Chapter 6

"John, I don't care what your intentions were, that boy needs his family!" Jim yelled into the phone.

"You said yourself that he's doing fine. Trust me Jim; I know what I'm doing."

"No John you don't! You're isolating a young kid away from his family when he needs them the most all because he's deaf?! Have you gone insane?"

"Do not lecture me about how to raise my boys Jim. Sam needs to become independent and not rely on his brother for everything."

Jim sighed, "John just please. He needs his brother and his father. Just come get him," he said before hanging up the phone.

Jim prayed that John would stop looking at his youngest son as something like that was stuck on the bottom of his shoe. Yes, Sam was doing okay, but Jim knew he was desperately missing his family. Especially his brother.

~~~ADTH~~~~

Harmone smiled as she carefully approached Sam in the hallway by his locker. She carefully tapped him on the shoulder so as not to scare him. Sam turned and looked at her.

Hi Sam, my name is Harmone.

Uh…hi. You know sign language?

Harmone smiled and nodded, I have an uncle who is partially deaf so we use sign language to speak him. Would you like to sit with me at lunch?

Sam smiled and nodded. Harmone led the way to the lunch room all the while Sam was signing to her.

I can't believe I finally found someone who can sign with me. I thought I was all alone in this school. A lot of the teachers and some of the students look at me like I'm a weirdo.

Harmone chuckled as she led Sam to a table. Don't worry about it. It's just that we've never had someone like you here.

Sam nodded as he sat down and began to unpack his lunch. Harmone grinned. So where you born deaf?

Yeah, Sam replied. My brother and I took a class on ASL so we'd know how to communicate with each other. We also made up our own signs for things. My father refused to learn. I mean I guess its okay I can read lips.

What about your mother?

Sam swallowed and looked down at his food for a moment. She's dead. She died when I was six months old. My father blames me for that night.

Harmone's eyes widened. I'm sure it wasn't your fault. Your father was probably just upset.

He told me it was my fault because she died in my nursery.

Harmone blinked and watched Sam's posture. She shook her head. How could his father blame him for something that he couldn't have prevented? From the way he was reacting, she could tell that he believed it too. She reached over and lifted Sam's head to look at her face.

"It's not your fault," she said, speaking slowly.

Sam blinked back tears and nodded. Soon they changed the conversation to something else and by the time lunch was over, Sam was smiling again. Harmone grinned as she walked him to his next class. She loved his smile and wanted to always see his smile. As she walked toward her own class she pulled out her cell and sent a text.

Call me later. We really need to talk.

~~~ADTH~~~~

Dean looked up from the computer when his father walked into their current motel room, "Dad, when are we going to get Sammy?"

"Soon, son. I promise when we're done with this hunt we will."

Dean frowned, "That's what you said with the last two hunts. And the last hunt had been a simple salt and burn. It was something that Sam could've been here for."

John turned away from his son and sat on the bed, "Did you do research on the office building?"

Dean blinked before standing, "Yeah, but I'm not really finding much. You know if Sammy was here he'd be able to find what we're looking for. Dad, what's going on?"

"What are you talking about?"

Dean cocked his head, "Why did you leave Sam with Pastor Jim?"

John shook his head, "Dean, we don't have time for this right now. I've already explained to you why. Now, I want you to go to the office building and do an EMF sweep."

Dean frowned, "But we already did that."

"Not the entire office building," John said, sitting in front of the computer.

Dean frowned but headed out. As he sat in the car, he chewed his lip as he was in thought. After a few minutes, he pulled out his cellphone.

"Hello?"

"Pastor Jim? It's Dean."

"Hello Dean. What can I do for you?"

"I know you've talked to my dad. Why is he keeping Sam there with you?"

"I don't know."

"Bullshit! I know you know. Now cut the fucking crap and tell me something!" Dean slammed his hand on the steering wheel angrily.

Jim sighed, "He told me that he wanted Sam to not to be so dependent on you for everything."

"How's he doing? Really."

"He's doing alright. He's in school and surprisingly, or maybe not, he's doing well. I just saw him and it looks like he's made a friend. A girl. But, he's missing you guys terribly. He asks me constantly when you all are coming."

"I don't care what my dad says, we're coming as soon as we wrap up this hunt," Dean hung up the phone.

~~~ADTH~~~~

Sam smiled as he got out the car and waved to Harmone, walking into the house with a smile on his face. He greeted Pastor Jim with a smile and a wave as he headed up to his room. When Jim checked on him he found Sam sitting on the bed engrossed in his homework. He walked over to the bed and was about to reach out when Sam looked up.

"Ready for dinner?" Jim asked.

Sam nodded and put aside his homework before following Jim downstairs. After sitting in silence for a few minutes Jim grinned.

"I talked to Dean today."

Sam's eyes lit up, "He coming?" he asked softly.

Jim had noticed that while Sam could speak, he didn't like it. Recently he started to use his voice more but only with short sentences. Jim nodded.

"He said as soon as he and John finish their current hunt they will be here."

Sam suddenly saw Jim stand up and frowned but he realized that the phone had been ringing. A few minutes later Jim sat back down with a frown on his face. Sam cocked his head as if to ask what was wrong.

Jim shook his head, frowning, "That was one of the members of the church. She asked me if I could add her son into the prayer circle."

"Why?"

"They found him in the woods this afternoon. He was cut open and his heart was missing."

Sam frowned, "Werewolf."

Jim nodded, "That seems plausible, but the only thing is that it isn't the full moon. The full moon isn't until next week."

Sam blinked. I wanna see the body, he wrote on a piece of paper before he slipped the paper to Jim.

Jim blinked and shook his head, "No Sam. Let's wait until your father and Dean get here."

Sam huffed, Please. I can try and figure it out. Who knows when they'll get here. There could be more bodies by then.

Jim sighed, "Fine. They're doing an autopsy to try and determine cause of death. I'll call the mortician. We'll go tomorrow when you get out of school."

Sam smiled and finished his dinner. He helped Jim clean up and then went back to his room to finish his homework. He wanted to prove that he just because he was young and deaf, he could still hunt. He wanted to make Dean proud, but more than anything he wanted to make his father proud.

Unknown to Jim and Sam, a jaguar had been observing the whole thing and when Sam left the kitchen, it slunk away toward the woods.

TBC...

Who thinks they know who the jaguar is?