A/N: Here's the next chapter. I was reading the story over and noticed that the scene of Olivia and William didn't match the news articles I had Sam talking about way back in chapter nine so I went back and fixed chapter nine to fit more smoothly with the dream sequence. Enjoy!
Chapter 26
"Dad!" The five year old Ben limped quickly through the campgrounds, ignoring the blood trickling from his nose where Kenneth had punched him.
"Dad!" Ben shouted again, searching the dark. He ducked around a tree in front of the shower house and saw the director's cabin located a short distance ahead. He pressed himself to run faster, his body screaming in a pain so intense it still brought tears to the child's eyes.
"Bennie? What's wrong, son?" Replied a dark haired man jumping from the front porch of the main cabin and hurrying toward his boy. He dropped in front of Ben and looked into the tear-stained face. He wiped a stream of blood from above Ben's lip.
"What happened?" Victor questioned worriedly.
"Dad, Olivia went through the fence! Kenneth was being mean and he pushed her through the fence and when William tried to save her, he fell too!" Ben sobbed wildly.
"What? Where?" Victor asked instantly, a knot tightening in his stomach.
"The other side." Ben cried, pointing across the dark, shadowy grounds.
"Angela! Call all the kids back here!" Victor shouted to his wife who was chatting with one of the young campers near the fire pit.
"Show me where, Bennie!" Victor replied and grabbed his son's hand as the child led him across the grounds to the broken fence.
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"Ben?" Olivia asked, seeing the camp director sway back and sink pitifully to the ground, watching the now silent scene before him.
William watched, satisfied at taking the man back to that night thirty years previous.
"I uh...I." Ben stammered as he spoke, unsure of what he was trying to say.
Olivia dropped to her knees in front of Ben, who was fixed on the scene with glazed eyes. There was a definite ashy tint to his skin and he licked his lips slowly.
"Are you gonna puke?" Olivia asked innocently.
Ben focused on the small child's round face and a weak smile played on his lips. He shook his head in the negative and gazed beyond her shoulder and once again to the actions from thirty years ago.
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"Bennie, stay back!" Victor shouted as he cautiously moved over the fallen fence toward the still body of Kenneth about halfway down the bank. Ben watched the ground under his dad's feet and saw the man unknowingly kick Lola down the rocky hill.
By now several counselors had arrived and were scrambling carefully down to the river to pull the two children from the water.
"Kenneth?" Victor asked quietly, pushing the child's hair back so he could assess the damage. He pressed his hand against the boy's neck and gasped at the weak, irratic pulse that fluttered beneath his touch.
"Did someone call an ambulance?" Victor called.
"Yeah, Jen went to use the phone in the mess and get the camp nurse." Responded an anxious counselor from above.
"Good, we're gonna need it." Victor spoke quickly.
"Hey Vic! They're both still alive, but barely!" Called a man from the riverside where William and Olivia were being gently pulled out.
Victor stood to make his way slowly down to them while one of the counselors moved down to be with Kenneth.
"Put something soft under his head." Victor instructed and took a step down.
The next instant, the director was gone, a rock having fallen out from under him. He tumbled harshly down the bank and hit the ground in a heap and the entire riverside swiftly fell silent until Ben moved forward quickly.
"Daddy!" The child shouted and stumbled over the fencing in an attempt to reach his father. He slipped and found himself sliding down, coming to a stop next to Kenneth and one of the counselors and watched the scene below with wide, terrified eyes.
To the frightened child, the scene seemed to slow down to barely a crawl as he watched several counselors rush towards Victor, while others grouped around the near-death children at the riverside. He felt a sudden, wet touch on his arm and turned, the scene speeding up to normal again.
Ben looked down and his eyes grew even wider at the sight of the crimson covered hand grabbing his arm. The five-year-old's eyes traveled down the arm to the blue eyes of Kenneth who no longer looked as tough as he had when he was bullying the three children earlier. Instead what Ben saw scared him even more than the nasty look he'd seen in the boy's eyes as he tortured him. Kenneth was crying and near hysterics, the boy screamed in pain and grabbed harder onto Ben's arm, causing the future camp director to wince. Tears sprung to Ben's eyes and slid over his cheeks as Kenneth thrashed and jerked Ben's arm in every direction. Blood gushed from the screaming child's mouth and stained the rocks.
Ben yelled and tried to twist his arm free from the dying boy's grasp and only managed to do so with the help of a startled counselor who pulled the young boy's arm away from the bloodied hand and pulled the shuddering body close to his own in an attempt to calm the child in his greatest time of need. Ben watched through blurred vision and looked down to his arm which was smudged with red all the way past his elbow when Kenneth's slippery hand had slid.
