January 28th - January 29th, 2008
I jolted awake as Heat of the Moment by Asia blared on the radio. I stretched and sat up to see Sam had also just woke up. The clock said it was 6 o'clock, and I was already ready to go back to sleep.
Dean, oddly enough, was the first one up and was already dressed and tying his shoes. "Rise and shine, sleepyheads!"
"Dude. Asia?" Sam asked groggily.
I rubbed my eyes and yawned. "Yeah, what's going on?"
"Come on. You guys love this song, and you know it." Dean smiled.
Sam stretched. "Yeah, and if I ever hear it again, I'm gonna kill myself."
Dean turned up the radio. "What? Sorry, couldn't hear you."
Sam and I laughed, while Dean danced along to the music.
We eventually got up and started getting ready ourselves, but when we tried to use the bathroom to brush our teeth, Dean decided he also needed to.
As Sam, Dean, and I crammed together to use the sink, Dean started gargling mouthwash, loud and obnoxiously.
I groaned and spit out my toothpaste. "Couldn't you have done this earlier? I mean, you were up and dressed before us."
Dean spat out his mouthwash and smiled at me. "Nope."
I rolled my eyes, and Sam just ignored the whole thing.
A few minutes later, Sam and I were sitting on one of the beds, with our jackets and shoes on, waiting for Dean, who was rummaging through his bag.
Sam sighed. "Whenever you're ready, Dean."
Dean pulled out a large black bra and held it out to Sam. "This yours?"
Sam glared at him.
Dean laughed and continued rummaging until he pulled out his gun. "Bingo." He walked past us to the door and smiled. "Now, who's ready for some breakfast?"
I stood up. "I was about ten minutes ago."
The doors chimed as we walked into the diner.
As we walked past the cash register, the cashier was handing an older man some change. "Drive safely now, Mr. Pickett."
"Yeah, yeah," Mr. Pickett mumbled and walked out.
Once we found a booth and sat down, the cook yelled, "Order up!"
"Can't stay unless you order something, Cal. You know the rules," a waitress said to a customer sitting at the front counter.
He placed a pile of change on the counter. "Some coffee."
Dean elbowed me and pointed to a poster next to me on the wall. "Hey. Tuesday. Pig n' a poke."
I raised my eyebrows and nodded, not thinking that it sounded that appetizing.
"You even know what that is?" Sam asked.
The waitress from the front counter walked up to us. I could see that her name tag said, Doris. "You kids ready?
Dean nodded. "Yes. I'll have the special, side of bacon and a coffee."
She wrote down Dean's order and looked up at Sam.
"Make it two coffees and a short stack," Sam said.
She nodded and wrote down the order, then looked up at me. "And for you, young lady?"
"I'll have a chocolate chip pancake, a side of bacon, and orange juice, please," I said.
Doris winked at me. "You got it." Then she walked away, writing the order as she left.
"I'm telling you, Sam, this job is small fry. We should be spending our time hunting down Bela," Dean said.
"Okay, sure, let's get right on that. Where is she again?" Sam asked.
"Shut up," Dean said.
"Look. Believe me, I want to find her as bad as you do. In the meantime, we have this." Sam pulled out some papers.
Dean grabbed the newspaper clipping closer to him. "All right, so this professor."
The clipping read, Missing: Dexter Hassleback Last Seen in Boward, Florida.
"Dexter Hasselback was passing through town last week when he vanished," Sam explained.
"Last known location?" Dean asked.
"His daughter says he was on his way to visit the Broward County Mystery Spot," Sam said.
Dean flipped through the piles of paper and pulled out a flyer that read Broward County Mystery Spot. He turned it over, revealing that the back had a bunch of weird symbols all over it and he read, "'Where the laws of physics have no meaning.'"
Sam shrugged, and then Doris appeared with a tray with our drinks and a bottle of hot sauce.
"Two coffees black and an orange juice." She handed them out and reached back up for the hot sauce. "And some hot sauce for the—" She gasped as the bottle fell off of the tray and smashed onto the ground. "Whoops. Crap! Sorry." She turned back to the counter. "Cleanup!"
A teenage boy ran over and started cleaning.
A few minutes later, Doris brought out our food. After she put our food down and left, I looked down at my food with excitement but was disappointed.
"Aw, man. No chocolate chips." I frowned.
"Aw no. Want me to say something?" Dean asked as he started shoveling food into his mouth.
I shrugged. "It's not a big deal, I'll still be eating pancakes," I said as I bit into a piece of crispy bacon. "And bacon," I added with a smirk.
Dean smirked. "That's my girl."
After we finished, we left and made our way down the sidewalk, back to the Impala. We walked past a barking German Shepherd. He was so cute. I let him sniff my hand and pet him a little bit, but I quickly ran off to catch up with Sam and Dean.
Dean snatched the Mystery Spot flyer from Sam's hands. "Joints like this are only tourist traps, right? I mean, you know, balls rolling uphill, furniture nailed to the ceiling, they're only dangerous to your wallet."
"Okay, look, I'm just saying, there are spots in the world where holes open up and swallow people. The Bermuda Triangle, uh, the Oregon Vortex..." Sam listed.
"Broward County Mystery Spot?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged. "Well, sometimes these places are legit."
"All right, so if it is legit, and that's a big-ass if, what's the lore?" Dean asked.
Sam cleared his throat. "Well—"
A blonde girl, holding a stack of papers, collided with Dean. "Excuse me."
"The lore's pretty friggin' nuts, actually," Sam said, "They say these places, the magnetic fields are so strong that they can bend spacetime, sending victims no one knows where."
"Sounds a little X-Files to me," Dean said as we walked past two movers trying to get a desk through a doorway.
"Told you it wouldn't fit," the first mover said.
"What do you want, a Pulitzer?" asked the second.
"All right, look, I'm not saying this is really happening, but if it is, we gotta check it out, see if we can do something," Sam said.
Dean nodded. "All right, all right, we'll go tonight after they close, get ourselves a nice long look."
