Chapter 6
When we drove to the Carlton household I noticed that Bill Carlton was still sitting on the end of the dock. We got out of the car and walked slowly up to him.
"Mr. Carlton, we'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind," Sam said.
"We understand this is a bad time." I said gently.
"We're from the Department," Bill interrupted Dean from continuing.
"I don't care who you're with. I've answered enough questions." He said, still staring out at the lake.
"You're son said he saw something in the lake." Sam said. "What about you?"
"Have you ever seen anything out there?" I asked. "With Sophie's drowning and Will's death, we think there is a connection to you or your family."
"My children are gone. It's," he paused and I could hear the sadness and pain in his voice. "It's worse than dying. Please just go away."
I nodded to the other guys and we left him alone. As we walked away Sam spoke up.
"What do you guys think?" Sam asked.
"Poor guy's been through hell." Dean said. "I also think he's not telling us something."
We stopped in front of the house and something seemed very familiar about it, besides the fact that we had just been here.
"What is it?" Sam asked.
"Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something." Dean said. He pulled something out of his jacket pocket and I took a look at it. It was the picture that Lucas had drawn him and it was almost an exact replica of the house in front of us.
We found Andrea's father's house and quickly knocked on the door. She answered and asked us what we needed.
"Can I go up to talk to Lucas?" Dean asked as she let us into the house. Andrea shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea.
"I just need to talk to him for a few minutes." He said.
"He won't say anything," she said. "What good's it gonna do?"
"We think more people might get hurt." Sam said.
"There's something out there and we need to stop it." I added. Andrea glanced between the three of us.
"My husband and the others, they just drowned." She said.
"If that's what you really believe then we'll go." Dean said. "But if you think there's even a possibility that something else could be going on here, please let me talk to your son."
She sighed and nodded, motioning for us to follow her. She led us up the stairs and Andrea, Sam and I waited in the doorway to Lucas' room as Dean slowly walked in. Lucas was coloring again.
"Hey Lucas, you remember me?" Dean asked, sitting down next to him. "You know I, uh, I wanted to thank you for that last drawing."
From what I could see Lucas was drawing a person in a body of water. Dean pulled out the picture he had been talking about and unfolded it.
"I wanted to know how you knew to draw this. Did you know something bad was gonna happen?" Dean asked. Lucas kept drawing. Andrea glanced at me and shrugged. I held up my hand to let her know that she should give Dean another moment. "Maybe you could nod yes or no for me."
Lucas didn't and kept coloring. Dean nodded.
"Hey," he said softly. "You're scared. It's okay, I understand. You see, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom and I was scared too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you."
Lucas seemed to be listening.
"But you see, my mom… I know she wanted me to be brave." Dean said. I wanted to hold his hand and be there for him. I knew it was hard for him to open up like this, but I knew if he really connected with Lucas that the kid would possibly get better. "I think about that every day and I do my best to be brave. And maybe your dad wants you to be brave too."
Lucas stopped coloring and looked up at Dean. He handed him a picture he had from his pile and Dean smiled. Andrea was staring at the scene with wide eyes.
"Thanks, Lucas." Dean said. He got up and came to us at the doorway. He didn't look at any of us but motioned for us to go back downstairs.
"Thanks for letting them talk," I said at the front door. Andrea nodded and we left the house. We got into the car and Dean showed us the picture that Lucas had given him. There was a church and a house with a boy and his red bicycle in front.
"You think this is an actual place in town?" I asked. Dean nodded and started driving around town, trying to find the place.
"Andrea said the kid never drew like that till his dad died." Dean said as he drove. Sam and I kept a look out.
"There are cases where going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions or psychic tendencies." Sam said, looking at the picture.
"What if Lucas is tapping into whatever's out there, somehow? I mean it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns." Dean said. Sam gave him a look that told us that he didn't really think it was possible.
"Well, we don't really have any other leads," I said. Dean nodded and Sam sighed.
"I guess we got another house to find." Sam said.
"The only problem is there's about a thousand yellow two-stories in this county alone." Dean said. I leaned forward to look at the picture over Sam's shoulder.
