This is a bad idea. This is such a bad idea, are the only thoughts running through Ben's mind. Only getting louder the closer they got to the creepy house. He's still holding onto his theory of their haunting being an actual haunting by a Woman in White, but he's starting to think that Claire might be right and it's a tulpa instead.
Tulpa's are hard to beat. They're living stories. As long as the story keeps being told, then the tulpa keeps power until the story changes the host of the power into something a little more killable.
He knows there was a case in Texas of a tulpa. A team called the "Ghostfacers", consisting of the two founding members, stumbled onto a tulpa but mistakenly thought it was a stereotypical haunting. They were wrong and it was another set of people, Ben thinks they're hunters, found out it was a tulpa because one of the hunters found the symbol to make a tulpa written on a wall.
The case actually started out as a joke by two friends but by using the tulpa's symbol, the story the friends fabricated became real. Quick thinking on the hunters' part, they spread the story of killing the ghost by burning the house down. So far that story's held.
Ben just hopes this one - if it is a tulpa - will be as easy to handle.
Please let it be a Woman in White.
BW
The Sheriff is going to kill them. She is so, so, so going to kill them.
Ben and Claire are currently cowering under a disgusting, dusty, incredibly filthy bed. There's probably bedbugs galore. He's never going to feel clean again.
Claire shuffled, one of her knees came dangerously close to a sensitive area on Ben's body. He hissed at the close call, and she clamped a hand on his mouth. She glared at him and he glared back and pointedly looked at the position of her knee. She winced at him and moved her knee away.
She mimed holding her palms out towards him and mouthed the word "sorry". Ben nodded at her and they lay still until they felt safe enough to move.
The sun started to set when they finally worked up the courage to move out from their hiding spot. Ben felt completely vulnerable now that he's out from under the safety of his bedbug ridden mattress. There's no buffer between him and the Woman in White. Claire is so going to owe him one big ass apology for not listening to him.
It's not a tulpa, thank the gods.
The Woman in White took one look at them, threw her head back and let out that awful scream The Woman's husband (seriously, he needs to learn her name) described. It sent Ben running up the stairs with Claire hot on his heels. They split up before Claire followed him into the master bedroom, it had the biggest bed to hide under.
Claire grabbed his hand and took the lead as they carefully navigated their way down to the ground level. The ghost didn't pop up suddenly to scare the bejeezus out of them. It made them nervous.
The door beckoned them like a siren song. Claire tightened her grip on Ben's hand like she's preparing for a sprint to the last few feet to the door. Ben shifted to the balls of his feet in preparation should Claire decide to run or at least be ready in case the ghost popped in. Either way, he'll be prepared to friggin' book it.
Their breath started to mist. Not good. Coldness started to seep into their bones as the temperature dropped, signaling a certain terrifying ghost is about to make an appearance.
"Oh, shit," Claire whispered. Her grip reached painful levels but Ben wasn't going to complain. The tighter she hung on to him, the harder it will be for the ghost to rip them apart and the safer he felt.
They pressed against each other, back to back, their eyes scanned every inch of the living room for the ghost. A lamp went flying over their heads, the resulting crash practically had them jumping out of their skin from the loud noise. After spending an hour or so in silence, the noise from the breaking lamp was jarring on a visceral level.
The Woman in White appeared between them and the door. She stared at them with her hollowed out eye sockets, and though there wasn't any actual eyeballs, they could feel her looking at them. It is an unnerving sensation. To be stared at without any eyes to stare back at.
Claire maneuvered Ben until he was behind her.
"What do you want?" Claire asked the ghost.
Claire's back was straightened, her shoulders drawn back, and she stared at the ghost with defiance. If it wasn't for the tremors she could feel through their linked hands, Ben would think she's unbothered by the sightless ghost in front of them.
"I said, what do you want?" demanded Claire. "Why are you bothering those kids?"
Mentioning those kids whose rooms she appeared in, seemed to trigger a switch in the ghost.
An echo-y voice emanated from the WiW (Woman in White) though her voice didn't move, another disconcerting attribute of this particular ghost.
"They're mine. I take care of them. I would never hurt them," the WiW replied. Her voice is disturbing with that distortion. "Only I love them."
Oh, boy.
"But they're not yours," Claire argued.
"Yes," the WiW's voice dropped to scary levels, "they are. I take care of them"
Ben tugged at Claire's hand in caution. Don't piss her off too much.
Claire squeezed back. Trust me.
