There was this creepy-looking tree not far from where I live, and I saw it everyday on the way to school. I even saw vultures in it more than once. Good times.


Bright eyes peered up into the branches of the tree above the girl circling around the base slowly as she inspected it, the ghostly bark nearly luminescent in the light from the moon above her. She had passed by this tree more times than she could honestly count, never giving it much thought before now, but suddenly she couldn't get it off her mind. It was like the tree had become outlined with darker colors, suddenly a bold image in the otherwise drab landscape, and she refused to leave until she figured out why.

A soft cough from behind her made her turn around, a tall figure standing not six feet from her, a small smile playing on his lips as he watched her patrol around the base of the tree.

"You find what you're looking for, yet?"

"What do you think?" She asked in reply, stopping on the same side of the tree as him. "It's apparently not in a talkative mood today."

He laughed at that, moving to stand right beside her, the difference in their height now much more pronounced.

"Alright, I borrowed a book that should help out some, but I don't know what you plan to find… It looks like just another tree to me."

She pointed upwards with a frown, indicating the two massive buzzards that were perched in the top most branches of the tree.

"Does that look normal to you?"

He shrugged. "We're right near the highway, aren't we? Carrion birds can't be that uncommon around here."

"At eleven thirty at night?" She dead-panned, eyebrows arching as she dared him to question the suspiciousness of two big black vultures lurking in an otherwise completely barren tree.

"I should know better than to argue with you by now." He admitted with a rueful grin.

"Yes, yes you should. Now come on, book-worm, get to reading." She motioned at the tome he was cradling in his large hands and he glanced down at it.

"I already did." He admitted with a shrug, as though that should have been obvious from the outset. "I came to tell you what I found."

"Oh…" She blinked repeatedly, trying to remind herself that he was not his brother and this sort of approach to a problem shouldn't surprise her. "Right then, what did you find?"

He eagerly opened the book to a page he'd carefully bookmarked (no doggy-ears, that was sacrilegious as far as he was concerned), and tapped a finger to one section in particular. "This is a Hangman's Tree."

"A what?" She asked, blinking in surprise at so sudden a discovery on why the tree had been bugging her.

"A Hangman's Tree," he repeated, "once upon a time they used to hang outlaws from trees by main roads that led to towns to warn other bandits and such, there's a bunch of lore on the outlaws coming back to haunt the towns or even the trees where they were hung…" He trailed off, looking up into the tree. "This fits the description "barren even in the best of times", and once I did a little digging I came up with a record for a tiny little town that used to be out here. I'm guessing this was the tree they used."

"Well then." She mused faintly, tipping her head back to eye the vultures suspiciously. "What do we do about it?"

"Nothing." He replied promptly. "I already checked it out and there haven't been any hauntings here, or anywhere in town, so the tree stays." He shrugged, looking a little guilty. "Besides, we might actually make the spirits here mad if we burn it down, sometimes they get attached in a positive way, like how kids get attached to toys; or something…"

She smiled. "You're such a softy."

He nudged her gently, acutely aware of how much more physical strength he had than her. "Yeah, yeah, go ahead and lay it on while you can. Just be glad I'm the one who came tonight. A certain someone was planning to bring a whole gallon of gasoline and his favorite lighter just because you got a little spooked."

She grinned. "N'aww, I'm flattered." She looked back up into the branches and sighed softly. "So, it's a Hangman's Tree, huh?"

He nodded, putting his free arm around her shoulders and smiling down at her. "Well then, now that we've got that cleared up, do you want to go get some dinner? I hear the diner in town serves a mean bacon cheeseburger."

She laughed at that, putting her arm around his waist and starting to turn away from the tree. "Alright, you win. Away we go."

She decided not to mention the pale rider she saw out of the corner of her eye as they walked away from the Tree, or the soft laugh that assaulted her ears as she smiled and realized that restraint probably was the best course of action here.

"Rest easy, Outlaws…"


'Cause Dean's the burn-guy, and Sam's the book-guy.