"What about the church?" I asked.
"I bet there's less than a thousand of those around here." Sam said.
"You two think you're so smart," Dean said sarcastically. I laughed lightly and leaned back in my seat. Sam glanced at Dean.
"You know, what you said about mom…" Sam paused. "You never told me that before."
"It's not a huge deal," Dean said. He glanced at Sam. "Oh god, we're not gonna hug or anything, are we?"
Sam shook his head with a small laugh. I pointed up ahead.
"There it is," I said. Dean and Sam both looked. The church with the two-story yellow house.
We went up and knocked on the door. An older lady opened the door.
"Sorry to be a bother," I said, "but is it possible that a little boy lives here? He might wear a blue ball cap and have a red bicycle."
She shook her head. "No, not for a very long time. Peter's been gone for 35 years now. The police never… I never had any idea what happened. He just disappeared."
She led us into her house and we sat down in her living room.
Sam nudged Dean and I and nodded his head towards something. We glanced where he was motioning and saw little toy soldiers set up on the table.
"Losing him," she shook her head, "it's worse than dying."
I got chills when she repeated the exact words said on the dock.
"Did he disappear from here?" Dean asked. "The house, I mean."
"He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school but he never showed up." She said. Dean picked up a picture that was on the table near the toy soldiers. There were two boys, one with a red bicycle. He turned the picture over. 'Peter Sweeney and Bill Carlton – 1970'
He put the picture down and I looked back at the lady. I smiled kindly at her.
"We're really very sorry for your loss." I said, standing up. Dean and Sam followed suit and we left the house. "Back to Bill's I guess then."
"You got that right," Dean said. We got back into the car and started to drive back to the lake.
"So this little boy, Peter Sweeney, vanishes and this is all somehow connected to Bill Carlton." Sam said.
"Yeah, Bill sure as hell seems to be hiding something, huh?" Dean said.
"And all of the people he loves are getting punished." I said, shaking my head.
"So what if Bill did something to Peter?" Dean asked.
"You mean if Bill killed him?" Sam asked.
"Peter's spirit would be furious." I said. Dean nodded.
"It'd want revenge." He said, glancing at Sam and then at me through the rearview mirror. "It's possible."
...
We pulled up to Bill's house and we got out of the car. All the lights were off still in the house and I turned to start walking out to the dock. I paused when he wasn't there and Dean bumped into me.
"What are you doing?" He asked. An engine roared and we all looked out on the lake to see Bill going out in the middle on his boat. Sam started to run to the edge of the dock and Dean and I followed after.
"Mr. Carlton! Come back!" Sam yelled.
"Get off the lake!" We all yelled for him to come back. He didn't listen to us and continued to make his way to the middle of the lake. All we could do was watch in horror as the water rose up and capsized the boat. When the boat righted itself, Bill Carlton was not inside it anymore.
We all turned to stare at each other.
"Did that seriously just happen?" I asked. Dean nodded slowly and Sam pulled out his cell phone to call the police. We walked back to Dean's car and waited for someone to show up.
Ten minutes later Andrea's father drove up and parked right behind Dean's car. We told him what happened and he made us follow him back to the police station. We followed him inside.
When we entered his office, Lucas and Andrea were inside. Lucas seemed to be fidgeting horrible.
"Sam, Dean, Rose," She said, watching us come in the door. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"You're on a first-name basis?" He asked his daughter. "What are you doing here?"
She held up a brown paper bag. "I brought you dinner."
He sighed. "I'm sorry, I really don't have the time."
She glanced between the four of us. "I heard about Bill Carlton, is it true? Is something going on with the lake?"
"We don't really know what the truth is right now." Her father told her. "I think it would be better if you and Lucas went home."
Lucas cried and latched surprisingly onto Dean's arm. Dean bent down to eye level with him.
"Hey Lucas, what is it?" He asked.
"Lucas?" Andrea said.
"It's okay, Lucas, it's okay." Dean said. He glanced up at us. Andrea pulled Lucas gently away and led him outside. Andrea's father sighed and sat down in his chair and the three of us sat resumed our spots from the first time we had been in his office.
