The Nightmare August 2005 Part 2
-/-/-
The trip took just as long as Dean said it would and by the time they were driving through the green mountains of Vermont Adam was itching to get out of the car. For the most part, he loved the road trips they took cross-country to new towns and new hunts. He loved that it was the safest they'd ever be, hurtling down the interstate at 80 miles an hour. In the Impala there was nothing hunting them, no research waiting on them, and no Dad evaluating their every move.
The landscaped had changed from the tan dry farmland of the Midwest to the grey summer cityscapes of the north and into the lush green hills of the far northeast. It was at least cooler here than in Texas that was for sure. They had the windows down in the Impala, enjoying the cool breeze that whipped through the car as they turned down smaller and smaller roads headed to Dad's location.
Adam watched the trees pass by more and more slowly as Dean picked his way down the gravel road that their printed MapQuest directions said was their last.
"This is where the coordinates lead?" Adam asked, looking around suspiciously at the forest surrounding them.
"Yeah. If we start hearing dueling banjos I'm outta here," Dean joked.
Adam laughed at the Deliverance joke and watched as Dean leaned up over the steering wheel trying to judge the road more carefully, cringing at the sound of gravel hitting the undercarriage of his beloved baby.
This wasn't the first time Dad had them bunking in a cabin rather than a motel room and Adam was actually a little bit excited. Even though cabin living usually meant roughing it with little or no electricity and barely any heat or water, it was as close to a vacation as the Winchesters ever seemed to come, so Adam was pumped.
When they finally pulled up to the small cabin, Dad was standing outside waiting, his hands on his hips, but a small smile on his face.
"Hey Dad!" Adam called through the window as Dean threw the car into park.
He couldn't help but bounce out of the car like a little kid, hurrying over to their father to give him a hug. They'd only been apart for a week, but Adam was consciously aware that each time Dad left it could be the last, so any reunion always felt important.
"Hey son," Dad said warmly, tightly hugging Adam and patting him hard on the back. "You boys have any trouble on the way up?" he asked letting go and turning to Dean.
"No sir," Dean replied, smiling and putting a hand out to shake with Dad before going in for a hug and a hard pat between the shoulder blades, which Dad returned equally. Adam flushed with sudden embarrassment. That's what he should have done, that's how men greeted each other and hugged.
"Nice digs," Dean complimented warily, looking at the cabin and the woods, taking in the sagging steps and the limbs covering the roofing.
"It's outta the rain," Dad replied flatly, "You boys grab your stuff and get settled. I'll fill you in on the case,"
Adam nodded and turned to follow Dean back to the car, "I'm totally using this on my 'What I Did Over Summer Vacation' essay,"
Dean chuckled, putting a key into the lock on the trunk and popping it open, "Yeah, just leave out the monster-hunting part,"
-/-/-/
"Alright, so here's what I've got so far," Dad said handing Dean a newspaper clipping.
Dean put down the bowl of chili he was working on and took the paper, scanning over it.
"Jeez, this girl's only 15," he said.
"Yeah," Dad sighed, "She's the youngest victim. Still alive at least. The others have already passed."
Adam looked up from his own chili, dropping the cracker he'd been holding, "I thought you said people were insane? Not dead."
Dad nodded, sitting down on the faded armchair across the table from the boys, "Insanity seems to come first, then death."
Adam winced.
"What do you suspect?" Dean probed, putting down the newspaper clipping and picking up his dinner again.
"I've got some theories. There's only a handful of creatures that can manipulate a human's brain…"
"Djinn!" Adam interrupted, excited that he and Dad had been thinking the same thing about mental manipulation.
"Right," Dad said brushing off the interruption without acknowledging Adam's eagerness, "Attachment spirits, some demons, witches,"
"Freaking witches," Dean grumbled into his bowl, scooping up another spoonful.
"Succubus and Incubus too. They feed off emotions until a person is dead," Dad continued on, "But those are both sexual creatures,"
"Eww," Adam grimaced, looking over at Dean mischievously, "Dad talking about sex,"
John frowned at him unamused, "No jokes Adam."
