March 29th - April 1st, 2006
I was lying in bed reading Harry Potter, Sam was sitting on the other bed drawing, and Dean was trying to find a case on his laptop. Sam had been acting weird all morning. He was fidgety and distant.
Dean broke the silence, "All right. I've been cruisin' some websites. I think I found a few candidates for our next gig. A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali... its crew vanished. And, uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas." He stopped and looked at Sam, who was viciously drawing. "Hey," Dean said, causing Sam to look up finally. "Am I boring you with this hunting evil stuff?"
"No. I'm listening. Keep going," Sam said and went back to drawing.
"And, here, a Sacramento man shot himself in the head. Three times." Dean stopped again and waved his hands around, trying to get Sam's attention. "Any of these things blowin' up your skirt, pal?"
I got up and sat next to Sam on his bed to see what he was drawing; it was a tree with no leaves.
"Wait. I've seen this," Sam said suddenly and got up.
"Seen what?" Dean asked.
Sam walked over and started searching through his duffel bag for something.
Dean glanced over at me with concern in his eyes, which I reciprocated. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Sam pulled Dad's journal out of his bag and plopped it on the bed next to me. He pulled a family photo out of Dad, Dean, himself, and their mom. He compared the tree he had drawn to the tree in the background of the picture.
"Dean, I know where we have to go next," Sam said, looking up at Dean.
"Where?" Dean asked.
"Back home... back to Kansas," Sam said very seriously.
Dean scoffed. "Okay, random. Where'd that come from?"
Sam walked over and showed Dean the family photo. "All right, um, this photo was taken in front of our old house, right? The house where Mom died?"
"Yeah." Dean looked up, confused.
"And it didn't burn down, right? I mean, not completely, they rebuilt it, right?" Sam asked.
Dean shrugged. "I guess so, yeah. What the hell are you talkin' about?"
"Okay, look, this is gonna sound crazy, but... the people who live in our old house... I think they might be in danger," Sam said.
"Why would you think that?" Dean asked.
"Uh... it's just, um... look, just trust me on this, okay?" Sam said and started packing his duffel bag.
"Wait, whoa, whoa, trust you?" Dean got up and walked over to Sam.
"Yeah," Sam said.
Dean shook his head, confused. "Come on, man, that's weak. You gotta give me a little bit more than that."
"I can't really explain it is all." Sam shrugged and continued packing.
"Well, tough. I'm not goin' anywhere until you do." Dean waited expectantly.
Sam sighed. "I have these nightmares."
Dean nodded. "I've noticed."
"And sometimes... they come true," Sam said.
Dean and I were both stunned by what he had just said.
"Come again?" Dean asked.
"Look, Dean... I dreamt about Jessica's death... for days before it happened," Sam explained.
"Sam, people have weird dreams, man. I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Dean said and sat down on the bed.
"No, I dreamt about the blood dripping, her on the ceiling, the fire, everything, and I didn't do anything about it 'cause I didn't believe it. And now I'm dreaming about that tree, about our house, and about some woman inside screaming for help," Sam explained, "I mean, that's where it all started, man, this has to mean something, right?" he asked.
Dean cleared his throat. "I don't know."
Sam sat on the other bed across from Dean. "What do you mean you don't know, Dean? This woman might be in danger. I mean, this might even be the thing that killed Mom and Jessica!"
"All right, just slow down, would ya?" Dean stood up and started pacing. "I mean, first you tell me that you've got the Shining? And then you tell me that I've gotta go back home? Especially when..."
"When what?" Sam asked.
"When I swore to myself that I would never go back there," Dean said, choked up.
"Look, Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure," Sam said softly.
"I know we do." Dean nodded sadly.
We packed our things in silence and hit the road for Kansas. The drive was very somber, but I was kind of excited to see where my brothers grew up even if it was for a short time. I had been on the road since I was a baby, so the idea of having a normal family, in a normal house, in a normal neighborhood always intrigued me a little.
After a few hours, we passed by a sign that read, Lawrence and we soon pulled up in front of a house with the same tree Sam had been drawing. There were toys and a bike on the front lawn. Dean shut off the Impala and stared at the house.