"Those children are not yours," Claire repeated in a firm voice. It's her 'I'm about to lose my temper and beat your ass' voice. Ben's been on the receiving end enough times to recognize that particular tone.
"Yes, they ARE!" The ghost bellowed and swept her arm to the right, sending Claire crashing over a couch and onto the floor. The force of Claire being ripped from him, sent Ben in a perfect 360 circle that had him facing the ghost on his own. He took a page out of Claire's book and came to full attention. He won't show her he's afraid.
Not like hiding under the bed could be used against him at the moment.
The ghost moved closer to Ben. It took everything he had to not to flinch or move away, but god, did he want to.
Ben could feel his body start to shake from the cold as his core body temperature dropped. The ghost reached her hand out, this time Ben did flinch away, especially when she touched his cheek. The touch burned and he grunted in pain as he started stepping back away from her.
"My little one," the ghost whispered softly, the echo-y tone from before is gone. "Come with me. I'll protect you until your father comes to get you."
Wait, what?
Ben stopped moving away and forgot about the cold.
The ghost smiled. "Yes, I will protect you until your father comes, my little one. You'll be safe with me. Take my hand and we'll leave this place. You don't want to be caught up in his recent screw up. Only pain and death await you and your father if you remain here."
She held out her hand to him.
"Take my hand."
Ben stared at it, contemplating. His arm rose up without his consent, his hand hovered over the ghost's. He could feel the cold radiating off of her, his breath came out in rapid puffs as his entire body start to shake from the low temperature. His ears, fingers, and face were cold. He slowly stopped shaking. That's good, right?
Before he could think it through, Ben grabbed her hand.
The ghost's face became whole. She has blonde hair, brown eyes, blue jeans, gray shirt, and a light green flannel jacket.
"You look just like your dad," she whispered. "My name's Jo. You made the right choice Ben Winchester. I'll protect you from here on out. I promise."
Before Ben could reconsider his decision, she pulled him in close and the last thought to cross his mind is, Claire and the Sheriff are going to kill me, and a bright light enveloped him as he felt himself go weightless, and then nothing.
BW
Claire came to with a headache that could fell an elephant, a great blue whale, and a rhinoceros one right after the other without losing power. She lay there groaning in pain as she tried to remember what happened and why she's in pain on the ground. Everything's fuzzy.
Earthy smells drowned out anything else she could use to identify where she is. Going by touch told her that she's not outside but wherever she is, it needs a good dusting.
Where is she?
Opening her eyes would be a good first step, Claire thought wryly. She managed to pry her eyes open. Good first step.
Claire took in her surroundings. She's in a house. An old one that hasn't had anyone living in it in ages, judging by the amount of dust coating every surface area she can see without getting up. Isn't that just friggin' great?
She carefully checked for any breaks or cuts on her body before she got up off of the ground. She found none. Slowly like an old woman, Claire got to her feet.
Head still groggy, Claire pulled out her phone to use the flashlight so she could see better. A broken lamp lay on the other side of the room. She found multiple footprints, different sizes, but she couldn't find the other person who is or was in the house with her.
The memory hit her full force.
Ben!
She was here with Ben. Where is he? Where's Ben?
"Ben!" Claire screamed. "Knock if you're here!"
She waited in silence for Ben to answer her. Nothing.
"BEN! Please just - just answer me. Please! Please, Ben! Make some noise so I know you're here. Ben!" Claire screamed so loud she felt her vocal chords strain and threaten to break. "Oh, god, Ben, please, please, please answer me," she sobbed.
Fear ate at her when silence was the only one to answer her.
With shaking fingers, Claire called Jody. When the sheriff picked up, all she said was, "I can't find Ben."
Within minutes, Jody pulled up outside the house and was in the house doing her own search for the missing boy. Claire could hear Jody calling out Ben's name in increasing panic and fear. Guilt tore her up. She should have listened to Ben. He knew what they were dealing with wasn't a tulpa. God, why didn't she listen to him? He'd still be here if she had just listened.
Claire leaned against a grimy wall and slid down it in despair. It's her fault Ben's gone.
"Claire! Claire, listen to me," Jody ordered gently. She tilted Claire's head up towards her. "What is the last thing you remember?"
"A ghost," Claire answered despondently. "A Woman in White. That's what Ben said we -" her voice broke but she cleared her throat and tried again. "Ben said we were hunting a Woman in White but I - I thought we - we were hunting a tulpa. We, uh, we can to the house to look for any symbols or sigils of the tulpa but we didn't find anything but the ghost.
