FAITH PART 2
Alice nervously looked around the tent at everyone gathering inside. She strolled down the middle row with Sam and Dean at her side and headed right to the front. The boys took the first two seats while Alice sat in the aisle seat. Once everyone had settled down, a frail-looking man walked onto the stage with a woman on his arm. Alice stared curiously at him and gathered by his mannerisms and sunglasses that he had to be blind.
"Each morning, my wife, Sue Ann, reads me the news. Never seems good, does it?" Roy began, and the crowd hummed in agreement. "Seems like there's always someone committing some immoral, unspeakable act."
Alice snickered a little and looked to what was behind Roy. She cocked a brow and stared at a table with a few religious objects on it. What sparked her interest was a distinct wooden cross topped by a smaller cross in a circle. Her lips turned into a frown, but she couldn't place where she's seen it before.
Roy continued with his opening speech. "But, I say to you, God is watching. God rewards the good, and he punishes the corrupt. It is the Lord who does the healing here, friends. The Lord who guides me in choosing who to heal by helping me see into people's hearts."
Alice rolled her eyes and spoke quietly. "I sure as hell wouldn't want to see into people's hearts."
"You think so, ma'am," Roy suddenly responded.
The crowd immediately fell silent, and Alice looked slightly stunned to learn he heard her. She looked around the tent and realized that all eyes were now on her.
"You got pretty sharp hearing," she said, turning back to him.
"Yes, well…that's one of the many talents a blind man has," he said with a gracious smile. "What's your name, dear?"
"Uh…Alice," she hesitated.
"Alice." Roy nodded and began to gesture her up. "I want...I want you to come up here with me."
The crowd began to clap and encourage her as Alice looked around nervously, becoming more uncomfortable with every second the attention was on her. Sue Ann walked down the stage and opened her arms to welcome her, but Alice didn't move and seemed to sink further into her oversized clothes.
"Go up there," Sam insisted.
"Just go. It ain't gonna kill you." Dean practically had to shove Alice out of her seat to get her to move.
Because of their pressure and the crowd's constant cheering, Alice reluctantly began to head to the stage with Sue Ann. She stepped nervously up to Roy and looked around the tent to search for her boys. Sam and Dean could see how uneasy she was. They hated seeing her like this. She was nearly unrecognizable and never looked so small and weak until now.
"You ready?" Roy asked her.
"Not really, but…I made a promise, so…" Alice answered quietly back.
"That's quite alright. Pray with me, friends," he said to the crowd.
The crowd responded by joining hands with each other and silently praying to themselves. Roy raised his hands to the air and placed one on Alice's shoulder and the other against the side of her head. Alice stiffened awkwardly and reached into her pocket where Aiden's picture was. She gripped it tightly for comfort and closed her eyes, hoping it would all be over soon.
"Alright now. Alright now," Roy whispered.
Alice let out a sharp gasp as every nerve in her body froze. Her eyes shot open and glazed over to a hazy white. Her legs began to shake, and before she knew it, her knees buckled from beneath her. Roy continued to hold his hand against her face as Alice's eyes rolled to the back of her head, and once everything went black, her body collapsed to the floor.
"Alice!" Sam shouted and jumped from his chair.
Dean rushed up from his seat a moment later and ran to the stage. He grabbed Alice by the front of her shirt and shook her a little. A second later, her eyes finally opened, and she gasped strenuously for air.
"Alice?" Sam called out while crouching down beside her. "Say something."
Alice blinked a couple times and looked up at Roy. Her body suddenly jolted from shock when she saw something standing directly behind him. Something that wasn't there before. It was a tall, withered-looking old man with a black suit and stark white hair. He stared at Alice with these hollow eyes sockets before turning away and vanishing.
Alice didn't know what to think and blurted out the first thing that would express her confusion. "What in the hell?"
"And you're sure you feel fine?" Dean called out while standing outside their motel bathroom.
