"Remember the rules?" Dean asks, waving his shotgun around.
"Yes, Dean. You've told me a hundred times," I whine.
"Stop waving that thing," Sam admonishes, "and she's right, you have."
"I just want her to be safe."
"She's got more training than we did on our first hunt."
"When she says them one more time, I'll be fine."
"I stay near you or Sam, shoot first, questions later, and get in a salt circle if I see anything." I stop there, not wanting to acknowledge the last one, but he crooks an eyebrow, so I continue, "if you tell me to get back to the car, I leave."
"Good," Dean affirms. "Let's go. Stay close " Sam and I both groan at his instruction.
"She's got it, Dean. Let's just go." He hoists his shotgun and stalks inside. I chuckle and follow hot on his heels. Behind me, Dean is complaining about something, but we both ignore him and go to take care of the ghost. Everything seems normal inside the house for a few minutes, but then the lights flash.
"Ava," Dean hisses, "get over here."
"I'm fine," I call back. "Really."
"Just get over here." I roll my eyes and do as he asks. I hear a creak off to our left and turn towards it. Dean must not've heard it because he doesn't move. I walk over, following a series of creaks. "Can you really not hear that? It's so loud."
"Have you ever seen a ghost before?" Sam calls, trailing after me. I slip into the hall and look both ways before responding that I had, once while I was in a hospital.
"Could it be that you can hear them?"
"I wasn't able to before, even when she tried to communicate with me," I murmur following the moving shuffling. "Then again, I used to only see flashes of the monster's real face, but now I see a static image unless I choose to ignore it. I wouldn't be too surprised if this was another change."
"So you can lead us to it," Dean realizes suddenly, "just by tracking the sounds."
"That's the theory," I huff, "now hush, I'm trying to listen." The problem with following a ghost is that the veil is different, spatially. They may not move in the veil, but they'll move from one room or floor to another here. So when I decide which way to go, it could appear behind me. Some ghosts can somewhat control that, as far as I know, and if this one can, then this will be a lot more difficult than anticipated.
"There it is," I whisper, catching a glimpse of white out of the corner of my eye. I whip around toward it, raising my gun.
"Please," something whispers. "I mean no harm. I don't know what's happening."
"Would you come here, where I can see you?" A young girl appears, drifting towards me.
"You're dead."
"Yes," she breathes with a nod.
"Then why did you say you don't know what's happening?"
"I don't know why you brought guns," a cruel smile appears on her young face. "They won't help you." She rockets forward and I fire a round into her.
"Guess you've never faced a hunter then," I grumble.
"Wanna fill us in?"
"It's a little girl. She's trying to kill us. Be ready."
"What do you mean, little girl? I thought it was the guy," Dean hisses, "he killed her, then was shot by an officer. That's the rumor, anyway. No names and no police record of that happening."
"Your information is wrong," a man's voice reaches my ears, muffled. "She was a killer in life and is now one in death. I try to stop her. And there is no police report because the officer shot an unarmed man and no one wanted him to lose his job.""
"I understand. What is her name?" Then, as an afterthought, "and hers? We will send you both to your respective afterlife."
"You won't find our bodies in any graveyard. I am buried in the backyard, under the shed. She was cremated." I groan.
"What?" Sam asks, sounding panicked.
"She was cremated, he's buried in the backyard."
"Damn it," Dean swears. "We gotta figure out what she's attached to."
"The knife. She used to kill with a knife."
"Do you know where the knife is?"
"Her old bedroom. Upstairs, third door on the left to your right. Good luck getting in. I'll try to keep her occupied." He disappears into a different part of the veil.
"Follow me," I call, running for the stairs. Up, turn right, on the left, third door. I rattle the knob, shoving hard against it. "One of you knock this thing down." Sam jumps forward and kicks it in. Guess she isn't trying to keep it shut; she only locked it. Inside, dust assaults us, the room having been sealed for over a hundred years. We look through everything; closets, drawers, under the bed, nightstand, inside shoes. Then it dawns on me.
"She's a child," I gasp, "so she'd keep things important to her under her pillow." I rip them off the bed and draw out a long, ivory handled knife. "Found it."
"We should go outside to burn it." Dean snatches it from my hands and makes a break for it. Somehow, he makes it outside before the ghost notices that he has the knife. Sam and I, however, aren't so lucky. She pops up in front of is just before we get to the door.
"Leaving before we could play? That's rude," she coos before throwing Sam and I across the room. Sam drops his gun, but I manage to keep ahold of mine. As she drifts towards my brother, I lift it and fire another salt round. Unfortunately, now I have to reload, and my extra rounds are across the room. I almost make it, but she reappears before I can.
"Sam!" I scream. He finally gets his fingers on his gun and fires. Fast as he can, he throws more rounds to me and reloads his own gun.
"Come over here. Stay close."
"No arguments there," I mutter, scurrying to his side. The ghost pops back up, yet again.
"C'mon. What's taking him so long?"
"Did you go in my room?" She shrieks. "Did you take my knife?" Sam and I look at each other, panicked. She's mad, more mad than a normal vengeful spirit. "Thieves!" The windows rattle, furniture splinters, and the lights explode. She starts to rush us, but then screams, fire starting from inside her.
"Took him long enough," I grumble, gasping for breath. Sam chokes out a laugh, agreeing with me.
"You stopped her," the other ghost comments, appearing before us. "Good. Now send me off, too." He disappears before we can comment and we both groan, knowing we've got to dig up a grave.