If they belonged to me, I would probably disappear into my apartment and not come out for months. The fact that I still come to work and have time to write these sort of things means that my hope is still unfulfilled.
.~o()o~.
Sam groaned as he slowly climbed back to consciousness. The first thing he was aware of was softness under his head and the faint smell of candy.
"I think he's waking up," a soft voice said. "Sam, can you hear me?"
He groaned out something unintelligible and reluctantly opened his eyes halfway to see worried faces above him.
"Do you remember what happened?" Dean asked. "How many fingers?"
"Eighteen and a half," Sam grunted, slowly pulling himself up to a sitting position and pushing Dean away. "Get off of me. Next time, we're hunting ghosts at McDonalds. They have nice soft paper cups."
"Oh yeah? And how will you feel when Ronald is the one chucking you into walls? Bears you can handle, but clowns?" Dean smirked.
"Shut up. So what's the verdict, Doc?" Sam looked up at his brother, pouting. "Am I gonna live?"
"Oh, you'll have one hell of a bruise on that pretty face," Dean handed Sam a wet cloth. "Here, wipe off the blood. At least the glass didn't break. We would probably be picking out splinters for the next two hours."
Sam grimaced and stood up, putting his hand out to help Leah up from where she had been cradling his head. "Thanks," he smiled, dimples popping out in his cheeks.
"Oh, no problem. I was just glad I could help a little bit."
"We'll have to do it again sometime when I am not unconscious."
"For sure. You can put your head in my lap anytime. . .I mean. . ." Leah turned bright red. She couldn't remember ever blushing this much in a day.
Sam grinned widely. "I'll keep that in mind."
.~o()o~.
Samantha pulled up by the back door of A&W. She figured the back door would still be open, but she couldn't get in. she walked around to look in the windows only to see that all the lights were still on. It was then that she knew for sure something was wrong.
She tried the front, just to be thorough but they were locked. She couldn't see anyone behind the counter and she wondered if she was too late.
When she reached the side doors, she heaved a huge sigh of relief. There, enclosed in a powdery white circle, were Leah, Shelby and the two intensely hot guys from earlier. Relief warred with jealousy and she tried the side door, trying to get in to her friends. It too was locked and so she was stuck, knocking on the other side of the glass.
It took a while for them to notice her. Most of their attention was focused on the taller man with his head in Leah's lap. She watched as he sat up, pain evident on his bruised face, then giggled to herself when she saw Leah's face light up like a beacon.
Finally, her knocking was noticed and Leah began to walk over to the window. The taller man grabbed her arm and kept her from crossing the white line. They discussed animatedly for a little while before Leah grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a sequence of large numbers on it. She held up the piece of paper while miming a phone held to her ear.
Samantha quickly pulled out her phone and dialled the number. The shorter of the two men pulled out his phone when it began to ring and handed it to Leah.
"Oh my gosh, are you all right?" Samantha asked as soon as Leah had the phone to her ear.
"Fine. . .no. . .hurt. . .help. . .burn. . .hand. . .Bauer." Leah's voice crackled.
"I can't hear you with all the static!" Samantha yelled. She saw Leah wince and pull the phone away from her ear before looking puzzled at the taller of the two men.
". . .hear you fine. . .need. . .grave. . .hand. . .Bauer. . .outside. . .stuck."
"I don't understand what you are trying to ask me."
"Can't get. . .of here. . .body burnt."
"What? Who's burnt," Samantha was freaking out just a little. Something had to be terribly wrong.
". . .Bauer. . .hand!"
A masculine hand reached over Samantha's shoulder and took the phone from her. "I'll take that," a low voice rumbled. "Can you put Dean back on the phone?" he asked Leah.
Thus began a combination of conversation and pantomime that was inscrutable to Samantha. Finally, the man hung up and handed her phone back to her.
"Can you give me directions to the cemetery?" he asked her.
"I could take you there," she said when she finally caught a glimpse of his face. He was older, probably late 40's at least, but he had a face that practically screamed "follow me anywhere."
"Directions would suffice."
"Please, my friends are in there. I want to help any way I can."
"I know how you feel, those are my sons. But that is exactly why you can't come with me. Those two girls are already stuck in there. I am glad they have my sons to protect them and I will do anything to make sure they make it out safely. I need to be focused on my job and I can't do that if I have to constantly watching to make sure you aren't hurt. And you won't be able to help me if your emotions are getting in the way. Besides, you have a choice. You can walk away and forget this whole thing happened. It isn't after you."
"And what about your emotions? Won't they get in the way?"
"No," the man's face hardened. "I won't let them."
"I am already a part of this," Samantha said softly. "From the moment I woke up with this feeling, I knew I would be a part of this, right here, right now. You have to let me help you. You don't ever grow out of the need for someone to watch your back. I don't know if I am here for them or for you. But I feel with every bone in my body that I am needed tonight."
"Do you even know what I am going to do?"
"No, but I know that you are not going to leave me behind," Samantha looked up at him fiercely. His face softened, then he broke into a wide grin, dimples showing that were very similar to his younger son's."
"You don't look much like my wife, but you remind me of her anyway. She had that same fire. I think she would have liked you. . ." his voice trailed off as he was lost in sad memories. "She is gone now, no use in dwelling on the past." He cleared his throat. "Look, we are going into a graveyard in the middle of the night. We are going to dig up a severed hand, throw salt and lighter fluid on it and then torch the sucker so hopefully whatever is holding it to the world will be gone and it can go to its rest. Ghosts get pretty pissed when you try to get rid of them and it might try to toss us around a bit. Are you still going to join me in this?"
"Hells yeah! You'll keep me safe, right?"
"I swear it," he said firmly before smiling down at her again. "By the way, call me John."
.~o()o~.
As always, I need to know what you think. Tell me or I'll die and then come back to haunt you. . .and I will be tied to this story. . .so you can't burn it, cause its on the internet forever. . .Mwa-ha-ha-ha.