"Tell me again why we're doing this?"
Jo sighed. "Because it's the best thing we can do. Hunt, keep our minds off things. Mom thinks it's for the best anyway." She paused and cocked her head at Sam. "Besides-Martin was one of your dad's buddies. Don't you want to help him out?"
Sam rubbed his forehead. "We need to be doing something else. Look for a way to get Dean back. We need-"
"What we NEED is to keep our heads low for now, Sam. Besides, it won't be long." She threw her hands above her head and stretched, looking out the window at the trees passing by. She changed the topic of conversation. "Who would've thought Mom would finally let me go on a hunt with you, Sam?"
She turned her head and saw a smile tugging at the side of his mouth. Well that's progress I guess, she thought to herself.
In reality, Ellen Harvelle had been watching Sam and was worried for his sanity and well-being. So when she got a call from an old hunter named Martin, she immediately volunteered Sam and Jo for the job. It would help take his mind off of things, and maybe distracting themselves with a hunt would be helpful. So Jo agreed to go. It took time convincing Sam to go too, but he only said yes after Ellen and Bobby promised that they would keep looking for a way to get Dean back. Jo felt bad for him. She really, really missed Dean, but Sam's inability to function without Dean was pathetic.
Sam pulled into a parking lot.
"You ready?" He asked.
Jo shrugged and got out of the Impala. She looked up at the giant brick building in front of her. She looked at the sign.
Glenwood Springs Psychiatric Hospital
"Here goes nothing," she mumbled.
"You were referred to me by a Doctor Van Zant in Chicago?"
"Yes sir," Jo replied, eyeing the doctor sitting in front of her. Sam sat beside her.
"Wasn't the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd's last name Van Zant?"
Sam coughed.
"I uh... I don't know, I'm not that into classic rock," Jo said. "I just... I don't know what to do. I just know that my brother..." she glanced over at Sam. Needs help, she mouthed. The doctor nodded his head.
"So Alex, can you tell me how you feel?"
I feel fine. I guess I'm a little depressed."
"Can you tell me why?"
"Well, I started the apocalypse. I killed this demon, Lilith, and accidentally set Lucifer free."
"I-I see."
Jo huffed. "You gotta fix him, Doc."
"Well, we can see what can be done."
"Well, it'd be nice if we can get him fixed real quick. We gotta get back to hunting down the Devil before he can send more hellhounds after us."
"Hell... hellhounds?"
"Yeah, the hellhounds killed our friend Dean. You gotta patch 'im up so we can get back out there and take out Satan."
The doctor looked down at some papers. "If you will excuse me for a moment," he said as he got out of his chair and made his way to the door. Jo looked over at Sam and gave him a thumbs up.
"Doctor Fuller would like to keep the both of you under observation for a couple of days," the all too cheery nurse informed Jo and Sam.
"What? Me too?" asked Jo, maybe a little too innocently.
"Yep!" the nurse said. "Now, if you'll follow me..." She opened a door and motioned Sam and Jo inside.
Jo looked down at what she was wearing. The hospital issued scrubs she was required to wear were thin and loose and made her feel all too uncomfortable. She bit her lip and glanced around uneasily at the other people in the room and started playing with the hospital bracelet on her arm. She read it.
DONOVAN, SARAH Age 25
SCHIZOPHRENIA; RELIGIOUS PSYCHOSIS
GLENWOOD SPRINGS PSYCHIATRIC
She jumped when she felt someone touch her arm. "Hey," Sam said, "just me. So, uh, anybody look suspicious?"
There was a woman singing to herself off-key, and some guy in the corner arguing with himself. Another guy looked like he was chasing invisible butterflies. Jo sighed. "Really, it could be just about anyone in here," she stated blankly. At that moment someone on the other side of the room burst into tears. Jo and Sam made their way to an empty table and sat down.
"Well Sam, I can honestly say I've never been on a hunt like this before."
He nodded his head. Someone approached the table.
"Well Sam Winchester! You grew up well!"
Sam shook hands with the man in front of them. "Hey Martin."
"And who's this?" Martin asked.
Jo stood up and shook his hand. "Pleasure meetin' ya, Mr. Creaser. I'm Jo Harvelle, Ellen's daughter." They all sat back down at the table.
"You're Bill's little girl? Call me Martin." he looked around. "Where's Dean?"
