Previously: A fuzzy purple monster is killing people. Sam wanted to help Dad hunt it, but got stuck getting babysat by Dean at McDonald's.
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Sam stomps his feet as he walks along the sidewalk, past a strip mall, and into the neighborhood of houses where the monster attacks all happened. He stomps his feet so hard that it hurts. It makes him feel better to stomp them so loudly.
He hadn't meant to sneak away from McDonald's, not really. But Dean and Dad act like they're so smart and Sam is a dumb little kid who can't be any help at all. Even through he's the one who found out about the monster.
Well, Sam doesn't need Dean to protect him like a baby and he isn't afraid of some dumb purple monster. He'll find it by himself. Then they'll see.
His anger lasts about half a block. Then he thinks about how Dean will freak out when he realizes Sam's gone. And how mad Dad will be at both of them for not following orders.
Sam sits down on the curb and stares at his scuffed sneakers. Inside, he feels all tangled up, like he wants everything and nothing all at once. Wet, frustrated tears gather in the corners of his eyes, and he squeezes them shut. He doesn't want to cry, but he feels so knotted up inside that he can't help it.
After a minute a shadow passes over Sam and he looks up. A girl around his age, maybe a grade older, is looking down at him from the sidewalk. She's tanned and barefoot, wearing jean shorts and a faded t-shirt, and she smiles at him when he looks up.
"Hello."
"Hi," he responds reluctantly. He sniffles and wipes at his nose with the back of his hand.
"Are you lost or something?" She pushes her stringy blond hair back behind her ear and studies his face until he feels embarrassed that he has been crying.
"No," he says quickly. He looks back down at the street and wishes she would leave, but her shadow stays put and he can feel her eyes on him.
"Then why are you crying?" He hears doubt in her voice.
"I'm not," Sam says, and he wipes fiercely at his eyes with his sleeve.
"Okay, okay." He wants her to go away, but she sits down right next to him so that their shoulders touch. She hugs her knees and looks at him again.
"I'm Emily," she says.
"I'm Sam," he mumbles back.
She sits there quietly for a moment, watching him with clear blue eyes. "I can make them stop," she says softly.
Sam looks over at her, confused. He sniffs a little. "What?"
"If someone's hurting you, I can make them stop."
He must have given her a strange look then, because she acts annoyed and explains, "So they won't hurt you anymore."
Sam gets a funny feeling in his stomach. Something is weird about this girl.
"How do you make them stop?" he asks cautiously.
But she doesn't really answer him. Instead she frowns deeply, like she is thinking about something serious. "Grown-ups shouldn't treat kids like that," she says. "They should keep us safe, and be nice all the time, not hurt us."
She looks at Sam closely again. "Are your parents nice? If they're mean, I can make them stop."
Sam doesn't say anything, but his mind is spinning. A girl like this couldn't stop a grown-up by herself. But something killed that kid Sean's parents. And something killed Trent's cousin's neighbors' parents too. He has to find out if she had anything to do with the monster.
Sam thinks of how Dad sometimes lies to people so they tell him things. Like how right now Dad is pretending to be a private investigator so people will talk to him. It's not really bad or wrong if it ends up helping people.
Sam decides to lie. He says, "Sometimes my Dad is kind of mean to me." He feels bad as soon as he's said it.
She blinks at him and her frown softens a little. "Did he do something to make you cry?" she asks quietly.
Sam feels annoyed. "I wasn't crying."
"Okay, sorry. But, he makes you feel bad? He hurts you?"
"Sometimes."
She smiles at him then, her eyes dancing. "I can help you," she announces cheerfully.
She stands up and wipes her palms on her scruffy jeans. "My house is right here." She points to the large home on the lot behind them. "Just come inside for a minute, OK? I want to show you something cool."
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Emily lives in an old farmhouse on a large lot. The house is big but run-down, the once white paint faded to a dingy, peeling yellow. The front grass is long and gone to seed, dotted with bright yellow dandelions, and strewn with broken toys. Sam trails after Emily up the cracked cement walkway and pauses at the porch steps when she shoves open the ratty screen door.
"Well c'mon in," she says impatiently.
It always feels strange to him to be in other people's homes. This house smells faintly of cigarettes and some kind of sweet flower. Sam notices faded brown carpeting and cream-colored walls, and he can hear the sounds of a TV commercial playing in another room. The girl leads him along a dim, narrow hallway, past a fancy living room and dining room, and into a small kitchen. In the kitchen there is a tower of dirty dishes in the sink, spilling over onto the counters. All of the cabinets are ajar and half-full. Sam wonders if Emily has a mom.
Emily heads past the kitchen table to a door next to the pantry. She unlatches a small bolt and pulls the door open. Narrow wooden stairs disappear into darkness. "It's down here," she says helpfully.
Sam has been in enough basements to know that bad thing hide there. Suddenly, he doesn't know if this is a place he wants to go by himself. "Wait," he says. She turns back to look at him, frowning again.
He scrambled for a reason to stay upstairs. "Um, shouldn't we tell your parents…"
She grins at him crookedly in a way that makes his stomach twist again. "They won't mind you're here," she says casually.
"But my dad's gonna wonder where I am."
Her grin spreads. "He won't mind either, pretty soon. It'll only take a minute, Sam."
"What's down there, exactly?"
"You have to just see. It will help you Sam, I promise."
Of course she wouldn't tell him there's a one-eyed, one-horned purple monster down there. He's going to have to see for himself.
Sam looks down the dark stairway again, and feels torn between fear and duty. He touches the small knife in his pocket, the one Dad gave him on his seventh birthday. It makes him feel braver. He thinks about Dad and Dean, how they aren't afraid of anything. He is a hunter too. He can do this.
Emily is starting to get impatient. "Don't you want to see? I know you'll like it, Sam," she says.
Sam takes a deep breath. "Ok," he says. "I'm ready."
She smiles, then turns and descends into the darkness, and Sam follows her down.
A/N: I wonder what Emily is keeping in her basement. Maybe it will be a litter of adorable newborn kittens. Thanks for reading part 4! Please let me know what you think.