PLAYGROUND SPOOKS
Children's laughter could be heard in and around the large playground where Sam and Dean had taken up their next job. It had seemed that a poltergeist had been scaring the local children from the area near sunset. Sam had pointed out that maybe there was an unknown cemetery underneath the playground, but Dean just shook his head. So Sam kept on doing his research as Dean tried to find a suitable explanation for the reports.
Minutes later Sam looked up to Dean and smirked, a smile on his lips, "I found out why the local playground is haunted."
Dean looked over to him, "Why?"
"Seems that back in the 1790's there was a family that had perished from a disease and were buried next to their home. A hurricane took it out some years later and the area where the house stood became farm land. Guess what land that is?"
Dean groaned, "You mean the playground?"
Sam nodded, "There was a small landmark nearby that makes me think it is. Remember that tree with the heart in the middle. The one that we thought was odd? Well it's said that the wife of the house was a witch and created the tree for her children."
"And why haunt it now?"
Sam sighed, "That's what I am not sure about. It seems that when the playground was done, they took a bit of the roots from the tree out. Maybe cutting the tree had awoken the spirits somehow."
"And now the children bear the pain. How bittersweet."
"Dean, what else can it be? We were called here for help and we have nothing. What are we to do?"
"Call Bobby and see what he says? Maybe there is more to the story than we know."
"Fine Dean, do it, but I'm going out to the library to see what I can find. There has to be some history on this town, it's one of the oldest in the state."
Sam rose and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Dean shook his head. He returned to his laptop and clicked open an email from an old friend. She told him of the playground and how children were getting hurt or spooked at sunset. She also pointed out that her family took the blunt of it and couldn't tell him why. So he opened another window and typed in her family name and waited. What came on the screen nearly floored him. In 1787, her descendent had been the one to accuse the family of witchcraft but nothing had been done until 1790 when three more families accused them of the same thing. The town then decided to burn the family out of their home. The house was torched but nothing happened. So the townspeople then took the family from the home and burned them where they stood. We they were dead, a hole was dug and they were thrown into it. Their graves were never marked. The house and tree was all that was left. But by 1845, the house was gone. Her descendent tried time and again to destroy the tree to wipe away any evidence of the family but the tree never died. They gave up and moved on. The town was abandoned in 1890 when coal and other resources were found up north. The town fell to disarray and finally became nothing more than a shell. In 1975, the McLane family came back to the area and started a new town. Since then, the town had been growing. Nothing went wrong until the playground had been built.
Dean closed the page and sat back. Could it be the ghosts of the condemned family was after the McLane family for their deaths? He shook his head. He pulled his cell phone out and dialed Lily's number. It rang twice before a female voice answered. "What is it Dean? Did you find something?"
"Yes, I did. Did you know you're family used to live here in the 17 and 1800's?"
"No. My father never talked about his family and any information on my family was lost or so I was told."
"Well it seems that your family condemned another family of witchcraft."
"I'll be damned." She said, "And you found this where?"
"Online, you know that thing in the computer that goes out to cyberspace."
"I know what the internet is, you smartass. But where exactly?"
"A local museum in the area. Seems the history of the town left with the people and was stored away. It's also considered a ghost story."
She whistled, "Tell you what, meet me at the Museum and we're going hunting."
Dean cocked an eyebrow, "I love it when you talk dirty Lily."
"Bite me Dean." She said and hung up.
Dean closed the laptop and placed it in his bag before lifting it to his shoulder and heading out the door. He knew he should call Sam and let him in on the Museum and all, but he wanted some time alone with Lily.
"I'm going to get down with a beautiful babe." He sang as he plopped into the driver seat of the Impala and drove off. The Museum was outside of town, all away across town from the playground. He was certain that the tale was true.
The sky had darkened as he approached the Museum. He parked and got out. Lightning streaked the sky to the West. He grimaced. He hated storms just as much as he hated demons and the supernatural.
He entered the Museum and found Lily by the desk, tapping long red nails as she waited impatiently for him. She heard the door open and looked his way. "About time you got your lazy butt here. I've been waiting forever." She said.
Dean rolled his eyes, "I was at the motel, you know on the other side of town."
"And that means?"
"Let's get to work."
Lily sighed, "You know, you're not as fun as you used to be."
"Blame it on Sammy."
"Sure, blame it on your brother. Sam doesn't do anything but get a job done. Oh, by the way, I took the liberty of calling him since I knew you wouldn't. I told him to meet us here." She grinned.
"And why did you go and do that?"
She shrugged, her blonde hair swaying around her. "Maybe because I don't trust being alone with you."
"Gee, and here I thought we were going to have some alone time."
"In your dreams Dean. I'm a Sam girl now. I like them smart."
"You mean smart ass." He retorted and she whacked him on the arm.
He looked at her bewildered and rubbed his arm, "You sure got feisty since I last saw you."
"Call it hormones Dean. You had me, left me and now you're going to pay for it." She smiled.
"And please wait until I leave the room." Sam said as he joined the twosome.
"Hey Sam." Lily said as she hugged him, "I'm glad you could join us. Dean was telling me that my family is involved in all of this."
"Does it say anything as to why?"
Dean went into hunt mode suddenly, "No. But I have a feeling it pertains to the land. This land was rich in agriculture and coal until the mines up north were found. Could it be there is more to the story?"
Lily shrugged, "I remember my mom telling me that gold was also in the area."
