A Lighthouse and the County Fair
Pre-series: A short story about incidents involving Dean-18, Sam-13 and John as they are hunting and living near Cape Fear, North Carolina in a small town called Tillville in the spring of 1997.
Rated T for language and violence.
I would like to thank my beta-reader and friend, Tia of 2People, for being prompt, understanding and extremely helpful.
In addition, I need to thank my mom and Breean for being supportive and giving me advice, plus offering opinions.
I Do Not Own 'Supernatural', it belongs to the Eric Kripke and the CW and I'm only using them for the entertainment of this story.
"A lighthouse and the county fair, yep, that sums up Tillville 'fucking' North Carolina"...according to one Dean Winchester.
Chapter One
John is on his last nerve because Dean is still bitching about how there is nothing to do here. They have been in Tillville since the end of January and now its mid April; John figures just a few more weeks until summer and that's when they will take off. They had not planned to stay here this long, but hunting the supernatural has been slow and Sam really liked the school, so as a father, it was a no brainer to stay.
"Wow, clam chowder, you don't say. Stop the presses!" Dean remarks sarcastically as Sam kicks him under the table at the only restaurant in Tillville, 'Dave's Diner'.
John gives Vivian, the sixty-ish waitress with white hair, a worn out smile, "Sorry, sweetheart, but my oldest son is being a jackass...again." He shoots Dean a look, who suddenly sits up straight.
Sam puts down his menu, "I'll have the tuna sandwich on wheat bread, fries and I'll try the new item, you know- the clam chowder." Sam says while smirking directly at Dean.
"You got it, Sam," Vivian says while now looking at Dean, "How about you?"
Dean smiles, "Ma'am, I will have the double bacon cheeseburger with extra onions, fries, bowl of chili, slice of apple pie and a vanilla shake."
John sighs as he puts down his coffee, "I guess I'll have the same thing."
Vivian takes the menus and puts in their order.
Sam sneers, "Dean, do you have to be rude all the time?"
"Shut up, bitch!"
"You shut up, jerk!"
"Both of you shut up!" The older Winchester demands. "Damnit, Dean, Sam is right. Can you just stop complaining for one miserable day?"
"Dad, this place is so damn boring! Nothing here except a gas station slash bar, school slash library, grocery market slash movie theater, veterinarian slash pediatrician and Dave's fucking Diner!" Dean exclaims. "What the hell am I supposed to do...I'm bored out of my fucking skull!"
John and Sam starts laughing, but stop when they realize that Dean is being serious. "Son, go out, meet people or something." John tries to rationalize. "Get a hobby, keep busy."
"Well, I already banged the only two good-looking chicks and they won't go out with me again, since they found out about each other." Dean then suggests, "I guess I could screw that crazy eyed brunette with the funny voice from the market, I'll just gag her and put a bag over her head."
"Dean!" Sam shouts as Dean now gives him the middle finger.
John continues, "So, how about that redheaded nurse?"
"Well, Dad, I could overlook the weight issue, the limp, the acne, the unibrow and the bad breath, but not the Adam's apple."
John chuckles, "You are one funny little shit."
Sam adds, "Why don't you just go out and get a job already?"
"Wow, Sam, that's a great idea; why didn't I think of that? Oh wait, I can't, because there are no damn jobs in this Mayberry wanna-be town and I have to be home to walk my baby brother to and from school." Dean states with authority. "Plus, I have to do laundry, cook, clean and research for dad and other hunters."
"I'm just trying to help and I'm not a baby anymore. I'm gonna be fourteen in a few weeks. "
"Yeah, whatever." Then Dean mumbles, "Bitch."
"Dean, I want you take Sammy to the county fair again tonight." His father suggests, "I think maybe that will keep ya busy for a few hours."
"Sure, Dad, I would love to bring my baby brother again to the county fucking fair for the one-millionth time." Dean says, mouth full of the crackers.
"Stop calling me a baby!" Sam growls.
This causes Dean to imitate Sam, by wailing like a baby.
"Dean, stop that!" Sam elbows him.
John insists with his military voice, "Dean, I have already given you an order to watch your brother and I expect you to follow it. Take him to the damn county fair and have fun. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Sir." Dean sits back as the food arrives.
Vivian passes out the food and nothing else is said the rest of the meal.
SPN ~ SPN~ SPN~ SPN~ SPN
After two hours at the county fair and a shit ton of rides and games Dean asks, "is it time to leave yet?" Sam shakes his head and looks over Dean's shoulder to see some school friends of his, Dirk McGregor and Barry Cook.
"Sam, where are you going?" Dean asks as he watches Sam run off.
