November 3rd - November 5th, 2008
We sat at some chain restaurant with an overly enthusiastic waiter, while Dean downed shots and Sam questioned him about his time in Hell.
Sam shook his head. "It just doesn't make any sense, Dean. I mean, why would Uriel tell us you remembered Hell if you didn't?"
"Maybe because he's a dick. Might have something to do with it," Dean said and then slammed another shot.
"Maybe, but he's still an angel," Sam said.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, an angel who was ready to level an entire town. Look, I don't know what—"
Our overly cheerful waiter walked up to our table. "Radical. What else can I get you guys?"
"Uh, I think we're good," Sam said quickly.
The waiter smiled. "Yeah?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah."
"You want to try a couple of fryer bombs? Or a chipotle chili changa?" the waiter asked in a sickly-sweet voice.
Dean shook his head. "No, no, we're— we're still good."
"Okay, awesome." The waiter nodded with a smile and then walked off again.
"Sam, honestly, I have no idea why Uriel told you what he did, okay," Dean said and took another shot.
"Right." Sam scoffed.
"What?" Dean asked.
"Okay. Fine. Then look me in the eye and tell me you don't remember a thing from your time down under," Sam said.
Dean rolled his eyes and then looked into Sam's. "I don't remember a thing from my time down under."
Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"I don't remember, Sam!" Dean retorted.
"Okay, can we stop with the third degree? We don't need to fight about this," I said.
Dean nodded and looked at Sam, who just sighed.
"Look, Dean..." Sam said quietly, "I just want to help."
"You know everything I do. Okay?" Dean asked. "That's all there is."
"Outstanding. Dessert time?" Our waiter walked back over with a smile. "Huh? Am I right?" He looked directly at me, but I just shrugged.
"Dude," Dean said, annoyed.
Our waiter leaned down onto the table. "Listen, bros. You have got to try our ice cream extreme. It's extreme."
Sam shook his head. "Uh, no extremities, please. Just the—"
"Check?" The waiter placed our check down on the table with a huge smile. "All right, awesome." He walked away.
Sam nodded. "Thanks."
Dean took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "All right, so, where do we go from here?"
Sam shook his head and pulled out his laptop. "I'm not sure. Uh, looks like it's been pretty quiet lately. No signs of demon activity, no omens or portents I can see."
Dean nodded. "That's good news for once."
Sam nodded. "Yeah, just the typical smattering of crank UFO sightings and one possible vengeful spirit. Here, check this out." He handed Dean his laptop, and I looked at it next to him. "Uh... up in Concrete, Washington, eyewitness reports of a ghost that's been haunting the showers of a women's health facility. The victim claims that the ghost threw her down a flight of stairs." He nodded and smirked. "I can see you're very interested."
"Women, showers. We got to save these people," Dean said with a smirk as he guzzled down his beer.
Sam and I were meeting with Candace, the victim of the shower ghost. So Dean dropped us off at Lucky Chin's Chinese Restaurant, and he drove off to check out the fitness center. Candace believed that Sam was writing a book about strange events, and I was just tagging along.
"I'm not surprised the spirit world chose to make contact with me. I'm something of a... natural sensitive," Candace said.
Sam nodded. "I can sense that about you, Candace, that whole... sensitive thing."
"So, what did you say you're calling your book?" Candace asked.
"Oh, well, um..." Sam stuttered. "Well, the working title is... 'Supernatural.' Yeah, I've been crossing the country, gathering stories like yours. But, anyways, you were telling me about your encounter."
"Yes. Well..." Candace sighed. "Once I saw the apparition, that's when I started to run."
I realized Sam was distracted for a moment, and I followed his gaze until I landed upon a pretty girl kissing a man that looked like a cliché "nerdy" guy in a booth.
Sam cleared his throat and turned his attention back to Candace. "And you said the ghost chased you?"
Candace shook her head. "Not just that. It knew my name. It kept yelling, 'Mrs. Armstrong! Mrs. Armstrong!' And that's when I hit the stairs and fell."
"You fell? The ghost didn't push you?" Sam asked.
"Oh, I don't—" Candace sighed. "I don't know. I mean, I think it did. Maybe."
Sam nodded. "Did you feel like it meant to hurt you, like it was violent, or—"
"It was a ghost. I'm lucky to be alive. Anyway, I was at the bottom of the stairs, and that's when it got weird." Candace chuckled. "It helped me up."
Sam and I looked at each other.
"Say again?" Sam asked.
Candace nodded. "Yeah. It helped me up. And it kept saying over and over, 'Please, don't tell my mom.'"
Sam furrowed his brow. "Yeah, that's weird."
Sam and I walked over to the Fitness Center, where we found Dean sitting on the front steps, reading a newspaper.
"Well, you pick up anything?" Sam asked.
Dean shook his head. "No EMF in the shower or anywhere else. This house is clean."
Sam nodded. "Yeah. I'm not surprised. I kind of got the feeling back there that crazy pushed Mrs. Armstrong down the stairs."