Sam's face grew dark. Jo's hand instantly flew up to her neck to feel Dean's amulet and make sure it was still there. She had barely sneaked it in past the nurse, and found the touch of the cool metal to her skin comforting. The necklace had become familiar. Martin must have noticed, because he cast his glance downward. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sam. I didn't know." They sat in silence for a moment.
Jo spoke up. "Martin, you wanna let us know what you think it is we're hunting?"
"I don't know yet, He said. "A ghost, demon, monster...animal, vegetable, mineral. Hospital's had five deaths in the last four months. Doctors keep calling it suicides, but they're wrong."
"Has anyone seen it?" Jo asked.
"Not me. A few of the patients have seen, ah, glimpses of it. Whatever it is."
"The patients?" Sam interrupted. "Don't you think that they're not the most reliable source?" he asked while gesturing to the still singing woman. "Well look, I know we're just a bunch of crazies but I know something is here. I can feel it in my gut."
"Well maybe Sam and I can go check out the bodies, see if we can find any signs of attack," Jo said. She glanced over her shoulder and made eye contact with Dr. Fuller. "Shut up," she whispered. "The doctor's coming this way."
Dr. Fuller approached them. "Alex, Sarah. I'm glad you're making friends." He smiled. "We're having group in a few minutes. Care to join us?" Sam looked over at Jo who nodded her head. They followed him out of the room.
"So who would like to start?" Dr. Fuller asked. The guy sitting next to Jo raised his hand and started jumping up and down in his seat. Dr. Fuller looked around one more time, then sighed. "Ted? Calm down."
"I am calm. And I'd like to very calmly talk about the monster that is going to eat us." Sam shot a look to Jo, and then looked back at Ted.
"Ted, we are not having that discussion again. It's not good for the group."
"You know what else isn't good for the group? A monster eating all our faces off." Jo suppressed a chuckle. One of the other patients glared at her.
"Alright, fine. Thank you. Anyone else?"
"I saw it kill Susan!" Ted yelled.
"I did too," said the patient that had glared at Jo. "It had big lobster claws."
"No it didn't."
"Yeah it did. And it was an alien. Like on the X-Files."
"No it wasn't! Stop it. Stop helping! We're all dead! We're all-"
"Ted, that's enough. Would you like me to call the orderlies? Or can you behave?"
Ted shrunk back into his chair. "Behave," he whispered quietly.
After the group, Sam and Jo decided it would be best to split up. Jo would go talk to Ted, and Sam would look around. See what he could find. Jo followed Ted out into the recreation room.
"Hey, Ted," She said, catching up to him. He turned around. "Uh, hi. I'm Sarah. I was in group with you?" He nodded his head.
"Well that stuff you were saying about the monster? I believe you," she whispered. His eyes shot up to hers.
"You do?"
"Of course I do. So why don't you tell me about it?" she asked as she pulled him toward one of the couches in the corner of the room.
Sam was about to give up on looking for anything. The most he had found out was the names of the victims, and that all the deaths appeared to be suicides. That was the reliable information. The not so reliable information varied from 'Satan collecting souls' to 'my dead mother-in-law.' One patient had very seriously informed him that it was Tupac.
He felt useless. Here he was, on a hunt, and he couldn't even find anything out. I wish Dean was here. Dean would know what to do. He'd have this figured out by now. Sam tried to think like Dean. What would Dean do? Jo had mentioned earlier that they should check out the bodies. So off he went, in the general direction of the morgue.
Ted had talked to Jo for over an hour and a half, and not just on the monster, but on other things too. Jo felt genuine sympathy for these people. So when Ted started talking to her about other stupid things, she couldn't make herself get up and walk away. So, she listened until finally Ted told her he was tired and was going to his room. So she bid him goodnight and went to find Martin.
When she found him, she began to tell him everything that Ted had told her about what he had seen. He had heard Susan scream and went to go look through the glass on the door. He could just barely see her screaming, pushing herself against the wall. Then, something dark shadowed her window and the screaming stopped.
"Then when they opened the doors the next morning, Susan was dead," Jo said. Martin crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. "Well if it didn't go through the door, it either can go through walls or its goin' through the vents," Martin said. "Each room's got one. Did he say i-"
CRASH!