"She screamed, a horrible sound," Claire shuddered in remembered fear. "And we ran upstairs to hide under a bed until we thought it was safe to - to come down. We made it all the way down and were just few feet from the door when - when she appeared right in front of us."
Claire let out a sob and Jody quickly pulled her in for a hug. Claire allowed herself a few seconds of comfort before pulling away.
Wiping her face, Claire continued recounting what happened.
"She was dressed in all white. Her eyes were gone and that was there was empty eye sockets. Pitch black darkness, darker than anything I can imagine, stared at us." Claire shivered and leaned briefly into Jody. "I asked her why she what she wanted but she didn't answer. I asked again, nothing, but when I mentioned those kids, she finally responded.
"She said they were hers and that she was protecting them." Claire hesitated before adding in a small voice, "I antagonized her and she - she - she threw me against the wall. When I woke up, Ben was gone."
Jody pulled away from her and it sent a spike of hurt through her heart.
"You don't remember anything else?" Jody asked her, and Claire shook her head. "Where are you, Ben? What am I supposed to tell Dean?"
Claire flinched at the mention of Ben's dad. Oh, god. Dean. Dean is going to kill her for real this time. This is one thing he can't forgive her for.
"I lost Dean Winchester's son," Claire moaned. "He's going to kill me!"
"No, Claire! He's not. I pro-"
Claire cut her off. "Yes, he is! His son is gone because of me!"
"Claire," Jody tried again. "I promise, I promise Dean won't kill you. He'll kill me. I took his son out hunting. I left his son on his own on a hunt. His first ever hunt. Dean won't blame you. He won't. It'll be on me. He'll never trust me again. He might even take you back and find somewhere safer for you."
"Do we tell him?" Claire asked.
Jody shrugged helplessly. "I - I think we should."
Claire had never seen Jody so shaken up. Jody always seemed like a rock, and now? Now she seems terrified at the prospect of telling Dean that the son he gave up to keep safe, the son whose memories he stripped away for that very reason, is missing, possibly dead from an unidentified ghost. Claire doesn't envy the task before Jody.
Jody pulled out her phone, her hands shook as she meticulously pressed every digit of Dean's cell number on her phone. Jody tapped the "speaker" button so Claire could hear as well. Probably to tell what happened again.
The phone rang and rang until Dean finally picked up.
"What do you want?"
Claire and Jody shared a confused look. They've never heard Dean that short before.
"Dean?" Jody asked slowly.
"Of course it's me, you're calling me."
"Dean, I, uh, I - I have bad news. It's about -"
Dean cut her off.
"You lost Claire. That's good. I won't have to worry about that burden anymore. It's alright, Jody. It's fine. You did me a favor actually," Dean laughed cruelly.
"No, Dean, it's not about Claire," Jody tried again but Dean cut her off yet again.
"Alex took off then? That's good, too. Listen, Jody, I don't have time for your drama right now. I have a certain date with Death I have to get to. See ya!"
The dial tone sounded like a death knell.
"Well, that's not good," Claire said drolly. "Did I mention I hate Dean Winchester?"
"Many times," Jody replied, "but I don't think he was joking about meeting Death. I think he meant the actual Death, as in the Horseman."
Claire shrugged. "Who cares? Apparently he doesn't care about Ben at all."
Jody shook her head in disagreement. "No, something's wrong. If I had been able to say Ben's name, I'm positive he would have come as soon as he could. I think it's up to us to find Ben on our own."
"And just where do we start?" Claire asked sarcastically, the sarcasm doing little to hide fear and worry in her voice.
"I think we need to go back to the library and do some more research on the house and its previous owners," Jody said. "We need to be more thorough. I thought it was a Woman in White, too. Apparently, it's friggin' not!"
Jody paced the living room in agitation while she tried to figure just where she went wrong in choosing this hunt as Ben and Claire's first. She thought she had it figured it out and that everything would go off without a hitch while she let Ben and Claire solve it on their own. But nope. She forgot one important thing about Ben, and that is, he is a Winchester, and Winchesters are notorious for having the impossible happen to them.
In this case, Ben got kidnapped by a friggin' ghost.
A ghost.
There is no way a ghost could have kidnapped Ben. No way. He has to be in the house somewhere but before they could do a more thorough search of the house for any hidden passage ways or rooms, they needed to dig up more information on the house's history.
She's never letting Ben Winchester out of her sight again.
Sorry for the short chapter. It just didn't seem to want to work for me.
What did y'all think?