The brothers sat together at a restaurant that was included in the Inn they were staying at waiting for Sam. After eating breakfast Sam went to take care of something. In the meantime, Dean and Jason were looking at the newspapers for anything that could be in their wheelhouse, and looking through a list of missing people, crossing off any that don't seem worth their time, then they found something worth looking into. Dean circled the picture of a young woman, where underneath her picture it reads that she mysteriously vanished in the lake she was swimming in.
"Can I get you, boys, anything?" Asked the pretty blonde waitress Dean and Jason had been eying. She stood on the other side of the counter, smiling at the two brothers.
Both looked up at her. Dean grinned around the pen he was chewing on while Jason smirked. "Well, maybe-"
"Just the check, please," Sam interrupting Jason, appearing seemingly out of nowhere walking up behind them.
"Okay," The waitress muttered before walking off dejectedly. Once she was gone Dean sighed, lowering his head in disapproval while Jason placed a hand on his face.
"You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while," Dean commented, looking up at his little brother.
Jason pointed at the waitresses as she exited into the kitchen. "That right there Sam, that's fun."
Sam glanced at the girl then let out an annoyed sigh. He knew his brothers only wanted to help him, but they didn't understand. They had no idea what it was like to feel for someone the way he felt about Jessica. He couldn't just get over her by sleeping with some random woman.
"Here take a look at this. I think we got one," Dean announced, handing Sam the newspaper he'd been reading. Sam glanced at the part circled about the young girl while Dean explained. "Last week, Sophie Carlton, 18, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water; nothing."
"Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year and the other bodies weren't recovered either," Jason added. "Also two days ago she was given a funeral."
"A funeral?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah, it was weird. They buried an empty coffin for closure or whatever," Dean said, having no idea about the point of closure.
"What closure?" Sam scoffed. "People just don't disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them."
Dean and Jason both looked at Sam, those words were a bit uncalled for, where was he going with this?
"Sam, do you wanna tell us something?" Jason asked.
"The trail for Dad...it's getting colder every day," Sam stated.
"Exactly, so what are we supposed to do?" Dean argued.
"I don't know," Sam shrugged at them. "Something, anything."
"You know what, I'm sick of this attitude," Dean said.
"Sam, don't you really think that we want to find Dad just as much as you do?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, I know you both do, it's just tha-"
"We're the ones that have been with him every single day for the past two years while you've been off to college doing Pep Rallies. We will find Dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between her and there, okay?" Dean ranted.
Jason stared at Dean for his outburst, he was just as frustrated with Sam as much as Dean but that felt a little unnecessary.
Sam rolls his eyes. Just then the waitress, Wendy walks by, distracting Dean and Jason again.
"Alright, Lake Manitoc," Sam said, but noticed that his two big brothers were still distracted by the hot waitress. "Hey,"
"Huh," Dean said,
"What?" Jason said at the same time as Dean, both snapped out of it.
"How far?" Sam asked.
The drive to lake Manitoc wasn't that far, the drive only lasted for about an hour or two. When the boys arrived in town they decided to go straight to the victim's place to ask her family some questions and hopefully find some answers. The impala pulled in front of the house, then the brothers got out and walked up to the front door. For this job, they were posing as U.S. Wildlife service.
Dean knocked on the door and a moment later a young man answered the door.
"Will Carlton?" Dean asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, that's right," Will nodded.
"I'm agent Ford. This agent Hamill and Agent Jackson. We're with the U.S. Wildlife Service." Dean explained holding up his fake Wildlife service bag.
After explaining that they were here investigating his sister's mysterious disappearance and wanted to ask some questions, he escorted them outside to the lake near a small harbor where they could see his Dad sitting on a bench. "She was about 100 yards out. That where she got dragged down." Will explained staring at the lake.
"Are you sure that she didn't just drown?" Dean asked.
Will looked at Dean and nodded. "Yeah, she was a varsity swimmer. She practically grew up in that lake. She was as safe out there as in her own bathtub."
"So no splashing, no signs of distress?" Sam questioned.
"No, that's what I'm telling you," Will said.
Jason then cut in. "Did you see any weird shadows in the lake or some dark shape breaching the surface?"
"No, again, she was really far out there," Will said what he told them before.
"You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean asked.
"No, never," Will said. "Why? what do you think's out there?"
"Don't worry, we'll let you know as soon as we do," Jason reassured him.
Both Dean and Jason proceeded to go back to the Impala, but Sam turned his attention to Will's father, Bill Carlton who was still sitting on a bench by the bay staring off into the lake. "What about your father? Can we talk to him?" Sam asked, both elder brothers stopped and turned back to Sam.
Will glanced at his father then let out a sigh. "Look, if you don't mind, I mean, he didn't see anything, and he's kind of been through a lot,"
Sam nodded in understanding, "We understand,"
With that, the brothers went back to the Impala and left the Carlton's house.
Their next stop was the sheriff's station to find out any more information on the girl who mysteriously drowned. Right now the station only had one sheriff in it at the moment, so they asked him if he knew anything about Saphia Carlton.
"Now, I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care so much about an accidental drowning?" The sheriff asked, suspiciously.
"You sure it's accidental?" Sam questioned as the Sheriff escorted them to his office.
