At Hell's Gates

by mrsemmettcullen12

What if Sam had a twin sister? This is the story of Dean and Sam with a sister, Alex.

38. I've Got the Magic In Me

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. Any italics in the story itself are flashbacks/memories.

Chapter 38

The three Winchester siblings walked up to a small crowd of people who were listening intently to a street magician. A camera was filming the magician and Dean sighed as he took them in.

"Jesus, what a douchebag," said Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes and Sam looked at him.

"That's Jeb Dexter," said Sam.

Dean shook his head.

"I don't even want to know how you know that."

Sam just shrugged while Alex smirked, giggling.

"Well, he's famous."

"Eh, kind of," said Alex, cocking her head to the side and watching the magician begin to perform his street trick.

"For what? Douchebaggery?" asked Dean.

The three of them stood and watched as the magician closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. He suddenly began to seize and his deck of cards went flying. A card appeared on the glass window, but it was suddenly inside the building they were all standing next to.

"Is this your card?" asked Jeb, looking at the woman standing closest to him.

The audience began to applaud, squeals of delight coming from some people. Dean shook his head at Jeb's antics and began walking away, Sam and Alex following directly behind him.

"I can't believe people actually fall for his shit," said Dean, rolling his eyes.

"Well, it's not all shit, Dean," said Alex.

Sam nodded in agreement with her.

"Okay, so what part of that was not a huge steaming pile of bullshit?" asked Dean.

"Okay, yes, that was crap, but that's not all magicians. That takes skill," said Sam.

"Oh, right, right. Yeah, I forgot," said Dean.

He turned to face Sam. Alex and Sam faced him.

"You used to be really into this stuff," said Dean, looking directly at Sam with a sarcastic smirk on his face.

Alex began laughing, pointing at Sam.

"Oh my God, that's right! Man, you had that magic wand and the deck of cards!"

"Guys, I was 13, alright? It was just a small little phase," argued Sam.

Alex patted Sam's shoulder gently.

"We know, Sammy. Now, alright, let's talk about this guy who drops dead of 10 stab wounds without a single tear in his shirt," said Alex.

"There. Now that's what I'm talking about," said Dean, pointing to his little sister and heading back off down the street.

A few hours later, they watched as the newly dead magician's assistant threw all of his magic tricks into his magic box. She turned to face them, not an ounce of a smile on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at them.

"So, did your boss ever happen to have any enemies that you know of?" asked Dean, just staring at the woman.

She smirked sarcastically as she pulled out a long, multicolored handkerchief.

"Vance had lots of enemies," she answered.

"How so?" asked Alex.

The girl sighed as he pulled out more of the handkerchief.

"He would steal from other magicians. All the time."

"And what would he steal?" asked Sam.

Dean watched the woman's progress on the handkerchief as she continued pulling it from the leather bag in front of her.

"Stage effects, close-up techniques. Really anything that he could get his hands on."

She finally reached the end of the multicolored handkerchief and threw it into the magic box behind her.

"Is that enough to get him killed?" asked Alex.

The girl sighed.

"These guys take these things pretty seriously."

The girl uncovered a white bunny rabbit as she pulled a black suit jacket off of the top of the rabbit. She scooped down and picked up the rabbit from off of the suit jacket.

"There you are," she cooed to the white bunny rabbit.

"Did you happen to find anything weird in all of Vance's stuff?" asked Dean.

He took in the white rabbit and cleared his throat.

"Well, weirder," he corrected himself.

The girl stuck the white rabbit into her leather bag as she spoke.

"As a matter of fact, I did."

Once the rabbit was safely into the leather bag, the girl sifted through Vance's suit jacket and cape. She pulled out a card and held it up to show the siblings. The card showed a picture of multiple swords sticking into a man's chest as he lied on the ground, facedown and dead. Sam reached out to take the card from the girl.

"So I'm guessing this doesn't belong to Vance," stated Sam.

She shook her head.

"Vance hated card tricks. He never wanted them around, ever. Let alone in his precious cape," she answered.

About an hour later, Dean sat down in a deserted bar area. He looked at the two older gentlemen sitting in front of him and he leaned closer to the one on his right, trying to speak to him.

"Are you Vernon Ascal?" asked Dean.

"Who's asking?" asked the man, not even looking back at Dean yet.

The other gentlemen looked back at Dean though, curiously. Dean dug out his very fake FBI badge.

"Federal Agent Orick. I'm looking into the death of Patrick Vance," explained Dean, putting his badge away after both older men had looked thoroughly at it.

Dean and the older men watched as Jeb Dexter mispronounced the name of his guest. When the guest corrected him, Jeb just blew him off, loudly and super rudely too. Vernon looked at his companion.

"What a douchebag," he remarked.

Dean smirked with agreement and nodded his head.

"I couldn't agree more."

Dean pulled out the card that Vance's assistant had given to them and he held it up to the two older men.

"Does this look familiar to any of you?" asked Dean.

The two men looked back at the card, Vernon just shrugging as he raised his eyebrows.

"Should it be?" asked Vernon.

"Well, I just heard that you used tarot cards throughout your act."

"Oh, my act?"

Vernon gently laughed.

"Oh, son, that was a very long time ago and I haven't touched the deck in years."

"Do you know someone that might, um, use them now, perhaps?"

"Well, there's a guy down on Bleeker Street," answered Vernon.

His companion's eyebrows rose.

"Oh, yes! He pedals that kind of specialty stuff."

Both men nodded towards Dean enthusiastically.

"Well, did he happen to have a problem with Vance?" asked Dean, looking between the two men.

"As a matter of fact, he crossed him. About a year ago. Probably cost him, oh, fifty thousand dollars in royalties," answered Vernon.

"Do you happen to know the exact address?"

"426 Bleeker."

"Ask for Chief."

Dean looked at both of the men.

"Chief?" he asked them.

Both men nodded, smiling at Dean. Dean stood up from his seat behind them.

"Thank you, gentlemen."

The men nodded and watched him leave.

Dean walked down a dark, abandoned alley until he came upon the address the two men had given him. He sighed, but banged on the door. A tough looking pretty boy looked down at Dean as he opened the door. Dean cursed internally.

"I'm, uh, looking for Chief?" asked Dean.

The man looked at Dean, but just shrugged and opened the door to let Dean inside the place. Dean followed the guy down a set of stairs. Once they reached the landing, the man turned to look at Dean.

"Stay here. And… don't touch anything, alright?"

Dean said nothing, but just watched the guy turn around and walk back up the stairs that he had just led them down. Dean stared at the room in front of him, which was dark and smelled like mildew. Suddenly, he heard a door open in front of him. A large, heavy-set man dressed in head to toe leather entered the room from a hidden door in front of Dean. Dean stared at the man, suddenly wary. The man held a large whip in his right hand and smacked it against his left palm once as he stared down at Dean. This man looked like he belonged in a BDSM club.

"Oh, you're really gonna get it tonight, big boy," urged the large man.

Dean looked down at the floor.

"There's been a very large misunderstanding. I, uh, I think I've been had," explained Dean.

"Oh, you ain't been had… till you've been had by the Chief."

The man suddenly pointed at Dean.

"Oh, and before we get started here. What was your safe word again?"

Dean gagged in his mouth, looking away from the man they called Chief.

As Sam typed away on his laptop computer, he heard a knock sound on his motel room door. He checked his watch and then stood up warily and slowly, heading for the door. He looked through the peephole once he reached the motel room door. He sighed when he saw who was standing on the other side. He checked that Alex was still dead asleep on her bed and then opened the door, revealing Ruby on the other side. She had her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at Sam once he opened the door fully.

"What in the hell are you doing here, Ruby?" asked Sam, glaring down at her.

"Well, I should be asking you the same thing."

Ruby walked right past Sam and into the motel room. Sam rolled his eyes and shut the door once she was inside.

"I'm working a job," said Sam, glancing over at Alex once again.

Alex was dead to the world as she slept, groaning as she rolled over in her sleep.

"The whole world's about to be engulfed in hellfire and you're in Magic Town, USA?"

Ruby finally turned to face him and Sam chuckled sarcastically at her remarks. He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked her in the face.

"You got something against magic?"