"Yes sir," Adam dropped his playful smirk immediately, knowing he didn't wanna piss Dad off this early in the game.
"You boys read through all these notes tonight," John said motioning to the stacks of papers, books, and newspapers on the coffee table between them, "We'll go into town tomorrow. Dean, I want you and your brother to go to the town archives and see if you can find any history of this happening in town before."
Dean nodded, his eyes already scanning the papers on the table.
"I'm going back to the asylum to check on the girl and then to talk to her family," Dad said.
"The mental hospital?" Adam questioned excitedly, "Can I come Dad?"
"You wanna go to the nuthouse?" Dean asked doubtfully.
"Dean." Dad scolded, "Why do you wanna go, Adam?"
Adam could sense he was wading into unsteady waters, noticing the small shift in his father's tone.
"I mean I don't know," he shrugged, trying to stay cool and playful, hoping the tide would turn away from the darkness he could feel looming, "Just seems cool I guess."
Dad glared at him and Adam shrank, looking down into his bowl.
"It's not cool Adam," he said irritably, "They're still people."
Adam shrugged, still not looking up, "I know…sir. I just… thought it would be something new to learn."
The room was silent for a moment and Adam didn't dare move, afraid of tipping the scales the wrong direction.
"There a good trail to run around here Dad?" Dean asked, changing the subject and breathing air back into the room.
"Yeah, I found a good loop a few days ago," Dad said, his tone returning to normal.
Adam let out a short breath and peeked up from his bowl to glance at Dean who gave him the tiniest hint of a nod, the familiar "I-got-your-back' look that filled Adam with instant relief.
"The kid's mile time is getting pretty fast," Dean bragged, "It'll be good to get in some off-road training,"
Dad just grunted in response, his attention having been pulled to the case papers on the table.
Adam breathed a sigh of relief. Disaster avoided.
For now.
It was like that more and more often with Dad. The man had never been patient but his temper was so short and erratic these days Adam often felt he was walking on eggshells. Since he'd joined his family he'd always taken care to watch them closely. He knew he had a lot to catch up on and learned the hard way that Dad never cut him any slack. So he'd paid attention. He watched them, followed them, imitated them. Hoping that he'd learn the things he needed to know, act the way he needed to act and fit in a little better into the Winchester world.
Watching Dad now, Adam could see something was different. Something was happening.
Honestly he'd been sensing it for months now, seeing little glimpses that told him something was off. Dad was always focused, that was true, but Adam had never seen this level of prolonged intensity from his father. The man rarely slept more than two or three hours at time. He spent days pouring over old research notes, flipping back and forth through pages of his journal. He was constantly on the phone; always just out of earshot from Adam and Dean, and the conversations never related to their current hunt (or at least Dad never said anything about the hunt after the calls, which made Adam think they were not related).
Its not like Dad had ever been the easiest guy to get along with, but lately, the exhaustion or stress or whatever it was had him snapping at just about everything Adam and Dean did. And after last month's ghost hunt had Adam laid out over the tailgate of the truck over a dumb argument, Adam was sure something was going on.
He'd brought it up more than once to Dean, but just like in the car ride to meet Dad today Dean just brushed it off, reluctant to criticize their Dad for anything.
-/-/-
"Boys, you be careful today," John said as they each packed up their vehicles, "You both be on your guard at all times."
Adam stood beside Dean as he shut the trunk of the Impala, listening to their father's instructions.
"There is something in this town feeding on people. We don't know what it is or if it can look human so be aware when you're out today, understand?"
"Yes sir," they responded in unison.
John watched as they turned from him and got into the car, his stomach twisting in apprehension. He never fully got used to having the boys hunt with him, even though Dean had been by his side for more than 10 years.
He recognized that he was taking a risk bringing them both out on this case. Dean was an adult, every bit as professional a hunter as he himself was and Adam was getting there. But they were still his sons; still his children and he knew he should be protecting them from every possible danger, not bringing them in as backup.
But they were only going to the town archives, and from everything he'd learned so far they should be safe there. Nothing about the cases centered on the library so it seemed like a safe enough space for the boys and truthfully he could use the help.
