God Bless Nutmeg
Chapter 3
Outside
~fluid-time
By the time Sam woke up enough to extract himself from the bed, Dean was already dressed. He could hear water running in the bathroom, and assumed John was occupying it; so when the old clock on the bedside table clicked into place at 7:38 am, Sam decided to skip his morning shower and instead just pull on clothing. No point in making everyone late when he could just wash up in the afternoon.
A large yawn overcame him as he made his way over to his duffel-bag. He pulled out a pair of jeans that used to be Dean's and a generic grey t-shirt that he had picked up at a thrift store a couple months ago. For the most part Sam didn't mind the constant barrage of used items and hand-me-downs that all the Winchester's gravitated towards, but he sometimes yearned for items that were completely new and that were completely his. Even the knives he was given had already been broken in from previous hunts that his father had completed.
When he was finished changing, Dean motioned him over to the table and passed a plate of bread laden with peanut butter and bananas to where he was sitting.
"I managed to steal it when when we stopped at that gas station yesterday. Dad didn't even notice," Dean half-whispered, talking about the fresh banana.
Sam smiled up at his brother, "thanks!"
This was one of Sam's favourite things to eat, and sometimes getting fresh fruit on the road wasn't an option. This simple snack was a treat for him, and he was glad that his brother was willing to indulge him even though Dean didn't like the sticky combination himself.
Dean leaned in towards Sammy, "Don't tell dad. Promise?"
"Promise," Sam said through a mouth-full of food, taking another bite before he was even finished.
They ate the rest of their breakfast in comfortable silence. Sam was grateful that Dean insisted on carrying peanut butter and bread with him wherever they travelled, just for cases like this. It didn't require refrigeration and provided some protein to keep them full. John didn't like to get food in the mornings, and the brothers would never have been allowed to leave and grab breakfast besides what might be in a motel vending machine, meaning that they would have to wait for lunch to eat. As two growing boys, going for more than a handful of hours without food wasn't an ideal option.
For as much as Sam teased Dean about his academics, his brother was really smart, and Sam hoped that he could be that intelligent someday.
The sound of the shower shut off and moments later John emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed and about ready to go. Sam watched his father stroll over to the bed to fasten a couple knifes to his belt, and strap a concealed gun to his figure.
"You boys about ready?"
"Yep," piped Sam as Dean scrambled to put the food away in his bag quickly.
"You both got your pocket knives on ya?"
"Yes sir," they responded in unison.
"Good."
"Let me use the bathroom, and then I'll be ready to go," said Sam, already making his way towards the toilet.
"So," Dean started, sitting down on his unmade bed, "are you taking off tomorrow?"
"Yes, although we may not be here for too long. There's been a very high volume of deaths the past week, and that's why I've decided to investigate, but nothing about them seems out of the ordinary besides the frequency. If it looks like they're regular people killing people, then I'll be back in a few days and we'll be on the road again."
"How many people have died?" Dean asked, suspecting a very high number if it warranted their dad driving out for it.
"Never you mind. If I need your help I'll let you know."
"Yes sir," Dean mumbled, knowing the tone in his father's voice indicating that this conversation was finished.
He stood back up as he heard Sam exit the bathroom and exclaim, "ready!" before heading towards the motel room door. The family of three exited and turned right, with John leading the way.
Although the motel wasn't what one would call a luxurious or even a 'nice' place to stay, it wasn't in a bad part of town. It was wedged on the side of a busy street that ran through the downtown area, only a few blocks away from a quaint neighborhood, with houses painted neatly and sidewalks lined with trees. John turned onto Asylum St. and explained that West Middle School, was only a few blocks from where they were staying.
Dean let himself hope for a minute that Sammy's school was near as well, since he was responsible for ensuring that his brother got to and from their room safely. However, as John kept walking he explained that they were going to need to leave extra early in the mornings to get Sam there in time.
"It's about a half-hour walk," he explained, "and I'm sorry boys, but there are no good bus routes."
Dean groaned. He was expecting the luxury of public transportation at least.
"I'll have a note signed for you," John continued with a nod towards Dean, "sayin' that you're allowed out of class early in order for you to get to his school in time to pick him up."
