This is my first story, so please be nice. Tell me what you think! I do not own any of the characters (except for Alex) and I do not own any of the storylines.
Chapter 20
Alex opened her eyes, stretching her arms above her head as she yawned. She sat up and watched as Dean drove into Texas, passing the sign that said, "Welcome to Texas!" She glanced at Sam in the passenger seat and stifled a laugh. He was sleeping and Dean had stuck a plastic spoon in his wide-open mouth. Dean took out his phone and snapped a picture. He threw his phone on the dashboard when he was done and cranked up the music, causing Sam to jerk awake. Sam pulled the spoon out of his mouth and threw it on the floor in front of his feet. He looked at Dean, who was singing along with the music.
"Ha-ha. Very funny."
"Where are we?" asked Alex.
"A few hours outside of Richardson. What's the story again?" asked Dean.
Sam grabbed a newspaper section off of the dashboard and read off of it.
"A month ago, this group of kids goes pokin' around a local haunted house."
"Haunted by what?" asked Alex.
"Some spirit. Legend goes, it takes girls and strings 'em up in the rafters. Anyway, this group of kids see this dead girl hangin' in the cellar," said Sam.
"Anybody ID the corpse?" asked Dean.
"That's the thing. By the time the cops got there, the body was gone. The cops said the kids were just yankin' chains."
"Maybe the cops are right," said Alex, pulling out a small bottle of nail polish and painting her toenails.
"Maybe. But I read a couple of the kids' firsthand accounts. They seem pretty sincere," said Sam.
He turned to look at Alex and raised his eyebrows when he saw the nail polish. She pointed to Dean and then put a finger to her lips to tell Sam to be quiet. He nodded and turned back to the front.
"Where'd you read these accounts?" asked Dean.
"I surfed some local paranormal websites and found one."
"And what's it called?"
" ."
Dean scoffed.
"Let me guess. Streaming live out of Mom's basement," said Alex.
"Yeah, probably," said Sam.
"Alright, where do we find these kids?" asked Dean.
"The same place you always find kids in a town like this," said Sam.
"Yep. Some freakin' rodeo thing or a high school football game," said Alex.
She looked at her toenails and smiled. She put the nail polish bottle under the backseat.
"Alexandra Marie Winchester, if you ever paint your nails in my car again, I will kick your ass," warned Dean.
Alex rolled her eyes.
"Whatever."
Sam laughed.
Alex sighed as they entered a local music store. Dean held the door open for her and Alex looked around once she stepped inside. It was pretty empty, a few middle-aged men milling around the aisles, looking at records. She looked for a teenager and saw a teenage boy in the back of the store. He was placing CD's where they belonged throughout the rows of merchandise. Alex hit Dean's shoulder and pointed to the kid. Dean nodded and led the way to the back of the store.
"Are you Craig?" asked Sam as they approached the kid.
The kid looked Sam up and down, nodding. He looked at Alex, his eyes lingering longer than necessary. She stepped closer into Dean's side.
"We're reporters for the Dallas Star. I'm Dean. This is Sam and Alex."
"No way! I'm a writer too. I write for my school magazine."
Craig stepped around them to place a CD in its correct place.
"We're doing an article on local hauntings and rumor has it, you might know about one," said Sam.
Craig looked at them, stopping his work.
"You mean the Hell House?"
"That's the one," said Sam.
"Well, back in the 30's, this farmer, Mordecai Murdock, used to live in the house with his six daughters. It was during the Depression. His crops were failing. He had no money to feed his own kids. So, I guess that's when he went off the deep end."
"How?" asked Alex.
"He figured it would be best if his girls died quick, so he attacked them. They screamed, begged for him to stop. He just strung 'em up. And then, when it was all finished, he hung himself. Now, they say his spirit is stuck in the house forever, killing any girl that goes inside."
"Where'd you hear all of this?" asked Dean.
"My cousin told me. I don't know where she heard it from. But that girl was real," said Craig, looking Dean straight in the eyes while nodding profusely.
"Alright, thanks," said Sam.
Dean stopped the Impala at the bottom of the hill that led to the Hell House. He climbed out of the car with Alex and Sam. Alex groaned as she looked at the hill.
"I hate climbing up hills."
She turned to Sam, sticking her bottom lip out in a pretty pitiful pout.
"Sammy, can you give me a piggy back ride up the hill to the haunted house?"
Sam sighed, but crouched down so that Alex could jump onto his back. She jumped and they headed up to the house, Dean laughing at Sam.
"Can't believe you fell for that."
Sam glared and flipped him off, Dean still laughing.
"Shut it, Dean," said Alex, glaring over at her older brother.