"You gonna be all right, man?" Sam asked, concerned.
"Let me get back to you on that," Dean said.
We got out and walked up to the front door. After we knocked, a young blonde woman answered the door with a confused expression on her face.
"Yes?" she asked.
Dean nodded. "Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but we—"
Sam cut in, "I'm Sam Winchester, this is my brother, Dean, and our little sister Maddison. We used to live here. Ya know, we were just driving by, and we were wondering if we could come see the old place."
The woman smiled. "Winchester. Yeah, that's so funny. Ya know, I think I found some of your photos the other night."
"You did?" Dean asked.
She nodded. "Come on in. I'm Jenny, by the way."
We walked into a kitchen where a girl my age was sitting at the dining room table doing homework, and a toddler was jumping up and down in a playpen yelling for juice.
"That's Richie. He's kind of a juice junkie." Jenny pulled a sippy cup out of the refrigerator and walked it over to him. "But, hey, at least he won't get scurvy," she joked and then walked over to her daughter. "Sari, this is Sam, Dean, and Maddison. They used to live here."
"Hi," Sari said shyly.
Dean waved.
"Hey, Sari," Sam said.
"So, you just moved in?" Dean asked.
Jenny nodded. "Yeah, from Wichita."
"You got family here, or...?" Dean asked.
Jenny shook her head. "No. I just, uh... needed a fresh start, that's all. So, new town, new job... I mean, as soon as I find one. New house."
"So, how you likin' it so far?" Sam asked.
"Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home... I mean, I'm sure you had lots of happy memories here... but this place has its issues," Jenny said.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"Well, it's just getting old. Like the wiring, ya know? We've got flickering lights almost hourly." Jenny gestured to the lights.
"Oh, that's too bad. What else?" Dean asked.
"Um... sinks backed up. There's rats in the basement..." Jenny paused. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain."
Dean shook his head. "No. Have you seen the rats, or have you just heard scratching?"
"It's just the scratching, actually," Jenny said.
"Mom?" Sari asked, and Jenny knelt next to her. "Ask them if it was here when they lived here."
"What, Sari?" Sam asked.
"The thing in my closet," Sari said.
"Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets." Jenny looked up for help. "Right?"
"Right. No, no, of course not." Sam shook his head.
"She had a nightmare the other night," Jenny said.
"I wasn't dreaming. It came into my bedroom... and it was on fire," Sari said.
Sam and Dean exchanged looks, and Jenny cleared her throat uncomfortably.
She decided to take us on a tour of the house because she didn't want Sari to become anymore upset.
After Jenny walked us to the front door, we headed for the car.
"You hear that? A figure on fire," Sam said.
"And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?" Dean asked.
"Yeah. And you hear what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of a malevolent spirit," Sam said.
"Yeah, well, I'm just freaked out that your weirdo visions are comin' true," Dean said.
"Well, forget about that for a minute. The thing in the house, do you think it's the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?" Sam sounded panicked.
"I don't know!" Dean yelled.
"Well, I mean, has it come back, or has it been here the whole time?" Sam asked.
"Or maybe it's something else entirely, Sam, we don't know yet," Dean said, frustrated.
"Well, those people are in danger, Dean. We have to get them out of that house," Sam said, pointing up to the house.
"And we will," Dean said.
"No, I mean now," Sam said, urgently.
"And how you gonna do that, huh? You got a story that she's gonna believe?" Dean got in the car and slammed the door.
Sam and I got in too.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Sam asked.
Dean didn't say anything and just started driving.
We stopped at a gas station, and Dean got out to fill up the tank, Sam got out too. Sam's duffel bag was sitting next to me in the backseat, I unzipped it and found his family photo. I felt guilty for going through his things, but I wanted to see how happy they were. I didn't have any family photos of my own, and they all looked so genuinely happy it made me wish that I had something like that.
I heard Dean take the gas cap off. "We just gotta chill out, that's all. Ya know, if this was any other kind of job, what would we do?"
Sam sighed. "We'd try to figure out what we were dealing with. We'd dig into the history of the house."
"Exactly, except this time, we already know what happened," Dean said.
"Yeah, but how much do we know? I mean, how much do you actually remember?" Sam asked.