"Yeah, Will Carlton saw something grab his sister," Jason said.
"Like what?"
Just then the sheriff led them to his office. "Here, sit, please,"
Sam and Dean took a seat in the chairs while Jason remained standing, leaning next to a wall.
"There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake. There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person," Jake said as he sat down at his desk. "Unless it was the Loch Ness monster,"
"Yeah, right," Dean scoffed, letting out a laugh.
"Will Carlton was traumatized, and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still, we dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep just to be sure, and there was nothing down there," Sheriff explained.
"That's strange because that's the third person that's disappeared in that lake this year," Jason pointed out.
"I know. These are people from my town. These are people that I care about." The sheriff said.
"I know," Dean said.
"Anyway...All this-it won't be a problem much longer," The sheriff said, leaning back in his chair.
"What do you mean?" Dean asked.
"Well the Dam of course," The sheriff said.
"Of course. The Dam," Dean said, acting like he knows what he's saying glancing at his brothers. "It's uh...sprung a leak,"
"It's falling apart, and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway." The Sheriff explained. "So they've opened the spillway. In another six months, there won't be much of a lake, won't be much of a town either, but as federal wildlife, you already knew that,"
"Exactly," Dean replied.
Just then a woman came into the office. "Sorry, am I interrupting?"
Sam and Dean both got up and turned to the woman, as did Jason. "I can come back later,"
The sheriff got out of his chair, "Gentlemen, this is my daughter,"
Dean smirked at the woman and held his hand out to her, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Dean."
She took Dean's hand and shook it. "Andrea Bar. Hi,"
"Hi," Dean replied.
"They're from the wildlife service about the lake," The Sheriff told his daughter.
"Oh," Andrea mumbled, the smile on her face turned to a frown. A child then appeared behind Andrea, Dean was the first to notice.
"Oh, hey, there. What's your name?" Dean asked the child.
The child said nothing and just walked out of the office. Andrea gave a final glance at the three brothers before turning to follow him.
"His name is Lucas," THe Sheriff said to them. They watched as Andrea gave Lucas some markers and construction paper. Something seemed wrong with the kid.
"Is he okay?' Sam asked the sheriff as they turned back to him.
"My grandson's been through a lot. We all have," The Sheriff said, before getting back down to business. "Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know."
"Thanks, sheriff," With that the brothers left the office, but Dean stopped and turned back to the sheriff.
"Hey, you now. Now that you've mentioned it can you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?" Dean asked, turning to Andrea as she was caring for her son.
"Lakefront Motel - go around the corner, it's two blocks up,"
Jason remembered seeing a motel when they pulled up at the sheriff's station, "Hey I think I re-"
Dean shut Jason's mouth then focused back on Andrea. "Two - would you mind showing us?" Dean requested.
Andrea chuckled, "You want me to walk you two blocks?"
"Not if it's any trouble," Dean replied, taking his hand off Jason's mouth.
"I'm heading that way anyway," Andrea said then turned to her dad. "I'll be back to pick up Lucas at 3:00,"
Andrea then knelt down to her son, "We'll go to the park okay, sweetie?" She gave her son a kiss on his head then got up to escort the brothers to the motel.
"Thanks again," Sam said to the sheriff before following behind his brothers.
As they were walking down the streets following Andrea, Dean spoke, "So, cute kid,"
"Thanks," Andrea replied.
"Kids are the best, huh?" Dean asked, continuing in hitting on Andrea.
The motel wasn't much farther, they just crossed the street then they arrived. "There it is. Like I said, two blocks."
"Thank you, Andrea," Jason said.
"Anytime," Andrea replied then turned to Dean. "Must be hard for your sense of direction, never being able to find your way to a decent pick-up line,"
Jason tried to hold in his laughter as he witnessed Dean get turned down cold. "Man, you just rejected,"
"I know," Dean replied, not believing it.
"Kids are the best?" Sam questioned Dean's choice of words. "You don't even like kids,"
"I love kids," Dean scoffed, turning to his brothers.
"Then name three children that you know," Jason said.
Dean tried to think of any children that he knew of, but nothing was coming to him.
"That's what I thought," Jason said then he and Sam walked away, over to the office to rent a room.
"Hey, I'm thinking," Dean argued, running to catch up with them.
After the brothers got their room, went to it, and got settled in. Sam and Dean took the beds while Jason took the couch. He didn't mind though, most of the time growing up he had to take the couch or the comfy chairs in Motel rooms, but he was used to it, heck sometimes he had to sit in a chair and rest his head on the table using his jacket as a pillow. He could even sleep on the floor if he wanted to.
After they got settled in the brothers got to work on learning what was causing these mysterious drownings.
Sam sat at the table, looking at his laptop researching the drownings, Jason sat on one of the beds reading John's journal, and Dean was still unpacking his bags.
"So there are the three drownings victims this year," Sam said.
"And the one's before that?" Jason asked, staring down at John's journal.
Sam looked through a few more of his opened pages then said. "Yeah, six more, spread out over the past thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there, it's picking up its pace."
Dean threw one of his clothes onto the bag on his bed, then turned to Sam. "So we got a lake monster on a binge?"
"This whole lake monster theory… it just bugs me,"
"Why's that?" Jason asked, looking up from the journal.
