When we arrived back at the Carlton house it was eerily silent. Glancing around as Sam, Dean, and I climbed out of the Impala, I couldn't tell what the difference was. Everything looked the same and I guess it made sense for it to be quiet out here. Surrounded by trees.
"Mr. Carlton?" Sam called and my head whipped towards the lake as the sound of an engine roaring to life sounded. I hurried around the side of the house and felt shock flood me as I spotted Bill Carlton in his boat on the lake. Was he insane?
"Mr. Carlton! You need to come back! Come out of the water! Turn the boat around!" Dean yelled as we ran towards the dock.
"Mr. Carlton!" Sam called, but despite their yelling Bill just glanced back at before continuing forward.
"Mr. Carlton, get back here!" I yelled, but again he didn't listen and as we continued to stare after him, the water rose up and flipped his boat over violently and the boat and Mr. Carlton vanished leaving nothing but a once again calm lake.
Swallowing I turned away from the lake and ran my hands through my hair. This was my fault. All because of me and my stupid temper. Why had I said what I had earlier? I didn't think he would actually...
Taking a deep breath, I turned back around to see that Sam had his phone out and was wandering away back up to the Impala. I needed to tell them. Mr. Calrton's death was on me and they deserved to know, right? But what would they think? How would they feel about their sister more or less being a murderer? The answers weren't good. Tney would kick me to the side of the road without a second thought, or worse they would leave me for Kieran. They would realize that they were stupid for letting me stay with them in the first place and for being kind to me. If I told them, all of that would be down the drain. And if I didn't then I was just digging myself into a deeper hole.
"Come on." Dean's voice broke me from my thoughts and I looked to him as he grabbed my arm and gently steered me towards the Impala. When we got to the car, he turned so he was facing me directly. "Hey, it's okay. We're gonna get this thing."
I nodded. "I know. I'm fine."
"You're crying." He said slowly and I quickly reached up to swipe my hand over my eyes and it was true. I was crying.
"Oh." I murmured, wiping my eyes again and turning away slightly, flinching inwardly. "Sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" He demanded and when I turned to look at him he was frowning. "You're human. You're going to have emotions sometimes and that's okay. Just don't go being all wimpy on me."
I stared at him for a moment in shock. "You're serious? You aren't...mad?"
"No, I'm not mad." Dean said as Sam came over, followed by the Sheriff.
As Sam and Dean started explaining what happened, I climbed into the Impala and buckled up, staring out the window as I waited. Dean really didn't have a problem with me showing my emotions. I used to get yelled at and usually punished for such displays of weakness. Or that's what Ryan called it.
Things were getting more confusing as I got to know my brothers.
When we walked in the door of the police station the first person we saw was Andrea as she addressed us. "Sam, Dean. I didn't expect to see you here."
"So, now you're on a first-name basis?" The Sheriff asked, walking over to his daughter. "What are you doing here?"
"I brought you dinner." She said in way of an explanation.
Random, I thought as I looked to Lucas. She couldn't wait for him to be off duty? Though I did have to wonder what she brought him.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I don't really have the time." The Sheriff said softly as he shrugged out of his jacket.
Andrea was quiet for a moment, shooting a glance towards Sam, Dean, and I before speaking. "I heard about Bill Carlton." The Sheriff looked to her quickly and she continued speaking. "Is it true? Is something going on with the lake?"
She was probably thinking about her husband right now. It was only natural. Unfortunately, we didn't have too many answers that she would accept at the moment.
The Sheriff glanced back to us before turning back to Andrea. "Right now we don't know what the truth is. But I think it might be better if you and Lucas went on home."
I turned back to look at Lucas who had turned to us. He was rocking back and forth and he looked..afraid. He whimpered and hopped up, grabbing onto Dean's arm and trying to pull him over.
"Lucas, hey, what is it?" Dean was staring at Lucas with worried eyes as he bent down towards him.
Andrea quickly bent down next to Lucas as well. "Lucas."
"Lucas, it's okay. It's okay." Dean tried to reassure as he pulled his arm out of Lucas's grasp and rested his hand comfortingly on Lucas's head. "Hey, Lucas, it's okay. It's okay."
Andrea pulled Lucas away and lead him outside. Lucas still looked frightened and he didn't look away from Dean. Something was definitely going on with Lucas and I was definitely sure it had to do with the lake and his dad's death. We needed to figure it out and we needed to figure it out fast.
The Sheriff angrily threw down his jacket and went into his office, followed by me and my brothers. "Okay, just so I'm clear, you see...something attack Bill's boat, sending Bill—who is a very good swimmer, by the way—into the drink, and you never see him again?"