After walking a few more blocks, they stopped outside of an impressive brick building with two white roman columns jutting out - framing bright green painted doors. Above them a carved sign read WEST MIDDLE SCHOOL, letting Dean know that this was going to be his prison for their remaining time in this town. Although Dean hated the idea of being trapped in the classroom again, he did appreciate the sprawling lawn and large oaks that were outside. A tall bell tower rose above the school as well, and he quickly realized that this buildings facade was a lot nicer than some of the other random schools he had been dumped at over the years.
"So this is my school... awesome," Dean concluded, forced disdain dripping from his voice.
"I don't want any attitude from you, boy," John warned, making a one-eighty and motioning for the boys to keep up. After taking a few more strides he glanced down to tell them, "this is how you're going to get to Sammy's school from here."
"Does my school look like Dean's?" Sam asked excitedly, practically skipping to keep up with his father's long strolls.
"I don't know, son, I haven't seen it yet."
"It probably looks way cool, Sam, I'm sure you'll enjoy it there."
They walked in silence for awhile, but eventually Dean and Sam found a couple of sticks and proceed to sword-fight the rest of their way to the elementary school. John kept a weary eye on them to make sure they didn't dash out into traffic at the wrong moment. They didn't, and after about thirty minutes they found themselves outside of another school, only this one didn't look quite so grand.
"This is where I'm going?" Sam asked, not even attempting to hide the disappointment in his voice as he looked up to the cold, grey cement structure.
The area surrounding it held quaint businesses, but the building itself was pain and drab, the windows covered by white curtains, and the outside grimy with patches of old gum worn into the side-walk. Dean definitely got the better end of the school-stick this time around, but instead of gloating about his superior circumstance, he resigned to placing a soft hand on his brother's shoulder, hoping that gesture would be comfort enough. Even at thirteen Dean didn't give two shits about school, and it would have been nice if Sam, the one that actually appreciated the institution, had been the one to draw the long straw.
The brothers were so immersed in their scrutiny, they didn't even notice their father startle, turning towards a commotion down the street. Eventually though, the red and blue flashes of police lights were enough to snap Dean and Sam from their thoughts.
"What's going on?" Dean asked, excitement creeping into his voice. He stood on his tip-toes, trying to get a better view.
"Boys, go home," their father demanded, knowing that they had already memorized the way and wouldn't need his help to navigate back to the motel.
"But Dad-" Dean began to whine before getting cut off.
"I don't want to hear it. Home. Now."
"Yes sir," Dean mumbled, grabbing Sam's arm and spinning him around, starting to take off in the direction of their room.
John ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to straighten it and fingered a fake US Marshall badge that he always kept on him in case of emergencies like this. He slowly walked into the frenzy of cars and officers, posture straight as if he knew exactly what was going on.
Meanwhile Sam and Dean had just turned a corner and were out of John's sight. Sam had the intention of heading straight back to their room like they were ordered, but Dean whipped around suddenly and turned in the opposite direction.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked, spinning around a the last minute and jogging to catch up with Dean.
"We can't miss this, Sammy. What other time will we be allowed to be in a real hunt?"
"But we aren't allowed..." Sam whined.
However his complaint fell on deaf ears as Dean continued forward, flitting around houses and slowly nearing the police scene.
"If we approach from the left side Dad won't be able to see us, but I think we'll be able to hear what's going on"
Sam rolled his eyes, but followed his brother into a small side-street. Although Sam didn't necessarily want to disobey their father, Dean rarely wanted to include him in on these types of rebellious acts, and he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to show Dean that he could be cool too.
As they neared the edge of a house at the corner of the scene, the two boys made sure to obscure themselves in the dense garden bushes. From their vantage point they could hear the police officer speaking with John.
"I didn't know that these simple murders warranted a visit from you federal marshals."
"If they were so simple, why haven't you caught the guy?"
The officer was older - a bit of gray in his hair and laugh lines around his eyes. He pursed his lips and glared at John, refusing to give an answer. John let the silence drag on until it was only just uncomfortable before replying with, "that's what I thought. Now, the details please?"
Sam and Dean just looked at each other, Dean mouthing, "dad is so cool."
AUTHORS NOTE: I wanted to give a quick apology for the delay in updates. I'm in the middle of mid-terms, and those usually get hectic. I will, however, update my profile if anything out of the ordinary is happening, so yall can always check there to see if I'm going to be a bit slower at writing. I have the next few chapters physically written out, I just need to type and edit them (which does take some time), so I should be back on schedule soon enough. :)
As always, thank you for the reviews, and I'll be seeing yall soon!
The End
(of the chapter)
