O'Brien, Texas

"How are you holding up?" Tessa Lynn had heard that question approximately 47 times that day. She'd been counting to keep her brain occupied. What the hell do they expect her to say? "Yeah, I'm super!" She'd lost her mother to suicide when she was five, and now she'd had to find her brother hanging from the third floor bedroom rafters. There is no way to hold up after something like that.

"I'm doing okay, thank you," Tessa said finally, smiling at another nameless relative. As soon as the aunt or cousin or whatever had walked away, Tessa plopped down on a bench, the hot concrete warming her skin. She sighed, staring up at the sun. How could the weather be so perfect today, of all days? Tessa tucked a loose strand of light brown hair behind her ear.

"Hey, sweetheart," Tessa hardly moved as her father sat down beside her. His bloodshot, red eyes mirrored hers. Daniel Lynn said nothing else as he wrapped an arm around Tessa, pulling her close to him. He kissed her forehead, a lone tear running down his cheek. "We're heading over to your uncle Karl's in a little bit, alright? Some family is gathering there. We may spend the night," Tessa nodded, hearing but not really processing her father's words. He sighed and stood up. Almost immediately, he was engaged in a conversation with his cousins.

"Dean, are you really sure we should be doing this? From the looks of it, the funeral just ended. We should give them some time to grieve," Sam tugged at the collar of his suit. It was at least ninety degrees outside, way too hot for a stuffy suit. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck.

"This was your idea, little brother. I'm just carrying it out," Dean muttered. He peered through the crowd of mourners, his brow furrowing. "There he is." Dean led his brother through the crowd.

Sam followed his brother blindly, no idea of who he was looking for. Then, he spotted the preacher just a few feet away. As they drew closer Dean elbowed him, a sign that clearly meant that Sam was to talk.

"Um, excuse me," Sam tapped the pastor's shoulder. He turned around immediately and smiled. "Hi, I'm," Sam faltered. "Uh-"

Dean cut him off quickly. "He's Michael Schon, and I'm Joseph Perry. We went to school with Tyler, and only just heard what happened yesterday. Could you maybe tell us a little bit more about what happened to Tyler?" he conveyed the look of a shocked friend so well that the preacher didn't think to question his flimsy story.

"Oh, it was a terrible thing. Tyler was only twenty-four, as I'm sure you know. His younger sister, little Tessa, found him probably a few hours after he died when she arrived home. She was in an awful state of shock; screaming about a woman in black and blood splattering the walls."

"A woman in black, you said?" Sam said sharply, exchanging a knowing look with Dean.

"Yes," the preacher paused. "I wouldn't put any stock in it, though. When the police arrived they did a thorough search of the place. There wasn't any blood, besides near Tyler, and there was no sign of a forced entry. It was simply a suicide," the preacher smiled sadly before walking away.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sam said quietly, already scanning the people.

"We need to find Tessa and ask her what the hell she saw," Dean responded. He watched as several children walked by, but none resembled the photo of Tyler that they'd seen. "You're sure she's a child?" Dean said finally, after many minutes of careful people watching. None had even come close to looking like Tyler.

"From the way the pastor talked she seemed to be," Sam said. He then spotted a lone girl sitting on a concrete bench staring off into the distance. She posessed similar features to Tyler, strikingly so. "Or maybe not," Sam casually pointed out the girl to Dean.

"Damn, she's definitely not a child," Dean grinned, fixing his eyes on her.

"Dean! She looks hardly over eighteen!" Dean paid no attention, though, immediately approached her, Sam following in his wake. Sam heard just the end of his introduction, but he caught Tessa's response.

"Aren't those the last names of Journey band members?" Tessa raised an eyebrow, the ghost of a smile playing on her lips.

"Oh, are they? Funny. As I was saying, Michael and I were friends of your brother's, I don't know if he ever mentioned-"

"No, he didn't," Tessa interrupted again, staring long and hard at Dean and Sam.

Sam cleared his throat and decided on a different approach. "Listen, Tessa. We know what you said the night your brother died, about the woman and the blood, and we just want to know a little more about it," he said this as gently as he could, but Tessa still flinched slightly.

"Um, I was coming home for the weekend. I'm in school a few towns over, so I don't get to come back very often. I'd just spoken to Tyler a few hours before. He seemed perfectly normal, excited, even. It had been a month or so since I'd been home, and we had plans to watch some movies and catch up," Tessa's voice cracked. She cleared her throat and continued, her tone a bit stronger than before.

"When I got there, Dad was still at work. He's the manager at our supermarket. I poked around a little bit and I noticed Tyler had left food on the stove. So I went upstairs, and- and it was really, really cold. The power seemed to be out on the third floor. So I grabbed a flashlight and then I saw Tyler... Suspended from the rafters by a noose. I don't even know how- how he got up there. Then, I saw this woman, all in black and covered in blood. I must have been hallucinating or something. She... laughed, and then was gone. There was blood everywhere, though, I'm sure of it. I don't know where it all went, though. I swear to God that it was there. The police didn't find it, and I don't know why. I ran downstairs and called the police. But Tyler though, he was never the depressed type. He was the complete opposite, even on my mother's anniversaries. He was always the light one in the family, and now he's gone," Tessa broke down, sobs racking her small body.

Dean, in an uncharacteristic gesture, laid his hand on Tessa's back, rubbing in comforting circles. She didn't shrug him away, but her body tensed. "We're sorry for your loss, Tessa. And I don't think you're crazy, for what you saw. Your brother was a good man, he's going to be missed."

Sam sat silently while Dean consoled Tessa for a few minutes. He noticed a man approaching, and realized it must be Tessa and Tyler's father, Daniel. He turned to get Dean's attention, but he had already noticed. "Um, it's been good to meet you, Tessa. We'll stay in touch okay?" Sam said quickly, before he and Dean walked away, anxious to start on the investigation.

"You know, I heard Daniel say that he and Tessa will be spending the night at a relative's. That means the house will be empty..." Dean began, revving the engine of the Impala.

"Perfect. We'll just need to find a way in."