"That would almost be funny if thirty-four seals hadn't been broken already. Thirty-four, Sam. That's over halfway. Sam, the angels are losing this war, and very badly too. Every single day is one day closer and if someone doesn't do something soon-"

"And that someone is me?" asked Sam, pointing to himself and walking towards Ruby now.

"Who the hell else would it be?" yelled Ruby, throwing out her arms in frustration.

"I don't even know where these seals are! I don't know squat! So why don't you tell me where you would like for me to start!" yelled Sam.

"Well, you can quit dicking around here, for one thing. Bigger fish, Sam. And if these seals are being broken, you might want to go after the one doing the breaking."

"Lilith?" asked Sam, his eyebrows raised up to his hairline.

"Cut the head off the snake. You're the only one who can stop her, Sam."

Ruby walked over to Sam and began circling him slowly.

"So step up and kill that little bitch."

"Oh, I am game, believe me. It's just not the psychic thing that I've got a problem with," yelled Sam, whirling around to face her.

"Yeah, I know what you've got a problem with, but tough! It's the only damn way!"

Sam stared at Ruby for a few long seconds.

"No."

Ruby leaned up against the wall.

"You know, this would all be so much easier if you would just admit to yourself that you actually like it."

Ruby stepped away from the wall and closer to Sam, so Sam looked away from her, his jaw clenching with frustration.

"That feeling that it gives you."

"You don't even know what you're talking about," said Sam, looking straight at Ruby now.

"Oh, I don't, huh?"

Ruby and Sam stared each other down for a few short minutes.

"Fine."

Ruby headed for the motel room door, walking away from Sam and Alex, who was still sleeping soundly. She whirled around at the last minute, staring at Sam.

"It's simple, really. Lucifer rises, the apocalypse starts. You think that you have demons on your hands now? People are gonna die, Sam, oceans of innocent people. So you just let me know when you're ready."

Ruby slammed the door closed behind her as she left the motel room. Sam sighed and sat down on the bed that Alex was asleep on. Alex peeked one eye open and stared at her twin brother's back, having heard Ruby leave and slamming the door.

"God, Ruby's such a little bitch," whispered Alex.

Sam laughed out loud, a full belly laugh, and collapsed on the bed beside Alex. She laughed along with him, smiling. Sam held out his fist and Alex pounded her much smaller fist with his larger one.

Later that night, Sam, Dean, and Alex were back at the club that Dean had been at earlier in the night. Sam and Alex stood off to one side as Dean walked up behind them.

"Find anything interesting?" asked Dean.

Sam jumped slightly and Dean and Alex stared at him strangely.

"What? Um, no. What about you?" asked Sam.

Dean shook his head.

"Nothing that I would like to talk about. Or think about ever again," answered Dean.

Alex looked at her older brother strangely, very confused. Dean just shook his head again and all three of them headed down to the very front row. Dean smirked at the older men he had met earlier that night as they looked at the three of them.

"The Chief, huh?" asked Dean, smirking sarcastically.

"What's wrong? The Chief not your type?"

Dean just chuckled.

"You know, I could have you both arrested for obstruction of justice."

"How? You're no Fed," said Vernon, looking at Dean strangely.

"We con people for a living, son. It takes a lot more than a fake badge to get anything past us," said the other, older man.

Dean just chuckled again, but this time, he was uncomfortable. He glanced at his siblings, who also smiled and chuckled uncomfortably. Sam readjusted his collar and tie.

"You got us. Yeah, we're actually…"

Dean trailed off and looked at his siblings for help.

"Aspiring magicians," answered Alex.

"Yeah, yeah. We, um, actually came to this convention because we thought that we could learn something," explained Sam sheepishly.

"Yeah! Get some ideas for our new show," said Alex.

"Ooh, well, what kind of show?" asked Vernon.

"It's, it's, um-" began Dean, but Sam finished his brother's thought process for him.

"It's a sibling act."

"Yes! Yes, you know, with, um, rings and doves and... more rings," finished Alex in a whisper, looking down at the floor.

The two men nodded as the announcer for the show began speaking.

"You wanna learn something? Well, stick around," said the other magician, looking at the siblings before heading for the stage to help his friend perform his act.

The three siblings plus Vernon watched him walk up onto the stage to help his friend out with his magic act. They all watched earnestly as a rope was tightened around the magician, Jay's, neck. A straight jacket was placed around his arms and chest and he stood on a wooden coffee table. Curtains were pulled around the man as a clock began ticking. Jay began struggling to free himself from the rope around his neck and the straight jacket covering his arms. Alex began biting her lip as the clock continued ticking and Jay still hadn't freed himself from his binds.

"I don't think he's gonna make it," whispered Dean, looking on in horror now as the clock seemed to tick by faster now.

The timer suddenly went off and everyone screamed in terror as Jay fell from the table, hanging himself. But when his friend/assistant opened the curtains, Jay was standing up nice and tall, smiling widely. Audience members stood up and clapped loudly. Dean applauded along with them and sucked in a sharp breath.

"Whoa, that was amazing! That was freaking amazing!" yelled Dean, looking over at Sam and Alex.

Sam and Alex had their mouths hanging open in shock, very confused.

"That was…" began Sam, whispering.

"Not humanly possible," whispered Alex, staring up at her twin brother.

The next morning, Sam was sitting on his bed beside Alex, looking at his laptop screen while Dean sat on his own bed, flipping through books.

"Looks like this guy Jay was a pretty big deal back in the '70's," explained Sam.

"Which, in magician land, means what exactly?" asked Dean, looking down at the books in his lap.

"Um, big enough to play Radio City Music Hall."

"What got him stuck in the where are they now magician file?" asked Alex, looking over Sam's shoulder at his computer screen.

Sam shook his head, just staring over at his computer screen.

"He got old," answered Sam.

Dean looked over at his siblings then.

"So, maybe incredible Jay is actually using real magic to stage a huge comeback," stated Dean, theorizing.

Sam and Alex nodded.

"It's very possible. With some kind of spell that works a death transference," answered Sam.

"So how does the tarot card mix into it?" asked Alex, rolling over onto her back and stretching out her legs as she looked over at Sam for an answer to her question.

Sam shook his head, frowning as he looked at his computer screen.

"I don't know."

Sam began typing again and Dean shook his head, standing up from his bed.

"Man, I hope I die before I get old. That thing seems brutal, don't it?"

Alex rolled her eyes at her older brother and Sam just scoffed, not even smiling. Dean grabbed the one tarot card they had and looked down at it.

"Do you think we will?" asked Sam, suddenly serious as he looked down at the floor.

Dean and Alex looked over at him, the tarot card still in his hands.

"What?" asked Dean.

"Die before we get old," said Sam.

Dean just shrugged while Alex chuckled.

"Haven't all three of us already died at least once?" asked Alex.

Sam rolled his eyes.

"You two know what I mean. I mean, do you think we'll still be hunting and chasing down demons when we're sixty?"

Dean shook his head.

"No, alright? I think all three of us will be dead by then. For good."

Sam looked away from his brother, shaking his head. Alex looked at him sadly.

"What, you want to turn out like Travis? Huh? Or Gordon maybe?" asked Dean.

Alex shook her head at her oldest brother.

"Dean, just stop," whispered Alex.

"Well, there's Bobby," said Sam, looking back over at Dean.

Dean raised his eyebrows and walked away from Sam, back towards his own bed.

"Oh, yeah. There's the poster child for growing old gracefully."

Sam sighed again and looked down at his computer's keyboard.

"Maybe we'll just be a little bit different, Dean, huh?"

"What kind of Kool-Aid are you drinking, man?"

Sam looked down at the floor and Alex sighed.

"Sammy, it ends bloody… or sad. That's just the life we're living."

Sam closed his computer screen and looked over at his siblings.

"What if we could win?" asked Sam.

"Win?" whispered Alex, looking over at her twin brother strangely and confused.

"If there was a way we could just… put an end to all of it."

"Is there something going on that you're not telling me, Sammy?" asked Dean.

Sam shook his head.

"No," whispered Sam.

"Sammy?" asked Alex, biting her bottom lip.

"No! Look, I'm just saying, I… I just wish there was a way we could… go after the source. That's all," explained Sam, standing up from the bed he and Alex shared and pacing in front of the two of them.

Sam crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You know. Cut the head off of the snake."

Dean nodded in understanding.

