Coimetrophobia

- Floor 1, part 1 -

oo0oo

Sam was not exactly pleased with what Dean was proposing. He knew that his brother was not very good at waiting, but this was ridiculous.

"I just think we should do a little research, that's all," he tried to tell Dean. "On what?" Dean asked without looking away from the trunk of the Impala. Currently, Kole was distracting the kids by getting more information from them about the too-scary haunted house, Sam was keeping watch, and Dean was digging through his arsenal for supplies. The kids had told them that there was no usable parking lot near the building, having been abandoned to the elements long ago. In other words, they were going to walk. "Dean!" Sam was slightly exasperated. "Don't you feel like we're going in blind?" "Sam, it's a haunted house attraction. Besides, don't tell me you haven't heard every story there is about this urban legend. I'm sure these three guys have just converted some cheap, old property into what they claim is the infamous house to make a profit. It's a hoax." "And the two missing kids?" "Well," Dean said as he closed the trunk and smiled at Sam, "that's where we come in."

Sam looked over to where Kole was standing in the middle of the eight nervous kids. They looked as if they were all talking at once.

"How can she possibly hear, let alone understand, what they're all saying?" Dean asked as he followed Sam's gaze.

"She was a college professor. Maybe it's a course you take for a teaching degree."

Kole finished writing something on a take-out menu, waved goodbye to the kids, and walked back to Dean and Sam.

"Well," Kole said as they started walking in the direction of the haunted house, "I didn't find out much more from them. The building has five floors. You have to cross each floor to get to the next one, like a vertical zigzag, because the stairways only go up one floor each. So, you either go up or out. There's an outside doorway at each stairwell, but once you're out, the door locks and you can't re-enter."

"Oh, this can't be it," Sam said after they walked for about fifteen minutes in the direction the kids had told them. "Can it? I mean, when those two guys came back to look for their friends, they were there and back..."

"Maybe they ran," Dean said absently.

The haunted house wasn't so much a house as a large old building that looked to be condemned from the outside. If there were only five stories, they must have each been at least twice the height of normal floors, as if a group of warehouses had been stacked on top of one another. "Did the kids say what this building used to be used for?" Dean asked Kole. "No," she said with a shake of her head. "It had been vacant for as long as any of them could remember. It was most likely abandoned long before any of them were born by the looks of it." "Are we sure this is it?" Sam asked. "I mean, there are no signs or anything…" But his words drifted off as two men, twins, walked around to the front of the building and watched them approach. They were tall, about Sam's height, and bulky. They had light grey-blue eyes and long, stringy orange-red hair that made Sam's shaggy mop look clean cut. They were both wearing jeans, T-shirts, and flannels, all in various states of disarray. "Hey, fellas," Dean said, attempting to start a conversation, but neither twin paid him the slightest amount of attention. Their eyes were fixed firmly on Kole, leering at her, making both Winchesters slightly uneasy.

"Roth! Trey!" came a loud, fierce voice, the owner still on the opposite side of the building.

"Yeah!" one of the twins yelled back, still not taking his eyes from Kole. When his head turned slightly to the side, Sam took note of a C-shaped scar around his eye – the only physical difference he noticed in the twins.

"What are you two…" the disembodied voice started, but cut off as another man rounded the building and saw that they had company. This man was a little bit taller than the twins and had inky black hair, but his face was nearly identical to the men he now stood between.

"Can I help you kids?" the man asked with a quick look at Dean and Sam, and then joined his brothers' appraising stare at the lone female.

"Yeah," Dean said, "we heard about your haunted house…"

"We're closed for the night," the dark haired man interrupted without looking at Dean.

Sam had had about enough. He was about to put his arm around his cousin in the hope that these creeps might take the hint that she was not available to them when Dean spoke again.

"Aw, come on guys. Our sister has never been in a haunted house before."

"Come on, Lee," the twin with the scar said. "I'm sure we can make an… exception," he said the last word while returning his lecherous gaze at Kole. But Lee was still hesitant.

"It's probably just as well," Kole shrugged and looked at Dean with big, innocent eyes, "I scare more easily than you guys. I wouldn't want to spoil your fun by making you leave the haunted house just for me. And I would hate to have to sit out here all alone while waiting for you." She gave a shiver for emphasis.

Now, both redheads were looking at their dark-haired brother. Kole looked away from Dean and, having easily determined who was in charge, looked toward Lee with her head tilted at an angle and a bashful grin. Not being one to bat her eyes, she gave Lee a slow motion blink to seal the deal.

"Fifty bucks. Each," was all the man said. Dean stepped forward to pay for the three of them.

