I was quickly guided towards the Impala and my jacket was thrown over my shoulder as I climbed into the back, my brothers climbing into the front. "Roger Miller," Sam spoke into his phone as he tried to find out where this guy lived. He was rubbing his head, willing the headache to go away. "Ah no, no, just the address, please. Okay, thanks." He snapped his phone shut, ending the call and without even looking up told Dean where we need to go. "450 West Grove, Apartment 1120."
"Hey," I leaned over the seat and rubbed at his shoulders. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he nodded. I frowned at him, knowing he was lying.
"You sure?" Dean asked, thinking the same thing, "because if you're going to hurl I'll pull the car over, cause the upholstery..." Dean half joked.
"I'm fine."
"Alright," Dean replied as the same time I answered with a sarcastic, "Yeah right," that got me glared at by both brothers.
There was silence in the car for a few moments until Sam claimed our attention again, "Guys, I'm scared. These nightmares weren't bad enough, now I'm seeing things when I'm awake?" he exasperated. "And these, visions, or whatever, they're getting more intense and painful."
"Yeah," I scoffed, leaning back into my seat, "we noticed." Dean gave me his 'shut the hell up' look and I turned to look out the window at the passing scenery.
When we got to the apartment building, we saw Roger outside the building. "Hey, Roger." Sam called.
"What are you guys, missionaries? Leave me alone."
"Please!" Sam pleaded as Dean swung the car around, jumping the curb, and parked. "Hey, Roger. We're trying to help you!" but Sam wasn't fast enough and Roger closed the door before he could stop him. Roger said something to Sam through the door before he walked away.
Dean turned around and looked at our surroundings quickly. "Come on," he instructed before taking off towards the side of the building. Since their legs were longer than mine they reached the fire escape before me and started to run up the stairs. They had to stop briefly to break open the entrance to it so I caught up with them. There was a good four and a half foot jump onto the platform and Dean practically threw me onto it before hoisting himself up. But before we could reach the desired level, we heard a window being shut and a disgusting squelching noise. Somehow, Dean was behind me and I pushed passed Sam to continue on where he had stopped on the steps.
"No, Kat! Don't!" Sam called after me. He reached for me but couldn't grab me because I was too fast. When I got to the window I froze. Rogers head was lying in the flower bed directly under the window. Blood painted the windowsill and kitchen floor, pooling around his headless body. I felt sick. Not two seconds later Dean was behind me, turning me away from the horrid picture in front of me. When I was turned around Sam had just made it to the top of the stairs. He grabbed me before he himself turned away from the gore and hugged me to his chest as if he were keeping me safe. He put his right hand on top of my head as if he was trying to suck the image right from my brain.
It wasn't long before Dean was shaking himself from the shock and thrusting handkerchiefs into our hands with the instructions of wiping the railings of our fingerprints while he headed inside for a better look.
"I'm telling you there was nothing in there. No signs either, just like the Miller's house." Dean reassured our brother.
"I saw something, in the vision. Like a dark shape. Something was... something was stalking Roger." It had taken us around ten minutes to wipe our prints from the railings and we were finally walking back to the car.
"Whatever it was, are you sure it's connected to their house?" I butted in.
"No," he shook his head. "It's connected to the family themselves. So, what do you think, like a vengeful spirit?" when Sam is onto something this like... energy flows through him and he gets hype. It's almost like adrenaline but... not?
"Well yeah, there's a few that have been known to latch onto families, follow them around for years."
"Like the Marchekie's?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. The Marchekie's were a haunted family and it followed them everywhere, even different states. Dean and I had worked the case while Sam was in college.
"Exactly like the Marchekie's!" Dean declared as he snapped his fingers and pointed at me. "Basically, it's like a curse." Dean turned back to Sam. "So maybe Roger and Jim Miller got involved in something heavy something curse worthy."
"So, what? The men in their family are dying?" The whole thing was confusing to me and honestly none of the pieces were fitting together in a way that made any sense.
"Do you think Max is in danger?" Sam asked and I shrugged.
"I hope not," I grabbed his hand and held tight, to reassure him. "But we will figure it out before he is."
"Well, I know one thing I have in common with these people. Both our families are cursed." My heart did a little sad skid and I pulled my hand out of his and got into the car, they soon followed.
"Our Family's not cursed! We just... have our dark spots." I suppressed a laugh as Dean's words and leaned forward.
