Chapter 25
One Big Bad Idea
Timeline: Adam is 15 years old, hunting and training with John and Dean. Sam has been off at Stanford for over a year.
-/-/-/-/-/
John was tired. Hell, he was always tired but today he was really feeling it. Last night's hunt plus six hours of driving to get back to the boys had really worn him down. Not even the constant stream of gas station coffee he'd been drinking all morning was shaking the bone deep exhaustion that had settled on him.
He breathed a sigh of relief pulling into the parking lot of the Roadside Inn. True to its name it was just off the main highway in the small town John had picked for the boys to bunk in while he was gone and Adam attended school. It was just Dean and Adam now, Sam having disappeared off to Stanford last year in a storm of hurt, fear and angry words that John regretted every day since.
Gathering his jacket from the passenger seat he stiffly slid out of his truck, grateful for once that he didn't have to climb up and out of the Impala. Although he missed that car and its comfortable leather seats, he was proud of the care that Dean gave "his baby", and truth be told, John's aching, aging muscles preferred the easy step down of the truck cab.
As he closed the door of the truck with a hefty thud, he thought he heard another thud echo, this one coming from the direction of the motel. John froze instantly, his exhaustion evaporating from his body and cold fear and adrenaline replacing it. He stood stock still for a moment, willing his ears to listen closely, hoping what he heard was a figment of his tired imagination, not what he was almost sure were sounds of a struggle.
Again he heard it, a deep thud, definitely coming from the boys' motel room.
John moved without thinking, dropping his coat and running toward the door of the room. He tested the doorknob once and finding it locked, immediately lifted up a leg and kicked the door jam with a heavy steel boat, sending the flimsy door flying backward. He rushed in, his hands already reaching for a weapon before his eyes could adjust to the darkened room.
"Dad!" came a surprised shriek from his left.
John moved toward the familiar voice of his youngest son, blinking hard, willing his eyes to cooperate. When he was able to see again he found Adam sitting on the corner of the motel room bed, his hands bound tightly to one of the headboard posts.
"Adam!" John said, rushing over to untie the boy's hands "Are you alright? Where's Dean? What happened?"
Adam was still struggling against the ropes pulling so hard he was causing the headboard of the bed to bounce against the wall. He couldn't free himself however and had only succeeded in making the ropes tighter on his wrists.
"I'm fine!" Adam growled, continuing to pull fiercely.
John glanced around the room as he reached for his knife, looking for Dean and whatever monster could have gotten the jump on his boy.
"Be still!" he hissed at Adam, grabbing his son's hands and carefully slicing the ropes. Freeing his son from the binds John saw that Adam's wrists were rubbed raw and bloody in spots where he had fought to get free.
"Where's Dean?" he pressed, lifting the edge of his shirt to dab at some of the fresh blood on his son.
-/-/-/-
Adam had never intended for his hunt to go sideways like it had. It was milk run, an easy ghost kill in a one-horse town. It never should have ended up with him tied to a damn motel headboard.
He'd heard about the house from the kids at school as soon as they rolled into town.
It was almost October so everyone was telling ghost stories and getting in the spirit of Halloween. Adam had somehow managed to fall in with a popular group at this newest school and was invited out one weekend as his new friends tried to prove how tough they were by checking out a creepy old house that was supposedly haunted by a ghost.
Adam was nervous at first, knowing exactly how dangerous real vengeful sprits could be, but after seeing how scared everyone got just driving to the house he figured they'd be too chicken to go inside and piss off any ghost that might be home. And really, having his crush, Megan, hold his hand in the car and cling to him as they walked up the sidewalk near the house was worth it.
The house was abandoned, had been since the grisly murders in the 1960s that apparently caused the haunting in the first place. Adam hadn't technically done any research on the house, just heard the stories the other kids had told around school, but apparently the ghost was a man who'd been murdered by his own son.