Dean leaned next to Sam to look at what was on his screen.
"Loch ness, lake Champlain... There are literally hundreds of eyewitness accounts, but here almost nothing. Whatever it is out there, no one's living to talk about it," Sam explained.
"We don't know for sure if it's the loch ness monster, it could be anything," Jason pointed out.
"Well, what do you think it could be?" Dean asked, looking at Jason.
"...I don't know," Jason admitted. "But we'll find out,"
Sam scrolls to the comments section of an article, but one caught Dean's eye and he points at it. "Wait, Bar, Christopher Bar. Where have I heard that name before?"
"Christopher Bar, the victim in May." Sam opened the link where it showed a picture of Lucas wrapped in a towel with a traumatized look, and he read it out to Dean and Jason. "Oh. Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband, Lucas's father. Apparently, he took Lucacaughtimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued." Sam explained then he clicked on the picture for a better look, then scratched his head.
"Maybe we do have an eyewitness after all," Jason said.
"No wonder that kid was so freaked out. Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over." Dean said, which got him a sympathetic look from Jason.
Dean knew that feeling from experience, he could understand how the kid felt. When he lost his mom it took him a while to recover from that experience. Jason was pretty young when she died but he shared Dean's grief in that too. It was lucky for them that Sam was somewhat spared from that trauma.
PARK - DAY
Knowing she would be there, the brothers headed to the park where they found Andrea sitting on a bench a few feet away from her son, watching him as he sat alone in the middle of the playground with paper and crayons were strewn around him as he drew. Other children ran around laughing and playing, but he didn't pay any attention and kept to himself.
Sam and Dean began walking over to Andrea, but Jason stayed behind, lost in thought as he stared at the playground. Seeing all those kids playing, brought back memories of when he was their age. It was then he realized he wasn't sure if he'd ever even been to a playground when he was a kid. When he and his brothers were little they'd only stay in a town for a short period of time and there wasn't really ever a chance to have fun or be a kid. Still, Jason didn't resent the way their father had raised him, Dean, or Sam, but there were times he wondered what it would've been like to be a normal kid.
"Dude," Dean hissed, calling Jason back to the present. Jason blinked a few times to clear his mind and made his way over to his brothers as they approached Andrea.
"Can we join you?" Sam asked, the sudden sound made Andrea jump slightly.
She turned to look at them, slightly appalled. "I'm here with my son."
Dean glanced at Lucas who was currently drawing in the middle of the park alone before looking back at his mother. "Oh. Mind if I say hi?"
Without a word from Andrea, Dean went over to where her son was. She scoffed at him, looking over at Sam and Jaso, who took a seat on each side of her.
"Tell your friend this whole Jerry Maquire thing's not gonna work with me," Andrea mumbled, crossing her arms.
"Um, we're pretty sure this isn't about that," Jason said.
Across the park, Dean approached Lucas who didn't react to his presence in any way.
"How's it going?" Dean asked, kneeling in front of the kid, looking at his toys and crayons. Lucas didn't respond, he just kept drawing. Dean continued, picking up one of Lucas's toy soldiers. "Oh, I used to love these things. Me and my brothers would play with them when we were little and we cherished those moments."
Dean imitated gunfire and explosions with the soldier to try to get something out of the kid, but Lucas just ignored him and just kept drawing.
"So crayons are more your thing?" Dean asked. "That's cool. Chicks dig artists."
Dean then looked at Lucas's other drawings beside him.
"Hey, these are pretty good," Dean complimented looking through his drawings. The top one is of a big black swirl; the second one is of a red bicycle. They seemed like odd drawings but who knew what was going on in Lucas's head.
"You mind if I sit and draw with you for a while?" Dean asked, but didn't get a single word out of Lucas "I'm not so bad myself."
Dean sat down next to Lucas, grabbing one of his crayons and construction paper, and began drawing something. "You know I'm thinking you can hear me. You just don't want to talk." Dean said as he began drawing. "I don't know exactly what happened to your Dad, but I know it was something really bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age me and my brother, we saw something."
Dean paused as he remembered that night, that was a memory he would prefer never to think of ever, thinking about it always pained him. "Anyway...Well, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you, or, uh...or believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture about what you saw that day, with your dad, on the lake."
Again, Dean was met with nothing but silence from Lucas. "Okay, no problem." Dean showed Lucas his drawing. "This is for you. This is my family."
The drawing was a stick figure representation of his family. "That's my Dad, that's my Mom, that's my faithful brother, that's my geek brother, and that's me," Dean pointed to each of his family members on the paper.
Lucas didn't look at the drawing and just kept drawing his.
"All right, so I'm a sucky artist. I'll see you around, Lucas." Dean left his drawing for Lucas then got up and went back to Jason and Sam. As Dean was walking back he didn't notice that Lucas stopped drawing and picked up Dean's drawing to look at it.
Dean approached Sam, Jason, and Andrea who were all currently talking.
"Lucas hasn't said a word, not even to me," Andrea told them. "Not since his dad's accident."
"Yeah, we heard. Sorry." Dean said to her.
Andrea responded to Dean's words with a few nods.
"What have the doctors said?" Jason asked.
"That it's a kind of post-traumatic stress," Andrea said.
