The Boogeyman
I ain't scared, live my life all right
I ain't scared, to stand and fight
I ain't scared, 'cos I believe
Ain't scared, to wear my heart on my sleeve
Ain't scared to show my hands
But I'm scared of the boogeyman
Motorhead. The Boogeyman
The Road So Far – Dean has rescued Sam (sort of) from Rowena who turned him into a swan. Castiel is getting used to being a guardian for the grail. Suri is still seeing Andy, much to Castiel's Chagrin.
The little girl shrieked and her father came groggily into the room. He looked at the clock in her room, the one with the little dancing princesses on top. 2am. Jesus. He had to work tomorrow.
"It's in the closet!" She bellowed.
"I thought your monster was under the bed?" He said and walked to her bed. He leaned down and pulled the cover over her. "Look kiddo, I love you, but I need you to go to sleep. Daddy's got a serious meeting in the morning and I already feel hung over."
"Is not my monster. Is yours!" She said and pointed to the closet.
He sighed and walked over and pulled back the door. He expected nothing, but that's not what he found. It grabbed him and he shrieked this time, his heart throbbed in his ears right up until the moment it stopped beating.
"OK, this is a case," Sam said looking at his computer.
"What ya got?" Dean asked and leaned over Sam's shoulder, eating a sandwich.
"Mind? You're getting crumbs all over me."
"Sorry," Dean leaned back but flicked some crumbs on Sam as he moved. Sam sighed and brushed them off. Dean chuckled and finished his sandwich.
"You're an ass. It says here three people have been found apparently scared to death..." Sam offered.
"Yeah, that sounds like us. Where at?"
"Dodge City." Sam said.
"Awesome. I'll get my boots." Dean retorted and disappeared to get ready to go.
They hit Dodge City at midnight. It was snowing and the town was abandoned, lighted by sketchy streetlamps and the snow blew across the empty street.
"You can almost see them, can't you Sammy boy?" Dean said, barely containing his excitement.
"Who?"
"The gunslingers, dude. This is Dodge City, man."
"I thought you got over that when we went back to get the Phoenix ash." Sam said tiredly
"You never get over wanting to be a Cowboy. Man, when I was a kid watching Gunsmoke and Bonanza. Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty, right here."
"Yeah, I'm sure they had a blast at the Dunkin' Donuts..." Sam said, looking out the window.
"Douche. Hey. It's 24 hours."
"I'm tired and I want to sleep before we go and talk to people in the morning."
"I'll just grab some Donut holes...And coffee."
"It's midnight, Dean, if you drink coffee now you'll be up all night..."
"That's what you said about the Monster."
"And I was right."
Dean pulled into the Dunkin' donuts and stopped the car.
"I can bring you a bran muffin or an egg white puke sandwich if you like." Dean offered as he got out of the car.
"No, thanks." Sam smiled sarcastically. Dean entered the shop and sat at the counter. Beside him sat a haggard looking man drinking coffee like it was a shooter.
"You ok, man?" Dean asked.
The guy looked at him with blood shot eyes and bags the size of king sized pillows under his eyes.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." The guy said.
"You'd be surprised." Dean returned.
"You got any kids?" He asked.
"A niece." Dean said. "A step son for a while."
"You ever see the boogeyman?" The guy asked and Dean's heart stopped. He wasn't sure why, but the words seized him with fear.
"No, man..." Dean offered and tried to disengage from the conversation.
"Yes, you have." The guy said. "He's at my house right now. Every night. I feel like such a jerk, but. I can't face him. I just can't. My daughter..."
Dean stood and walked out to the car. He climbed in and started it.
"Where are your doughnuts?" Sam asked.
"Changed my mind..."
"Dean..." Sam put his hand on his brother's shoulder and stopped him from putting the car in gear. "What the hell happened? You're white as a sheet."
"Nothing Sammy. We should go to the motel, it's late."
"No, tell me..."
Dean looked out the windshield for a long time. It all came back to him.
