Sam rubbed his tired eyes. It wasn't even dark yet, but it had been a very long day and he just wanted to crash. The bed didn't even need to be decent so long as he could lie down. But when he entered the small town's only bar and found the two people he'd been looking for laughing over drinks, his anger pushed his fatigue right out the window. "What the hell Dean?" He grumbled.
Dean's face lit up when he saw his brother. "Sammy. Where've you been? We were about to put out a missing persons report."
Sam looked at the nearly empty glasses on the bar and rolled his eyes. "Yeah looks like it."
Dean looked down at his beer with a shrug. "It was a grueling day at the office. This town is so Mayberry that the police don't even keep their old files on computer. We spent hours sifting through dusty folders in a damp supply closet."
Sam's mood lightened a bit and he smirked at the expression on Dean's face. He knew how much his big brother hated the authorities and was sure spending the day at the police station was torture for the poor guy. That's actually part of the reason he insisted he go to the library while Dean dig through old police files, so he couldn't be mad at his brother for wanting to blow off a little steam. "So what'd you guys find?" he asked instead of picking a pointless argument.
"Nada." Dean said completely annoyed. "We found out that Mr. Mirtz over at the general store was robbed last month, and that Principal Hill likes to cross dress during summer vacation." Dean took another sip of his drink before continuing. "No child has ever been harmed, kidnapped or even been reported missing in this town until Brent. Not even any unexplained accidents. Please tell me you had better luck."
"Not really." Sam said heaving himself onto a barstool. "I went through every newspaper the library had archived. Not a single story that looked supernatural. No hauntings, no unexplained events, nothing mysterious at all. I even went to the city hall and looked through their records and found a complete dead end. It's like the town Casper forgot."
"So what now college boy? Any bright ideas?"
Sam thought for a minute and then released a heavy sigh. "I say we go back to Detroit and see if we can talk to the kid. He might be able to tell us something we missed, give us some kind of clue."
"Well if we're gonna head back tonight," Shelly interrupted and then pounded back the rest of her beer, "Then I say we get going now because it's a bit of a drive and it's starting to get dark."
Shelly was putting on a strong front and said that as if she were joking, but beneath the surface Sam could tell that she really was nervous. He was sure of it because he knew exactly how she felt. He was a grown man and yet even with all of his skills and training in self-defense, he still felt a chill every time he walked into a dark room. This time it was especially unsettling because he had no clue what he was dealing with and today's trail had all but gone cold. He pulled himself to a standing position and was about to agree with Shelly when Dean beat him to the reply. "I thought you said you weren't scared of the dark." He teased.
"I wasn't. But in case you forgot, the two of you nearly got eaten alive today so forgive me if I don't want to be caught out on a dark deserted highway when there's an evil monster on the loose."
"Spirit." Dean corrected with a smirk.
"Huh?"
"It's an evil spirit, not a monster. That shotgun you blasted it with earlier was filled with rock salt. Rock salt is a spirit deterrent. If it were a monster all you would have done is pissed it off."
"Spirit, monster, ghost, demon, whatever. My point is, I don't want that thing coming after me tonight."
"Alright, alright." Dean laughed when he saw Shelly starting to get upset for real, "We can go now." Dean's grin turned even cheesier as he slumped an arm over her shoulder. "I'll even let you sit shotgun."
"My hero." Shelly said dryly with a roll of her eyes, yet she still slid her arm around Dean's waist and pulled herself close as they walked out.
Sam watched them leave the bar with a million thoughts running through his head and before he knew it, a frown was resting comfortably on his face again. Seeing Shelly brought back so many memories and so many feelings, and as much as Sam wanted to address them, now simply wasn't the time. He was always amazed at the way Dean managed to keep a playful attitude when there was so much evil around them.
Dean had a special talent for forgetting his troubles, and just having a good time when he needed it. Sam supposed it could be a little inappropriate sometimes, for instance making out with a girl when his little brother was trapped in a closet with an evil man-eating spirit. But most of the time Dean's crazy antics were harmless and only made Sam so grumpy because he himself couldn't find the off switch for the stress. Dean was always telling him that he needed to relax and he wanted to more than anything, he just didn't know how.
Sam took a slow deep breath before heading out to the car. He though that watching Dean and Shelly for the next hour and a half was going to work his last nerve and it turned out he was right. He was annoyed by the sexual tension before he even had his seat belt buckled. As the car sped out of town on the quiet two-lane highway, Sam figured the only way to keep the awkwardness to a minimum was to keep Dean and Shelly's minds focused on anything but each other.