The six of them had hung around on the sidewalk, daring each other to go inside, as the girls squealed and hide themselves behind the guys. Part of Adam wanted to go in, just show just how tough he really could be, but the other part of him knew it was stupid and dangerous to go in since he didn't have salt or iron or even full knowledge of what he might be walking into. At least he didn't have to pretend not to be scared. The other guys in the group were putting up a tough front, but Adam could see that just standing on the sidewalk, shoving each other into the yard was freaking these guys out, making Adam feel like a cool badass, since standing outside the house he really wasn't scared at all.
In the end none of them had gone in, although Adam and another kid named Logan had run up and jumped on the front porch, each doing a wild and stupid dance to prove their courage. It was enough to earn Adam all the cool points he needed with the group without having to display his legitimate ghost knowledge.
He hadn't bothered to tell Dean about his little escapade, knowing that his brother would rip him a new one for the stunt, even if they didn't go into the house or do anything stupid. Dean wouldn't have the patience to hear Adam out and just like Dad he'd rush in and take over, hunting the ghost before Adam even got a chance to try.
And Adam had decided to try.
Since the moment he'd heard the local legend, he wanted to hunt it. He knew Dad and Dean didn't know about it. Dad wouldn't have parked them in this town if they had. Dean was busy doing double duty research for both Dad and Caleb on two separate hunts (something he was doing a lot more now without Sam around) so he was distracted enough not to ask a lot of questions when it came to where Adam was spending his time.
Adam had gone to the library with Dean, but instead of learning the lore on fairy and wood spirits like Dad demanded or helping Dean research the cases like he should have, Adam had hit the newspaper archives to get all the details on the murder that took place in the local haunted house. It ended up being a clear case, at least as far as all the stuff that Winchesters normally dealt with went, the ghost haunting the place used to be a man who, like the other kids had told Adam, had been murdered by his own son in a crazy fit. Reading through the old newspapers it seemed to Adam that the son had some kinda mental issue that caused him to go off the rails. Whatever it was wasn't diagnosed or talked about back in the day, but the authorities clearly thought something serious was wrong with the dude since he got hauled off to a mental institution rather than jail after the murder.
The rumors the other kids had told Adam said that the ghost could be heard begging and pleading for mercy, which just made Adam sad. He'd been on a case like that before with Dad, where the ghost just moaned and begged and cried as it flung objects around the room, creating the chaos that had brought it to the Winchester's attention. That case was easy like this one was likely to be, finding the bones, burning them and then checking to ensure the building was clear.
Adam got the ghost's name, the cemetery and all the history he needed to work the case. It ended up just being a matter of waiting until Dean went out for the night before Adam snuck out to hit the cemetery and take care of the bones.
Without the help of his brothers or father, digging out the coffin ended up being a lot harder and more time consuming than Adam expected. He wondered how Dad did it by himself all the time. The man was a freaking machine.
Adam was cutting it close getting back to the motel room and showering the grave dirt off him before Dean got back. He found himself rushing to hide his soil stained clothes under his bed and jumping under the blankets just as the familiar rumble of the Impala could be heard turning into the parking lot. Dean almost always came home after his nights out with the lady barflies. Unfortunately for Adam his brother felt some kind of annoyingly twisted responsibility to make sure Adam got up every morning at 5 am to do the PT that their father demanded.
After the night at the cemetery Adam waited a day or two before heading back to check the house. He was sure it was clear, there hadn't been anymore talk of crazy happenings by the other kids so he was pretty sure the ghost had been taken care of.
In retrospect, it was pretty dumb of him to get Megan to come with him. But she was cute and half the fun of getting her to tagalong was all the flirtatious convincing he got to do. He couldn't stop thinking about how nice it would be to have her holding his hand and grabbing his jacket again. But then again he'd thought the house was clear. He was sure of it. As far as he was concerned he was just taking a pretty girl to an empty house.