Mommy tucked him in bed. He loved mommy. Daddy was there to, and when he grew up, he'd be just like daddy and marry a beautiful lady, just like mommy.
He hugged Jimmy bear and watched as the two people he loved most in the world left.
The light went out and the door closed.
That wasn't good. His chest tightened and it began, the sound, low and vibrating, like the thrumming of a rattle snake.
His chest hitched and he waited for the creaking of the closet door. He watched in terror as it slowly moved…
"DADDY!" Dean cried and pulled the covers up over his head. Footsteps in the hall and the door closed again.
"Dean, There is no such thing as monsters." John said decisively.
"There is. Daddy, in the closet..."
Mary came in rubbing her swollen belly. She smiled at her boys.
"OK, buddy. I'll look." Patiently, John got up and opened the door. He pushed aside all the clothes and toys and junk. He then dutifully looked under the bed and behind the curtains.
"See, nothing. I promise you, monsters aren't real. Go to sleep, buddy. I got to put a crib together for your little brother." John said, tiredly.
"OK, but there is a monster in there. Can you leave on the light?" Dean asked.
"I'll leave the door cracked until you go to sleep..." John offered. He retucked Dean and went over to Mary. "Monsters..." he chuckled.
The thin ray of light from the hallway was all there was between Dean and the monster in the closet. His parents retreated. It showed it's ugly head, black, mottled and wrinkled and haunted dead eyes. It was wrapped in a shroud of gray.
It moves across the room like a wraith all flowing cloth and
"DADDY!'
"You go talk to the dude." Dean said.
Sam got out of the car and went inside. He sat down in the chair Dean had just vacated. The attendant finally came into the front.
"What you need?" he asked.
"Give me a box of assorted donut holes and another cup of coffee for my friend here."
The guy looked at Sam. "Your friend knows." He said.
"What does he know?" Sam asked.
"About the boogeyman. About how he's figured out how to kill adults."
"The boogeyman is killing people. Adults?" Sam asked.
"I knew you wouldn't believe me. But your friend does. He must be on the list..."
"What list?" Sam asked.
The guy sighed heavily. "I don't know. There's a list. People who got away."
"From the Boogeyman."
"I can't explain it, I just know. He means to kill me and your friend. "
The attendant came back and dropped the box of donuts." "$8.75"
Sam paid him. "Would you mind if we came back to your house. I know it's weird, but the truth is, I do believe you. I mean, that something is going on. My brother and I investigate things like this."
"Hum, sure. But if I was your brother, I'd get the hell out of Dodge."
"You were never afraid of the dark as a kid, were you?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "I mean, if I had a nightmare, but no, not really."
"I remember being really little and being terrified. The minute mom and dad left the room, it would start. Serious heebies."
"I think most kids are afraid of the dark. It's primal. I watched this documentary where they talked about the evolutionary roots of fear..."
"You would." He teased.
"Anyway, did you know girls are afraid of the monster under the bed and boys are afraid of the monster in the closet? They think it has to do with our ancient ancestors and the females sleeping in the trees and the males on the ground, so the monster came from beside us."
"Fascinating. So, I was really afraid of a saber tooth tiger?" Dean asked.
"And I just liked cats." Sam smiled.
They pulled up in front of the man's house and watched as he got out of his car in the driveway. As they got out of Baby, there was the shriek of a little girl that cut the silence of the night. Dean and Sam both broke into a run and moved toward the house with a purpose, but the little girl's father fell to the ground, a heap of terrified jelly in human form.
Sam kicked the door in and Dean raced past him and up the stairs. There was a door with a princess plaque on it and Dean threw open the door…
It was there. The little girl was screaming bloody murder and her mother came down the hall toward them. Sam intercepted her.
"Your husband is outside. Let us take a look, OK?" He asked.
She nodded, confused, just roused from sleep by her screaming child and finding strangers, but the promise of her husband gave her direction. She followed Sam out the front door.
Dean froze.