"For the tenth time…I feel fine!" Alice shouted from inside. "Get out of the way. I'm stepping out."
Dean stepped to the side as Alice walked out of the bathroom, looking better than ever. The pale sickness on her face had disappeared, and she was back to wearing her usual clothes: dark, tight-fitting jeans, a stylish black leather jacket that stopped just above her hips, and dark gray heels that showed off her long legs.
Dean was absolutely enamored to see her like this again and couldn't stop himself from smiling. He never knew how much he loved seeing her in those kinds of clothes until she stopped wearing them. "Hey, look at this! Our girl's back in action." He hoped Alice would smile back at him, but her face remained cold and concerned. "What's wrong?"
Alice's expression softened a bit. "It's just…before I got off the phone with the doctor, he told me something pretty weird."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked, looking up from his laptop.
Alice groaned in frustration and threw her hands up. "Aside from my test results having no indication of ever having heart problems, he also said there was a guy yesterday who dropped dead from a heart attack. Twenty-four years old, athletic. It came out of nowhere," she explained.
Dean's face immediately turned puzzled, and he could see why Alice was concerned. He had to agree too. "That's odd."
"Maybe it's a coincidence. People's hearts give out all the time," Sam said.
Alice gave him a look. "They don't," she pushed.
"Look, Alice, do we really have to look this one in the mouth? Why can't we just be thankful that the guy saved your life and move on?"
Alice narrowed her eyes and tightened her jaw. She walked over to the table and sat across from Sam. Dean already knew by Alice's tense demeanor that something was bothering her, so he grabbed a nearby chair and sat next to her.
"There's something else…is there," Dean asked a second later.
Alice nodded silently while raking her fingers through her short hair. "Yeah. When Roy healed me…something felt off. Felt cold. I collapsed, and when I looked up…I saw something standing behind him. An old, wrinkled man in a black suit. Looked just like a spirit."
"What?" Dean said, blinking.
"Alice, if there was something there, I think we would've seen it, too. I mean, I've been seeing an awful lot of things lately," Sam said.
Alice tightened her jaw and could see why it sounded crazy, but she knew something was wrong. She knew it in her bones all the way to her very soul. "I know, I know, but…" she held her words back and looked at Dean. "What do you think?"
Dean sighed and sat back in the chair. "You sure you saw something?" he asked, and Alice nodded, but that was enough for him though. He knew Alice well enough to trust her instincts if something felt off. "Alright. We'll stick around to see what's up. Sam?"
Sam rolled his eyes but reluctantly agreed. "Yeah, alright. So, what do you wanna do?"
A smile briefly flashed across Alice's lips. She looked at Dean and gave him a slight, appreciated tug on his shirt to thank him. "We'll split up first. Sam, you go check out the heart attack guy. Dean and I will visit the reverend."
The inside of Roy's house was quaint and homey, with evidence that said they had been there for a long time. Alice and Dean were welcomed warmly in and sat down on a couch with Roy to their left and Sue Ann to the right.
"It's like it never even happened. I feel great," Alice began. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around it though."
Sue Ann smiled widely. "A miracle is what happened. Well, miracles come so often around Roy."
"When did they start? The miracles," Dean said to Roy.
"Woke up one morning, stone blind. Doctors figured out I had cancer. Told me I had maybe a month. So, uh, we prayed for a miracle. I was weak, but I told Sue Ann, 'You just keep right on praying.' I went into a coma. Doctors said I wouldn't wake up, but I did. And the cancer was gone." Roy reached up to his sunglasses and took them off, and behind them, they found that his eyes were completely white. "If it wasn't for these eyes, no one would believe I'd ever had it."
"And suddenly you could heal people?" Alice asked, and Roy nodded.
"I discovered it afterward, yes. God's blessed me in many ways," he said.
"And his flock just swelled overnight. And this is just the beginning," Sue Ann beamed.