"Well, you know, the problem with the snake is that it has a thousand and one heads. Evil sons of bitches just keep piling out of the damn Volkswagen," explained Dean.

Sam looked down at the floor, his arms still crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, I know."

Sam scoffed.

"I guess you're right."

Dean took in a deep breath, resting his hands on his knees.

"Let's go see if we can find out where Jay is. You two handle that and I'll see what I can dig up on this tarot card," said Dean, holding up the card still resting in his hands.

Sam and Alex nodded together.

A couple of hours later, Alex and Sam walked into the Hilton hotel lobby. They stood back as a coroner's crew wheeled out a dead body in a body bag on a stretcher. Dean stood off to one side of the lobby, looking deep in thought as he stared off into nothing. Alex and Sam rushed over to him quickly.

"Hey," said Alex.

Dean looked over at them as they finally met up with him in the middle of the lobby of the hotel.

"Some maid found Jeb hanging from the ceiling fan. The police think that it was a suicide, but I beg to differ," said Dean.

He held up another tarot card, smiling.

"I pulled a little sleight of hand myself," grinned Dean.

Sam took the card from Dean's hand and looked over it, Alex watching him.

"This was on Dexter's body?" asked Sam.

Dean nodded.

"Yeah, so I'm thinking that if this spell is actually a death transference, then these cards were, like, black magic targets," explained Dean.

"Any connections between the victims?" asked Alex, looking at the new tarot card curiously as Sam still held it in his hand.

"Dexter was a total douchebag to Jay yesterday," answered Dean.

"Well, what about the first victim? Um, Vance?" asked Sam.

Dean nodded.

"I asked around and apparently Vance was heckling Jay at some bar the day he was murdered."

Sam and Alex scoffed, their shoulders shrugging up and down. The three siblings began walking away from all of the policemen in the lobby, putting together their theories.

"Okay, so Jay sneaks a card into Vance's pocket, does The Table of Death…" began Alex as they walked farther away from the policemen.

"And Vance takes ten swords to the chest," finished Dean.

"So then Jay slips a noose and Jeb doesn't. That's one hell of a trick right there," said Sam, stopping in place as he put the pieces together.

Dean and Alex nodded.

"Yep. So I think it's time we have a little chat with Jay, hmm?" suggested Dean.

Sam and Alex nodded in agreement, so they headed out of the hotel and began looking for Jay.

A couple hours later, Sam, Alex, and Dean poked their heads around the corner of a motel's hallway and watched as Jay unlocked his room door and stepped inside of his motel room. He slammed the door closed behind him and the siblings stepped out from around the corner once they all saw the door slam closed. They swiftly walked up to Jay's door, guns in each of their hands. Sam nodded at Dean and Dean forcefully kicked down Jay's closed motel room door violently. Jay looked at the three of them, surprised and shocked. They raised their guns and Jay held his hands up in surrender.

"Up against the wall, now!" yelled Dean, glaring at the sixty-year old man.

"Who are you three and what do you want?" demanded Jay, beginning to look terrified as he stared at all of their guns.

"Now!" yelled Dean again.

"We know what you've been up to," explained Sam, much calmer than Dean right now.

"You're using some really awful mojo to jump start your magic career again," explained Alex.

"What? I have no clue what you're even talking about," said Jay, looking even more thoroughly confused than he had before.

"Look, we all know you put a spell on those two tarot cards we found at both crime scenes," said Alex.

"Messing with some real dark magic," yelled Dean, getting more and more frustrated with the older man.

"Real magic? Come on, there's no such thing as real magic," laughed Jay nervously.

"Oh, is that so?" asked Dean.

"Yes, please, believe me. I've been around this stuff my whole entire life. It's all just… It's illusions and tricks, it's… It's all fake!" yelled Jay, backing up towards his open window.

"Jeb Dexter strung up, was that just an illusion?" asked Dean, his tone of voice very scary and threatening now.

"What, something happened to Jeb?" asked Jay, looking deeply saddened now as he lowered his hands to his sides slowly.

"He was found hanged in his room this morning by some hotel maid," explained Sam.

"Yeah, right after you slipped the noose last night," said Dean, glaring over at Jay.

Jay shook his head.

"I seriously have no clue what you three are even talking about. So please, just let me go," said Jay, pointing towards the motel room door behind the siblings.

"Something's not right," said Dean, speaking out of the side of his mouth so his siblings would know he was talking to them and not Jay.

"So, what do you want to do?" asked Alex, also still staring at Jay.

A few minutes later, the siblings had Jay tied down to a chair in the middle of his motel room. They huddled together to figure out a new plan.

"Alright, so if it's not him, then who the hell is it?" asked Alex, whispering to her brothers.

"Well, even if Jay's not working the magic, he's still reaping the rewards, his shows are selling out," explained Dean.

Sam sighed and turned back around to glance briefly at Jay.

"Alright, so. So then whoever it is, they're obviously in Jay's corner," piped up Alex, staring at her brothers.

Sam whipped his head back around to look over at his twin sister.

"Alright, so we've got Vernon and Charlie on the list, anyone else you two can think of?" asked Dean.

"Um, well, we could always ask him," suggested Sam.

He looked at his siblings and both Alex and Dean nodded in agreement. The three of them whirled around to face Jay, but were shocked to find his chair now empty. Alex rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration while Sam sighed deeply.

"I guess we should've seen that one coming," suggested Dean.

Sam nodded and grabbed Dean's shoulder.

"Come on. He couldn't have gotten that far."

The three siblings headed out of the motel room quickly, never knowing that Jay was actually hiding in the closet, waiting for them to leave so that he could make his escape unknown.

As they ran into the front lobby of the motel, Alex felt an uneasy sensation prickle the back of her neck. Suddenly, a police car roared onto the curb and two police officers ran into the front lobby, their guns trained on the three siblings. Jay pounded down the stairs and the siblings held up their hands in surrender, sheepish expressions and smiles gracing their faces. Jay pointed an accusatory finger at the three siblings.

"That's them, those are the three morons who just broke into my room!" yelled Jay.

People in the front lobby gasped as they looked over at the three siblings.

Hours later, the three Winchester siblings walked into their hotel lobby. Jay was standing there, waiting patiently for them. Sam threw open the front doors and they all rushed over to Jay.

"Jay. Thanks for dropping the charges," said Sam.

"Would you mind telling us why you did it?" asked Alex, looking at the older man very sympathetically, sensing that something was very wrong with the old man.

"We have to talk," said Jay, looking between the three of them, his face grave and very solemn.

Jay took a drink from his whiskey, looking down at his glass as he spoke.

"I was just a kid when we first met. All I knew was how to cheat at cards, Charlie always got me out of more scrapes than I could count," explained Jay.

He took another drink from his glass before speaking once again.

"Hell, I would've probably been dead at the tender age of twenty if it hadn't been for him. He was more than my friend. He was my brother."

"We're sorry, Jay," said Alex, placing a comforting hand on top of Jay's on the tabletop.

"Look, I should've listened to you three guys when you told me that my magic show was killing people," said Jay.

"Well, you certainly weren't the one pulling the trigger now, were you?" asked Dean, just looking tired now.

"Yeah, but someone else was and I want to find out who did this to Charlie, so I'll do whatever you guys say, just, please, tell me what to do," begged Jay, looking down at his now empty glass once full of whiskey.

"Jay, whoever's doing this… they like you. They're … probably close to you, too," explained Alex.

Jay looked over at her, very confused, so she looked over at Sam or Dean for help. Sam sighed and continued.

"Did Charlie and Vernon get along?" asked Sam.

"No. No, it's not Vernon," whispered Jay, completely in denial now.

"He's really the only one that makes sense," explained Dean.

"Charlie and Vernon were your family, Jay."

"And now Charlie's gone."

"Yeah, but… I mean, they butted heads sometimes, but Vernon would and could never do something like this."

Dean licked his lips.

"See, the thing about real magic… is it's a whole lot like crack. People do some pretty surprising things once they get a taste of it," explained Dean.

Sam and Alex just stared at him while Jay shook his head slowly, still in denial.

"You three better be pretty damn sure about all of this. Vernon's all I've got left," whispered Jay.

He looked down at his now empty whiskey glass sadly.

Sam, Alex, and Dean watched as Vernon left his motel room, locking the door behind him. They stepped out from around the corner once Vernon was no longer in sight. Sam picked the lock on the room's door and he slowly pushed the door all the way open.