He noticed Shelly look around at the shadows that were just starting to appear in the trees passing them by and leaned forward. "You don't have to worry." He said, "Spirits are usually tied to the place they haunt so unless you go back into that house, he can't come after you out here."
"Plus, you have Sammy and I looking out for ya."
Shelly was a little embarrassed by her fear, but she was grateful to have them there with her and she let them know it with a smile. The smile faded quickly though, as more thoughts entered her head. "Supposing we can get him to talk, what do you think Jeremy will be able to tell you that you don't already know?"
"I'm hoping he might be able to tell us what it looked like." Sam sighed, "Or he may have seen exactly what it did to his brother, or where it took him. Anything he can tell us. Hopefully something that might give us a clue since we don't really have anything to go off of."
"And whose fault is that?" Dean smirked trying to lighten the mood when he saw Shelly shiver.
"What?" Sam said not appreciating Dean's sense of humor.
Dean smirked and with a shrug said, "You're loosin' your touch Sammy. I can't believe you didn't get a good look at the thing."
"Me? It grabbed you too."
"It came at me from behind genius. You were the one playing seven minutes in heaven with it."
Sam's patience began to drain again the way it always did when Dean proved he had the maturity of a fifteen year old. Dean smiled victoriously when "It was dark." was the only lame comeback Sam could offer.
Dean loved picking on Sam and he knew exactly how to push his buttons. He never let it get really out of hand, but he figured it was his brotherly right to give him crap. He even considered it his duty since he was the older of the two boys. He wasn't usually one to back down from the torture so soon either, but something had been going on with Sam since they took this job. He was way more agitated than usual. Dean decided to cut him some slack so that he wouldn't have to hear him pout all night. "Fine, it was dark." He said, "But you're sure you didn't see anything?"
"It never came at me. It just laughed. It was kind of a sick, haunting, creepy laugh."
"Well it sure as hell came at me." Dean grumbled, "And the damn thing has some friggin' sharp claws."
"It's small." Shelly said, "Two, maybe three feet tall."
Sam and Dean had become so wrapped up in their argument that they were surprised by the interruption. "You saw it?" Sam asked.
"Just an outline." Shelly replied, "It stayed in the shadows, but I saw its eyes. Beady little, glowing yellow eyes. They were pure evil."
"So we're looking for a midget creature with yellow eyes, sharp claws and a creepy laugh. The damn thing nearly ate us and that's all we could come up with? Well that's just great." Dean grumbled again.
"Spirit." Shelly smirked. "Not creature."
Dean flashed Shelly a crooked grin, somewhat turned on by the sarcasm. The two made eyes at each other like a couple of dogs in heat but Sam ignored them as he thought for a moment. "There may be something else." He said, slowly shaking his head. "It said something, some kind of poem or song or something. I can't remember exactly, but it was something like hush naughty baby or the bogeyman will come this way?"
Shelly's thoughts immediately turned from dirty ones of Dean to the vision of her little stepbrother lifelessly whispering the chilling words. She sat back in her seat and her eyes glazed over as she mindlessly repeated the poem. "'Baby, baby, naught baby, Hush! you squalling thing, I say; Peace this instant! Peace! or maybe Bogey will pass this way."
"That's it!" Sam said sparking at the recognition. "How do you know that poem?"
"It's the only thing Jeremy's said since Brent went missing. He just keeps saying it over and over again."
"That's a creepy-ass poem."
Shelly pulled her eyes back to Dean. "That's not even the worst part." She said rubbing her hands over the goose bumps on her arms. "Baby, baby, if he hears you as he gallops past the house, limb from limb at once he'll tear you just as pussy tears a mouse."
Sam cringed at what those words probably meant for the missing boy, and Dean became angry. "That's it." He said, "That little Bogey-bastard's going down."
All was quiet in the car for a minute until Shelly finally broke the silence. "The bogeyman." She whispered in disbelief. "How are we supposed to kill the bogeyman?"
Dean flashed Sam a glance in the rear view mirror and Sam looked back at him equally concerned. The truth was, neither of them had any idea how they were going to do that. "That's what we have to figure out." Dean explained, "We've never really come up against a spirit like this before."
"The actual legend of the bogeyman doesn't have the answer either." Sam said, "It's never been done. Everyone he's ever come after disappears without a trace and is never seen again. That's why there are so many different theories of what it is, because all we have are theories. There's no real evidence to back it up."
"That's why we always assumed he wasn't real." Dean added, "Nobody's that good."