It was him. A memory so horrific he had buried it. The walls were covered with pictures of the creature in the hand of a child, all sinewy skin and gray wrinkles and those eyes, dead. Spectral. He'd drawn such pictures himself.
It reached for him, it's flowing cloth – or perhaps ectoplasm reaching for him. He froze and began to sweat, panic reared it's ugly head and his breathing hitched. His mind went blank. He heard the voice of the mother outside, the creature turned to her too. Dean heard Sam speak, but the monster didn't seem to react to him. It seemed to continue waiting for the mother to come through the door, when she didn't it moved toward him again.
Suddenly, the little girl screamed again, dragging him back from horror. He turned and grabbed her and ran out of the room.
Dean sat on the front steps of the house. The mother and father were taking the little girl to a hotel for the night. Sammy leaned in the car window.
"We'll see what we can find."
"I'm just glad you believe me." The father said. "I was starting to doubt myself."
Sam tapped the side of the car and leaned back. He watched as they drove down the street and then turned to Dean.
His brother looked bad. Sam had seen him scared before, but this was on an animal level.
"You OK?" He asked and sat down beside Dean on the porch. Dean shook his head. "So, what was it?"
"Dude, you won't believe me." Dean said and rubbed his face.
"Try me."
"It was… it was the Boogeyman." Dean said, straight faced. "I saw him when I was a kid. And Sam, when he looked at me, he recognized me. I knew he knew me. And he wants me. I'm on some kind of list."
"That's what the dad said. So, what kind of list?"
"A menu? I… felt like a delicacy. Like it was feeding off me and when I left the room I felt so tired."
"Like it's draining your life force?"
"Maybe. I don't know… I can't, Sammy..."
Dean pulled a flask out of his shirt pocket and downed a huge gulp.
"I'll go." Sam said and stood.
"No, It… I don't want you to get hurt either."
"I'll be fine. I got my angel sword." Sam smiled and went into the house.
It bothered Sam seeing Dean like this. Dean was the bravest guy Sam knew. He'd stood up to Michael and Lucifer and Sam's fifth grade teacher who looked a little like Frankenstein. But his brother was scared.
Sam went up the stairs, the angel sword in his hands. He crept down the hall and listened. He threw open the door to the little girl's room and… Nothing. He searched the closet, used his EMF meter and got no reading at all. Nothing under the bed but dust bunnies and a plate of peas no doubt hidden here by someone who didn't like peas.
He went over the whole house and there was nothing, No smells, no cold spots, no EMF, no hexbags, nothing.
He walked out and sat next to his brother.
"Well?" Dean asked. Sam shrugged. "No EMF?"
"Maybe it's not a ghost. We should go to the motel and research the Boogeyman." Sam offered.
"You believe me, don't you Sammy?"
"Of course." Sam said. Dean would never be this scared of nothing.
Frank was the name of the father in question and he put his wife and daughter to sleep in the Comfort Inn and went out to have a smoke. He had given up smoking years ago, but tonight he needed one.
He thought about calling in to work tomorrow, missing a big meeting. He needed a good excuse like coughing up a lung, but honestly he needn't have worried.
He finished his smoke and walked back into the hotel room. He turned out the light and laid down next to his wife.
He laid down and got comfortable and then he realized the closet door was open just a crack. He was sure it hadn't been when he came in. His stomach sank and he got up.
He was tired of hiding. He was tired of being afraid. He got up and grabbed the lamp, hoisted it like a baseball bat and moved to the closet.
He pulled open the door and it reached for him, touched him and he screamed. His face contorted in terror and by the time his family had managed to struggle out of sleep, his heart had stopped beating.
Dean and Sam entered the crime scene. The wife recognized them and came over.
Dean had just put his badge away when she walked over to him.
"I didn't know you were cops." She said. Her face was red and puffy from crying.
"FBI," Sam said and pulled her aside.
Dean was looking in the closet, his eyes wild.
"So what happened?" Sam asked.
