Chapter 10:

After dinner had been eaten and the kitchen cleaned, Dean gave a quick jerk of his head to Sam. Sam knew that was Dean's way of letting him know that he was ready to talk to dad, and that he and Kellie should make themselves scarce. Sam walked over and led Kellie out to the front porch as Dean approached his father with the note tucked into the back of his jeans.

"Dad, I need to talk to you for a minute," Dean stammered.

"Ok, Son. Just a minute." John finished up writing the letter that he was working on.

Dean stood patiently waiting for his dad's attention. Finally, John put away his papers and looked at Dean. "Ok, Son. Go ahead. What do you need to talk about?"

"Well, Dad, I got into some trouble today. I'm really sorry. I know how you feel about this kind of thing."

John Winchester sat up straighter, cleared his throat, and sternly said, "Dean, what happened?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, Dad. I got paddled today at school."

"Paddled? What? Dean what were you doing? It's only your third day of school!"

"I know, Dad, but I didn't know that they paddled you for almost everything at Beauregard. I didn't do my homework twice, and I got the crap beat out of me. I'm not making excuses, and I accept full responsibility for it, but, Dad, it wasn't fair. And I know that I have a whipping coming to me, but please don't give it to me tonight. I know that I'm bruised badly, and I'm so sore. I just can't take anymore today. Please, Dad, Please don't."

"Son, we'll talk about all of that later, but I've got to get some information from you."

"Yes, Sir. What can I tell you?"

"Dean, tell me exactly what happened."

"Yes, Sir." Dean proceeded to recount all of the events that had happened to him earlier at school. He explained about Instructor Beauchamp giving him a warning the day before, and about only getting six swats for the first occurrence. He told him about the large paddle with holes, and about not holding position and receiving an extra swat. He discussed how his teacher had seemed to taunt him during the paddling by pretending to swing and then barely touching him just to watch him flinch. Finally, Dean told his dad about having to drop his jeans for the final swat and place his head against the bottom of the cinderblock wall so that he would hit his head if he left position without permission. He could tell that his father was very disturbed about the information that he shared, and he hoped that the details would persuade him to lessen his punishment.

"Dean, were there any unusual occurrences that you were aware of while this took place?" asked John.

"Yes, Sir." Dean then told his dad about the students who seemed oblivious to the chastisement, Instructor Beauchamp's comments about having a great day, and finally Mrs. Pascal's comments about the boogey man getting him and her incoherent stare right afterward.

"Anything else, Son? Anything that you haven't told me?"

"Well, the only other thing that I can think of was that I had this really crazy nightmare while I was taking a nap in the loft this afternoon."

"What kind of nightmare?"

"Well, I dreamed I was getting paddled again, but then when I looked back, it was the boogey man giving me the paddling instead of Instructor Beauchamp. I started begging for you to come and save me, and he told me that you would never come and help me. That no one gets saved from the boogie man. Dad, what are you getting at; why all of these questions?"

"Son, I'm just very concerned about the events that you have described to me, especially since they took place at your high school."

"My high school? Why should that matter?"

"Dean, the reason that we came here to Louisiana was because I read about three missing boys from this town. The events surrounding the possible abduction of the boys seemed very suspicious to me. I had your Uncle Bobby do some research, and it seems that every few years three boys go missing from Beauregard County. The interesting thing about the victims is that they all seem to have the same profile; they are very independent and present a tough-guy image. They also seemed to invite trouble at Beauregard High School, and all had recently received disciplinary actions prior to their disappearance."

"Dad, you didn't intentionally send me there as bait, did you?"

"No, Dean. Of course not! I had no idea that you would strut into this new school and get your tail tanned on your third day. I thought we had a thing about staying off of the radar. You know that I would never intentionally put you into danger."

"Yeah Dad, I know. I really didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't think that I would get in this kind of trouble for not doing my homework. I've not done homework in years, and I've never gotten more than a slap on the wrist."

"Oh, Really? We need to talk about that further," Dad stated as he gave Dean a lopsided smirk.

Dean hoped to get off of that topic as soon as possible, and so he quickly asked, "Well, Dad, did Uncle Bobby find out any more information about the disappearances? Does he have any idea of what kind of monster that we might be dealing with here?"

"Yes, Dean. He does. Have you ever heard of the croquemitaine?"

"No, Sir. I don't believe I've ever heard of one of those. What can you tell me about it?"

"Well, Son, it is a Cajun legend carried to Southern Louisiana from the islands. It has been talked about for generations and generations. There are different names for this monster depending on the country in which you live. However, most people in the deep south simply refer to it as the Boogey Man.