That night, we made our way to the Mystery Spot. After we unlocked the door, we walked into a neon green hallway with a black spiral painted through it. As we walked down the hall, we came to an opening that led into a room with an entire living room upside-down on the ceiling.
"Wow. Uncanny," Dean said sarcastically as he shined his light on the scene.
Sam walked around with an EMF meter while Dean and I examined the strange scene above us.
"Find anything?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head and sighed. "No."
"You have any idea what you're looking for?" Dean asked.
"Uh... yeah," Sam said, sounding unsure.
Dean raised an eyebrow at him skeptically.
Sam shook his head. "No."
I turned around and shined my light on a giant shark head. "Whoa, look at this thing."
Dean spun around. "Now, that is awesome." He leaned down next to me. "Better watch out... Jaws might get ya." He caused me to jump as he quickly tickled my sides.
I giggled and pushed him away. "Get off me."
A shotgun cocked behind us. "What the hell are you doing here?"
I spun around, but Dean already had his back to me in a protective stance. His flashlight and gun were drawn to a shakey man in a Hawaiian shirt.
Realizing that he must have been the owner, Dean pulled his gun back and put his hands up, letting him know we meant no harm. "Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. We can explain."
The owner pointed his gun at Sam. "You robbin' me?"
"Look, nobody's robbing you, calm down," Sam said softly.
Dean moved to put his gun down, which startled the man and caused him to point his gun back at Dean. "Don't move!"
Dean waved the gun slightly. "Just putting the gun down."
I gasped as the owner fired his gun, and Dean instantly fell to the ground.
"No!" I dropped to my knees and tried to put pressure on the large wound in his chest, tears instantly streaming down my cheeks.
"Dean!" Sam yelled and ran over to us. He picked Dean's head up in his arms. "Hey!"
As Dean struggled to breathe, I pulled my hands away from his chest, realizing that they were just completely engulfed in his blood.
"Call 9-1-1!" Sam yelled.
I felt my body freeze as I watched the life drain from Dean's eyes.
"Maddison!" Sam yelled.
I just sat there. It was like I couldn't move or think. All I could do was watch.
"I— I didn't mean to—" the owner stuttered.
"Call 9-1-1! Now!" Sam yelled at him.
"Yes, yes, of course!" the owner responded and left the room in a hurry.
Dean choked for air and then just stared off in no particular direction.
"Hey, hey, oh, no, no, no... not like this..." Sam cried.
Dean's eyes fluttered and slowly shut. I put my head down and sobbed.
"Dean..." Sam whispered.
I jolted awake as Heat of the Moment by Asia blared on the radio. When I sat up, I realized everything was exactly the same as it was that morning. The alarm clock read 6 o'clock, and Sam was sitting up in bed too.
Dean was dressed and tying his shoes. "Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" He pointed at the radio and smiled at us. "Asia."
I must've just had the most vivid dream I've ever experienced.
"Dean?" Sam asked, almost out of breath.
"Come on. You guys love this song, and you know it." Dean smiled and danced along to the music.
Eventually, we got up and got ready, but this time we brushed our teeth calmly at the sink as Dean gargled loud and obnoxiously.
I had been quiet, trying to figure out what was happening, and I noticed Sam had been a little quiet himself.
"What?" Dean asked after spitting out mouthwash ridiculously high above the sink and getting no reaction from either of us.
Sam shrugged. "I don't know."
"You all right?" Dean asked.
"I think I—" Sam thought for a second and shook his head. "Man, I had a weird dream."
I furrowed my brow, wondering if he was experiencing the same thing as me.
"Yeah?" Dean asked, "Clowns or midgets?"
The doors chimed as we walked into the diner.
As we walked past the cashier, he handed an older man some change. "Drive safely now, Mr. Pickett."
"Yeah, yeah," Mr. Pickett mumbled and walked out.
We walked to a booth, and the cook yelled, "Order up!"
"Can't stay unless you order something, Cal. You know the rules," the waitress said to a customer sitting at the front counter.
He placed a pile of change on the counter. "Some coffee."
I stared for a moment at the eerily familiar scene and realized Sam was staring too when I sat down.
Dean elbowed me and pointed to a poster next to me on the wall. "Hey. Tuesday. Pig n' a poke."
I furrowed my brow, still confused about what was going on.
"It's Tuesday?" Sam asked.
Dean gave Sam a strange look and nodded. "Yeah."
The waitress walked over, with the name Doris on her name tag. "Are you kids ready?"
Dean nodded. "Yes, I'll have the special, side of bacon and a coffee."
Sam stared for a moment. "Uh, nothing for me, thanks."
Doris nodded and then looked over at me. "And for you, young lady?"
I hesitated a moment. "Uh, just a chocolate chip pancake and orange juice, please."
Doris winked at me. "You got it." She looked over at Sam before she walked away. "Let me know if you change your mind."
"I'm telling you, Sam, this job is small fry. We should be spending our time hunting down Bela," Dean said.
Sam just stared at Doris as she walked away.
"Hey." Dean snapped his fingers at Sam. "You with us?"
Sam shook his head and looked at Dean. "What?"
"You sure you feel okay?" Dean asked.
Sam sighed. "You don't— You don't remember? Any of this?"
"Remember what?" Dean asked.
"This. Today. Like it's— Like it's... happened before?" Sam asked.
Okay, it was confirmed. Sam was definitely experiencing the same thing or something similar to what I was. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to say anything yet. Maybe whatever was going on had something to do with the powers I may or may not have, and I wasn't ready to confirm that. However, if Dean suggested going to the Mystery Spot, I wasn't going to let that happen.
"You mean like déjà vu?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "No, I mean like— like it's really happened before."
Dean nodded. "Yeah. Like déjà vu."
Sam sighed and shook his head. "No, forget about déjà vu. I'm asking you if it feels like— like we're living yesterday all over again."
Dean thought for a second. "Okay, how is that not dé—"
Sam was getting annoyed now. "Don't, don't say it! Just don't even..."
