-SPN-

The next morning, Sam and Dean adorned their suits and went to the coroner's office. Sam took a closer look at the body while Dean asked the coroner a few question while going through the files.

They examined the body of Sandy and talked to Troy. He told them about her nightmares. The kid was pretty shaken up but he was able to tell them what he knew. Apparently, the meeting with Dean, the night before was helping a lot. Dean had a look in Sandy's room. He found nothing out of the ordinary.

"The coroner said your sister died of a heart attack." Sam said and Troy snorted.

"Heart attack. How can my sister die of a heart attack when she never had any problems with her heart?" Troy asked with emotion. Neither Sam nor Dean knew what to say.

"We're sorry for your loss."

"You said you were going to find out what killed her. Do you have any leads?" Troy asked Dean.

"Not yet but we are going to find out what did it." Troy just nodded. Dean gave Troy a pat on his shoulder. They left and when they reached the car both men just looked at each other.

"The kid's devastated." Dean said.

"Yeah, I can't imagine what it must be like seeing your sibling in the throes of a nightmare and never coming out of it." Both shuddered at the thought. Both had seen the other suffer from nightmares but this...neither could imagine not being able to waken the other.

"Did you find anything in her room?" Sam asked Dean.

"No, nothing specific. We need more information." Dean grabbed the files and took a look at the details surrounding each death.

"Yeah well we've got no leads so far." Sam commented.

"Well, they all said that before they blew out their last breath they cried." Dean said.

"Yeah but we don't know if it's connected to whatever it is we're hunting."

"Okay, maybe we should focus on what they have in common." Dean opted.

"Well, what do an 8-year-old, 53-year-old, 45-year-old and 23-year-old all have in common?"

"Maybe they all went to the same grocery store? Or same coffee shop."

"I doubt that 8-year-old Nat Decker was allowed to have a cup of coffee, Dean." Dean rolled his eyes. Sam was waiting for Dean's retort but when his brother didn't reciprocate he looked at Dean. His brother was either deep in thoughts or he found another piece of the puzzle.

"Dude?" Dean looked up.

"What?"

"You like zoned out on me there. What is it?"

"I was reading through the files. They all suffered some kind of loss. Whatever it is, it latches on to those who've experienced traumatic loss or something like that." Dean said with a little frown. Sam was impressed. He hadn't actually thought about that yet.

"So how do we find out what the next victim is?" Sam asked.

"That's for you to find out, geek boy." Sam rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I'll hit the library and see what I can dig up. What are you going to do?"

"Visit the other victims' family." Dean said. Though Sam knew that it wasn't Dean's favorite thing to do his brother was actually good at it. And Sam didn't really like it when they split up but since they had not leads, only theories, it was for the best.

"Alright, call me when you're done." Dean nodded.

-SPN-

Sam was in the library going through numerous of books. He found several mentions but nothing concrete. This was going to take way too long. He had to find a way to narrow it down but how? The statements they had were not enough to form a clear picture of what was going after the victims. The drawings didn't help either. Sam kept going through loads of books. He had placed a call to Bobby, hoping that the older hunter could help him but no such luck. Bobby promised to call him if he found something, which was another way of saying tough luck son. He hoped Dean had more luck than him.

Dean's first stop was Saul Balducci's place. He rang the bell and a man opened the door.

"Hi, my name is agent DeYoung. I wanted to ask you a few questions about Saul Balducci." The man nodded and let Dean in.

"Can you tell me your relationship with the victim?"

"Eh, yeah. Saul and I were friends and colleagues. We've known each other since high school. He, he helped me get through high school and college." Dean nodded.

"You were both teachers?"

"Yes, Saul taught chemistry and I'm a history teacher."

"Was there anything weird going on the days before Saul passed?" Dean asked.

"He had these nightmares. About mirrors. It totally freaked him out. He said that with each day that creature came closer. He said it felt so real." Pete let out a humorless laugh. "I laughed at him. Told him he was picturing things. I should've taken him more serious, right?" Dean had no idea what to say.

"Pete, did Saul ever describe his dream in detail?" Dean asked.

"He wrote it down." Pete said as he walked to Saul's room. He came back with a note book.

"He wrote it in here. He said that after his parents died, it helped him with his dreams. It wasn't until Cory died that the mirror nightmares started."

"Cory?"

"Saul's dog. He loved that stupid dog. Treated it like it was his kid. Damn mutt slept next to him and used my shoes as chewing toys." Dean could see the fondness on Pete's face. Pete swallowed and looked at Dean.

"You're going to find whatever did it, right?" The look he was giving Dean made it clear that he didn't believe Dean's cover story. Dean simply raised his eyebrows is a questioning matter.

"I'm not going to anything. Not if you find whatever hurt my friend." Pete said to Dean.

"Whatever?" Dean asked.

"I know there's more than just life. I saw a ghost once. Then some guy took a swing at it with iron and told us to beat it. I followed him as the guy went to the cemetery and dig up some broad's bones only to salt and burn it. Then he told me that I had to go home and never think about this ever again. I asked if it meant that other things were real as well. He just nodded and said 'just go and live your life kid. You won't run into things like this again. Go live your life and make something of it'. Never saw him again but man my interest was piqued and I got subscriptions to every weird thing out there. It was also the reason why I wasn't liked by my classmates. I was the weird ghost kid. Until Saul came along. Two dudes bonding over weird things." Dean said nothing but handed him his card.

"Call me if you remember something." Dean said as he left.

Dean's next stop was the family of 45-year-old painter Libby Cook. Turns out Libby had no friends or family. She was found a day after because she sold a painting and they wanted to pick it up. Dean had a look at her paintings and one painting caught his eye. It was a painting of Libby trapped in a mirror and a dark figure standing behind her. He snapped a few photos with his phone and left.

Final name on his list was the family of 8-year-old Nathaniel Decker.

-SPN-