Hi there

To any of you that are still around, thanks! In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a complete moron. I cannot figure out how to work this whole upload thing. I'm trying a different angle and writing on the chapter before I send it. I read directions and it told me to do all the chapters at once, but then it posted them all. Oops! If nothing else, my stupidity is a good laugh for you, right?

In any case, this is my first attempt at fanfiction. I cannot believe how much fun I have had! I must warn that this is getting longer than I had originally anticipated, so bear with me. I hope that you enjoy the ride.

If there is anything that doesn't make sense, please let me know. As I said, this is all new to me and I'm looking for the best way to tell the story. Thanks to the few of you who gave me the benefit of the doubt and wrote reviews! That was very thoughtful, rather than pointing and laughing.

So, here's the next chapter, even though it will be listed as chapter 3. Sigh… if I only had a brain!

:D

Caroline

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Chapter 5

With help, Dean got Sam back to the living room and onto the couch. Neither Jana nor Dean spoke. They focused on the task at hand. Johnny stood and watched. Jana got some extra pillows and a blanket and tried to make Sam comfortable. Dean got his hair out of his face and checked his pulse again. Then he noticed blood on Sam's lip.

"What do you want to do," asked Jana. She tucked Sam under the blanket the best she could to keep him warm. "Should I call for a doctor?"

"Well, we don't exactly have insurance Jana. This isn't a six figure gig." She smiled, unsure how to respond.

Sam began to stir. Johnny came barreling up to him to make sure he was ok. "Sam? Sam are you there? It's me, Johnny. I'm sorry Sam. Please wake up." Johnny grabbed his hand and caressed it. An odd look crossed Sam's face and he opened his eyes. He smiled at the boy in front of him.

"Hi," he said weakly. He began to cough uncontrollably and more blood came from his mouth.

"Oh God, Sam." Jana ran to him with a cloth to help wipe him up.

Sam's hand was firmly in Johnny grasp. Sam's eyes seemed to brighten for a moment and the coughing faded. "It's ok that you had to destroy the dog tags. I know it saved you." Sam closed his eyes again and Johnny let go. He looked up at Dean with innocent eyes.

"He's going to be ok, he just needs some rest" Johnny got up and ran back upstairs, coughing slightly. Dean watched in astonishment. He went to Sam who looked much more peaceful than five minutes ago.

The wheels began to turn in Dean's head. This kid was some sort of empath. "Have you known Johnny to have any healing powers?" he asked Jana. "How else would he know that Sam's ok?"

"Healing powers?" She looked at Dean like he had three heads. "He's 10! What would he heal?"

Dean wasn't convinced. There was a definite change once he held Sam's hand. It had even happened when they first walked in the door. He could see the look of comfort on Sam's face. There was something about this boy that he needed to figure out.

He changed gears to the problem at hand. These spirits needed to be dealt with, and Johnny needed to find a new home. "Had your sister told you of anything else that had gone on in the house? Anything weird at all since then?" Dean was on a mission now to find answers.

Jana seemed uncomfortable. "No. Well, I don't know. She said she heard things, but I never knew what to make of it."

"Was this before or after Charles died?"

Jana looked confused. She looked at Sam, lying on her sister's couch. What was going on? Why did she let complete strangers into the house? Why did they make sense? Her thoughts ran back through the years trying to find something that would help answer Dean's questions.

"Before. I guess for years, now that I really think about it." She stepped away from the couch and felt comfortable enough leaving Sam to get herself a glass of water. The tags were still smoldering in the sink. She picked them up and gave them to Dean who placed them in a baggy and into his pocket. She offered a glass to him as well.

"This is farm country. I remember growing up a few towns over. There were Indian Burial grounds, but they didn't find anything here, at this house. The politicians fought over the area and ultimately they were able to build and farm. No one has ever reported anything to the media." Johnny made gun firing noises with his army men upstairs, oblivious to the conversation downstairs.

"But you said she heard things. What kind of things." Dean pressed the issue. He took a sip from the glass. He had no idea how thirsty he actually was.

