Chapter 6: Mary Rains

Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews. It's always nice to know that someone likes what you're writing.

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Dean set a tray in front of Sam with a Big Mac, a fry, and a coke. He set his own tray down in front of him with the exact same items on it. Sam didn't even acknowledge his presence. He was withdrawing into him self once again which worried Dean.

He cursed himself for not answering the phone. If only he had answered the cell when it rang then Sammy wouldn't be sitting there replaying Sarah Beth's words over and over in his head. The fact that he would then be the one hearing her last words didn't matter to him.

Over the years Dean had learned to block a lot of the bad out. He just chose not to deal with it and he moved on. Sam didn't have that ability. Even though Sam would do better when the day came that he could block out the bad, Dean actually hated to see that day come because it would mean that a little piece of Sam's soul, the very essence of who he was, had died.

"Sammy, come on, you have to eat," Dean insisted. Sam had yet to even touch the food before him.

"This whole time I thought Sarah Beth was the key, but I'm not so sure anymore. I think we need to go talk with Jacob's family. Especially since we now know that he was killed by Jim and Brian, and not by a headless horseman."

"It's too late to go and talk to his family tonight, but we will first thing in the morning."

"They must have been furious."

"Who?" Dean asked.

"Brian and Jim. I mean, I understand that Jacob raped their sister, but to actually cut off his head. I wonder what they were thinking at the time."

"They were probably thinking about revenge."

"Do you think they meant to kill him, or that things got carried away?" Sam asked.

"Does it matter? Dead is dead," Dean pointed out.

"It's just that, the town thought highly of those two, and then to find out they did something so grisly, it's just a little shocking, even if it was to exact justice for their sister."

"Look at it this way. Something killed our mom. We've been chasing it for over twenty years. That same thing killed Jess, and your desire to send it back to hell caused you to walk away from law school and your chance at a normal life."

"After losing Jessica there didn't seem to be a point anymore," Sam sighed.

"I'm just saying revenge is a powerful thing. It can make otherwise good people do crazy things."

"I miss her."

"I know."

"I close my eyes and I can still see her so clearly. Sometimes I wake up at night and think about something I want to tell her or ask her, and then I remember she's dead. It actually takes a second to remember that."

"Sammy, what is the secret you're keeping? What is it that's haunting you?"

"I can't tell you."

"Of course you can. You can tell me anything."

"Not this."

"Sam."

"Let it go, Dean. If the day comes that I think you need to know I'll tell you then." Sam picked up his burger and started to eat, hoping that Dean would be happy with that, even though the food in his mouth tasted like cardboard.

"This isn't over," Dean said. "I'll drop it for now, but this is far from over."

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The next morning Dean and Sam found themselves standing in front of the Rains family farm. Dean felt a tingling go up his spine as he looked around the place. There was a feeling of familiarity to it that he couldn't describe. He was sure he'd never been here before and yet he recognized the place for some reason.

They climbed the steps and walked towards the door. The porch creaked loudly. The screen door had fallen off and was leaning against the wall next to the main door.

The house itself was in need of painting and several windows were cracked with tape holding them together. The place had definitely seen better days.

Dean knocked on the door but no one answered. He knocked once more.

"I guess no one's home," Sam said.

"Can I help you?"

They turned to see a young woman walking out of the barn carrying a bucket. Her clothes were dirty and her hair was piled on top of her head in a stringy blond bun.

"Hi, are you Jacob Rains' sister?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. I'm Mary. What cha want?" she asked cautiously.

Dean didn't bother to create some elaborate story. He figured she had already heard about the two outsiders who were hanging around Sarah Beth. Small towns were like that.

"I'm Dean and this is my brother Sam. We'd like to ask you about something if you don't mind," he gave her his most dazzling smile. "That looks heavy. Here, why don't I carry that for you?" He graciously took the bucket of grain and carried it to the porch for her.

She smiled coyly and batted her lashes. "Thank you."

"No problem," Dean replied.

"It's been a while since I've had someone to help me around here," she said. "It gets awfully lonesome."

"Why are you by yourself?" Dean asked.

"Jacob, he's my brother, he was killed about a month ago."

"Where are your parents?" Sam asked.

"Mom ran off ten years ago. Dad drank himself to death two years ago come this Christmas."