"On more rides, come on!" Dean shakes his head in annoyance but follows Sam anyway.
When they are in line for the Ferris wheel, Dirk firmly states that he doesn't want to ride with Dean and Barry agrees.
"What's the matter, girls, are ya afraid?" Dean questions in a mocking tone.
"Yeah, of you." Dirk replies while standing behind Sam.
"Whatever, you girls ride together and I'll go with Sammy."
Extremely annoyed how his big brother is acting, Sam sits next to Dean on the Ferris wheel and wishes they could have fun together.
"Man, Sammy, everyone looks like little plastic figures."
With a sour puss look, "If you say so, Dean."
"Awe, Sammy, why are you so bitter?"
"First, my name is Sam; second, why are you such a dick, especially in front of my friends?"
"Come on, they started it." Dean answers with a pout.
"No, Dean, you started it last time when you rocked the seat with Barry in it. You know that he is afraid of heights and then you scared Dirk by opening the gate on The Screamer. Why are you so immature?"
"First of all, Sam, why in the hell is Barry on the Ferris wheel when he's afraid of heights? Second, Dirk dared me to open it, so I did. I never turn down a dare and you know that. And I guess that's why I'm immature, because I'm bored!" Dean then screams at the top of his lungs, "You hear me, bitch, I'm bored!"
"Whatever, jerk."
They all exited the Ferris wheel and stand in line for Hell's Gate, a haunted house you walk through in groups of six or less. Dean excuses himself and tells the three boys to stay put.
When he returns, the female attendant asks them how many, Dean replies, "These three little girls and myself."
The young girl giggles and gently grabs Dean's arm, "You're a hottie, wanna meet me later behind the crystal ball tent on my break in an hour?"
"Sure, babe, what did ya have in mind?" The oldest Winchester asks with one eyebrow raised.
The girl whispered in his ears and his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Wow, I can hardly wait." Dean leans in for a quick kiss, when his little brother comes between them. "Move your ass, Sammy."
Sam protests, "No, Dean, you can't be with her."
Dean looks down at him, "Why not, jealous?"
"No, jerk, this is Amanda and she's in my class." Sam sees his brother looking confused, so he elaborates. "Dean, she's fourteen!"
Dean backs up, "Whoa. What the hell! You're fourteen and go to school with Sam?"
While popping her bubble gum, "Yeah, so. What's the matter, then?"
Dean walks toward Amanda and sneers, "You're jailbait, honey, and I'm not going to prison for anyone."
"Whatever, it's your loss." Amanda says as she is now coming on to the dork standing behind them.
Sam states, "Dean, you're gonna have to learn the hard way about everything." Barry and Dirk start laughing, as does Sam. Dean shoots them the evil-eye and its all quiet for a few minutes, until Amanda tells them that they are next.
They're about to enter Hell's Gate, so it's decided that Dean will be first followed by Barry, then Dirk while Sam will be last. The boys jump here and there, but towards the end, the place goes completely dark and a male employee yells, "Sorry, everybody, just stay where you're at, we'll fix the power in just a second."
Dean holds up his pen light, so the boys can see him. "Well, ain't this just terrific. I'm stuck in Hell's Gate with three sissies." He turns to his little brother, "What's the plan now, Einstein?"
"Duh, we need to stay put, like the man said." Sam advises.
"Whatever, Sammy, but you owe me."
Sam rolls his eyes and Dean just sighs while Barry and Dirk watch. After a few minutes, Dean looks up and his mouth fell open, while his eyes had become terrified.
Sam sees him and quietly asks, "Dean, are you okay?"
Dean is still staring behind Sam, not moving or saying anything.
Sam looks to Barry, then to Dirk and they nod in a bewildered state. Sam then takes the pen light out of Dean's hand and holds it up. Suddenly Barry is frozen, so the youngest Winchester turns himself around and sees the most horrifying clown that he has ever seen.
The sinister clown has razor-sharp teeth and is holding something, as Sam holds down the light to see a chain saw. The clown takes two steps forward and leans into Sam's ear with a menacing laugh, "I'm gonna slice and dice you boys!" Then it was followed by the chainsaw starting up.
Abruptly, Sam throws the pen light into the air and all three boys scream as the run for their lives. After several minutes of this, they realize that they are lost and can't see a damn thing. Sam tries to regulate his breathing but after a moment he realizes the Dean isn't with them.
"We have to go back for him; he's my brother and could be in trouble!"
Barry panics, "No!"
"Let's go get help and they can find Dean." Dirk says somewhat calmly.
