Dean entered the small town of Dundee Michigan very unimpressed with his surroundings. As he drove slowly down the main drag, Sam leaned forward to look up at the small water tower with the town's name painted proudly across it. "Why is it always the small towns that seem to have this kind of trouble?"
Dean began to get restless as he waited at a deserted intersection at the town's only stoplight. "The demons probably just can't tell the difference between this and hell."
Sam smirked at the response having his own preference for the city life, but then glanced back when he realized that Shelly's family lived in this town. Dean could tell he was worried about insulting her and glanced again in his rear view mirror. "Relax Sam, she's been completely out of it for the last hour."
Sam smiled sadly at the sleeping woman curled up in the backseat of the Impala. "She really did have a bad night didn't she?"
"It must be hard, I know she really likes that little guy."
"Yeah, but did you catch that stuff she was saying earlier, about hearing things all night? You don't think it was what went after her step brother do you?"
"I doubt it. Things like that are usually stuck to the home they haunt. I doubt the thing could have followed them all the way to Detroit."
Sam frowned still trying to convince himself that the little boy was safe.
"Psycho hospitals are creepy dude." Dean reassured him, "She was probably just freaked out."
"Yeah." Sam hesitantly agreed as they pulled into the driveway of Shelly's father's house.
Sam and Dean looked up at the house and then to one another and simultaneously opened their doors. Sam knocked on the back window, waking Shelly, while Dean popped the trunk. He pulled the floor of the trunk up to reveal a secret compartment and used a sawed off shotgun to prop it open while he sifted through a cash of weapons. One by one Dean started loading himself with knives, guns, ammo and anything he thought might keep them safe. After Shelly watched him strap a knife around his waist, push a pistol into his pants and finally, load the shotgun full of rock salt she laughed. But when he picked up a grenade, she pulled it from his hands with questioning eyes and put it back in the trunk. "Let's try and not blow up my dad's place huh?"
Dean shrugged innocently, "We don't know what we're dealing with. It's better to be prepared."
"That's funny," Shelly laughed, "Never pegged you for a boy scout."
"Na, Sammy's the Girl Scout. I'm more like Bruce Willis from Die Hard."
"I think you mean Luke Perry in Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Sam smirked.
Dean thought about the insult for a moment but then grinned, "I can live with that. The dude gets Kristy Swanson in the end."
Dean cocked his gun as he headed into the house and both Shelly and Sam just laughed as they followed him inside. Sam was the last one inside and the instant he closed the door behind him there was an obvious drop in temperature that turned their playful moods rather serious. As they all looked around the house nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but there was an ominous feel that sent an unsettling chill through Shelly. "Hey guys?" She whispered and she shook off her shiver, "What exactly do you suppose happened to Brent?"
"Hard to say." Sam answered as he looked at a picture of the missing boy. "There are as many theories about that as there are about the bogeyman himself."
"Well what are some of those theories?"
Sam and Dean glanced nervously at one another and then Dean turned to Shelly with a completely serious expression. "I don't think you want to know."
"Tell me." Shelly demanded. "Leaving it up to my imagination is worse, I promise."
Sam sighed but couldn't ignore her request. "Well one theory is that he takes you back to his world and you're never seen from again, but there's also the idea that he tortures you as punishment for all the naughty things you've done. The most common one though…" Sam hesitated a moment but continued when he saw the look on Shelly's face. "They say that he tears you apart limb from limb and then feeds off your flesh."
Shelly swallowed hard, trying not to get too upset since she was the one who asked, but the thought was too disturbing. Her eyes widened and she threw herself into Dean's arms. He hugged her tightly but then pulled her chin up. "Whatever happened to him, it's not going to happen to anyone ever again. We're going to find this thing and blow him back to hell ok?"
Shelly nodded and quickly regained control of herself. "At a girl," Dean smiled, "Why don't you show me where this kid's room is."
Shelly pointed to the stairs and Dean led her up, stopping midway to look at an old picture of Shelly in a full cowgirl costume, holding up a trophy. "The rodeo?" Dean asked curiously.
Shelly rolled her eyes at the smirk on his face. "My dad's idea. I used to compete in the barrel races."
"Not that I don't love what you've got going on now, but that is hot." Dean laughed as he pointed to the picture.
Shelly's fears were temporarily forgotten as she lost herself in Dean's flirty eyes. "I still have the hat in a closet at my apartment, if you feel like playing rodeo."
Dean's mind glazed over with dirty thoughts until Sam gave a suggestive cough. "Guys, big scary monster? Likes to eat kids? Ring a bell?"
"Right." Dean said shaking himself from the fantasy and getting back to business.
Dean pulled out his EMF detector as he reached the top of the stairs and began searching for signs of paranormal activity. The first room they came to was Jeremy's and after quickly glancing inside, he passed it and opened the door to Brent's room with Shelly following close behind.
Sam stopped in front of Jeremy's room as well and just as he was about to head to Brent's room with the others, he heard the faint echo of a cold laugh. He slowly stepped into the little boys' room but heard nothing. For a moment he thought it was in his head but then the closet door seemed to push itself open. He pulled his flashlight from his pocket and made his way to the closet.