Dean shrugged. "I got to tell you, I'm pretty disappointed."
Sam sighed sharply. "You wanted to save naked women."
Dean nodded. "Damn right I wanted to save some naked women."
Sam chuckled softly, and I shook my head.
"Sorry, Dean, but I don't think anything's going on around here," Sam said.
As we walked up to the sidewalk, a boy ran by, with three other boys were chasing him.
"Come on, guys, get him!" one boy yelled.
"I got him! I got him!" another yelled.
"Run, Forrest, run!" Dean shouted after them.
I turned to run after them and help the kid, but Dean put his hand on my shoulder. "You gotta let him fight his own battles."
"It's three vs. one, Dean. It's not a battle, it's a slaughter," I said.
"And you really think that they will stop bullying him if a girl does his fighting for him?" Dean asked.
"No, but it's that kinda thinking that I'd be willing to bet would make them not bully anyone again if they did get beat up by a girl," I sassed.
Sam laughed.
Dean thought about it for a second and finally nodded. "All right, you got me. Touché."
By the time we were done going back and forth, the boys were gone anyway, but I was still happy that he agreed with me.
"How the hell was I supposed to get a look at it?! It grabbed me from behind and threw me into a tree!" a man yelled at an officer a little way down the sidewalk.
"Something's going on," Dean said, and then he and Sam walked up to the men, with their badges ready.
I stayed back but listened.
"Yeah, okay, Gus. I understand you got shook up. Anyone would be. But don't you think it— don't you think it had to be a bear?" the officer asked.
"I know a damn bear track when I see one!" Gus yelled, "This thing didn't leave bear tracks! It's feet were huge!"
"Now, Gus—" the officer tried to calm him down.
"It was Bigfoot, Hal... The Bigfoot!" Gus yelled.
The officer shook his head. "Gus, you're not talking sense here."
"There's a Bigfoot out there..." Gus pointed to the woods. "Damn it, and he's a son of a bitch!"
"Excuse us," Sam said as they held up their badges to the men. "FBI."
"What?" the officer asked.
Sam nodded. "Yes, sir. We're here about the—"
"Bigfoot?" The officer asked in shock.
Gus crossed his arms like he had won the argument with the officer.
Dean nodded. "That's right."
"Sir, can you tell us exactly where this happened?" Sam asked.
Gus nodded. "Yes, I can."
After Gus gave them the coordinates to where he had seen Bigfoot, we hiked into the woods.
"What the hell's going on in this town? First, there's a ghost that's not real, and now a Bigfoot sighting?" Dean asked.
"Well, every hunter worth his salt knows Bigfoot's a hoax." Sam scoffed.
"Well, maybe somebody's pumping LSD into the town water supply," Dean said.
I listened to them bash the town until I, unexpectedly, spotted giant footprints in the dirt in front of us. "I wouldn't be so quick to judge."
Sam and Dean looked as shocked as I was.
"Okay. What do you suppose made that?" Dean asked.
"That, uh..." Sam shrugged. "Is a... big foot."
Dean nodded. "Okay."
We followed the tracks out of the woods into a liquor store that had been torn to shreds.
"So, what... Bigfoot breaks into a liquor store, jonesing for some hooch? Amaretto and Irish cream. He's a girl-drink drunk," Dean said as he helped himself to a bottle of whiskey off of a shelf and slid it into his jacket.
"Hey. Check this out," Sam said, pointing to an empty magazine rack.
"He took the whole porno rack?" Dean asked.
Sam grabbed a tuft of hair off of the rack.
Dean nodded. "Well, I'll say it again. What the hell is going on in this town?"
We walked outside and sat on the bench in front of the store.
Dean shook his head. "I got nothing."
"It's got to be a joke, right?" Sam asked, "Some big-ass mother in a gorilla suit?"
Dean shrugged. "Or it's a Bigfoot. Ya know, and he's some kind of an alcoholo-porno addict. Kind of like a deep-woods Duchovny."
A little girl passed by on her bike and accidentally dropped a magazine out of her basket.
We all looked down in shock at what the magazine was.
"A little young for Busty Asian Beauties," Dean said.
We walked around the back of the liquor store, where we found a box full of liquor and magazines, sitting on the back porch, with a sorry note on top. So, we decided to follow her to her house.
We pulled up to her house and climbed out of the Impala.
"What's this, like a Harry and the Henderson's deal?" Dean asked, as we walked up to the front door and knocked on it.
A moment later, the little girl answered the door. "Hello?"
"Hello! Um, could we— Ya know what? Are your parents home?" Sam asked with a smile.
The little girl shook her head. "Nope."
Sam raised his eyebrows. "No?"
Dean shook his head. "No? Um... have you seen a really, really furry—"
"Is he in trouble?" the girl asked, looking upset.
"No." Sam chuckled. "No, no, no. Not at all. We just—"
"We wanted to check on him. Make sure he was okay," I said after seeing my brothers struggle.
Dean nodded. "Exactly."
"He's my teddy bear. I think he's sick." The girl looked down sadly.