"Okay, just so I'm clear. You see… something attack Bill's boat, sending Bill, who is a very good swimmer by the way, into the drink, and you never see him again?" He asked. We all nodded.
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Dean said.
"And I'm supposed to believe this, even though I've all ready sonar-swept the entire lake." He said. He stared at us incredulously. "What you're describing is impossible and you're not really Wildlife Service."
We glanced nervously at each other.
"That's right, I checked." He said. "The department's never heard of you three."
"We can explain," I said. He held up his hand.
"Enough, please." He said. I shut my mouth. "The only reason you're breathing free air is because one of Bill's neighbors saw him steering out that boat just before you did."
He looked intently at each of us before continuing.
"The way I see it is, we have two options here." He said. "The first option is I arrest you for impersonating government officials and keep you as witnesses to Bill's disappearance."
"What's the second option?" Dean asked.
"We can chalk this all up to a bad day, you get into your car, you put this town in your rearview mirror and you don't ever darken my doorstep again." I glanced at the boys.
"Door number two?" I asked them
"Door number two sounds good," Sam said.
"That's what I would pick." The sheriff said.
...
We were waiting at a stop light to turn onto the interstate to Milwaukee. Dean was tapping the steering wheel absentmindedly and I couldn't help but think that even though Bill was dead this hunt didn't seem finished. I leaned forward between the two.
"You know that feeling you get when you finish a job?" I asked them. They nodded and I could tell Dean's mind was somewhere else. "I don't really have that feeling."
"Green," Sam said. Dean turned to look at him.
"What?"
"The light's green." Sam said, pointing to the light. Dean nodded and turned the opposite way of the interstate. "Uh, the interstate's the other way."
"I know, but Rosie's right." Dean said. It was too dark so I didn't know where Dean was headed.
"I think it's over," Sam said, glancing behind him at me. I shook my head.
"I'm not so sure," Dean said, agreeing with me.
"If Bill murdered Peter Sweeney and Peter's spirit got its revenge, case closed." Sam said. "the spirit should be at rest."
"Yeah, but what if we leave and it's not done?" I asked.
"Right," Dean said. "What if we missed something? What if more people get hurt?"
"Why would you guys think that?" Sam asked.
"Because Lucas was really scared," Dean said. Sam glanced back at me.
"Is that why you don't think this is over either?" He asked. I shook my head.
"No, but that is a good point." I said. "I just always have this really good feeling after we finish a job and we're driving away but this time the only thing I feel is…"
I shook my head, trying to come up with the word.
"It's just not good," I said finally. "That's the only way I can explain it."
"And I really don't want to leave town till I know that kid's okay." Dean said. Sam stared at him in shock. It was surprising since Dean never really took a special interest in kids. We'd dealt with a lot of children during hunts but he'd never gotten so attached to one.
"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Sam asked. Dean rolled his eyes.
"Shut up."
...
We ended up in front of Andrea's house and we quickly got out of the car and headed up to the front door. Something felt really wrong.
"Are you guys sure about this?" Sam asked dragging a bit behind us. "It's pretty late."
Right as Dean pressed the door bell the door swung open. We looked down and saw Lucas panting.
"Lucas?" Dean bent down but Lucas just ran back into his house. I pushed past Sam and Dean and quickly followed him. He started pounding on what I remembered was the bathroom door and I quickly pulled him away as Dean kicked the door in and we saw Andrea being pulled under the water in her bath which had turned an ugly dark brown. I quickly ran in while Lucas attached himself to Dean and I pulled Andrea back up out of the water.
Whatever the hell was pulling her down was way strong but I kept pulling. I had managed to get most of her body out of the tub but her head was stuck under. Sam came up behind me and helped pull her head out finally and Andrea latched herself onto me, coughing out water. Realizing that she was completely naked I shooed Sam out. He left down the hall, Dean and Lucas following him.
I grabbed a towel off the rack by the tub and helped her wrap herself in it.
"Come on," I said, helping her up. "Let's get you a robe or something."
