Disclaimer: Stephen King and Warner brothers are the only geniuses here. I only hope that my misadventures using their characters and themes do not offend them. I am merely a poor student, who will remain poor.
Dean and Sam followed Eileen out of the Pet Sematary and back to her property.
Sam's mind was putting everything they had together. 'Dad's e-mail sent us to Steve Masterson. I had a vision of Steve's past in some woods. Then Steve told us of a tragedy in Ludlow Main. Which has brought us to Ludlow where we've found the location of both my vision and Steve's narrative. Steve said he believed the body of Eileen's baby brother was found in a burnt down house across the street days after his burial-' His thoughts were cut off.
"If you need to make a return visit that'd be cool." Eileen said, then she paused and looked at Dean sheepishly. "If you want to hear anymore local history Mr. Assit just give me a call." Eileen said before disappearing into her house.
Dean stood there blinking. Sam slapped him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you that'd she'd make an advance. I sure sign that she's psycho or you know, blind."
"Hey! You're just jealous. Besides we've had enough crazy chicks recently. We're due for a sane one." Dean shot back, heading for the car.
Back at the Bed and Breakfast Sam was on the laptop. Pulling up what few bits of information they could get on Gage Creed.
"We should confirm the Gage story. See if we're really dealing with a resurrection of some kind, Dean."
"Great. That means we need to see if the body is were it should be."
"Yup, Pleasantview cemetery, in Bangor. Take about 30 minutes to get there."
"Hold up there partner. Can't go digging up graves in the afternoon, people may talk." Dean said in between mouth fulls of cheetoes.
"We can at least go find where the grave is. Not all our cemetery visits have to be conducted under the shadow of night. Walking around for hours trying to pick out a stone we've never seen before, and tripping all over them in the dark!"
"Fine, trample all over one of our finest family traditions!"
Sam rolled his eyes. "Then we can go to the university first. See if there's anyone there who would remember Louis. By the time we get to the cemetery it will be getting dark. Does that appease you?"
"You just want to go to nerd town." Dean grinned and walked out to the car.
Sam entered into the campus med centre, Dean dropped him off and went to try and find a parking spot, Sam smiled to himself 'Bet his cursing up a storm trying to find one.' He noticed a few staff milling about, but his best chances were with the older people, they were dealing with a 22 year old case after all. He homed in on a pretty middle aged woman, who was sifting through a massive load of inventory papers. Her name tag read Judy DeLessio.
"Hi"
"Hello, young man. How are you feeling today?" She asked kindly. Sam realized she was scanning him for any signs of illness or injury.
"OH, I'm fine. I'm not a potential patient. I'm doing a paper on the history of the university's med centre. Hoping you could give me a hand?"
"And take a break from this inventor list…well, you've twisted my arm Mr…?"
"Sam. Sam Peters."
"Well Sam, have a seat. Can't imagine it's an exciting paper topic. Unless flu's and sprained wrists are suddenly all the rage."
"Umm, yeah. Have you been working here long Ms Delessio?"
"Too long my boy. I was a student here, a Candy-Striper in this centre. Learning the ropes. All the way back in 83."
'That's when Louis was working here, what luck! What…convenience.' "Nothing out of the ordinary then? I've done some reading, I think oww what was the name, Creed or something was the doctor back then?"
"Why yes-" Delessio said, paling a little. "-only that one year. The poor man. I can still remember it."
"What happened?"
"It was the first day for the both of us, if you can believe it. I spent most of that day being sick because of it. It was the first fatality of the year. A young student was hit while jogging on campus. I hadn't seen so much blood before. And rarely since."
Sam's mind felt fuzzy for a moment, images passing before his eyes…memories a bloody man standing at the foot of his bed, his head was cracked open, he was wearing jogging shorts
"I remember his head was cracked open, my stomach didn't make it long after I saw a bit of his brain poking out. He died here, with Louis over him. On Louis' first day heading the centre. I think it must have set a morbid tone for the year."
"What was his name?"
