thank you all again for the wonderful reviews, i am so glad you all like the story. get ready for a little more info in Kerri, let me know what you think.

SOMETHING LOST

Chapter 9

Sam stood by the door to the back room, solemnly watching as Kerri spoke with Dean, the two both laughing softly as they recounted old times, told story after story of their lost youth. His brother had awoken nearly an hour before, the second episode sending his body into a kind of shock. He still shook, his skin still pale and sweaty, but he was awake, talking, smiling. And Sam suddenly found himself overwhelmed. Everything that had happened over the past week suddenly came crashing down upon him, and he found, that no matter how much he wanted to, he could not step inside the back room.

He felt like and outsider, though he knew he had no reason to. He had, after all, been her friend as well. But it was obvious that she had always been closer to Dean, probably because they were the same age. Sam was the little brother, to both of them. He could still hear his brother's weak voice, hear him laughing, the first real laugh Sam had heard from him in a long time, and he wanted nothing more then to join in, to relive the youth the two people before him seemed so enamored with. But deep down another voice spoke up, telling him to leave them alone, to let them be, let them get to know each other once more. And, with a small sigh, Sam took that small voice's advice.

And so, he found himself wandering the house, letting his mind fall back into step with the paths he had treaded so often as a child. It was funny really, how everything around him seemed so much smaller, so much less significant then his mind had remembered it, but somehow still just as special. He had longed to be here, let his mind wander back to it on darkened days, and he wasn't all that disappointed when he returned. The old house was still special, still memorable, even though it was so all together different.

It was dustier, quieter, lonelier, as though something vital, something very much needed was missing. And that thought persisted as he made his way to a set of sliding wooden doors, his mind on a type of auto pilot as he slowly slid them open, the heavy air trapped within racing out to greet him. He couldn't help but notice the very old lines of salt that encased the newer half of the house, the substance having been laid so long before that it was beginning to clump together, the white grains dulled by layers of thick dust.

He stepped gingerly over the lines as he made his way into the large room, the weak sunlight streaking through the dusty air like sepia tones on an old photograph. Everything in the room, furniture and photos alike, was covered in a layer of dust at least an inch and a half thick, no one having set foot in the space since it was sealed off with heavy doors and lines of salt. It just seemed so wrong in the young hunter's mind, so incredibly off. The place had always been safe, inviting and warm, but now it was so ominous, so cold, so frightening. And, Sam thought, so very, very empty.

His fingers traced over the dusty pictures, danced across the mantel and shelves as he took in everything around him, the faces smiling up at his from little forgotten wooden frames. He recognized his father and brother, he saw himself and Kerri, and he saw others, people he assumed were her family. A mother, a father, a younger girl, all smiling, all captured in fleeting moments of life. There were baby pictures, group pictures, hell, even a picture of Dean, no more then sixteen, sitting on the hood of the impala smiling proudly.

This, he thought, this is what was missing. The house around him had always been filled with so much life, always been busy, been loud. But now, ever since he and his brother had returned, it had been oppressively silent, overwhelming empty. Everything about it, everything memorable, inviting, was missing, everything that is, except for Kerri.

"This room's off limits, Sam." A quiet voice broke through the silence, making Sam jump, nearly dropping the picture he had just pick up. He turned quickly on his heels, Kerri standing solemnly at the entry way, her feet still firmly planted on the opposite side of the salt.

She looked almost hesitant, as though she were afraid to take one more step, afraid to come so much as an inch closer to the place she had sealed off who knows how long before. And her eyes were so lost, so dull, so empty, that it made Sam's heart ache. Something had happened here, something had changed the tough girl before him, and they hadn't been there to stop it, to save her.

"I'm sorry." Sam answered softly, looking down once more at the picture in his hands, his mind searching, yearning. It was of him and his brother, along with Kerri and a younger girl, but who she was, Sam had no clue. He bowed his head as he looked around once more, suddenly feeling ashamed that he had entered the space, the memories obviously having a devastating effect on the girl before him.

"Please leave that where you found it." She spoke again, eyeing the photo Sam still held in his hands. He placed it back on the dusty shelf, giving the room one final look before he followed Kerri, watching her as she pulled the doors closed behind him, her back to the past once more.

"So, I was thinking." She began after a few moments, as she and Sam made their way back to Dean, the older man looking more alert then he had an hour before. It was almost as though someone had thrown a switch, the deep, empty eyes that Sam had looked into only a moment before were suddenly focused, suddenly lit with ideas. There was no sign of the frial girl he had seen at the old entry way, the lost girl that had stared longly into the forgotten room. No, now there was the Kerri he had met in the basement, the one that was all but a stranger to him. And, at that moment, she reminded him so much of Dean. "This wraith, it must have attached itself to Dean somehow."

"Can they do that?" Dean asked, looking down at his body expectantly, as if the ghost would suddenly be there for all to see.

"I didn't think so, but that would explain it. I think it is still trying to punish you."

"Then why not just do me in?"

"I don't know. Maybe without Jeremy's spirit around its weaker."

"So, you think it's trying to finish me off, but cant. So instead, it is just attacking me with what it can when it can."

"Yeah. Not too comforting is it?"

"No, you might wanna brush up on your beside manner."

"I know, it's one of my new goals."

"Always good to have aspirations."

"So they tell me."

"So, how do we get rid of it?"

"Honestly, I have no idea, I have never heard of one attaching itself to a person before."

"Are you sure it's a wraith?"

"No. I was sure until a few hours ago, but now, I just coming up empty."