And yeah he felt like a freaking idiot when they'd walked in and the front door immediately snapped shut behind them, causing Megan to scream and letting Adam know that the ghost he thought he'd ganked was still not-so-alive and kicking. At least he was prepared this time though, unlike when they'd come in the group before. Although he'd figured the house was safe he'd grabbed a saltshaker off one of the school cafeteria lunch tables just in case.
When the ghost appeared in front of them, bloody and flickering, groaning and begging incoherently, Megan totally flipped out. She screamed and cried and clung onto Adam's jacket in a way that wasn't fun and flirty anymore. Adam had opened the cafeteria saltshaker and threw it, causing the old ghost to flicker and disappear. He quickly grabbed Amanda and tried the front door, but it was still supernaturally sealed. Looking around he snatched a broken wooden chair and threw it through one of the front windows, sending a shower of glass outward. He quickly pushed Megan toward the window, yanking off his jacket and laying it over the ragged edges half helping half pushing her out the window, all the while telling her it would be ok while tears streamed down her face.
As soon as she was out Adam moved to follow but was grabbed from behind. Thrown back into the house, Adam struggled against the invisible force that pulled at his clothes and hair. He took several hits to his back and ribs before he was able to reach and grab for an old iron fireplace poker, whistling it through the air as he impaled the ghost. As soon as the iron touched it the ghost flickered out. Adam jumped up, running across the room and literally dove out the broken window, not caring as he landed in the broken glass covering the porch, shards slicing his forearms.
After that they ran. When they finally got far enough away to start to calm down Adam found out what a ghost experience does to normal people. Megan was crying, screaming at him. Then she was hugging him, thanking him for saving her life. She was furious that he'd talked her into going to the house, but kept saying how brave Adam was. It took nearly an hour for her to calm down enough that Adam could convince her not to tell anyone what happened.
A secret that lasted about 24 more hours before the rumor mill somehow discovered the gossip of their evening ghost hunt and the news made it back to Dean.
Megan was cute but she had a big mouth.
-/-/-/-/
"You know I heard the strangest thing today when I was picking up groceries at the store," Dean said casually as he and Adam headed back to the motel after target practice and dinner.
"Yeah?" Adam asked distractedly, watching the scenery flying past the Impala's window.
"Yeah, the check out lady was going on and on about how some high school kid had saved her niece's life."
Adam froze in his seat, but tried not to let his panicked recognition show, "Hmm," he mumbled, keeping his eyes focused on the passenger side window.
"You heard about that yet?" Dean asked and Adam could feel his brother's eyes drilling into him.
"Hmm, no," he replied, trying to stay cool.
"Yeah its crazy. Apparently her niece and this kid went to a house in town that's haunted and I guess somehow they got trapped and he saved her life," Dean continued, taking only quick glances at the road in front of them so that he could continue to stare at his brother.
"Oh. Wow. Well, good for that dude," Adam said, glancing at Dean nonchalantly.
"Cut the shit Adam," Dean snapped, "I know it was you,"
"Not me man," Adam lied with a shrug, turning to look back out the window.
"Knock it off, kid," Dean growled as they pulled into the parking lot of the motel, "What the fuck were you doing?"
"I don't know what to tell you, man," Adam replied dismissively, "I don't know anything about that. Sounds cool though,"
Dean pulled into the parking spot in front of their room and threw the car into park roughly.
"Damn it," he said, shaking his head.
Adam ignored his brother and moved to open the door, ready to escape the interrogation.
"Hold on!" Dean snapped and Adam sighed and leaned back against the leather of the Impala's seats.
"You know what Adam?" Dean said seriously, turning slightly in his seat so that he was almost facing his brother, "You aren't as good of a liar as you think you are,"
Adam looked back at his brother but didn't respond.
"Look, I don't freaking care that you lie. It's part of the job. I get it. Fine. And I don't care if you lie to the kids at school or your girl or even Dad, but…between me and you... shit has to be straight." Dean said sincerely. "I'm your brother man. You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. You know I'll help you and cover your ass. But I can't do anything to help you if lie to me."