"Wow, it's like a… magic museum," remarked Sam, staring at all of Vernon's things in his motel room.

Alex and Dean looked around as well.

"Well, you must be in heaven then," remarked Dean.

Alex chuckled as Sam scowled, punching Dean's shoulder. Dean grabbed his arm in pain and flipped Sam off with his free hand.

"This guy sure doesn't travel light either," said Alex, beginning to look around the motel room.

"Well, he's been on the road his whole life, probably everything he owns is in this room," said Sam.

"Well, come on then. Let's get started," remarked Dean.

He stepped farther off into the motel room, Alex and Sam sighing, but following after him anyway.

After a half an hour, Dean sighed and rolled his eyes.

"It's just a bunch of old timey magic stuff."

"No herbs, no candles, and no tarot cards," said Sam, looking utterly frazzled and frustrated.

Alex flipped through some posters and whistled when she saw one in particular. Sam and Dean looked over at her curiously and she held it up, showing it to them.

"Well, I'll be damned," whispered Alex.

"Does this look like anyone we know?" asked Sam, looking towards Dean now.

Dean nodded.

"It's a younger Charlie," whispered Alex.

The three siblings rushed into the large auditorium, walking swiftly down the carpeted aisle.

"Not so fast!" yelled Dean, taking in the young Charlie.

The three siblings walked up the stairs onto the auditorium's stage, Dean motioning for Vernon and Jay to leave them alone with the young Charlie.

"Immortality. That's a neat trick," said Dean, his eyebrows raised at the young Charlie.

"It's no trick. It's real magic," answered back Charlie.

Suddenly, a noose came down from the ceiling, wrapping itself around Dean's neck and lifting him up from the ground. Dean began struggling with the noose rope around his neck, his feet dangling as Alex and Sam looked on in complete horror.

Sam shot at Charlie, but Charlie caught the bullet in his hands.

"Hey, the bullet catch. I've been working on that one for a while now," said Charlie.

He threw the bullet up in the air and then disappeared into thin air.

"Get him!" yelled Dean, still struggling with the noose around his neck.

Sam and Alex looked around the large auditorium and saw Charlie leaning against The Table of Death. He winked at the twin siblings and they stalked towards him, their guns trained on him.

"Let our brother go. Now!" yelled Alex.

"Just leave me and my friends alone," said Charlie, putting his hands up in surrender now.

"She said now!" yelled Sam, on the right side of Alex now.

Vernon and Charlie were looking on in terror and confusion at the scene in front of them now.

"Alright, I will give it up. The spells, the hexes, this is the last time, I promise."

Sam and Alex lowered their guns slowly. Sam rushed forward to elbow the younger Charlie straight in the nose, but Charlie quickly disappeared. He appeared straight behind Alex and Sam, shoving Sam onto The Table of Death. The locks clicked in place around Sam's ankles and wrists and the rope holding the spikes above him at bay began to deteriorate rather quickly.

"Sam!" yelled Alex, rushing towards him.

Charlie quickly grabbed her around the waist and began hauling her offstage. She kicked him and thrashed around in his arms. She came back with her head, nailing Charlie in the nose. Charlie let her go to grab his nose and she rushed over to Sam, trying to help release him.

"Damn it! You little bitch!" yelled Charlie, looking at the blood from his nose, which was now coating some of his fingers.

Alex yelped in terror as Charlie grabbed her by her long, blonde hair and threw her down the stairs at the front of the stage. Alex's head hit the corner of the last stair, creating a deep gash in her forehead and knocking her unconscious for now.

"Alex!" yelled Sam and Dean.

As Charlie smirked in triumph, Dean closed his eyes. He opened them a second later once he heard a strangled moan come from Charlie. A hand was clutched to his stomach, blood spurting from a fresh stab wound in his stomach. Jay held a small dagger into his own stomach, but pulled it out when Charlie looked up and over at him across the stage from him. Charlie fell to his knees and Vernon shook his head sadly. Jay removed a tarot card from one of his jacket's pockets. Charlie reached into his own pocket and found the matching tarot card in his jacket's pocket.

"Jay," whispered Charlie sadly, still on his knees in horrible pain.

"You'd pick these strangers over me?" asked Charlie, his voice only slightly stronger now.

Charlie's eyes fluttered closed and he fell to the stage floor, dead. Jay looked down at him sadly while Sam and Dean were released from their holds, Dean falling down onto the stage. Sam sat up on The Table of Death, holding his wrists. Dean breathed heavily, removing the rope noose from around his neck. Sam stepped away from The Table of Death just as the rope was cut fully and the spikes fell down. Sam and Dean's eyes both widened at how close Sam had come to actually dying just then.

"You alright?" asked Sam, looking down at Dean, who was hunched over now and trying to catch deep breaths.

Dean nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright," answered Dean.

Sam nodded and rushed down the stairs to tend to Alex, who was sitting up, awake, and was holding the heel of her hand to her still profusely bleeding forehead. Jay walked down the steps of the large stage slowly, glancing down at Alex and Sam.

"Thank you for saving our lives," whispered Alex, looking up at the older man.

Jay nodded sadly and left the auditorium, never looking behind him again as he left and walked out of their lives permanently.

That next night, Sam left his siblings as they sat in the local bar and walked to the alleyway out back behind the bar. A car was idling there and Sam opened the passenger side door. He peered down inside, looking directly at Ruby, who was in the driver's seat, smirking at him.

"Okay. I'm in," agreed Sam.

He quickly climbed into the car, sitting in the passenger seat and slamming the door closed behind him, but never looking over at Ruby once while he climbed inside her stolen vehicle.

"What changed your mind?" asked Ruby, looking over at him, a smirk gracing her beautiful, but demonic nonetheless, face.

"I don't want to be doing this when I'm an old man," answered Sam truthfully.

Ruby nodded and gunned the car off down the alleyway, Sam looking out the front windshield the entire trip.

Back inside the bar, Alex felt a strange feeling creep up her spine. It gave her the goosebumps and she looked around the bar for Sam.

"Dean, where's Sam?" she asked, tugging on Dean's arm gently.

"Um, he said he needed some fresh air. Was gonna take a walk," answered Dean, answering Alex without looking away from the blonde bartender he was currently flirting with.

Alex nodded, but something felt off to her. She flagged down another bartender behind the bar and ordered another Miller Lite, shrugging off the feeling that her twin brother wasn't being truthful to either Dean or herself. She glanced around the bar and a cute guy winked over at her. Alex thought of Kellan and how much she missed him. She decided to call him as soon as she got back to her motel room with her brothers, but she grabbed her new bottle of beer, slapped some money down on the bar's top, and headed over to the pool tables to hustle some pool from the poor suckers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A few days later, Sam sat in front of a young teenage girl at the mental hospital. The girl was looking out the window, refusing to look at him.

"Look, I'm done talking about this, okay? I already told the cops and the doctors, no one believes me. They think I'm crazy," said the girl.

"Well, I happen to be a little bit more open-minded than most," said Sam.

He paused and let out a deep sigh.

"April, why did you tell the police you were possessed?" asked Sam.

April sighed.

"Look, it doesn't matter."

"Well, it matters to me."

April finally looked across the small table at Sam, removing her gaze from the window. She paused slightly, letting out a deep and pent-up sigh, full of frustration and exhaustion.

"When I… When I hurt Taylor, I was there in my head, but it was like I couldn't control my body. I could see what I was doing, but I couldn't actually stop myself. I just wanted to stop."

April looked over at Sam and shook her head, exhaling a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," apologized April.

Sam shook his head, his arms resting, folded, on top of the table.

"You don't need to apologize. April, some of the kids at school told the police that you and Taylor didn't really get along."

"Well, yeah, but I never wanted to kill her. Never. So, do you believe me?" asked April, looking over at Sam sadly and regretfully.

Sam paused for a brief second, looking straight over at April.

"Yeah, I do."

April nodded, releasing the breath she had been holding in.

"April, I do have a few more questions though. On the day that this happened, did you happen to smell anything?"

"Anything… Like what?" asked April, looking thoroughly confused now.

"Like rotten eggs or sulfur?" asked Sam.

April shook her head.

"Um, no, definitely not, no."