The frightened child turned back to where his father now lay with only a single, bare-chested counselor near him and a bunched up t-shirt beneath his head. The young man next to Victor cast questioning eyes up to where Ben was whimpering tragically and trying hard not to look at the ailing body of Kenneth as the boy took frail, shuddering breaths against the counselor's chest.
Ben pushed himself shakily to his feet and climbed back up the bank as if in a daze. Before getting to the top, Ben caught sight of the crumpled form of Olivia's doll partially hidden beneath scattered rocks. The child changed direction and wandered to the doll to free her from her trap. He idly hugged the doll against him, seeking comfort in any way he could, while all others were occupied with those in more dire need than he and he sobbed softly into the doll's hair as he watched the action around him drown out to a dull roaring in his ears and in the distance he could hear the wails of ambulances and police cars making their way toward the campgrounds. Still clutching Lola tightly against him, he shot from the scene, wanting to leave it all behind him and he rushed to the boat docks and into the storage shed where he pressed himself as far back into the furthest corner he could find and whimpered into the empty darkness around him where he cried himself into a restless sleep, Lola still cuddled tightly against him.
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From next to Olivia, Ben cried painfully, watching the scene fade away and turn into an empty dream scape where Olivia reached out to Ben and waited for him to pull her into an embrace, which he did and he sobbed against her shoulder as the horrors of the night when he was five bombarded him. He'd blocked the entire experience without even realizing it. Then again, he couldn't really blame himself. What he'd seen at such a young age was so traumatic that he couldn't help, but block it out.
"Was your daddy okay?" Olivia questioned.
"Yeah, he was fine. He's the one that suggested I reopen the campgrounds, he and mom missed this place, but they couldn't bring themselves to return for another season of camp, not after what happened." Ben spoke shakily through tears.
"But you know what happened to Lola now, don't you?" Olivia asked eagerly, pulling away from Ben.
"She's in the boathouse, under the floorboards. I remember putting her there to keep her safe." Ben replied.
"See, I told ya he knew." William replied, now sitting next to Ben and rubbing a comforting hand over the man's arm.
Olivia stuck her tongue out at William and turned her attention back to Ben.
"Yeah, but you could've hurt him bad." Olivia scolded.
"But I didn't and now you know where your doll is." William grinned broadly.
"Right, now you can let Ben out of here. I think Sam knows what happened, he was in the dream when we came in and I felt him pull away." Olivia replied.
William nodded and grabbed Ben's hand in one of his own and took Olivia's in the other. As the dream scape was fading away, Olivia felt Ben's hand go rigid and heard a yell rip from the director's throat.
"Dean!" Bryce shouted, seeing the camp director shudder in the dull light cast by the bedside lamp that the oldest Winchester had turned on when they'd first arrived by Ben's side.
"What is it buddy?" Dean asked from the bed.
"Something's wrong with Ben!" Bryce shouted and he squeaked when Ben began shivering uncontrollably in a seizure-like manner. A shout tore from the unconscious man's lungs and caused the air to hum.
Dean dropped next to Bryce and tried to keep the child calm as he watched Ben's arching body in fear.
The temperature in the cabin dropped severely and Dean and Bryce could see their breath in the air as they exhaled. The cabin buzzed and shuddered and two misty shapes began to appear at the opposite side of the bed.
When the shapes became identifiable Dean's eyes narrowed.
"Olivia." Dean hissed.
Silence ran rampant through the cabin as Olivia and William looked at Dean and Bryce in shock after seeing the state of the camp leader.
"We did this?" Olivia asked, tears streaming down her face.
"Damn right you did." Dean snarled, laying a hand on Ben's shoulder as the camp head's body settled and he groaned incoherently, fighting his way back to consciousness.
"I told you it was a bad idea!" Olivia yelled, turning vehemently on William.
"I uh, I didn't know this would happen. It didn't before when I went into someone's dream." William said quietly.
"You went into his dream? What the hell were you thinking?" Dean shouted, angrily, his level of voice drawing Ben closer to consciousness.
"This never happened before!" William defended himself.
Bryce stood back, a look of shock and terror on his face as he watched the two children who had just appeared. He sought comfort from Dean and grabbed onto the older brother's shoulder with a shaking hand. Dean turned and looked to the young boy, all traces of anger vanishing from his features as he saw the fear on Bryce's face.
"D..Dean?" Bryce asked, his voice trembling.
"Shh, it's okay, kiddo, they won't hurt you." Dean assured him, Bryce didn't seem as though he believed the older brother's words.
"Are they ghosts?" Bryce whispered in Dean's ear.
"Yeah, they are." Dean said.
"But, you said there was no such thing."
