Static
Chapter 1
Sam was half asleep in the passenger seat, when Dean sped up and started looking in the rearview mirror.
"What it is Dean?" Sam asked sitting up a little straighter, and rubbing his eyes. Sam wasn't sure where they were, it was a small two lane road cutting across farmland.
"The same car has been following us since the last stop we made," Dean explained, his gaze switching from the road to his rearview mirror. Sam turned around as best as he could in his seat. He recognized the car as soon as he turned around he knew who it was, but gave no indication that he knew. Dean looked at him.
"You have any idea who that is?"
"Nope," Sam said turning back around. Dean looked at him suspiciously for a second, Sam just ignored him. Dean went back to speeding up and watching the rearview mirror.
"Alright sucker, meet the wrath of Dean Winchester," Dean said as they curved around a bend. Dean did a quick 180, getting out as soon as the other car pulled to a stop. Dean stood in front of the Impala, back lit by the headlights. Sam copied Dean, waiting for the driver of the car to move. Eventually the driver door opened slowly, just about the time Dean recognized the car.
"Is that-?" Dean looks at Sam, "You knew about this didn't you?"
"No, never," Sam gave Dean an innocent look
"You know," Dean said walking towards Taylor, "I'm starting to understand what having a little sister is like." Sam amused, followed behind Dean. "Ya know I could have sworn I told you to stay put."
"You know me; I can't miss out on all the excitement."
"Taylor, turn your butt around and go home," Dean growled.
Taylor's eyes flashed, "You gonna make me?" She stepped nose to nose with Dean, except that Dean was a good three inches taller.
"I'm your older brother and I'm telling you to go home."
"Dean she's already followed us this far why not let her decide." Dean glared at Sam.
"Ah Sammy," Taylor said smugly, "always the voice of reason." Dean's gaze flashed to Taylor then back to Sam.
"Dude you're supposed to take my side."
"Hey I'm just trying to be," he glanced at Taylor, "reasonable." Dean opened his mouth to retort when they all heard a screeching noise erupt from both cars. They all covered their ears, wincing. The noise continued as the radios in both cars stared flipping furiously, creating the static noise. With the noise, both sets of headlights started flickering.
"What the hell?" Dean yelled over the racket. Sam just shook his head, hands still over their ears. Taylor walks back over to her car and sits in the driver's seat grimacing at the loudness. She tried to manually turn the station, twisting the knob, but the stations just kept flipping and the headlights were still flickering. Sam and Dean came to stand by the door, watching as Taylor tried to fix the radio. After a few minutes everything just up and stopped. The three of them looked around. The headlights were steady and Taylor's radio was softly playing a country station.
"That was definitely not normal," Sam said.
"Ya think?" Dean said, voice dripping with sarcasm, obviously he was still pissed about Taylor following them.
"Do you think it had something to do with the battery?" Sam asked.
"I don't know," Dean said, stomping back over to his Impala. Taylor stepped out of her Camero and stood next to Sam. Sam stuck his hands in his pockets trying to warm them from the chilly fall night. Taylor glanced over at Sam and wondered what he was thinking. Dean popped his hood and tinkered around for a few minutes while Taylor stood next to Sam shivering.
Sam turned to her a small smile on his face, "Cold?"
"No not at all," Taylor said teeth chattering. Sam laughed.
Dean stood, shaking his head. "I didn't see anything wrong, not the battery or the engine, nothing."
"I'll check my car," Taylor said, giving another big shiver. She went around and popped the hood. Then looked around at the engine and battery, and everything, but nothing was out of place.
"I don't see anything wrong either," Taylor said, shutting the hood.
"So if it has nothing to do with the car that means it was something else entirely," Sam explained.
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Dean snapped.
"You have any better ideas, Einstein?"
"I think we should keep going," Dean said.
"What do you think it is?" Taylor asked, more Sam than Dean, because it looked like Dean was about to have a hissy fit.
"I don't know it could have been a ghost, or it could have been a strong electrical current," Sam explained.
"Where would the electrical current have come from?" Taylor asked.
Sam shrugged, "I don't know."
"We have more pressing matters waiting for us in Maine, we can talk about this when we get there," Dean said stomping over to his car. When neither Sam nor Taylor moved he yelled:
"What're you two standing around for; we've got a job to do."