"Wow. Uh... amazing. 'Cause you know what?" Dean asked. "We... are, uh... teddy bear doctors."
"Really? Can you please take a look at him?" the girl asked excitedly.
Sam nodded. "Sure."
Dean nodded in agreement. "Sure. Yeah."
We followed the little girl into her house and up the stairs. "He's in my bedroom. He's pretty grumpy." She knocked on her door. "Teddy? There's some nice doctors here to see you." She opened the door to reveal a living, giant, drunk teddy bear watching television.
"Close the friggin' door!" the teddy bear slurred.
I raised my eyebrows in disbelief of what I just saw.
The girl closed the door sadly. "See what I mean?"
The three of us looked at each other, confusion all over our faces.
The girl sighed. "All I ever wanted was a teddy, which was big, real, and talked. But now he's sad all the time... not 'ouch' sad, but ouch-in-the-head sad. He says weird stuff, and smells like the bus."
Dean nodded, taking everything in. "Um, little girl—"
"What's your name?" I asked her.
"Audrey!" she yelled.
Dean nodded. "Audrey. How exactly did your teddy become real?"
Audrey shrugged. "I wished for it."
"You wished for it?" Sam asked.
Audrey nodded. "At the wishing well."
Dean pushed the bedroom door open so we could see the teddy bear sitting on the bed, drinking whiskey, and watching the news.
"Look at this." The teddy bear chuckled sadly. "You believe this crap?"
Dean shook his head. "Not really."
"It is a terrible world. Why am I here?!" The bear cried.
"For tea parties!" Audrey yelled.
"Tea parties? Is that all there is?" the bear asked and started crying into his paws.
Dean shut the door again.
Sam looked down at Audrey. "Audrey, give us a second, okay?"
Audrey nodded, and we walked down the hall a little ways with Sam.
"Okay. Are we— Should we— Uh, are we gonna kill this teddy bear?" Sam asked us.
I shrugged, feeling that it would almost be merciful to kill the bear.
"How? Do we shoot it? Burn it?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged. "I don't know. Both?"
"How do we even know that's gonna work? I don't want some giant, flaming, pissed-off teddy on our hands," Dean said.
Sam nodded. "Yeah. Besides, I get the feeling that the bear isn't really the, you know, core problem here." He turned back to Audrey. "Audrey. Where are your parents?"
Audrey shrugged. "My mom wished they were in Bali, so I think they're in Bali."
Sam nodded. "Okay, well... I'm really sorry to have to break this to you, but... your bear is sick. Yeah, he's— he's got—"
"Lollipop disease." I shrugged.
Sam nodded. "Lollipop disease."
"It's not uncommon for a bear his size. But see, it's— it's really contagious," Dean said.
"Yeah, so, is there— is there someone, maybe a grown-up, that you can stay with while we treat him?" Sam asked.
"Mrs. Hurley lives down the street," Audrey said.
Dean nodded. "Perfect."
"Good, yeah, good. Uh, we'd like you to stay there for a few days, okay?" Sam asked.
Audrey nodded. "Okay."
"Oh, and Audrey? Where is this wishing well?" Dean asked.
Audrey told us that the wishing well was in a Chinese restaurant, so we drove back to Lucky Chin's.
When we walked into the restaurant, the boy who had been bullied was walking out with a black eye. We walked right up to the fountain at the back of the restaurant and stared down at it.
"Think it works?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged. "Got a better explanation for teddy back there?"
"Well, there's one way to find out." Dean pulled out a coin.
"What are you gonna wish for?" Sam asked.
"Shh!" Dean tossed his coin into the well. "Not supposed to tell."
"Somebody order a footlong Italian with jalapeño?!" a man called out from behind us.
The three of us turned to see a delivery man holding a sub at the door.
Dean raised his hand. "That'd be me."
The man walked up and handed Dean the sub. "On the house."
"Thanks." Dean nodded, and then the man left the restaurant. "It does work." He pulled another coin out of his pocket. "Wanna try?"
I smiled and took the coin. "Yeah." I thought for a second and tossed the coin in, wishing to be older so I could help my brothers more.
"Wait." Sam tried to snatch the coin in mid-air but missed. He sighed. "Maybe, we shouldn't be making wishes until we know what's going on."
I shrugged. "It's fine. It was stupid anyway. Besides, Dean's came true, literally a second after he wished for it. Mine probably didn't work."
Sam sighed. "No more wishes, either of you."
Dean shrugged and sat down at a table to eat his sub. "I think it works, dude. This was pretty specific."
Sam and I joined him at the table.
Sam nodded. "The teddy bear, the sandwich..."
"Mm-hmm. I'm guessing this." Dean pointed to a sign about someone who won the lottery that lived in town.
Sam nodded. "I'm guessing that." He pointed to the pretty girl and nerdy guy we saw the other day. They were sitting in a booth kissing again.
"Well, that definitely goes on the list. What are we supposed to do, huh?" Dean asked, "Stop people's wishes from coming true? I mean, it sounds like kind of a douchey thing to do."
