The Next Day
We headed over to the post office in the Impala. It was a little bit outside Chicago in a more run down neighborhood, not much different from when it first opened in the 1890s. I clutched a rosary in my hand while Sam sat in the back with me, holding my hand and stroking it with his thumb in an effort to help me calm down.
Even with all the research we have done yesterday, I still didn't feel prepared to face whatever it is we needed to face. I also kept going back to the conversation Sam and I had last night. Could some of the recent men who disappeared still be alive, or am I getting my hopes up?
"How you holding up back there, kid?" Dean asked.
"Nervous," I said, "I'm worried that...whatever this is will get to either you or Sam. You both may not be in the age range but like I said, they aren't going to be too thrilled about us snooping around, especially you two."
"So we can agree: no splitting up," Dean said.
"Would put my mind at ease," I said, "I'll take the lead the best I can, see if I can trace the entities and we can help put them to rest."
Those plans, however, were going to have to be put on hold. Once we found a parking space and got out of the Impala, a woman ran up to us crying hysterically.
"Please! Please! Help me!" she said.
Her frantic state managed to get past my wall that I put up to avoid dark entities.
"My son! He...he went in the post office...he was playing with his friends and when he got in, they heard him scream!" she said.
Dean, Sam and I looked at each other, confused as to how a child managed to sneak into the post office easily despite the fact that it was shut down for crime investigators.
"Ma'am, have you talked to the police?" Dean said.
"The police don't care about us!" she said, "They only...just please help me! I have no one else to turn to!"
I took the woman by the hands and smiled reassuringly. "It's okay, miss," I said, "We'll find your son. What's his name?"
"Justin," she said.
I looked over to Sam and Dean. Letting go of the woman's hands, I huddled with the both of them.
"I have to go in," I said, "I can trace the boy by tracking his emotions and see what spirits we are dealing with."
"Okay," Dean said, "So...what are you suggesting?"
"One of you come with me. The other will stay with the mother."
"I'll go," Sam immediately volunteered.
"No, I'll go. You're better with people most of the time anyways," Dean said.
Sam gave Dean a little glare before putting out his hand in a fist.
Oh great. Here we go again with the rock paper scissors.
Sam, of course, won.
Dean groaned as Sam and I turned towards the post office.
"You kids be careful!" he shouted before going to the woman.
Sam and I went to the front of the post office, trying to find some kind of opening that didn't involve the front door as it was blocked off. We looked for some kind of basement door or window that a young child could potentially crawl in and out of, but there was only concrete.
My eyes landed on a part of the building that had a bit of a hill on it. The window was wide open, too. This would allow anyone to get into the building.
"Sam," I said, pointing at the window.
He saw it, too. We both looked at each other and nodded, heading to the window. Thankfully, there were no workers or cops in the post office so we were able to get in without raising any alarms. Once inside, I began to open myself up to seeing what we were dealing with.
"Give me a second," I said.
Sam knew what I meant by that and gave me some space to concentrate. Closing my eyes, I started to listen.
The first sound that came to my attention were women crying and pleading for help. I then felt a sense of anger and rage, but they weren't coming from a woman's spirit.
They were coming from a man's spirit.
This completely threw me off guard as I expected the women to have that rage, but they didn't. I then heard the voice of a man speak to me, saying something along the lines of Look what he did to my daughter.
I quickly opened my eyes, gasping for air a bit. Sam immediately rushed over and pulled me in his arms.
"Sweetie, what happened? What did you see?"
I looked up at him. "Sam...the vengeful spirits...they aren't of the women who died here. It's a man."
He gave me a look of confusion, trying to comprehend what I just said.
"Is it one of his male victims?" he asked.
I shook my head. "I don't think so," I said, "The voice that spoke to me...it said 'Look what he did to my daughter.' Sam...I think these spirits who are kidnapping the workers...they are the fathers' of the women who were killed here."
Sam's eyes went from confusion to a bit of panic as he realized what we were up against. "So...these spirits..."
"It's not uncommon for spirits to latch on to the living and be transported to another place," I said, "I think because this is a hot tourist spot, some people unknowingly bought these angry spirits here who were looking for revenge on the death of their daughters all those years ago."
"I thought the bus tour here didn't start up until around the 1990s?" Sam said.
"They didn't, but that doesn't mean that a different bus tour or another form of public transport had someone from out of state could've accidentally carried these spirits when this first started," I said.
"So what do we do?" Sam asked.
"We need to head into the basement," I said, "I've heard that two of the tunnels from the hotel are still there. Somewhere in there, we could possibly find the kid and see if there are any survivors."
Sam nodded and let go of me. We immediately found the basement door and much to our surprise, the tunnels were not blocked off. In fact, they were wide open.
"Surprised no one bothered to check in there," he said.
"They may have," I said, "But remember that the spirit of Holmes you, Jo and Dean faced off against had a really good hiding spot for his victims. It's possible these spirits are doing the same thing."
I took out my flashlight and bag full of salt while Sam took out his gun. I peared down the hall, opening up my mind a bit and concentrating hard to find the child. I suddenly was hit with a feeling of distress along with feelings of confusion. However, it wasn't just one person manifesting this energy.