"About that night, you mean?" Dean asked.
"Yeah," Sam said.
"Not much. I remember the fire... the heat." Dean paused for a moment. "And then I carried you out the front door."
"You did?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, what, you never knew that?" Dean asked.
"No," Sam said.
"And, uh... well, you know Dad's story as well as I do. Mom was— was on the ceiling. And whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her," Dean said.
"And he never had a theory about what did it?" Sam asked.
"If he did, he kept it to himself. God knows we asked him enough times," Dean said.
"Okay. So, if we're gonna figure out what's going on now... we have to figure out what happened back then. And see if it's the same thing," Sam said.
"Yeah. We'll talk to Dad's friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time," Dean said.
Sam sighed. "Does this feel like just another job to you?"
Dean didn't say anything for a while. "I'll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom." He walked off around the corner to the front of the gas station.
Sam got back into the car, and I quickly tucked the picture back where it was and zipped up the duffel bag.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked.
"Uh... I'm sorry. I just... uh. I wanted to see your family photo. You all looked so happy," I said, looking down at my feet.
"Why are you sorry? It's fine," Sam said.
I looked up at him. "Your mom was so pretty. She looked like such a nice lady."
"I don't really remember, but the way Dad and Dean talk about her, she definitely was." Sam smiled softly.
"I wish that she was my mom too." I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
Sam got out of the car and into the back seat. "What's going on with you?" He wiped the tear from my face.
"'Cause then I would have a mom that actually wanted me." I started to cry.
Sam pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head. "Why would you say that?"
"Because... because." I couldn't get it out.
Sam rubbed my back. "Shh, it's okay. You don't have to say anything now."
The car door opened and slammed shut.
"What's going on? Is she okay?" Dean asked, concerned.
I pulled away from Sam and wiped my tears. "Yeah, I'm okay." I sniffled.
I looked over at Dean, who looked like he also might've been crying. He gave Sam a look.
"If she doesn't want to talk about it right now. I'm not gonna force her," Sam said, getting out of the car and back into his usual seat.
Dean gave me one last glance before starting the car.
We pulled up to an auto repair shop and parked in the parking lot. Sam and Dean knew that Dad used to own the garage with his friend, so they wanted to find him. Before they got out, they searched the glove compartment for badges.
"All right, Maddi. We'll be right back. Are you gonna be okay?" Dean asked, still looking concerned.
I nodded, and then they got out. I watched as they walked by a sign that read, Guenther's Auto Repair. While I waited, I decided to read more of my book. They returned after a few minutes.
"Get any information?" I asked as I closed my book and put it away.
"Apparently, Dad used to go to a palm reader," Dean said.
"Really? It doesn't seem like Dad would buy into something like that," I said, surprised.
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," Dean said.
Dean drove until we found a payphone. We all got out, and Sam started searching through the phone book for any psychic in the book. Dean was leaning against the driver's door, and I was sitting on the hood of the Impala.
"All right, so there are a few psychics and palm readers in town. There's someone named El Divino. There's, uh..." Sam laughed. "there's the Mysterious Mister Fortinsky. Uh, Missouri Moseley..."
Dean shook his head and furrowed his brow. "Wait, wait. Missouri Moseley?"
"What?" Sam asked, confused.
"That's a psychic?" Dean asked.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so," Sam said.
Dean opened the back door and pulled out Dad's journal. "In Dad's journal... here, look at this." He opened the first page. "First page, first sentence, read that."
Sam read from the journal, "'I went to Missouri, and I learned the truth.'"
Dean shrugged. "I always thought he meant the state."
"Let's go then," Sam said.
We pulled up to a quaint little house and got out. The door had an OPEN sign on it, so we walked in, we could hear people talking in the back, and there was a sign pointing to a sitting area that said, Please Wait. So, we did just that.
After a few moments, a woman with a sweet soft voice walked a man out of the back room. "All right, there. Don't you worry 'bout a thing. Your wife is crazy about you." The man thanked her and then she closed the door behind him. "Whew. Poor bastard... his woman is cold-bangin' the gardener." She turned to us.
"Why didn't you tell him?" Dean chuckled.