"We got to the hotel, he sat outside while Marcy and I slept and then I heard him scream. He was laying in front of the closet with the lamp in his hands. Dead." She started crying again and he gave her a sympathetic look.
"Is there someone you can stay with?" He asked.
"My mother." she offered.
"Great, could we… borrow your house for a day or two?" She looked puzzled. "I'd like to stay there for a little while. You know, to see what's going on."
"Of course. And thank you for trying to save my husband." She said and wandered off in a daze to find her daughter.
Sam walked over to Dean.
"So, anything?" Sam asked.
Dean jumped when Sam spoke.
"No, I'm good."
"Look, you want to sit this one out? I can call Cass..."
"No, I'm good." Dean said and walked back out to the car.
"I'll sleep in the little girl's room." Sam said.
"Maybe we both should." Dean offered and grabbed his bedroll out of the trunk of the car.
"You sure..."
"Sam, I'm scared, OK? But I got to face it. This thing wants me and I am pretty sure it won't show up if I'm not here. It's got a list, Sam, and I'm not the last one on it. Somehow, I got away from it and now it's back for me."
Sam nodded. He grabbed his own bedroll and they entered the house.
"These people eat like you." Dean said, closing the refrigerator. "I'm calling out for a pizza."
Sam nodded and went over the house with the EMF again.
"I don't think it's a ghost." He said. "Half veggie, please."
"Half meat, half girlie, got it." Dean pulled out his cell and found a pizza place. He hit the dial button and his phone died. He looked around and didn't see Sam. He was alone in the house. It was dark.
"Sam?" He called, but got nothing. "Sammy!"
Fear began to creep up his back and he felt a chill. He reached into his holster and pulled out his 45.
"Hello?" He called. A black shadow fled down the hall, just out of his view. He followed it.
"Whose there?" No answer. He entered the little girl's room and the closet door was open. It was black inside. He pointed the gun and moved unsteadily forward.
"I mean it, I'll shoot..."
He felt a hand drop on his shoulder and he wheeled around.
Sammy dodged the gun and grabbed Dean, holding his gun hand down.
"There's nothing there, Dean."
Dean shuddered in his brother's arms. "I saw it, Sammy. In the closet. Why don't you see it. I mean, I get why adults don't see it, but I'm an adult, so it doesn't have anything to do with age."
"Maybe because I was never afraid of the dark?" Sammy offered.
"And why the hell not? The demon blood?"
"Could be. Maybe a side effect? Is it important?"
"I think so. I feel like if I can figure out why you can't see it, I can figure out how to kill it."
"OK, so, let's figure this out."
"We had the same childhoods." Dean said.
"Well not exactly. You had time with mom, I was sort of raised with Dad hunting."
"So, what you think the feminine influence?" Dean asked.
"No, Dean. Think about it. We went from the normal world where there were no monsters to living behind wards and pentacles. At Bobby's. Did you see it after we moved to Bobby's?"
Dean shook his head. "So, we moved out of it's influence? We were hidden from it?"
"Makes sense. I mean, I was afraid of a ton of crap as a kid, but never saw a boogeyman."
"Maybe that's why you can't see it. It doesn't seem to be able to see you, either. I mean, it heard the mother, but not you."
"Well, maybe there's an age limit to it's power. Maybe it's like a disease, Kids and measles. When you're a kid and you get measles, it's not a big deal, but as an adult it can kill you."
"So, what's with you?" Dean asked.
"Demon blood? Pentacles? Take your pick. But it can't see me. We can use that."
"How do we kill it, Sam?" He asked. Sam shrugged.
"It seems to move through closets. So let's get you somewhere there isn't a closet."
Dean lay on Baby's hood, propped on he windshield looking at the stars. Sam was sitting in the car on his computer.
"Did you know every culture has a boogeyman, and most of them are the same?" Sam asked.
"So, what, like it's one guy?" Dean asked, not moving off the hood.