"This way folks," the scarless twin said with a wicked smile and a nod for the group to follow him. He led the way to the front door and his double brought up the rear.

Dean and Sam started to enter the building, but hesitated when they saw the scarred twin reach out and grab Kole's arm. He looked down at her, easily a foot taller, and sneered.

"If you get too scared, you know where to find me." The scarless twin looked at his brother with a scowl and grunted. "Us," the man conceded. "You know where to find us."

"I certainly do," Kole said, forcing herself to smile. "Thanks." She tried walking away but the man didn't let go of her arm, apparently not getting the hint.

"Come on, sis," Sam said, putting his arm around Kole's shoulders and steering her away from the twins and into the haunted house behind Dean.

"Thanks," Kole whispered, although they were out of earshot as the heavy iron door closed them into an entryway to the house.

"Yeah," Sam said absently, then walked toward Dean and punched him in the arm. "Sister? Our sister? What was that about?"

"Sister implies that they have a chance with her," Dean told him, rubbing his arm, "but it also gives us a great reason to be over-protective brothers if necessary." He grinned at his own logic and quick thinking.

"And you're OK with that?" Sam asked, turning to his cousin. "Wait. Don't answer that." He rolled his eyes and shook his head at the lopsided grin on her face. Of course she's OK with it, he thought with exasperation.

"Nice, by the way," Dean said to Kole. "The shiver was a nice touch. And the, 'I don't want to sit out here alone…' Priceless." He chuckled, but having a smooth-talking female on the team certainly had its advantages.

"It got us in, didn't it," she said with an innocent shrug that didn't have either of her cousins fooled.

Yeah, Sam thought with worry, she's only been riding with us for a couple months and she's already got the act down pat.

"OK kids," Dean said, taking a step back. "Chose your weapons." He opened his jacket like he was going to try and sell them Rolex knock-offs from the lining of his coat, but Dean's wares were of a different variety.

"Wow," Kole said, impressed. "How did you fit all that in your jacket? And how did you keep from making any noise?"

"I'm just that good," Dean said with a grin and began handing out weapons, holy water, and flashlights. "Well, let's get this show on the road."

They each took a deep breath and readied themselves as Dean opened the inner door to the haunted house.

"Wow," Kole said again, this time with absolute awe. "You know, you were actually right. I've never been in a haunted house before. Well, not one that's set up to be a haunted house anyway. Is this… typical?"

"Nuh-uh," was all Sam could manage.

The three of them walked in slowly, not so much out of fear, but wonder. The room was immense and looked even more so, as the walls and ceiling were painted blue-black to resemble the night sky. It was lit to give the impression of a full moon. The ground was dirt, earth, with an unevenness that felt too real. There was even a slight breeze flitting through the air by unseen, unheard fans. They had walked into a graveyard.

Dean let the door close once they were all through. It slid slowly and silently, only to give a loud thud when it finally shut. Sam jumped and turned around to face his brother, who gave him a quick 'sorry' shrug.

"This is just… amazing," Kole said, as she wandered through the headstones, completely in admiration. "I can't believe…" stopping mid-sentence, mid-step. "What the…" she whispered, looking down at an inscription, then gasped and fell to her knees in shock.

"Kole?" Dean jogged to where she was kneeling. "Kole, what's wrong?" When she didn't answer, didn't even tear her eyes away from the stone, he read the inscription.

Thomas Daniel Miller

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

August 4, 1978 – September 30, 1996

"Kole…" Dean began as he knelt down next to her. She finally looked at him with large, glassy eyes, though she wouldn't let any tears actually fall – a quality that Dean was grateful for.

"I don't… how… Tommy… why…" she stuttered while looking back and forth between Dean and the headstone. He was about to reach out, put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her and prompt her to talk, when Sam's voice caught his attention.

"Dean!" Sam was not far from Dean and Kole, only a few rows of faux-graves away. But, as Dean stood up, he could already see that his brother was looking at a headstone that was affecting him in much the same way as Kole.

"Sam? You OK?" he asked slowly, not liking the pattern that was forming in front of him.

"Dean," Sam said, looking at his brother with bewilderment, "how did they do it?"

Without asking him to elaborate, Dean looked down at the headstone that had taken Sam's attention. There were three candles sitting on top of it and various curios in front, including an old teddy bear. Dean didn't need to look at the picture in the circled, inlaid frame on the stone to know what was upsetting his brother. And, he didn't need to read the inscription to know what it said:

Jessica Lee Moore

August 24, 1982 – November 11, 2005

Coimetrophobia: the fear of cemeteries