He just felt so damn scattered lately.
He'd finally made some progress on that demon bastard who killed Mary. He could feel that he was rounding the corner to the finish line. He was actually in Vermont tracking the damn thing when he'd stumbled on this case. It took everything in him not to call Bobby and alert him of the case and send another hunter out to take care of it. But if he did that, questions would start on why John couldn't hunt, was everything ok, did he need help? John wasn't ready to show his hand. He had plans and one stupid monster making people crazy wasn't gonna fuck it up for him.
Which was why he'd called the boys. As much as he fought the realization, they were trained (better trained than some older hunters he'd met) and working together meant they could wrap up this case faster then he ever could alone. And the faster this thing was wrapped up the faster he could get back to his real work tracking that Yellow Eyed Bastard.
-/-/-
"Nothing," Adam said, flipping closed another large dusty book of ancient newspapers.
"What was that?" Dean asked, glancing up from his own book.
"1879-1910." Adam replied moving the heavy book and grabbing another, flipping it open and coughing at the dust it kicked up when the cover hit the table.
"Yeah nothing here either," Dean replied, scanning and turning the page.
"So boring…" Adam whined, sitting down and starting to scan through the yellowed pages.
Usually, Adam didn't mind their library time. It was normally calm, clean, and quiet, something many of their motel rooms were not. And nothing was ever trying to kill them in a library, so Adam liked that.
But archives? The rows of microfiche, newspaper bundles, and dusty old books?
So. Damn. Boring.
The archives weren't even in the same building as the library here so he couldn't sneak away to find a book he'd actually want to read. He was just stuck; doing the actual boring research Dad had set them on.
"How much longer do we keep at this Dean?" Adam asked, still scanning the pages.
Dean scratched his head and sighed, "I don't know? Another hour maybe? I feel like we've just about covered it."
"Yeah. Nothing ever happens here," Adam said drolly, flipping to the next page, "Oh wait… look here 'Mrs. Thomas Stowe to have Summer Garden Party'. Breaking news."
"Oh good you can finally wear that floral dress you've been raving about," Dean joked.
Adam rolled his eyes and smiled at the teasing. He and Dean had spent a ton of time together this summer, probably the most they ever had with Dad ditching them for solo hunts and they'd fallen into a familiar camaraderie. It hadn't been easy between them when Sam left. Dean fell into self-despair and into the bottle and Adam was pissed off and looking for trouble. It took longer than each of them would ever admit for them to come back to the common ground they once held before their brother bailed.
True to Dean's word they wrapped up an hour later and stopped for gas before finding the local supermarket to pick up some supplies.
"And lunch," Adam added as Dean pulled into the parking lot. "I'm starving.
"Yes, you walking stomach, we'll get lunch." Dean chuckled.
"You think what we had last night was the last can of food Dad had in the place?" Adam asked as they walked in and grabbed a basket.
"Sure of it," Dean said, grabbing a loaf of bread and tossing it to Adam.
They grabbed the things Dean thought they'd need for the week: peanut butter, coffee, canned soup and other non-perishables since there was no fridge at the cabin.
As they stood in line at one of the two checkouts in the small store Dean elbowed his brother in the ribs, nodding at the cute girl behind the cash register.
Adam looked at her, admiring her long blonde hair, and smiled wryly at his brother.
"You should go for it," Dean whispered, pretending not to look at the girl while talking to Adam.
Adam felt his face flush hot. He was still so awkward with girls, fumbling over his words and tripping over himself, "Nah, she looks closer to your age," he said, staring at her then looking away when he realized it.
"You sure?" Dean asked, ever chivalrous, "Cause I'll take a swing if you won't"
Adam shook his head in embarrassment. It was one thing to work up the nerve to talk to girls in his classes at school, or even to hit on a waitresses who came to their table a few times during a meal, but to make a pass out of nowhere to a girl he didn't even know? Adam blanched at the idea.