They continued up the hill in silence. Sam stepped in a puddle and Alex was jostled around on his back, almost falling off.
"Hey, watch where you're stepping!" yelled Alex.
"Sorry! You know, I don't have to do this. In fact, I could just drop you."
Sam took one hand off of Alex's left thigh and she dangled from his back.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" said Alex, hanging onto Sam's shoulders.
Sam laughed and grabbed her leg again, hoisting her higher onto his back. They finally got to the house and they looked up at it. It was stormy outside and the house looked eerie.
"C'mon," said Dean, stepping onto the porch and heading inside.
They entered the house, Sam letting Alex slide off his back gently. She stepped onto the floor and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Sam's cheek.
"Thanks, big brother."
Sam nodded and they followed Dean into the living room. Symbols and graffiti were drawn all over the walls and Alex whistled when she saw them all. Sam took out his phone and began snapping pictures of the drawings.
"Hey, you two ever seen this one before?" asked Dean.
Alex and Sam walked over and looked at the symbol that Dean was referring to. It was a picture of a dot in the middle with three lines and a question mark drawn around the large dot.
"No," said Sam, scratching his hair.
"I have from somewhere," said Dean.
Sam took a picture of it and Alex reached out, touching it.
"It's paint. Seems pretty fresh, too."
She stood up straight when she suddenly heard a noise. Sam and Dean heard it as well and they all rushed into the next room. They pushed open the door and were blinded by two bright lights. Two guys were in the room, looking at the Winchesters.
"What are you doing here?" asked one guy.
"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Dean.
"We belong here. We're professionals."
"Professional what?"
"Paranormal investigators."
One of the guys handed Dean a business card.
"You run the website?" asked Sam, looking at the card with disbelief.
"Yep. And we know who you guys are, too," said one of the men, Harry.
"Oh, yeah?" asked Dean, an eyebrow raised suspiciously.
"Yep. You're amateurs. Lookin' for ghosts and cheap thrills," said Harry.
"Yeah, you're so right. What do you got so far?" asked Alex, playing along with Harry's theory.
"Well, Ed? Why don't you tell 'em about EMF," said Harry to his friend.
Ed walked over to his duffel bag and pulled out a homemade EMF meter that looked like Dean's.
"Wow," said Sam, playing dumb.
Alex hid a smile.
"So, have you two ever seen a ghost before?" asked Dean.
"Once. We were investigating this old house and we saw a vase fall right off of a table… by itself," whispered Harry, his eyes wide.
"And something like that just changes you," said Ed, shaking his head.
"Well, we should go and let them get back to work," said Dean to his siblings.
"Yeah, you should," said Harry.
Ed nodded profusely next to him. Dean led the way out of the house with his siblings.
Alex and Sam stepped onto the front steps of the local library the very next morning, their jackets pulled tight around them as they stepped into the cool fall air.
"Hey, what'd you find?" asked Dean, getting off of the hood of his Impala to meet them halfway.
"We didn't find a Mordecai, but we did find a Mark Murdock. He lived in the house in the 1930's, but he only had two boys for kids. No record he ever killed anyone," explained Alex.
"No sign of the dead girl. It's like she never existed," said Dean.
He opened his driver's side car door and got inside. He started the car and covered his ears as music blasted from the speakers extremely loud. Dean turned it down and glared over at Sam, who was laughing hysterically.
"That's all you got? Weak."
Alex rolled her eyes as Sam just continued laughing.
Dean stopped their car at the bottom of the hill and they walked up to the house. Police officers were swarming the house and a small crowd was forming outside of the yellow caution tape. Sam, Alex, and Dean subtly joined the small crowd.
"What happened?" asked Dean to the man who was standing directly beside him.
"The cops say the poor girl hung herself in the house," said the man.
"Suicide?" asked Sam.
"Yes. She was a straight A student with a full ride to UT, too. It just don't make any sense at all."
The man stepped away from them then and Alex watched as the gurney with the dead body was wheeled out of the house, a white sheet covering the body from their view.
"What do you think?" asked Sam.
"I'm thinkin' that we missed something," said Dean.
That night, a police car sat outside of the supposedly haunted house. The Winchesters were hiding behind a bush a few feet away from the house.
"We've gotta get in there," whispered Dean.
Alex looked down at the bottom of the hill and saw Ed and Harry walking up it.
"I don't believe it."
She shook her head sadly.
"I've got an idea," said Dean.
He stood up, still hidden behind the bushes and suddenly yelled, "Who you gonna call?"
Dean quickly ducked back behind the bush and watched as the cops turned around, seeing Ed and Harry heading up the hill. They ran down the hill toward Ed and Harry, allowing the Winchesters to slip into the house undetected.