"You guys can go, but I can't." Sam starts to walk back but is joined by his two friends. They are slowly re-entering the area where they first saw the clown and find Dean's pen light on the floor where Sam had thrown it. The youngest Winchester slowly picks it up and discovers that his brother isn't there, but a blood trail is.
"Sam, maybe we should go back…" Barry trails off, shaking uncontrollably.
"I'm going to find my brother, so I'm gonna go this way." Sam walks to the blood trail and slowly follows it around the corner with his two friends reluctantly behind him.
The eerie silence is broken by the heavy breathing of the three young boys as they enter a small room after following a long, narrow hallway. As the blood trail suddenly stops and with no sign of his brother, its total darkness.
"Sam, lets go back the way we came, okay?" Barry quietly asks as he is shaking.
Dirk adds, "Yeah, Barry's right. Sam, we should go back."
Sam keeps quiet as he's scouting out the room. He tries to piece the maze together, but he's worried about his big brother.
Dirk gently pushes him, "Sam, we need to get out of here."
"Guys hold on." Sam explains, "We have been here many times, so we just hafta think of where to go next. I think this is where the ghost flies in and yells Boo, then we need to walk to the exam room, right?"
Barry and Dirk look at one another and move their shoulders, Sam realizes that he must retrace the haunted house in his mind. With a clear sense of direction, Sam explains that the way to the nearest emergency exit is two rooms away and then they will get help from outside.
The three young men walk into the first room and Sam figures it would be about thirty steps until they are in the second room. Sam leads the way with cautious, but swift footsteps. Finally, they are in the second room and the young hunter steers his pals to the side of the area and states that the emergency exit is somewhere on the right.
But before they could reach that side of the room, Sam is pushed down by someone as the pen light slides away from him and then he hears both of his friends scream as they are taken out of the room.
Sam scrambles to the pen light and runs toward the door where they were taken, however, it's locked. He desperately tries to push it in and even kicking at it doesn't help. Sam's breathing escalates and he starts to panic. Where are they? Where's Dean? How do I get out of here?
Sam decides to head back toward the emergency exit and get help for everyone. He vigilantly walks back and finally sees the exit, but, just as he is about to open it, he faintly hears Dean calling his name. He points the light into a corner, and there, lying in a pool of his own blood, was Dean.
Sam runs to him, "Dean! Dean!" As he approaches, Sam glides in next to the injured teen. "Oh man, what happened?"
Dean manages to touch his brother, "Sammy, you gotta leave. There is this…" Dean coughs up blood. "There is a crazy clown killer in here and I want you out."
Sam starts to sob, "No, Dean, I can't leave without you. I'll help you out, okay?"
"Now, Sammy!"
"But, Dean, I love…"
Before Sam could protest a menacing laugh is heard behind him, so he cautiously holds up the light to see that sinister clown with razor-sharp teeth.
It speaks in a dreadful tone "Hey there, Sammy, remember me? I'm the one who's gonna slice and dice you!"
Now violently shivering, Sam slowly stands, and tries to make a run for the exit door. But, he is stopped by another creepy clown standing in front of it. Both of them crowd him up against the wall- laughing and pawing at the scared boy.
A third clown joins them and suddenly switches on the chainsaw that makes Sam jump. He desperately tries to get away, but their hold is too tight. Sam then tries to kick, however, it's useless as the three clowns continue to laugh.
The chainsaw moves in closer and closer, this causes the young Winchester to close his eyes and begins to quietly pray.
Dean suddenly appears and fights the clown with the chainsaw, as Sam begins to kick again. Within minutes, everything goes horribly wrong as the chainsaw rips through the flesh on Dean's body. He goes down with a violent scream that echoes over and over as massive amounts of blood pours onto the wooden floor.
"Dean! Dean, can you hear me? Dean!" Sam doesn't hear a peep, until one of the clowns chuckle, "Well, he's finally dead; that leaves you, Sammy."
Sam is able to get away and immediately runs over to his injured brother. He leans over Dean, who is covered in blood; his body is lifeless and is not responding to Sam's voice. As Sam continues to look at his brother he thinks about the possibility of him dying; how was he gonna live without Dean? Who was going to protect him? How was he going to tell their dad?
With all of this running through Sam's mind, he almost forgot about the evil clowns. But when Sam heard them laughing, he suddenly got the urge to fight back.
Sam reached into Dean's jacket and took out his knife. As he held it up, he threatened those clowns, stating that he was gonna slice and dice for murdering his brother.
With tears in his eyes, the shaking young boy holds out the knife as he walks to the exit door. "You better stay back or I'll kill ya where you stand…you hear me?"