I sensed there were around three living people down here. The question is were they in the walls?
"I got him," I said, "I think there's also some survivors down here as I feel more than one energy pattern that only the living have."
"Oh, thank God," Sam said.
I looked behind me and motioned for him to follow me. He nodded and we both entered the damp tunnel. It was very tight, mainly because there were so many pipes. Sam struggled to get past a few of them as he was a bit on the tall side.
I felt the energy of the child and the possible survivors get closer.
"I think we're almost there," I said, "We need to keep going straight."
"What's the plan?" Sam asked.
"Find who we can and get out," I said, "Something tells me these ghosts are more active during the evening hours because while I was able to trace them, the energy wasn't strong enough to get them."
"What if we only have time to save one?" Sam said.
"I really hope that it doesn't come to that," I said, "But we need to get the kid out of here first."
All of the sudden, I heard the sound of sniffling echoing throughout the tunnel. I stopped for a second and turned to Sam, pointing to where I heard the crying. He nodded, confirming that he also heard it. I pressed my finger to my lips to indicate that we had to be quiet. I continued to move where I heard the crying, and the energy began to grow stronger the closer I got.
We soon reached a dead end, but there was a small figure curled up into a ball. I moved a bit closer but quieter as to not startle the figure. It was then I noticed that the figure was human.
This must be the child.
"Justin?" I called out.
The figure looked up at me and started in shock. He began to slowly scoot backwards, scared of what was going to happen to him.
"Shhh it's okay, sweetheart," I said, "Your mother came to us and we're here to help."
Sam slowly set down his gun, showing that we weren't there to hurt him.
"Is it just you down here?" I asked.
The boy frantically shook his head.
"Who else is here?"
"I hear others, but I can't see them," he said, tears spilling out of his eyes.
"Do their voices sound distorted?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"It's okay. Let's get you out of here," I said, "Your mother is worried sick."
Justin nodded, tears still streaming down his face. He quickly ran over to me and hugged my legs, almost knocking me over a bit.
I crouched down and he clinged onto me, his little body shaking. It broke my heart so much seeing him like this. I pulled him into a hug and started to pick him up.
"Shhh, it's okay," I said, "We're going to get you out of here, okay?"
Justin looked at me again and nodded, burying his head back on my shoulder.
"Lead the way," I said to Sam.
He nodded and grabbed my flashlight, leading all three of us out of the tunnel. "What's your name?" Justin asked.
"My name is Sarah," I said, "This here is Sam."
"Hey kid," Sam said, looking back at Justin with a bit of a smile.
"Why are you guys here?" Justin asked.
"We'll answer all your questions in a bit" I said, "Let's just focus on getting out of here first, okay?"
He nodded and continued to rest his head on my shoulder. He has calmed down a bit and has stopped crying but there was still a sense of distress he was giving off. I put forth some calming energy to him and I felt him settle down.
We managed to get out of the tunnel and we quickly got outside. Once we stepped outside, I saw the mother run towards us with Dean following behind.
"Justin!" she called out.
I put Justin down as he ran towards his mother, arms stretched out. "Mommy! Mommy!"
She scooped him up and held him close, tears streaming down her face.
"My baby! Don't EVER disappear from me like that again, you understand me?" she said.
The boy nodded and leaned on the mother's shoulder.
She looked at me and Sam and gave us a nod. "Thank you," she said, "God bless all three of you."
Dean finally caught up and stood beside me, nodding his head to the woman.
"We're just glad he's okay," I said.
She gave us a small smile and waked off with her child.
"Wait, we could've asked the kid some questions," Dean said.
"No Dean," I said, "He needs to be with his mother right now. You should've seen him. He looked so scared down there."
"Yeah and I think his mother would've not wanted us to ask questions especially since it pertains to spirits," Sam said.
"Besides...we may have other witnesses," I said.
The three of us went back into the tunnel. We wanted to see if we could find the survivors before the spirit became stronger during the evening hours. They were still alive, thank God, as I felt their energy to be alive and well.
I took the lead again with the flashlight. Both men had their guns with rock salt in the off chance we do run into the spirits.
"I feel like any moment, David Bowie is gonna pop out and sing 'Magic Dance' with a bunch of goblins," I joked.
Dean scoffed while Sam chuckled. "Well, we did take the child back," Dean said, "And your name is Sarah."
I stopped a little short, holding my finger up to halt the boys.
"Wait a second," I said, "I...lost the energy for a second."
I concentrated really hard to find the two living people again, and thankfully it wasn't hard to pick up.
Unfortunately, the energy reached a dead end. When we started to move, the energy lead us to a wall. There were little cracks here and there, but it would be impossible for a human being to get in.
"Great," Dean said, "Now what do we do?"
"Hello???"
We heard it coming through the cracks. I looked inside and sure enough, I saw two figures who looked badly beaten up.
"Hello?" I said.
"Oh thank God! We've been screaming these past few days that we thought we were going to loose our voices!" one of the men said, "Where are you?"