"Or a class of creatures connected by similar modes of feeding. Like, every movie I ever heard of with the boogeyman had some kind of network they moved through with doors in closets and under beds. That would explain why it could get to the hotel."
"Oh, so now we're taking our lore from Pixar films?"
"It's part of the conscious collective."
Dean took a slug of his beer.
"So when do we go out looking for hot red headed mermaids?" Dean asked, enthusiastically.
"Different film company." Sam offered.
Dean sighed, "Damn it."
"We need to go back and look in that closet." Sam said suddenly. "If there is a door maybe we can find it."
"What and go to the scare floor?" Dean asked.
"You know an awful lot about that movie."
"What? It was cute. How many times have you watched Chitty. Chitty Bang Bang?" Dean returned and slid off the hood of the car.
"Maybe you should stay here." Sam offered.
"I got to face it, Sam. It's part of growing up. I can't be a kid forever."
"Not for lack of trying..." Sam muttered.
"You are going to right way for a smack bottom." Dean replied and got in the car and revved the engine.
They entered the little girl's bedroom. It was dark here and in every corner was a glaring toy made menacing by the shadows of eventide.
Dean looked at the floor, trying to keep his breath even and calm. He held his gun in his hand and avoided the things that dwelt just in the gloom.
"You ok?" Sam asked suddenly, breaking the silence like a hammer on a pane of glass. Dean jumped and sighed quickly then gave a tight nod.
"Yeah, let's just find this thing and stomp it."
"You can wait in the car..." Sam offered but Dean didn't hear the rest of the sentence. He was alone in that black inkiness and a clammy hand was dragging dead nails across his back.
He wheeled and there it was, the boogeyman and Sam was lost to his vision.
"Sam! Where are you?" Dean called and fired at the floating shroud before him. The bullet went through and the creature gave a sick laugh.
Sam was behind his brother there in the darkened bedroom. He had no fear. There was nothing here that he could see, except for the tightness of Dean's back in front of him.
"You can wait in the car, really, I can handle this." But Dean wasn't with him anymore. His brother had frozen in fear and was slowly wheeling around, his gun coming up and pointing directly at Sammy's head.
"Dean? Dean..."
"Sam!" Dean yelled, his voice edged with a fine terror. "Where are you?"
"I'm here, Dean..." And had it been another man he didn't know so well, Sam would have died right on that spot, but so finely attuned he was to Dean's movement he could see his brother's finger tense and the subtle cock of his head right before firing.
He dodged and not a second too soon, the bullet grazed his shoulder leaving a long, burning trench through the skin and Sam grabbed it, yelped in pain.
"Dean! Damn it! Dean!" Sam yelled desperately but his brother was lost in a fugue.
"I'm not scared of you, you son of a bitch!" Dean said and again leveled the gun at the monster.
"But ya are, Dean. Ya are scared of me. Always have been. Do you remember that night I made you pee yourself?"
"I was a kid then. I'm grown up, now."
"Yes, and sad for you. As a child, you had protections that you don't have any more. Bedtime prayers and nightlights and cracked doors that kept me at bay. And you have that belief in magic, in Mommy and Daddy and how their love protected you from me. That is delicious, you know. I've been feeding on the fears of children for eternity, all my kind have. But I unlocked the secret. Adult fear is sweeter and more permanent. I don't have to take just a little. I can take it all..."
Dean took a step back and fired again…
Sam rolled to the wall and curled in a defensive ball.
"I'm not scared of you, you son of a bitch." Dean growled at the air, but Sam could tell from the timber of his brother's voice and his posture that he was lying. He was scared almost to death.
"Dean, it isn't real. There's nothing there!" Sam pulled out his EMF meter and rolled behind Dean, out of the line of fire.
"I was a kid then. I'm a grown up now..." There was no EMF in front of Dean, but behind, at the closet…
Sam waited for a second, plotted his best course of action and leaped up, ran to the door Dean was facing and flipped on the light. As he touched the switch, Dean's gun went off and Sammy felt the bullet hit the wall next to his face, the tiny pieces of wall board striking his cheek and he fell to the floor.