"Is that so…" Alice frowned slightly and gave Sue Ann a strange look. There was an itch in the back of her mind, and for whatever reason, the way she said that struck her as odd. "You mind if I ask you one last question?"
"Go ahead," Roy allowed.
"There were at least fifty people in that tent that day, but you chose me. Why?" Alice said to him in a flat voice.
Dean dropped his head and felt his heart begin to sting by the bluntness of her cruel question. "Alice-" he began, but Alice held her hand up and silenced him.
"Well, as I said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest," Roy answered.
Alice cocked a suspicious brow. "Oh yeah? And what did you see?"
"A young woman who wanted help…but was too afraid to ask," Roy answered sincerely to her. "You have important things to do in life, correct? Don't spend it all in silence, dear."
Dean looked slightly surprised by Roy's answer, but not as much as it surprised Alice. She sat in complete silence with a tidal wave of emotions overwhelming her. She looked away from Roy and stared at her hands, clenching them tightly until her skin turned white.
"You alright?" Dean asked Alice the moment they got outside. "You looked pretty rattled back there."
Alice blinked and turned to look at him. "I did? Well, he just kinda surprised me," she said with a soft sigh. "I wasn't expecting him to suddenly drop that bomb on me."
They began to walk down the porch when they suddenly ran into Layla and her mother going up. They all stopped on the last couple of steps and turned to face each other.
"Alice. Dean. Hey," Layla greeted with a warm smile.
"Layla," Alice responded with a nod.
"How you feeling?"
Alice shrugged and gestured to herself, looking much healthier than the last time they met. "Great, actually. What are you doing here?"
"You know, my mom, she wanted to talk to the reverend," she said and gestured to her mother.
They began to head up the porch when the front door suddenly opened, and Sue Ann stepped outside. She looked down and saw Layla and her mother walking up to her.
"Layla?" Sue Ann said.
Layla smiled, but her voice was soft and exhausted. "Yes, I'm here again."
Sue Ann frowned and gave the girls an apologetic look. "Well, I'm sorry, but Roy is resting. He won't be seeing anyone else right now."
Mrs. Rourke turned pale and looked distraught to hear this. "Sue Ann, please. This is our sixth time, he's got to see us," she begged.
"Roy is well aware of Layla's situation. And he very much wants to help just as soon as the Lord allows. Have faith, Mrs. Rourke," Sue Ann said before turning around and heading back inside, leaving Mrs. Rourke to seethe silently.
The grieving mother then suddenly turned around and glared at Alice. "Why are you still even here? You got what you wanted," she hissed with deadly venom in every word.
"Excuse me?" Alice said with a puzzled look, not knowing how to react since her anger practically came out of nowhere.
"Mom. Stop," Layla whispered, but her mother did not have it.
"No, Layla, this is too much. We've been to every single service. If Roy would stop choosing these strangers over you. Strangers who don't even believe. I just can't pray any harder," Mrs. Rourke said with a heavy worry on her voice.
"Layla, what's wrong?" Dean asked.
Layla hesitated and avoided making eye contact with him and Alice. "I have this thing..."
"It's a brain tumor," her mother cut in sharply. "It's inoperable. In six months, the doctors say..." She didn't look ready to say those words, and Layla knew it. Layla reached for her mother's shoulders and just stood close beside her.
"Layla, I'm...I'm sorry." Alice croaked out but already knew her words were no comfort. She could see the pain in both their eyes. Layla looked like she had accepted it, but her mother still held onto hope.
"It's okay," Layla whispered.
"No. It isn't," her mother said bitterly before stepping in front of Alice, looking the woman dead in her icy blue eyes. "Why do you deserve to live more than my daughter?" she said with every bit of resentment she had built up since the day her daughter was diagnosed.
Alice swallowed hard. "I know...my words mean absolutely nothing, but still...I'm sorry," she said, but Mrs. Rourke just brushed past her and headed back towards the parking lot.
Alice felt like she couldn't breathe and had to lean against the post for support. Dean walked over to her and stood at her side. He rubbed his hand up and down her back and buried his head in her hair.