"Okay, well, did you… happen to notice any black smoke?" asked Sam.

April's forehead creased in confusion as she looked over the table at Sam.

"What are you, insane, crazy?"

Sam scoffed, hiding his discomfort at April's remark.

Ten minutes later, Sam opened the passenger side door, climbing inside the Impala where Dean and Alex were waiting patiently for him. Sam sighed as he climbed in and sat down in the passenger seat.

"So?" asked Dean, looking over at Sam.

"I think she's telling the truth. I mean, the way she talked about being there mentally, but not physically. Kind of sounds like a lot of demonic possession to me," answered Sam.

"What's kind of mean, exactly?" asked Alex, piping up from the backseat.

"Well, she didn't see any black smoke or smell some sulfur."

"Maybe it's not a demon. Kids can be vicious," said Dean, nodding his head.

"Well, I mean, we're already here, so we might as well check out the school, don't you think?" asked Sam.

Alex clapped her hands in delight and squealed while Dean looked at Sam like he was crazy.

"Right. The high school," smirked Dean.

"What?" asked Alex and Sam at the same time, taking in Dean's sarcastic grin.

"Truman High, home of the Bombers," answered Dean, looking between his siblings now to gauge their reactions from his piece of news.

"What's your point?" asked Alex, looking utterly annoyed with her oldest brother.

"Man, I don't know, we went there for, like, a month a million years ago. Why are you two so jazzed to go back?" asked Dean.

"We're not, we just think it's worth looking into," said Sam.

Dean nodded and Alex smiled from the backseat.

"Alright, okay, so what's our cover?" asked Dean.

"Ooh! Is it FBI, Homeland Security? Swedish exchange students?" asked Alex.

"Don't worry, guys. I've got an idea," said Sam.

He winked at Alex, who giggled. Dean just shrugged and started the car, pulling away from the curb.

Dean, Sam, and Alex climbed out of the Impala as their father stopped in front of Truman High School. The year was 1997, Dean a senior and Alex and Sam freshmen.

"Thanks, Dad," said Dean, giving his father a slight wave of his fingers as he met Sam and Alex on one side of the car.

Their father pulled away, heading off down the street while Dean led the way up the front steps of the high school, Sam and Alex following behind him. Sam hitched his backpack up higher on his shoulders, Dean not even carrying one. Alex looked at the students passing her, smirking as a group of letter jacket wearing senior jocks gave her the onceover. Dean glared at them and they moved on quickly, tripping over each other to get out of Dean's ice-cold stare. Dean turned back to his siblings, smirking now.

"Got your lunches?" he asked them both.

Sam and Alex nodded.

"Books?" asked Dean.

They nodded again.

"Butterfly knives?"

"Yeah," answered Alex and Sam in unison.

Sam looked down at the ground sadly. Dean and Alex stopped, looking at him.

"Are you okay, Sammy?" whispered Alex.

"Yeah. Sure," answered Sam, looking away from her.

Dean stepped in front of Sam and raised his eyebrows.

"Sammy?"

Sam looked up at his older brother and sighed deeply.

"I mean, this is the third school we've been to this year and it's only November. I'm sick of always being the new kids," said Sam.

"Look, you'll be fine. If anyone gives you any trouble, you let me know. Same goes for you, Alex."

Alex nodded vigorously, but Sam just scoffed.

"Relax, Sammy. Dad says this job will only take him two weeks, tops. So as soon as he gets back, we're out of here."

"To another school," whispered Alex, biting her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Yeah, awesome," said Sam, being very sarcastic.

Sam brushed past his siblings and walked into the school. Alex looked at Dean, who smiled sadly down at her. He patted Alex and Sam on the back and sighed as he looked up at the school before walking inside the new high school.

The bell rang as Sam and Alex stood in front of their Honors English class.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have two new students in our class today. Please say hello to Sam and Alex Winchester."

"Hi, Sam. Hi, Alex," chorused the entire class.

"Class, say hello to our new student, Dean Winchester," said the red-haired woman standing next to Dean as he stood in front of his 12th Grade History class.

No one in the class said a single word, so the teacher looked up at Dean, a bright smile on her face.

"Dean. Is there anything you would like to share with the class?" she asked him.

Dean looked down at his teacher.

"Not really, sweetheart."

A couple of kids in the class chuckled at Dean's cockiness. The teacher's smile fell and she glared at Dean.

"Take your seat. Now," she ordered.

"Is there anything you two want to tell us about yourselves?" asked Sam and Alex's English teacher.

Alex shook her head along with Sam.

"Not really," whispered Sam, looking down at the floor.

"Okay. Well, um, grab some seats, you two," said the teacher.

He urged the two of them forward and then he headed back towards the front of the room.

Alex grabbed a seat by two pretty girls in the back row and the two girls immediately began whispering with her. Sam picked an empty seat in the middle row and slammed his backpack down on his desktop. His butterfly knife fell out of a side pocket and the kid sitting next to him saw the knife. The kid's eyes flew open behind his huge black wire-rimmed eyeglasses and Sam quickly grabbed the knife from where it fell in his seat. Sam plopped himself down and looked over at the kid, who was staring at him, wide-eyed.

"Whoa. Is that yours?" whispered the kid with glasses.

Sam slightly nodded, looking forward. The kid stared at him with awe shining in his eyes.

"Awesome."

The kid turned forward now too, but Sam glanced back at his sister. Alex was looking at him now and she winked slightly. Sam gave her a small smile and turned forward to listen to his teacher.

"Dean," scolded his History teacher.

Dean looked up at her from his seat.

"Dean. Where are your books?" she asked him sternly.

Dean just shrugged, smirking back up at her.

"I don't need 'em, sugar. Not gonna be here long enough anyway," he answered.

A few kids in his class scoffed at his cockiness. One particular blonde girl turned her head slightly to stare at him. He took notice and stared right back at her, smirking.

"Alright, gang."

Sam and Alex's English teacher looked up at all of his students, a bright smile on his face.

"Essay assignment."

A chorus of groans rang out throughout the classroom and their teacher just chuckled at their groans.

"Yeah, yeah, my heart breaks for you."

The teacher turned toward his chalkboard, grabbed a piece of white chalk, and began writing on the board.

"Hey," whispered the kid sitting next to Sam.

Sam glanced over at him once again, tuning out the sound of the teacher's voice as he spoke of their new essay assignment.

"I'm Barry," said the kid, his glasses slightly slipping down his nose as he spoke.

Sam looked him over.

"Sam."

Barry nodded and turned his attention back to their teacher. As he turned back to face the front, the boy behind Barry began flicking Barry's right ear repeatedly. Barry closed his eyes, his face scrunched up with pain and annoyance. Sam glanced over at Barry again, saw what the other boy was doing to him, and sighed.

"Leave him alone," said Sam.

The bully looked over at him, smirking and stopping his actions momentarily to respond to Sam.

"Shh. I'm heading for a record."

He began flicking Barry's ear again, Barry flinching each time the kid's fingers connected with his earlobe.

"I said, leave him alone," said Sam.

The kid stopped, scoffing as he looked over at Sam. Barry looked over at Sam too, shock and surprise clear all over his face.

"You want to take his place? Midget?"

Sam turned, facing the bully now.

"Yeah. Sure," answered Sam.

The bully looked utterly surprised that Sam had so readily agreed to his proposal. He leaned back in his seat, just staring at Sam as Sam glared at him, never even flinching.

"Alright, let's get started," said their teacher.

Sam walked through the halls of one of his many old high schools, dressed up as the janitor. He pushed his cart full of cleaning supplies along in front of him, glancing at each door as he passed by. The bell rang loudly as he passed one classroom and he heard the chattering of many high school students as they were released from their classrooms all at once. Sam passed by his freshman Honors English classroom just as the door was opened. Sam's old teacher briefly glanced at him as he held the door open for his students leaving his classroom. Sam pushed his janitor's cart right along, heading for the gym.

Alex rolled her eyes at her oldest brother as Dean lined a group of kids up in the middle of the gym. He began giving some lame and very cheesy speech about the precious game of dodgeball. She sat on the bleachers in her yoga capris and a tight pink tank-top. She was posing as the new head cheerleading coach and she was hanging out in the gym where cheer practice would be held after school. Alex watched as Dean picked up a bright, shiny red dodgeball and nailed some skinny kid straight in the stomach. She chuckled as the kid clutched at his stomach.

