AN: Here's a quick update!
"Next Witness…Gracilynn Winchester," Osiris says. Dean's head jerks to the side where Gracilynn has appeared. Gracilynn gives her dad a look but sits in the witness chair nonetheless. She gives Osiris a wary look. "So, Gracilynn. Growing up was normal, am I right?"
"Uh…yeah, I guess. In a way," she replies.
"It was you and your mom. You were happy?" Osiris asks.
"Yeah," Gracilynn answers, wondering where he is going with this.
"But then, you met your dad. And it all changed," Osiris says.
"Well, yeah. Things are different but I'm not any less happy," Gracilynn says, looking over at her father, the guilt in his eyes screaming at her.
"But if he had never shown up, your mom would still be alive. You'd still be with her," Osiris points out.
"What? No. She would have still died. I just would've been with my grandparents and not him," Gracilynn says.
"And because you were with him, you've had to give up everyone you loved," Osiris states.
"No, I…" Gracilynn begins but Osiris cuts her off.
"You mean you didn't give up your grandparents for your father? Or Duke? How about Scott? Laurie?" Osiris asks.
"I…that's different. I didn't give them up. I just…it's hard to explain," Gracilynn says, glancing at her father whose trying to control his emotions.
"The court's reached a verdict. I find you, Dean Winchester, guilty in your heart... and sentence you to die. I'd suggest you get your affairs in order quickly," Osiris says.
Gracilynn's eyes snap open, her breath quick. Their last case was tough; her dad was on death row and her and Sam were almost too late to save him. She takes a deep breath. If she could she'd kill Osiris again and again for what he put her dad through; for what he had tried to prove. She didn't blame her father for anything bad that had happened in her life. But, supposedly her dad did. She needed him to believe that she wouldn't change anything in her life and that if she was given the chance she'd make all the same choices over again. However, the look on her dad's face throughout the trial, especially her and her Uncle Sam's witness questioning, is telling her that her dad probably wouldn't believe that. Gracilynn looks over at her dad's bed seeing him asleep on his back. She knew she didn't believe anything Osiris had said, but he had said it for a reason. He had said it because her dad believes it.
Suddenly feeling the need to be next to her dad, Gracilynn quietly climbs out of bed and all but tiptoes over to her dad's bed. She climbs in next to him and curls up into his side. At eighteen, Gracilynn knows she's too old for this, but, dammit, she almost lost her dad. Again. And she needs him to believe what she believes. Dean stirs awake, feeling someone next to him who wasn't there before. He peers down to see his daughter next to him.
"Hey," he says sleepily. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Gracilynn says quietly. "Now I am."
Dean has to strain to hear the last part, but he manages to hear it nonetheless. He wraps an arm around Gracilynn and gives her a comforting squeeze. Osiris did a number on him and he still feels guilty for all the crap Gracilynn's been through since meeting him, but if he was honest with himself, he also believed everything she was saying on the stand. If he didn't then, he does now.
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"Yahtzee," Dean says, from his spot on his couch. Gracilynn and Sam look over at him.
"What?" they ask.
"I found us a job a few towns over," Dean says.
"Yeah? What?" Gracilynn asks, walking over and looking over her dad's shoulder at the paper on the bed.
"There's been a string of suicides," Dean begins.
"Suicides? Doesn't really sound like our thing Dean," Sam says.
"Don't be so quick to judge little brother," Dean says, "If this town was lucky…or, unlucky I guess, it would have one suicide a year. It's had five in the past three months."
"Maybe," Sam says, thinking about it.
"Wouldn't hurt to check it out," Gracilynn puts in. "It beats sitting here watching bad daytime TV."
Dean gives his brother a look that says, 'See?'. Sam sighs and shuts down his laptop.
"All right," he says.
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"Mrs. Langley, was your son acting strange at all up to his death?" Dean asks the couple in front of him. Sam was sitting next to him and Gracilynn had gone upstairs to 'use the bathroom'.
"No, not really. I mean he was really tired. He hadn't been sleeping well lately. Nightmares," Mrs. Langley replies.
"Did he say what the nightmares were about?" Sam asks. Mrs. Langley shakes her head.
"Our son didn't like to talk about it," Mr. Langley answers. "He was a good kid. Did good in school. Didn't get in trouble. But he tended to keep a lot inside."
"I just don't know why he would…kill himself," Mrs. Langley says. "He was always so happy."
"Well, that's what we're going to look into," Sam says. "We'll let you know what we find out."
Dean and Sam stand up and shake hands with the grieving couple.
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Gracilynn walks down the hall of the Langley's house, her EMF meter out. She doesn't get any hits, though, and so she quietly begins opening the doors until she reaches Tim's room. She looks around to make sure she is indeed alone and slips inside, scanning the room with her eyes and the EMF meter. Satisfied that nothing is amiss, she puts the meter away and begins searching through the room. She hears her dad and uncle talking to Tim's parents down stairs and she quickly begins opening drawers and looking on shelves for anything out of the ordinary. She opens the top drawer to the bedside table and finds a journal. She picks it up and begins flipping through the pages, realizing it's a dream journal. She reads a few entries and her eyebrows shoot up.
"Dude, this guy really should see someone for these," Gracilynn says noticing how in depth and the great detail the entries are written in. Not to mention how disturbing they are. "Talk about Nightmare on Elm Street."