"Titanic." I said, earning confusing looks from them both. "Titanic is dark. Romeo and Juliet, that's dark. Our lives are like endless black pits."
"Yeah, thanks for that." Dean said, putting his hand on my face and shoving me back.
NIGHTMARE ON KAT STREET
The next day when Dean told me we were going back to the Miller's to pay our respects to them I knew that mean that I was going to be stuck wearing the same ass scratching outfit that I had been wearing the last time. I ground loudly and let out several loud profanities which got me a slap to the back of the head and more time cleaning weapons than I had before. The nerve.
"My mom's resting," Max lead us through the house.
"Of course." If Dean only had these kinds of manners all the time I think that the world would actually become a better place.
"All these people kept coming with like, casseroles?" he said unsure, looking to me for help. I nodded that he had the correct food name and he continued. "I finally had to tell them to go away. You know because nothing says I'm sorry like a tuna casserole." I smirked at his use of sarcasm. We walked back into the room we had sat in with Mrs. Miller just a few days beforehand.
"How are you holding up?" Sam's voice was soft and kind. I missed that about him while he was at Stanford. It was something Sam did all the time, Dean, however didn't know that side of him unless something was really wrong and his walls were down.
"I'm doing okay."
"Where your dad and uncle close?" Sam continued to try and get more information out of him.
"Yeah I guess. I mean, they were brothers. They used to hangout all the time when I was little."
"What about now?" I asked, leaning forward and resting my elbows on my knees.
"It's just… we used to be neighbors when I was a kid, and we lived across town in this house. Uncle Roger lived next door, so he was over all the time." I raised an eyebrow. Something about this kid's story was fishy. Not like he was lying but more like he wasn't telling the whole truth.
"So was growing up as weird for you as it was for me?" Both brothers shot me looks that said 'way to be blunt' but Max didn't really seem to notice.
"What do you mean?" he tilted his head slightly.
"Well," I leaned forward a little. "Like when I was younger I always swore that my house was haunted." He huffed out half a laugh.
"No. No, nothing like that." Max thought for a minute before looking up at me. The slightest hint of a smile graced his face. "Are nuns allowed to believe in ghosts?" I looked at him. Face totally serious.
"Well, I wasn't always a nun now was I?" but then winked at him. The question was rhetorical but he looked back down to his lap before saying a quick 'no'.
"So, growing up in that house was totally normal?" Sam pressed.
"It was fine. Why?" Max looked slightly annoyed that he was asked the same question again but at the same time it seemed like he didn't really mind.
"All good memories?" Dean pressed even farther. "Do you remember anything unusual? Something involving your uncle and your dad maybe?" Max visibly paled. He started shaking his head again.
"What do you…why do you ask?" Even though he was calm on the outside, as a mentally unstable person myself, I could tell he was internally freaking out. "No." he had the most serious look on his face. Totally stoic. "There's was nothing. We were a totally happy family." My insides were screaming one word. LIAR.
I kept my mouth shut until we made our way down the sidewalk and went to the Impala. My mind kept going back to my time in the treatment facility and how you could practically smell the crazy. Everywhere you turned there was someone freaking out about their own personal nightmare that was locked inside their brains.
Being there scared me. Real monsters, the ones my brothers and I fight, they didn't scare me. But the monsters in your head are different. They aren't so easy to get rid of when it's your own brain you're fighting against. While I was there I learned to pick up on other people's emotions almost like I could smell it on them. I just had to look at them, hear their words, and I knew. I knew everything they were feeling but better yet... I could feel it like I was tapped into them somehow.
I didn't share with my brothers that I thought that Max was lying yet because I wanted to see if anything they said could trigger anything so that I could figure out why he was lying. "No ones family is totally normal and happy. See when he was talking about his old house?"
"He was scared. So I guess the only question now is, what happened?" Sam added.
"What do you think Kat?" My eldest brother asked me. Sam raised his eyebrow as if to say 'why are you asking her that?' but didn't say anything so he clarified. "She's got kinda like a sixth sense about people's mental stability."
"Wow, Dean. Big words." I sassed with a roll of my eyes.
"Yeah, I know a few."
"What are you studying for your SAT's?"
"What are SAT's?" I didn't have a comeback and Sam and I just stood there, staring at my brother as if he had six heads.
"Anyways... that kid, yeah. He was internally wigging out. I'm talking full blown internal panic attack."