"The boy…that's stretching my memory a bit." She bit her lip. "Vincent maybe or Victor, yes Victor."
Then Sam remembered. He remembered his entire dream, his conversation with a dead man. '"Who are you?" "Victor Pascow, not that that matters any."' "Victor Pascow?"
"Why yes, I think that was it. How did you-"
"I must have read it in some of the old newspapers I've been researching. What can you tell me about Louis? Do you know why he left?" Sam knew he should be more tactful, but his mind was still reeling from his memory. It was true that he'd talked to ghosts before, a word here or there before having to shoot. But nothing like this. 'Where's Dean!'
15 minutes and 4 circles around the campus later and Dean was getting pissed… he had legitimate reasons for not enjoying campus visits -besides the snotty profs who gave him strange looks for his questions on local monster lore- the parking was awful! And he'd be damned if he'd leave his baby girl beside some snot noised 19 year olds car, who would (in Dean's mind), slam into his Chevy repeatedly trying to pull out of a wide parking spot. His phone rang, and Dean pulled over to answer.
"Sam?"
"Shit Dean! I've been talking to a dead man!" Sam sounded panicked.
"WHAT? There's a Casper at the med centre?"
"No, I mean I just finished talking to nurse who's been here since Louis's term. Dean, she told me that on Louis' first day a student by the name of Victor Pascow died here, hit by a car. When she told me I remembered my dreams. It was him I've been talking to!"
"Well, this is new and exciting." Dean said dryly. 'Why can't the Freakies leave my brother allow for a little while?' "I'm going to come around and pick you up."
Dean huge up the phone, and mock pounded his head into the steering wheel, (he wouldn't actually do that, his Chevy didn't deserve a beating). Putting the car in drive he pushed down on the gas as he looked back up to the road. Just in time to see an old guy standing right in front of the car. Dean stop the car as he watched the man disappear below the it. 'Fuck me!' He chanted in his head as he jumped out of his seat and sprinted to the front of his car. The man wasn't there…Dean cursed and looked under the car –nothing- no blood, not even a dent on the bumper.
Dean stood still, 'Okay, I just hit a ghost. But Victory was a student, the guy I saw had to be in his 80s…' "Umm, if there's some old ghost guy around here, I'm kind of busy right now. But I'll get back to you soon." 'Yup I must definitely be oozing creepy'. Dean looked back to his car, and saw the old man seating in the passenger seat. "Ah crap."
The old man waved him in. Dean's jaw dropped.
"Dude, get out of my car."
The ghost just shook his head as if annoyed, and waved him over again. 'I don't believe this! The keys are in the ignition, I can't get into the trunk with the weapons without reaching into the car.' Dean walked over to the driver's side, grateful for leaving the window down. He reached in as fast as he could to grab the keys. But the old ghost was faster, and grabbed his wrist.
"No need to panic there boy. I'm not here to hurt you." Dean strained to understand him; the ghost had a thick Yankee accent. Then the ghost let go of him. "Climb on in, she's your car ain't she? A real beauty at that."
Dean looked mystified, 'Had a ghost just praised my car? Could a ghost with good taste be evil?'
Dean opened the door and eyed the guy wearily as he sat down.
"See, I don't bite. Call me Jud."
"Well, Jud, why are you in my car?" '
"Thought you'd be more comfortable talking in your own territory."
"Yeah, what do you want to talk about?" Dean said, 'Now I'm talking to a dead man. Oh the irony.' Shit Sammy! Dean looked for his cell phone. 'Damn I think he's sitting on it.''
"Looking for that modern contraption I'm sitting on are you. Amazing what people accomplished, don't know how I would have adapted to all the technology if I'd of had a chance. Probably for the better though." Jud laughed. "But I'm not here for me. I'm done and gone. I'm here for you and your brother. You went to the Pet Sematary today, with Eileen." Jud paused then, and seemed to be remembering something fondly. "She was such a pretty young thing. But you need to be careful, in fact, you both need to leave."