The three sinister clowns just stand there as the young boy tries to open the emergency exit door, but it was sticking. He slams his small body against it again, but nothing was happening. One last time, and the door finally flies open as an extremely bright flash goes off in his face and he drops the knife.
Sam's eyes were opening and closing as he tried to regain his full sight, but the flashes of purple made him temporally blind. Finally, he regained his full eye sight and was completely stunned by the lights coming back on as there were several people standing around him.
Sam looked as confused as hell, but before he could speak, everyone started to laugh and point at him. Still bewildered, Sam looked at the direction of his dead brother. Dean was getting up and walking toward him…Dean was alive and Sam was relived, but that all changed. Sam watched as his 'dead' brother was high-fiving people and laughing.
"Oh, Sammy." Dean states as he stands in front of him. "Sammy, you are so damn hilarious when you're scared. But my favorite part was when you said 'You better stay back or I'll kill ya where you stand…you hear me?" Dean chuckles, "Dude, you are such a tough guy, huh?"
Sam can't believe what he is hearing, but his brother continues. "And you know what Sammy? I love you too." The entire crowd laughs along with Dean.
With his blood boiling Sam charges after his brother with the knife, but Dean stops him. "Little dude, do you really think that I would have let you find a real knife?" Dean takes the knife from his kid brother's shaking hand and shows that it's fake, as the crowd laughs more.
Finally, Sam has had enough and kicks Dean in a sensitive area and he goes down groaning in pain.
"Hey, kid, what's your damn problem?" One of the clowns asks, while another one says, "It was just a harmless prank that your brother put together to put some excitement in your guys' haunted house adventure."
Sam sneers, "You wanna know what my problem is? Well, I thought my brother was dead…that's my damn problem!"
The crowd mumbles how it was just a joke and Sam tells them all to go to hell. Then he demands to know where his friends are, so the crowd leads the two boys in the room. Barry and Dirk are tied up and bound.
Dean manages to stand, "What the fuck is wrong with you, Sammy?"
Sam tries to stand eye to eye with his older brother, but he is not quite there yet. "My problem is YOU! This was not funny and I can't believe you did this to me."
"Awe come on, Sammy, it was friggin' funny as hell." Dean chuckles as he points to Barry and Dirk, "Look Dirk has been crying like a baby, plus Barry pissed his pants, so yeah, this was the funniest prank that I have ever witnessed."
"Fuck you, Dean! Fuck all of you!" Sam yells and then demands his friends to be untied. The three youths walk through the laughing crowd, to a bigger laughing crowd outside. They managed to walk to the main gate, but turned around as the crowd roared and chanted for Dean, who was being treated like a rockstar.
The three boys walked faster as Dean was trying to catch up to them, but his prosthetics was slowing him down. Barry's house was the first one they come to, so he hurried inside. Then it was Dirk's and finally Sam jogged the rest of the way home.
As he came through the slamming door, Sam saw his father who was lying on the sofa, jump up. John demands to know what had happened.
But before Sam could explain, they hear the door open and John was completely stunned at the shape his eldest son was in and ran to his side.
Sam screamed that Dean wasn't hurt, but he was going to be and lunged at him. John stopped his youngest boy from starting a fight, but demanded to know what happened. Dean started to explain, but was cut off by Sam.
After several minutes, John got the idea and commanded Dean into explaining why he felt this whole event was necessary.
While smirking at Sam, "Well, Sir, you guys told me to keep busy…you know, get a hobby, and that's what I did. While we were in line at Hell's Gate, I excused myself to meet with some of the guys who worked there and told them I wanted to scare the shit out of my baby brother and his sissy friends, so they agreed." Dean chuckles, "It was the best twenty dollars I ever spent."
This made Sam try to attack him again, consequently John stopped him. "Sammy, just sit down and shut up!"
Dean is smiling until his angry father comes into his personal space and begins to yell at him like a drill sergeant. This lasts for several minutes and it's decided that Dean will have extra things to do, to keep himself busy.
John then makes him do two-hundred pushups as Sammy's counts. He barely gets them done, when his father tells him to run three miles before bed.
While his brother is out being punished, Sam gets ready for bed. But, he is so wound up, he can't sleep. The only thing that keeps entering his mind…is how he felt when Dean 'died'. It's a feeling that he never wants to experience again.
Sam heard his father yelling at Dean to do another hundred push-ups, then to take a cold shower before bed. As he lay there, Sam began to feel sorry for his brother's corporal punishment.
However, all is soon forgotten when that feeling comes back. His brother died tonight and Sam couldn't imagine how he would live without his hero.