NIGHTMARE ON KAT STREET
Sammy did some digging and finally came up with the address for the Miller's old house that was located in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. "Have you lived here long?" Sam and Dean were talking to an older gentleman while I just stood there looking fucking adorable.
"Yeah almost twenty years now. It's nice and quiet. Why, you looking to buy?"
"No. Actually, a buddy of mine from school used to live across the street, I believe." I motioned to the Miller's old place that was across the street from where we were standing.
"Yeah the Miller's. Max. Right. Is he alright?" the man asked me and I shrugged. "Yeah I remember. The brother had the place next door. So uh, what's this about, is that poor kid okay?" Sadness covered his features and I felt a swirl of emotions starting in my stomach. I had a feeling I knew where this was going.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, in all my life I've never seen a child treated like that. I mean I'd hear Mr. Miller yelling and throwing things clear across the street, he was a mean drunk. He used to beat the tar outta Max. Bruises. Broke his arm two times that I know of." The emotions that seemed to be swirling in the pit of my stomach erupted like a fire work and I couldn't move or say anything in fear of what would happen.
I felt tears pricking my eyes when I thought back to my time in the hospital and my friend, Katie. She tried to kill herself after being her drunken dad's punching bag for five years. We became close friends and she was the closest thing I ever had to a best friend. Half way through my stay there Katie killed herself. I turned away from the guys and put my hand over my mouth, trying to trap the screaming sobs inside of myself. I made my way back to the Impala and crawled into the back seat. I lay down and buried my nose in the seat cushion.
I sniffled as tears made their way sideways across my face and was starting to make a puddle beneath my head. Sam and Dean came back a few minutes later. "Max is doing it. Everything I've been seeing."
"You sure about this?" Dean sounded like he just didn't want it to be true so that he could just go and just sleep for several hours. None of us were getting much sleep these days.
"Yeah."
"How's he pulling it off?"
"I don't know, like telekinesis?" Well fuck. There goes 'normal family'. I grumbled something along the lines of psychic brothers and spoon bending boys murdering their whole family. The car came to a stop at a red light and Dean did his best to turn around in his seat to look at me.
"Did you take your pills today?" but he already knew the answer because before I even said anything he had taken three pill bottles and threw them at my head.
"I didn't even realize it but this whole he was there. He was outside the garage when his Dad died, he was in the apartment when his Uncle died. These visions, this whole time - I wasn't connecting to the Millers, I was connecting to Max! The thing is I don't get why, man. I guess - because we're so alike?"
"What the hell are you talking about? The kids nothing like you. You're not a monster, Sam. That kid is a monster. He already killed two of his family members and he's gunning for a third," Dean argued.
"Well, with what he went through, the beatings, to want revenge on those people? I'm sorry, man, I hate to say it, but it's not that insane."
"Yeah, but that doesn't justify murdering your entire family."
"Kat-" Sam started but was cut off.
"Sam, DON'T." but Sam ignored him and continued anyways.
"Kat, if you were him, what would you do?" Sam didn't know about Katie. Dean barely knew what happened. One day he came to visit me and he asked how she was doing and when I told him she killed herself I told him never to speak of her again. But he still knew the toll her death took on me.
"I'd kill the sons of bitches that ever laid a hand on me." I gritted out angrily. I wiped the remainder of the evidence that I had been crying away.
"Kat." Dean pulled my attention from the floor of the car to the rear view mirror. "You okay?" I looked at the Miller's house.
"Katie."
"Dammit Katie." my brother grumbled before turning off the engine. "He's no different than anything else we've hunted, alright? We gotta end him."
"We're not going to kill Max!" Sam was practically yelling at this point.
"He's right Dean. We can't kill him. He's still human."
"Then what? Hand him over to the cops and say 'Lock him up officer; he kills with the power of his mind.'!?" Dean waved his hand around in the air. Sam and I both knew he was right.
"Kat's right, Dean. Max is human. We can talk to him. Hey, promise me you'll follow my lead on this one." I nodded but Dean was a bit more reluctant to agree to Sam's terms.
"Alright fine." Dean leaned over and pulled his pistol out of the glove department. I made sure mine was tucked nicely in the waistband of my jeans.
Sam kicked the door open and Dean and I followed through. "What are you doing here?" Max had panic in his voice.
"Ah, sorry to interrupt." Dean played off as if we didn't just but in their home.
