Disclaimer: I still don't own Supernatural or its characters. I and am not making any money on this…I'm just having fun!
Ties that Blind
Chapter 5 – Sharon's Past
Sam stood and reached into his backpack for his gun. Holding the gun behind his back, he slowly opened the door. Sam moved forward quickly as he realized that the person falling into the room was his brother. "DEAN!"
Sam caught Dean before his brother could hit the ground. "Hey, what the hell happened to you?"
Dean tried to make a remark, but all that came out was a cough. His lungs felt like they were on fire and his vision was beginning to go gray around the edges. He felt Sam place his arm over his shoulders and sighed as his tired body hit the soft mattress of his bed. "Thanks" Dean croaked as another coughing spell shook his body.
"I thought you said you were going to be careful…your middle name remember?" Sam shook his head. Dean was a mess. He was covered with soot and Sam could see various burn marks on his brother's hands and chest. "You really should be in the hospital Dean…" Sam placed a calming hand on his brother as Dean began to cough, shaking his head. "Ok, just calm down. Let's get you cleaned up and then we'll decide ok?"
Dean closed his eyes, he felt so tired. All he wanted to do was sleep. He felt Sam remove his clothes and groaned slightly as Sam gently cleaned the burns.
"Ok Dean, I have a pain pill here for the burns and to help you sleep." Sam held the water to his brother's lips and watched Dean grimace at the pain swallowing caused his raw throat. "Just drink a little more Dean."
Sam watched as Dean took a few more swallows and sighing closed his eyes. A few moments later his brother was sound asleep. Sam cleaned up the first aid supplies. He really wanted to know what happened, but Dean needed to rest. Sam went back to the computer and began his search again for the fire starter. He knew that somehow Dean had been caught and almost killed by the fire starter. He had to find the person and stop him or her before someone else got killed.
A few hours later, Sam finally found what he may have been looking for. He found a news paper article that reported on a fire that was set in a foster home almost 5 years ago. According to the article, everyone was killed except for Sharon Fuego. Apparently, Sharon had come home from college to visit with her foster parents. She claimed that she woke up to find herself surrounded by flames. Luckily, she was sleeping on the sofa in the front room and was able to escape through a window. The rest of her family wasn't as lucky.
Sam looked at Dean. His brother hadn't moved since he fell asleep more than 2 hours ago. Sam wanted to see if he could find out any more about Sharon, by checking her records with Children Services, but he couldn't leave Dean. Sam pulled out his cell phone and called Ash.
"Hey Ash, were you able to find any signs of the demon in this area?"
"No Dude, there's nothing on the radar…so you think it's another person with abilities causing trouble?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, I hate to ask, but could you do me a favor and see what you can found out about a girl named Sharon Fuego? She was in the foster care system in Chicago. I need to know everything that you can find out about her."
"Sure man…it will take me" There was a pause; Sam could almost hear Ash's brain churning. "6 hours and 20 minutes."
Sam laughed. "Ok, I'll wait for your call…and thanks Ash. I owe you another one!"
"I'll just tell Ellen to put my beer tonight on your tab man."
Sam smiled as he closed his phone. He paused by his brother's bed and gently pulled the blanket back up to cover Dean. "Well, I think we have identified our fire starter Dean, let's just hope we can find her before she decides to burn another family."
Sam walked over to his own bed and lay down. He was exhausted and knew that he needed to get some sleep. But he also knew that the faces of the family that burned waited for him. Sighing, Sam closed his eyes…he wished that he had been able to interpret the vision quicker. If he had, that family might still be alive today.
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Jo left the building that housed children services in Chicago. She had posed as an investigator looking for a lost child and it had paid off. She now had the name of the person she believed was responsible for the fires and she also had a lead on someone who might be able to help her locate the fire starter.
Jo hailed a cab and headed for the apartment complex that the social worker had mentioned. As she approached the door in the rundown building, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. But when she looked around, no one was there. Jo knocked quickly on the door and waited.
A woman about her age opened the door. She already looked worn down by life. "Hi, I'm doing an article of the foster care system in Chicago. I understand that you were a foster child?"
The woman nodded "Yeah, the best thing that happened to me was the day I turned 18 and could get out of the system."
"So, how many different homes were you assigned to?" Jo pulled out her notebook and started to take notes.
"Huh, I would have been luckier if I had been bounced around…but I was placed in a home and remained there until I could escape."
"It was that bad?"
"Worse, Sharon and I ran away more than once, but each time they put us back in the home. You see the Mendleson's were very careful to never leave marks and well, Mr. Mendleson made sure to let us know that if we ever told…well, lets just say the system was just happy to have a place to park us until we were old enough to fend for ourselves."
"That's horrible. What happened to your friend Sharon?" Jo sat forward slightly.
"She and I were both placed at the same time. We became like sisters. We were going to live together after we turned 18, had it all planned. But then one morning I woke up and Sharon was gone. The Mendleson's wouldn't say where she went, but told me she would never be back. When I got out on my own, she called me a few times and we had coffee at the greasy spoon that she worked at as a waitress. But I haven't heard from her in months."
"Whatever happened to the Mendleson's?"