"People don't come here for the truth. They come for good news," she said, "Well? Sam, Dean, Maddison, come on already, I ain't got all day." She left the room, and we all stared at each other.
We got up and followed Missouri into the back room, she had beads hanging from the doorway, and when we walked in, she was smiling at us.
"Well, lemme look at ya." She laughed. "Oh, you boys grew up handsome." Then she pointed to Dean. "And you were one goofy-lookin' kid, too."
Sam laughed.
"And Miss Maddison... you're a beautiful little thing, aren't you?" Missouri tapped me on the nose. Then she turned her attention to Sam. "Sam." She grabbed his hand, and her expression changed. "Oh, honey... I'm sorry about your girlfriend."
We were all shocked.
Missouri continued, "And your father... he's missin'?"
"How'd you know all that?" Sam asked.
"Well, you were just thinkin' it just now," Missouri said.
"Well, where is he? Is he okay?" Dean asked.
"I don't know," Missouri said softly.
"Don't know? Well, you're supposed to be a psychic, right?" Dean said.
She raised an eyebrow at Dean and put her hand on her hip. "Boy, you see me sawin' some bony tramp in half? You think I'm a magician? I may be able to read thoughts and sense energies in a room, but I can't just pull facts out of thin air." She stared at him for a moment. "Sit, please."
Sam and I tried to hold back laughter, and we all sat down on a sofa across from her.
Missouri suddenly snapped at Dean, "Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table, I'm 'a whack you with a spoon!"
"I didn't do anything," Dean said.
"But you were thinkin' about it," she said.
I smirked at Dean, and he made a confused face back.
"Okay. So, our Dad... when did you first meet him?" Sam asked.
"He came for a reading, a few days after the fire. I just told him what was really out there in the dark. I guess you could say... I drew back the curtains for him," Missouri told us.
"What about the fire? Do you know about what killed our mom?" Dean asked.
"A little. Your daddy took me to your house. He was hopin' I could sense the echoes, the fingerprints of this thing," she said.
"And could you?" Sam asked.
"I..." She shook her head.
"What was it?" Sam asked.
Missouri softened her voice, "I don't know. Oh, but it was evil."
"So... you think somethin' is back in that house?" she asked.
Sam nodded. "Definitely."
Missouri shook her head. "I don't understand."
"What?" Sam asked.
"I haven't been back inside, but I've been keepin' an eye on the place, and it's been quiet. No sudden deaths, no freak accidents. Why is it actin' up now?" she asked.
Sam sighed. "I don't know. But Dad going missing and Jessica dying, and now this house all happening at once... it just feels like something's starting."
"That's a comforting thought," Dean said.
"Why don't we go there now?" Missouri suggested.
Sam nodded, and we all got up and left. Missouri sat in the back with me as we made our way to Jenny's house.
We pulled up in front of the house and got out. When we reached the door, Dean knocked. Jessica came to the door, holding Richie a few seconds later.
"Sam, Dean. What are you doing here?" Jenny asked, sounding slightly distraught.
"Hey, Jenny. This is our friend, Missouri," Sam said, stepping aside to reveal Missouri.
"If it's not too much trouble, we were hoping to show her the old house. Ya know, for old time's sake," Dean said.
"Ya know, this isn't a good time. I'm kind of busy," Jenny said as she went to close the door.
"Listen, Jenny, it's important—" Dean said, but Missouri smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!"
"Give the poor girl a break, can't you see she's upset?" Missouri scolded, then she turned her attention to Jenny. "Forgive this boy, he means well, he's just not the sharpest tool in the shed, but hear me out."
"About what?" Jenny asked.
"About this house," Missouri said.
"What are you talking about?" Jenny asked.
"I think you know what I'm talking about. You think there's something in this house, something that wants to hurt your family. Am I mistaken?" Missouri said.
"Who are you?" Jenny asked.
"We're people who can help, who can stop this thing. But you're gonna have to trust us, just a little," Missouri said.
Jenny looked unsure at first, but let us in any way. Missouri looked around the house and eventually led us up to one of the bedrooms. The room was obviously Sari's.
Missouri looked around. "If there's a dark energy around here, this room should be the center of it."