"Does this mean that I can come with?" Taylor asked, quivering with excitement.
"As long as Sam rides with you," Dean replied, starting up the Impala with a low growl. Taylor let out an excited squeak and jumped into her car. Sam shook his head amused and walked over to the passenger side.
"Ready Sammy?" She asked as soon as he sat down and closed the door. A huge smile was plastered to her face.
"Oh I was born ready," Sam said, pulling on his seat belt.
"Right," she said and started the car. Dean pulled off into the ditch to turn around. Once he got the car straightened out they were off.
"You were determined to follow us weren't you?" Sam asked a lopsided smile on his face.
"Yeah." Sam laughed at her simple answer. "What?"
"You've got the Winchester stubborn jean." At that Taylor laughed too.
"I'll take that as a compliment." It was silent for a few more minutes.
"What's the best memory you had with dad?" Taylor asked, surprised with herself. Sam, startled, just looked at her for a second. Then a sad expression crossed his face.
"Dad and I didn't get along very well," Sam replied, unable to look at her.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"No, its ok, I mean, I loved him as much as I'm sure you did, but we just didn't agree on the kind of life I wanted to live." Taylor looked back at the road, thinking about how different her life was compared to theirs.
"Dad never visited much, I'm sure now that it was because he was always hunting and taking care of you guys. But when he did, he was always kind, to me and my mother. I don't remember much except that he tried to come to every one of my birthdays. I remember this one time on my 15th birthday, he took me out driving. He took me to a gravel road, in the middle of a bunch of farmlands. I remember I was really nervous, 'cause my mom never let me drive up until that point. But he showed me how to start the car and put it into gear. It was a manual so I got the hang of it pretty quick and before I knew I was barreling down this gravel road, kicking up dust and Dad and I were just laughing." She paused; a sad smiled crossing her face. "I was devastated when I heard about his death. That was about a year before my mother died. And at that time I still didn't know about you and Dean."
Sam nodded his agreement.
"Before I left for college Dad and I had this huge blow out and he said that if I left I couldn't ever come back, so I didn't. I left for college and for a while everything seemed normal. Like I actually had a normal life, I think Dad had that normal life for you, he wanted that normal life for you."
Taylor glanced at Sam, "I feel a but coming."
"But, being a Winchester normal life is nearly impossible." After the last word passed Sam's lips the radio went crazy again. This time it was louder, the headlights started flickering faster and the engine died, causing Taylor to fishtail to try and stop the car. Up ahead they could see Dean's taillights glowing red, he must be experiencing the same thing. Once the car had completely stopped, Sam started yelling at Taylor to get out. But Taylor's staring at the radio unable to believe what she's hearing. A voice beyond the static was clearing saying, "Taylor."
"You heard a voice?" Sam asked.
Taylor nodded. They were standing around their cars. She was still a little shaken up about almost losing complete control of her car. The static had just stopped and Taylor had just told them about the voice she had heard calling to her from beyond the static.
"Dude, that's creepy," Dean commented, "this is all like something out of White Noise."
Sam raised a brow at Dean, "Dude, not helping." Dean sighed and leaned against his Impala, he seemed calmer than before.
"It was so crazy; I could hear the voice so clearly. You didn't hear it Sam?" Taylor gave Sam hopeful look.
"No, I was more worried about getting us out of that car." Taylor looked down at the ground shaking her head.
"Maybe I was just hearing things. I don't know," Taylor said, more talking to herself than the boys.
"I wouldn't doubt that you actually heard something," Dean said trying to reassure her, "In this profession nothing surprises me anymore."
She just nodded, still studying the ground. They were all quiet for a second, lost in their own thoughts.
"Well," Dean said clapping his hands together, "we should probably hit the road again. We'll stop at a hotel in Michigan, we're almost there anyway, another day's drive." With that Dean started towards the drivers' side, Sam and Taylor headed back over to her Camero.
"So what do you think this is Sam," Taylor said, looking up at Sam trying to read his face. "Do you really think this is the dead trying to contact us from the other side?"
"At this point," Sam said, "I'm still not sure what it is, we've never really encountered anything like this before."