"Jud? Wait, you where Louis neighbor? The house that burned down was yours?"
"Eileen was a little girl back then, before it all went to hell. It's all my fault really."
"What do you mean?"
"I bought Louis there the first time-" Jud cut himself off 'No, No I won't tell him that, I won't give you another one you bastard.'
"Where did you bring him Jud? To the pet sematary? To whatever's behind it?" Dean watched the ghost battle with himself. But Jud gave him a cold glare at the mention of the 'what was behind', but it melted into something sad and sorrowful.
"You and your brother need to leave, Dean. It's hungry again, and all your knowledge and battle prowess won't do you any good."
"What is It?"
Jud started flickering, 'if you're not going to be helpful, you aren't going to be here' it whispered to Jud.
Jude's fading eyes looked up at Dean, "The soil of a man's heart is stonier, he grows what he can and tends it. Your brother Dean, he's got a gardener in him."
And Jud was gone.
"Shit! Sammy's contagious."
"I can't believe you talked to a ghost!" Sam said laughing. He hadn't laughed this hard in ages, and certainly not at Dean. Dean just glared out ahead at the road, as they headed to Bangor.
"I didn't have a gun on me." Dean replied defensively.
"That's even worse! Dean Winchester not on guard 24/7! Dad would have a bird!" Sam laughed.
"Thanks Sammy."
"It's Sam. I'm just teasing."
"You'll be doing the digging, smart ass."
They found the grave of Gage Creed, and left to wait till dark to return with shovels. They ate at a nearby pizzeria, watching the sun go down.
"Apparently, the day after the house fire Louis called the university and quit. He didn't give a reason. No one from there saw him after that. She told me that Steve Masterton wouldn't even talk about it. When they went to the house to talk with him, he didn't answered. After awhile, everyone assumed he went to Chicago to rejoin Rachel and Eileen. Until police came asking around for Rachel and Louis. No one knows how that ended. Just that the bank repossessed the house several months later." Sam said, recalling his conversation with Judy.
"Rejoin in Chicago?"
"Yeah, apparently, Rachel and Eileen had left shortly after the funeral. Louis was supposed to follow a few days after, get a break from the house and memories and all. But they were supposed to come back. The police said that Rachel returned to Ludlow a couple days after, even found her rental car outside Jud's house, but not her, and that was the last anyone heard."
"Fantastic. Did Judy mention the owners afterward?"
"There are some haunted house rumors around, but no incidents she could think of, the place just had a high turn over rate. I asked her if she knew that Louis' daughter had bought the place. She got really quite. Said that people think that's pretty weird. But she had nothing bad to say about her. Keeps to herself mostly."
"Damn townies."
"Dean, you 'damn' city people too. Who do you like?"
"Me. I'm great. You don't know how lucky you are Sammy."
Sam rolled his eyes. They finished their pizzas and went back to the cemetery. They watched the groundskeeper lock it up for the night. And waited for the traffic to thin out, it wasn't a long wait, a town like Bangor gets quite pretty fast. They got out the bags holding their shovels and walked across the street. The wrought-iron fence wasn't friendly looking. But they weren't rookies when it came to fence hopping.
"The bitch tore my jeans." Dean cursed, after getting snagged going over.
"Which one of the twenty holes did it make?" Sam grumbled, his mood darken with each step into the cemetery. 'Man, this part of the job really blows. The only time people our age should be sneaking around in graveyards is when we're trying to impress a girl, or get a Halloween scary. It always feels like a bad B-movie'
"You're still digging geek boy."
35 minutes later
'No wait…digging up graves is much worse then sneaking.' Sam mentally moaned, Dean had actually tossed the shovels at him and preached himself on the Gage's head stone. "Are you seriously not helping here?"
"I'm tired; I didn't sleep well last night. I'll help you get the casing off. Keep digging. It's good for your upper body strength. Can't rely on spoon bending all the time."
"It was one time you jerk! You'd of had your brains blown out across the wall if I hadn't somehow used telekinesis!"