Shelly looked at Dean and her glossy eyes began spilling tears. When he shrugged a weak smile, she looked back at the road in front of her and swallowed the lump that was beginning to rise in her stomach. The tears surprised Sam. The Shelly he knew had always been such a wild and crazy, fearless girl that never cried and he immediately felt awful for dragging her into this mess. His voice softened and his lips curled into a reassuring smile. "We'll figure it out Shell, we always do."
Dean was intrigued by the way Sam comforted the woman. He knew that of the two of them Sam was usually the one who could make people feel better. Sam seemed to have the magic touch in that respect and Dean was proud of him for it, but somehow Sam seemed more comfortable than normal as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. And Shelly seemed unusually relaxed by it, almost as if it were familiar to her. Dean had a hard time keeping his eyes on the road when Shelly covered Sam's hand with her own and released a sigh. "I know you will Sammy."
Dean stared at their hands, and with a tiny bewildered laugh tried to break up the awkward moment. "You know he really doesn't like to be called Sammy." He said but was shocked when neither of them even heard the comment.
Shelly had turned around and met Sam's eyes with hers. Dean watched in utter disbelief as he realized there was something that they weren't telling him. The thought of his little brother actually having a past with a woman like Shelly was mind-boggling and his hands slipped on the steering wheel, forcing the car to drift off the road. When the tires hit the soft ground it snapped Dean's attention back to the road but it was too late.
Sam and Shelly were pulled from their moment by the commotion and surprised to find the car sitting in a ditch. They watched Dean curse up a storm under his breath. "What happened?" Sam asked astonished but Dean had no good reply.
Sam knew how much Dean cherished the classic Impala and knew his anger was probably reaching dangerous levels over it being in a ditch, but it only made the situation even funnier and he burst into laughter. "Its not funny!" Dean snapped forcing even more laughter from his younger brother.
"It's pretty funny." Shelly shrugged and broke out into her own fit of giggles.
Dean glared at the two people he secretly blamed for his error but couldn't find the words to yell at them so he sat there growling to himself while his cheeks turned red with anger. Trying his best to ignore them, he cranked the steering wheel and stepped on the gas. "Aw come on!" Dean whined when the tires spun in place beneath him.
Sam and Shelly were practically crying from laughter until Dean reached over the seat and slugged his brother. Sam calmed his giggles as he rubbed his sore arm and once Dean had his attention he motioned toward the trunk. Sam smirked at Shelly and then the two of them got out of the car and began to push.
On a count of three Dean hit the gas while Sam and Shelly threw all their weight into the back of the car. When the tires began to spin, the mud they were stuck in flew up covering Sam from head to toe. Sam stopped pushing to wipe the mud from his eyes and Shelly stopped pushing to laugh at his predicament. "Come on put some muscle into it you wusses." Dean yelled out the window.
Sam gave Shelly a pout for laughing at him and then they both pushed again as hard as they could. The car finally gripped solid ground and went soaring out of the ditch. When the resistance was gone Shelly lost her balance and ended up face first in a puddle of mud. She rolled over on her back to find Sam laughing hysterically. He figured they were even, but Shelly didn't see it that way. With a quick swoop of her foot, Sam was in the mud with her.
In retaliation Sam scooped up a hand full of mud and smashed it into Shelly's face. They wrestled around for a moment, one thing led to another, and before they knew it they were tangled in each other's arms. The laughter died and they suddenly found themselves fighting for their breath. "I'm sorry." Sam sad with a smile as he wiped the mud from Shelly's face.
The feel of her skin under his fingers flooded Sam's mind with memories and he couldn't help the way he looked at her. Shelly was stunned to see a hint of the old feelings he'd once had for her and was scared by the fact that she was feeling them too. Both wanted to escape the moment but neither could look away so they didn't mind the least bit when Dean got out of the car looking for the other two members of his party. "Whoa." He said when he walked around the back of the car. "I was gonna say lets get going but uh, I guess I can wait."
"Dean!" Shelly gasped as she struggled to her feet."
"It's not what it looks like." Sam added quickly.
"It looks like Wally just got outplayed by the Beaver." Dean said not sure whether he should feel disappointed or relieved. "But it's cool. You guys do what ya gotta do. I'll be in the car."
Dean disappeared and Sam looked at Shelly apologetically. He watched her sort through a heap of confusion and then she glared at him coldly. She practically stormed off and Sam cringed when he heard the car door slam. He knew he'd finally tapped into the anger that he'd expected to find when he first arrived.