He seemed very skeptical, which I would too if I were him. After all it wasn't everyday that you were told about things like this. Dean glanced over to me and Sam before looking back to the Sheriff and speaking in a serious but calm voice. "Yeah, that about sums it up."
"And I'm supposed to believe this, even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake? And what you're describing is impossible? And you're not really Wildlife Service?" The Sheriff demanded. Couldn't blame him on that last one. I was surprised he believed it when we first told him, I mean I was obviously a teenager. Despite all this though Dean looked surprised. The Sheriff nodded. "That's right, I checked. Department's never heard of you three."
Dean pointed to Sam. "See?" He turned back to the Sheriff. "Now we can explain that."
"Enough. Please." The Sheriff quickly cut him off. "The only reason you're breathing free air is one of Bill's neighbors saw him steering out that boat just before you did. So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance. Or, we can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your car, you put this town in your rearview mirror, and you don't ever darken my doorstep again."
By the time the Sheriff was done with his little speech, I had pressed myself as far back into my seat as I could. He was pissed.
Sam stared at the Sheriff in silence for a few moments, probably judging how serious he was, before speaking slowly. "Door number two sounds good."
Dean nodded his head to the side in agreement as the Sheriff spoke again. "That's the one I'd pick."
Soon I found us sitting in the Impala waiting for the traffic light by a sign that said I-43 North to Milwaukee. Great, now what were we going to do? We had been kicked out of town, I still hadn't told Sam and Dean about what I'd indirectly done, and there was still something in that lake that was going to go after Andrea and Lucas. What I didn't understand was why we were doing exactly what the Sheriff had told us to do while there was still something killing people.
Glancing up to the front I saw that the light was green, but we weren't moving.
"Green." Sam said, turning to Dean.
"What?" Dean asked, his tone confused as he continued to stare straight ahead.
"Light's green." Sam elaborated, his tone making it obvious he thought Dean lacked observation skills. I shifted in my seat and looked out the back window as Dean turned right. "Uh, the interstate's the other way." Sam told Dean.
"I know." Dean's tone was full of silent anger and worry.
"Then why did you turn right?" Sam asked as I turned back around in my seat. I was curious about that myself.
"Because we're not leaving." Dean answered, still looking straight ahead.
The car was silent for a moment. So this told me something new about Dean. He always did what was right. Which meant it would definitely be complicated when I explained why Bill had done what he'd done, but I would have to tell them. After we finished this job.
"But Dean, this job, I think it's over." Sam said, looking over to Dean.
"I'm not so sure." Dean said, his tone slightly irritated as he tilted his head to the side.
"If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed. The spirit should be at rest." Sam theorized, nodding slightly. I leaned forward between the seats as I started to run through everything we knew about what was going on. It was in the lake, which meant it was in the water system, it went after the Carlton's because Bill Carlton killed Peter, or that was our best working theory, but Dean was right. We weren't completely concrete on that theory and we had no evidence apart from the fact that it wiped out the entire Carlton family. But then why was Lucas so freaked out?
"Alright, so what if we take off and this thing isn't done?" He looked over to Sam. "You know, what if we've missed something? What if more people get hurt?"
"But why would you think that?" Sam wondered and I turned to him.
Dean shrugged and sighed. "Because Lucas was really scared."
"That's what this is about?" Sam asks, empathetically bemused.
"I just don't want to leave this town until I know the kid's okay." Dean said, his tone vulnerable and even though I didn't know him that well yet, I did know that vulnerable was rare for Dean.
"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Sam asked with an exhausted, awestruck tone to his voice. A small smile spread across my face at Sam's words.
Dean glanced over to Sam before looking back to the road. "Shut up."
His irritated tone made me smile wider as I sat back down in my seat.
Soon we had arrived at the Barr house and the fun atmosphere had somewhat faded. I tucked my hands into my pockets as we approached the door.
"Are you sure about this?" Sam asked, glancing around. "It's pretty late, man."
Dean just rolled his eyes at Sam before going to ring the doorbell. Before he could however, the door swung open revealing a frightened Lucas.
"Lucas?" Dean asked, leaning down and grabbing him by the shoulders. Lucas turned and ran off into the house. "Lucas!"
I quickly ran after him with Dean and Sam following. Once I reached the hallway I saw that water was pouring out from under the bathroom door and down the stairs. Lucas started pounding on the bathroom door and Dean quickly lifted him out of the way and over to Sam before kicking the door in. I headed in and reached into the tub trying to pull Andrea out, but there was a lot of resistance. Sam came over and started to help me and we managed to pull her head above the water so she could breathe but she was quickly pulled back under. Bracing my foot on the bathtub I pulled with all the strength I had and soon Sam and I had Andrea completely out of the water and we were all falling back onto the bathroom floor.