I helped her to her bedroom and she pointed to a long cotton robe hanging on the back of her door. I grabbed it and held it out to her.
"Thanks," she said. I nodded and we made our way into the living room. Lucas was sitting by the window. We sat down on the couches and sat in silence for a moment.
"Can you tell us?" Sam asked. Dean was going through her bookshelves, flipping through notebooks and photo albums. Andrea shook her head.
"No, it doesn't make any sense." She started to cry and she hid her head in her hands. "I'm going crazy."
I sat down next to her and rubbed her back.
"You're not going crazy, trust me." I told her. "You can tell us. We'll believe you."
She looked up at us and nodded.
"I heard… I thought I heard," she shook her head. "There was this voice."
"What did it say?" Sam asked.
"It said 'come play with me'." She said. "What's happening?"
Dean sat down on the couch across from us and opened one of the photo albums. He pointed to a picture of some sort of Boy Scout troop or something.
"Do you recognize the kids in these pictures?" He asked. Andrea looked at him like he was crazy before studying the picture.
"Um, no. I mean, except that's my dad right there," she pointed to one of the boys. "He must have been about 12 in these pictures."
I looked her father and recognized the boy standing next to him.
"Chris Bar's drowning," Dean said to Sam and me and ignoring Andrea for a moment. "The connection wasn't to Bill Carlton. It must have been to the sheriff."
I nodded. The boy next to Andrea's father was Peter Sweeney.
"Bill and the sheriff were both involved with Peter." Sam said, nodding.
"What about Chris?" Andrea asked, glancing between us. "What are you talking about?"
I looked up at Lucas to see how he was doing but he was just staring out the window. Dean followed my gaze.
"Lucas?" He said. Lucas just ignored him. "Lucas, what is it?"
Lucas walked to the front door and walked outside. We all stood up to follow him. He stopped at a random spot on the grass lawn and looked down. He looked back up to Dean. I felt goose-bumps; was Peter Sweeney buried there?
Dean looked up at Andrea, glancing at me beforehand, and I knew he thought the same.
"You and Lucas get back to the house and stay there, okay?" He said. Andrea nodded and pulled Lucas back inside, shutting the door behind them. I looked up at the house and saw Andrea watching through the window. Dean and Sam got the shovels out of the Impala and began to dig.
"You think it's Peter's body?" I asked. Sam's shovel hit something solid and we all glanced at each other. They handed me their shovels and started to dig the rest with their hands. They pulled out a red bicycle.
"It's Peter's bike," I said. I heard a gun cock behind me and turned to see Andrea's father standing there and pointing a gun at us. I slowly backed up until I felt Dean grab my waist tightly. He pulled me closer to him.
"Put the gun down," Sam said.
"How did you know that was there?" He asked, glancing at the bike.
"So what happened?" Dean asked. "You and Bill killed Peter, drowned him in the lake and then buried the bike?"
"You can't bury the truth. Nothing stays buried." I said. I glanced to the front door when Andrea came out, fully clothed now.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about." He said.
"You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney 35 years ago." Dean said angrily. "That's what the hell I'm talking about."
Andrea quickly ran towards us.
"Dad!" She cried. She stopped a few feet away.
"Now you've got a seriously pissed off spirit," Dean said.
"It's all ready tried to take Andrea." I said. "It won't stop until it does."
"And then it's going to take Lucas and everyone you love. It's gonna drown them. And it's gonna drag their bodies God knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt." Sam told him.
"And after that," Dean said, "it's gonna take you. And it's not gonna stop until it does."
"Yeah, and how do you know that?" The sheriff asked, mockingly.
"Because that's what it did to Bill," Sam told him.
"Have you three listened to yourselves? You're insane." He said.
"Well, we don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us." Dean said. "But if there's any way that we're gonna bring this spirit down, we need to find the remains, salt them and burn them into dust."
"So please give us some good news and tell us you buried Peter somewhere." I said. "Please don't tell us you just let him go in the lake."
"Dad, is any of this true?" Andrea asked. I could have sworn I heard a little boy whisper and I looked around to see if maybe Lucas was hiding anywhere.
