Dean really didn't have a plan when he stormed out the door. He did feel a little guilty leaving like that but he just couldn't face his brother anymore. His initial plan, when he came back, was to just make up with Sam and leave it at that like they always did. Once he saw his car was gone he knew it was the right time to take off. Grabbing his stuff, he just started walking eventually ending up on an interstate. Holding out his thumb, it didn't take too long before he was picked up. He sat with several drivers before finally getting out in a small town in Oklahoma off I-40.
Right away he finds a place to live. Sitting in a diner he sees an apartment for rent sign on the bulletin board and calls the number listed. It's a small place but he likes it immediately. The apartment is normal looking, his neighbors the same. Not a hint of the supernatural in the vicinity. In fact the only thing nearby was a Laundromat and the diner. Still he made sure he could rent it month to month out of habit. Things had been known to happen and he wanted to be able to leave if he had to.
"That won't be anytime soon." He thinks lying on his bed. "Well it's a little better than a motel room." Actually it's nice to be able to put his clothes in a closet for a change and not have to stuff them back into a duffel bag days later.
"And it's nice to have an address again. I could almost get used to this." He laughs to himself. "Sammy would never let me live that down."
It feels feel good to be doing something, anything, that doesn't involve hunting or killing. At the moment he doesn't miss all that hunting entails. What he does miss however is his brother. For a fleeting moment he thinks about calling Sam, and then changes his mind.
"He's better off without me." Dean says to himself.
Later on that day while walking around, he spots an employment agency and heads inside. He really isn't too interested in what he does as long as it keeps his mind occupied and still earns him a couple of bucks. He knows Sam will be looking for him in pool halls and bars so he decides he will work someplace Sam will never look for him. As he fills out the application he makes sure he uses one of his backup aliases, Dean Nicholson. Accepting his ID and SS # without question, the lady behind the desk rifles through a pile of paper work and stops at a listing for the school district.
"Looks like they have an opening for a maintenance engineer." She looks up at Dean to see if he is interested.
"What the hell I've been picking up after Sam all these years. Now I'll just do for a lot of little Sam's." he thinks to himself.
"That will do fine." He tells her accepting the job. They talk about pay and benefits.
"I don't know what they do in that school but they sure run through a lot of janitors" she continues. Dean doesn't bother to ask what she means about that. He's just happy to have something to occupy his mind and keep the ever present demons away.
"Here's the address. They'll be expecting you around 7:00 am" She hands him a piece of paper with the information he needs. He groans at the early start time but take the paper from her hand.
"Thanks a lot. I appreciate all your help." He gives her his best charming smile.
Showing up at the school the next day Dean stands outside and takes a look around. The school is a classic two story brick with wide windows and wooden doors like thousands of other schools that were built in the 40's. It had a few additions added over the years but it stilled looked like several of the schools Sam and Dean had attended when they were younger.
"Regis Elementary School. God Sam would love this place. It's so……. Norman Rockwell." He shudders at the thought. Sighing he heads inside.
Within a couple of days he settles into the normal routine of empting wastebaskets, cleaning the bathrooms, and mopping the floor. It's kinda nice to be part of a crew. He likes the conversations and easy humor of his new co-workers and they accept him right away as just another guy on the team. When pressed about his family he tells them he grew up in orphanage and has been on his own since he was 16. After seeing his reaction, they didn't ask him anymore personal questions.
Listening to their stories about their families, Dean tries to relate, but only ends up feeling a sense of loss over a life he didn't get a chance to have. When his feelings try to resurface, he pushes them back down again. Before when that happened he would just hunt and kill something and take it out on the creature. Now alone in his room he is dealing with things he never thought he would have to deal with; his anger at John, his resentment of his brother and his feelings of betrayal by both. Mostly his own guilt at leaving his brother behind. He ends up feeling even more sad and confused.
One night he missed Sam so bad he did he actually dialed his number. When Sam didn't pick up Dean just left him a voice mail. "Hey Sammy, just wanted to let you know I'm ok. I miss you geek boy. I guess you know I'm not coming back anytime soon sorry." and hangs up.
His new job gives him something constructive to do. One night his boss tells him the gym floor has to be waxed. Normally it would take two of them to do it but since the other guy called in Dean is going to have to do it alone. He sets up the equipment and is about to start when something catches his eye in the corner of the gym. Looking straight at it he swears it's a little girl in a brown dress, her hair in pigtails, but after he blinks and looks again the girl is gone. Dean shakes his head but there is no mistaking what she is.
"Aww crap not here too." he thinks laughing to himself. "Leave it to me to find a haunted school. Sam would so get a kick out of this."
About half way through the gym he takes a break and is sitting on a bleacher when he sees something else in the shadows. This time it is two little boys. The older one about 10, the younger about 6. By the looks of them they appeared to be brothers. He smiles at them and waves. They wave back before they scamper off into the darkness as well. This continues through out the night. Every now and then children would appear and watch Dean and then run off. Dean walks around the gym trying to find them but they run and hide from him. Walking into the northeast corner he feels a terrible cold and sense of anger standing there. Worse yet a sense of evil. The next morning Dean's new boss, Jack Wilson, asks him how it went the night before in the gym.
"Fine no problems" Dean answers him.