Doris appeared with a tray with our drinks and a bottle of hot sauce. "One coffee black and orange juice." She handed them out and reached back up for the hot sauce. "And some hot sauce for the—" She gasped as the bottle fell off of the tray. "Whoops. Crap!"
Except this time, Sam caught the bottle before it hit the ground.
Doris smiled as Sam handed it back to her. "Thanks." She put the bottle down on the table and left.
"Nice reflexes," Dean said, impressed.
Sam nodded nervously, knowing that wasn't the reason he had caught the bottle.
A few minutes later, Doris brought our food out. After she put our food down and left, I looked down at my plate, with a familiar disappointment.
"No chocolate chips?" Sam asked.
I shook my head. "No."
"Aw no. Want me to say something?" Dean asked as he shoveled food into his mouth.
I shook my head. "No, it's fine."
After we finished, we left and made our way down the sidewalk, back to the Impala. We walked past a barking German Shepherd. I pet him, but then I quickly ran off to catch up with the boys. When I caught up to them, Sam was trying to explain what was going on.
Dean shook his head. "Sam, I'm sorry, but I don't know what the hell you're talking about."
Sam sighed. "Okay, look. Yesterday was Tuesday, right? But today is Tuesday too."
"Yeah. No. Good. You're totally balanced," Dean said sarcastically.
"So, you don't believe me?!" Sam shouted.
Dean laughed, and a blonde girl, holding a stack of papers, collided with him. "Excuse me."
"Look, I'm just saying that it's crazy, ya know, I mean, even for us crazy. Dingo ate my baby crazy." Dean smacked Sam in the arm. "Hey, maybe it was another one of your psychic premonitions."
Sam shook his head. "No, no way, way too vivid. Okay, look, we were at the Mystery Spot, and then—"
"And then what?" Dean asked.
"Then I woke up," Sam said as we passed two movers trying to get a desk in a door.
"Told you it wouldn't fit," the first mover said.
"What do you want, a Pulitzer?" asked the second.
"Wait a minute!" Sam shouted. "The Mystery Spot. You think maybe it—"
"Maybe what?" Dean asked.
Sam sighed. "We gotta check that place out. Look, just... go with me on this, okay?"
Maybe Sam wasn't experiencing what I was, because if he was, why would he want to go there?
"All right, all right, we'll go tonight, after closing, get ourselves a nice long look," Dean said.
I shook my head. "Uh, I don't—"
Sam whipped his head toward Dean and stopped him from walking. "Wait, what? No."
Dean furrowed his brow. "Why not?"
"Uh... let's just go now. Right now. Business hours, nice and crowded," Sam said.
I nodded in agreement.
"My god, you're a freak," Dean said.
"Dean," Sam said.
"Okay!" Dean shouted. "Whatever. We'll go now." He started walking, but once he left the sidewalk, tires screeched, and he was sent flying over the top of a car.
"Oh my god!" I screamed.
"Dean!" Sam yelled, and then we both ran to him. "Dean, no, no, no." He flipped him over, but his face was covered in blood, and he was staring off lifeless. "Come on! Dean."
I looked up at the car that had hit him, tears streaming down my face. Mr. Pickett was hanging out of the window watching with worry in his eyes.
Sam shook Dean. "Hey. Dean." There was no response. "Dean. Dean."
I jolted awake to Heat of the Moment again. Everything was exactly the same, I was sitting up on the couch, Sam was sitting up in his bed, and Dean was tying his shoes.
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Dean smiled.
What was happening? Was I going insane?
The morning played out exactly the same. Dean obnoxiously gargled mouthwash and Sam, and I were somehow ready before him.
During the car ride, Sam explained that he believed he was trapped in a time loop, but Dean wasn't buying it. I wanted to tell Sam I was experiencing the same thing, but I wanted to talk to just him. I thought it was better if we kept it to ourselves that we knew something was going on. Maybe Dean would be safer that way.
We eventually made it to the diner, and everything was again, exactly the same, all the people and the conversations.
"Hey. Tuesday. Pig n' a poke." Dean smiled after we sat in our booth.
"Okay, would you listen to me, Dean?" Sam asked. "'Cause I am flipping out."
"Are you kids ready?" Doris asked as she approached the table.
"He'll take the special, side of bacon, coffee, black. She'll have a chocolate chip pancake and orange juice. Nothing for me, thanks," Sam listed quickly.
"Actually, you know what? Nothing for me either," I said.
Sam furrowed his brow, not expecting the change.
Doris nodded. "You got it."
"Sammy, I get all tingly when you take control like that." Dean smirked.
"Quit screwing around, Dean," Sam snapped.
"Okay. Okay. I'm listening. So— So... you think that you're in some kind of a what again?" Dean asked.
"Time loop," Sam said.
"Like Groundhog Day?" Dean asked.
Sam nodded. "Yes, exactly like Groundhog Day."
Dean nodded. "Uh-huh."
"So, you don't believe me," Sam said, sadly, "Maddi, what about you?"
I shook my head and averted my eyes.
Dean laughed. "It's just a little crazy, I mean even for us crazy, you know, like, uh—"
"Dingo ate my baby crazy?" Sam asked.
"How'd you know I was going to say that?" Dean asked.
"Because you said it before, Dean, that's my whole point," Sam said.
Doris appeared with a tray with a cup and a bottle of hot sauce. "One coffee, black." She set the coffee down and reached back up for the hot sauce. "And some hot sauce for the—" She gasped as the bottle fell off of the tray. "Whoops. Crap!"
Sam caught the hot sauce and handed it back to Doris without even looking.
"Thanks," Doris said, with a look of shock on her face and left after putting the sauce down on the table.
Dean nodded. "Nice reflexes."
Sam shook his head. "No. I knew it was going to happen."
Dean sighed. "Okay, look. I'm sure that there's some sort of an explanation—"
"You're just going to have to go with me on this, you both have to, you owe me that much!" Sam shouted.
Dean's eyes widened. "Calm down—"
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Sam shouted. "I can't calm down. I can't. Because..."
"Because what?" Dean asked.
I sighed and shook my head. "Because you die today, Dean."