Sam pulled out a notepad and began writing, "Do you know where?"
She shook her head, "No. But I do remember a story in the paper a few years back telling of a gold strike that was here before the 1800's. A family by the name of McKellam had rights to the land in which the gold was found but wouldn't grant anyone permission to get it." She stopped, "Oh damn!" she muttered.
"What?" Sam and Dean asked in unison.
"Dean, it never gave a family name did it?"
He shook his head.
"Dean, Sam, the McKellam's were the ones up to their ears in gold in the 1700's. My friends used to tell stories about it. Don't you see? Their protecting their land of the gold by scaring anyone in that area."
"By why sunset?" Sam asked.
"It's the time of their death." Dean said and groaned.
"And they died on October 31. That's today." Lily finished.
Sam stopped writing and looked out the glass windows in the lobby and saw the storm coming. He shuddered, "This storm is sure getting strong."
Lily nodded, "its part of tonight. Don't you see the McKellam's are trying to come back and avenge their deaths? Oh god!"
Dean grabbed his bag, "We have to go. Lily, come on, if we don't go we'll be stuck here. They want everyone to fear the storm and hide. This is their plan so that they can tear apart the playground and come back. Let's go!"
He grabbed her arm and dragged her to the door and paused. It was raining out. "Sam, take her other hand. We have to make it to the car together."
Sam did what he asked as they raced into the dark. The storm was all around them.
"Dean! We have to go back! We can't do this!" she screamed as he and Sam pushed her into the car and they scrambled in through the driver side.
"Man that was a rush." Dean grinned as he started the car and gunned it from the parking lot. It took him some time to see the road signs but he made his way to the other side of town and to the playground which stood under the devious sky.
"Dean, we have to go back, I don't want to be here." Lily whimpered.
"No, we face this together. We end this tonight Lily. You're family started this, now you must end it."
"I can't do it!" she yelled, pounding at Dean as he slammed on his brakes. He grabbed her by the arm and threw her back into the backseat.
"Yes, you can Lily. You fought all those demons and never once backed down. What happened to that girl?" he yelled.
She sniffled, "I died Dean. Don't you see? I can't do this because I'm one of them!"
Sam looked to Dean, "You're lying Lily." They said.
She laughed then, her voice pitched. "But I'm not." The sinister voice said, "I killed the little bitch in order to live. Her family killed mine and I never forget."
"She had nothing to do with your death." Dean said and he pushed open his door, "Get the hell out of my car bitch!"
She floated from the car and stood in front of him. Sam came around from the passenger side, a gun in his hand. "The McLane's were nothing but snobs to us low class. They thought they were superior to us all. They killed my children for nothing!"
"We're you a witch?" Sam asked, pointing the gun at her.
"No!" she wailed, "I never knew what it was. My family were gypsies. We came here to be free of the pain and infliction in Ireland. We came here to live and for what? Nothing! We died because of panic and hysteria of those who were guilty of the craft."
Sam waivered, "The McLane's were into witchcraft?"
"Yes. They were the evil in this town. They destroyed it. This place was so lovely before they placed their hands on it. They deserve to die."
Sam dropped the gun to his side, "Dean, she's telling the truth. She isn't harming anyone here, just scaring them away so that they can be at peace for a little while."
He looked to his brother, "You mean?"
"At sunset they are free to be here, to roam earth and watch all that goes on here. This is their home, we can't deny them that."
Dean swallowed hard, "There is only one way to end this Sam."
He nodded and looked to the anguished woman in front of them. "We have to burn whatever is left of them to give them peace."
The woman wailed then, so loud that it burned their ears.
Dean grabbed the gun from Sam and shot at the woman with rock salt. The wailing stopped and she was gone.
"Grab a shovel Sam; we get to dig up some graves."
Sam went for the car but stopped short. Lily stood there with bloody eyes. She grinned at the sight of him. "You're here Sammy." She whispered, "How do you like my little surprise?"
Sam backed away. "You're dead Lily, and this is your entire fault."
She shrugged, "My family had it all before they got here. No pathetic nothings have a right to the gold that is here. It should've belonged to my family."
"But it doesn't. This land belongs to no one now."
She hissed at him, "Then I will take it back, it rightfully belongs to me!"
A loud bang was heard and a bullet whizzed past Sam and into the forehead of Lily. She fell into dust.
"Dude, when I said to get a shovel, I meant to get one, not a ghost."
Sam threw Dean a dirty look, "And if you kept yourself in your pants, we wouldn't have had this problem to begin with."
"At least I got some."
Sam threw him a disgusted look and grabbed the shovels. They dug the four graves and lit them. The playground seemed to melt into the ground as the bodies diminished. The lore was now just that, lore.
"Dean, next time you meet a girl, get her credentials, her prints, anything to make sure she's not some lunatic. Because next time we go through something like this, I'm going to become Lorena Bobbitt."
Dean grinned. "You do know we did solve the mystery of the playground right? The McLane's built it to hurt any child that came here. But the McKellam's kept them from doing so. How odd was that?"
"So why did it disappear?"
"The McKellam's wanted peace on this land and by destroying the one piece of evil on it; it prevents any other child from being harmed."
"And here I thought it was just a playground."
"Remember, nothing is what it seems."
"Yeah, good one Mulder." Sam said and got into the Impala. Dean got in after him and they drove off into the twilight night.