I started to feel lightheaded and hot, and my head was beginning to pound.
"Yeah, maybe. But come on, man. When has something like this ever come without a price tag? And usually a deadly one," Sam said.
Dean shook his head. "I don't know. It's a damn good sandwich."
Sam gave him a look.
Dean nodded. "All right. Fine. We'll put a hold on the wishing 'til we figure out what's going on."
Sam looked at me. "Maddi, are you okay? You're really pale."
I nodded. "I'm good," I said painfully.
"Really?" Sam asked unconvinced. "What did you wish for?"
"Nothing, it was stupid. I'm gonna go to the bathroom, I'll be right back." I quickly got up and turned toward the bathroom. I felt like I was going to keel over from the pain in my head, and my stomach was starting to knot up.
"Maddison!" Sam shouted.
"Uh, gentlemen, gentlemen. I'm sorry. We don't allow people to eat outside food here," a man said behind me.
"Well, I am certainly not gonna eat the inside food here," Dean said, "Health department. You, my friend, have a rat infestation. We're gonna have to shut this place down under emergency hazard code 56C."
"Rats?!" the man yelled as I walked into the bathroom.
I ran into the bathroom and ducked into one of the stalls, slamming the door behind me. I knelt in front of the toilet, feeling like I was about to throw up from the pain.
I was getting hotter, and my clothes were starting to feel tight. I ripped my jacket off just so I could get some relief. My vision was getting blurry, so I slowly stood up, now terrified, and wanted my brothers.
As my vision was going in and out, I realized my hands looked different, they were slightly bigger, a little bit longer, and my fingers were slender. As I stood up, I saw that my jeans now looked like tight capris.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked out loud, but it wasn't my voice... it was, but it was slightly deeper, a little huskier.
I looked down at myself and noticed that my chest was a little more enhanced than I remember it being, and my t-shirt was now showing about an inch of my stomach. I grabbed my jacket and wrapped it around my waist, feeling uncomfortable and confused.
When I realized my head and stomach were no longer hurting after everything had changed, my heart started pounding because I couldn't believe I had wished for something so stupid. I ran out of the stall and to the bathroom mirror to see if what I was scared of was true.
"Oh my god. Oh my god." I stared at myself in the mirror, my hands on the sink.
The problem was that the person I was looking at wasn't me. Well, it was me, but I was older. It seemed like I could be about twenty.
"I can't believe this is happening. How could I be so stupid?" I asked myself.
"Sweetie, here." I turned to look at a woman, who I hadn't even realized was standing at the mirror next to me. She was holding out a tampon to me, which I took. "Don't worry, we've all been there." She smiled at me, patted me on the shoulder, and then walked out of the bathroom.
I looked down at the tampon, groaned, and tossed it in the trash. I took a deep breath, grabbed the handle, and prepared myself to show my brothers what I had done.
When I walked out, the restaurant had been emptied except for Sam and Dean, who were standing next to the fountain that was now being drained.
"Guys! Guys!" I ran over to them, completely freaked out.
Dean turned, and to my horror, totally checked me out. "Calm down, sweetheart." He pulled out a fake badge. "We're with the Health Department, we've asked for the restaurant to be cleared out."
I furrowed my brow at him, now thoroughly annoyed. "Um—"
"I'll give you my personal number. If you have any concerns, you can contact me immediately." Dean smirked, looking at me in a way that I would never want one of my brothers to look at me.
I smacked him in the back of the head, confusion crossed his face, and Sam snorted, trying to hold back laughter.
"Don't ever look at me like that again, Dean." I rolled my eyes. "Ugh, I can't believe girls actually fall for that."
"What the hell?" Dean rubbed the back of his head.
Tears came to my eyes, and I hugged myself, feeling completely uncomfortable. "Guys, I'm freaking out. I seriously messed up."
"Wait a second..." Sam squinted at me. "Maddi?"
"Yes! It's me!" I yelled.
Sam shook his head, completely in shock. "Oh my god. What did you wish for?"
"I want to be able to help you guys more, so I wished to be older. It was obviously a terrible decision, and I regret it now. I'm not ready for this yet." I gestured to my new body.
Dean gagged. "Oh, god." He gagged again. "I'm disgusting."
"Look, we just need to figure out how to reverse this, okay? I don't know why I wished for this, I'm so stupid!" I yelled.
"You're not stupid, all right? Just calm down," Sam said calmly, "We're going to figure this out."
"I hope so..." I sighed, worried that I had messed up royally.
Dean cleared his throat, shook his head, and then stepped into the fountain. "Let's get to work then." He started picking up the coins in the fountain. "Typical fountain, plaster Buddha. Nothing I can see."
The owner came rushing up. "Yes, nothing. We keep a clean place here."
"Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave during the preliminary investigation, okay?" Sam asked.
The owner nodded sadly and left us alone again.
Sam nodded. "Thank you."
"I'm just curious, Sammy, what would you wish for?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "I'm not wishing for anything."
