May 25, 2006
"It happened again last night. This time it was a man who was shot in a mugging. I swear I could almost feel the pain as he bled out… When I woke up it was 2:46, the police report listed the time of death as 3:08…" Sam leaned against the sofa as he sighed. Not getting a decent night's sleep for a few weeks really destroys your energy.
"Well, it looks like you're seeing stuff a bit further out. When you first started the deaths were almost immediately after you woke up." The gruff voice responded.
"Even so, I still have no idea why it is I'm seeing this stuff. I'm not okay with getting woken up by a violent death I can't stop in the middle of the night. I'm on-edge right now, to put it lightly. Seriously Bobby, you know this stuff, what's going on?"
"I wish I could tell you Sam. I've been looking into it all week and so far the only stuff I have is unlikely at best…" Bobby trailed off.
"Well, at least give me something."
"I know you aren't possessed-that much was proven when you could repeat an exorcism over the phone-but have you ever been in contact with a demon? They're typically the source of this kind of thing."
"No!" Sam almost shouted, disgusted at the idea-and also a little frightened.
"Sorry-I didn't mean to strike a nerve-but if it isn't that then the only other options are that you're somehow under a curse. In which case I'd need to perform some sort of counter-hex to break it."
"Okay, let's try it." Sam hoped it was a simple solution.
"Hold on now. You do realize how intense it is to break a hex, right? Not only would I have to go through a whole purifying thing, you'd also be in a trance for a while-and I'm not exactly comfortable with trying to do that over the phone." Bobby sounded nervous, as if he'd tried it before to not-so-stellar results.
"Okay, so I'll meet you at my place. I don't mind the company. If it stops these dreams anything is okay with me."
"Sam, while I appreciate the offer, I'm not really able to do it at your place. Depending on the hex there's a lot of specific ingredients-and unless you know exactly what's causing it-it would be nearly impossible for me to bring them all to you. I have an entire room in my house dedicated to them." Bobby turned in his chair to glance at the shelves full of vials and boxes that lined his study. It is a helluva collection.
"Okay, so not to intrude, but couldn't I just come to your place and have you do whatever you need to there?" Sam asked.
"I try to make it a policy that people don't know where I live, given my line of work."
"Well, then what do you suggest?" Because I want to stop hurling every fucking morning.
"I'm not sure. Give me a bit and I'll call you back, okay?"
"Fine." Sam sighed, hanging up. He stared at the dark wood paneling on the far wall and closed his eyes, wishing he was 22 again and that he didn't wake up every night to some Quentin Tarantino level ultraviolence.
Bobby called back half an hour later, relenting to Sam visiting. "But keep it brief and don't touch anything if I don't okay it. I have a lot of dangerous supernatural stuff and I don't want you somehow worse off than you are right now."
"But you think you can do it?"
"I can try."
"Bobby, as long as there's some way to break this hex, I'm in…"
"Well, I said I can try-I don't know exactly what's going on, and it won't be easy…" He hedged.
"I'm there, regardless. What's the address?"
Dean continued eavesdropping from the entry. He had stopped in to check on Sam, Because honestly the kid looks terrible and could probably use some support right now with the crap he thinks he's seeing because of some weird "psychic powers". Even though there's no way on earth that could ever happen…
As Sam hung up Dean walked in, acting as if he hadn't just heard his brother promise to meet some random stranger in another state to overcome an imagined issue in what clearly sounded like a cult meeting. "Hey, thought I'd stop in and check on how you were. You weren't looking great last time, and I wanted to see if you stopped having the weird dreams."
Sam was silent a minute before he responded, "Yeah, they're mostly gone. It was probably just some weird reaction to my meds…" It was obvious to Dean that his brother was lying. Sam had an obvious tell, he always looked up slightly when he lied. Well, obvious to Dean at least.
"Good. Glad to hear that." Don't lie to me Sammy.
"Yeah, it was probably nothing."
"I was thinking about going camping next weekend. Weather should be nice. I figured Captain Nature-Boy would love to join in. You could bring Sarah…" Dean shrugged, please Sammy…
"That's okay. She doesn't really like camping that much, and honestly we haven't even been together that long-so I wouldn't want to ruin it by going on some camping trip."
"Yeah, makes enough sense…"
"So, anything else?" Sam crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall.
"No, I guess not…"
"Well, if you want to stick around you can, if not, that's cool too."
"I guess I'll see you around. Just wanted to stop in and check everything was okay."
"Everything's great. Thanks."
"Cool. See you at Mom and Dad's."
"I'll be there."