They turned to see Sam standing in a pile of shattered glass and flowers. An orderly began sweeping it up. "S-Sorry," Sam panted, obviously out of breath. He ran over to where Martin and Jo were sitting.
"You... you guys are not gonna... believe this... but I went down to the morgue and..." Jo cut him off. "Sam! You went down there? Alone?"
"Well, you were busy. So get this, all the victims died in different ways supposedly, right? But all the victims have these holes on the sides of their heads." Sam emphasized by pointing to an area right below his ear. "So I took a pen and pushed it up there and guess what? I didn't feel anything."
Jo turned to look at Martin. He seemed transfixed on Sam and his message.
"So, long story short, I cut open the head of one of them and found the brain was shrunk. I mean, how does a guy's brain shrink? Crazy right!? It was just sucked up dry." He threw his hands up in the air.
"Sam, are you feelin' alright?" Jo asked. He nodded. "Okay. Well, I have no idea what it could be. What about you, Martin?"
"Sounds like a wraith. Nasty bastards, those are. I ain't never seen one in my life. Tried to avoid 'em if I could."
"A wraith?"
"Yeah. They crack open skulls and feed on brain juice. Good news is, silver can kill 'em. So much as touch 'em with it, and the skin'll crackle."
"What's the bad news?" Jo asked.
Martin chuckled. "Well, they can disguise themselves as humans. It could be any Paul, Mary, or Peter in here."
"Oh, well that's just great."
"Lore says you can see their true form in a mirror." Jo stood up. "Where you goin'?" Sam asked.
"Well Sam, if silver is the only thing that can kill this, then I think I'm gonna go find us some." She walked off.
"Keep your eyes peeled, Sam. One other thing," He cleared his throat. "A wraith can make you go crazy. Really crazy. Just if it touches you. So be careful."
The three letter openers in Jo's pocket jangled as she made her way to Sam's room. She knocked and waited as he opened the door. "It's almost lights out, so I figured you could use this." She handed him the letter opener. He took it from her. "Thanks Jo."
"No problem, Sam."
"Really, thank you. For everything." He pulled her into a hug. "I know you and Ellen are just trying to help me. So thanks." He let go of her. She smiled.
"Sure, Sam. What's family for?"
"HELP ME!"
She and Sam bolted out of the room. They followed the sound of the scream down the hallway.
"AHHHHH! HELP!"
"I think it's the wraith. Sam, you go get Martin. Give him this," she handed him the last letter opener. "Go. Now Hurry!" Sam nodded and ran in the other direction towards Martin's room.
Jo came to the door where the screams were coming from. Oh no, not Ted, she thought as she looked at him through the door. She tried the doorknob. Locked. She began to bang on the door as Ted continued screaming. Well at least I know he's still alive. She didn't know how, but all of a sudden the door gave way and she burst in just as the vent clattered to the stood between her and Ted.
"Turn around, bitch!" Jo seethed. The creature began to turn.
"Now that's not very nice," said the overly cheery nurse.
Sam panicked. Martin was nowhere to be found. He began to scream Martin's name until the man appeared from the bathroom. "What is it Sam?"
"The wraith... and Jo... come on!"
"Now, it took you hunters shorter than I thought it would. Oh, don't look too shocked. Coming in here and practically telling us exactly who you are? Ding ding ding!" She twirled her finger and smiled.
"Okay, look. Nobody has to know. You let Ted out of here. Just you and me."
The nurse glanced away. "Mmmm... no!" she said cheerily. "You've already seen me and so has he. Oh well. I'll get two of you tonight!" She clapped her hands. Jo jumped in front of Ted. "Stay behind me," she said through clenched teeth. She felt like she was defending a small child. The wraith leaped at her and Jo pulled out the letter opener at the last moment. It struck the wraith on it's arm. It screamed bloody murder. It's skin sizzled when it came into contact with the opener. Well looks like they are silver after all. She continued to strike at it. She saw Sam appear in the doorway. "Jo!"
"Sam! Take Ted out of here NOW!" She said while jabbing at the wraith. She pushed him out and Sam led him away from the room. the wraith screamed even more. Two men in uniforms rushed into the room and restrained her.
"She-She attacked me!" the wraith said, pretending to be defenseless. Jo spat at her. "She's it! She's the monster! Can't you people see? I just saved his life! I JUST SAVED HIS LIFE!"
Everything went black.