"Not gonna lie…that kinda stung," Alice said gruffly before looking at Layla, gesturing with her head. "Wanna walk with me for a second?" she suddenly offered.
Layla looked unsure, but Dean gave her the go-ahead. Seeing that Alice wanted privacy, he kissed her really quick on the side of the head before walking off to wait by the Impala. The two girls then linked arms and began to head down a side path so they could talk in peace, but made sure to keep the parking lot always in view.
"So as you know…I'm not much of a believer," Alice began, walking slowly so Layla could keep up.
"Even after the miracle you witnessed?"
Alice frowned and rocked her head side to side, sporting an unsure expression. "My beliefs are spotty at best. There's probably a higher power out there, but it can't be God. It just can't." She took a breath and looked over her shoulder at Dean. "I never wanted to come out here, but it's because of him that I did."
Layla looked back at him too. "Because of Dean? I can see he cares about you a lot."
"Yeah, I know he does," Alice said with a light smile. "But I didn't always have him. Before I even met him and Sam, I was by myself for quite a while. Just…spiraling out of control after I lost my brother, Aiden. He was older than me by five years, but he never acted his age. He was an...absolute goof," she recalled fondly with a brightening smile.
Layla giggled softly. "He sounded like a funny guy."
"Oh, he was. He always said dramatic shit like, 'It's us against the world, Ally'. But…weird how things turn out," she said as her words drifted, following with a dark, troubled look.
Layla flinched at Alice's sudden change in tone. "What do you mean?"
Alice held her words back and suddenly stopped walking. She unlinked her arm, and Layla looked back at her. "Our parents died…and it really did become us against the world," she said with a stunning lack of emotion in her voice, sounding more machine than human.
"Alice..." Layla said but didn't even know where to go with her words. She wanted to say something that would comfort her...but didn't know what.
Alice sucked in a sharp, hollow breath and blinked rapidly. She looked away and kept her eyes averted. "You wouldn't believe it, but I had prayed before. I prayed to God...and I remember each time I did it. The first time was right after my dad died. I told him, 'Please don't take away any more of my family'. And next thing I knew, my mom had cancer. After she died, I prayed to God yet again, saying, 'Please don't take anyone else away'. The third time I prayed...was after my grandmother died. Same thing. 'Please don't take Aiden away'. And after that…Aiden had..." Alice had to stop herself when her voice began to get shaky. Everything became blurred as tears welled up in her eyes, but what was even more stunning...was that she could see Layla crying too. "I didn't pray after Aiden died….because there was no one else left," Alice finished while wiping her tears away with the back of her sleeve. "Three times I prayed to God, but he didn't listen. So you can see now…why I'm this way."
This was utterly heartbreaking for Layla to hear, but it made sense why Alice didn't believe. She didn't know what this woman had been through, but the pain she heard in her voice was more than enough to guess. It looked like Alice had been spiraling downwards for years and was struggling to get back to the surface.
Layla blinked the tears away from her eyes. "But you came here, not because you believe...but because you care about those who are left. You care about Dean. You love him, don't you?"
Alice didn't answer her right away but did take her time. The look in her eyes was like she had finally resolved something that had been haunting her forever. "More than he probably knows."
"Then hold onto that." Layla reached out and grabbed Alice's hands. She held onto them so tightly that even she began to shake. "It's not over, Alice. You'll feel awful for a while…but it's not forever. It'll take time."
Alice chewed the inside of her cheek and had to take a moment to let Layla's words sink in. She rubbed her sleeves against her puffy red eyes when she heard the sound of gravel crunching behind her.
"Alice, everything alright?" Dean asked while approaching them. Alice looked back at him, and he could clearly see that she had been crying. Immediately becoming worried, he leaned in close and held the side of her face. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Alice shook her head and quickly composed herself. "It's nothing. I'm fine," she said and patted his cheek. "Sorry about that, Layla. I wasn't expecting to dump all that on you...but I guess I just really needed to talk about it."
