The Winchesters, Bobby Singer and Jody Mills all belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. This story is for entertainment only, not money.
Hunter's Moon
Chapter 8
The Waterfalls and Ghosts of Sioux Falls
Master of puppets, pulling your strings
Twisting your mind, smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master, master, master
Master, master
Where's those dreams that I've been after?
Master, master
Promised only lies
Laughter, laughter
All I hear or see is laughter
Lyrics from The Master of Puppets by Metallica
Released July 1986
Lyrics by James Hetfield
After Jody drove away Dean spent a little time wandering around the property trying to imagine what he and Sam might want to do with it. The property was pretty extensive and here and there he found little remembrances of their prior life. There was a storage shed still standing. Dean jiggered the lock off and found himself looking at piles of sealed boxes.
He closed it up again figuring he'd come back with Sam for that one.
There was a small semi dry stream on the east side of the land where he found a tree and a fallen trunk that he used to come to as a child when he wanted to be alone and think. So many memories came up and hit him in the face that he felt again as if his heart was breaking. For the first time since Bobby died, Dean sat and cried for him.
Snapping out of it he got up and went back to find Sam asleep on the hood of the Impala.
"Sam, wakey, wakey," he grabbed and shook Sam's foot. "Let's find a motel and some dinner. I'm ready to shut this long assed day down."
Sam stretched and slid off the hood. "Sounds good to me. Where?"
"Jody wants us to take a look at the five waterfalls park so why don't we see what we can find in downtown Sioux Falls?" Dean suggested.
XXXXXXX
At six the next morning, Sam and Dean left the Park Motel and decided to walk around the park while they looked for breakfast. Falls Park was right in the center of Sioux Falls on the Big Sioux River. A beautiful spot, the five stepped waterfalls had been a gathering place for centuries.
The Dakota Indians had regarded it as a sacred, peaceful center and had had built burial mounds on the bluffs overlooking the river. Now it brought a sense of peace to the center of a metropolitan area built by European settlers. Dean wondered what Jody was going to tell them. Somehow this spot had evidently become haunted.
The history of the city revolved around these falls. Created during the last Ice Age by the retreating glaciers, numerous Native American tribes had inhabited the area in turn. Today many Lakota, Dakota, Nakota and other Indigenous Americans still lived in Sioux Falls.
They found a diner and had pancakes for breakfast, Dean, of course, had chocolate chips in his. As they set there with their coffees, Dean's phone went off and Jody Mills said she'd come to them at the diner. The FBI guy wasn't around, she had sent him out of town on a wild goose chase, but no need to take chances, she told him.
In a few minutes Jody pulled up. "That was quick," Sam said,
"It's not like there's a lot of traffic in Sioux Falls," Dean said. "There's only about 160 thousand people here; about 250 thousand in the Greater Met area. Even so it's about twenty eight percent of the entire population of the state."
"Why do you know that stuff? " Sam asked, curious as to why his brother would bother.
"It's all about driving. Got to know the game." Dean replied. "Hi, Jody. Over here."
"Hi guys," Sheriff Mills responded. "Hi Clarisse,' she waved at the waitress.
Clarisse came over to the table. "What do you want, Jody?' she asked with her little order pad ready.
"Just a coffee for right now, would be good but, in a few minutes I'm going to need you to notarize some signatures. These boys have to sign some papers for me."
"I'll get the coffee now," Clarisse responded. "Call me when you're ready to sign."
"That's convenient," Sam Said.
"Yah," Jody added. "Clarisse owns the place. Anything to make a buck."
"Here," she went on, "I've got a power of attorney form and a new bank signature card that Evan let me walk out of the bank with and a couple of other things I need you to look over.
After clearing up the paperwork that Jody brought with her and confirming that Bobby's legacy account had enough money in It to take care of business they told her that they had decided to turn the property into a paintball field.
Sam had looked into it and there was no game field anywhere close to Sioux Falls. Dean already had a manager in mind and said if the guy accepted their offer he would get in touch with Jody. Then they asked about Jody's ghost problem.