"Why?" Sam asked.
"This used to be your nursery, Sam. This is where it all happened," she said.
Sam looked at the ceiling, and Dean pulled out an EMF meter.
"That an EMF?" Missouri asked.
"Yeah," Dean said.
"Amateur." She scoffed.
Dean glared at her and then showed Sam and me that the EMF was going crazy.
"I don't know if you boys should be disappointed or relieved, but this ain't the thing that took your mom," Missouri said, still wandering around the room.
"Wait, are you sure?" Sam asked.
She nodded.
Sam walked over to her. "How do you know?"
"It isn't the same energy I felt the last time I was here. It's somethin' different," Missouri said.
"What is it?" Dean asked.
"Not it." She opened the closet. "Them. There's more than one spirit in this place."
"What are they doing here?" Dean asked.
"They're here because of what happened to your family... you see, all those years ago, real evil came to you. It walked this house. That kind of evil leaves wounds. And sometimes, wounds get infected," Missouri explained.
Sam shook his head. "I don't understand."
"This place is a magnet for paranormal energy. It's attracted a poltergeist... a nasty one... and it won't rest until Jenny and her babies are dead," Missouri said.
"You said there was more than one spirit," Sam said.
She nodded. "There is. I just can't quite make out the second one."
"Well, one thing's for damn sure... nobody's dyin' in this house ever again. So, whatever is here, how do we stop it?" Dean asked, very seriously.
"We have to go back to my house; I need a few things," Missouri said.
We walked down to Jenny and explained what was going on, and she seemed quick to believe us. Missouri explained that we had to go gather a few things from her house, but that we would be back.
Missouri was pulling different herbs, oils, and other things off her shelves and placing them on her table.
"So, what is all this stuff, anyway?" Dean asked.
"Angelica Root, Van Van oil, crossroad dirt, a few other odds and ends," Missouri answered.
"Yeah? What are we supposed to do with it?" Dean asked.
"We're gonna put them inside the walls in the north, south, east, west corners on each floor of the house," she said.
"We'll be punchin' holes in the drywall... Jenny's gonna love that." Dean looked over at Sam.
"She'll live," Missouri answered slyly.
"And this'll destroy the spirits?" Sam asked.
"It should." She nodded. "It should purify the house completely. We'll each take a floor. But we work fast. Once the spirits realize what we're up to, things are gonna get bad."
We made small pouches of Missouri's magical mixture, and we headed back to Jenny's.
Dean turned to me. "Maddi, it sounds like it's going to get dangerous, I want you to—"
"Honey, she's gonna come in anyway," Missouri interrupted, "Don't waste your breath."
Dean glared at her and then got out of the car, we all followed after him. Missouri explained what we needed to do and said she would handle Jenny.
Jenny answered the door, and Missouri explained what was going on, and she managed to convince Jenny to leave the house with the kids.
"If you're gonna be in here, you're gonna be attached to my hip." Dean looked at me, sternly.
"Why can't I go with Sammy?" I asked, trying to mess with him.
"'Cause if you're with me, at least I can keep an eye on one of you," Dean said.
Sam gave Dean a dirty look and went upstairs, Missouri went to the basement, and Dean and I went into the kitchen.
Dean moved the blender out of the way and then used his ax to start breaking a hole in the wall. Suddenly I heard a drawer creak open. When I turned around, knives were floating in the air, pointing directly at us.
"Dean!" I yelled.
He turned around and ducked just before a knife came flying right for him, causing him to drop one of Missouri's bags. I picked it up and tossed it into the hole he had created in the wall, then he grabbed me and flipped the dining room table in front of us so we could hide behind it. A second later, about six knives stabbed through the table.
"Quick, let's go find Sam!" Dean yelled, "Run!"
I ran as fast as I could to Sari's room and saw Sam lying on the ground with a cord to a lamp wrapped around his neck.
I ran over to him and tried to pull it off, but it was too strong. "Dean!"
Dean ran in. "Sam!"
I moved to the side so that Dean could pull it off, but he couldn't either. He stood up and kicked a hole in the wall where Sam had started making one and then tossed the bag in. A blinding white light filled the room and then vanished. Sam coughed, and I pulled the cord off his neck, Dean came over, pulled Sam up, and gave him a fierce hug.