"Max, can we, uh, can we talk to you outside for just one second?" I don't know how Sam wasn't losing his shit at this moment I mean we were in the room with a KILLER. A HUMAN KILLER.
Max looked at us suspiciously, "About what?"
"It's...it's private. I wouldn't want to bother your mother with it." Sam smiled at her. "We won't be long at all though, I promise."
"Okay." Max agreed. Thank god too. We all made to leave the room but when Dean put his hand on the doorknob to the other room his jacket lifted slightly and I saw it catch Max's eye. The knob was pulled from Dean's grasp and it slammed shut. It took me a couple seconds before I realized that Max had done that. When the door shut so did all the blinds in the room, blocking out the sunlight, making it darker. "You're not from a church!" Max screeched in our faces. Dean pulled his gun on him but the gun flew out of his hand and was sliding across the floor towards Max who bent over and picked it up... pointing it at Dean.
"Max what's happening?" his stepmother asked him. She wasn't calm at all. I was barely holding on but my brothers seemed to be doing just fine. When she didn't listen to him when he told her to shut up and she asked again he sent her flying back into the kitchen counter, knocking her unconscious.
"I said shut up!" he yelled. When Sam told max to calm down I swear I saw murder flash behind his eyes. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"We just wanna talk." Sam held his hands up as if to say 'we come in peace'. Which, technically... we didn't.
"Yeah right! That's why you brought this!" he wiggled the gun around in the air a little.
"That was a precaution." I pointed out. "A mistake." I corrected.
"So was lying about who you are. But no more lying. Please just hear me out." Sam waited for the go ahead from Max and when he got it he continued. "I saw you do it. I saw you kill your Dad and your Uncle before it happened."
"What?" I was pretty out of sight so I put my hand on my gun, ready if needed.
"I'm having visions Max. About you."
"You're crazy."
"So what, you weren't gonna launch a knife at your step mom?" Sam tapped his eye, "Right here? Is it that hard to believe Max, look what you can do. Max I was drawn here all right? I think I'm here to help you." At some point during Sam's speech Max started to silently cry.
"No one can help me."
"Let me try. We'll just talk, me and you. We'll get Dean, Kat and Alice out of here." I looked at him as if he had were ninety-six kinds of crazy but it was Dean who voiced it.
"Uh-huh. No way." Sam and Dean looked up and I followed their eyes to the chandelier that was shaking.
"Nobody leaves this house!"
"And nobody has to, all right? They'll just...they'll just go upstairs."
"Sam we ain't leaving you alone with him." I told him, knowing Dean would agree.
"Yes you are. Look, Max. You're in charge here, all right, we all know that. No one's going to do anything that you don't want to do but I'm talking five minutes here man."
"Sam!" Dean and I exclaimed at the same time. Max looked back at his stepmother.
"Five minutes?" the chandelier stopped shaking and he told us to go. Dean helped Mrs. Miller up and I followed them into what I assumed was her bedroom.
"Kat, go get a washcloth." Dean jerked his head towards the bathroom where I found clean wash cloths folded up on a shelf. I grabbed one before heading back to my brother who was sitting next to Mrs. Miller on the bed. I handed it to him and he started cleaning the blood off of her face.
From the moment we left Sam with Max I started counting. One hundred and eighty nine seconds. That was how long it was before Max came through the bedroom door. Dean got up and started to make his way over to him. Two point five. That was how long it took before Max had Dean flying into the other wall.
"Max!" Mrs. Miller screamed. Max still had Dean's pistol in his hand. I made sure my movements were slow as I put myself between Mrs. Miller and her son. Dean started to grumble but stopped when he saw the gun. My brother started to slowly make is way over to us and that was when the shit really hit the fan.
Max took his hand off the gun and the fucking thing was FLOATING in the air. Then it cocked. Max sent me tumbling into my brother who grabbed me and kept me from toppling over.
"Stay back. This is not about you." he snarled at me.
"You wanna kill her, you gotta get through me first." Dean walked over and put himself in front of the lady and the weapon.
"Okay." I saw it in his eyes. He was going to do it. I had always told myself that I would do anything for my family. I had never imagined that taking the life of a college student would be one of the things I would do. But there I was. My gun raised in my hand still pointed where Max's head had been seconds beforehand. I don't know how long I stood there like that in the quiet room before Sam came into my line of sight and Dean was placing his hand on my gun and taking it from me.
Fifteen seconds.
Fifteen seconds had passed since I killed Max Miller.