Chapter Two - Voices
Dean had just sat down with a beer when he heard it. A small voice whispered something in his ear or maybe it was a voice in his head – he wasn't sure. 'Sammy hates you…he wants you to die!' Dean jumped up and his beer bottle dropped and smashed. Dean gulped suddenly as if he didn't have enough air. The motel room seemed smaller; the walls were closing in on him. He couldn't breathe…the walls got closer and closer until-
"Dean!" Sam yelled. Dean looked up, Sam was beside him; there was a concerned look on his face or maybe it was on of disappointment? Dean didn't know. He didn't care if he seemed paranoid; he moved backwards as if he didn't want to be near Sam. Sam frowned,
"Dude are you okay?" Sam asked/
"I'm fine" Dean replied shortly. He glared at Sam for a few seconds and then he stood up,
"I'm going to clean this mess up" he said in a distant voice. Sam stared after him, a look of confusion on his face. After a few seconds he shrugged and went back to the table where he kept the laptop. He sat down just as Dean started to sweep up the broken shards of glass. Sam called out his brother's name and Dean lost it,
"Sam! I'm okay, just quit bugging me!" Before Sam could answer his phone went off. He'd received another message. Sam took a deep breath and pressed the 'read' button. The message said 'I'm going to kill you. Just like you killed her' Sam's face became pale and he froze. Dean glanced at Sam and his look of anger was replaced with one of concern. Suddenly he remembered that his brother 'hated' him; he 'wanted him to die' Screw Sam, he could take care of himself. Dean turned and trudged over to the waste bin to dispose of the glass. He paused and he turned to look at Sam again. It wasn't Sam who had whispered in his ear. It was just a voice; a stupid little voice. Perhaps he'd been hearing things.
"Hey Sam, you all right" he called because Sam seemed to be in his own world.
Two Days Later
Sam found himself trying to hitch a ride. Trouble is it was four in the morning and no one had stopped yet. Sam sighed in frustration. He and Dean had had a huge argument. It hadn't been his fault. Well maybe it was. He had gotten more of those messages and he'd become increasingly paranoid. Was this Dean's idea of a joke? After all Dean was the only one who'd known about Madison. Sam had accused him of sending the messages and Dean had pretended to be all confused. But Sam could see right through it, he was so sure that Dean was the culprit. Dean had asked Sam if he was serious. Sam said that he was. This prompted Dean to say, 'I saw what you went through when you killed her, hell, I even offered to do it for you and yet you think I'm capable of doing something like that!' that had silenced Sam. But he couldn't think of who else it could be. No one else knew about Madison. No one. He knew that Dean had always wanted to protect him. Surely he wouldn't do something like this. Sam didn't know anymore. Dean turned out to have some of his own suspicions. Apparently Sam was over the moon. Dean had said that he bet that Sam was over the moon now that Dean had moments to live. At the time Sam had thought that he was trying to get his own back, he'd looked into Dean's eyes and he'd seen fear. There'd been fear in Dean's eyes. It was almost as if Dean was scared of him. Dean had been a little distant over the past two days. He'd barely spoken to Sam. Sam wondered why that was.
The guilt had just started to kick in when he saw her. She was just standing there at the side of the road. As he pulled over he saw that it was the woman from the diner. She smiled nervously when she saw that Dean was pulling over.
"Hi" she said.
"Need a ride?" Dean asked as he wondered why he was even offering her ride. All his instincts were telling him to just move on but he didn't. She smiled at him gratefully as she opened the passenger door.
"My jerk of a boyfriend left me here…well 'ex' boyfriend now" She said as she pulled on her seatbelt. Dean watched her, a puzzled look on his face.
"Don't you remember me?" he asked and now it was her turn to look puzzled.
"Oh are you one of Dan's friends?" She asked.
"Dan?"
"My boy – well ex boyfriend and I'll take that as a no…but I don't remember you". Dean frowned, well that was weird. She shifted in her seat and her hand accidentally brushed Dean's. "Oh sorry hun" She said with another bright smile. Dean forced himself to smile back. He started the car and asked her where she was headed. She told him and off they went. Dean found himself telling her about the lives that he and Sam had. She listened to him carefully and asked questions which he found himself answering. Dean didn't normally tell just anyone about his life, let alone a stranger he'd picked up at the side of the road.
"I think that you should talk to your brother" she said once he'd finished telling her about the latest incident. Dean told her that he'd left Sam at the side of the road. She looked Dean in the eyes and said that she was sure that Sam hadn't gone too far. Dean nodded and quickly looked away. He was surprised at how dark her eyes were.
He continued to become increasingly suspicious of his mystery passenger. Why did he pick her up in the first place? He wondered. It's not like he liked her or anything. She seemed to be in deep thought about something so he didn't try to make conversation. He concentrated on trying to find Sam. He's probably hitched a ride somewhere Dean thought with a wary sigh. He hadn't meant to throw Sam out like that but the voices had gotten to him. Those damn voices. He knew better than that. Obviously the whole random death threat messages were troubling him. Dean wanted to find out who it was. He couldn't believe that Sam thought it was him. What could Dean possibly gain from doing something like that? That's why what happened next surprised him.