-------
Chapter 5
Dean pulled up to the front entrance of Stony Brooke psychiatry facility. It was a tall building with a minimum amount of windows. There was a garden filled with roses and gardenias surrounding a fountain. It was a very peaceful place, from the outside at least.
"So tell me again why we're here?"
Sam ignored him and looked at the building. He seemed to make a dash for the inside, almost leaving the entrance door to slam into Dean's face.
"Thanks for holding the door Sammy." Dean said with sarcasm.
The nurse was sitting behind the desk reading a magazine. She had short, blonde hair and seemed to be in her mid thirties.
"Hello gentlemen, may I help you with something?"
"Uh yes, um we're looking for Michelle Steele."
The nurse began to type the letters into the keyboard.
"Ah here we are, Michelle Steele, room 28. Follow me please."
The nurse stood up, picking up a small white basket. Dean and Sam followed her down the hall. They passed a number of light blue and orange doors until they came to a hall where all the doors were white.
"Why are some doors different colors than others?" Dean asked.
" Well they are colored coded by the mental stability of the patient. Light blue are for bipolar patients. The bright orange doors contain suicidal patients. And the white doors contain patients that are in great depression, like suffering from a hard loss." The nurse replied.
They came to a white door, room 28.
"Okay, I will have to take your belts, jewelry, keys, cell phones, or anything else that can be harmful to you or the patient." The nurse said as she held out the small white basket.
They both took of their belts and Dean handed her his keys.
" The necklace and ring also sir, please." She said, but when she turned her back to talk to a passing nurse, Dean slipped the ring into his pocket and tucked the necklace into his shirt. He threw a couple of quarters into the basket instead, to mimic the sound of jewelry entering the basket. Dean was very reluctant to take them off at all. They both held very special sentimental value to him. Sam smirked at his brothers slickness.
"Don't worry, they will be at the front desk on your way out." She pressed the numbers into the key pad. The door unlocked with a subtle buzzing noise. The room was all white with padding. There were a couple of windows but they were high up, just to let a little sunshine in. They saw a pale, skinny frightened girl with long flowing black hair sitting on the corner of the flat mattress bed, curled up into a ball with her knees to her chest. She was rocking slowly back and forth.
"Michelle, honey. You have some visitors." The nurse said.
" How long does she have to stay here, I mean when can she leave?" Dean whispered back to the nurse.
"Any time she wants, she's voluntary."
She closed the door leaving Dean and Sam to talk to the obviously distraught girl.
"Hi, my name is Sam and this is my brother Dean."
The girl slowly turned her head in their direction. " W-what do you want?" She said in a low voice. They could tell that she had been crying, and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks.
"We're here to ask you a couple questions, about what exactly happened that night at the Winchester house." Sam replied in a soft voice, he didn't want to frighten her more than she already was.
" I have already talk about it enough to the police, and I don't need anymore people thinking I'm crazy."
" We don't think you crazy, we just want talk to you for a couple of minutes, it won't take long." Dean said.
She looked at the floor as she lowered her feet to the ground. " What do you want to know?"
" You said that your boyfriend was shot by something….invisible," Sam began. " Before it happened did he talk differently or act strange?"
"No, he was fine." She said, her eyes still scanning the ground.
" Did you hear any strange noises or felt a weird vibe?"
" Well I felt weird the whole time we were in there. It just felt wrong. I wanted to leave as soon as we stepped foot in that place. As far as strange noises go my boyfriend, Carlos, said he heard some whispering, as did I. I pretended not to notice it, but it started to get cold all of a sudden…..really cold. I've read the stories about ghosts haunting that place, but I never believed in the paranormal. Until now."
Dean walked over to her and slowly lowered himself onto the bed. He could see her shift to the farther side of the bed.
" Its okay, I'm not going to hurt you. Now, what else do you know about that house." Dean said.
"Well, we were only there because Carlos wanted to show me where his great great-grandfather's gun was. It was very important to him that someone in their family got recognition for fighting in the American Civil War. While we were on the tour he pointed it out in the glass case, which was locked. Then later, when I got separated from Carlos, I came back to the case which was unlocked and his great great-grandfather's gun was missing. When I found him , I thought he had taken it. He told me he didn't and Carlos never lies," She said.
She began to reminisce about the great times they had together when he was alive. A single tear began to run down her cheek. "He was a great guy."
Dean placed his hand on hers. " I bet he was, and he didn't deserve to die. But we're going to get the thing that killed him trust me."
"How? Besides I am in this place, You probably think I killed him, like everyone else does. I have no idea how the key to the case got into my pocket, I didn't kill him….I didn't. She said, slowly she started to rock back and forth again.
" We know you didn't do it Michelle, but is there anything else that significantly sticks out in your mind about that night?" Sam said.
"No, well there was something. This picture we saw when we went to the gift shop. On our way in it had William Winchester holding a rifle, but later when I went looking for Carlos, the gun had disappeared from the picture. I think I was just seeing things but…"
Sam tuned her out and stared at Dean. She described exactly happened in his nightmare.
The picture….that picture has something to do with this. Sam thought.
" Thank you for your time Michelle, and we will definitely get this thing that killed your boyfriend." Sam said. He motioned to Dean that it was time to go. Dean got up as he felt Michelle's hand pull him back down.
" Be careful in that house." She said with fear in her eyes.
" We will, you take care." Dean replied.
Dean was putting ring on as they walked out of the facility.
" That picture has something to do with this Dean, we obviously can't salt and burn the bones of William Winchester or Santiago Verde, so maybe the picture is a source of its power. We have to burn it."
" What picture?"
" That's not important right now. Sunset is in a half hour, so we have to get ready." Sam said getting into the car. Dean started the engine. Something didn't feel right, like something was missing, but he shook the feeling off and put the car in drive.
Meanwhile in the facility, Michelle sat on the bed rolling a small bronze charm on a black string between her fingers. " Those two are going to go in and destroy what I have worked so hard to keep running, we can't have that now can we."
------------