"We're on the other side of the wall," I said, "I can see you through one of the cracks."
"What crack?" the man said.
"Over by your right, my left," I said.
Pretty soon, I saw a man peer closer into my vision.
"Living people," he said, "Finally! Are you the police?"
"Something like that," Dean said.
"How did you get in there?" Sam asked.
"There's a trap door on the ceiling," the man said, "We think whatever this...person is dropped us in there. We can't get out, though. It's too high for the either of us to reach."
"Anything in there you could use to maybe dig out safely?" Dean asked, "I think this wall can come down without it burying us in these tunnels."
"No," the man said.
Dean looked at Sam and me. "I have something in the Impala that may help out," he said, "You two stay here and keep an eye on the Holmes doppelgängers. I'll get the tools."
We both nodded as Dean ran off. I looked back in the crack to face the man in the wall.
"What are your names?" I asked.
"I'm Henry," the one man said, "The other guy in here is Tony. He would come by, but his ankle is currently broken."
"Sup," I heard the other guy say.
"Hey, Henry and Tony," I said, "I'm Lorraine and this is Sam."
"Hey guys," Sam said.
"Who was the guy that just left?" Henry asked.
"Patrick," Sam said.
I got a little confused but Sam looked at me as if he was telling me to go along with it. I nodded in understanding. He didn't want to use Dean's real name in the off chance that these two heard about the bank robbery and the FBI looking for Sam and Dean.
"You said you guys weren't the police," Henry asked, "So what are you two? Ghost hunters?"
"Yeah, you can say that," I said.
"Guessing it's one of those 'Don't ask us too much question jobs' then," Henry said with a chuckle.
"It'll take forever to explain it," Sam said.
"Well, lucky for you two, I tend to not ask too many questions," Henry said, "So what are you guys? Siblings or family?"
"Sam and Patrick are cousins," I said, keeping up with the charade while also keeping some information as close to the truth as possible, "I'm Sam's girlfriend."
"Ah I see," he said, "So...kind of a family business."
"Sammy!!! Sarah!!" I heard Dean shout through the tunnel.
We looked over to where he was shouting then back at each other.
"I'll go get him," I said, "Stay here."
Sam nodded and I ran over to where Dean's shouting was coming from. I finally found him carrying two sledgehammers. He was struggling to keep carrying them but I was impressed on how far he's gotten. I took one of the sledgehammers from Dean and he sighed in relief.
"Thank you," he said.
"We used the cousins route when it came to you and Sam," I whispered in his ear.
Dean nodded, knowing exactly what I meant. "What fake name did Sam give me this time?" he asked.
"Patrick," I said, "Sam and I stuck to our truth so we're still boyfriend and girlfriend."
Dean shook his head and scoffed. "Patrick? Really? That's what Sam came up with out of all the names in the world..."
"Don't look at me," I said, "You can yell at Sam later about it."
We went back to the wall and I handed Sam the sledgehammer. "You both take care of this," I said, "I'll make sure no one tries to come down here."
I began to ran to the end of the tunnel, turning my head around to scream, "Be careful!"
I waited outside the basement doors, hoping that Sam and Dean wouldn't run into any trouble down there.
I found myself pacing and biting my nails, something that I haven't done in a long time. Dean said that they couldn't get caved in if they tore down the wall, but every possible negative scenario ran through my head and it would not shut up.
"SARAH!" I heard a cry.
I quickly opened the doors and there stood Sam and Henry, holding a really beaten up man with a limp.
This must be Tony.
Dean was walking ahead of them with the flashlight. All four men were dusty and dirty, probably from the wall coming down.
"You all okay?" I asked.
"Yeah," Sam said, "Tony here can't walk, though."
"You three can go. I'll get this guy to the hospital," Henry said.
Sam helped Henry settle Tony down on a chair where he could rest for a bit.
"Thank you, Henry," Dean said.
"No, thank you," Henry said, "I don't know what would've happened if you three haven't come down there and helped us."
We said our final goodbyes before running out of the post office towards the Impala, giving ourselves a chance to catch our breath.
"Guessing we can't get to the spirit yet," Dean said.
"Not yet," I said, "We need to wait until the sun goes down, then we can take it down."
Sam sighed. "Well...you're going to love what we're up against either way."
"Oh dear," I said, "Spirit has a name?"
"Yeah well...remember what you said earlier, about spirits attaching themselves to humans and transporting themselves to a property or item?"
"Yeah...why where is this going?" I asked.
"Well...he's also buried in Philadelphia, but who do you think is the most likely to jump at the opportunity to go back to Chicago and try to get back at the man who stole his life along with his children?"
It took me a minute to register what Sam was saying, but then I realized who we were dealing with.
"How do you know it's him???" I asked.
"Ghost liked to talk a big game," Dean said, "Which included saying his name."
Of course...I would thought he would've mentioned his so, but I cut him off the moment a daughter was mentioned and assumed it was a victim's father.
However...this father was also a victim...and one of H.H. Holmes's close friends.
Ben Pitezel.