"That can't be easy for either of you," Sam supposed,
Jason added, "Having to deal with the loss of a loved one, it isn't a easy thing."
"Yeah. We moved in with my Dad, he helps out a lot. It's just…" Andrea trailed off. "When I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw…"
The brothers exchanged glances of understanding, then Dean said. "Kids are strong. You'd be surprised what they can deal with."
That is true Dean and his brother Jason have had to deal with the loss of their mother for years before they recovered from the horrors, if they could recover from that then Lucas could just as well recover from what he experienced.
Behind them, Lucas got up from his bench and walked over to them carrying a drawing.
"You know, he used to have such life. He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there. Drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish—" Andrea stopped when she saw Lucas walking up to Dean.
"Hey, sweetie,"
Lucas ignored his mom and handed Dean a drawing. Andrea looked up at Dean surprised that Lucas just handed him a drawing. Dean accepted the drawing from Lucas and looked at it, it was a drawing of a house.
"Thanks, Lucas," Dean thanked Lucas for the drawing, then he walked back to his bench.
Motel - Day
The next morning back at the motel Dean lounged on his bed watching TV, the volume turned low. Jason sat at the table drinking a beer and listening to music on his walkman, with one headphone in and the other out.
Suddenly, Sam entered the room, grabbing his brother's attention. He sighed as he shut the door behind him with a click. "So, I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie."
"What do you mean?" Dean asked, sitting upright.
"Has something happened?" Jason asked, removing his headphones.
Sam sat down on the foot of Dean's bed, his elbows resting on his knees. "I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead."
"He drowned?" Dean inquired.
"Yep…" Sam trailed off. "In the sink."
"What the fuck?" Jason said, surprised. "So we aren't dealing with Nessie after all. This is definitely the work of something else."
"Yeah, but what?" Sam wondered.
"A water wraith maybe? Some kind of Demon?" Dean guessed.
"It has to be something that can control water," Jason said, then something came to him. "Water that comes from the same source,"
"The lake," Sam said.
"Yeah," Dean nodded.
"Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time." Sam said.
"And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere," Dean said, then got up. "This is gonna happen again soon."
"And we do know one other thing. This has got something to do with Bill Carlton." Jason pointed out.
"Yeah, it took both his kids," Dean said.
"And I've been asking around. Lucas's dad, Chris—Bill Carlton's godson." Sam added.
"Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit," Dean said, then he and Jason got up and walked to the door with Sam following behind them.
Carlton House
The brothers arrived at the Carlton house where they found Bill Carlton sitting on the bench on the dock staring off at the lake.
"Mr. Carlton?"
Bill looks up seeing Sam, Jason, and approach.
"We'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind," Sam said.
"We're from the - the Department—"
"I don't care who you're with. I've answered enough questions today." Bill interrupted Dean.
It was clear that Will wasn't gonna answer their questions but Sam persisted. "Your son said he saw something in that lake. What about you? You ever see anything out there? Mr. Carlton, Sophie's drowning and Will's death—we think there might be a connection to you or your family."
"My children are gone. It's...it's worse than dying." Bill muttered, "Go away. Please."
Seeing that they won't be getting any answers out of Bill the brothers left the dock and headed for the Impala.
"What do you think?" Sam asked.
"I think the poor guy's been through hell, but I also think he's not telling us something," Jason said.
Sam leaned on the Impala then asked. "So now what?"
Dean was about to say something, but he fell silent when he looked at Will Carlton's house. Jason picked up on this, "Dude, what is it?"
"Huh. Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something." Dean recognized the house, Lucas handed him a drawing of a house that looked exactly like that. Dean pulled out the picture Lucas gave him, then looked at his brothers.
Devins/Barr House
In search of answers, Dean believed that Lucas may have them. They went to Andrea and her father's home, they knocked on the door and Andrea answered. She invited them inside, Dean told her that they needed to talk to her son, but she didn't think it was a good idea.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea." Andrea opposed.
"I just need to talk to him, just for a few minutes," Dean requested.
"He won't say anything. What good is it gonna do?" Andrea asked.
"Andrea, if we don't find an answer to this then more people are gonna get hurt," Jason said.
"We think something's happening out there," Sam added.
"My husband, the others, they just drowned. That's all." Andrea said, but there was some hesitance in her voice.
"If that's what you really believe, then we'll go. But if you think there's even a possibility that something else could be going on here, please let me talk to your son." Dean requested.
Andrea took a breath before she led them up to her son's room. Dean walked into Lucas's room, where he was found sitting on the floor drawing another picture.
Dean walked in and kneeled down to Lucas. "Hey, Lucas. You remember me?"
Lucas didn't take his eyes off his drawing as he kept drawing.
"You know, I, uh, I wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is, I need your help again." Dean admitted. He looked at Lucas's drawing and saw he had two new drawings of red bicycles.
Lucas was drawing another picture of a person in the water. Dean pulls the picture Lucas gave him of the house and opened it up in front of Lucas.
"How did you draw this? Did you know something bad was gonna happen?" Dean asked but got nothing from Lucas. "Maybe you could nod yes or no for me."
Lucas ignored Dean and just kept coloring. "You're scared. It's okay. I understand. See, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom, and I was scared, too."