Dean watched his face, "Ok then," he said, shaking his head, "Your loss little bro,"
Adam watched as Dean approached the checkout, a playful smile already across his face. He loved this shit.
She was scanning their items, trying to appear focused on them but Adam didn't miss the way she checked Dean out. He also didn't miss the side glance that he got when she looked his way. Maybe he shouldn't have let Dean have this one.
"That's a beautiful bracelet you got there," Dean complimented looking down at her wrist and then back up to her eyes, making her blush.
"Oh thanks," she said, glancing up and smiling brightly at him "It's an old family thing,"
Dean nodded and smiled back at her pulling out his wallet to pay, dragging out the moment to let her make the next move.
"Are you new around here?" she asked, glancing at him then blushing and looking away as if embarrassed by her own forwardness, "I feel like working here I see everyone in town but I don't think I've seen you,"
"Yeah, no. We're new. Me and my brother just moved in a few days ago," Dean said nodding back to Adam.
"Well welcome…" she said leaning forward a little bit, causing Adam to immediately and unintentionally look at her chest, "You'll love it here,"
"Oh I already do," Dean replied flirtatiously, causing the girl to giggle softly, "Might love it more if I had someone to show me around?"
Adam wasn't sure if the girl knew that she bit her bottom lip at Dean's suggestion, but he sure as hell did.
"Well I actually get off work at 6," the girl said looking at Dean and blinking slowly as she took the cash he held out for the groceries between them, "Maybe we could grab something to eat and I could give you a tour,"
Adam watched their hands touch over the registers and watched as the girl blushed and took a quick breath. Damn, Dean was a magician.
"You'd do you that for me?" his brother asked softly, slowly pulling his hand away from hers.
"Well, yeah. I don't mind," she said, biting her bottom lip again and tucking her soft blonde hair behind her ear in a way that made all the blood in Adam's body rush to a central spot between his legs.
"Well..." Dean said tilting his head to catch her eye again, "I would love that."
She looked over Dean again, running her eyes slowly across his broad shoulders and strong arms, hidden but not obscured by his dark flannel and Adam thought he could see her mouth practically water.
He silently seethed in jealously. Adam was pretty used to the way women threw themselves at his brother, a fact he'd watch Dean manipulate during cases when he needed to, but it still stung to see it up close. Adam was standing less than a foot away from Dean and the girl and for all the attention they paid him, he could have been on another planet.
She ripped the receipt paper from the register, grabbing a pen and scribbling on the back.
"Call me?" she said, holding the paper out to Dean.
He took it from her, again lingering a little too long letting their fingers touch, before he smiled at her, "Thanks…." He said looking down at the nametag on her chest, "Melody... I'm Dean by the way,"
"Ok Dean," she said, smiling seductively at him as if it wasn't 2 pm on a Wednesday afternoon.
Adam moved around his brother to grab the two bags of food they'd purchased, ignoring the last longing looks Dean and the girl threw to each other as they walked out of the store.
"Dude…" Adam said, as Dean walked next to him in the parking lot, "I don't know whether to be grossed out or amazing. How in the hell do you do that?"
"It's a curse man…" Dean joked, taking one of the bags from his brother.
"A curse I'd take any day," Adam said seriously, making Dean chuckle at him as they reached the car.
-/-/-/-
They were on the way back to the cabin when Dean's cell buzzed in his pocket.
"Hold on, let me get you on speaker," he said into the phone before handing it to Adam.
Adam grabbed it and pushed the button for the speaker phone setting and held it out between them.
"Ok go ahead Dad," Dean said, keeping his eyes on the road but tilting his head to listen.
"Did you boys find any in the history of this happening in town before?" Dad asked already aggravated.
"No, we went back over 150 years and there's nothing," Dean replied.
"Hmm fine," Dad said, "I was able to talk to the victim's families this morning. Before their deaths, several talked about nightmares. Extremely vivid, memorable and nearly indistinguishable from reality."
"So maybe the people aren't insane?" Adam asked, leaning to talk more into the phone, "Maybe they are living their nightmares?"
"Yeah, that's what I suspect," Dad replied and Adam could hear the shuffling of papers in the background.
