The story takes place right after the season 10 finale, after Dean killed Death, the Mark of Cain was removed and Darkness was released into the world. I mentioned before, new characters will be added and thrown in the story and I will bring back several former characters from the show in the upcoming future.
Chapter 16 Exploring
The next morning Sam and Dean got up early and after knocking on the doors of their fellow travelers and they all headed downstairs for breakfast. Dean didn't mention to Sam about his nightmare nor about getting up very late last night. Neither did Dean and Ava mention their little meeting outside last night, they just glared at each other and acted like nothing happened. Soon they were all in the dining room and sat at the table.
"Gee, I'm starved, I hope they have something good here" said Dean who couldn't wait to have a nice home-cooked meal.
"Well let's check out the menu" said Sam.
They all looked at the menu and Dean decided to have pancakes and sausages and Sam decided to have the usual scrambled eggs, sausages and grits while the others ordered the meals they desired and all had orange juice. After finishing a good meal, they headed out hoping to explore more of their little surroundings. They walked around for while and saw all the homes, stores and other businesses, even a movie theater.
"I wonder what's playing, I don't think they are having anything like Pulp Fiction or The Terminator" Dean replied sarcastically and curiously.
They continued their walk around the town and soon they found what looked like a typical small town courthouse and heard some voices inside. Allowing their curiosity to emerge, they all decided to go inside and check it out. Inside was a room with a long table where three people sat consisting of two men and a woman and in front of them stood a man and woman they appeared to be holding a meeting similar to a court but without a crowd of people.
"What the heck is this?" wondered Dean.
"I don't know Dean, I but it almost look like their holding court but and those three folks are the judges" answered Sam.
"This is all becoming stranger by the minute" said Ava and they all agreed.
They all continued to stand by the door in silence watching the whole event wondering what is was all about.
"We are all gathered here for this meeting regarding recent disturbing events that violates the biblical scripture,the standards of our district and the ways of God" said a man who was one of the three people at the table.
"You right Sammy, this does seem like some kind bible-thumping version of a court" whispered Dean as Sam just shushed him to be quiet.
"It has caught our attention that you David Sherwood, are guilty violating the biblical guidelines by committing repeated adultery on your wife Lisa Sherwood, the mother of your two children, not only breaking your marital vows and the covenant of the marriage itself but also bringing dishonor to your wife and the this district and community and our Lord" the man continued.
"From what was reported, you committed adultery with frequent trips outside the district with a certain woman" said the woman at the table.
"That's true ma'am, I'm afraid and I'm quite ashamed of my actions" said David with his head bowed down.
"He ought to be ashamed, I devoted ten years of my life to this man raising our kids, cleaning our home, fixing his meals, I do everything for our family and he repays me by cheating simply because I wasn't exciting enough!" yelled Lisa giving her husband a dirty look.
"That will do, Mrs. Sherwood, your anger is understandable, but this outburst won't help the matter" said one of the men.
"Well, it's true, he's cheated on me over and over again with some harlot from another district and told me it was because he was bored with me, huh, well I'm done with him, I want a divorce, and even the bible says I'm justified!" she yelled in anger.
"That is true Mrs. Sherwood, however as you know the bible also encourages forgiveness and we also believe with forgiveness there is hope for reconciliation. So, we urge not to act to hasty and encourage you two to try to find your way back towards each other with forgiveness and repentance as is pleasing to the Lord" said the woman.
"Just remember, the bible says God hates divorce as He attended for the husband and wife to joined together and not be put asunder" one of the men finished.
"I will do whatever it takes to win back my wife's forgiveness as well as this community and God and repent for my sins" said David with look of shame and guilt.
"You don't have to earn our forgiveness as we have forgiving you and you certainly don't need to earn God's forgiveness. All you have to do is receive him and your sins will be forgiving since you would've have repented and God blesses all who receive him" said the woman.
David turned to his wife who wouldn't look at him.
"However, you did betray your wife's trust and you will have to work on regaining it again and your wife will have to work on trying to forgive rather than hold a grudge" the woman continued.
"We will require the two of you to spend no more than a year in counseling by our town's therapist, attending church together and after a year, then your wife can decide to either reconcile or end this marriage with no interference from us or the community. For now, since you betrayed the marital vows, we require you be the one, Mr. Sherwood to temporary leave the home residence, unless by chance Mrs. Sherwood agrees with you to remain there" one of the men replied.
"I certainly do not, I can't be under the same roof with him after what he's done" replied Lisa.
"Very well, then you can stay with trusted a friend who can be your guide, in which he can ensure you don't stumble back into your sinful ways by being a supporter" the man continued.
"We also request that you admit your sins at our next church service and even use your sins a source of caution for others who may find themselves falling to the same sinful direction, but that is your choice and we won't force that on you" said the woman.
"Thank you ma'am, but I would like to keep this private for now" said David.
"Very well" the woman replied.
"Also, although this may seem unfair, we will put a curfew on you, where you can't leave the district alone after 9pm until your marriage is either reconciled or the two of you do divorce. In that way we can ensure you won't be led astray to sin anymore" said the second man.
"Okay, I'll accept anything right now, I just want to let Lisa know how much I'm sorry" said David.
Lisa looked almost touched but she still looked angry and couldn't even face him.