"I didn't want to scare you, but they won't hurt you, right?" Dean replied, his attention turning towards the two frightened spirits, still watching Ben struggle to wake.
Both kids turned at Dean's words and shook their heads immediately in consent, without question.
"See?" Dean asked Bryce, who, while still afraid, seemed to be calming down slightly.
Ben groaned, painfully and all eyes darted back to where the man's face was contorting with a variety of emotions as he groped his way steadily back to consciousness.
"C'mon, Ben, wake up!" Olivia chimed encouragingly and climbed up onto the bed next to him to offer him her company.
"He will wake up, right?" William asked Dean in fear.
Dean's face softened further at the vulnerability of the young boy and he smiled reassuringly.
"Yeah, Will, he's gonna wake up, see? He's nearly there." Dean stated pointing to where Olivia was running a small hand over the camp leader's sweat-soaked forehead, pushing his brown hair back.
Ben groaned again and his eyes fluttered helplessly for a few seconds before finally sliding open. He cast a weak glance around the room, first to Olivia, then to William and finally to Dean and Bryce.
"What happened?" Ben questioned, slightly afraid of Olivia's touch, but too weary to pull back, yet the distress was in his eyes and Olivia saw it and pulled her hand back slowly, trying to offer a friendly smile.
"Sorry, Ben." Olivia stated quietly and slipped off of the bed to stand next to William while Dean and Bryce moved forward to address the camp leader's needs.
"What happened?" Ben asked again, not having gotten an answer the first time.
"Oh, Olivia and William decided to take a little walk in your dream. As you can see, it could have turned out better. Are you okay?" Dean questioned and was startled when tears sprung to the leader's eyes and a sob escaped his throat.
"Don't cry, Ben, it's okay, we didn't mean to hurt you." Olivia replied, climbing back up onto the bed, ignoring the start that Ben gave when she sat next to him.
Ben groaned painfully as everything from the dream came rushing back to him. Images of Olivia and William floating facedown bombarded him, and he could feel the touch of the dying Kenneth on his arm, leaving a bloodstain as it slipped away. He looked down to the arm where he had felt the touch and saw blood oozing from a cut on his lower arm to run down to his wrist in haphazard trails, dripping to the white sheet beneath it. His stomach churned and he swallowed convulsively as bile crept into his throat. The flashes continued to rush back to him and he moaned miserably, tears rushing over his flushed cheeks. His body heaved as his stomach threatened to rebel and he pressed a hand to his midsection in an attempt to settle it to no avail, the horrific images from thrity years ago kept looming in his mind and he couldn't shake them.
"Uh-oh." Olivia replied, noticing the older man's actions, his face paled beneath the flush and a tinge of green crept into his cheeks. She leapt from the bed and stood back when Dean also noticed the threatening issue.
Tears continued to burn Ben's eyes as his stomach coiled in on itself with his efforts to shake the images. Suddenly, without warning, Ben's hand clamped over his mouth and he searched frantically for something to aid him in the current situation.
"Grab that trash can!" Dean ordered and Bryce complied instantly bringing the object to where Dean's hand was reaching out for it, his face anxious as he watched the camp director loosing the struggle with his stomach.
"Here." Dean said and shoved the can towards the director, who grabbed at it lunged over the side of the bed as his body heaved.
"Ewwwww!" Olivia exclaimed and her eyes tore away from the director and landed on the estranged face of William who was watching in sympathetic disgust before her gaze darted back to Dean.
Dean shot her a warning look and she hung her head in shame. Silence filled the cabin aside from Ben's coughing which finally settled and Dean took the soiled trash can from him to set it on the floor next to the bed in case it was needed again. He helped the director to rest back against the pillows which Bryce had thoughtfully fluffed and put at the head of Ben's bed.
"You good?" Dean questioned and the director nodded miserably.
"Sorry." Ben apologized thickly.
Bryce scampered off without being told to and returned a few moments later with a full glass of cold tap water which he offered to the camp leader with a sheepish smile.
"Thanks." Ben replied and accepted the glass in shaking hands. Dean reached forward when the glass nearly tumbled from Ben's hands and helped the director place the cup to his lips and waited for him to drink it down. Ben did so rather quickly in an attempt to soothe his parched throat.
"Better?" Dean questioned and Ben only nodded, his face flushed both from embarrassment and the effort he had just put forth when his stomach went against him.
"It's okay, Ben." Olivia offered gently.
The camp leader said nothing and pulled his eyes away from her as his stomach rolled again at the recall of the dream, too weak to protest he whimpered and wearily leaned over the side of the bed as Bryce shoved the trash can back in front of him. Ben gave in, expelling nothing but the water he had just consumed. Bryce took the glass from Dean who was holding it out to him and trotted off to refill it once more as his camp director struggled with his body in the next room.