"I'm not asking you to do it. Obviously, you shouldn't. I'm just wondering what you would wish for," Dean said.
Sam shrugged.
"Oh, come on, if you could wish yourself back, you know before it all started... think about it. You'd be some big yuppie lawyer with a nice car and a white picket fence," Dean said.
Sam shook his head. "Not what I'd wish for."
"Seriously?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged. "It's too late to go back to our old lives, Dean. I'm not that guy anymore."
"All right, well, what, then? Hmm? What would Sammy wish for?" Dean asked.
"Lilith's head on a plate. Bloody," Sam said, straight-faced.
Dean nodded. "Okay," he said, leaning down and brushing coins away from a larger, thick coin. "What is that?"
Sam furrowed his brow. "Some kind of old coin. I don't recognize the markings."
Dean tried to pick it up, but it wasn't budging. "Damn."
"Lift with your legs." Sam chuckled.
"Is that little mother welded on there?" Dean asked after he failed to pick it up again. "Huh."
We walked out to the car and grabbed a crowbar and a mallet, and marched right back to the fountain. Dean stuck the crowbar as far under the coin as he could get it and then started wrenching at it.
The owner came running over, with fury in his eyes. "Hey, hey, hey, what is this?! You are gonna break my fountain!"
"Sir, I don't want to slap you with a 44-16, but I will," Sam said, with a straight face, but looked at us nervously, unsure whether the owner would buy it or not.
The owner glared at Sam.
I nodded. "He'll do it. He doesn't mess around when it comes to a 44-16."
The owner frowned and walked away.
Sam nodded at him and smirked at me. "All right, thanks."
Dean nodded at the mallet in Sam's hand. "Let me see that. I got an idea."
While the crowbar was still in place, he hit the end of it with a mallet, but instead of the coin being dislodged, the head of the mallet flung off and just barely missed the owner's feet.
"Oh!" the owner yelled, shocked by what had just happened.
Dean raised his eyebrows. "Damn!"
"Coin's magical," Sam said.
"You think?" I scoffed.
Dean nodded. "Boy, I'd say. I think it's hoodoo that's protecting the well. I don't think we can destroy this."
Sam bent down with a paper and a pencil and scribbled over the coin so we could research the image. "All right, here." He handed Dean the paper. "You got to look into this."
Dean furrowed his brow. "Where you going?"
"Something just occurred to me," Sam said and then left.
As Dean and I walked down the sidewalk to the Impala. I got this strange feeling that someone was staring at me. So I looked around and spotted this guy who must've been older than Sam and Dean staring at me in a way that made my skin crawl.
Suddenly, Dean wrapped his jacket over my shoulders and got in the guy's face. "She's fourteen!"
The guy's eyes bulged out of his head. "What?!"
Then Dean put his hand on my back and ushered me faster toward the car.
"I hate this." I groaned.
"Me too. How 'bout we agree that you should stay fourteen for a few more years?" Dean asked.
I nodded. "Deal."
As we were about to cross the road, the kid who we saw being chased by the group of boys was now chasing the boys while they screamed.
"You better run!" the boy yelled and then stopped and stared at Dean. "You got a problem, mister?"
"What?" Dean asked, taken aback. "No."
The boy furrowed his brow and continued chasing after the boys.
Dean shook his head, and then the loudest stomach rumble I had ever heard emerged from his body. He grabbed his stomach and looked like he was about to throw up. "Uh, let's get outta here."
When we walked into the motel room, Dean ran to the bathroom and slammed the door. All I could hear for the next ten minutes was him throwing up. While I waited, I looked in the mirror at myself. The closer I looked at myself, I watched as wrinkles started to form around my eyes and then slowly the rest of my face. The color in my hair and eyes started fading.
I grabbed my face. "Oh, no. Oh, no. Stop."
"Maddison?" Dean asked through the door. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied. "What about you?"
"Oh, yeah. Just peachy," he said and then immediately went back to throwing up.
When I looked back in the mirror, I looked like I could be about eighty.
"Oh, god. Oh, no. This was the wish from Hell." I panicked.
Suddenly, my back cracked, and my hips popped, causing me to immediately drop to the ground.
"Dean!" I screamed.
He came charging out of the bathroom immediately. When he saw me, the rest of the color left his already pale face.
"Oh my god!" he yelled and ran over to me immediately. "This is insane."
"I know." I sighed in my now raspy voice. "Just help me up."
He nodded without saying anything and then scooped me up and sat me on the bed.
I smirked slightly.
Dean furrowed his brow and shook his head. "What?"
"It took everything I have in me to not say, 'help me, I've fallen, and I can't get up.'" I chuckled softly. "But I figured it was a bad time to make a joke."
Dean smiled slightly, worry in his eyes as he examined my face. "We need to fix this." Then his face turned a slight shade of green. "Oh, god." He put his hand up to his mouth and ran back into the bathroom.
I sighed loudly and looked down at my hands. I felt my throat tighten as I realized how stupid I was. With how fast this wish was changing, I could be dead in a few hours. I laid back and felt almost every bone in my body crack and pop.