"What?" Dean asked, shocked.
"I knew it. I knew it was happening to you, too," Sam said.
I shrugged. "I wanted to talk to you about it, but I thought it would be better if Dean didn't know."
"Sitting right here," Dean said.
Sam ignored him and furrowed his brow. "Why?"
"'Cause if it keeps happening, we're just gonna have to explain it over and over again," I said, "Plus if we just know, we can have Dean focus on the case, while we figure out what's going on and keep him safe—"
"I'm not gonna die. Not today," Dean said.
Sam snapped his eyes to Dean. "Twice now we've watched you die, and I can't... I won't do it again, okay?" His eyes started to water.
I felt my throat begin to tighten as I nodded. "Me, either."
"You're just going to have to believe us. Please," Sam said.
Dean looked into our eyes and nodded. "All right. I still think you're nuts, both of you, but okay, whatever this is, we'll figure it out."
After we finished, we left and passed by the barking dog, the blonde girl, and the movers.
"And you think this cheesy-ass tourist trap has something to do with it?" Dean asked.
"Maybe it's the real deal, ya know? The— The magnetic fields bending spacetime or whatever," Sam said.
"I don't know, it all seems a little too 'X-Files' for me," Dean said.
"Well, I don't know how else to explain it, Dean!" Sam yelled.
"All right! All right," Dean said.
"Look, it's the only thing we have going for us right now," I said.
"We'll go tonight after they close, get ourselves a nice long look," Dean said.
"No!" Sam and I yelled.
"Why not?" Dean asked.
"Because..." Sam sighed.
"You..." I trailed off.
Dean stared at us, waiting. "I what?"
Neither of us said anything.
"I die there?" Dean asked.
"Blown away, actually," Sam said.
Dean shrugged. "Huh. Okay, let's go now." He stepped forward, but Sam and I grabbed his arms to stop him.
"Stay out of the way!" Mr. Pickett yelled as he flew by the sidewalk in his car.
"Slow down! You're gonna kill someone!" I yelled back.
"Wait, did he...?" Dean asked.
"Yesterday." Sam nodded. "Yeah."
"And?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "And what?"
"Did it look cool, like in the movies?" Dean smiled.
I furrowed my brow and smacked his arm. "No! It didn't look cool."
"You peed yourself," Sam said, irritated.
Dean chuckled, uncomfortably embarrassed. "Of course, I peed myself. Man gets hit by a car. You think he has full control over his bladder? Come on!" He carefully looked both ways and then crossed the street.
After Sam and Dean went to talk to the Mystery Spot owner, they came back with literally nothing useful, so we went back to the motel room to do some research.
We actually made it to the night without Dean dying, so we decided to go back into town to get dinner.
After parking the car, we walked down the sidewalk and past the diner.
"Well, I hate to say it, but that place is exactly what I thought... it's full of crap," Dean said.
"Then what is it, Dean, what the hell is happening to us?" Sam asked.
Dean shrugged. "I don't know. All right, let me just— So, every day I die?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah."
"And that's when you guys wake up again, right?" Dean asked.
I nodded.
"Yeah," Sam said.
"So, let's just make sure I don't die. If I make it to tomorrow, then maybe the loop stops, and we can figure all this out," Dean said.
"You think?" Sam asked.
I shrugged. "It could work."
"It's worth a shot. I say we grab some takeout and head back to the motel, lay low until midnight," Dean said.
Sam and I nodded, both still unsure that it would be that simple.
"All right, good. Who wants Chinese?" Dean asked and started walking, but he got two steps away, and a desk fell on top of him.
I screamed and looked up to see the movers from earlier in a third-story window, they had tied a rope around the desk to pull it up, but the rope had snapped.
Again, I jolted awake to Heat of the Moment.
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Dean smiled.
Sam and I exchanged a look, and both laid back, feeling confused, and defeated. We got ready as usual and informed Dean of everything that had happened on our way to the diner. He again was having a hard time believing it, but since we were both trying to convince him, it helped.
"I still think you guys are nuts, but... whatever this is, we'll figure it out," Dean said.
Sam nodded. "Thanks."
"So, uh... if you're stuck in Groundhog Day, why? What's behind it?" Dean asked.
I sighed. "Well, at first we thought it had something to do with the Mystery Spot."
Sam shrugged. "Now, we're not so sure."
"What do we do?" Dean asked.
"Well, we keep you breathing. Try to make it to tomorrow." Sam shrugged. "I mean, that's the only thing I can think of."
"Shouldn't be too hard," Dean said.
I scoffed.
"Yeah, right. Dean, we've watched you die a few times now, and we can't ever seem to stop it," Sam said.
"Well, nothing's set in stone. You say I order the same thing every day, right?" Dean asked.
I nodded. "Yeah."
"Pig n' a poke, side of bacon," Sam said.
"'Scuse me, sweetheart?" Dean called out to Doris, who was speaking with the cook.
Doris turned with a smile.
"Can I get sausage instead of bacon?" Dean asked.
She nodded. "Sure thing, hon."
"See? Different day already. You see, if we decide that I am not gonna die..." Dean shrugged. "I'm not gonna die."
Doris brought over Dean's food and smiled as she put it down.
"Thank you." Dean nodded, then stabbed a piece of sausage with his fork and bit off a chunk.
Sam and I smiled and laughed at him as he chewed it ridiculously, but then he started to choke.
"Dean. Dean?" Sam asked anxiously.
I hit Dean on the back, trying to help him clear his throat.
My eyes snapped open to Heat of the Moment again, but I just laid there and groaned.
Sam and I convinced Dean that we shouldn't leave the motel room at all, so he decided to hop in the shower to start a relaxing day.
Dean poked his shampoo lathered head around the shower curtain. "You mean we can't even go out for breakfast?"
"You'll thank us when it's Wednesday!" Sam yelled back and then peered around the window curtains.
"Whatever that means." Dean shrugged and then disappeared behind the shower curtain.
"Do you think this will work?" I asked.
Sam sighed. "I hope—"
Then Dean yelped, and we heard a thud.