"Sorry!" yelled Dean.

Alex glanced over at the gym doors as she heard one of them open. She rolled her eyes as Dean made some other kid take a lap. Sam walked into the gym and Alex stepped off of the bleachers, heading towards her twin brother. Dean noticed him as well and Sam nodded towards him, indicating Dean to join him and Alex by the doors. Dean nodded back at him, threw the bag of dodgeballs at his kids, and headed towards his siblings.

"Having fun?" asked Sam, taking in Dean's getup.

Dean had on short red shorts, a white polo shirt, a red sweatband around his head, and socks pulled up to his knees. Dean smirked, pulling out his whistle and showing it to Sam and Alex.

"The whistle makes me their god," said Dean.

Alex scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Right. Nice shorts," said Sam.

"Find anything?" asked Dean, ignoring Sam's comment.

"Been over the entire school twice. No sulfur."

"No sulfur, no demon…" began Alex.

"No demon, no case," finished Dean.

"I don't know, maybe I was wrong," said Sam, sighing deeply.

"Well, it happens to all of us, so I say we can now get the hell out of here. But after lunch, it's Sloppy Joe day," said Dean.

Sam winced as one particular kid got hit really hard during the dodgeball game. A scream echoed out from the kids and the one who had been taking laps ran past the three of them, his hand covering his mouth and nose.

"Good hustle, Colby! Just walk it off!" yelled Dean, calling after him.

Dean gave a small smirk to his siblings and Alex and Sam gave him tentative smiles back.

Ten minutes later, Sam was walking down a hallway when he heard a few screams and cries of panic. He rushed down the hallway and saw a blonde teacher ushering a student from the room, his hand wrapped in a towel that was already covered in lots of blood. Sam's eyes widened at the mass exodus of students from that particular room, so he walked inside it as everyone else exited from the room. He watched as the lone kid left behind fainted, falling to the floor unconscious. He looked a little bit nerdy and blood splatters were all over his striped shirt and his pale face. As Sam walked closer, he saw that the kid's hands were also covered in blood. Sam knelt down next to the boy, who slowly opened his eyes. He began looking around the room, then looked up at Sam.

"What happened?" he whispered, looking to Sam for answers.

Sam had no answer for the boy. He looked the kid over and looked even more confused when he saw a dark purple/black liquid oozing from the boy's ears. He cocked his head to the side in confusion.

Sam walked down the hallway full of metal lockers, his EMF meter out and running. He shut it off as he heard the double doors creak open behind him. He turned and saw that it was just Dean and Alex walking towards him now.

"How's the violence assembly going?" asked Sam.

"Apparently, shoving a kid's arm into a food processer is not a healthy display of anger," answered Alex.

"So, the kid had ectoplasm leaking out his ear?" asked Dean, cutting quick to the chase.

Sam sighed heavily.

"Which only comes from a seriously pissed off spirit. It's got to be ghost possession," answered Sam.

"Yeah, but that's pretty rare, Sammy, even for us," said Alex, biting her bottom lip between her pearly white teeth.

"Yeah, but it still happens. I mean, if they get angry enough, they can take control of any person's body."

"Alright, so, we got a ghost in the building?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, but where? I mean, there's no EMF. Maybe we can find out who it is at least, check and see of somebody died bloody around here or something," said Alex.

Dean nodded and pulled something from the pockets of his jacket.

"I'm way ahead of you guys. I had to, uh, break into the principal's office to get this. Oh, and, uh, FYI, three of the cheerleaders are legal. Guess which ones," smirked Dean.

Alex rolled her eyes and smacked Dean's chest, hard. She grabbed the papers from his hands and unfolded them, looking at them with Sam reading them over his shoulder.

"So there was only one death on campus, it was a suicide back in 1998, some kid named Barry… Cook," read off Alex.

She looked over at Sam, her eyes widening as she recognized the name. Sam ripped the papers from her hands and skimmed them once again. Alex pulled her bottom lip back into her mouth, biting down on it as she watched Sam read.

"What is it?" asked Dean, looking between the two of them now.

"We knew him. Well, Sam knew him better than me. He was just the nerdy looking kid in our English class," whispered Alex.

"How'd he die?" asked Sam.

"Um, he slit his wrists in the first floor girls' bathroom," answered Dean.

Sam looked up at his siblings then.

"That' where-"

"Right where the chick got swirlied to death, exactly," finished Dean, cutting Sam off suddenly.

Sam looked back down at the papers in his hands.

"So, what, this ghost is possessing nerds?" asked Dean.

Sam nodded.

"And using them to go after bullies, yeah," answered Alex.

"Well, does that sound like Barry's MO?" asked Dean.

Sam looked off into the distance, thinking back on some old memories now.

"Barry had a really hard time," responded Sam.

Sam slid to the ground on his knees very gracefully, retrieving a textbook of Barry's that had slid away from his grasp when an upperclassman jock had knocked it out of Barry's hands thirty seconds ago. Barry looked over at Sam gratefully.

"Thanks, Sam," said Barry.

Sam helped Barry gather up his belongings.

"Great school," said Sam, sarcasm lacing his tone now.

"Oh, I don't care. Three years and then I'm out of here. I'm going to Michigan State. They've got the best vet program in the country," said Barry.

Sam grabbed his large binder that was resting next to him and held it under his arm, looking at Barry.

"You like animals?"

Barry sighed.

"They're just a lot nicer than people."

Sam nodded in understanding. He saw Alex leaning up against a row of lockers, twirling a lock of hair around her finger as an older boy rested his hand above her head, smirking down at her. Alex giggled at something he said and then the boy leaned in closer to her, whispering something in her ear. Alex pushed on his chest gently to move him away, but the boy persisted. Alex giggled again and the boy continued whispering in her ear. Sam rolled his eyes and stood up, holding out a hand to help Barry stand up.

Dean's mouth molded with the girl that he was making out with in the janitor's closet. It was the same blonde girl from his first period History class. She pulled away after a few more minutes and Dean smirked down at her.

"So tonight I'm thinking you, me, a bucket of popcorn, extra butter?" asked Dean.

The blonde girl smiled, leaning forward to kiss him once again.

"Ooh, kinky," she whispered against his lips.

"And the midnight screening of I Spit On Your Grave at the Cinedome," said Dean.

The girl pulled away from him, sighing.

"I can't. I have a pretty strict curfew. At eleven."

"So?" asked Dean, raising his eyebrows and shaking his head at her.

The girl chuckled.

"So, if I break it, my folks will ground me for a whole month."

"Yeah, parents. Terrifying."

"Mmm-hmm. When's your curfew, hotshot?"

"I don't have one."

"So your parents just let you stay out all night, don't they?" she asked.

"My dad's out of town on a job. It's just me and my little brother and sister."

"For how long?"

"A couple of weeks."

"Seriously?" she asked him, her tone full of disbelief.

Dean nodded his head.

"Yes, we've got a pretty sweet setup at The Pines, actually."

"The motel?"

"Mmm-hmm. HBO, magic fingers, free ice. It's great."

"Yeah… I guess."

She shook her head at him.

"What, I do whatever I want, whenever I want, it's perfect," argued Dean.

"Yeah, but… don't you miss your dad?"

Dean stepped away from her. He pulled open the closet door and let her out. She grabbed his face and pulled him in for one last kiss before she completely left down the hall. As Dean was leaving the janitor's closet, he spotted Sam walking by him, heading for the other direction.

"Yo, Sammy," whispered Dean.

Dean smirked at him as he passed by. Sam acknowledged him with a brief head nod and Barry stared at Sam with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"That's your brother? The one with Amanda Heckerling?" asked Barry, smirking at Sam now.

Sam nodded apprehensively.

"He's so cool," breathed Barry.

"Yeah, he thinks so too," said Sam.

After a few more steps, Barry and Sam were forced to stop as the bully from their English class stepped in front of them. He looked down at Sam.

"Hey, tough guy. I've been looking all over for you. Still want to take Barry's place?" he asked Sam.

"Get out of here, Barry," said Sam, never looking away from the bully in front of them.

Barry walked back toward the direction he and Sam had just come from.

"I'll get a teacher," he whispered as he took off down the hall.

Sam held out his palm as the bully began stepping towards Barry as he left. The bully looked down at Sam then.