Layla nodded and smiled. "It's alright. I'm glad I could help."
"Yeah. Anyway, thanks for listening." Alice said and waved her off.
Layla hung back and watched as Alice and Dean walked off back to the Impala. She smiled when she saw Dean wrapped his arms around Alice's waist and drew her near, to which she responded by reaching up to his shoulder and holding on tight.
After leaving Roy and Sue Ann's house, they drove back to the motel and headed inside soon after arriving. They saw that Sam was already back and at his usual spot. He was sitting at the table with his laptop open in front of him, but something seemed off about him though. There was a steady, heavy amount of stress in the air, and Alice could see it coming from the gloom and guilt on Sam's face.
"Sam? Hey, did you find anything?" she asked hesitantly.
Sam kept his eyes down and spoke in a quiet, somber voice. "I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Alice cocked a brow and peeled her jacket off. She tossed it onto the bed and sat across from Sam. "Sorry about what?"
"Marshall Hall died at 4:17."
Dean paused for a moment and looked at Alice. "The was the exact time-"
"I was healed…yeah." Alice nodded sharply and dropped her head. She pulled her hands into her lap and sighed.
Sam continued to tell them what he dug up. Despite his reluctance, he could see that Alice was already putting the pieces together and sinking deeper and deeper into dread. "Yeah. So, I put together a list of everyone Roy's healed, six people over the past year, and I cross-checked them with the local obits. Every time someone was healed, someone else died. And each time, the victim died of the same symptom LeGrange was healing at the time."
"Someone's healed of cancer; someone else dies of cancer?" Dean asked.
Sam nodded. "Somehow. LeGrange...he's trading a life for another."
Alice bit down on her lips and dropped her head. She wasn't looking at them, but the boys could tell that she was feeling conflicted. Alice was obviously upset and mad about what had happened. She wanted to believe that it was a good thing, but the nagging feeling in the back of her mind, her hunter instincts, had stopped her from falling for it.
"We should've never brought you here," Dean said through gritted teeth. He took his jacket off and aggressively threw It across the room. He sat down on the bed and watched Alice nervously, unsure of what she would say to them. "I'm sorry."
Alice sat on this new information for at least a solid minute before lifting her head and finally looking at them. "Boys," she said while sucking in a deep breath through her teeth. "How was any of us supposed to know. You just wanted to help me. I won't fault you for that. If you wanna make it up to me though…then we'll have to make sure he doesn't do it ever again."
Sam immediately released a breath he was holding back and felt his tense body begin to relax. This was what he was dreading the whole day, having to tell Alice the bad news and hear what she had to say. He honestly thought she would rage at them, yell, curse, and probably even leave. Yet, they didn't get any of that. Alice was calm, composed, and ready to get back to work.
"Sam?" Alice spoke up, waiting for him to continue.
Sam jumped back into action and looked at his laptop. "Right. The thing I don't understand is how Roy's doing it? How's he trading a life for a life?"
"That's because I don't think he's the one doing it." Alice stood up and walked behind Sam, patting his shoulders. "Something else is doing it for him."
"What do you mean?"
"The old man I saw on stage. I had a hunch…but now I'm pretty sure."
"About what?" Dean asked.
Alice turned to him and pointed to her bag sitting behind him. "Get out my journal and open it to page 121."
Confused, Dean got up and walked over to her bag. He pulled out the thick purple hunter's journal and slapped it down on the table in front of them. He opened it up and began to flip through the pages. Sam watched curiously as Dean stopped on a page filled with old text.
"J.C.?" Dean read the initials at the bottom of the page. "Jefferson?"
"Jackson. My dad," Alice corrected. "Keep reading." She moved her hand over and tapped the first sentence.
Dean and Sam leaned in close to the page and read the first sentence, but the word that immediately jumped out to them caused the boys to sit back with a stunned look on their faces.