Jason was surprised to hear Dean just talk about their mom, Sam was too. Both of them shared a glance, then looked back at Dean.
"I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom—I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day. And I do my best to be brave. And maybe, your dad wants you to be brave too." Dean said.
His words make Lucas drop his crayon and look up at Dean. Andrea was taken aback by this, she's never gotten Lucas to look at her like that yet Dean was able to. Lucas picked up one of his drawings and handed it to Dean. Dean takes the drawing from Lucas and looks at it, it is a picture of a white church, a yellow house, and a boy with a blue baseball cap and red bicycle in front of a wooden fence.
"Thanks, Lucas," Dean said appreciatively.
The brothers were on the road, Dean was searching for the house in Lucas's drawing.
"Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died," Dean said looking at the drawing.
"There are cases going through a traumatic experience could make certain people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies," Sam said.
"Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow? I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead, please."
Seeing as there weren't any other options Sam ceded. "All right, we got another house to find."
"But that's not gonna be easy there are about a thousand yellow two-stories houses in this county alone," Jason said.
Sam looks at the drawing and notices something. "See this church? I bet there's less than a thousand of those around here."
"Oh, College Boy thinks he's so smart."
"That can actually narrow down our search." Jason pointed out.
Silence followed for a couple of seconds until Sam spoke up. "You know, um…" Sam trailed off. "What you said about mom - you never told us that before."
"It's no big deal," Dean tried to put off what he said as just pointless chatter, but he could see through that facade. Both Sam and Jason simply stared at Dean which he quickly noticed. "Oh god, we're not gonna have to hug each other or anything are we?"
Jason chuckled then said. "Hell no bro...it's just that hearing you say that was...kinda nice,"
Sam nodded in agreement with Jason.
With the search narrowed down finding the house from Lucas's drawing was easier. They looked at a house that looked similar to the one from the drawing. Dean held up the picture and looked at it, comparing it to the scene in front of him; a yellow house next to the church and a wooden fence near the house. The brothers look at each other. They look up at the church and cross the street to the house.
When they get to the door Dean knocks on it and a few moments later, an old woman answers. He tells her that they need to ask some questions so she invites them inside. "We're sorry to bother you, ma'am, but does a little boy live here, by chance? He might wear a blue ball cap, has a red bicycle." Dean asked.
The old woman lets out a sigh and looks down in sadness, "No sir, not for a very long time. Peter's been gone 35 years now,"
She looks at a picture on a shelf, "The police never—I never had any idea what happened. He just disappeared."
As she was talking Jason pointed out to Dean and Sam some toy soldiers, sitting on a shelf next to them.
"Losing him—you know, it's...it's worse than dying." She said the same words Bill told them.
"Did he disappear from here? I mean, from this house?" Jason asked.
"He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school and he never showed up," She told them. The brothers all looked at each other, Bill could have something to do with his disappearance.
Dean looked around and noticed a picture in a mirror, grabbed it, and looked at it. He turned it over and two names were written on the back. "Peter Sweeney and Billy Carlton, 1970." Dean readout.
Knowing now that Bill did have something to do with these drownings, Dean thanked the woman for her time and the brothers were driving back to Bill to get the truth out of him.
The brothers were back on the road talking about the facts that they've learned.
"Okay, this little boy Peter Sweeney vanishes, and this is all connected to Bill Carlton somehow," Sam said.
"Well, it definitely looked like Bill was keeping a secret," Jason said.
"And Bill, the people he loves, they're all getting punished," Sam said.
"So what if Bill did something?" Dean asked.
"What if Bill killed him?" Jason asked.
"Peter's spirit would be furious. It'd want revenge. It's possible." Dean said.
Carlton House
The Impala pulled up at the Carlton's house again, the brothers got out and approached the house.
"Mr. Carlton!" Sam yelled at the house, but behind them Dean noticed the sound of an engine running, he turned around and saw Bill taking his boat out to the lake. "Hey, check it out."
Sam and Jason turned around to see Bill going into the lake.
Jason's eyes widened, "Holy shit."
All three of them ran as fast as they could down to the dock and stopped at the edge, yelling out to Bill, trying to get him to turn around before it was too late.
"Mr. Carlton! You need to come back! Come out of the water! Turn the boat around!" Dean yelled out.
"Mr. Carlton!" Sam yelled.
"Mr. Carlton come back before it's too late!" Jason yelled.
Bill looked back at them but ignored their pleas and kept going. Then the water rises up and flips Bill's boat over and it and he both vanish into the lake without a trace.
Sheriff's Office
At the Sheriff's office, Andrea and Lucas sat together waiting for the Sheriff, in her lap rested a bucket of chicken and a bag of sides on top of it. Andrea noticed that Lucas was trembling like he's just witnessed something horrifying. He was rocking back and forth in his chair.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Andrea asked, running her hand along his hair.
Just then the doors opened, Andrea turned her head to see Sam, Dean, and Jason walking in with the Sheriff following behind them.
"Sam, Dean, Jason." Andrea stood up from her chair, putting the bag and container on her chair. "I didn't expect to see you here."
Jake glances at the boys with his eyebrows raised. "So now you're on a first-name basis."
He pushed the side door and walked to his daughter, "What are you doing here?"