The same pattern continued to happen. Sam and I kept Dean away from the things that kept killing him. Except he just kept getting killed by random other things, including a food-poisoned taco and a faulty electric razor.
So, Sam and I decided that we would go to the Mystery Spot and rip the building apart until we figured out what was going on.
When we got there, we tied up the owner and had Dean watch over him, while we ripped the place apart with axes.
"Everybody's fine, nobody's gonna get hurt, okay?" Dean assured the owner. "Sammy? Maddi?"
We stopped and looked at Dean.
"Maybe you guys should drop the axes and let this guy go, what do you say?" Dean asked.
"Something's gotta be going on here. I intend to find out what," Sam said, and we went back to chopping at the wall.
"Place is tore up pretty good, dude. Time to give it a rest," Dean said.
I stopped, breathing heavily. "Yeah, I don't know how much longer I can go."
"No!" Sam yelled. "We're gonna take it down to studs."
Dean stood up and walked over to Sam. "Sammy, that's enough. Give me the ax." He took hold of the ax handle.
Sam pulled the ax back. "Leave it, Dean."
"Give it." Dean tugged.
"No, you give it." Sam pulled back.
"Guys, stop!" I yelled.
"Let it go." Dean pulled.
"No!" Sam yelled.
"Let it go, come on!" Dean yelled, continuing to pull.
"Dean!" Sam yelled. "Leave it, please—"
Dean got Sam to loosen his grip, but that just caused him to slip back, and then the owner and I were splashed with blood.
"Dean?" Sam asked, shocked.
"What did you think was going to happen?" I rolled my eyes.
After about the one-hundredth Tuesday and every single one ending the same, we had no idea what to do anymore, so we just went to the diner.
The doors chimed, and we walked past the cashier warning Mr. Pickett to drive carefully, and Doris telling Cal that he couldn't stay unless he bought something. We sat down in our usual spot.
"Hey. Tuesday. Pig n' a poke." Dean smiled.
Sam set Mr. Pickett's keys down on the table.
"What are those?" Dean asked.
"The old man's. Trust me, you don't want him behind the wheel," Sam said.
"You kids ready?" Doris asked.
Dean nodded. "Uh, yes, we are. I'll have the special, side of bacon and a coffee."
"Hey, Doris?" Sam asked. "What I'd like is for you to log in some more hours at the archery range. You're a terrible shot."
I nodded in agreement.
Doris furrowed her brow. "How'd you know that?"
Sam shrugged. "Lucky guess."
Doris gave Sam a curious look and then walked off.
"Okay, so you think you're caught in some kind of what, again?" Dean asked.
"Time loop." I sighed.
"Like Groundhog Day?" Dean asked.
Sam shrugged. "Doesn't matter. There's no way to stop it."
"Jeez, aren't you grumpy," Dean said.
"Yeah, I am. You wanna know why?" Sam asked.
Dean smirked. "Why?"
"Because this is the hundredth Tuesday in a row, we've been through, and it never stops. Ever. So yeah, I'm a little grumpy," Sam said, "Hot sauce."
Dean furrowed his brow. "What?"
Doris arrived with her tray of coffee and hot sauce. "Coffee, black, and some hot sauce for the—" The sauce tipped off the tray. "Whoops! Crap!"
Sam caught it and slid it across the table to Dean.
"Thanks," Doris said with a smile and walked away.
"Nice reflexes," Dean said, impressed.
Sam shook his head. "I knew it was going to happen, Dean. I know everything that's gonna happen."
Dean shrugged. "You don't know everything."
Sam nodded. "Yeah. We both do."
I rolled my eyes, knowing that we were about to run through the same conversation we already had several times before.
"Yeah, right," the three of us said in unison.
Dean furrowed his brow.
"Nice guess," we all said.
Sam shook his head. "It wasn't a guess."
"Right, you're a mind reader," the three of us said, "Cut it out, guys."
Sam and Dean leaned forward. I smirked, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
"You think you're being funny, but you're being really, really childish!" the boys yelled in unison. "Sam Winchester wears makeup. Sam Winchester cries his way through sex. Sam Winchester keeps a ruler by the bed and every morning when he wakes up, he—"
Dean threw his hands in the air. "Okay, enough!"
Sam shook his head. "That's not all. Randy, the cashier?"
"He steals money from the register," I said.
"Judge Myers?" Sam asked and nodded over to him.
"He wears a..." I frowned. "Bunny costume at night." I pointed to Cal. "And that's Cal."
Sam nodded. "He's gonna rob Tony the mechanic on the way home."
Dean shook his head and shrugged. "What's your point?"
"The point is we've lived through every possible Tuesday. Watched you die every possible way. We have ripped apart the Mystery Spot, burnt it down, tried everything we know to save your life, and we can't. No matter what we do, you die. And then we wake up. And then it's Tuesday again," Sam explained.
Dean suddenly looked terrified.
On the sidewalk, we walked past the barking dog.
"Dog," Sam said, annoyed.
Dean shook his head. "There's gotta be some way out of this."
"Where's my dang keys," Sam said as we approached Mr. Pickett.
"Where's my dang keys?" Mr. Pickett asked as he walked past us, searching his pockets.
"Excuse me," Sam said as we approached the blonde girl.
"Excuse me," she said as she collided with Dean.
"She's kinda cute." Dean chuckled and then put his hand out to stop us from walking. "Hey. All the times we've walked down this street, I ever do this?" He walked off after the girl.
Sam and I furrowed our brows and looked at each other. "No..." we said in unison.
We waited for Dean as he returned with a paper the girl had been handing out.
"A hundred Tuesdays, and you two never bothered to check what she was holding in her hands?" Dean asked as he walked up to us.
Sam shrugged, and I shook my head.
Dean held up a MISSING flier with a picture of Dexter Hassleback on it. "That's the guy who went missing?"
Sam furrowed his brow. "Yeah?"
Dean pointed back to her. "That's his daughter back there."
Sam raised his eyebrows, took the flier, and ran after the girl. "Ma'am?! Uh, Miss?!"