I let my arms drop to my sides as Andrea coughed and gasped for air and once I had my heart slowed down, I picked myself up off of the bathroom floor and turned to see that Dean was holding a very worried looking Lucas back. Another thing I noticed was I was completely soaked from head to toe.
Once we were sure Andrea wasn't going to drown Sam, Lucas, and Dean left the bathroom and I stayed to help Andrea get dried off and into her clothes. "So, do you believe us now?"
She turned away from me and headed out of the bathroom. I sighed and followed her.
The sun was now rising above the trees as Andrea headed into the living room and sat down on the couch next to Sam.
"Can you tell me what happened, Andrea?" Sam asked as I leaned against the wall.
"No." Andrea said, her voice weak as she shook her head before looking at Sam. "It doesn't make any sense. I'm going crazy." Her voice broke on the last line and she buried her head in her hands as she started crying.
"No, you're not." Sam murmured in a comforting manner, making Andrea glance up out of her hands and stare out the window. "Tell me what happened. Everything."
"I-I heard," She closed her eyes and leaned her head on her hands that were now clasped together. "...I thought I heard," She opened her eyes and looked at Sam, but was unable to keep her eyes on him for more than a second at a time. "...there was this voice."
Sam was now staring at her intently. "What did it say?"
I shifted my position, anxious to hear what she had to say. This could be what we're looking for and it could help us. It might even be what we need to crack the case.
"It said-" She glanced away and back. "..it said 'come play with me'." Andrea let out another sob and buried her head in her hands again. "What's happening?"
"Do you really want an answer to that?" I asked, tilting my head to the side as I walked over to Andrea. She looked up at me. "What's happening is confusing and new, but it doesn't define you. It isn't a dream or a lie and you aren't insane. This is just you learning more about the world you live in."
She looked like she was going to respond but Dean walked in at that moment and set a book down in front of Andrea. It was open to a page with a picture of Explorer Troop 37.
"Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?" Dean asked, leaning on the table next to me.
"What? Oh, um, no. I-I mean, except th-that's my dad right there." She pointed him out and glanced up at us. "He must have been about...twelve in these pictures." She moved her finger to another picture of the Sheriff as a child; he was standing next to Peter.
"Chris Bar's drowning." Dean commented, glancing over to Sam. "The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been to the Sheriff."
"Bill and the Sheriff." Sam corrected, glancing between Dean and I. "They were both involved with Peter."
I grimaced. So it seemed the Sheriff had some dark secrets too. I don't know why but it's always worse when it's the Sheriff, I assumed it was probably because people relied on the Sheriff to keep them safe and then when you find out that he helped kill someone, you're forced to face the fact that the world isn't set in stone and you're rarely actually safe. Rather you have the illusion of being safe. I turned away from Andrea and Sam and glanced to the side to see Lucas standing in front of the window and looking outside.
"What about Chris?" Andrea demande. "My dad—what are you talking about?"
Dean followed my gaze and frowned. "Lucas? Lucas, what is it?"
Lucas opened the door and stepped outside and I quickly followed after him, ignoring the wind that made my water soaked clothes that much more chilly.
"Lucas, honey?" Andrea called as she followed after with Sam and Dean behind her. Lucas stopped and looked to the ground, then up at Dean.
"You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?" Dean said softly, looking over to Andrea who nodded and led Lucas back to the house.
Once they were out of sight Dean headed off towards the Impala and I frowned in confusion. "Where is he going?"
"To get shovels." Sam answered, glancing over to me. "There's probably something under there."
I glanced away from him and down to the ground. "Sam? What would you do if you knew something but you were afraid of what it would mean to tell someone? How would you..make up your mind?"
"Depends on what I think it would mean." He answered, tilting his head to the side and furrowing his brows as he stared at me. "Is there something you want to tell someone?"
"Say you were afraid that it was so horrible that you would be left for dead." I said, not answering his question. "You would be afraid that that someone you told would realize how pathetic and worthless you were and chuck you in with the trash. What would you do?"
Sam opened his mouth to answer but Dean came back at that moment, carrying three shovels. I turned away from Sam and took the shovel Dean held out, shoving it into the ground and starting to dig. In my peripheral vision, I saw Dean throw a questioning look at Sam who returned the look with one of his own that said he would explain later and then they both started digging alongside me. We hadn't been digging long before Sam's shovel clanked against something. Geez, they couldn't have buried it deeper? I would think they would have, considering they're presumably trying to hide said buried object.
We tossed our shovels to the side and started pulling up the dirt with our hands until we could pull out a red bicycle. "The bike from the picture."