Adam was silent, looking down into the floorboard to escape the genuine concern and pleading in his brother's eyes.
"Did you do something stupid, Adam?" Dean asked quietly.
Adam's stomach twisted with guilt. He debated. Should he tell Dean? How mad would Dean be? Would he tell Dad? Was there anything he could say that would get him out of the mess he'd made? Was there any lie that would let him go back and fix this without Dean's help?
He knew burning the bones didn't work. The ghost must have left some fragment of himself back at the house or maybe it was even tied to some object there. Adam wasn't sure how he was going to be able to find the remains of the ghost or whatever random thing that was keeping it tied down. He'd need time to figure it out. He'd need to find a way to get back into the house without getting smacked around by that miserable ghost dude again.
Crap. He did need his brother's help.
But shit, Dean was gonna be mad. And if Dad ever found out Adam had hunted alone…well, Adam might as well bury himself with the old ghost dude.
"Adam?" Dean asked again gently.
Adam sighed and cringed, but finally forced himself to admit the truth, "Yeah…pretty stupid."
It all came out then, in the front seat of the Impala, in the parking lot of the motel. All with Dean shaking his head in disbelief and frustration.
"So you went hunting? Alone? Do you know how freaking stupid that is?" Dean asked, smacking the steering wheel before suddenly opening the car door and bounding out.
Adam waited, watching from the safety of the car as his brother paced the parking lot.
Sighing, Adam opened his own door and walked out to join his brother.
"Chill out Dean. I've got it under control," he said, walking over to Dean.
"Yeah? How's that?" Dean questioned angrily.
"I've got a plan!" Adam replied, "It's not that big of a deal."
"Are you kidding me?" Dean said, staring at Adam incredulously, "Not only do we have a ghost, one that's probably attached to that house, but we also have an entire town talking about it and you. Not to mention this girl, who knows everything. And the fact that you're 15 and went hunting. Alone."
"Ok…well…jeez..." Adam countered weakly, shrugging as he tried to think of a way to dispute his brother's accusations.
"Yeah." Dean snapped shortly, cutting off Adam's pathetic rambling.
"I can fix it, Dean. I know how to hunt," Adam said, getting irritated with his brother's frustration.
"No, you don't! Look at what a fuck up you've made this!" Dean yelled, pointing at Adam angrily.
"I told you! I can fix it!" Adam yelled back, feeling his temper rise and begin to race hot through his veins.
"No. No way. You're off the case," Dean said firmly, turning his back on Adam and walking to unlock the motel room.
"The hell I am!" Adam yelled, following his brother.
"You shouldn't have worked the case in the first place, but you definitely aren't now," Dean replied, not looking at Adam as he opened their room and walked in.
"Fuck that!" Adam shouted, following him, "I did the research! I know everything about the case! You don't know anything!"
Dean whipped around to face his brother; "I know you missed something!" he shot back.
Adam glared at his older brother.
"Fuck you, Dean," Adam growled, "That happens on cases sometimes! It's not just me!"
Dean ignored his brother, stalking around the room and grabbing his gear as Adam followed behind him.
"You're not gonna cut me out of this one Dean! It's my hunt! I was doing just fine!" Adam yelled.
"Oh yeah, just fine," Dean replied sarcastically, continuing to ignore Adam's rage.
Adam watched his brother grab his weapons duffle from under their bed and decided abruptly to run to get his own bag.
"I'm going with you!" he shouted.
"No. You aren't" Dean said seriously, turning and staring down his younger brother.
"Yeah. I am." Adam challenged, puffing up to his full height, which was still a frustrating few inches below his brother.
"You're not coming Adam," Dean said, "Don't make me be a hard ass about this,"
Adam shifted slightly at the threat, but straightened up even more, ready for whatever Dean was about to throw at him, "You're not leaving me," he ground out.
Dean narrowed his eyes at his younger brother and set down the duffle he was holding down on the end of the bed. Opening it without glancing away from Adam, he fumbled around until he came out a coil of rope.