"I had a plan!"
Sam just scoffed. 'Sometimes Dean, you can be a real ungrateful ass.' The shovel came down again. And made a loud cink sound. 'About time.'
Dean hopped into the grave then, and together then cleared anyway the remaining rubble.
They both stop and stare down at the casing. It was askew.
"That's just great." Sam huffed.
"Yeah. It so ruined the surprise of opening the coffin."
Sam stared sadly at Dean. 'You were actually excited weren't you? Damn it. I wish you could see how wrong this all is Dean. You could have so much more than this.'
"Earth to Sam." Dean called waving a hand in front of him. "Still with me?"
"Yeah."
With a little muscle power they pushed up the cement cover. And Dean scooted down to open the casket. Sam watched Dean open the top, but from his angle he couldn't see inside.When it was just half open Dean pushed back from it, giving a yell.
"Dean!" Sam jumped over to get in front of him, and kicked the casket top open as he pulled the rock salt gun out from his pants…
There was only a spade inside…a bend spade. Dean started laughing behind him.
"What the fuck Dean! That's not funny!" Sam couldn't believe. 'After all the shit that's come out of coffins and killed people, how the hell could he joke like that?'
Dean was still bent over laughing. "Hey, laugh, if something really was in there your slow reaction time laugh would have gotten me laugh killed."
"You…..you…..forget it. I'm not talking to you." Sam huffed. He pushed up and out of the grave. And started heading back to the car. 'Dean can fill it in himself. Can't believe he did that. Asshole, never heard of the boy who cried wolf.'
Sam leaned against the car, the fumes of his anger eventually simmered down. Dean was hard to stay mad at. 'He was just being himself. He wasn't trying to piss me off. Just trying to lighten the mood in his own messed up way. He did it all the time when we were kids. Even tried to make salt circles around our beds to protect us from demons seem like fun; "Bet none of your friends at school get to have a sand-box in their room, huh Sammy?'
About 45 minutes later he watched Dean fall over the fence with a thud, and limp over to the car. Sam didn't try to hide his amusement.
"Still mad?" Dean asked as he stretched his back, making an audible crack.
"Whatever. Let's just get out of here."
Dean smiled. "You never could stay mad at me."
"Don't tell me you kept the bent spade?" Sam watched Dean toss the tools back into the trunk, plus one.
"Seems a shame to waste a perfectly good weapon. We can make some stakes out of the handle; melt down the metal into-"
"-Alright, forget I asked."
The trip back up to the Bed and Breakfast was silent. The humor only lasted a couple blocks before the reality of what an empty coffin meant seeped in. The body of Gage Creed had been exhumed.
"If Steve's right, and Gage's body was in the house fire days after his burial, it could be that he was just a dead body, and not 'zombie Gage'. Louis could have just brought him over?" Sam said. Not that he really believed that. 'It's never was that simple.'
"People suffering grief just don't dig up loved ones bodies and hide them in their neighbor's houses. Louis must have done some kind of zombie ritual, he'd had to of had an altar set up somewhere."
"I doubt it's in the house, or as least still is. That wouldn't have gotten by the real state agents." Sam said.
"And Steve said he saw Louis bring his wife's body into the woods? Maybe he had something set up in there. Rituals to bring people back are heavy duty; to reanimate a body is seriously scary shit. Usually involves human sacrifice."
"So we need to go into the woods. Behind that deadfall in the pet sematary. If he used a natural altar, large flat rocks or something it should still be there. If it's recognizable as an altar now. We should also check for missing persons during that time. If he used a sacrifice."
"Finding an old altar's not our biggest problem, Sam."
"Yeah, we don't know what happened to Louis. He could still be kicking around somewhere?"
"Hell, Rachel could be too. And then there's the 'It', whatever it is that Steve felt and Jud mentioned. What do you think - three for the price of one?"
"Great." Sam replied, the car became silent again as Sam stared out on to the road, watching trucks zoom by.