph to face her and stared at the faces of the two young boys she had heard so much about that they seemed to be a part of her life. She put the picture and her phone on the bedside table, carefully stood up and moved towards her cupboard. She reached for her toiletries and walked out towards the common bathrooms at the end of the hall. So much for being in the best dorms on campus, the bathrooms were still old fashioned and everyone could see everyone else doing their business. She did everything so quickly that nobody even noticed that she was there. As she walked into her room, in just a towel, she heard something move. She paused at the door and then slammed it shut, sending the person making the noise flying to the floor. She came around the corner and found Vincent, her best friend, sprawled out on the floor with the photograph, Charlie's phone and a pen in his hand.
"Vincent, what are you doing?"
"An Ellen called and she asked me to take down a number. And insisted that I write on the back of this photograph."
Charlie put everything on the floor and sat down beside Vincent and looked at the two numbers scrawled onto the back of the photograph. Vincent had scribbled names beside each number and at the sight of those names she smiled.
"You know those two guys?"
"By name only. And I know what they looked like 12 years ago."
"Who gave you this picture?"
"Their Dad. He was friends with my Dad, they served in the marines together. When he came to visit once, he gave me this picture and told me that if anything ever happened to me I should hunt them down. He couldn't give me their numbers because they were too young to have their own cell phones, but he gave me the number of a friend who he said would lead me to them. And you just spoke to her."
"That's the most complicated thing I've ever heard."
"It's kinda cute, atleast I think it is."
"You're going to meet two random dudes because their Dad, who happens to be a friend of your late father, told you that they were the ones to turn to when in trouble?"
"Why do you have to put it that way. It sounded romantic when I told you about it."
Vincent handed Charlie her phone and stood up. Charlie's hands dropped to her lap and she looked up at him.
"What?"
"Can you call them?"
"What? Why?"
"Because I've never spoken to them before, they don't even know me and it's weird."
"You have a crush on two random dudes you've never met?"
"Stop calling them two random dudes, they have names!"
"Fine, you have a crush on these Chest brothers?"
"Winchesters' and I don't have a crush on them. I just find it weird to suddenly call them and ask for help."
"What could they help you with that I can't?"
"My dead grandmother is visiting and haunting the bar she and her brother used to own before they died."
Vincent snatched the phone and photograph out of Charlie's hand and dialled the first number on the back. Charlie smiled at him and waited for something to happen.
"Hi, is this Dean Winchester?"
"Great. I'm calling on behalf of Charlie McCoy."
"Sure. I can hold on till you get your brother."
"Hi, you must be Sam. I got your number off Ellen. We need your help."
"O'Hara's, a bar in Salem is being haunted by the late owner."
"Yes, Salem Massachusetts."
"Great. We'll meet you there."
Vincent hung up, threw the phone onto the bed and sighed.
"I'm never talking to guys again. You can do it on your own."
"Thank you so much."
He nodded at Charlie and left the room, muttering something under his breath as he left.
Charlie parked her car alongside Joe's black pickup truck and walked into O'Hara's. there were already lots of people sitting around drinking large glasses of beer and chatting away. They looked up as she walked in and when they recognised her they went back to what they were doing. Joe and Marge Williamson, the present owners of O'Hara's, were behind the bar with their two sons – Jeff and Jack. Charlie made her way past the large group of construction workers and headed towards the bar. She found an empty stool and quickly sat down. To her right was Mr. Winters, the oldest resident of Salem, and to her left was Mrs. Carter, the woman he was trying to woo. She smiled at them both and leaned over the bar to get one of the Williamsons' attention. She finally got Jeff's attention as the sound of a car drowned out all the other noises in the bar. Jack jumped over the counter and went out to check and see who it was and Charlie immediately forgot what she was going to tell Jeff. She remembered that sound and was suddenly afraid of what she had done. She could hear Jack talking to someone and waited for a few minutes before jumping off the stool. She started walking towards the front door when Jack came back in.
"Is Charlie here?"
"Hey Jack, what's up?"
"There's two guys out there looking for you."
Charlie nodded and thanked him. She cleared her throat and smoothed down her jacket before stepping out of the bar. The first thing she saw was the black 1976 Chevy Impala, the car that John Winchester told her was his most prized possession. Then she saw the two men standing beside it fiddling with an old brown leather book.
"Sam and Dean Winchester?"
The taller one turned to face her and frowned.
"Yeah. You are?"
"Charlie McCoy."
"You're not a guy, but a very cute one if I might add."
"My name's really Charlotte, but nobody's called me that in years. My friend, Vincent, was the one that called you."
The shorter one moved forward and smiled at her. Charlie felt her knees go weak, but she controlled herself and stood up straight.
"I'm Dean and this is my brother Sam. I must admit that the pictures my Dad showed us don't do you justice."
Charlie frowned and so did Sam. They both looked at Dean and waited for him to explain.
"When we were kids, he used to suddenly take off for a weekend of something. He would work a job and then meet some old friends and one of them was always Charles McCoy. He would come back and talk about Charles' daughter and how she was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. And sometimes he would bring back a picture of her. He always said that because he gave her a picture of us, she thought it fair to give him a picture of her. I used to stare at that picture for days on end to see what he thought was so adorable about her. Then one day, he came back with this new picture and the girl in that was really adorable. You could say she was my first unofficial crush."
Charlie shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and looked over Dean's shoulder at Sam.
"You don't tell a girl you meet for the first time a story like that."
"Fine. You do the talking then."
"Fine."
Dean moved around Sam and went for the back of the car. Sam walked towards Charlie, still carrying the tattered leather book.
"Why did you call us?"
"Your Dad told me that if I needed any help with things like this, to let you guys know."
"So, he told you what we do?"
"A part of it anyway."
"Which part?"
"The part where his sons will one day be the real heroes in this and will save many lives. He also said that you guys would help me believe that there really aren't things under my bed and the sound in my closet is just another sound. But I was a little girl then and everything fascinated me. But, if you guys don't wanna help, I'll just call another one of the contacts in my book."
Sam held up his hands and smiled at Charlie.
"We'll help. Just making sure that you are the girl whose photograph my father carried with him on every hunt like a good luck charm."
Charlie smiled at Sam, shifted from foot to foot, trying to make the noise coming from her chest vanish. She pointed towards the bar and when Sam nodded at her, she moved forward. And all of a sudden, chaos broke out.