"No, don't listen to them. They're liars and they're dangerous." He said.
"Something tried to drown me." She said. "Chris died on that lake. Dad, look at me!"
He shifted his glance away from us and slowly to her.
"Tell me you didn't kill anyone," she said tearfully. He looked away. Andrea started to cry. "Oh my God."
"Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one. We always bullied him, but this time… it got rough." He said. "We were holding his head under the water and we didn't mean too, but we held him under too long and he drowned. We let the body go and it just sank."
Andrea covered her mouth in shock and I'm sure in horror. He looked at her pleadingly.
"Andrea, we were just kids. We were so scared and it was a mistake." He said. He turned back to us, glaring. "But to say that I have anything to do with these drowning's, with Chris, because of some ghost? That's not rational."
"We need to get all of you away from this lake as far as we can, right now." Dean said. Andrea gasped and was looking out behind all of us. We turned and saw Lucas going down to the lake.
"Lucas!" The sheriff yelled. We all started running to the dock, after Lucas. Dean called his name. He was at the edge of the dock and he bent down to reach his hand in the water.
"Baby! Stay where you are!" Andrea cried. Just as we reached the edge of the lake a hand came up and pulled Lucas in the water. The sheriff stopped running when Lucas fell in and Andrea started to take the jacket she had on off so she could jump in the water after her son. Dean and Sam had all ready jumped in and I stayed above to see if I could see anything.
Sam breached the surface.
"You two stay here," Sam told us. I grabbed Andrea and held her close, nodding.
"No!" She cried, trying to break free. "Lucas!"
"We'll get him!" Sam shouted, diving back under.
It felt like minutes but it had only been seconds that Dean broke the surface of the water. Sam followed shortly after and neither of them had the boy.
"Lucas! Where are you?" Andrea cried.
"Peter!" I turned and saw the sheriff wading into the lake. "Peter, if you can hear me, please, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
"Daddy, no." Andrea shouted.
"Lucas is just a little boy," the sheriff continued. "It's not his fault, it's mine. Please take me."
"Come on! No!" Dean shouted at him. I didn't know what to do.
"Just let it be over!" The sheriff yelled. He was pulled under the water.
"Daddy!" Andrea cried, thrashing against me. "Daddy, no!"
I turned to look at Dean and Sam in horror and they quickly dove back under the water.
"Come on guys," I whispered to myself. Sam swam up but he just shook his head slowly.
"No," Andrea croaked, sliding down in agony to the dock until she was sitting.
"Where's Dean?" I asked, my breath getting stuck in my throat. I was about to jump in after him when he finally reached the surface, with Lucas in his arms.
I quickly rushed forward to the edge of the dock and grabbed him out of Dean's arms, lying him on his back on the ground. I had extreme déjà-vu as I started to perform CPR on the boy from when I had to do the same for Dean.
Lucas's eyes fluttered open and he leaned over to cough up the water from his lungs. I sighed in relief as Andrea cradled the boy to her.
...
"Hey, Rosie, wake up." I groaned and turned over to see Dean standing over me. After everything had happened last night we dropped Andrea and Lucas back at their house and quickly got a room at the motel we had been at before. We definitely needed some sleep before hitting the roads again.
"What time is it?" I asked. He grinned and got on the bed, straddling me. I raised an eyebrow and looked around the room. "Well this is nice."
"Sammy's gone to get breakfast and coffee." He said, wiggling his eyebrows. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my lips. His breath was overwhelmingly minty, probably because he just got finished brushing his teeth, and I smiled as he pulled away.
"Is that so?" I asked. He nodded. "So we're gonna tell him, right?"
"Only if you want to," he said, "but I think it would be best in the long run."
"Ooh, look at you. Thinking about the future. That's a first." I said. He mock glared at me.
"Woman, I think about the future all the time." He said, pouting. I raised my eyebrows.
"Besides thinking about dinner during lunch?" I asked sarcastically. Dean huffed.
"Stop making fun of me," he whined. I laughed and linked my hands together with his, intertwining our fingers. I pulled him back down and kissed him.