"I think she saw things move, or things would disappear. I always thought she was just kidding me. You know, telling ghost stories to scare her kid sister." Jana was shaking a bit, but seemed more at ease away from Sam.

"One thing I've learned in this job, ghost stories are true!" He drank again from the glass. He walked toward the dining room. He remembered that he had his EMF in his pocket. He flicked it on expecting the thing to go haywire. There was nothing. He turned back to Jana. "When you saw the figures in the other room, did any of them look familiar?"

"Familiar? No, they were shadows. What do you mean?"

"I did!" Johnny appeared from nowhere. "They have been around here for a long time. They talked to me, told me about Sam and you." He had his little army men and they crashed into each other. "That's why I called you."

Jana looked at Johnny. "Why didn't you say anything before Johnny?" She knelt beside him. "What do you mean you called Sam?"

"In Sam's dreams. They told me to do it. They said you would help me once my mom died." He continued on without hesitation.

"You knew your mom was going to die, Johnny?" Jana threw her hand on her mouth. "Why wouldn't you say anything?" Dean gave her the 'no one would believe him' look, but she was too distraught to notice.

Johnny continued talking as if there was no interruption. "I've been talking to them for years. They like to play games. They said mommy was very bad because of what she did to daddy. I told them no, but they said she had to be punished. I didn't believe them." He paused and seemed to have a little remorse for not saying anything to anyone. "They said things would be better when she was gone. They said I would meet you and you would make everything better." Suddenly his attitude changed into a fiery anger. "She only wanted to be around him anyway. She never spent any time with me. She didn't love me. He deserves to die too!"

"Johnny!" screamed Jana. Tears continued to stream down her face. "What are you talking about? Your mother loved you more than anything in this world. She should not have died." She fell to the floor in hysterics, crying uncontrollably. "Why didn't you say anything?"

His demeanor was back to the normal 10 year old attitude. "No one would have believed me anyway. But they do. That's why they're here. Right Dean?" He indicated to Dean and Sam with outstretched hands pointing in both directions.

For the first time, Dean was at a loss for words.

There was movement on the couch and Sam tried to sit up. They rushed into the room to assist him, grateful for the interruption. Johnny ran to the couch, sat down and gave him a hug. Sam winced in pain, but put his arm around the boy. Dean looked back, trying to let Sam know to be cautious.

"Sam, you're all better?" Johnny was smiling from ear to ear.

"No kiddo, but I feel more alive than I did a while ago." Sam tried to smile at the boy. He suddenly tasted blood in his mouth.

"You'll be better soon. They told me so." Johnny trotted off again. Sam looked after him and shot a questioning look at Dean. "They," he mouthed? Jana sat next to Sam.

"You gave us quite a scare Sammy." Dean knelt beside him thankful for a moment to sit. "What still hurts?"

"Well, everything, but not like it did." He touched his hand to his lips, but realized there was no pain where the blood was coming from. He looked oddly at his hand and rubbed the blood between his fingers until it was dry. "Dean, that thing," he began, "it killed her from the inside out."

Dean face was stoic. "Listen Sam, there is a lot more going on here, and that boy is the center of it."

"He's just a kid – a special kid who…"

"Shut up, you're not listening to me. He just went all Sybil on us in the kitchen. He said there are things in this house that have talked to him for years. They told him to contact you in your dreams." This comment stopped Sam from his thought process. "They brought us here to help him through this. He said his mom should die because of what she did to his dad. They're controlling him, using him to get to us." Jana started to cry. Dean put his hand on her knee to comfort her.

Sam regained his contemplation and continued. "Well they are very powerful. The way they killed Julie, it was to cause her as much pain as possible." He tried to stretch to get some of the kinks out but only ended up causing more discomfort. Jana sobbed heavily. "Jana, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's ok. It's horrible, but at least it makes sense. None of this made any sense until you arrived." She had a new resolve as she wiped her face and took a deep breath. I can't believe this is happening. "What do we do?"

Dean smirked "Do you have an axe?"