He wanted to wake up. This was not supposed to happen. The cold was invading his senses, where the hell was his jacket? All around him were trees, tall and dark. He had to get back, but how? The snapping of twigs behind him made him spin around with wild eyes.
"Sam?" His head jerked up when Sophie spoke to him. He hastily wiped away some drool from his chin after seeing her pointed look. Sam had fallen asleep. In class. Jesus, what's wrong with me? Luckily the teacher hadn't noticed.
"Didn't you get any sleep last night?" Sophie asked, studying him with a concerned expression. Sam shook his no as he yawned.
"Bad dream." He ran a hand down his face, trying his best to wake up. "Wait what time is it?" Sam hoped he hadn't missed detention, this was the last one and he couldn't be gladder that it was almost over.
"Detention time it seems." Sophie mused as she cast a look on her watch. Sam nodded and gathered his things.
"Hey." Before he could leave Sophie touched his arm. "What happened last night? Dean came over all worried, wondering where you were. Did you fight or something?" She asked, brows furrowed. Sam sighed, his guilt creeping up again.
"Yeah, you could say that. But we'll work it out, don't worry." Sophie gave him a small smile as he left. He realized it sounded like he was trying to convince himself instead of her.
Mary drove him home after detention. Their conversation flowed quite easily; she was asking some questions about Sophie while trying not to be too nosy. Sam found himself lying more effortlessly now, he wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing.
"I was thinking of ordering pizza today, is that alright?" She asked as they got home. Sam nodded as he hung his jacket.
"Of course." She smiled.
"Okay, I'll order." Sam hesitated before he made his way to Dean's room.
"Yeah?" Dean called when he heard a knock. He knew it was Sam before he walked in. Dean looked up from the car magazine he was reading, mouth pursed in thought as he took in Sam's awkward figure. Dean couldn't help the twinge of guilt seeing his brother's insecure face. Sam reached for his pocket and fished out whatever he was looking for. He held it out to his brother in a silent apology. Seeing his brother's sad eyes, Dean's resolve went out the window. His face lit up at the sight of the chocolate bar in Sam's hand. He sat up a grabbed it with a small grin.
"I'm sorry, Dean. I-" Dean held his hand up and gestured for him to sit down. He could feel his brother's eyes on him, still a bit nervous.
"Don't worry Sammy; I kind of had something coming my way anyway right? I know the whole Sophie-idea wasn't exactly ideal, you know?" Dean shot him an apologetic look. "Guess I'm the one who should be apologizing really-" Sam interrupted this time.
"No, well maybe but I was stupid, not telling you where I was going." Dean nudged his side, telling him it was ok.
"I was worried, that was all." Dean fiddled with the bar in his hands. "Thanks for this by the way." He said, looking up with a smile. Sam got to his feet, chuckling.
"Don't mention it."
"The library though? I'd be happy to hear you say went to a club or something, but the library?" Dean said in a teasing tone which made Sam roll his eyes.
"Research, Dean. I was trying to find something about…" He cast a quick look over his shoulder. "You know." Sam kept his voice low.
"So did you find anything?" Dean asked curiously. Sam shrugged helplessly and Dean arched a brow.
"Not really. I'm not sure what's real and what's not. There's a lot of fiction out there, Dean. To find out what we're looking for we'd need someone who has experience." Dean knew where his brother was going and ran a hand down his face.
"Like mom."
"Yeah." Sam said quietly, looking at his feet.
"Well that's not happening." Dean said, his voice firm.
"So what do we do?" Sam said, his stance now restless.
"We still have a lead. Kate, she's definitely not who she says she is. Dating me and now all of a sudden she's working at your school?" Sam hummed in agreement. "I say, we get her to talk and we might have some information. What better information could you get than from the source itself huh?" Sam rolled his eyes.
"And how are you suggesting we do that? Torture 101 or something?" Dean scoffed.
"At first, we give her what she wants." Sam met his eyes, not following.
"Which is?" He prodded.
"Me. It'll be a trap. She seems insistent on meeting up again so I'm sure she won't say no." Sam nodded, processing their plan. A plan they both knew would involve risks.
"Boys, I'm heading out to get the pizza alright?" Sam jumped at their mom's voice coming from the kitchen.
"Bye!" He called back. "We'll talk more about this later right?"
"Yeah." Sam left Dean's room. Dean picked up his magazine again but he couldn't focus enough to understand what he was reading. His mind was already planning, how would he set the trap for Kate? Would he just call her to ask her out again or should he-
"What the-DEAN!" Dean was instantly on his feet when he heard his brother's panicked tone. He rushed to his room, head spinning slightly at the sudden movement.
"Sammy? What's wrong?" He asked, mildly breathless. His eyes searched the room for whatever had caused Sam to call. Dean saw his brother, backed up against the wall by his closet, eyes glued on something in front of him. Anger and fear crept up within Dean at the same time, who would do something like this? The keys… He saw Sam freaking out in the corner of his left eye. Dean forced himself to look away from the messy handwriting on the mirror. Hurriedly he went to his brother's side, putting a supporting hand on his shoulder.