Sam carefully opened the closet door all the way and shined the light inside. There seemed to be nothing there, so he switched off the flashlight. Just before he turned around someone pushed him into the dark closet and then locked the door behind him. The flashlight fell from Sam's hands and he immediately reached for the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. He was about to throw all his weight into the door when he heard scratching on the outside of the closet followed by more laughter. "Dean?" he yelled but only heard another laugh. "Ha ha very funny you guys! Come on man, we're not kids anymore. Open the door."
He paused when heard the laugh turn into some sort of deranged whisper, "'Baby, baby, naught baby, Hush! you squalling thing, I say; Peace this instant! Peace! Or maybe Bogey will pass this way."
"What the?" he whispered to himself.
Sam fell to the floor looking for his flashlight but stopped when he finally he heard Dean and Shelly's voices. He became pissed when he heard them laughing, but was very confused by the conversation. "Sammy?" Dean said as he entered the room, "You in here little brother?"
"I'm sure he just went to the bathroom." Shelly reassured him, "Besides, Sam is way to nice a boy to be taken by the Bogeyman. He only goes after the naughty ones remember?"
"You have a point there." Dean shrugged but then smirked, "But if that's the case maybe we should be more worried about you, with all that talk about playing rodeo."
Shelly grinned wickedly and slid her arms around Dean's waist. "You know, I still have the boots too."
"How about that lasso?" Dean smirked, pulling her even closer to him.
"Well look who's the naughty one now." Shelly laughed.
"You have no idea." Dean said finally pulling Shelly's lips to meet his.
Sam rolled his eyes at the conversation he was hearing and just as he was about to begin banging on the door again he heard a small click and the door fell ajar. He pushed it open all the way and stepped out of the closet completely confused, only to find his brother and Shelly making out. He stood there in shock with his jaw hanging open. Shelly saw him first and practically jumped from Dean's grip. "Sam." She gasped in surprise.
Redness crept into Shelly's cheeks at the look Sam gave her, but their eyes never broke contact. Dean looked at the two as if they were crazy and became suspicious of the tension between them. "Did I miss something?" he asked breaking up the moment.
Shelly quickly turned to him with a nervous laugh and shook her head. She then turned her attention back to Sam and changed the subject before he had time to ask any questions. "What were you doing in there?"
Dean looked at his brother and laughed, "I always knew you'd come out of the closet one day."
"You're hilarious." Sam said in total disgust, "Oh, and real mature locking me in there like that. You know you're too old for that prank crap."
"What are you talking about?"
Sam realized his brother honestly had no idea what he was talking about and the realization of what had happened hit them all at once. Sam stepped back from the closet and Dean turned on the EMF. The thing buzzed to life immediately, flashing all kinds of warnings of a supernatural presence. "Something's in there." Sam whispered taking the shotgun from Shelly.
He cocked the gun and then gave Dean a nod. Dean pulled the pistol from his pants and kicked the door open all the way. He heard the same sadistic laugh that they'd all heard now, and as he stared into the darkness a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared in front of him. He squinted, trying to make out the creatures figure, and took a small step closer to the closet. "Well folks, shall we see what we have behind door number two?"
Just as shelly warned Dean to be careful the eyes disappeared. Dean looked to Sam confused. "Where'd it go?"
A gust of wind swirled around the room and bedroom door slammed shut behind them. When they turned their backs to the closet, something grabbed Dean by the ankles and knocked him to the ground. The force of the fall sent his gun flying across the floor. "Sam!" he yelled as he was dragged into the closet.
Dean's hands caught the doorframe and he held on with all his strength. "Sammy! Shoot the bastard!"
"Shoot what? I don't see anything!" Sam yelled back as he stared into the darkness.
"Shoot whatever dude, I can't hold on much longer!" Sam cocked the shotgun and aimed into the darkness, "Just don't shoot me!"
Sam took a deep breath and then fired the gun. The evil laugh returned with full force and echoed throughout the entire house. Dean screamed as the monster pulled even harder. His fingers began to slip one by one and Sam dove to the floor, grabbing him by the wrist. Sam got a good hold on Dean but then had no way to hold on to anything else. "Smooth move genius!" Dean yelled when Sam began sliding into the closet too. "What now?"
"How should I know? You're the one who thinks he's John McLean, remember?"
"This is no time to be a wise guy Sam!" Dean said as the room began to shake.
"But five minutes ago was the perfect time for a make out session?"
"Hey guys!" Sam and Dean looked up to see Shelly standing over them holding the shotgun, "Shut up and duck!"
Sam and Dean's eyes widened and they threw their heads to the ground as best they could. Shelly looked into the darkness and saw the sickening eyes glaring at her. "Gotcha." She whispered as she took aim.
The creature let go of Dean and jumped at Shelly just as she pulled the trigger. With a single blast of salt, the spirit dissolved into thin air and the house was quiet again. Shelly put down the gun and everyone took a moment to catch their breath. "What the hell was that thing?" Shelly asked in a shaking voice, "I thought you said the Bogeyman didn't exist."
"Well I've been known to be wrong once or twice. It's rare, but it happens." Dean shrugged and then frowned at Sam, "Why did it let you go and go after me?"
"The same reason Santa Clause puts coal in your stocking Dean." Sam smirked. "I suggest we get out of here before it comes back and figure out what it is we're dealing with."
"And how to kill the son of a bitch." Dean grumbled.