Dean helped Sam stand up. "We have to find Missouri."
I hugged Sam, who gave me a big hug back, and then we followed Dean all the way downstairs to the basement. When we found Missouri, she was pushing a desk away from herself, it looked like she had been pinned against the wall. Dean ran over to her and helped move the desk away.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Peachy," Missouri said, out of breath.
We all walked back upstairs to the kitchen and just stared around at the mess, stuff had been ripped out of the cabinets and food was spilled all over the floor from the fridge.
"You sure this is over?" Sam asked.
"I'm sure. Why?" Missouri looked at Sam curiously. "Why do you ask?"
"Never mind." Sam sighed and shrugged. "It's nothin', I guess."
We heard the door open, and Jenny's voice, "Hello? We're home." She walked into the kitchen and looked around in shock. "What happened?"
"Hi, sorry. Um, we'll pay for all of this," Sam said, gesturing to the room.
"Don't you worry. Dean's gonna clean up this mess," Missouri said.
Dean didn't move.
"Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Get the mop," Missouri snapped at Dean.
He started to walk out of the room angrily.
"And don't cuss at me!" Missouri yelled at him.
When Dean walked by me, I could hear him muttering something angrily, under his breath.
We had stayed at Jenny's until it was dark, both cleaning up and telling her about everything that had happened. She was very thankful for all our help, and then we said our goodbyes and left.
Dean drove Missouri back to her house, and we got out to say goodbye. She hugged Sam and whispered something to him and then did the same for Dean. Then she came over and hugged me.
"You're destined for great things, Miss Maddison. You just have to make sure you follow the right path." Missouri kissed me on the cheek and turned toward her house.
We all started to get into the car when she turned back around.
"And you shouldn't be so sad about your mom. There's much more to that story than you may ever understand." Missouri winked at me and continued walking to her house.
I looked at Sam and Dean and then quickly got into the car, not wanting to talk about it. They both got in shortly after.
"I think we need to go back to Jenny's," Sam said.
"What? Why?" Dean asked, confused.
"Something feels wrong," Sam said, ominously.
"What now?" Dean asked.
"Just trust me," Sam said.
"All right, so, tell me again, what are we still doin' here?" Dean asked after we pulled up to the house.
"I don't know. I just... I still have a bad feeling," Sam said.
"Why? Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing, the house should be clean, it should be over," Dean said.
"Yeah, well, probably. But I just wanna make sure, that's all," Sam said.
"Yeah, well, problem is I could be sleeping in a bed right now." Dean slid down in his seat and closed his eyes.
"Dean. Look, Dean!" Sam yelled.
We looked out of the window up to the house, and Jenny was pounding her fists against the glass screaming.
"Maddison, stay here! I'm not kidding!" Dean yelled, and then they both got out and ran toward the house.
"You grab the kids, I'll get Jenny!" Dean yelled to Sam.
I got out of the car and stood on the lawn, waiting for my brothers to come out. Dean and Jenny ran out a few minutes later. He stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders while we waited for Sam and the kids to come out. Sari finally ran out, with Richie in her arms.
Dean ran over to Sari and knelt in front of her. "Sari, where's Sam?"
"He's inside. Something's got him." Sari cried and ran to her mother.
Dean ran over to the Impala and grabbed an ax and a shotgun out of the trunk, and then he ran to the house.
"Dean!" I yelled.
"Maddison! Stay with Jenny!" he yelled back and then started breaking down the door.
Once he broke through, he ran in, and I started freaking out. I started pacing and couldn't stop staring at the house.
"Maddison, honey. Come here," Jenny called over to me with her hand out for me to hold.
I looked at her clinging to her family and couldn't take it anymore, so I ran for the house.
"Maddison!" Jenny yelled.
It was too late, I had already run through the hole Dean had created. I ran to the kitchen where I could hear Sam and Dean. I saw a flaming figure walking toward Sam, who was pinned against the wall by an invisible force and Dean, who was pointing his shotgun at it.
"No, don't! Don't!" Sam yelled at Dean.