"Sorry to hear that," Sam said.

"Don't be," she laughed. "He was a mean old son of a bitch. I half expected Jacob to kill him one night, but Jake never did."

"Actually, Jacob is the reason we're here," Sam pointed out. "We're investigating how he died."

"I can tell you how he died. Those bastards Jim Roberts and Brian Dupree killed him. I told the sheriff but he wouldn't believe me. He said I had no proof and that I couldn't go around accusing upstanding citizens with no proof."

"How do you know they did it?" Dean asked.

"Because the week before Brian came here and told Jake off. Said to stay away from Sarah or he'd kill him. Well, Jake ended up going on a date with Sarah a few days later. He told me about it. Said he and her had a real good time. Later that week Jim and Brian came to the house looking for Jake, but I told them he weren't here so they tore out of here like a bat out of hell to go find him."

"That night Jake didn't come home," Mary continued. "The next morning here comes the sheriff to tell me how they found Jake's body but not the head out on Perkins Road. I knew. I knew those two killed my brother. But then they went and cut off his head to make it look like some stupid headless horseman killed him. They even shoved a copy of the damn book in his pocket. I tell you, it was no ghost that killed Jacob."

"What book?" Dean asked.

"You know…Sleepy Hollow or something."

"Did Jacob have a lot of friends?" Sam asked.

"Are you kidding? No one in this town wanted anything to do with any of us. When Jake died only four people even bothered to come to the funeral. It was a different story when Jim and Brian got theirs. I heard the whole damn town turned out for their funerals. Everyone talked about what a shame it was. Where were those concerned people when my brother died, huh?"

"I'm sorry it's been so hard for you," Sam said sincerely.

"No one has even bothered to come out here and see if I needed anything. I bet it's been a different story for Sarah though. I bet folks are just lining up to cook her meals and bring her things to make her life a little easier." Anger and sarcasm dripped from every word that came out of her mouth. "I bet Sarah isn't feeling so special now, though. Now she's just like me…alone. Serves her right."

"You mean you don't know?" Sam spoke up.

"Know what?"

"Sarah's dead," Dean told her.

"What? But I didn't…" she suddenly stopped talking and looked away.

"You didn't what?" Sam questioned.

"I didn't know that. How did she die? Was her head cut off like Tom's?"

"How did you know about Tom losing his head?" Dean asked.

Suddenly Mary became suspicious of the two men asking her all these questions. "Who the hell are you exactly? Why do you want to know all of this?"

"It's like I said. We're investigating the deaths."

"You mean you're investigating all the deaths, not just Jacob's." Her suspicion was quickly turning to anger.

"That's right," Sam explained. "We're trying to figure out the connection. There's no way this is all a coincidence. I believe Jim and Brian killed your brother, but now something is killing other people, using the same method. You have to admit, that's pretty strange."

"I don't think it's strange at all. I think justice is being served. You two should leave now," Mary said. "You're not cops and I don't have to talk to you."

"We're just trying to help," Sam said.

"You mean you're trying to help her! Everyone is always helping her! Now she's dead and people are still helping her! Why? What made her so damn special?"

"Sarah's dead. No one can help her now," Sam said, "but I would like to know who or what killed her."

"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah! I'm glad she's dead. I'm glad her whole family is dead. They deserved it…all of them…and so do you!" She suddenly struck out and grabbed Sam's hair, pulling as hard as she could.

"Hey!" Sam said. "Calm down!" He grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands off of him, losing some of his hair in the process.

"Lady, cut it out," Dean shouted and he grabbed Mary around the waist and picked her up and carried her away from Sam who was rubbing the sore spots on his head.

"Put me down! You can't protect him! No one can protect you when he's after you!" She kicked her legs wildly and Dean took a hard hit to his shin and practically dropped her. "Get out of here and don't come back!" Mary yelled as she ran into the house. The sound of the door bolt sliding into place could be heard.

Dean and Sam could hear her still yelling through the door. "You two better get out of town. Leave before one of you loses your head!"

Dean looked at Sam standing by the porch steps. Suddenly he remembered why this place seemed so familiar. Behind Sam was an open meadow, and just beyond that was a corn field. It was the same meadow and cornfield he had seen in his nightmare two nights ago. Sam was standing just a few inches away from the place where he died in Dean's dream.