Alex switched on her flashlight, Sam loaded his shotgun, and Dean loaded his gun as they entered the house through the front door.
"C'mon. We don't have very much time," said Sam.
They headed down to the cellar. The stairs creaked as they walked down them. Once they stepped off of the steps, Dean walked over to a row of shelves, grabbing a glass jar filled with red liquid from the shelf.
"Sam, I dare you to take a swig of this."
"Why the hell would I do that?"
"I double dare you," chimed in Alex.
Sam shook his head and Dean set the jar back down onto the shelf. A noise erupted from a cabinet then and they all hurried over to it. Sam opened the doors, rats quickly scurrying out from the cabinet. Alex hid behind Sam as the rats ran past them.
"I absolutely hate rats," said Alex, disgust coloring her tone.
"You rather it was a ghost?" asked Sam.
"Yes," said Dean.
Suddenly, Alex screamed and Dean and Sam whirled around. There was a spirit standing directly in front of Alex, wielding an ax. Sam shot at it, missing. The spirit disappeared and they all ran up the stairs. Alex flew out of the front door first, Sam and Dean following right behind her.
"Go, go!" yelled Dean, following his siblings down the hill to their car.
Alex laid down on the bed next to Dean in their motel room the very next morning. Sam was on his laptop at the table completing research. Alex threw her magazine down onto the floor and looked at the symbol that Dean had just drawn.
"What the hell is this symbol? It's buggin' me," said Dean, tapping his pencil on his notepad.
"This job's buggin' me. The legend says that Mordecai hung himself, but did you see his slit wrists? And the ax?" asked Alex, sitting straight up and running a hand through her long blonde hair, frustrated.
Dean suddenly sat up.
"I think I know where it started."
Dean threw open the door to the music shop and made a beeline straight for Craig.
"Hey, Craig. Remember us?" asked Dean.
"Look, I'm really not in the mood to take any more of your questions."
"We're just here to buy an album," said Dean.
He grabbed Craig roughly by the collar and dragged him over to the rock section. Dean searched through all of the albums located there until he found the one that he was looking for.
"So, I figured out that the symbol means nothing. It's just a logo for Blue Oyster Cult. Tell me, Craig. You into BOC? Or just scarin' the hell out of people?"
Dean handed Craig the album and Craig gulped, setting the album aside.
"Now. Why don't you tell us about that house. Without lyin' through your ass this time," said Dean.
Craig sighed.
"My cousin, Dana, was on break from TCU. We were bored and we thought it'd be funny if we made the house look haunted. We painted symbols on the walls. We told people who told more people. Now, that one girl's dead."
Craig looked at them, fear written all over his young face.
"We didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."
Dean shook his head and walked away.
"If it's not real, how do you explain Mordecai?" asked Sam.
Alex was lying on her bed when Dean entered the motel room later that same day. He threw his keys down onto the side table. The shower was running and Dean smirked.
"Where were you?" asked Alex, sitting up on her bed. The shower shut off and Dean removed a pouch from his pocket.
"Oh, I just went out," said Dean, tearing open the packet of black itching powder. He poured the contents onto Sam's boxers that were lying on his bed and put the evidence in the trash just as the bathroom door opened.
"Hey, why don't you get dressed? We'll grab somethin' to eat," said Dean, entering the bathroom then and shutting the door after him.
"Damn, Sam. You been workin' out?" asked Alex.
She nodded towards his six-pack abs and then she gently poked them.
"Shut up," said Sam, swatting her hand away and grabbing his clothes to change.
Alex sat at a table while Dean and Sam grabbed the coffee that they had all ordered. Dean handed Alex her cup of coffee and she took a sip, sighing.
"So, tell me about your theory, Sam," said Dean.
He tore open a pack of sugar for his coffee.
"So, there was this incident in Tibet in 1915. A group of monks visualized a ghoulum. They meditate on it so hard that they bring the thing to life. Out of thin air," explained Sam, taking a sip from his own cup of black coffee.
"So?" asked Alex.
"That was simply twenty monks. Imagine what ten thousand websters can do."
Sam opened his laptop and fidgeted in his seat uncomfortably. Dean smiled over his coffee cup.
"But people believe in Santa Clause. Why am I not getting hooked up every Christmas?" asked Dean.
"Cause you're a bad person. And because of this."
Sam slid his laptop over to Dean across the table.
"That's a Tibetan spirit symbol on the wall of the house. Craig said they were painting symbols from a Theology book. That symbol's been used for centuries."
"It would explain why the spirit changes," said Alex.
Sam nodded, shifting in his seat uncomfortably once more, grimacing as well.
"Alright, I've got an idea. C'mon," said Dean.
