Chapter 5: Drawn to the Well

Dean was very irritated now. All Sam had been doing since they got in the car was argue with him. Did he always have to find flaws in everything Dean said? Damn, he was more like their father than even Dean liked to admit.

256, he thought to distract himself as he cranked up the radio to drown out Sam, I wonder what that could mean? Maybe it's an address?

"Stop!" Sam suddenly shouted.

"What?" Dean asked, pulled from his thoughts.

"Stop!" Sam yelled again, causing Dean to slam on the brakes in surprise, throwing them both forward.

At least the steering wheel was there to break my headlong dive into the windshield, Dean thought, trying to get his breath back after being winded.

"What is it?" he asked Sam irritably.

"Free Hope Church," Sam murmured.

"What?" Dean asked again, getting very aggravated. He followed Sam's eyes to a marble sign on the side of the road. It read 'Free Hope Church' carved into the marble.

"Free Hope Church," Sam repeated, "I remember now. That's what she told me to find in my dream!"

"Yeah?" Dean asked, "What happened to 'she's a demon acting good'? Huh, Sam?"

"Just go," Sam snapped, pointing up the hill where the sign led. "Go!" he repeated when Dean just gave him a quizzical stare.

"Alright," Dean said with a sigh as he pushed on the gas, "but admit it. The only reason you were arguing with me before is because you didn't want me to be right, but see I'm older, and I'm always right."

"Dean."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Dean decided to ignore that little comment and turned back to the road. What was he looking for exactly? The sign to Free Hope Church led up a hill that led to a half circle of houses of sorts. Down one road was a large red barn and an old cabin. On the other side of the half circle were more houses and an old storm shelter cut into the side of the hill. Straight through the middle of the circle was an old dirt road, but no church.

"I don't know, Sammy. I don't see anything here," Dean said to his brother, looking but not seeing the numbers 256 on any of the mailboxes.

"Go down that dirt road. There might be something there," Sam insisted.

Dean obeyed only to save them from another pointless argument. After driving for ten minutes and seeing nothing but dirt and trees he began to become frustrated again.

"Sam, my car is taking a beating for nothing. There's not even a church here."

But then, as Dean rounded a corner, he spotted the rustic white church on the side of the road. He tried to ignore the I-told-you-so look from his brother, but it was hard. Dean pulled into the front of the church, eyes passing over its structure as well as the cemetery next to it.

Maybe we were wrong about this whole job, Dean thought, There's something else going on here besides restless spirits.

Sam got out of the car first and Dean followed. He suddenly felt very uneasy about this whole situation. Something didn't fit together properly in this whole scenario, he just couldn't quite figure out what it was yet.

"I'll check around the church," Sam announced, "You take the cemetery."

"Alright, just be careful," Dean replied.

"Dude, I'm not ten anymore," Sam answered.

"Just take some salt with you and shut up, Sammy."

"Sam," the younger brother corrected.

"Alright, Sam," Dean replied, then muttered when his brother was out of earshot, "-my."

Dean made his way into the small graveyard. He didn't really expect to find much in daylight, but it never hurt to check. It was very quiet here, which was unsettling to Dean.

Probably just because we're in the middle of nowhere, he reassured himself.
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Sam searched the perimeter of the old church, but found nothing there. It seemed like any regular old church to him.

"Alright, lady. Why did you send me here?" he asked out loud, not really expecting an answer.

Over here...

Sam turned at the sound of a whisper. Had he imagined it? No, he didn't think so. But had that been the voice of the same girl who had spoken to him in his dream. He somehow didn't think so. It sounded different to them. But he found himself following it anyway.

He found a trail a little ways from the church that led through the trees. He followed it and it didn't take him very long at all to find what he knew he'd been led to. It was an old well that had obviously been forgotten and left untouched for years. It was made of stone and was overgrown by vegetation.

He walked closer to the well. There had to be something here for him to find. Why else would he have been led here? He leaned over the side of the well and looked inside. It was too dark to see. He picked up a rock and let it fall into the abyss. He heard it hit the stone wall a couple of times and then splash at the bottom. It wasn't too deep, but still a pretty good fall.

That's when he felt the cold chill on the back of his neck. Sam moved to turn around, but never got the chance.

Surprise... the voice whispered in his ear, and then he felt a shove and he was falling into the well.
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"Alright," Dean muttered, standing from where he crouched in front of a tombstone, "That's it. Another dead end. Back to square one."

Dean!

The older Winchester stopped when he heard the faint cry. There was no doubt about it. It was the same voice he had heard over the EVP. He turned, searching for a sign to where it was coming from.

Dean! Sam's in danger! He needs you!