"What, why?!" Dean yelled back.
"Because I know who it is. I can see her now," Sam said, choked up.
The fire suddenly vanished, and it was her, just like in the pictures, it was Mary.
"Mom?" Dean asked, his voice cracking.
"Dean." She walked forward and put her hand on his cheek.
"Sam." Mary walked over to Sam and wiped a tear from his face.
I slowly walked up behind Dean and put my hand in his. Mary saw me and smiled. She was so beautiful.
She turned her attention back to Sam and Dean. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Sam asked her.
Mary looked at him sadly but didn't say anything.
She turned around and looked up at the ceiling. "You get out of my house. And let go of my son." Then she burst into flames once again.
She floated up and disappeared into the ceiling, the house creaked loudly, and then Sam was suddenly released. The house instantly felt calm, like a weight was lifted from it.
Sam nodded tearfully. "Now, it's over."
We walked out of the house to Jenny.
"I'm so sorry, she just ran off," she told Dean apologetically.
"It's not your fault. Don't worry about it," Dean said, pulling me to his side and rubbing my shoulder.
We parted ways, and Sam called ahead to make sure there was a room open at the closest motel. Once we got there, we went in and got ready to get some rest. I got into my pjs and covered myself up with a blanket on the couch.
"Before you go to sleep, we want to talk to you about something," Dean said.
I sat up quickly. "I'm sorry I went into the house. I just... I saw Jenny with her family, and all I could think about was you guys. I—"
Sam shook his head. "Maddi... Maddi. It's not about that."
"See, Sammy here told me why you were upset," Dean said.
"We just wanted to make sure you were okay. We never knew that you felt that way," Sam said.
"Well, Dad didn't even know I was alive until my mom tracked him down and left me with you guys. She didn't want me, that's why she tried so hard to find him." I shrugged. "I mean... I'm happy she did, but I just wish I knew her, ya know?"
They looked at me sadly.
"I've always thought of your mom as mine, 'cause she's the only mom I've ever known. You can see how happy she was to be your mom," I said, "She has always been what a mother means to me. I don't know any different."
They both nodded.
"The thing that hurts me the most, though, is that I feel like there's a wedge between us 'cause we have different moms." I looked down sadly, letting a tear roll down my face.
Sam came over and sat on the couch next to me, and Dean sat down on the coffee table in front of me.
Dean put his hands on my face, lifting my head up so he could look into my eyes. "You've always been our little sister, nothing less. You. Are. Our baby sis. I don't care how much blood we share. Do you understand me?"
I nodded and stood up to give him a hug, he returned my hug and rubbed my back. Then I sat back down next to Sam, who put his arm around me.
"And maybe Missouri is right about your mom, maybe there is more to the story," Sam said.
I shrugged. "Yeah, maybe. I don't know if I care enough about her to find out, though."
"Well, I'm not sure your mom would have tried so hard to find Dad if she didn't at least care about you," Sam said.
I nodded. That was something I had never thought about before, she could've just left me anywhere. Sam and Dean looked at me with concerned expressions, but I weakly smiled at them, so they both got up.
Dean put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. "All right, enough with the emotional stuff."
We all laughed, and then they gave me a goodnight kiss on the forehead and then walked over to their beds.
"You sure you're gonna be all right?" Dean asked for good measure before turning off the lights.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said.
The next morning, we went back to Jenny's with Missouri just to make sure the malevolent spirit was definitely gone. Sam was sitting on the front porch while Dean and I waited by the car for Missouri to finish checking over the house. Jenny came out with a small box and handed it to Dean. He looked through the box and pulled out old family photos.
Dean smiled at Jenny. "Thanks for these."
Jenny smiled back. "Don't thank me, they're yours.
Dean opened the back door and put the photo box in the car.
Missouri joined Sam on the steps, and they talked for a minute before Dean called to Sam, "Sam, you ready?"
Sam nodded and walked over to the car. Missouri followed behind.
"Don't you kids be strangers," Missouri said.
"We won't." Dean nodded, and we all got into the Impala.
"See you around." She smiled.
"Thank you!" Jenny yelled, and then she and Missouri waved to us as we pulled away.