A bit stunned, Sam stares at the door of room 17. Dean already walks down the hallway with his jacket hanging over his shoulder. He doesn't hear his brother's footsteps and turns around.
"Coming or what?", he comments.
Sam's places his hand on the door. He feels like something is off here and glances at Dean.
"The door just slammed in my face", he notifies.
"What did you expect? It's Zoë", Dean says, being smart.
"I'm not sure", he hesitates as he pounds on the door. "Zoë?"
But Zoë doesn't hear him. She seems isolated, as if she's in a room made out of sound proof walls. In front of her she sees the disturbing image of Laura. She stares up from under her eyebrows, her soaked through hair drips water on the ground. Her neck is broken and strangely tilted to the right. Slowly Zoë backs out.
"You don't want to do that, Laura", Zoë warns carefully.
"Or what? You will kill me?", she says clever.
Little smartass, Zoë can't help to think. She is the one who needs to start with the smart talk. This might be her only way out of this, although at this moment her future looks darker than it already seemed. She needs to get under her skin, how gross that might sound at this point.
"Why are you doing this?", she asks calmly.
"They didn't stop it", Laura says. "They all knew, but they didn't stop it".
"What are you haunting me for then?", Zoë questions.
Carefully she glances aside at her backpack on the drawer. She knows it contains a bag of salt, which is awfully handy when it comes to ghost. The one thing ghost can't stand is salt. They can't pass it, they can't touch it, nor can demons. She could use a Winchester shotgun right now, that rock salt idea is a pretty damn good idea.
"I'm haunting you, because you are trying to stop me. You didn't want me to kill Mrs. Dawlson", she says, as if it's a good argument.
Zoë backs out further until she feels the drawer against her spine. While talking, one hand tries to find the bag of salt in the backpack.
"Mrs. Dawlson was a good person, with a family. Now I know how you feel about the guy who did this to you…"
"Yes you do, don't you, Miss Sullivan?", she turns her head in an abnormal angle for a moment and the bones in her neck crack. "You know hate, anger, helplessness. That's why you became what you are".
Startled Zoë stares at the little ghost. How does she know all this? Is she playing mind games here? It's scary how she stays so well mannered and Zoë has trouble looking her in the eye. She knows everything about her. Quickly Zoë recovers.
"I know what your father did to you was cruel and unexplainable, but this isn't you, Laura. You need to let go", Zoë tells her.
"I can't. You should be the one who understands me best. Some one did this to you, Miss Sullivan. It didn't just happen, harm was done to you. Don't you want to kill him?", Laura pressures.
"Oh I do, but grown ups realize what consequences that has for everyone else involved", Zoë responds rapid.
In a blink of an eye she throws a hand of salt at her face, which causes her to scream and flicker on and off as the lights in the bathroom. As quickly as Zoë can, she rushes for the window which is closest by and straws salt in the window cill. She know it's impossible to bust open the window or even the door as Laura's power remains intact as long as she has what she wants, so she has to make a portal first. Sam and Dean better find a way to her, it's the only hope she's got. Out of nowhere, the bag is ripped from her hand and drops on the floor. She turns around and sees Laura coming back at her very quickly, as if she was seeing a video being fast forwarded. Right in front of her nose, she stops and stares up at her angrily.
"That wasn't very nice", she shakes her head while saying it, crunching her spinal cord.
Suddenly Zoë feels herself being lifted of the ground, she's as light as a feather. Not that it's so delightful though, because a second later, she smashes into the wall on the other side of the room.
"That made me upset", Laura notifies with a scary gaze.
Zoë struggles up, but before she can make an attempt to flee, Laura again makes a sideways gesture with her arm, which makes Zoë fly through the air and hit the opposite wall. With a loud bang she lands on the drawer which breaks through one leg, causing her to glide of and fall down on the floor. Dizzy she recovers as she feels blood dripping down her cheek, coming from an ugly cut in her head. As soon as the black spots disappear from her vision she glances back up at the disturbed young girl. She points her little finger at her, as Zoë starts to feel a increasing pain in her chest.
"Now I'm going to kill you, nice and slow. Just like Daddy did", Laura flashes in front of her.
Frightened she stares straight into the dead eyes of the girl. Every possible idea she had so far was stupid and she has no material to defend herself with. She tries to back out further, but fortunately, or unfortunately, she can't move through walls just yet. She decides to do one last desperate attempt to get out of this situation and closes her eyes. In a split second, she pictures Sam Winchester and concentrates. Then she cries out his name.