"Wanna go?" he yelled.

"I'm not gonna fight you, Dirk."

"Why not? You too chicken?" asked Dirk.

Sam stared Dirk down. Dirk shoved Sam's shoulder.

"Come on!" he yelled.

"No," said Sam.

Sam turned around, beginning to walk away from Dirk, but Dirk grabbed Sam's arm, pulled him back, and punched Sam straight in the face. Sam fell to the ground, his books flying everywhere as he fell. A crowd had formed around them and they all taunted Sam.

"Get up! Get up! Come on, get up already!" yelled Dirk, screaming at Sam's back.

"Get back! Get back!" yelled Sam's English teacher, quickly rushing forward from down the hallway, Barry directly behind him.

The teacher walked straight over to Dirk, pointing at him menacingly. Dirk glared at him and began walking away right as Sam finally stood up. The teacher glanced at Sam, raised his eyebrows, but then continued after Dirk's retreating form. Alex pushed through the crowd then, locking eyes with Sam. Sam nodded at her to tell her he was alright and Alex nodded right back. She grabbed the hand of the older boy beside her and walked off down the hallway with him.

"You suck, Winchester," taunted a person in the crowd around Sam.

Sam looked down at the body of Barry as he poured salt on the bones. Dean poured on the gasoline next and then Alex lit one match, throwing it down into the six foot hole. They all stood and watched in silence as the grave went up in flames.

"So long, Barry Cook," said Dean, as he put the shovel back into the Impala's trunk.

Sam still said nothing and as they drove away, Alex began to worry. After ten minutes of driving and Sam just looking off out the window at the steady fall of rain, Alex sighed. She rested her head on the side of Sam's seat.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked gently.

After a few more minutes of silence, Sam finally spoke up.

"Barry was my friend. And we just burned his bones."

Dean looked over at the two of them.

"Well, at least he's at peace now, Sammy."

Sam just shrugged.

"I mean, if Dad had let us stay just a little while longer then maybe I could've helped the kid, you know?"

"You read the coroner's report, Sam. I mean, Barry was on every anti-depressant and anti-anxiety drug ever made for man. I mean, school was hell for that poor kid. His parents had split up. He just wanted out. I mean, it's tragic, but it's not your fault," said Dean, looking over at his brother once again.

"To tell you the truth, I'm glad we got out of that town, I hated that damn school," said Dean.

Sam and Alex glanced over at him.

"It wasn't all bad," whispered Sam.

Dean scoffed.

"How can you even say that after what happened to you?" asked Dean.

Sam remained silent, reliving another memory.

"That kid's dead," threatened Dean.

Sam and Alex both sighed, Alex rolling her eyes yet again.

"Dean," said Sam.

"I'm gonna rip his lungs out!" yelled Dean.

"It's not even a big deal. Right, Sammy?" asked Alex.

Sam nodded and Alex smirked.

"Not a big deal, Sammy, look at yourself. If Dad was here…"

"But he's not."

"Well, I am. And as soon as I'm finished with that dick…"

"Just shut up, alright? I really don't need your help," said Sam.

Dean looked over at him.

"That's right, you don't, you could've torn him apart. So why didn't you?" asked Dean.

"Because he doesn't want to be the freak anymore, Dean," whispered Alex, answering for Sam.

"I just want to be normal," agreed Sam.

"So, taking a beating, that's normal?" asked Dean.

Sam and Alex looked away from him while Dean shook his head.

"Any word from Dad?" asked Alex, quickly changing the subject.

Dean took out his cell phone, checking it very quickly.

"He called this morning, said he's going to be another week, at least. We weren't even supposed to be here this long," said Dean, sticking his phone back in his jacket pocket.

"At least you have Amanda. She's pretty cool," chimed in Sam.

Dean raised his eyebrows.

"Dude, she wants me to meet her parents. I don't do parents," said Dean, his eyes now wide with a little bit of fear.

Alex and Sam smirked just as the five minute warning bell rang. They all began heading for the school building together.

As the bell rang an hour later, signaling the end of class, Alex and Sam began heading for the door with the rest of the students.

"Mr. Winchester, can I please talk to you?" called out their teacher.

Alex bit her lip nervously as she filed past Sam, but Sam ignored her as he marched up to his teacher's desk.

"Um, I'll wait for you outside," said Barry, looking at Sam as he passed by him.

Sam slightly nodded and watched Barry leave before looking up at his teacher again.

"Look, if this is about the fight, I didn't start it," said Sam.

"Oh, no, it's not about the fight, Sam. You know this assignment was nonfiction, right?"

Sam sighed and looked down at the floor.

"Yes, Mr. Wyatt."

"So you and your family killed a werewolf last summer, huh?" smirked Mr. Wyatt.

Sam said nothing in reply. Mr. Wyatt continued smirking at him as he sat down in his chair behind his desk, making himself eye-level with Sam now.

"Why would you write something like this, Sam?"

Sam shrugged.

"Does it matter? I mean, as soon as my dad gets back, we're leaving, so… You can flunk me if you want to."

"I'm not flunking you, I'm giving you an A," said Mr. Wyatt, handing Sam his paper back.

Sam smiled as he took his essay from Mr. Wyatt's hands, looking at the big and bright red A gleaming in the corner of his paper.

"Now, aside from the werewolf, is that really how you describe your family?"

Sam nodded tentatively.

"Yeah."

"Well, your older brother's quite a character then. And your father, he seems, um, driven. And of course, Alex is always getting her way, seeing as she's the only girl in the family and all. But anyway, it's good, Sam, it's really good. Have you ever thought about pursuing writing?" asked Mr. Wyatt.

"I can't. I have to go into the family business."

"Family business?" asked Mr. Wyatt, looking very confused now.

"Yeah, my dad's a... my dad's a mechanic. So, I have to be a mechanic too."

"Do you even want to go into the family business, Sam?"

Sam looked at Mr. Wyatt, dumbfounded.

"No one's ever asked me that before," whispered Sam.

"Well?"

Sam shook his head, looking at Mr. Wyatt.

"More than anything, no."

Mr. Wyatt nodded and stood up, walking over to stand in front of Sam.

"Look, I don't want to overstep my bounds here, but you shouldn't and you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Look, I mean, I know what it's like, okay? I come from a family of surgeons and that just wasn't me. So, I, you know, traded in the money and the prestige of being a doctor for all of the glamour you see here around you. But the point is, there may be three or four big choices that shape someone's whole life? And you need to be the one that makes them. Not anyone else, okay? You seem like a great kid, Sam. Just live the life you want to live."

The next morning, Sam stared out of his passenger side window at the high school in front of him. The car was idling as Dean and Alex just looked at Sam.

"We came back here just so you could talk to one teacher?" asked Dean.

Sam sighed softly.

"He's a really good guy," answered Sam.

Dean shook his head.

"Well, whatever. Go have your Robin Williams, 'O Captain, my Captain' moment, just make it quick."

Dean reached for the radio dial just as Sam began getting out of the car.

Sam walked through the front doors of his old high school and exhaled a deep breath he didn't realize he had been holding. He began walking down an old hallway that seemed vaguely familiar, heading for Mr. Wyatt's old classroom. He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit he'd had for as long as he could remember. As he reached out for the door handle, a voice sounded out from behind him.

"Excuse me, sir. Could you tell me where to find room 305?"

Sam turned and saw a little tiny Asian girl standing behind him. She held a small stack of books in her hand and she had bright purple braces on her teeth. He smiled brightly at her.

"Sure. Um, head down this hallway, take your first right, and it's the… third door on your left," answered Sam, concentrating hard to remember where the room actually was.

The girl faced him once again and smiled brightly at him.

"Thanks, Sam."

Sam's face fell and he looked at her with confusion. She suddenly dropped her books and stabbed Sam near his collarbone with a sharpened pencil.

"You got tall, Winchester," she said, her voice very deep and manly now.

She kicked Sam in the groin and Sam crouched forward in immense pain. She slapped him in the face with such force that Sam flew backwards. As she stalked towards him, ectoplasm leaking from her mouth and over her lips, Sam opened a small shaker of salt he had stashed in his pocket. Once she was only feet away from him, Sam shot up, grabbed her by the arms, and shoved his palm over her mouth, pushing the salt inside her mouth. She struggled against him for a few seconds until a black shadowlike form burst from her body and escaped down a side hallway. Sam held the unconscious girl to his chest, breathing heavily.