"What are we looking at here Dad?" Dean questioned.
"I'm still not sure. You boys get back to the cabin and look through the lore to see what you can find about living nightmares,"
"It could be a Djinn right Dad?" Adam piped up, hoping to earn a few brownie points.
"I don't think so. Djinn keep their victims to feed on, whatever this thing is it doesn't need close contact to kill," Dad pointed out.
"Oh," Adam mumbled.
"Alright well look, we grabbed some supplies so we'll meet at the cabin later huh?" Dean interjected.
"You got supplies?" Dad questioned, his voice suddenly hard, "That was not part of your orders,"
Adam turned to Dean, his eyes wide.
"There wasn't any food in the cabin, Dad," Dean said calmly, "We just needed to get a few things,"
"That doesn't fucking matter Dean. Those were not your orders," Dad ground out, "I give you orders. You follow them. You understand?"
Adam watched his brother's face harden, "Yes sir."
"Get back to the cabin. Don't leave."
"Yes sir," Dean repeated, his voice neutral.
The call disconnected and Adam flipped the phone shut, handing it back to his brother.
"There goes your date," Adam said regretfully.
Dean didn't reply, just stared ahead as he drove, his face unreadable.
-/-/-/-
Things were quiet between them back at the cabin. Adam hated the awkwardness of witnessing his brother getting in trouble and had tried to make some lighthearted jokes on the way back, but all he'd gotten was silence in response.
They ate quietly and read through the notes and papers Dad had left behind again.
"Nightmares huh?" Adam said shuffling through the stack and coming across Dad's journal at the bottom of the pile, "You think I can look through this?" he asked Dean.
Dean just shrugged, "Just don't let him see you,"
Adam held the hefty journal in his hands. He'd actually never looked through the damn thing before.
It was always around. It was practically a part of their father, but Adam had never seen his brothers touch it, so he didn't either. In the early days, Adam had wondered about Dad's journal. He just didn't understand it. He'd never heard of a man writing like Dad did. Dean had gotten a good laugh at him when he finally got up the nerve to ask about "Dad's diary". Sam was more patient and explained about the notes Dad kept on hunting and how lots of hunters kept journals, how they were used in research or to pass on to others. Sam was the one that got Adam his own 'hunter's journal' back in the day, back when Adam was struggling with all the lore and training they were trying to teach him. It was Sam's idea to let Adam start writing it all down, keeping an old black and white school composition book, the first of many 'hunting journals' that Adam filled as he learned more about his new world.
He pulled Dad's journal close and examined the cover. He'd never really studied it before. It was light brown and worn around the edges with a leather clasp holding it closed. He grabbed the clasp and pulled, somehow surprised that the journal wasn't locked even though he knew he'd never seen a lock on it. It just seemed like something that should have been locked.
Adam slowly opened the cover, letting it lay flat on his lap. On the right, the journal had several stacked pockets, all of which had papers folded in them, some newspaper clippings and small notes it looked like. There was also what looked like a medal? Or maybe it was just a pin? Whatever it was Adam figured it was something from Dad's marine days, as were the two little striped pins below it. Adam studied the pins, trying to commit their colors and shapes to memory so he could look them up later. Dad never spoke in detail about his military days, at least no stories that could have earned a medal anyway, just things about PT and training.
At the bottom of the last pocket, there were two letters pressed into the leather, "H.W".
Who or what is HW? Dad's name was John Eric Winchester, as far as Adam knew. Was H part of a nickname? Something from his military days maybe? Adam had a really hard time imagining Dad as the kinda guy with a nickname. That just seemed weird.
He started to flip through the pages of the journal, each crammed full of Dad's small, tightly spaced all-caps handwriting.
How does Dad read this? He thought as he scanned the pages. Each page was crammed from margin to margin with notes. Names, dates, coordinates, small sketches, photos, newspaper clippings and rituals filled the book at random order. Or seemingly random order, Adam thought. John Winchester was a meticulous man. He liked neat edges on a bed, weapons cleaned to perfection and orders followed precisely. Adam didn't believe for a second that Dad's notes were really such a mess; it was just some code or something that Adam hadn't cracked yet.