"SAM!"
"Did you hear that?", Sam asks his brother nervously on the other side of the door.
Dean walks up to him and listens carefully.
"Hear what?", he asks when he doesn't hear a sound.
"SAM! Get me out!"
"There, you heard that, right?", stunned he stares at the door, then he hits it with his shoulder. "ZOË!"
"Sam, I didn't hear anything. Did you eat mushrooms for lunch or somethin'?", Dean questions confused.
"Dean, you have to trust me! Laura is in there!", Sam ensures.
Without pausing his younger brother tries to bust the door with a kick, but it's stuck. For a split second Dean watches his brother. He's not kidding, she is in there.
"What is going on here!", a member of staff cries out from the end of the hallway.
"Call 911, now!", Dean turns to him and starts running down the corridor.
"Where are you going?", Sam asks out of breath.
"I'm gonna try from the outside, keep going!", Dean commands before he rushes around the corner.
As fast as he can back to the front of the Sunset Motel, counting the windows as he goes passed them. Before the window of room 17 he halts and holds his gun up, ready to fire. Inside a child ghost has her hands round Zoë's neck and forces her all the way up to the ceiling. Slowly Laura tilts her head and looks Dean in the eye, then he releases the rock salt bullet. It's a impulsive act and Dean doesn't expect the bullet to get through the glass, but it shatters anyway and flies right through her head. As sudden as she came, she disappears into thin air. Zoë collapses down the wall as Sam busts in right at the same time. He stares at his brother through the window for a second and then sees Zoë on the floor.
"Zo!", he rushes to her and kneels down next to her.
Carefully he holds her head with both hands and taps her in the face, after which she slowly comes to. He sighs relieved when she opens her eyes. A groan escapes from her lips and she squints as the pain comes to her. She leans against the wall, out of breath and clearly in pain. Blood is running down her neck from a wound on her head, her nose is also bleeding. Several scratches are spread out over her arms and face, she's a mess. She clamps her hand in her side and takes a careful breath, which obviously hurts her.
"Hey, take it easy", Sam puts his hand on her shoulder as she rest her head against the wall.
"I think I cracked some ribs", Zoë moans.
"What else hurts?", Sam carefully sweeps way her dark hair to reveal the bleeding cut underneath.
"What doesn't", she comments, as she closes her eyes for a second.
"That bitch", she curses.
"You'll be alright, I see".
Zoë looks up and sees Dean standing in the doorway; he walked back in from the front in the mean time. She huffs, and tries to find support against the back wall; she doesn't feel so good.
"As always", she responds sarcastically.
Very carefully she feels her nose, from which blood still drips down over her lips and down her chin.
"Broke it?", Dean checks.
"Yeah", she sighs. "I swear, if she kills me, I'll haunt her sorry little ass".
Dean smiles about that comment and looks away, but Sam isn't set at ease yet.
"Where's that ambulance?", he asks his brother.
"Ambulance?", Zoë repeats annoyed.
"Yeah, you know. One of those minivan thingies who haste sick people to a hospital", Dean nags.
Zoë glares at him and then turns back at Sam.
"I don't need no ambulance", she mumbles.
"Nope, you're absolutely fine. You don't need our help either", Dean rubs inwith a sarcastic tone.
"Shut up", Zoë cuts off.
He turns away smiling and slowly moves away from the doorway, as the sirens of the help enforcements cry in the distance. As soon as he's out of sight, Sam looks deep down her eyes.
"I heard you", he whispers.
"I figured", Zoë responds smartly.
"No, I mean", he pauses and glares over his shoulder to make sure Dean is really gone. "I heard you in my head. How the hell did you do that?"
His facial expressions are serious, Zoë knows he's not messing around. Why she did it? She doesn't really know, instinct perhaps. It was her last option to connect with anyone outside this room. How she did it? That's an even bigger question.
"I dunno, I just…", she presses her palm against her forehead, this headache is killing her.
"That bad, huh?", Sam sees she's hurting.
"Dude, I feel like a dodge ball", she pulls back her hand and is unpleasantly surprised by the blood on her hands.
But Sam keeps worrying, she can see it. Not just about her, but about this telepathic intermezzo they had just a few minutes ago.
"It's probably nothing, Sam. We're both sensitive for this psychic stuff. It's no big deal", she tries to comfort.
But Sam can't be sure, his worries don't warn off. Not that he can think of it long though, because a moment later, paramedics rush in.