Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural or its characters. I and am not making any money on this…I'm just having fun!

End of Innocence

Chapter 3 – Hillview

Dean jumped as he heard a soft knock at the door. Looking at his brother, who was still sleeping, he moved quietly to the door. His hand on the gun in his pocket, Dean cracked the door and smiled at the young man standing on the other side of the door. "Hey Nick…I hope that's food in your hands 'cause I'm starving!"

Nick smiled as he entered the room. He looked over at Sam and shook his head. "Looks like you're brother went toe to toe with a grizzly…are you sure you want to help me on this case?"

Dean sighed. "I don't think we have much choice Nick." Dean quickly filled Nick in on what had happened so far.

"So, you think that Sam is having visions of the children who died in the orphanage?" Nick looked thoughtfully at Sam. He knew from past experience that Sam had special abilities and the toll they took on him. "The little girl, sounds like the girl I met. Her name was Peggy." Nick continued as he began to pull out the food and set the table.

Dean turned as he heard a moan from the bed. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Sammy, time to wake up. We have company."

Sam slowly opened his eyes, the headache from earlier was still pounding in his head and the road burn on his face and hands was beginning to sting. But Sam decided that being awake and in pain was preferable to being asleep and seeing the kids faces as they burned. "Hi Nick…how's the ghost business treating you?"

"Apparently better than you Sam, jeez you look almost as bad as the last time we met." Nick watched as Sam slowly sat up with the help of his brother. He winced as he stood and headed over to the table to take a seat.

"Well, visions can do that to you…wanna trade? I'll take talking to Casper any day!" Sam smiled as he watched Nick grin.

"No thanks!"

"Ok you two, enough chit chat…time to get down to the important business of the night." Dean walked over and looked at both boys sternly.

Nick sat down next to Sam. "Ok, well let me pull out my notes and we can start there…"

Dean grinned. "Dude, I'm not talking about the case…what did you bring us for dinner? I told you I was starving!"

Sam laughed. "That's my brother, always thinking with his stomach!"

It didn't take long for the three men to finish the food that Nick had brought. Dean watched as Sam picked at the salad that Nick had brought. "Sammy, you need to eat."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean, I'm fine…Nick, why did you call?" Sam wanted to get Dean's attention on something other than his lack of appetite.

"I heard about an orphanage that was rumored to be haunted. I checked the local papers and city hall and found out that the Hillview Home for Boys and Girls had quite a reputation. Originally, it was a privately owned facility operated by Wendell Belos. According to the newspaper reports, there were reports of cruelty and abuse while the facility was under his control. Some of the children were so traumatized that they had to be moved to a mental facility."

"Sounds like a real bastard." Dean said. He never could understand how anyone could harm a child.

"Believe me, if the reports are true, the kids never had a chance. Anyway, it seems that after a number of unexplained deaths happened, the state went in to investigate and took over control of the facility."

"What happened to Wendell?" Sam asked quietly.

"No one knows. He just disappeared and was never heard from again. Most people believed that he had just moved on, others weren't so sure. But his body was never found, so the police dropped their investigation."

Sam looked out the window, swallowing before he continued. "So, when did the fire happen Nick?"

Nick looked at Sam with a shocked expression on his face. "How did you know?"

"Let's just say I met some of the former residents recently." Sam closed his eyes as the faces of the two kids appeared.

"Heh Dude, are you ok?" Dean asked as he placed a hand on Sam's arm.

"Yeah…I just can't get their faces out of my mind Dean…it was really bad."

Nick shook his head in sympathy. "Sorry I forgot…Your visions?"

Sam just nodded as he suddenly lost any appetite he may have had. "I saw a small boy and a little girl…they both burned to death."

Nick continued. "It seems that a few weeks after the state took over the orphanage, there was a fire…none of the kids that remained made it out. Over 30 children were killed, all under the age of 10 years old."

Sam shook his head. "You know the fire wasn't an accident…something happened…those children were murdered."

Nick nodded in agreement. "The fire was listed as being suspicious, but they could never actually prove that it had been deliberately set. There was no sign of an accelerant or other means of starting the fire. But since the whole building went up at once, there was no way that it was an accident."

Dean watched as his brother stood and headed towards the bathroom. "Are you sure you're ok Sam? You're looking a little green."

Sam turned to respond when a white hot pain hit his head. He fell to his knees and cried in pain as the vision hit him full force.

Sam was standing in the middle of what looked like some kind of lunch room. He began to look around, already knowing what he was going to see. Sure enough a small group of children entered the room and went to sit at a table not far from him.

Sam walked quietly towards the children. "Hi, my name is Sam. Can you tell me what happened here?"

The oldest boy looked at Sam with a sneer on his face. "Why should we tell you anything? No one cares about us; we are just throw away kids."

Sam swallowed at the pain on the children's' faces. "That can't be true. There are plenty of people out there who would love to have you in their homes."

"You gotta be kidding!" The little boy continued. "No one wants to have a freak in the family. I don't care how nicely they try to hide it…at the end of the day you're a freak…something to be hidden away from normal people."

Sam watched as the children began to cry. "You can't help us…no one can. Stay away or he'll get you too. He collects freaks like you!"

Sam stood. "You have to come with me now. Before it's too late. I can help you!"

Sam smelled the smoke again before he saw the flames. He looked helplessly at the children as one by one they caught fire and burned in front of him. This time Sam couldn't cry…he couldn't even scream. He started to run…but this time, the flames caught him and he could feel it burn.

"ARGH…HELP ME!" Sam cried as he shuddered in Dean's arms. Dean watched in horror as he saw the skin on his brother's arm begin to blister. His brother was burning and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

TBC

Raven524: Ok, I didn't forget about this story. Here is the next chapter…hope you enjoy it. Reviews are always appreciated!