He stood up and watched as Sam grabbed his laptop and stuffed it back into his bag.
"I think I'm allergic to the motel soap," said Sam as he began walking.
Alex and Dean burst into laughter and Sam looked over at them.
"You did this?!" he yelled.
Alex pointed over to Dean, who laughed even harder.
"You're a freakin' jerk!"
Sam slung his bag higher on his shoulder and walked outside.
Dean knocked on the door of Ed and Harry's trailer a little while later. Harry opened the door, Ed next to him in the doorway.
"Guys, we need to talk," said Sam.
"Um, sorry. We're a little busy right now," said Harry.
He stepped outside with Ed right beside him.
"We'll make it quick. We need you to shut down your site," said Dean.
Harry laughed loudly and obnoxiously.
"You got us arrested last night. Why should we trust you three?"
"People are gonna keep showin' up at the house and getting' hurt by seeing your site," said Alex.
"We have an obligation to our fans," said Ed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well, we could just kick both your little asses right now," said Dean, cracking his knuckles.
Ed and Harry stepped backward a few small steps.
"Whoa, Dean. Calm down," said Alex, laying her hand on Dean's arm gently.
"These guys, we could probably bitch slap 'em both. I could probably even tell them that thing about Mordecai, but they're still not going to help us," said Sam, shaking his head sadly.
"Let's just go," said Alex.
She followed her brothers to their car with Ed and Harry following them earnestly.
"We'll shut down the website if you tell us about Mordecai," said Harry.
"Tell 'em, Sam," said Alex.
Sam nodded and handed Harry a fake death certificate.
"According to the coroner, the actual cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound."
"He didn't hang or cut himself," said Dean.
Ed smiled and quickly ran back to the trailer with Harry right behind him. The Winchester siblings smirked triumphantly and gave each other fist bumps.
Dean took a drink of his beer as he sat across from Sam in the diner booth later that night. Alex and Dean were sitting next to each other in the booth while Sam sat on the other side by himself. Alex picked at her fries while Dean pulled the string on the talking man that hung on the wall next to his head. Dean reached for the string once more and Sam grabbed the string from him.
"If you pull that thing one more time, I'll kill you."
"You need more laughter in your life. You're too tense," said Dean.
Alex nodded and stuck a fry in her mouth.
"They posted yet?" she asked Sam.
Sam turned the computer screen toward her and she read the new post on Harry and Ed's blog.
"Alright. How long do we wait?" asked Dean.
Sam took the laptop back and shut it.
"Long enough for the story to spread and the legend to change. I figured by nightfall."
"Sweet," said Dean, picking up his beer. He took a drink and went to set it back down, but couldn't. Sam began laughing and Dean glared over at him.
"You didn't."
"I did."
Sam held up the small tube of super glue, smiling triumphantly at his older brother. Alex rolled her eyes.
That night, the Winchesters entered the Hell House, Alex standing in between her brothers. Each one of them held a shotgun and they stepped into the living room to see Ed and Harry. Harry and Ed quickly ran over to them, hiding behind Dean and Sam.
"What the hell?" asked Sam as he heard a pounding on the cellar door.
They all looked over as the cellar door burst open and Mordecai suddenly burst through it. Sam and Dean immediately began shooting at the vengeful spirit, emptying their bullets into him. Mordecai suddenly vanished. Ed and Harry looked at the siblings, screaming, as Mordecai suddenly reappeared in front of them.
"Didn't you two post that story we gave you?" asked Alex, her eyes wide.
"Yeah, but our server crashed," explained Ed.
"C'mon. We have to get out of here," said Alex, grabbing Sam's elbow.
"Okay. Let's burn the house down," said Dean.
He grabbed gasoline from the duffel bag he had brought in on his shoulder, poured it all over the floors, and then he immediately threw a lighter onto all of it. He ran out the front door behind his siblings, Ed, and Harry. They all then stood on the front lawn and watched as the house went up in flames.
The next day, the siblings walked with Ed and Harry to their trailer.
"So, we got a call from a very important Hollywood producer today. He read about Hell House on our website and wants us to write the movie," boasted Harry.
"Well, good luck and congratulations," said Sam, slapping Harry on the back, hard.
Harry waved and climbed into the truck that pulled the trailer, Ed behind the truck's wheel as they pulled away.
"So, I have a confession to make," said Sam as the three siblings walked back over to the Impala.
"What?" asked Dean.
"I was the one who called and told them I was a producer."
Sam scratched the back of his neck nervously as Alex and Dean both laughed.
"And I was the one who put that nasty ass dead fish in their backseat," said Dean.
Sam laughed and climbed into the car with his smiling siblings.