Chapter 2
As the Thursday night fell gracefully across the campus, the Winchesters came to a stop on the sidewalk next to Harden hall. There were lights on in nearly every room and through some windows the screen of a television set could be seen dancing across their line of vision. A large group of students were just making their way up the door-yard that led to the hall and one of the men pulled a key from his pocket to open the front entrance.
Dean smiled at the good timing and ran toward them.
"Hey, hold the door!" He yelled.
The last man to enter looked back and with a smile, did as he was asked.
"Thanks, man. I forgot my key in my room, I really gotta stop doing that." Dean replied, holding the door for his younger brother.
He followed the group up the three stairs that led to the main lobby and stopped as the man who had let them inside turned back to him.
"Hey, don't worry about it, I've done it before, too. I was just lucky that my roommate had stayed behind. I didn't get locked out of my room." The student said with a look of amused recollection on his features.
"Lucky break." Dean stated with a lopsided grin.
"I guess. Well, g'night!" The man said with a wave.
"Night." Dean returned.
He watched the group of men as one pulled open the door separating the student rooms from lobby and lead the way past the threshold. Short seconds later, the door shut, leaving the brothers alone in the main entrance.
The lobby itself was fairly large. To the left was the entry to the rooms, and just up the wall from that was a stairway leading down into the basement. Dean scanned the room with his eyes and saw two large, wooden, double doors that were shut tightly against the back wall and another stairwell against the right wall. Shortly beyond that stairwell was a window looking out into the side yard and onto the next residence over. He continued to gaze around when an iron coloured plaque caught his eyes. The plaque was on the wall next to the double doors and surrounded by a brick frame. He walked slowly across the floor, his footsteps echoing in the empty room, and concentrated on it.
" ' The new Harden house was completed in July of 1984, after suffering complete destruction in the fire of 1978. This building is dedicated to three students who lost their lives on that night of October 21st: Ryan Greene, Isaac Paget, and Lyle White, may they rest in peace.' " Dean read aloud.
"It's tragic, isn't it?" Came a female's voice from behind the brothers.
They turned to see a short girl with brown hair and green eyes, watching them with a friendly smile.
"Yeah, it is." Sam responded.
"You new?" She asked.
"Uh, yeah. We got late acceptance and were just looking into what residence we want to be assigned to." Sam replied.
"So you're frosh, eh?" She asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, we are." Sam replied, recognizing the lingo from his first year at Stanford.
"Well, rumour has it that Harden's got the hottest residents. You two would fit nicely with the H clan." The girl replied simply, eyeing the boys with approval.
"If that's the case, then I can definitely see why you're here." Dean said with a smile as his eyes traveled contentedly over the girl's body.
Sam slammed his heel down on the top of Dean's foot and the older brother's face momentarily registered pain. The girl's expression changed to one of slight confusion, but with a tight smile from Dean, it returned back to the seductive smirk she had been wearing previously.
"We've also taken the title of most spirited house on campus for three consecutive years. Spirit night's Monday night. If you guys enter Harden, you should definitely come with us. This year's theme is Mount K gets wrapped." The girl replied.
"Sounds kinky." Dean smirked.
"Uh huh. There is talk of bath towels being used for costuming." The girl licked her lips, playfully and then started toward the stairs leading to the basement.
"Well then, we'll be sure to tag along." Dean smiled.
"Hey, before we make our final decision, we've heard that this residence is supposed to be haunted." Sam said, stopping her from getting too far.
"Oh yeah, that old legend that's been going around since this place was completed in 1984. Nobody knows if it's true or not, but I will tell you this much: Sometimes strange things do happen around here." She said.
"What kind of strange things?" Sam asked.
"Footsteps, random noises, flickering lights, the false alarms that have been called into the fire department. Hell, some of the guys on the upper levels have even claimed that they saw a ghost in the halls. They were probably drunk at the time, but they swear up and down that they saw something."
"Do you believe the stories?"
"I dunno yet. This is my second year here and I am yet to experience the ghosts of Harden hall." The girl smirked simply.
"Is there anyone around here who's actually met the creepshows?" Dean questioned casually.
"Oh yeah, just take a trip up to the second floor and knock on any of the doors. I guarantee that over half the guys you talk to will claim to believe in the spirits."
"That many, huh?" Dean mused.
"You better believe it, hun." The girl said.
Dean broke out one of his prize-winning smiles to flatter the flirting girl.
"Thanks." Sam quickly cut off the conversation.
"You're welcome, and you two should definitely sign on with Harden, promise me you'll think about it?" The girl questioned sweetly.
"Oh, we will." Dean said with a look of satisfaction glowing in his eyes.
"Have a good night, and if any of the guys on the upper floors give you hell for interrupting their nighttime TV date, just tell 'em that Dana sent you. They'll be nice, I promise." She said and with a final smile back at Dean, she disappeared down the stairs.
Dean turned almost immediately to Sam.
"What the hell did you do that for, Sam?" Dean asked.
"Do what, Dean?" Sam questioned innocently.
"The foot thing, my toes are still numb." Dean shot back.
Sam only smiled.
"Man, you were totally drooling over that girl."
"With good reason, did you see her? Cause if you didn't see what I saw then you'd best be making an appointment with the eye doctor, cause I think you're blind." Dean replied.
"Whatever, man." Sam replied, trying to hide a smirk.
"Did you see the way she looked at me, Sammy? Dude, she was so into me." The older brother said smartly and his eyes drifted to the stairwell.
A quick cuff to the back of the head caused Dean to look sharply at Sam with a glare that could shatter glass.
"Ow! What was that for?" The eldest asked quickly.
"You were drooling again. I thought I'd slap you back to reality." Sam smiled.
"Keep your geek boy hands off the merchandise. I don't want you infecting me with your book pushin' poison." Dean teased.
"Shut up, man." Sam returned with a grin.
"No way! Big brother always gets the last word, and I say, let's blow this joint and grab a room for the night, but we are so coming back here in the morning. And I wanna check out that bath towel thing too." Dean said smoothly with a final look to the stairwell.
He expertly ducked another half-hearted swipe from Sam and bolted for the front door, grinning.
"Jerk." Sam teased.
"I heard that!" Dean shouted back.
"I wanted you to!" Sam responded and followed his brother out the door.
"C'mon bitch, let's go get a room." Dean smiled when Sam reached his side.
Sam began to open his mouth, but Dean held up a hand to shush him.
"Oh no, don't even think about crashing my last word bash, college boy!"
With a final glint of amusement ghosting in his eyes, he started back across campus to the parking lot where the Impala sat waiting for him and hid his triumphant face from Sam's smiling eyes.