As I laid there and thought about what I had done to myself, I pulled the covers over my head and fell asleep.
"Dean? You all right?" Sam's voice woke me, but I kept the blanket over my head.
I heard the bathroom door open after the toilet flushed. "The wishes turn bad, Sam. The wishes turn very bad."
"The sandwich, huh?" Sam asked, "Is she okay?"
"It's bad, man," Dean whispered.
"Maddi?" Sam asked as he shook my leg. "How ya doing?"
I groaned.
Sam chuckled. "That good, huh?"
"Don't laugh at me," I rasped.
"Can I see you, at least?" Sam asked.
I groaned again, but slowly pulled the covers down over my face.
I watched as Sam's smile slowly faded to worry, and then he quickly covered it up with a smile again. "Okay, it's not so bad."
"I know when you are lying, Samuel." I glared at him. "Just tell me I'm stupid and made a horrible mistake."
Sam shook his head. "You're not stupid. We will fix this."
Dean nodded. "The coin was Babylonian. It's cursed. I found some fragments of a legend." He started to gag and then covered his mouth. He took a deep breath and shook it off. "I'm good. The, uh— The serpent is Tiamat, which is the, uh, Babylonian God of Primordial Chaos. I guess their, uh, priests were working some serious black magic."
"They made the coin?" Sam asked.
Dean nodded. "Yeah, to sow the seeds of chaos. Whoever tosses a coin in the wishing well, makes a wish, it turns on the well. Then it starts granting wishes to all comers."
"But, the wishes get twisted." Sam shrugged. "You ask for a talking teddy—"
Dean nodded. "You get a bipolar nut job."
"And you turn into a grandma, and you get E-coli," Sam said.
Dean raised his eyebrows. "Mm-hmm. This thing has turned more than one town upside down over the centuries. It's even wiped a few off the map. I mean, one person gets their wish, it's trouble, but everybody gets their wish—"
"It's chaos," Sam said.
Dean nodded. "Mm-hmm."
"Any way to stop it?" Sam asked.
Dean nodded. "Yeah. One way. We got to find the first wisher. Whoever dropped the coin in and made the first wish, they're the only ones who can pull it back out and reverse the wishes. So, for now, we've got a couple of nutso dreams come true, but once the word gets out about the well, things are just gonna get crazier and crazier."
Dean had passed out while Sam and I did some research. The only problem was, I was having the worst time actually being able to read any of it.
"Find anything?" Sam asked, without looking up at me.
I cleared my throat. "Oh yeah, tons."
"Really?" he asked. "Let's hear it."
"Uh..." I frowned. "I gotta be honest, I can barely read any of this. It just all looks like blurry lines."
Sam laughed. "Why didn't you just say something?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. The whole reason I even made this wish was to be more helpful, and it went sour, and I'm even less helpful."
Sam sighed and looked at me sadly.
I shook my head. "Don't pity me with your puppy dog eyes. I already feel dumb enough as it is."
Sam laughed. "Oh, so, you're a sassy grandma now?"
I smirked. "Hell yeah. If I'm going to be this old, you better believe I'm going to be Estelle Getty."
Sam laughed and shook his head. "You're a goof."
Suddenly, Dean gasped, and his eyes started fluttering. Sam and I shared a look.
"Dean, wake up!" Sam shouted.
Dean shot up. "What? I'm up. What?"
"Sleep well?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." Dean picked up a whiskey sitting on the nightstand and took a swig. "Tan, rested, and ready."
Sam shook his head. "Dean, come on, man. You think we can't see it?"
"See what?" Dean asked.
"The nightmares, the drinking. We're with you 24/7. We know something's going on," Sam said.
Dean rolled his eyes. "Sam, please."
Sam shook his head. "Uriel wasn't lying, but you are. You remember Hell, don't you?"
"What do you want from me, huh?" Dean scoffed. "What?"
"The truth, Dean. I mean, we're your family. I—" Sam shrugged. "I just wish you'd talk to us."
Dean looked over at me. "Careful what you wish for."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Cute."
"Come on, can we stow the couples therapy, huh?" Dean asked. "We're on a job. Now a very important one." He pointed to me. "I want to work. What do you got? Please?"
Sam sighed as Dean started flipping through the newspapers in front of him. "We got teddy bear, uh, lottery guy, invisible pervert guy. They all must have wished sometime in the last two weeks. But who wished first, and how are we supposed to know who else wished for what when?"
"Well, it helps when they announce it in the paper." Dean held up an engagement announcement of the pretty girl and nerdy guy. "Goes back a month."
Sam took the paper out of Dean's hand. "Wesley Mondale and Ms. Hope Lynn Casey have announced their surprise engagement."
"Ah, true love," Dean said.
Sam chuckled. "Best lead we got."
We arrived at Wesley and Hope's house after picking up some clothes that were more age-appropriate and would fit me better.
When we rang the doorbell, Hope answered with a huge smile on her face. "Hi! How can I help you?!"