The dog growled and barked at Dean and me, as Sam ran by.
"His bark is a lot bigger than his bite, he's actually really sweet." I smiled up at Dean.
Dean smiled back and looked down at the dog. "Hey, buddy! Somebody need a friend?" He walked forward and leaned down to pet him, but as he did, the dog started growling more intensely.
I cringed, now worried. "Okay, Dean, maybe you shouldn't—"
Dean put his hand out. "Good boy—"
Then the dog lunged forward and caught Dean around his neck. I jumped back and screamed.
Since Sam believed that we finally had a lead, he figured explaining everything to Dean would just be a waste of time. So we kept waking up and doing as much research as we could before Dean died, and the cycle repeated itself.
We left for the diner again and sat in our usual spots. This time, Sam and I sat in front of his laptop while Dean ate his breakfast.
"So, the police report says Dexter Hasselback is a professor, but that's not all he is," Sam said as he viciously typed on his computer.
"What is he?" Dean asked.
"I talked to his daughter. Guy's quite the journalist. Columns in magazines, a blog," Sam said, "He writes about tourist attractions. Mystery spots, UFO crash sites... he gets his kicks debunking them. I mean, he's already put four of these places out of business. Here." He turned the laptop toward Dean.
"Dexter Hasselback, truth warrior?" Dean scoffed. "More like a pompous schmuck, you ask me."
Sam nodded. "Yeah, tell me about it. I mean, I've read everything the guy's ever written, and he must have weighed a ton, he was so full of himself."
"When'd you have time to do all this research?" Dean asked.
Sam ignored the question and started packing. "Come on."
Dean chuckled.
"What?" Sam asked.
Dean shook his head. "It's just— It's just funny, ya know? I mean, this guy spends his whole life crapping on Mystery Spots, and then he vanishes into one. It's kinda poetic, ya know, just desserts."
As I stood up, I noticed something out of the ordinary for Tuesday. Every time we went to the diner, a man always ordered pancakes and always left before us. Oddly enough, I never learned his real name. I only knew him as pancake man.
On this particular Tuesday, he decided to have strawberry syrup with his pancakes instead of regular syrup.
I nudged Sam. "Pancake man," I whispered.
Sam's eyes widened slightly as he noticed what I was talking about.
"What's wrong?" Dean asked, completely confused.
We turned and watched as the pancake man walked by the diner window down the sidewalk.
"Guy has maple syrup for the last hundred Tuesdays, all of a sudden he's having strawberry?" Sam asked.
I nodded. "That's what I was thinking."
Dean shrugged. "It's a free country. Man can't choose his own syrup, huh? What have we become?"
Sam shook his head. "Not in this diner. Not today. Nothing in this place ever changes. Ever. Except me and Maddi."
Suddenly, my eyes shot open, and I was laying on the couch again, the radio was blasting Heat of the Moment, and Dean was tying his shoes on his bed.
"Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Dean shouted.
Sam and I exchanged a look, we were clearly getting somewhere, and pancake man was our biggest clue.
We got ready as usual, and while Dean was in the bathroom like every Tuesday morning, Sam and I discussed our next plan of action.
"What the hell happened? He didn't die, but we got reset anyway?" I asked.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I think we're getting close to something."
"Pancake man?" I asked.
Sam's jaw tightened as he nodded. "I'm thinking trickster."
My eyes widened. "That makes so much sense."
Sam nodded. "We're going to end it today."
A moment later, Dean walked out and rummaged through his bag. He pulled out a large black bra and held it out to Sam. "This yours?"
Sam stood there, straight-faced, having heard the same joke a hundred times before.
Dean laughed. "All right, tough crowd." He continued rummaging until he pulled out his gun. "Bingo." He walked past us to the door and smiled. "Now, who's ready for some breakfast?"
On the drive to the diner, Sam and I explained to Dean what was going on, but only ended up with the same result. Dean thinking we were completely nuts.
When we parked, Sam stayed back at the car for a few minutes, while Dean and I picked out our usual seat.
A few minutes later, Sam joined us with a large bag in hand.
Sam and I watched the pancake man intensely as Dean chowed down on his breakfast.
"So, you think you're caught in some kind of what, again?" Dean asked as he stuffed his face.
"Eat your breakfast," Sam snapped.
Dean raised his eyebrows, not expecting that response.
Once pancake man got up, Sam and I followed after him.
"What's in the bag?" Dean asked as we left.
We followed him down the street until we made it to a less busy area, then Sam made his move. He grabbed the man's shoulder and slammed him up against a fence, putting the tip of his wooden stake to the man's neck.
"Hey!" the man yelled.
"I know who you are. Or should I say, what," Sam said.
"Oh my god, please don't kill me." The man shook with his hands up.
"Uh, Sam?" Dean asked.
"It took me a hell of a long time, but I got it," Sam said.
"What?" the man asked, shaking.
"It's your MO that gave you away. Going after pompous jerks, giving them their just desserts... your kind loves that, don't they?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, sure, okay." The man glanced nervously at the stake. "Just put the stake down!"
Dean cleared his throat. "Sam, maybe you should—"
"No!" I shouted. "Not this time!"
Dean furrowed his brow at me, taken aback.
"There's only one creature powerful enough to do what you're doing. Making reality out of nothing, sticking people in time loops... in fact, you'd pretty much have to be a god. You'd have to be a trickster," Sam said.
"Mister, my name is Ed Coleman, my wife's name is Amelia, I got two kids." The man panted. "For crying out loud, I sell ad space—"
"Don't lie to me!" Sam shouted. "I know what you are! We've killed one of your kind before!"
The man morphed into the trickster with a smirk on his face. "Actually, bucko, you didn't."
We all stared in shock at the trickster we thought we had already killed.
"Why are you doing this?" Sam asked.
"You're joking, right?" The trickster smirked. "You chuckleheads tried to kill me last time. Why wouldn't I do this?"
"And Hasselback, what about him?" Dean asked.