"I brought you dinner," Andrea said, Devins glanced at the food in the chair. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I don't really have the time."
Andrea glanced at the boys. "I heard about Bill Carlton. Is it true? Is something going on with the lake?" Andrea asked her dad.
"Right now we don't know what the truth is. But I think it might be better if you and Lucas went on home." Devins suggested. As he was talking Dean looked at Lucas who seemed horrified as he rocked back and forth in his chair.
Suddenly Lucas looks up from his chair, whining. He jumped out from his chair and ran up to Dean, grabbing his arm and pulling him over to him. "Lucas, Lucas, hey, what is it?
Andrea went over to her son kneeling to him, attempting to separate him from Dean. "Lucas, it's okay. It's okay. Hey, Lucas, it's okay. It's okay." Dean said, trying to calm the kid.
Lucas calmed down at the sound of Dean's voice, he stopped shaking and just stayed silent. Andrea held her son close, then led him out of the building Lucas looked at Dean one more time as he and Andrea walked out of the building together.
When they were gone Devins threw his jacket into a chair before walking into his office. The brothers followed behind him, they had much to discuss. What they were telling the Sheriff seemed hard for him to believe.
"Okay, just so I'm clear, you see...something attack Bill's boat, sending Bill—who is a very good swimmer, by the way—into the drink, and you never see him again?" Jake asked, skeptically.
The brothers shared glances with each other then looked back at the sheriff.
"Yeah, that about sums it up," Dean said.
"We know what we saw, sheriff," Jason added.
"And I'm supposed to believe this, even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake? And what you're describing is impossible? And you're not really Wildlife Service?"
The brothers couldn't hide their shock, as they realized their cover was now officially blown.
"Oh shit," Jason quietly let out.
"That's right, I checked. Department's never heard of you three." Jake said,
"See, now, we can explain that." Dean attempted to lie but Jack raised a hand before he could say anything else.
"Enough. Please." Jake interrupted then said. " The only reason you're all breathing free air is one of Bill's neighbors saw him steering out that boat just before you did."
"So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance. Or, we can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your car, you put this town in your rearview mirror, and you don't ever darken my doorstep again." Jake listed their options in a threatening manner.
Seeing how leaving was the best option from jail, Jason said. "Yeah, leaving is my choice."
"Door number two sounds good," Sam said
"That's the one I'd pick." Jake agreed.
Impala - Night
It was night and the brothers were back on the road, after leaving the police station they went back to their motel, packed up all their stuff, got into the Impala, and they were now leaving town.
Dean stopped the Impala at the red traffic light, and they waited. When it turned green Dean didn't do anything, he was focused on seeing Lucas so terrified.
"Dude, the light's green," Jason said, snapping Dean out of his thoughts.
"Huh, what?"
"The light's green," Jason repeated.
With the light green Dean pushed on the pedal, but instead of going left to the Interstate Dean drove left instead.
"Dude the interstate's the other way," Sam said, noticing that he was going in the wrong direction.
"I know," Dean replied.
"Dean, why are we heading back?" Jason asked, confused.
"Because something's not right," Dean explained.
"But Dean, this job, I think it's over," Sam argued
Dean shook his head. "I'm not so sure."
"If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed. The spirit should be at rest." Sam said.
"All right, so what if we take off and this thing isn't done? You know, what if we've missed something? What if more people get hurt?" Dean questioned.
"But why would you think that?" Jason asked.
"Because Lucas was really scared," Dean answered.
"That's what this is about?" Sam asked in disbelief.
Jason thought about it and realized Dean had a good point, if the spirit was truly at rest then why would Lucas be so scared? It was odd. "Dean has a point, that was odd." Jason said.
"I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid's okay," Dean said
"Who are you? And what have you done with my brother?" Sam asked, laughing which makes Jason elbow him.
"Shut up." Dean spat as he drove to Andrea's house.
Andrea's House - Night
When the brothers got to Andrea's house Dean rang the doorbell a couple of times but there was no answer.
"Are you sure about this?" Sam asked.
"It's pretty late, bro. She could be asleep." Jason pointed out.
Dean tried once again, ringing the bell but as soon as he touched the button the door quickly opened with Lucas on the other side with a terrified look, breathing heavily.
"Lucas? Lucas!" Dean kneeled down to the kid, but he quickly took off upstairs, the brothers followed after him but as they made their way upstairs they saw water flowing down coming from the bathroom. Lucas knocked on the bathroom door repeatedly.
"Lucas," Dean went over to him and pulled him away.
"I got this," Jason ran to the bathroom door and kicked the door open with his leg. Sam and Jason then ran into the room, while Dean stayed in the hallway to protect Lucas.
The two reached into the bathtub to try and get Andrea out. Lucas already lost his dad and they weren't gonna let this ghost take his mom too. Using all their strength they manage to pull Andrea up, but the force tries to pull her back down, not wanting that to happen the two pull Andrea as hard as they can and pull her out of the tub. As soon as she was out she began coughing up water.
Andrea's House - Morning
The sun was rising in the sky by the time Andrea had changed into a clean, dry, pair of clothes. She cradled a cup of coffee in her hands, trying to process what had happened to her as she sat at the dining room table with Sam.