"Wesley called us to discuss the flower arrangements for your wedding." I smiled sweetly.
Hope's eyes widened with excitement. "He did? That's so sweet. Please... please come in." She ushered us to follow after her into the living room, where we found Wesley sitting on the couch watching TV. "Wes! You didn't tell me that you called the florists for the wedding."
Wesley looked up at us, confused. "Huh?"
"You're the best!" Hope leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "Ah! I'm gonna go get my folders." Then she ran off into another room.
"Uh, o— okay," Wesley said, still confused by the situation.
"Wesley, how's it going?" Dean asked, intimidatingly.
"It's We— Wes," Wes stuttered. "Aren't you the guys from the health department?"
I nodded. "They work for my flower shop on the side."
"Plus FBI. And on Thursdays, we're teddy bear doctors." Dean smiled.
Wes furrowed his brow. "Huh?"
Dean shook his head. "Doesn't matter who we are. What matters is what we know."
Sam spotted a glass cabinet next to Wes that was filled with coins. "So, coin collector, huh, Wes?"
Wes lit up with excitement a little bit. "Oh. Yeah. My... grandfather gave them to me."
"Did you happen to lose one of those coins lately?" Dean asked, "And by 'lose,' I mean drop into a wishing well at Lucky Chin's and make a wish on it?"
Wes shook his head nervously. "No, I— I don't know what you're, uh, talking about."
I rolled my eyes. "Don't lie to us, Wesley."
Hope came back, excited, with a stack of papers and folders. "Okay, now. I have a lot of ideas, but ya know, we don't have all the money in the world. Wes is between jobs right now. Means more time for me." She smiled lovingly at him and started flipping through some of the papers as she showed us. "Ya know, I'm thinking a Japanesey ikebana kind of thing."
Dean nodded with a smile. "Yes. I can see it."
"Yeah. So, Hope, uh, tell us how you two lovebirds met." Sam smiled.
Hope's smile and excitement grew. "Oh, best day of my life."
"I bet," Dean said sarcastically.
"Yeah!" Hope shouted happily. "It's the funniest thing. We both grew up here, but I never really knew who he was. Not by name anyway. Until one day last month, it was like I just—" She sighed. "I just saw him for the first time. He was just... glowing." She looked at him lovingly. "Oh, just glowing."
Wes shifted around in his seat, uncomfortably. "Uh, babe, can you— can you get us some coffee?"
"Yes. Yeah." Hope nodded happily and kissed Wes all over his face.
"Oh. Okay. Okay. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. Okay," Wes said as she kissed him like crazy.
"Yeah." Hope finally stopped and walked off.
"Wes, we know. So, tell us the truth," Sam said.
Wes sighed. "My— My grandfather found the coin in North Africa, ya know, World War II. And, uh, he brought it back. He, um, he said it was a real wish-granting coin, but that nobody should ever use it. Um... it was all I had, and when he died..." He shrugged. "I thought, 'Well, ya know what? Why not give the coin a shot?'"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, well, now you're gonna wish it back."
"Oh." Wes chuckled. "Oh. Ha. Ha, no, I'm not."
"Dude, yes you are," I said.
Wes furrowed his brow at me and shook his head.
"I'm fourteen..." I said.
Wes raised his eyebrows, shocked.
I nodded. "I need you to wish it back."
Dean nodded. "If you don't stop it, something bad's gonna happen."
Sam nodded. "Something bad. Like us."
"We really wish you'd come with us." Dean threatened as he pulled out his gun.
Wes's eyes widened, and he swallowed hard.
Wes reluctantly agreed to go with us to Lucky Chin's. Unfortunately, I had to sit in the back with him. It just irritated me to be so close to him, when he knew what he had caused, but didn't care enough or was too selfish to actually want to change everything back.
Wes shook his head with his arms crossed, pouting like a toddler. "I don't get it. So, my wish came true. Why does that have to be a bad thing?"
"Because the wishes go south, Wes. Your town is going insane," Sam said.
"Yeah, um, hi. Name... Maddison. Age... fourteen." I rolled my eyes. "Like I've already told you, I'm not supposed to be ninety, dude."
Wes shrugged. "So, you made a bad wish, that's not my fault. Why should I have to take back my wish 'cause other people didn't think it through before they tossed their coins into that fountain?"
"Come on." Dean scoffed. "You're gonna sit there and tell me that your relationship with Hope is functional? that it's what you wished for?"
"I wished she would love me more than anything," Wes said.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, and, uh, how is that going? That seem healthy to you?"
"Well, it's a hell of a lot better than when she didn't know I was alive," Wes snapped.
"You're not supposed to get what you want, man, not like this. Nobody is. That's what the coin does. It takes your heart's desires, and it twists it back on you," Dean explained, "You hear of the whole, uh, 'be careful what you wish for'?"
"'Careful what you wish for,'" Wes mocked and rolled his eyes. "Ya know who says that?" he asked. "Good-looking jerks like you guys, the ones who've got it so easy because you happen to be handsome."
"Easy?" Sam and Dean asked in unison.