"That putz? He said he didn't believe in wormholes, so I dropped him in one." The trickster laughed. "Then you guys showed up. I made you the second you hit town."
"So, this is fun for you? Killing Dean over and over again?" Sam raised his voice.
"One, yes. It is fun." The trickster smirked. "And two? This is so not about killing Dean. This joke is on you, Sam. Watching your brother die, every day? Dragging Maddison along for the ride? Forever?"
Sam's jaw clenched. "You son of a bitch."
"How long will it take you to realize?" the trickster asked. "You can't save your brother. No matter what."
"Oh yeah?" Sam glared at him. "I kill you... this all ends now."
"Oh, oh, hey, whoa! Okay. Look. I was just playing around. You can't take a joke, fine." The trickster shrugged. "You're out of it. Tomorrow, you'll wake up, and it'll be Wednesday. I swear."
"You're lying." Sam sneered.
"If I am, you know where to find me. Having pancakes at the diner." The trickster smirked.
Sam looked over at Dean and me and then back at the trickster. "No. Easier to just kill you."
"Sorry, kiddo. Can't have that." The trickster snapped his fingers with a smile.
I jolted awake by Back In Time by Huey Lewis and The News. I sat up quickly to see Sam looking around the room, almost in shock.
"What, you two gonna sleep all day?" Dean asked from the bathroom.
"No Asia?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, I know." Dean nodded. "This station sucks."
Sam glanced down at the clock and gasped. "It's Wednesday!"
I jumped out of bed. "Really?!"
"Yeah, usually comes after Tuesday. Turn that thing off, will you?" Dean asked with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.
"What, are you kidding me? This isn't the most beautiful song you've ever heard?" Sam asked, now hurriedly getting out of bed.
"Yes!" I smiled happily.
"No." Dean furrowed his brow. "Jeez. How many Tuesdays did you two have?"
Sam threw on a long-sleeved shirt. "I don't know. I lost count." He furrowed his brow at Dean. "Hey, wait. What do you remember?"
"I remember you both were pretty whacked out of it yesterday, and then I remember running into the trickster." Dean shook his head. "But no, that's about it."
"All right. Pack your stuff, let's get the hell out of town. Now," Sam said.
I nodded. "Agreed."
"No breakfast?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "No breakfast."
Dean brought his bag outside with a look of disappointment. I smiled after him as he left. I took a deep breath and exhaled. Tears came to my eyes as relief washed over my body.
"You okay?" Sam asked.
I nodded as I started packing my bag. "Yeah, I'm just happy that it's over."
"I am too." Sam walked over and put his hand on my shoulder.
I looked up at him, and we smiled at each other, but then gasped when we heard a gunshot from outside.
Sam snapped his head toward the door. "Dean!"
We both took off running, outside and down the stairs, where we found Dean lying in the parking lot behind the Impala. He was lying there with blood seeping from his chest onto his shirt.
Sam ran to him quickly, with me following right behind.
Once we reached him, Sam picked up his head. "No, no, no, hey, hey, come on, not today, not today, this isn't supposed to happen today, come on..."
Dean laid there motionless, just like we had watched a hundred times before, but this time nothing was happening.
My throat started to tighten, and I began pacing. "Why aren't we waking up?!"
It had been about six months since we lost Dean. Sam didn't talk much anymore, but neither did I. Everything we had been doing was about catching the trickster.
Sam had let me go on hunts with him along the way. I helped him take out a demon when we were in Death Valley. We even cleared a vampire nest while in Austin. I had learned so much about hunting, and I was grateful for it since it kept my mind off of Dean.
However, Sam had gotten to the point that he almost scared me. He didn't care about anything. He just killed. It had even gotten to the point that he could stitch up his wounds without even so much as a flinch.
Bobby had called several times, but Sam wouldn't answer the phone or let me. The last message Bobby left said that he had found the trickster, so Sam didn't hesitate to meet with him.
When we walked into the Mystery Spot, Bobby was kneeling on the floor with a book in the center of a chalk circle. There were three bowls and three candles on the outside of it.
Bobby stood up when he heard our footsteps. "It's good to see you, kids." He walked over and gave us each a hug.
I hugged him back, but Sam didn't respond.
"What are we doing here, Bobby?" Sam asked.
"Well, it's the last place we're sure the trickster worked his magic," Bobby said.
"So?" Sam scoffed.
"So, you want this thing?" Bobby asked. "I found a summoning ritual to bring the trickster here."
"What do we need?" Sam asked.
"Blood," Bobby said.
"How much blood?" Sam asked.
Bobby shrugged. "Ritual says near a gallon. And it's gotta be fresh, too."
"Meaning we have to bleed a person dry," Sam said.
My eyes widened in shock. It looked like he didn't even care.
Bobby nodded. "And it's gotta be tonight. Or not for another fifty years."
"Then let's go get some," Sam said and turned to leave.
I stepped back, away from him. It had become too much at this point. "Sam..."
Bobby shook his head. "You break my heart, kid."
Sam furrowed his brow, looking at Bobby and me. "What?"
I shook my head. "We can't do that—"
"It's to get Dean back." Sam glared at me.
"I'm not gonna let you murder an innocent man," Bobby said.
"Then why'd you bring us here?" Sam asked.
"Why?" Bobby asked. "Because it was the only way you'd see me! Because you've been putting Maddison in danger! Because I'm trying to knock some sense into you! Because I thought you'd back down from killing a man!"
"Well, you thought wrong. Leave the stuff, I'll do it myself," Sam said.
Bobby shook his head. "I told you, I'm not gonna let you kill a man."
"It's none of your damn business what I do!" Sam shouted.
"You want your brother back so bad?" Bobby leaned down and pulled a knife out of his bag. "Fine." He held it out to Sam.
Sam eyed the knife. "What are you talking about?"
Bobby shrugged. "Better me than a civilian."
"What?!" I shouted, "No! This is insane!"
Sam shook his head. "You're crazy, Bobby, I'm not killing you."