"You gotta be kidding me," Dean said with an eye roll.
"Makes sense. Dealing with life and death," Sam followed up but still could hardly believe it himself.
Alice walked back around to her chair and sat down. She pulled the journal over and read the page. "This is gonna be a first time for all of us. 'Cause boys…We're dealing with a reaper," she said with a widening smile.
"You really think it's THE Grim Reaper? Like, angel of death, collect your soul, the whole deal?" Sam asked, not knowing whether to be excited or not.
"A reaper, Sam. Not THE reaper. Reaper lore is all over the world. Embedded in every culture. It goes by many names, but I'm sure there's more than one of them," Alice said while setting the journal back on the table.
"I thought you said you saw a dude in a suit."
"I did. It was a sharply dressed reaper in a suit," she said sarcastically. "You really think he'd be working the whole black robe thing?"
Dean pulled the journal close to see what more he could learn. "Yeah. And you said the clock stopped right? Apparently, reapers stop time," he said while tapping his finger on the page. "And you can only see 'em when they're coming at you, which is why Alice could see it and not us."
"Maybe," Sam agreed.
"The question is, how is Roy controlling the damn thing?"
Sam paused for a moment and began to recall something he saw back at the tent. Something that was sitting on the table behind Roy. "That cross."
Alice's eyes lit up when she suddenly remembered it too. She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "That's right. I saw a cross inside the tent, too. I was wondering why it looked familiar."
"Yeah. Same here. I knew I seen it before." Sam pulled out some tarot cards he had on the table and began to flip through them. He pulled a card from the deck and handed it to Dean. "Here."
"A tarot?" Dean questioned dryly.
"It makes sense. A tarot dates back to the early Christian era right, when some priests were still using magic? And a few of them veered into the dark stuff? Necromancy and how to push death away, how to cause it?"
"So Roy's using black magic to bind the reaper?" Dean speculated.
"If he is, he's riding the whirlwind. It's like…"
"Putting a dog leash on a freaking great white," Alice finished before hunching over and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Fantastic. A bunch of crazy…" she muttered before lifting her head back up. "There is…someone else I want us to look out for, too."
Sam looked perplexed. "Who?"
"It's just speculation, but…we might wanna take Sue Ann into consideration as well.
Dean pondered curiously on her statement. "Sue Ann? Why?"
Alice shrugged. "It's just….her demeanor kinda struck me as weird when we met up with them, and it kinda makes sense if you think about it. Roy said he suddenly became blind out of the blue, right? So he'll look to his wife for help. For support. They could be working together. If anything…we gotta keep both eyes on them. Just to be sure."
Dean thought about it briefly and had to agree. When he met Sue Ann, he didn't at all get sinister feelings from her. He's surprised Alice noticed though. "Man…you sure are perceptive."
"Thank you," Alice said with a proud smirk. "But I got an idea or two on how to stop them."
"Do we have to kill him?"
Sam's eyes went wide in an instant. "What? Wait, what the hell are you talking about? We can't kill Roy," he exclaimed.
"Sam, the guys playing God, he's deciding who lives and who dies. That's a monster in my book."
"No. We're not going to kill a human being." Sam quickly turned to Alice and was desperate for her support. "Alice, do you agree with this?"
Alice frowned and breathed in deeply through her teeth. "Sam…I'm the last person you should ask. If Roy's the reason that bodies are dropping…"
Sam looked at her and was bewildered to learn that she would even consider it. "No. We're not doing it that way. There has to be another way."
"There is. Don't worry," Alice chimed in quickly when she saw Sam growing increasingly distressed. "If Roy or Sue Ann are using black magic to control the reaper, then we gotta break it. It's either gonna be an altar or object. We just gotta find it first."
Dean looked a bit reluctant to follow that plan but didn't want to argue with Alice and his brother. He resided to what they wanted to do and bowed his head. "Alright. If that's what you guys want…then let's get to work."