"There seem to be these vaporous figures hanging around the falls, usually at night, and other figures up on the bluffs in the day time, screwing around with people. " She went on. "You'll just have to figure it out on your own. The one thing I do know is that it's not the lady on the bicycle."
"What lady on a bicycle?" laughed Dean.
"She's getting to be pretty well known," Jody answered. "She must be a ghost. She always looks the same, white cycling gear on a white bicycle. She appears in the mornings normally and no one has been able to catch up with her, even professional bike riders. She always stays just ahead as she rides the 16 mile bike path that parallels the river. Generally disappears under the railway bridge. I've done the research on her myself and I can't find any record of a woman's death associated with either the bike path or the railroad, so who knows why she rides."
XXXXXXX
Later that night Sam and Dean stood on the bluff above Falls Park, watching the cascades sparkle in the moonlight. It was soothing to watch the water rushing down and the sound of the falls reverberated through the air. They had considered carefully the information that Sam had research on the internet and believed that the burial mounds might be the source of the current problems.
As they stood watch there did appears to be fleeting forms passing over and around the falls. They were so wispy that the forms were more a disturbance in the atmosphere than fully formed apparitions. Then they were attracted to the appearance of a seated man right on the edge of the bluff. He was sitting cross-legged and watching the scene below.
They wandered over. Sam squatted down and tried to get the spirit's attention. It was an old man but surprisingly, not a Native. Sam could hear faintly an angry mutter.
"Don't belong here. Never belonged here. Want to go. Want to go back. Don't belong here."
Sam whispered, blending into the spirit's monologue, "Why stay? Go home. Why can't you leave?"
He seemed to attract some attention as the spirit turned and looked at him. An old man, with a deeply lined face and dark sunken eyes, he seemed to know Sam was there. "Fools below. Won't go. Don't belong."
"We need to go down to the falls, Dean." Sam said, standing up. "This one can't help us. It's the ones below that are the anchor. They are holding him here and it's making him angry. He may be the one throwing stuff off the bluffs but it's only because he is angry at the others."
Sam and Dean made their way down the steep bluff path and in a little while were standing on the edge of the Falls Park paved path.
Dean watched as Sam just stood on the path and closed his eyes. Sam put out a hand as if he was trying to touch someone's hand and then just froze that way. When he began to sway Dean went over and held on to him then led him to a park bench and forced him to sit. All the time Sam held out his hand. Dean saw nothing. They sat and waited.
Dean noticed that the sky was starting to lighten with the false dawn. They had been there for hours. As if Dean's thoughts influenced him, San's hand fell to his lap and opened loosely but he still did not open his eyes. The silence went on and just as Dean was about to shake his brother two things happened. The misty flitting forms that had circled all night appeared to gather around them and a lady all dressed in white riding a bicycle rode past and up the path.
Dean's head turned to follow the lady on the bike and when he looked back again Sam's eyes were open.
"Fort Sod" Sam said very clearly.
"Ok, Sam. Sounds good. Fort Sod. Now what do you mean?" Dean tried to focus his brother in the here and now. He had no idea where Sam had wandered in the night as he sat and waited.
Sam sighed deeply. "Fort Sod. They built a fort to protect themselves from the Indians but they were supposed to leave. They were all supposed to leave and go to Yangton but some stayed. Fools. Fort Sod fell and the camp was burned, along with them. The fools didn't go."
"Alright, Sam," Dean responded. "When was this? Who's the old guy on the bluff? "
Sam finally appeared to snap completely into the present. "The Dakota War of 1862. He was supposed to guide them to Yangton were the soldiers were. Where they would be safe but they wouldn't go. He waited for them and died with them."
"Come on, Sam. Let's get back to the motel for a couple of hours of rest. My butt's asleep from this freaking bench." Dean tugged at Sam's arm. "Come on, let's go."
"Do you remember what was going on in the rest of the country in 1862?" Sam went on. "The Civil War was happening. Nobody cared that they were missing. No one looked for them. They don't even have graves. They rotted where they fell."
"Nice, Sam. You always come back with the nastiest bits of history." He finally got Brother Moose moving and they walked back to the motel.