The woman smiled for the first time since Jo had entered the apartment. "They finally got what they deserved, them and their rotten son burned to death in a fire about 5 years ago. That actually was probably too good for the likes of them!"
"Thanks for your help…could you do me a favor?" Jo asked as she quickly wrote her cell phone number down on a piece of paper. "If you hear from Sharon, could you have her give me a call…I'd really like to interview her for the article as well.
Jo decided that she should do some more investigations of the Mendleson family. They may be the key to what was going on with Sharon. Sharon may not have psychic abilities after all…from the sounds of it, the Medleson's might be involved, in which case it could be a spirit that latched onto Sharon. Either way, Jo needed to get more information before she met with Sharon Fuego.
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Dean woke slowly, his throat still sore, but he actually was feeling much better. He sat up on the side of his bed and smiled as he saw his brother's form in the other bed. "At least Sam was getting some sleep." Dean thought as he headed for the bathroom. He needed a hot shower and some dinner before they got started.
A short time later Dean emerged from the bathroom, glad to have the smoke and ash washed from his body. He figured that he and Sam could get some dinner and maybe hit a bar in the area, he could always hustle some pool to supplement their cash flow. Dean watched as Sam began to moan and toss on the bed. Moving quickly to sit beside Sam, Dean reached over and gently shook his brother's shoulder. "Sam, wake up." Dean said, surprised at how hoarse his voice sounded.
Sam jerked awake, the faces of the fire victims still swimming in front of his eyes. He rubbed a tired hand down his face and took a closer look at his brother. "Hey Dean…how are you feeling?" Sam sat up and stretched as he walked towards the desk with his computer.
"Dude, I'm fine…it will take more than a little fire to keep me down."
"So what happened Dean?" Sam asked as he sat and looking at his watch realized that Ash should be calling soon with some information on Sharon.
"I don't know for sure…one minute I was looking around the room where the fire started and the next, I'm feeling like the Staypuff Marshmallow man. There was someone or some thing there Sam, I only caught a glimpse…but the fire was started on purpose." Dean sat next to Sam
"Great, I told you that you shouldn't go there alone. You could have been killed Dean!" Sam said as he turned his worried eyes towards his brother. "What ever it is, it may be after you now!"
"Chill Dude! What ever caused that blaze believes I'm dead…so right now I don't think we need to worry about a repeat performance. Besides, I made it out just fine."
"This time" Sam muttered as he heard his cell phone ring. Sam answered and smiled as Ash began to fill him in on what he had found so far. A few moments later Sam hung up the phone and looked at Dean. "Well while you were catching up on your beauty sleep…I managed to find the name of our fire starter."
"So?" Dean hated it when Sam dragged things out.
"So, her name is Sharon Fuego. According to what Ash found, both her parents died in a fire when she was 6 months old. She lived with an Aunt until she was about 4 and was then placed in foster care because her Aunt died."
"So far sounds like she fits the pattern Sam, so you think that her abilities started to happen about the same time as the outbreak of the fires."
"No, actually, I think she may have shown her powers earlier…the first fire that she was involved in happened almost 5 years ago. Her foster family's home was burned. Everyone was killed except for Sharon."
"Ok, so we just have to find Sharon and then what Sam? Oh no, let me guess, we talk to her right? Well I gotta tell you, after she tried to make me into a human torch; I don't think that talking is going to work with her." Dean stood and reached into his pack; pulling out his favorite gun he put it in the waist band of his jeans.
"Dean, she's still a human being. We also don't know for sure that she's the one who is causing the fires…it still could be something else. You gotta let me talk to her Dean…we have to at least….argh!" Sam clutched his head and fell to the ground.
Dean rushed forward…"Damn it Sammy, not again!"
Sam was in a room on the second floor of a building. As he looked around he could see a man and a woman staring at a young girl about Sam's age.
"What have you done with him?" The young girl asked as she walked towards the terrified couple.
"We don't know what you are talking about…please just let Jimmy and Theresa go. Maybe we can help you find him." The man said as he moved forward placing his wife and the two children behind him.
"Liars…you're all liars. He told me you had him…in my dream, he told me you were hurting him, just like…just like. The young woman stepped back towards the door, her eyes blazing.
"You've killed him haven't you…you killed my son and now you will pay!" The girl closed her eyes for a moment. Suddenly a loud roaring sound could be heard outside the doorway. The girl opened the door and smiled as she saw the flames devouring everything in their path.
"Please, you have to let us go!" The mother cried as she tried to shield the children.
But the girl simply turned and walked out into the flames. The fire seemed to bend around her slender body, making a path where she could walk unharmed.
Sam found himself outside looking in horror as the fire quickly spread. Once again, he saw the small family at the window, but as soon as the glass broke, the flames exploded consuming what was left of the building and the family along with it.
The pain in Sam's head exploded as he groaned in his brother's arms. "Oh God Dean, it's happening again…5620…the numbers on the building…5620…have to stop her!" Sam cried as he slumped forward, unable to prevent the blackness from pulling him in.
TBC
Raven524: Ok, I opted for a little longer chapter rather than breaking it up into two. Hope you all don't mind. Can they save this family in time? Or will poor Sam have another family's death to deal with…next chapter will be posted soon! Don't forget to drop me line by pushing the little button!