"You didn't have too many interruptions did you? Did the equipment work ok?" Jack asks with a strange tone.
"No interruptions. One of the other guys told me you usually need two people to do it but I don't know why. It wasn't that hard a job to do alone. " Dean waits for an explanation.
"Maybe for you, you seem to be a hard worker, but I can't keep a good crew here. A couple of times the guys claimed the waxer wouldn't start so they couldn't get it done. Another couple of times I've come in to check on crews and they've gone in the middle of the night. Just up and left all the equipment right in the middle of the gym floor. You're the first one who would do the gym alone in a long time. Well you and Willis Tanner." Jack tells him.
"I wonder why. Who's Willis Tanner? I don't think I have met him yet." Dean is really curious now. He wonders if his boss knows the real reason for the sudden disappearance of the other crews. His hopes for an explanation fade as Jack changes the subject.
"Willis Tanner. God, he's been here since before Christ. Gotta be in his late 60', early 70's by now. Won't even think about retiring. You'll meet him soon. If you want I can put you permanent on the overnight shift with him. There's a $2.00 hr pay differential." Jack offers.
"Great cool I'll take it. None of the other guys want to work overnights? Even with the differential?" Dean asks.
"Naww they all claim they can't work overnights. It will just be you and Willis. Now maybe we can finally get something's finished around here that we can't get done during the day. Willis is good but you know he's an old man. I'm sure he will appreciate having a younger guy around to help with all the heaving stuff. You wanna start tomorrow night?"
"Sure thing boss" Dean is actually looking forward to it. He's always been a night person so the hours really don't bother him.
The next night Dean shows up on time and starts making his rounds picking up wastebaskets and cleaning the rooms. Hearing whistling down the hall he pushes his trash cart to the library and spots an older African American gentleman checking out some of the books. Not wanting to disturb him he clears his throat. Willis looks up at him and smiles.
"Gotta keep the mind activated" he says getting up and reaching his hand out to Dean. "You must be Dean Nicholson, I'm Willis Tanner. Dean quickly returns the handshake.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Tanner." He says smiling back.
"Ahh it's nice to know your parents raise you proper but you don't have to call me Mr. Tanner, Willis will do just fine."
"All right Willis. You're right about keeping the mind activated." Dean likes the man immediately.
"You a reader Dean?" Willis asks him.
"No that's more my brothers style. I prefer to consider myself a man of action." He laughs at the thought. He could just see Sam rolling his eyes.
"A man of action eh? Well man of action, did you get all the way down to the 4th grade rooms or are you gonna just stand here and shoot the breeze with me?" Willis slaps him on the back teasing him.
"Well Willis, I've already made it to the 4th grade rooms, the 5th grade rooms and even the 6th grade rooms." Dean says not trying to boast, but no one is gonna catch Dean slacking, even if he's just picking up after little kids.
"Oh did you now. I guess you really are a man of action." Willis looks at him with his eyebrows raised. "Well before you blow a gasket maybe you can just hang out with me for a while. It's break time anyway."
They go get some snacks and coffee out of the vending machines and kick back in the quiet library.
"Ahh I really love this place." Willis says looking around. "Especially at night so peaceful and quiet. None of the interruptions I get in other parts of the school." Dean's attention picks up at the word interruptions.
"Yeah Jack mentioned something about that. He was really interested if I had any the other night when I was doing the gym floor. I wasn't sure what he meant by that. I mean what kind of interruptions was he expecting me to have?" Dean eyes Willis hoping for the real explanation.
"Oh you know, stuff happens around here. It's an old school. There's bound to be weird noises at night. Things like that." Willis avoids looking him in the eyes. Dean decides to go for it and tells him that he knows about the kids.
"Noises eh? You mean from the kids and all, cuz that sort of stuff doesn't really bother me." Willis looks at him eyes wide checking to see if he is lying.
"You saw them, did you?" He asks studying Dean.
"If you mean the little girl with pigtails, the two brothers and the rest of the kids then yeah I saw them." Dean admits to him. Willis is genuinely surprised at Dean's reaction.
"Most of the guys won't work at night because of them. You're the first one who isn't freak out about working in a haunted school." Willis continues to watch Dean. "How come they don't bother you?"
"You might say I'm an old pro when it comes to handling evil spirits." Dean tells him but doesn't elaborate further. Willis just nods his head at this information.
"Well Mr. "Man of action" you might just work out around here after all." he chuckles slapping Dean on the back again.
"So what's the story about this place?" Dean asks "How come it's haunted by all these kids?" The question immediately makes Willis uneasy. He looks around before turning back to Dean.
"The boss would kill me if he heard me filling your head with that old story." Willis starts to explain. "Jack doesn't believe any of it but I know that it's true, I was there." Surprised, Dean leans in closer to Willis.
"No kidding really?" Now he's really curious to hear the whole story.
"You'll probably think I'm some crazy old man if I tell ya." Willis looks at Dean to see if he is serious or not.
"If I tell you I believe in ghosts will you tell me what happened? You might say I have some in my family." Dean tries to get him to talk. Willis thinks about this for a moment. He knows one of the guys told him Dean was an orphan.
'Maybe his folks died in some horrible death and their ghosts came back to haunt him. Guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.' Willis thinks to himself looking at Dean. He decides to tell him the whole story.
Tbc