Taylor furrowed her brow as she opened the drivers' door. Sam climbed into the passenger seat, stretching out his long legs. Taylor started up her car again and followed Dean down the road, once they were farther along questions started popping up in Taylor's mind about their conversation before the static started up again.
Taylor glanced over at Sam who looked lost in his thoughts.
"So Sam, what did happen to that normal life?"
Sam's face after she said that almost crushed her heart. The sadness that filled his eyes made her want to cry for him. Taylor kept her mouth shut waiting for him to respond, afraid that she would say something stupid.
Sam looked down at his hands, "When Dean and I were little our mother died. But not in any ordinary way," he paused looking at her, "she died when I was six months old. She burst into flames on the ceiling above my crib."
Taylor turned back to the road, shocked and unsure what to say. She hadn't known that their life had been that horrible.
"That's when Dad became determined to find whatever had killed our mom. Life for Dean and I was like boot camp. Everyday was a new training sequence that taught us how to kill demons and ghosts. Our life was anything but normal, we moved a lot and despite that we barely stayed in one place for more than a month I still managed to get good grades throughout school. So when I said that I wanted to go to college, both Dad and Dean thought I was abandoning them, and the family business. That's not what I had meant to do, Dad always believed that I was rebellious but in actuality I just wanted to live my own life, a normal life." He paused looking over at Taylor, who was letting all of this sink in slowly.
He went on, "But as you know normal life and Winchester's don't mix, so when Dean came to me at college to help him find Dad, I wasn't that enthusiastic. But I still cared about Dad, no matter how much we fought and Dean talked me into it, so I left. And I left my girlfriend too," Taylor could see Sam physically pulling himself together. "But the search for Dad turned into a hunting trip and I told Dean that after that I was going back to college. After about a week I headed back to college and that night when I came home, Jess died the same death that our mom did. So I dropped out of college and I've been on the road with Dean ever since."
When he was finished they sat there for a few seconds in silence, as the story settled in Taylor's mind.
Sam turned to her, "So now I ask you, why are you here? Why would you choose this life over the life you had?"
Taylor stared at the road, trying to think of the perfect answer. She sighed. "When I found out about Dad's profession I knew my life wasn't normal. And having to take care of my mother all the time was difficult. And when she died I knew I had to find myself, I was still so young and I hadn't found out who I was yet. So when I found out about you and Dean I knew that was where I belonged. I was always interested in what Dad was doing so I made him show me a few things. He was reluctant at first but when I showed a real interest and talent for it he kept me going, showing me something new every time he came to visit. I knew this was my life when I had the dream about the yellow-eyed demon."
"I know what you mean," Sam agreed, "That demon was a big part of our life too."
Sam went on to explain how he started having visions and his psychic abilities. And in the end how the demon killed their father.
"You're right, life as a Winchester life is definitely not normal," Taylor agreed. Sam laughed.
Then became sober again, "Was it hard?"
Taylor gave him a puzzled look, "Was what hard?"
"Leaving the house you grew up in, and all your friends?"
"Yeah," Taylor sighed, "but it was necessary, family is really important to me and my friends know that especially Kelly, Sally and Jeremy."
"Sally and Jeremy?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, Sally is my boss at the bar, and she's been like a mother to me ever since my real mother died. And Jeremy is the town mechanic, we became really close friends after my mother died too."
"Just friends huh?" Sam asked grinning.
"Oh shut up," Taylor laughed slapping him on the arm. Sam just laughed. Once they had stopped laughing Taylor sighed.
"Just friends for now."
"But you want to be more than friend's right?" Sam asked, unable to withhold his smirk.
"I'm not at liberty to say," Taylor said nonchalantly.
"Ok fine, I'll leave you alone, your personal life is none of my business," Sam said yawning. "I don't know about you but I'm beat, you don't mind if I sleep a while do you?"
"No go ahead, I'll wake you up when it's your turn to drive."
"Alright," Sam yawned, getting as comfortable in his seat as he could at his height. Taylor smiled when she heard his shallow steady breathing minutes later. Life as a Winchester wasn't going to be so bad, she glanced at Sam. As long as she had her brothers, she would be at home anywhere.