Wes nodded. "Yeah. Women— Women look at you, right? They notice you."
Sam shook his head. "Believe us, we do not have it easy."
I nodded. "I don't think they've had a single day in their lives that they haven't been directly involved in some sort of tragedy."
Dean nodded. "We are miserable. We never get what we want. In fact, we have to fight tooth and nail just to keep whatever it is we got."
"But ya know what?" Sam asked. "Maybe that's the whole point, Wes."
Dean nodded. "Yeah, people are people 'cause they're miserable bastards, 'cause they never get what they really want."
"Yeah," I agreed, "The more you get, the more you want. No one will have everything they want or have everything easy."
Sam nodded. "Then you just get a whole lot of crazy."
"Take a look at Michael Jackson. Or Hasselhoff," Dean said.
"Ya know what? Hope loves me now... completely. And it's awesome. Besides, look around. Where's all this, uh, insanity you guys were talking about?" Wes asked, right before we spotted the boy who was being bullied, pick up a large SUV with his bare hands and pin his bullies between it and another car.
Dean nodded and pointed at the scene. "Well, that should cover it."
"Kneel before Todd! Kneel before Todd!" the boy yelled as he continued to tip the SUV toward the group of boys.
Dean opened his door and got out. "All right. I'll handle Todd. You two get Wes to Lucky Chin's."
Sam nodded and slid over to the driver's seat. "Right."
Dean slammed the door and ran off to Todd, and Wes leaned over the front seat in disbelief as he watched the kid continue to move the SUV.
Sam quickly drove us over to Lucky Chin's, and we all piled out of the car.
"That— That— That kid turned over that car like... like it was nothing," Wes said, still looking over in Todd's direction in disbelief.
"You should have seen the teddy bear," Sam said as he walked around the front of the Impala and pointed to the restaurant. "Now, come on. Fun's over. Time to pull the coin."
Wes looked down, shaking his head, and sighed.
"Wes!" Sam shouted.
"Well, why can't we just get what we want?!" Wes shouted back.
Sam sighed. "Because that's life, Wes." As he stepped forward to try and usher Wes into the restaurant, he was knocked out of his shoes by a lightning strike, which landed him on the ground, unmoving.
"Sam!" I ran to him as fast as my new, old body allowed.
Wes stepped over his head and quickly walked into the restaurant.
"Wesley! Fix this!" I shouted as I put Sam's head in my hands and checked his non-existent pulse. I shook Sam. "Sammy... please wake up..." As I tried to reposition myself next to him, my back gave out, and I ended up flat on my back. "Damn it!" I flipped off the sky just because I was pissed off at the world. "Screw this!"
I tried multiple times to sit up, but my body just wouldn't let me. Then this strange sensation came over my body. I was starting to feel better, my breathing was becoming easier, the pain in my joints was going away, and my vision began to clear.
I sat up next to Sam and looked down at my hands, which were now my small, wrinkle-free hands again. I grabbed my hair and looked at it, it wasn't gray anymore, and it was soft again.
Then Sam gasped and sat up immediately. "It worked." He smiled. "It's you. You're you again."
"Yeah." I nodded. "And you're alive."
We hugged quickly and then stood up as Hope walked out of the restaurant, looking totally confused. Wes walked out a moment later and handed Sam the coin sadly without saying anything and then walked away.
Dean and I sat on a bench by the pier as he flipped through a newspaper, and I read over his shoulder. The top headline was Winning Lottery Ticket A Fake. I looked up to see Audrey walk past us with a normal-sized teddy bear in her hands and a bandage holding its stuffing in its head. Two very sunburnt people, who I could only assume were her parents back from their vacation, were trailing miserably behind her. She waved to us with a huge smile on her face, and we nodded back at her.
Sam walked over to us. "Well, uh, coins melted down. It shouldn't cause any more problems."
Dean nodded. "Audrey's parents are back from Bali. Looks like all the wishes are gone. And so are we."
As we started walking toward the Impala, Dean stopped. "Hang on a second."
Sam furrowed his brow. "What?"
"You were right," Dean said.
Sam shook his head. "About what?"
"I shouldn't have lied to you guys." Dean nodded. "I do remember everything that happened to me in the pit. Everything."
I could see the pain and torture of the memories in his eyes.
"So, tell us about it," Sam said sympathetically.
Dean shook his head. "No."
Sam furrowed his brow. "Uh—"
Dean shook his head. "I won't lie anymore. But I'm not gonna talk about it."
Sam sighed. "Dean, look, you can't just shoulder this thing alone. You got to let us help."
"How? Do you really think that a little heart-to-heart, some sharing and caring, is gonna change anything?" Dean asked. "Hmm? Somehow... heal me? I'm not talking about a bad day here."
Sam nodded. "I know that."
"The things that I saw... there aren't words. There is no forgetting. There's no making it better. Because it is right here..." Dean tapped his head. "Forever. You wouldn't understand. And I could never make you understand. So, I'm sorry." He put his head down with tears in his eyes and continued walking to the Impala.