"What can you tell me?" Sam asked. Andrea stayed silent for a moment, then shook her head.
"No, it doesn't make any sense," she looked around the room, her eyes landing back on the table in front of her. Andrea placed her hands on her face, a beat of silence passing before she began quietly sobbing. "I'm going crazy."
Sam gave her a sympathetic look, keeping his tone comforting when he spoke to her. "No, you're not. Tell me what happened. Everything."
"I heard-" Andrea spoke between sobs. "I thought I heard- there was this voice."
"What did it say?" Sam asked.
"It said- it said come play with me," Andrea muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. "What's happening?"
In the basement, Dean and Jason were searching for something, anything, that could clue them in on why what happened to Andrea occurred. Dean was going through an old bookshelf on the other side of the room while Jason examined a stack of boxes. One covered in dust caught his eye. He picked it up and sifted through the papers inside until he found a large book on the bottom. Jason pulled it out, noticing that it was a photo album with Jake - 12 years old written on the cover.
"Huh," Jason mumbled absentmindedly.
"Find something?" Dean asked, making his way over to his brother.
"I think so," Jason nodded, he opened up the book and flipped through the pages with Dean next to him.
"Wait, wait, go back," Dean said. Jason obliged, flipping back a couple of pages until Dean told him to stop, pointing at one of the photos. They shared a look, shocked at their discovery. With that, they headed back upstairs where Andrea and Sam were sitting. Jason tossed the book down on the table in front of Andrea. She looked down at the page, seeing a picture with the title underneath reading Explorer Troop 37.
"Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?" Jason asked.
"What?" Andrea said confused then looked down at the picture. "Um, um, no. I mean except that's my dad right there. He must have been about twelve in these pictures."
She moves her finger over to another picture of Jake as a child; he is standing next to Peter. The brothers looked at each other, now they knew that the sheriff had something to do with Peter's disappearance too.
"Chris Barr's drowning. The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton." Dean said
"It must have been to the sheriff." Sam guessed.
"Bill and the sheriff—they were both involved with Peter," Jason stated.
"What about Chris? My dad—what are you talking about?" Andrea asked.
Dean looks sideways and sees Lucas staring outside at something. "Lucas?"
Andrea quickly turns around to see that Lucas is staring out the window.
"Lucas, what is it?" Dean asked.
Laid nothing, he just opened the door and walked outside. Everyone followed to see where he's going.
"Lucas, honey?" Andrea called out.
Lucas suddenly stops at a patch of grass below him and looks up at Dean in front of him.
Jason turns to Andrea. "You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?"
Andrea nods and pulls Lucas back to the house. Sam, Dean, and Jason fetched shovels from the Impala before they start digging. They didn't dig much until Sam's shovel clanked against something. They dig the rest of the way with their hands and then pull out an old rusty red bicycle.
"Peter's bike," Sam said.
"Who are you?" The brothers turn to see the Sheriff standing behind them with his gun raised at them.
"Put the gun down, Jake," Sam said, raising his hands.
Jake narrowed his eyes at the bike before looking back up to the brothers. "How did you know that was there?" He demanded to know.
"What happened? You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake, and then buried the bike? You can't bury the truth, Jake. Nothing stays buried." Dean said.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Jake said, but the tone of his voice said otherwise.
"You and Bill murdered Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago. That's what we're talking about." Jason accused.
Just then Adrea ran up to the group. "Dad!"
"And now you got one seriously pissed-off spirit," Dean added.
"It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love. It's gonna drown them. And it's gonna drag their bodies God knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then, after that, it's gonna take you, and it's not gonna stop until it does." Sam explained.
"Yeah, and how do you know that?" Jake asked, pointing his gun at Sam.
"Because that's what it did to Bill Carlton," Jason answered.
"Listen to yourselves, all of you. You're insane." Jake said.
"I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us. But if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust."
"Tell me you buried Peter somewhere please don't say that you just let him go in the lake," Jason said.
Andrea took a few steps closer to her Dad. "Dad, is any of this true?"
"No" Jake shook his head. "Don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous."
"Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake. Dad, look at me." Andrea demanded.
Jake's face changes to one of fear and regret, and he slowly turns his head to Andrea.
"Tell me you—you didn't kill anyone."
Jake looks away in shame and Andrea's eyes widened in horror, "Oh my God,"
Knowing he couldn't hide the truth anymore Jake let it out. "Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to. But we held him under too long and he drowned."
Jake then turned to the brothers. "We let the body go, and it sank."
The brothers exchange glances. That wasn't good, if the bones were underwater then they couldn't salt them and burn them. There were no other options now.
"Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake." Jake admitted. "But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational."
Dean then speaks. "All right, listen to me, all of you. We need to get you away from this lake, as far as we can, right now."
Andrea turns her head and spots her son going down to the dock at the lake reaching his hand out into the water making her gasp.
"Lucas!" Jake yelled.
They all run up to the dock where Lucas is leaning over the side of the dock, reaching for a toy soldier in the water.
"Lucas!" Dean yelled
"Lucas! Baby, stay where you are!"
"Lucas get away from there!" Jason yelled.