Dean found himself suddenly in a broad, electric light. In front of him there was a hole in the wall next to the light socket and a trail of Sammy's blood where his brother had fallen against it and slide to the floor.
"SAMMY!" Dean lunged at his brother and pulled him into his arms. Sammy shook in Dean's arms as Dean gently laid him back to look for the bullet wound. He prayed it wasn't fatal. He prayed he hadn't turned his brother into a vegetable. And then he realized his brother was laughing.
He pushed him back and saw the shoulder wound. A quick check to assure himself that was the only wound and then he scowled.
"What's so funny?" Dean demanded.
"I don't know, I think I'm hysterical. You almost shot me in the head!" Sam's laughs turned into a annoyed growl.
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Dean said.
"It's not real, Dean. I think it's an illusion. And I'm getting an EMF reading from the closet. It's in there." Sam whispered.
"It tried to kill you." Dean said.
"No, it can't see me. I know that for sure. You need to go and let me handle this while I still have brains in my head." Sam offered.
"No, I figured something out, too… Take my gun..." Dean pressed his gun into Sammy's hand. "I think I know how to kill it, or at least weaken it. You find the source, I'll keep it busy.
Sam took the gun and nodded and Dean stood and turned off the lights.
This was a new Dean, a confident one. He stood there in the darkness and looked around, more his old self then he had been in a day.
"You show yourself you son of a bitch." He said, his voice full of grit.
There was a rustle of the curtain and Sammy disappeared.
"Brave suddenly?" It asked. And swirled around him like a funeral shroud in a gale.
"No. But I know some things you don't."
"Like?"
"Well, first that magic is real. I've seen it."
The look on the creatures face fell a little.
"Oh, yeah. I've met demons and witches and ghosts. And I have angels who watch over me. Real angels, not that song stuff..."
The Creature fled from him a little.
"Oh, no, you don't get to go. You're stuck here with me now. I'm your boogeyman."
Sam used the EMF as a guide and crawled over to the closet as quietly as he could. He heard his brother's voice behind him, intoning, deep and strong and comforting.
He got to the closet and pulled the door open very slowly so as to not alert whatever was in there. Toys fell out at him, dolls and balls and skates. He dug through them as stealthily as he could.
"I also know that you aren't real. You're an illusion. You can't hurt me. You don't exist."
"So certain. I remember you, Dean Winchester, Daddy John saying "There's no such thing as monsters." I watched as Mommy checked on you that last time and then heard her scream, heard the flames and smelled her flesh burn. It was so… tasty. And then when I came to look for you, you're trail was gone? Where did you go, Dean?"
"My dad found out monsters existed..."
"You went behind wards. You're a hunter..." It was the creatures turn to panic and it tried to retreat.
"I also know I have a baby brother you never saw and right now, he's looking for you..."
The illusion fell away and Sam sat up in the closet, his hands clasped around something very small.
"Ow! It's biting me. Get me a jar or something..." Sam said.
Dean searched quickly, then snapped on the light and grabbed the first thing to hand, a princess jewelry box. Sam dumped the thing in the box and Dean slammed it shut. From inside they heard the tiny screams and protestations. It thumped and howled and Dean snapped the latch.
"What the hell was that?" Dean asked as Sammy nursed his bitten hand and gunshot shoulder.
"If I had to venture a guess, I'd say an imp."
"What the hell is an imp..."
Dean sat with the box in his lap as he drove. Sam eyed him nervously. Dean was furious and that was never good.
"Dean..."
"No, Sam. This thing scared the crap out of me and it's two inches tall."
"More like three or four..."
Dean eyed him.
"It's a demon. A micro Demon, but a demon none the less." Dean said.
"So… what are you going to do with it?" Sam asked uncertainly.