Seeing the rope made Adam's blood instantly boil with rage and freeze with fear. He hated being tied up. Hated it. He was terrible at escaping from ropes and Dean knew it. Adam had leaned to pick a pair of handcuffs in under a minute, but he still couldn't get out of those stupid ropes.
Adam glared at his brother, "You wouldn't."
"Don't make me," Dean replied, "Stay here like I told you. You don't need to be part of this anymore. I'm taking care of it,"
"Dean, I'm serious. Let me hunt this thing. Don't leave me here," Adam tried again, his heart thudding in his chest and anger choking him.
"I'm serious Adam. You can't be seen at that house again. I'm gonna have a hard enough time as it is without you drawing more attention,"
Adam stared at the rope in his brother's hands and doubled down. There was no way he'd stay behind. No way.
"No Dean. I can do this! I want to do this. I wanna gank that son of a bitch!"
"I know Adam," Dean said calmly, in a way that sounded so close to pity it made Adam's temper flare.
"No!" Adam shouted, his rage rising again, "I'm going! This is my hunt!"
Dean took a slow step toward his brother, his arms outstretched, loosely holding the innocent looking rope in his hand.
Adam began to back away, feeling himself being boxed into the corner of the small motel room.
"I don't wanna do this Adam," Dean said, walking slowly toward Adam, matching Adam's slow steps backward, "Just promise you'll stay here. Let me deal with it,"
"Fuck you Dean," Adam growled. "I knew if I told you, you'd do this! Take over!"
"That's not what I'm trying to do Adam," Dean said, his own temper rising again, "I'm trying to help you! I'm cleaning up your mess!"
"Well, I didn't ask you to!" Adam shouted back, suddenly making a mad lunge at Dean, knowing deep in his soul that even with a first fast strike he didn't stand a chance of winning a fight against his older brother.
The struggle was brief but brutal. Adam got a few hits in on Dean and one elbow to the chin that made Dean swear loudly before he kicked Adam's feet out from under him and knocked him down onto the bed, twisting one hand in his hair to keep his brother still while using the other to tie the rope around his wrists.
Adam cursed loudly as Dean held him and tied his hands to the post of the headboard.
"You're being an idiot!" Dean yelled, tying the last knot and stepping away from his fuming little brother.
"You're an idiot, you jerk!" Adam snapped.
"Chill out, kid," Dean said. Reaching into his front pocket he pulled out his lighter, flicking it open and lighting it with easy, practiced expertise "I'm gonna go take care of this. I'll be back,"
Adam shook his head in fury and disbelief. This was what he got for telling the truth.
-/-/-/-/
"Where's Dean?" John questioned his youngest son, lifting the edge of his shirt to dab at some of the fresh blood lacing Adam's red and irritated wrists.
"That jerk did this!" Adam spat angrily. "He tied me up so I couldn't follow him!"
"What?" John yelled in shock, unable to hide his complete bewilderment. "What the hell is going on?" he questioned again, his temper rising up to meet the panic already racing in his veins.
Thankfully, Adam seemed to finally take note of the situation and his father's irritation enough to control his own raging temper.
"He went to take care of a ghost, burn a house down I think," Adam grumbled, still fuming.
John shook his head angrily, trying to get a hold on the situation. Dean went to take care of a ghost? Alone? Not ideal, but Dean was 23 years old now and well trained enough that John wouldn't typically be concerned, but burning down a house? What the hell had his boys been up to while he was away?
"Dad…Ow..." Adam complained, interrupting John's thoughts.
Unknowingly he'd been gripping Adam's already damaged wrists tighter and tighter as he became more angry and agitated.
John threw Adam's wrists down, stalking away to get some distance from the boy.
"Tell me what happened," he demanded.
"Dean was being a jackass." Adam snarled.
"No I wasn't you little shit." came a reply from the doorway of the motel.