He pulled away after a moment. He was about to say something but we heard the engine of the Impala indicating that Sam was back. He ducked his head down in disappointment and sighed as he stood up. He helped me out of bed and I went to grab a change of clothes.
...
I brought my duffel bag out from the motel and went to put it in the trunk of the Impala.
"Hey," I looked up and saw Andrea coming over with Lucas. I smiled.
"Hey," I said back. I waved at Lucas.
"Hi," he said. My eyebrows rose in surprise but I smiled even wider.
"Hi, Lucas." Dean and Sam came out of the motel room, talking.
"Sam, Dean," Andrea said. They smiled when they saw the two. "We're glad we caught you guys. We um, we made you lunch for the road. Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself."
I just noticed the tray he had been carrying.
"Can I give it to them now?" He asked. Andrea smiled and kissed his forehead, nodding.
"Come on Lucas, let's load this into the car," Dean said. Lucas followed him over to the driver's side of the car and I vaguely heard them talking. I smiled as I watched them together for a moment and I couldn't deny that Dean would make a really good father. I almost laughed to myself when I wondered how he would bond with a little girl but quickly pushed the thought out of my mind and turned back to Andrea and Sam.
"How are you holding up?" Sam asked. Andrea sighed.
"It's just gonna take a long time to sort through everything, you know?" She said. We nodded.
"Andrea, I'm sorry," Sam said. She held up her hand to stop him.
"You saved my son," she turned to me, "You saved my life. I can't ask for more than that. And I don't even know you guys. Dad loved me and he loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that."
Dean came back over with Lucas.
"All right, if you're gonna be talking now, this is a very important phrase. Repeat it for me one more time."
"Zeppelin rules!" Lucas exclaimed. We all laughed. That was so fucking adorable. Dean nodded, obviously proud.
"That's right. Up high," he held his hand up for a high five and Lucas immediately slapped his tiny hand against Dean's larger one. "You take care of your mom, okay?"
"All right," Lucas said. Andrea kissed Dean on the cheek and I was about to glare when Lucas pulled on my hand. He motioned for me to move away from them a little bit and I glanced up at the others. Andrea was watching curiously but Dean had a small smile on his face. Lucas pulled me away and I followed. He stopped at a patch of flowers.
I bent down to eye level with him.
"I wanted to thank you for saving my mommy's life." He said quietly. I smiled.
"It was no problem," I said. He wrapped his arms around my neck and I hugged him back. My throat constricted as he pulled away.
"Dean wanted me to tell you something else," Lucas said. I glanced over at Dean who was talking with Andrea and Sam before looking back at Lucas. Lucas bit his lip and looked up as if he was trying to remember what it was. "He said that it doesn't matter what Sam says but he'll always put you first."
"Oh, and," He plucked off one of the flowers and handed it to me.
I didn't know what to say; I was definitely speechless. I hugged Lucas again, not knowing what else to say or do. He grabbed my hand and we made our way back to the others. My heart was doing aerobics and I definitely just wanted to jump Dean right then and there. For being so against C.F.M.'s he sure had a lot of them; at least with me.
Lucas let go of my hand when we reached them and I smiled softly at Dean. He smiled back, ruffling Lucas' hair.
"We'd better get going," Sam said. Andrea hugged each of us again and I smelled the flower that Lucas had picked for me per Dean's instructions as we got into the car.
Andrea and Lucas waved as we drove away and I smiled when I thought about what Lucas had said. Dean was right, it really didn't matter what Sam thought. We shouldn't have to hide our relationship just because Sam's girlfriend had died.
"So where to next?" Sam asked.
"I don't know, but I was thinking" Dean said. I leaned forward and interrupted him from continuing.
"Dean and I are together," I said.
...
...
Ahh! It's been so long, I'm so sorry! There's no real excuses so I'll just let you guys wait a little bit longer to see how Sam responds :) I know. I'm horrible. I hope you guys still love me, though. I still love you guys! Reviews would be lovely but I know I don't really deserve them. I promise I'll update as soon as possible.
-Erin