Woman in White.
Wendigo.
Phantom Attacks.
Shit. There was a lot of stuff in this journal. Adam paused for a second staring at the packed pages.
This was everything Dad knew. The man wrote everything in here. Which, Adam realized, meant there could be some clue as to his wild behavior over the past few months.
Turning the next page Adam paused, noticing slowly that the corner of this page was worn slightly more than the rest, the edge soft and nearly rounded from too much handling.
Adam stopped reading, slowing himself down to closely examine the page. At first glance, the notes on this page didn't appear any different from the rest. There was a circular symbol drawn in the bottom right with markings Adam didn't immediately recognize, but several pages had Dad's sketches on them. He glanced back at the top of the page.
Demon.
The note itself wasn't meaningful to Adam. Nether was the date next to it. 1973. He knew a little about demons, mostly about the crossroads deals they made and a few basic exorcisms, but he'd never come across an actual demon while hunting with his family so he really didn't have much more to go on.
Adam kept reading, wondering why this page was important to his father, why he would have referenced it over and over. Nothing really stood out.
Guthrie, Oklahoma. August 19, 1983. Demonic Symbols.
Dad never really talked much about demons. At least no more than any other supernatural thing he wanted them to learn about. He never made a big deal about them. Why would he be so focused on this page of notes about them?
There were several names, locations, dates of death, and short descriptions filling up the middle of the page. People killed by demons? Maybe.
Dad had to be working a demon case. Some evil demon bastard was killing people and Dad was hunting it down. The death dates were all over the place though. Dad must have been working on this case for a while.
Adam shook his head in admiration for his father. He knew Dad was always working, always researching. It didn't surprise him that Dad was working this case in between all the other hunts they went on. The man was a machine.
Adam read through the page again. Maybe this was the case that had Dad all worked up. If he'd really been tracking it as long as it seemed he had, then Adam could understand why Dad was so stressed about it. Maybe he was getting close to nabbing the S.O.B.
Finally, one small date in the top left caught Adam's eye and stole his breath.
November 2, 1983.
He knew the date. He knew it as well as he knew the date of his own mother's death. It was the day everything started, the day everything changed.
Holy shit, he thought. A demon killed Mary.
-/-/-
Dean squinted and stretched his neck, trying to tease out the ache from leaning over books all day. Adam was quiet beside him, flipping through the pages of Dad's journal.
Dean doubted that whatever they needed to find would be in there, but hell they didn't have much else to go on.
He rubbed his eyes again, feeling a headache coming on.
Too many damn books, he thought wishing for the hundredth time this cabin had electricity and a tv.
His arms were kinda tingling too. That was weird. Had to be from sitting still all day. Dean wasn't a man made to sit on his ass. He needed to be up doing something. He needed action.
He stood up suddenly and walked to look out the window, wondering if there was a chance in hell that Dad would make it back before 6 and if he'd be allowed to go meet up with that cute check-out chick. Dad usually didn't mind his breaks in the case for some T&A but Dean figured today he might not be so understanding.
Dean clenched and unclenched his fists, shaking out an ache that was starting in his fingers.
Shit, his head was really starting to hurt now too.
He thought back to the case. There had to be something that all those victims had in common, some thread that tied them all together. He walked back over to the coffee table sitting down beside Adam on the couch. He pulled out the list of names and read through them again. He mapped their address. He looked at their jobs, their families anything that might give him a clue.
He squeezed his eyes shut against the growing pain in his head, tilting his neck to stretch out the ache that was building there as well. And his arms, now the tingle that was making his fingers ache had moved up into his arms.
He read the names again. All just random people. People just living their lives who got infected by this thing. Just doing day to day things...
"Oh shit," he whispered in realization.
-/-/-/-
A/N- I hope you guys are enjoying the story! I've missed writing so much and I've finally been able to get a little time to think and organize a story. Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviews, your comments mean the world to me and I love discussing ideas with you! Thank you so much for continuing to support this story!