"I'm going to go out and build a demon trap, then I'm going to build a big ass fire in the middle of that. Then I am going to throw this little bastard into it princess box and all. Then I am going to stomp on the ashes and then I'm going to go kick Crowley's ass for not telling me these things exist."
"You're over reacting..."
"It made me pee the bed, Sam. Dad gave me shit about that til… well, he died."
Sam grins a little "Yeah..."
"Sam!"
Sam stopped grinning and looked grave again. "Sorry. But it was funny..."
Dean eyed him.
"Right. What if that doesn't work?" Sam asked forcing himself into a somber countenance.
Dean seemed brought up short by that.
"OK, first an exorcism..."
Sam nodded and looked out the window.
Dean's demon trap was really good considering how angry he was when he built it. He was throwing wood into it now, breaking the large limbs through sheer will and a not so small amount of pissed.
Sam sat and watched him from a distance. He'd learned that when Dean got like this, and it was rare, that it was best to stay out of his way. He sipped his latte and listened to music on his phone through the earbuds.
"You just going to stand there?" Dean yelled at him. He nodded and took another sip of his coffee.
Dean sighed and went back to breaking sticks. A minute later he was done and leaned down and picked up the box. Sam watched as his brother shook it hard and hesitated. A spooked look crossed Dean's face. At first Sammy was confused but then Dean held up the box and undid the latch…
"No! Dean! It's a trick!" he yelled as Dean dropped the box and recoiled on the ground in a sobbing heap.
Dean was more annoyed then he'd been in a while. This stupid little thing, this tiny beast the size of a mouse had held him, Dean Winchester, hostage to a child hood fear for ages. It tried to KILL him.
Well, he'd fix it's little red wagon. He broke the last of the sticks and turned to Sam, no help there. Sam was drinking over priced coffee and listening to hippie music.
Dean leaned down and picked up the box and shook it hard. He was hoping for the satisfying squeak he'd gotten every time he'd shaken the box for the passed hour.
Nothing. No sound. Not satisfying thump as the little body rattled around in the pink prison.
The little bastard had escaped…
Dean picked up the box, glanced at Sammy who was sipping latte or some nonsense and opened the box, you know, just to check.
From under the roaring of the Hell hound that was leaping at him, it's hot breath on his throat it's spit dripping on his face he thought he heard Sammy yelling. Was there one attacking Sammy? Was it tearing him to pieces?
Dean punched and rolled away from the beast, it's stench filling him with dread. He hated Hell hounds. Hated them.
He felt the teeth on his arm, an arm that would soon come off…
Sam saw Dean fall and roll and punch. He looked at the box and saw the imp, a gray little shriveled man. It was moving it's hand in a spell pattern and when he moved to it, there was no reaction. He heard Dean cry and something possessed him, a fury he had never felt before. How dare this thing put Dean through that.
He lifted his foot and with every ounce of strength, brought it down on the imp. There was a satisfying crunch and a squishy feeling under his boot.
Dean suddenly sat up, looked around.
"What the..." As suddenly as the monster had appeared, it was gone. He looked over and Sammy was next to the box, a look of absolutely disgust on his face.
"What?"
Sam raised his foot and a trail of green slime came away from the ground. He looked like he might vomit.
"OK, that is gross..." Sam offered.
"Had I known it was that easy..."
"Kill me." Sam uttered and then hurled in the fire pit. Dean laughed.
Sam was in his stocking feet.
"That was an expensive pair of boots." He groused.
"I told you, we could have taken them to a car wash..."
"No, good riddens." Sam said.
"Well, it's done now. It won't scare anyone ever again..." Dean offered gratefully.
"Unless if somehow finally saw me and it made the illusion of me stepping on it and it's in the car right now, watching us." Sam said.
Dean was quiet for a long time. "I hate you, you know that?"
Sam laughed and leaned back.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw something move…
I'm your boogieman
That's what I am
I'm here to do whatever I can
Be it early mornin', late afternoon
Or at midnight, it's never too soon
KC and the Sunshine band – I'm Your Boogeyman.