Lucas tries to reach for the toy soldier in the water but before he can reach it a hand comes out of the water and pulls Lucas into the water. Everyone runs out of the woods to see Lucas being pulled down. Jake stops in his tracks when he sees a head sticking out of the water, Peters, he couldn't believe it, they were right. Jake gasped in horror. The head then disappears into the lake.
"Oh, my god!" Andrea yelled in horror.
Dean, Sam, and Jason all jumped off the Bay into the lake, Andrea followed behind her taking off her jacket but before she could Sam surfaced and raised a hand stopping her. "Andrea, stay there,"
"No, Lucas!" Andrea yelled, looking at the lake.
"We'll get him just stay on the dock," Jason reassured before diving to find Lucas followed by Sam.
Andrea watched as the brothers searched the waters for their son, but finding nothing. They all surfaced for air and looked at each other.
"Sam?" Dean asked, to which Sam shook his head.
Dean then turned to Jason, then he shook his head too. They all dived underwater to continue their search. Jake approached the lake taking off his jacket and walked into the lake. "Peter, if you can hear me...please, Peter, I'm sorry. I'm so—I'm so sorry."
Andrea turns around to see her Dad going into the lake. "Daddy no!"
"Peter. Lucas—he's, he's just a little boy. Please, it's not his fault, it's mine. Please take me." Jake begged the ghost. Underneath him, Peter swam up to claim his prize.
At that same moment, the brothers resurfaced to see Jake swimming in the lake. "Jake no!" Dean yelled.
"Just let it be over!"
Suddenly something grabs Jake's leg and begins pulling him down.
"Daddy! Daddy! No!" Andrea screamed as she watched her dad drown in the lake.
Dean, Jason, and Sam dive down again.
"No!" Andrea yelled as her Dad disappeared into the lake.
The brothers dove back into the lake to find Lucas, not that Peter had Jake then he would've let him go. After a few moments of searching Sam and Jason surface, they both shake their heads at Andrea, neither of them has found Lucas.
"No!" Andrea screamed.
Suddenly Dean arose from the water with an unconscious Lucas in his arms. Dean swam to the bay then Jason performed CPR on Lucas reviving him. Andrea then thanked the boys then took him home. With the Ghost of Peter now at rest the job was done so the boys went back to the Motel to get some sleep.
Motel - Day
The next morning, at the Motel the brothers were getting ready to leave, the job was done and now it was time to hit the road and find their dad. The brothers left the room and made their way to the Impala carrying their bags. Dean went to the back door and opened it then they put their bags in the back seat.
"Dude, don't beat yourself up about Jake. We're not gonna be able to save everybody." Jason said.
This is one of the hardest things about this job, they can't always save everyone. While Hunting people will always die but at least they can save a few people from being killed by creatures of evil.
Dean looked up at Jason and nodded. "I know,"
Jason placed a hand on Dean's shoulder to comfort him. "At least we saved Andrea and Lucas,"
Speaking of which Adrea and Lucas were coming up to the brothers with Lucas carrying something in his arms. "Jason, Sam, Dean," Adrea spoke, getting their attention.
"Speak of the devil," Jason said as the brothers noticed them coming up to them.
"Hey," Dean said, the brother walked up to them
"We're glad we caught you," Andrea said, then looked at her son. "We just, um, made you guys some lunch for the road. Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself."
Lucas looked up at her mom and asked. "Can I give it to them now?"
That may be the first time that they've heard Lucas talk since they've been here.
Andrea smiled. "Of course," She gave her son a kiss on the head.
"Come on Lucas let's load this in the car," Dean helped Lucas get the plate full of sandwiches into the Impala. As they were doing that Jason and Sam talked with Andrea.
"So how are you holding up?" Jason asked.
Andrea sighed then said. "It's gonna take a long time to sort through everything you know?"
Jason nodded in understanding. "Yeah...it is."
Sam let out a sigh. "Andrea, I'm sorry."
Andrea shook her head, they had nothing to be sorry about. "You saved my son. I can't ask for more than that. Dad loved me. He loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that."
Both nodded in understanding.
Dean loaded the sandwiches into the backseat of the Impala then turned around sitting on the seat in front of Lucas. "All right, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a very important phrase, so I want you to repeat it one more time."
"ZEPPELIN RULES!" Lucas cheered.
"That's right. Up High." Dean gave Lucas a high five in the air then gave him a serious look. "You take care of your mom now, okay?"
Lucas nodded. "All right,"
Sam, Jason, and Andrea walked over to them as Dean got up from his seat. Just then Andrea pressed her lips on Dean, giving him a quick kiss goodbye.
"Whoa," Jason whistled.
Dean scratched his head then got himself back on track. This job was done so now they had to get back on the road and continue their search for their Dad. "Guys move your asses! We're gonna run out of daylight before we hit the road." Dean said as he walked over to the driver's seat.
Knowing now that they had to leave Sam and Jason got into their seats. Sam went into the passenger seat while Jason got in the back. Dean started up the Impala and a song started playing on the radio. The brothers gave Andrea and Lucas one last look before Dean pulled the Impala out of the parking lot and began driving down the road.
Once again the brothers were on the road traveling to search for their Dad.
Another chapter complete please leave a review and tell me what you think.
I apologize for the long wait but I've been trying to focus on one story at a time. I hope you all have enjoyed this chapter, but I may come back and improve this chapter later.