After the meeting was over, in which both David and Lisa left separately, the gang left the courthouse with utter disbelief reminded how much again how much different this place really is from where they come from.
"Just when I thought I couldn't be more shocked at this town of Jesus freaks, I see that" said Dean who still couldn't believe what he just witnessed.
The others didn't know what to say at what they heard as they were still trying to process it all.
"I mean come on, a court case for a man who cheated on his wife, really? Like husbands cheat on their wives all the time, not saying it's right but hardly a crime" Dean continued.
"Well, you know Dean, apparently adultery is forbidden in this place, in fact, they seem to be living by the rules of the bible and God's laws, rather than regular laws" said Sam.
"This whole thing is nuts, and I can't wait to we get back to our own world and out of this place of bible thumpers" Dean cried out.
"This place isn't so bad, besides maybe in our world, if we could take a husband to court for cheating on his wife, maybe less adultery would go on" said Ava.
"Oh really?" replied Dean looking at her.
"Really" she said giving him a sly look.
"Well, I got news for you darling, men aren't the only ones who cheat. Women do commit adultery too" Dean pointed out.
"Hey, I have no problem putting a woman on trial for cheating, but the fact remains it's more likely you guys that can't stay faithful, you're just dogs" said Ava teasingly.
"You know that is a bit sexist" replied Dean half joking.
"No it's true" said Ava.
"Okay, let's end this battle of sexes. We just have to accept that this place has different ways of doing things and we need to get used to it rather than complaining" said Madame Bess trying to be the voice of reason. "I've had enough exploring for today so I'm going back the Bed&Breakfast. I'm sure by now Hazel and her friends up in about" she finished.
"Who grandmom?" asked Gwen.
"These ladies I met at the place, they like to hang out the lounge and play game of scrabble or just talk and even invited me to join them. I will head there right now so I'll see you all later" said Madame Bess and they said goodbye to her as she left.
They continued their tour of their surroundings and soon they found themselves running into Rev. Humler who approached them.
"Why hello again, I see you all up and about, how is it going?" he asked.
"Fine Rev, we just decided to explore this place a little" was all Dean could say.
"How do you like it saw far?" asked the reverend.
"It's okay, but we were wondering if there a lot of places to go to have fun besides the pub?" Dean asked him.
"Of course, there is the bowling alley further down here" he said pointing down the street. "There is also a lake, where you can go fishing, many people do so on the weekends. If your don't have any fishing gear, you can buy some at the store. Tomorrow some of the church members will head to the park for a game of flag football, the men against the women. The pub has karaoke night on Wednesdays and sometimes it has live entertainment. You can also volunteer to help out in decorating for our Annual Spring Dance which is coming up a few weeks" he continued.
"Okay, that's sounds all good, we be sure to check it all out" replied Sam.
"By the way, our meeting is this afternoon at 2:00, you're all free to attend" he said.
"Uh, we'll pass out that right now, but as my brother said we'll check the other stuff" said Dean not wanting to go to no church especially in this place.
"You know as long as you are staying here, I hope you will try to mingle in, I would like to see you all at church service this Sunday" said Rev. Humler.
"We'll consider it" said Dean.
"I guess that will do for now, but if you want ever consider residing here and give yourself over to the Lord, I will be more than willing to help you. But for now I've got to go, continue to enjoy your stay here in our community" he said.
The reverend said his goodbyes and walked off.
After he was out of sight, Dean looked quite relieved and said,"Boy, if we don't get back to our world soon, Jim Jones there will have us all converted if he had his way" he said.
"Come on Dean, the reverend isn't that bad" said Sam.
"I agree with Sam, he seems like a nice guy, and this place is quite pleasant, I could totally feel safe here, that if I was practicing believer" said Gwen.
"Wow, can't believe you are all buying into this, after thing at the courthouse, I'm still waiting for the brainwashing" said Dean.
"Why do you have to be so negative Dean?" asked Sam.
"Because, this whole place seems weird and I don't trust any place that would ban getting laid unless you're hitched, or practically holds a trial if you stray on your wife" said Dean annoyed that he is the only one to seems to think this way.
"You know, I'm starting to agree with Dean on this. This all does seem little to weird with rigid rules of what you can or cannot do and hold court if you break them. I mean I wonder what they do to folks who keep breaking their rules, take them to court, have a shunning or banish them from this district all together'" said Ava.
"Well, someone here is seeing the light, besides I wouldn't be surprised if they do banish folks who don't stick to their rules" said Dean.
"You know, we can't keep fretting about all of this. We don't know when Hannah will bring us back to our world, so the best thing we can do is just try to mingle in and adjust and stop worrying or we'll make ourselves crazy" said Sam trying to reassure Dean starting to get a little annoyed by his fretting.
"I think Sam is right, I for one am going to stop worrying about how long we're going to be in this place and see the positive of this place rather than just the negative" said Gwen.
Sam looked at her and for a second their eyes met again and they just smiled.
"Very well you two, I guess we don't have any choice, so I'll try to stop complaining" said Dean.
"Same here" replied Ava.
"I'm sure if grandmom was here, she would agree" added Gwen.
"Okay, from now on, no more complaining or feeling sorry for ourselves, we'll just make the best of it" said Sam and they all agreed Dean still reluctantly and soon they all continued their walk in their new surroundings.