"Peter's bike." Sam confirmed and I quickly glanced between Sam and Dean.
"Who are you?" A voice said from behind us, followed by a loud distinct click.
I turned around with Sam and Dean and was shocked to see that the Sheriff was standing there pointing a gun at Sam, Dean, and I. I felt my heart rate go up a notch as I looked between the Sheriff and his gun.
"Put the gun down, Jake." Sam said, dropping the bike.
"How did you know that was there?" The Sheriff demanded, his voice nervous and angry. I glanced over to Dean as the Sheriff's arm remained steady.
"What happened? You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake and then buried the bike?" Dean demanded, causing the Sheriff to straighten up and if it were possible to become more furious with us. "You can't bury the truth, Jake. Nothing stays buried."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about." The Sheriff denied, his tone suddenly completely calm. I glared at him, though it was only half way as effective as I would like it to be considering I was very focused on the gun being aimed in my direction.
"You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago. That's what the hell we're talking about." Dean said in a matter of fact tone that was full of anger.
Andrea ran up to us."Dad!"
"And now you got one seriously pissed-off spirit." Dean finished.
"It's gonna take Andrea, Lucas, everyone you love. It's gonna drown them. And it's gonna drag their bodies God knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt." Sam said, his tone calm as he tried to get through to the Sheriff. "And then, after that, it's gonna take you, and it's not gonna stop until it does."
"Yeah, and how do you know that?" The Sheriff asked, obviously not believing a word Sam was saying.
"Because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton." Sam explained, his tone still calm.
"Listen to yourselves, all of you. You're insane." The Sheriff said as if he were trying to persuade us.
I rolled my eyes. "Sorry to tell you this, but you're the one pointing a gun at us for digging up a bike. It really doesn't help your credibility."
"I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us. But if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Now tell me you buried Peter somewhere. Tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake." Dean said, his tone still full of anger.
"Dad, is any of this true?" Andrea asked, her voice on the edge of breaking.
"No. Don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous." The Sheriff said, not looking away from us.
"Again, you're the one with the gun." I said, my heart still racing. I couldn't help it. I had been around guns these past few weeks that I'd been with Sam and Dean, but I had never actually had one pointed at me.
"Something tried to drown me. Chris died on that lake. Dad, look at me." Andrea snapped and the Sheriff listened. "Tell me you-you didn't kill anyone." The Sheriff looked away and that was all the answer that Andrea needed. "Oh my God."
By this point the Sheriff was gasping under his guilt and he had lowered the gun. "Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to. But we held him under too long and he drowned." Andrea looked away as the Sheriff continued now looking at us. "We let the body go, and it sank." I tucked my hair behind my ear as I looked to Sam and Dean. How were we going to get rid of Peter before he hurt anyone else then?
The Sheriff turned back to his daughter. "Oh, Andrea, we were kids. We were so scared. It was a mistake. But, Andrea, to say that I have anything to do with these drownings, with Chris, because of some ghost? It's not rational."
"Seriously?" I snapped, crossing my arms. "You're still defending yourself?"
"All right, listen to me, all of you. We need to get you away from this lake, as far as we can, right now." Dean said, glancing between all of us.
Andrea gasped and I quickly glanced at her before following her gaze to see Lucas kneeling by the lake. I quickly burst into motion, running towards the dock.
"Lucas!" The Sheriff called from behind me.
Dean wasn't too far behind. "Lucas!"
"Lucas! Baby, stay where you are!" Andrea was worried out of her mind though that was to be expected.
I sped up as I saw Lucas get pulled into the water and I didn't even slow down as I continued down the dock and dove into the water. I swam downwards, looking around for Lucas. I couldn't see him and it appeared that I would have to go deeper though I wasn't sure if it would be useful since it was almost too dark to see. However, I needed to find Lucas so I continued swimming down, looking around.
When I couldn't hold my breath anymore I kicked up towards the surface, planning to continue searching for Lucas after I got more air, but something latched onto my ankle and yanked me back down towards the dark depths of the water. I struggled against whatever was holding onto me, but it was no use. Black spots started to dance in my vision and even though it should have been pretty much silent down here due to the pressure I was starting to hear a loud ringing and my head felt like it was on fire. What the hell do I do?! Sam! Dean!
By now I could barely see anything and I was having trouble holding the little air I had left. My struggles were getting weaker as my body exhausted itself but I knew that Sam and Dean would come looking for me. They had to, right? If they really cared about me they would.
That was the last thing I thought before blackness closed in and water rushed down my throat.
(Sorry for the wait. I've been busy getting ready for my dance competition and dealing with school so...Anyways, review and thanks so much to all of you who have. I really appreciate it.)