"Come on little brother, let's get out of here okay?" He tried to keep his voice as calm as possible. Sam ran a hand through his messy hair, breathing raggedly.
"But Dean, I dreamt and I thought it was nothing-but…" He was rambling, fear written across his suddenly pale face. Dean ushered him out of the room and into his own, making him sit down on the bed. Their mom would be home soon and this one would be hard to explain.
"I thought it was a nightmare..." Sam put his head in his hands, still talking incoherently.
"Calm down, Sammy. Talk to me." Dean knew it had to be stressful for Sam with him hovering but he couldn't bring himself to sit down. Anger rose again, making him clench his fists. He cast a look behind him, trying to calm down. The sick son of a bitch who did this is going to pay.
"Sammy, who wrote that?" Dean managed through gritted teeth.
"I-I don't know. I didn't see it there this morning but I dreamt-well I thought I dreamt-"
"I'm not following. You have to calm down. You're okay, no one's here." Sam took a deep breath and nodded shakily.
"I thought I had a nightmare last night. Someone was in my room, Dean. Smiling down at me. I freaked out of course but when I turned the light on no one was there." Dean felt his blood run cold.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Dean demanded, voice rising.
"I thought I was dreaming, Dean! It didn't make any sense." Sam looked at the floor, gradually calming down. "Someone was in here which means they have the keys that went missing." Dean cursed inwardly.
"We have to change the locks." Sam nodded. Dean took a breath and thought for a minute.
"You're not sleeping in there tonight. Whoever is doing this is targeting you."
"I'm not sleeping in here, Dean." Sam said with a bitter chuckle.
"No, we're crashing in the living room tonight. It's right by the front door which is the only way in. If someone's coming we'll know."
"Is she asleep?" Dean whispered way too loudly from across the hallway. Sam turned around, gesturing for him to keep it down. He listened for a few seconds, sighing in relief. Sam carefully made his way to the living room, trying to make as little noise as possible. They had wanted to wait until Mary was asleep, she would just ask questions. Dean was propped up on the left side of the couch, practically inhaling a bag of chips.
"Dude, you just ate." Sam said with a half-disgusted snicker. Dean nodded, chewing frantically. If anything was to wake their mom, it would probably be from that sound.
"Yeah, like two hours ago, a man's got to eat." Sam rolled his eyes as he tried to make himself comfortable on the other end of the couch.
"Dean, move your legs a little or I'm going to fall off." Sam said, irritably pushing his brother's legs away. Dean humphed in protest but was already starting to doze off. Sam chuckled and grabbed the bag of chips from Dean's chest and sat it on the table. He lay back down and grabbed one of the blankets. He was really tired but at the same time he didn't want to fall asleep. The memory of the night before was still fresh in his mind. Sam shuddered and shifted restlessly.
"Can't sleep?" Dean mumbled suddenly after a few minutes. Sam sighed.
"No."
"The 'dream'?" He could hear the quotation marks in his brother's voice.
"Yup." Sam yawned again. He was debating whether to tell Dean about everything else and decided that there was no reason not to anymore. "Not just because of that but because of…" Sam trailed off, realizing he didn't know how to explain the dreams he'd been having lately.
"Sammy?" Dean asked a little worriedly.
"I've been having dreams, really weird ones. I'm out in the woods for some reason and it's cold." Dean shifted on his end of the couch.
"Yeah?"
"I can't really explain it but…it's like I'm aware of everything that's happening but I'm completely detached, like I wouldn't care if were to catch fire or something. And then-" Thinking about it made him shudder again. "And then someone's behind me, waiting. I always wake up before I see who it is." Sam could feel Dean tensing up.
"And you've had this dream a few times now?"
"Yeah, but it's slightly different each time, revealing more or sometimes less. I swear it's something about them, they're so familiar. Like I've lived it." Dean was quiet for a minute.
"You don't think-" Dean didn't continue, quickly shutting himself up. Sam sat up.
"Dean, what?" Dean muttered something and sighed.
"I just thought about what happened five years ago in Wyoming. You don't think you're remembering-" Sam had thought about it but didn't want to talk about it now. That night was still a terrifying mystery to them all.
"No, that doesn't make any sense. Why would I dream about it?" Sam took a deep breath when he heard how defensive he sounded.
"Well, wake me if you need anything alright?" Dean said, barely understandable since he was caught up in a yawn.
"Yeah." It took a while before Sam could fall asleep but once he did he was out like a light.
His mind was a haze, he couldn't focus on anything. It felt like he was desperately hanging on to consciousness. In the dark, he could only just make out the tall shapes of trees around him. He sighed as everything fell into place, it was the dream again. The cold was undeniable, it made his teeth clatter. He took a few steps, trying to keep warm. Looking down, he saw that he had no jacket on, only the clothes he usually slept in. He froze; this wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Spinning around, he tried to make out anything other than trees. Alarm rose in him when he heard twigs snapping, making his heart beat faster. He wanted to wake up. Sam tried to force himself awake but to no avail, he already was.