John spun around to see his oldest boy standing in the doorframe, looking smug and smoky but no worse for the wear.
"Dean!" John said in relief, hurrying over to inspect his son just to be sure of he really was as unharmed as he looked, "You alright son?"
"Yeah, Yeah I'm fine," Dean said, walking into the room and taking off his coat, throwing it on the bed causing a whoosh of smoky air to fill the tiny motel room.
"Dean, what the hell is going on? Why are you burning down houses? And why is your brother tied up?" John yelled.
Adam watched with bated breath as his brother coolly crossed the room and sat down on the motel room bed and began to unlace his boots.
"We found a ghost in town. Adam heard some stories at school about it and did some research. We burned the bones but it didn't work. Ghost must have been attached to the house or something in it." Dean explained calmly as if he wasn't blatantly lying to their father.
"Adam heard some kids getting ready to go to the house on a dare so we had to move quick. I decided just to cut to the chase and burn the place down. Seemed like the best option."
Dad nodded in approval of Dean's words, his face still creased in irritation, "Cops?"
"I doubt they'll care. It was an old ass house, abandoned, and the only people who ever went there were teenagers trying to scare each other. They'll probably be happy they don't have to deal with it anymore." Dean said, standing up and peeling off his sweaty, smoke-filled t-shirt.
"And your brother?" Dad asked, motioning toward Adam who was still standing frozen near the headboard.
Dean stared at his brother a moment and Adam felt the importance of what his brother was doing for him.
"Kid was overexcited. Wanted to hunt. I told him it was too dangerous and he wouldn't take no for an answer. So…" Dean replied, motion to the discarded ropes lying on the bed.
"Adam?" John asked, turning to scrutinize his youngest son.
Adam was so grateful that Dean hadn't told Dad the whole story he could have cried. He almost wanted to, but he knew they were still deep in the weeds and he had to back up Dean's lie with his own righteous indignation.
"It was my hunt!" Adam snapped, "I got the info! I got the research! Dean just wanted to be a hero!"
"Please," Dean scoffed, rolling his eyes at his brother.
"You jerk!" Adam yelled, throwing himself back into the furious resentment he'd felt before when Dean had tied him up.
"Alright!" Dad shouted, "That's enough."
Adam glared at Dean but hoped his brother could see that he didn't mean it.
"Adam," Dad said, causing Adam to look away from his brother and up into the angry eyes of his father, "Dean is in charge when I'm not here. You know that. If he says its too dangerous, you stand down. You follow orders."
Adam scowled at the carpet, but mumbled the expected "Yes, sir,"
"Dean, go grab a shower," Dad said, nodding toward his oldest.
Dean nodded and after a quick smirk behind Dad's back at Adam, grabbed his bag and walked into the bathroom.
John ran a hand through his hair, scrubbing his face and trying to rid himself of the excess adrenalin and rage that was still simmering in his body.
"Adam?" he asked, looking at his youngest son who was still standing near the bed, looking lost.
"Yes sir?" he answered automatically.
"Do you act like this when I'm gone?"
Adam looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Do you give your brother shit like this? So much that he has to tie you up to make you follow orders?" John asked,
Adam shifted uncomfortably under his father's gaze.
"No, sir. I don't. Really," he answered.
John was silent, waiting for Adam to continue.
"Dean and I get along. I do what he says. It was just this one time. I wanted to hunt. It was a milk run. I know I could do it. He was just being a jerk," Adam rambled.
"Adam, you better not be lying to me boy," Dad said.
"Come on, Dad. I'm not stupid. I know better than to lie to you," Adam said calmly, finally meeting his father's eye.
"Hmm," John mumbled, not completely convinced he was getting the entire story from his boys on this one.
"Did you do your PT this morning?" he asked.
"Not yet," Adam replied.
"Double it." John said, watching the annoyed expression grow on his son's face, "And you follow your brother's orders. No questions. No shit."
"Yes sir," Adam nodded.
-/-/-/-/