Gracilynn hears her dad and uncle thank the Langley's and she shoves the journal in her jacket pocket. Exiting the room and quietly re-shutting the door, Gracilynn quickly makes her way back down the stairs in time to see her dad and uncle finishing shaking the parent's hands.
"Thank you," Gracilynn says, nodding to the stairs.
"Of course," Mrs. Langley says as she and Mr. Langley show them to the door. The Winchesters walk down the steps and over to where Dean parked the car and get in.
"So, what do you think?" Dean asks Sam.
"I don't know. We might be on to something," Sam says. "Let's go talk to the other families, see if we can find anything in common."
"I found something," Gracilynn pipes up, pulling out the journal and setting it on the front seat between Dean and Sam.
"What's that?" Dean and Sam ask.
"Tim's dream journal," Gracilynn explains.
"The dude kept a journal?" Dean asks, raising an eyebrow.
"You stole his journal?" Sam asks.
"Yes, but it's what's inside that really counts," Gracilynn says.
"Let me guess, dreams," Dean says. Gracilynn swats at his arm before opening the journal.
"He goes in-depth when he writes his dreams down. I mean the detail…" Gracilynn says. "But on top of that, these dreams? They make normal nightmares seems like lollipops and candy canes. And the book is filled with them. To tell you the truth I'm surprised the kid lasted as long as he did."
"So, what? You think the kids' nightmares drove him to be suicidal?" Dean asks disbelievingly. "I mean, come on, everyone has nightmares. And we aren't all committing suicide."
"I not saying that. I'm just saying it could be a lead," Gracilynn says.
"Well, let's talk to the other families first. Then, we can start coming up with theories," Sam says, sitting back in his seat. Gracilynn grabs the journal and sits back in her own seat, opening it up and reading more of the entries. Dean starts the Impala up and drives towards the next house.
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"I told you it had something to do with the nightmares," Gracilynn says as the three hunters walk into their motel room.
"You really pulling the 'I told you so' bit?" Dean asks his daughter.
"Hell yeah I'm pulling the 'I told you so' bit," Gracilynn says with a smirk.
"You would," Sam points out to his brother. Dean scowls and moves the conversation back to the case.
"Okay, so something is causing these people to have extremely vivid nightmares every time they fall asleep," Dean says.
"Right, and enough to the point that it causes them to become suicidal," Gracilynn adds.
"And it's only targeting college-aged kids," Sam adds further.
"So, creature? Spirit?" Dean asks.
"I don't know. But, I've been reading Tim's journal," Gracilynn says, setting the journal at the table. "And every nightmare he's had has been about something that anyone would fear."
"Like?" Dean asks.
"Like loved ones dying horrifically. Being devoured by some type of animal. Drowning. Being tortured. You name it," Gracilynn explains.
"Sound like every day for us," Dean says.
"Yeah, but not everyone is us Dean," Sam chimes in. Dean nods his head in understanding.
"All right, so what do we know affects people's dreams?" Dean asks, thinking aloud.
"Dream root?" Sam offers, remembering a case they worked years ago.
"Maybe, but people were killed in their dreams. They didn't commit suicide," Dean counters. Sam begins searching on his computer, his hands flying over the keyboard.
"Well, if it was a spirit, then that means something would've happened three months ago to start the whole deal. Like someone dying or renovation, right?" Gracilynn says, setting up her own computer.
"Right," Dean says, a hint of pride in his voice. Gracilynn begins typing into her computer, getting onto the town's online newspaper. After about five minutes of mindlessly sitting at the table, Dean lets out a bored sigh.
"You know, you could always go to the morgue and look at the bodies," Sam says, annoyed.
"Sounds like fun. I'll bring back food," Dean says, all but jumping off his chair and grabbing his jacket, escaping out the door. Gracilynn smirks, shaking her head at her dad.
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"I think I've found something," Gracilynn announces, sitting upright in her chair. Sam halts his search and looks over at his niece. "Jane Hawkins, age 19, died four months ago. She committed suicide, but mom kept accusing a group of college kids of murdering her."
"It say why she accused the kids of murder?" Sam asks, intrigued now.
"No, but mom was really angry about the whole thing," Gracilynn says, looking over at her uncle.
"All right, call Dean. See if he can get the file from the morgue," Sam says, beginning to type something into his computer. Gracilynn pulls out her phone and hits her dad's speed dial, putting the phone to her ear and waiting for him to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, dad. You still at the morgue?"
"Yeah," Dean replies.
"See if you can get the file for Jane Hawkins," Gracilynn says. "She committed suicide four months ago and mom was angry. Kept saying a group of college kids killed her."
"That sounds like something," Dean says, hanging up his phone.
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Dean puts his phone back in his pocket before turning back to the coroner. He had just finished telling Dean that not only did all of the victims commit suicide but they were suffering from severe lack of sleep.
"Dr. Burtowski. Do you remember a body coming in here about four months ago? Jane Hawkins? She had committed suicide?" Dean asks. Dr. Burtowski thinks for a minute before recognition dawns on his face.
"A young woman. Around the age of eighteen. Her mother was very distraught over the daughters' death," the coroner says, nodding his head.
"Could I get a copy of her file?" Dean asks. Dr. Burtowski nods his head.
"Of course," he replies, leading Dean out of the room and into the hallways. "I'll have Linda make one for you."
AN: Please review! Reviews make me want to update faster!