XXXXXXX
The next morning Dean let Sam sleep in while he went outside and made some phone calls. He then walked to Clarisse's diner and got them coffee and pastries. When he got back it was already 10 AM and Sam was in the shower.
Dean banged on the bathroom door. "Hurry up, bitch. We're supposed to meet Jody in her office at 11."
Sam yelled back some obscene sounding noises and Dean smiled. "Back at 'cha, brother."
They drove to the Sheriff's office, but hesitated to outright park in the lot. Even Dean wasn't cocky enough to park a recognizable car like the Impala in the Sheriff's lot. Parking down the street and around the corner in front of a really nice house, they walked back to the office. Strolling casually up to the desk Sargent, Sam told him they were Sam and Dean Dieffenbachia and they had an appointment with the sheriff.
Dean kicked him in the ankle and the Sargent looked at him like he had grown an extra head. Whipping out a note pad the man pushed it across the desk. "Just write that down for me, buddy, and I'll take it right in to her."
When the Sargent left Dean whispered really loudly "What the hell, Sam. What was that word?"
"Dieffenbachia? It's a plant genus that I'm thinking of growing in the Impala. The genus contains the plant dumb cane and if I fed you a leaf you would lose your voice for a day."
Dean smacked Sam in the back of his head. Sam snorted. "Didn't know you could reach that high, short stuff."
Jody came out of the back. "Alright you two knock it off and come on."
They followed her back. "Who came up with the cute name?" she asked.
"It wasn't me." Dean answered.
Once they were seated Dean waved a hand. "Go on , Sam. Tell the lady about her haunting."
Just then Dean's phone went off and he glanced at it. "I've got to take this. It's the guy about the paintball field."
Sam started. "Well, Jody, it wasn't exactly what we thought it was but they should all be gone now. Just some lost spirits. I don't know what stirred them up unless you know about a place called Fort Sod. That's where they came from. We saw your lady on the bike too. At least, Dan saw her"
Jody nodded her head. "That makes sense, Sam. There was a big kerfuffle about the Fort Sod site in the council chambers a couple of months ago. Starbucks wants to put a coffee shop there. The council said OK, as long as they put up a plaque on the outside of the building. A lot of people are upset about it; historic value and all that."
"The ghosts don't think much of it either but they should be taken care of. Let me know if they come back."
"I don't know if we're going to have to worry about it. " Dean came back from his phone call. "Jody, that was a guy called Chuck Elbert. He's a one legged, retired hunter who lives in Valentine, Nebraska right now. He's real interested in setting up and running the Robert Singer Memorial Paintball Field for us."
"He's a good guy who did us a big favor last month and he used to run a bar so he has some business experience. I guess retirement has turned out to be really boring and he's set up and raring to go on the field. I told him to see you when he gets here. Is that alright with you?" Dean ran out of breath and smiled at her.
"Good deal," said Jody. "It'll be nice to have a home town hunter around again for those annoying little supernatural problems that crop up from time to time."
She stood and shook their hands. "Other than thanks, I don't have much I can give you guys. I will tell you that I sent that FBI guy off to Sica Hollow State Park which is back up route 90 a ways. He's under the impression, for some reason, that you guys are hunting a ghost there."
"Ok, Jody, we'll skip the Park turn off and keep going. We're going back up the Canada for a few weeks."
"Oh, I just remembered." she said hurriedly. "I got an enquiry out of West Lafayette, Indiana where they have the Hunter's Moon festival every year, some guy wanted to know if I'd seen you and if you were going to the Festival this year." She fished around in her desk drawer for a second.
"Here it is, Ed Gainer; he said he was an old friend of your father's"
Sam and Dean exchanged glances.
"He's an idiot and not a very good hunter either. Word is that he stays alive by sacrificing his partners. Don't know why he'd want to see us, we'd sooner shot him than shake his hand." Dean paused and thought for a second about the news.
"Thanks for the warning. We planned on going to the festival this year just to touch base with some of Dad's old associates but don't let anyone know. Half of them want to shoot Sam and, more importantly, me, on sight right now."