"Drink it slower this time." Bryce replied, upon his return and offered the water to Ben, who took it in slightly stronger hands, but still with the help of Dean.
"Thanks again." Ben sighed weakly and ran a hand over his sweat-slicked face.
"You're welcome." Bryce chirped and climbed gently up onto the bed next to Dean.
A few moments passed and when Ben was finally sure his stomach wouldn't give a repeat performance he sat up slowly and looked at Dean with tired eyes.
"Thanks for being here, but why are you guys not in your cabin?" Ben asked curiously.
"Uh, we had a little spat, Bryce ran off, I went to find him." Dean responded.
"A spat?" Ben asked, his camp director mask slowly sliding back into place as he ignored the two spirit children in the room and focused his attention solely on Dean and Bryce.
"Well Sam was having a nightmare and he started screaming. Dean woke him up, but we all asked too many questions and Dean got mad and yelled at us. I got scared and ran away from him." Bryce said all at once.
"Oh really?" Ben asked curiously.
Bryce nodded. "But it was our fault he yelled, we should have been quiet and let him help Sam."
Ben turned to Dean, who tried to hide his embarrassment tinged cheeks with an expertly timed duck of the head.
"Sam was having a bad dream?" Olivia asked, pressing for further answers, Ben swallowed thickly as he remembered that she and William were still in the room and images of their dead, floating bodies once again shimmered through his mind.
"Yeah, about Ben." Dean said, his eyes resting on the camp leader's once-again pale face.
"What was the dream about?" William questioned quickly, recalling the presence of the younger brother in Ben's dream.
"He said something was wrong and I should come check on Ben." Dean replied, his eyes still watching Ben as illness threatened to overtake the director once more and he ignored the question about Sam's dream.
"It's a good thing you did." Olivia replied, shooting a glare at William, who tried to hide his embarrassment by turning away.
"I didn't mean to hurt him!" William argued, his eyes darting back to Ben, who was leaning over the trash can once more as a precaution should sickness take over again.
"So what was Sam's dream about?" Willam questioned, changing the topic.
"The swimming pool ate him." Olivia said simply.
Dean raised his eyebrows curiously, not quite understanding the young girl's words.
"In the dream, that's what made Sam wake up. He was in Ben's dream and so when we went in he knew cause of the connection." Olivia responded, drawing her own conclusions, then her eyes widened in shock.
"Did we hurt him too?" She continued.
"No, he's fine." Dean stated.
William and Olivia seemed to both relax at the same time with the current news, then Olivia's demeanor changed instantly and she grinned broadly.
"Guess what Dean!" Olivia squealed.
"What Olivia?" Dean sighed.
"Ben knows where Lola is! We can go get her and then I can leave!" Olivia screamed excitedly. Ben drew a shuddering breath as his throat burned once more and breathed his way through the nausea that was threatening him.
"Olivia, now's not the time." Dean said.
Olivia hung her head sadly. "But he knows where she is." She said, near tears.
"Bryce, can you go and grab the first aid kit so I can see to these?" Dean asked, motioning to Ben's physical injuries.
"Uh huh, where is it?" Bryce questioned the camp leader.
"It's in the bathroom under the sink." Ben said, lifting his head as his stomach settled again.
"But I just want you to help me get her." Olivia whispered and a tear slipped down her cheek.
"Why can't you get her? You know where she is too, don't you?" Dean wondered, still annoyed at the antics of the spirit children.
"But I want you to help me!" Olivia sobbed.
"Why?" Dean questioned her.
"Because Jill and Jenna live in the boathouse." Olivia said as though that answered everything.
"Who are Jill and Jenna?" Dean asked.
"The girls who drowned under the boat. Well, I dunno if they're still there, but they might be. I heard them talking about throwing Sam off the boat when I walked down to the docks the other night. But, they aren't there all the time, only sometimes. But they're mean and I'm scared of them, so I need your help." Olivia answered.
Dean sighed and gave in after a long moment of thought.
"Fine." Dean replied and Olivia started jumped joyfully.
"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" Olivia screamed in one breath, but quieted when Ben hissed as pain danced through his head at the girl's tone of voice.
"Sorry." She hung her head once more, but couldn't stop the smile from resting on her lips.
"Let me come with you." Ben said quietly. Dean looked to him worriedly and shook his head.
"No can do, sorry Ben." Dean replied simply.
"But I know where she is, I know exactly where I put her. Let me come. " Ben stated, surprised at his offer, but he wanted this to be over and he wanted it to be over as soon as possible.