"Hey, Kerri." Sam broke in. He knew that he should be asking about his brother, that he should be researching ways to kill a wraith, but he just couldn't let go of what he had seen, couldn't shake the cloud of loss that hung around him. His mind kept drifting back to the black haired girl in the pictures, his heart and soul screaming to him, telling him that he knew her, that he remembered her. And for some reason, he felt drawn to her. "Who was she?"

"Who was who, Sam?" Dean asked, eyeing his brother suspiciously as Kerri's shoulders slumped, her body curling into itself slightly, as though she were trying to hid from the very air around her.

"No one." She answered quietly.

"Please. I need to know."

"Kerri?" Dean broke in, now sitting up on the sofa, his eyes shifting between his brother and the girl before him. He reached forward slightly, resting a hand on her knee as she sat on the coffee table, her eyes still cast down, voice still distant and small, as her hands began to shake. "Where are they?"

"It's not important."

"Yes it is. I need to know." Sam pleaded, ignoring his brother's angry stares.

"Her name was Evelyn." Kerri began quietly, her gentle voice barely above a whisper.

"Kerri." Dean began again, his voice softer then Sam had ever remembered hearing it. "Where's your family?"

It was something he should have asked long before, something he should have noticed when he first arrived. But he had been so happy to see Kerri, so greatful to be in the presence of his friend once more, that he had completely lost sight of everything around him. But now it all seemed so glaring, so obvious. Her family should have been there, she should never have been left alone. He wanted and needed to know the truth, needed to know what had happened to her in his absence, what he had been unable to shield her from. But, nothing in his mind had prepared him for the quiet answer he recieved.

"They died."

"What! When?" Dean nearly shouted as he grabbed Kerri by the shoulders, the young girl's head shooting up at the outburst, eyes wide and empty as she began to tremble. Everything about her changed, her strong, solid smile melting away, bright eyes sinking down, lost in the depths of her poor, shattered soul.

"About two and a half years ago."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I did. I called your dad. He didn't tell you?"

"No."

"So you didn't know?" She asked again, and Sam was amazed to heard what sounded like relief lacing through her words.

"No, why?" Dean asked, his eyes dulling as he continued to stare at the girl before him, moister threatening his vision.

"I thought, maybe, we just drifted too far apart. That we just didn't matter as much anymore."

"I would never. Kerri, if I knew, I would have been here."

"That's good to hear."

"I'm serious. I don't know why he wouldn't tell me."

"You were on separate hunts, Sam was still at school, and we hadn't seen each other in so long. I wasn't even sure if you remembered who I was."

"I would never forget you. And besides, but this was your family, something like that wouldn't just slip through his mind. I mean, he hunted with your dad for years, they were friends."

"That was a long time ago."

"It shouldn't matter."

"It shouldn't, but it does."

"How?" Sam asked quietly, his mind moving so fast he was sure he would be sick. Two and a half years before, only a few months before Jessica died, only a few months before their father went missing. 'There is no such thing as a coincidence.'

"Sam!"

"No, it's fine. You really don't remember her, do you?"

"No."

"She was a little older then you, only a few months though. Our mom, she died when Evelyn was a little baby, fire. She was such a smart little kid, so inquisitive, and she had such a little crush on you. She used to follow you everywhere, and you hated it." Kerri smiled as she recounted her young sister's life, and Sam finally found his memory, finally saw the whole picture, the little girl like a key, the images playing through his mind as if he were watching a film.

"No, she followed you everywhere."

"No, she followed you, and you always used to follow Dean around, and Dean and me hung out together. Anyway, after you both left, she just seemed to shut down a little, fold more into herself. We were always different, even though we didn't hunt like you two we were still part of the life. Over time, I don't know, she just changed, she scared me a little, honestly.

"And then, one day, she was just happy again. She said 'the man with the yellow eyes told her she wasn't different, that she was special.' I told my dad, he was still trying to figure out what it was. He flipped, went straight to Evelyn and made her tell him everything, told her how stupid she was to make deals with demons, that he had taught her better. I didn't mean to get her in trouble, I didn't mean to make it worse. But I couldn't just sit back and watch her throw her life away. She was in so much danger, I thought my dad could fix it, you know, our dad's could always fix everything.

"From there things just got worse and worse. She came to me a few months later, she was so terrified. She told me he was angry, that she had failed. I didn't know what to do, I used all the protection charms and spells I could think of, but nothing worked, I couldn't keep it out of her head. I couldn't save her. My own little sister.

"We weren't ready for it when it finally came for her. We tried to fight, tried to hide her, but nothing mattered. It killed her right in front of me. Ripped her out of my arms and pinned her to the ceiling of the apartment building where she was hiding. And my dad wouldn't leave her, wouldn't lose her. She was his baby. Nothing was left of either of them after the fire. I still can't even remember how I got out." Kerri paused there, her voice so soft that both Sam and Dean had to lean in closer to hear her, Dean holding onto the trembling girl so tightly that Sam was sure he would break her in two. After a few shaky breaths she continued.

"I called your dad a few weeks later. I told him everything I knew, everything we knew about the demon, and then he hung up. And that was it."

"I'm so sorry, Kerri." Sam began quietly, his mind shattering. He had finally remembered, and now, it was all gone, all left in the dust, burned into ash. And she was left completely alone, abandoned, forgotten. Another shadow along their dark and lonely path.

"Where was our dad when you called him?" Dean asked, his voice shaky as he stared into her deep blue eyes.

"Jericho, California."