"Oh, now I'm the crazy one." Bobby shook his head. "Look, Sam, I'm old, I'm coming near the end of my trail. But you can keep fighting. Saving folk. But you need your brother." He looked over at me, tears now in my eyes. "You both do. Let me get him back to you."
Tears came to Sam's eyes. "Bobby—"
"You, Maddison, and Dean, you kids are the closest thing I have to family. I wanna do this," Bobby said.
Sam took the knife and nodded. "Okay."
"Good." Bobby nodded and turned around, dropping to his knees. "Just make it quick."
"Sam!" I walked over to him. "Don't you do this! Don't even think it!" I pushed him. "You really think that Dean will ever forgive you if this somehow brings him back?! 'Cause he won't! And neither will I!"
Sam's jaw clenched, but with tears in his eyes, he gripped the knife harder. I stepped back, terrified when I realized he was too far gone to talk any sense into him.
"Do it, son," Bobby said, almost whispering.
"Yeah, okay, Bobby," Sam said as he pulled a wooden stake out of his jacket. "But, you wanna know why?"
I furrowed my brow, completely confused.
Sam wrapped his arm around Bobby's throat and shoved the stake through his back. "Because you're not Bobby."
I gasped and put my hands to my mouth.
Sam twisted the stake, causing blood to spurt out of Bobby's mouth. He slumped forward and fell to the ground, but nothing happened.
I dropped to my knees, next to him. "What did you do?!" I screamed
Sheer panic flashed across Sam's face when he realized what he did. "Bobby? Bobby! Bobby!"
Then his body vanished, the stake fell over and then shot over Sam's shoulder into the hand of the trickster. I stood up quickly, and Sam spun around to face him.
"You're right." The trickster smirked. "I was just screwing with you. Pretty good, though, Sam. Smart. Let me tell you, whoever said Dean was the dysfunctional one has never seen you with a sharp object in your hands. Holy Full Metal Jacket."
"Bring him back," Sam demanded.
"Who? Dean?" the trickster asked, "Didn't my girl send you flowers? Dean's dead. He ain't coming back. His soul's downstairs doing the hellfire rumba as we speak."
I shook my head, tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Just take us back to that Tuesday... or Wednesday... when it all started. Please. We won't come after you, I swear," Sam pleaded.
The trickster raised an eyebrow. "You swear?"
Sam nodded. "Yes."
The trickster shook his head. "I don't know. Even if I could—"
"You can," Sam said.
The trickster shrugged. "True. But that don't mean I should. Sam, there's a lesson here that I've been trying to drill into that freakish Cro-Magnon skull of yours."
"Lesson? What lesson?" Sam asked.
"This obsession to save Dean?" the trickster asked, "The way you keep sacrificing yourselves for each other? Nothing good comes out of it... just blood and pain. Dean's a weakness. And the bad guys know it too. It's gonna be the death of you, Sam. Sometimes you just gotta let people go." He gestured to me. "I mean, look at your sister. She's a mess, and it's because of you."
Sam didn't turn, but I could see his jaw clench as he swallowed hard.
"Look at her, Sam," the trickster demanded.
Sam slowly turned to look at me, and I realized it was the first time in a long time he really had.
He had become so obsessed with killing the trickster that he had forgotten what he still had. Then a thought ran through my mind that he was acting exactly how our dad must've when he and Dean were kids after Mary died.
A look of realization washed over his face, and he approached me and put his arm around my shoulder.
"She needs you more than ever. Not this crazy obsessed hunter, but you, Sam. You need to move on from Dean, both of you do," the trickster said.
"He's our brother," Sam said.
The trickster nodded. "Yup. And like it or not, this is what life's gonna be like without him."
"Please. Just... please," Sam begged, clutching me to his side.
The trickster sighed and shook his head. "I swear, it's like talking to a brick wall. Okay, look. This all stopped being fun months ago. You're Travis Bickle in a skirt, pal. I'm over it. I'm doing this for her, not you, Sam."
"Meaning what?" Sam asked.
"Meaning that's for me to know and you to find out." The trickster snapped his fingers.
I jolted awake by Back In Time. I sat up quickly to see that we were back in the motel room, exactly where we were six months before.
"What, you two gonna sleep all day?" Dean asked from the bathroom. "I know, no Asia. This station sucks."
Sam glanced down at the clock. "It's Wednesday."
"Yeah, usually comes after Tuesday. Turn that thing off," Dean said with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.
I jumped out of bed, ran to Dean, and clutched onto him, unwilling to let him go. Then I felt Sam pull both of us into a hug.
Dean cleared his throat. "How many Tuesdays did you two have?"
"Enough," Sam said and then pulled back. "What, uh— What do you remember?"
"I remember you both were pretty whacked out of it yesterday. I remember running into the trickster." Dean shook his head. "That's about it."
I pulled away but still hung onto him. He had his arm around my shoulder, rubbing my arm as he held onto me.
Sam nodded. "Let's go."
"No breakfast?" Dean asked.
Sam shook his head. "No breakfast."
Dean shrugged. "All right, I'll pack the car."
I shook my head. "No!"
"Yeah, you're not going anywhere alone," Sam agreed.
Dean furrowed his brow. "It's the parking lot."
"Just— Just trust us," Sam said.
"Please," I said.
Dean looked at us, with concern in his eyes, but agreed.
We got dressed, packed our bags, and got ready to leave.
Dean opened the door and then turned back and looked at Sam. "Hey, you don't look so good. Something else happen?"
Guilt and worry were all over Sam's face. "I just had a really weird dream."
Dean nodded. "Clowns or midgets?" He grinned
Sam looked over at Dean and tried to smile back. He grabbed his bag and then followed Dean out of the door.
I put my hand on my bag and watched as Sam walked out. I couldn't shake the feeling that if we couldn't stop Dean from dying, that was how my life was going to be. Not only was I terrified to lose Dean, but now I was scared to rely on Sam because if it came down to it, I'm not sure he really would be there for me.
"Hey, you comin' kid?" Dean asked.
I looked up at the smiling face of my brother. "Yeah." I smiled back weakly, then grabbed my bag and followed him down to the Impala.