Dean had parked the car underneath a bridge a couple of miles away from the high school. Sam was sitting on a large boulder, holding his chest where the possessed Asian girl had stabbed him earlier. Alex sat beside him, her lip in between her teeth as she looked at Sam with worry. Dean slammed the Impala's trunk closed and held out a large bottle of Southern Comfort. Sam looked at the bottle and then up at Dean.

"Trust me, this will help," said Dean.

Sam sighed, but took the bottle of whiskey from him. Alex held back a laugh as Sam put the bottle in between his legs, helping to ease the pain from when the ghost had kicked him in the groin.

"That ghost is dead. I'm gonna rip its lungs out!" yelled Dean.

Sam looked up at him. Dean sighed.

"Well, you know what I mean."

"It knew my name. My real name," whispered Sam.

"But we burned Barry's bones. What the hell?" asked Alex, looking confused and worried.

"Well, maybe it wasn't Barry, maybe we missed something. We just gotta go back," said Dean, grabbing the file folder and flipping through it.

After a few seconds, he looked up.

"No way," he said out loud.

Sam and Alex looked over at him.

"What is it? Did we miss something?" asked Alex.

She stood up and walked over to read over Dean's shoulder.

"How did we not see this before?" asked Alex.

Dean just shrugged and handed the files over to Sam to look at as well.

"What?" asked Sam.

"Check it out. Look, Martha Dumptruck, Revenge of the Nerds, and Hello Kitty, they all rode the same bus," answered Dean.

"Okay, so maybe the bus is haunted?" asked Alex.

"Well, that would explain why there's no EMF at the school, but not the attacks. I mean, ghosts are tied to the places that they haunt, they can't just bail," said Dean, leaning against his car.

Alex scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Unless this one can," she argued, joking around.

Sam stared at her, looking like a light had just gone off in his head.

"Guys, there's all kinds of lore about ghosts possessing people and then riding them for miles. Then whenever they leave the body, they're bungeed back to their usual haunt, but until then, the ghost can go wherever they want," explained Sam.

"So this spook just grabs some random kid on the bus and walks right into Truman?" asked Dean.

"It's completely possible," said Sam.

"Ghosts getting creative, well, that's just super fantastic," said Dean, sarcasm lacing his tone as he opened up the cooler next to his feet and pulled out a beer.

A few hours later, Sam held the EMF meter at the front of the bus while Dean and Alex searched through the back of the bus.

"Well, this bus definitely ain't clean," said Sam.

Alex and Dean both sighed.

"Here, ghosty, ghosty, ghosty," said Dean, banging his sawed-off shotgun on the roof of the bus.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," said Alex.

"Man, I don't get it. I mean, no one ever died on this bus and it's not like there's a body hidden in here," said Sam, walking towards his siblings now while the EMF meter continued to make noises in his hand as he walked further into the bus.

"Yeah, but a flap of skin, a hair. Hell, I mean, a hangnail, but something's got to be tying this ghost to this place," said Alex.

"We've just gotta find it," said Dean, looking around him for anything to help them out.

"Yeah," said Sam.

Dean nodded and walked back up towards the front of the bus. He sat down in the driver's seat, laying his shotgun across his lap. He looked through the glove compartment. He tossed aside a paperback novel and underneath it was a piece of paper. The paper was a license for the driver to drive the school bus. Dean looked curiously at the name printed there.

"Got a new driving permit here. Issued exactly two weeks ago," called out Dean.

Sam and Alex walked up to join him in the front of the bus, Sam switching off the EMF meter as they walked forward. They crouched down in front of Dean.

"That was right before the first attack," said Sam.

Dean nodded.

"Yep. Name of the bus driver is Dirk McGregor Senior. 39 North Central Avenue," read off Dean, looking at the permit in his hands.

"McGregor?" asked Sam.

"Yeah. Why?" asked Dean, looking over at Sam.

"I knew his son," answered Sam.

"Dude, did you just know everyone at this damn school? Jesus," remarked Alex.

Sam sighed, his mind returning back to his freshmen year at Truman High School.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Sam filed outside into the cool fall air, Alex in step beside him. As they turned the corner to meet Dean, they saw a very small line of people standing around, watching as Dirk shoved Barry to the cold, cement ground.

"You've gotta watch where you're going," said Dirk.

Sam sighed and walked straight up to Dirk, standing only a few feet in front of him now. Alex followed right behind him, helping Barry stand up straight.

"Just leave him alone already, Dirk," said Sam.

"You never learn, do you? Midget?" taunted Dirk, smirking.

Barry looked at Alex, fear in his eyes for Sam. Alex shook her head, knowing Sam would take care of himself easily. Sam looked over at Barry.

"Get to the bus, Barry."

Barry nodded as Dirk shook his head, watching Barry walk away to his bus behind Dirk. A larger crowd had formed around Sam and Dirk now. Alex watched Barry step onto his school bus and then she stood behind Sam, her arms crossed over her chest. Sam glared at Dirk and then he nodded to Alex. Alex began following behind him, shoving Dirk with her shoulder as she passed by him. Dirk began fuming and he shoved Alex to the ground, hard. Sam whirled around as he heard gasps from the crowd around him. He saw Alex fall onto her knees and she looked up at Sam.

"Sammy, just do it already," she whispered.

Sam nodded down at her before turning his attention back to face Dirk. Alex stood up as well, brushing herself off.

"What's a matter? You two scared? Don't worry. I'll go easy on you this time, Sam. So come one, Losechester. Let's see what you've got," taunted Dirk.

"Come on, freak! Freak!"

Alex watched as the fire blazed in Sam's eyes then. She stood back as her twin brother shoved Dirk in the chest, pushing him backwards a few steps. Dirk looked a little surprised, but he recovered, throwing a right hook at Sam's face. Sam ducked and punched Dirk directly in the stomach. Dirk hunched over in pain, but quickly stood back up, throwing a left hook at Sam next. Sam ducked once again and punched Dirk in the kidneys this time. Once he was crouched over again, Sam kneed him in the stomach, punched him in the face three more times, and then kicked out with his right leg, hitting Dirk in the back of his left knee. Dirk went sprawling to the cold, hard ground, looking up at Sam. Sam looked down at him and hit him with an uppercut directly under his chin. Dirk fell on his back to the ground and the crowd gasped as he fell. Sam stood over him.

"You're not tough. You're just a jerk. Dirk the jerk," said Sam.

"Hey, Dirk the jerk, yeah, that's pretty good," said one random kid in the crowd.

Other kids in the large crowd began agreeing with Sam and they laughed, taunting Dirk with his new nickname as he lay on the ground. Dirk got up quickly and strode off, Sam and Alex watching him leave.

"So. You were friends with Dirk?" asked Dirk's father.

Sam, Alex, and Dean were visiting Dirk's father, trying to find out how to get rid of Dirk's vengeful spirit once and for all.

"Uh, yes, sir. In high school," answered Sam.

"Well, I don't recall Dirk having very many friends at Truman. Please, take a seat," offered Mr. McGregor, motioning to his couch.

The three siblings sat down graciously, Mr. McGregor sitting across from them in his upholstered armchair.

"When did, uh, when did Dirk pass?" asked Dean.

"He was only eighteen."

"What happened to him?" asked Alex.

"Well, there was, uh, first drinking and then drugs and then way too many drugs. He just slipped through my fingers."

Mr. McGregor let out a deep sigh before continuing on.

"It was my fault, really. I should've seen it coming, you know. Dirk, he, uh, he had his troubles."

"What kind of troubles?" asked Dean.

"School was never easy for Dirk. We didn't have much money and… Well, you know kids, they can be pretty cruel sometimes. They picked on him a lot."

"I'm sorry, did you just say they picked on him?" asked Alex, looking utterly confused now along with Sam.

Dirk's father nodded.

"They called him poor and dirty and stupid. They even had a nickname for him. Dirk the jerk."

Sam's eyebrows rose and his eyes widened. He cleared his throat briefly, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"After what happened to his mother, he-"

"His mother?" asked Alex.

"Yeah, Jane, my wife. She died when Dirk was thirteen. Cancer. I was working three jobs so it fell to Dirk to take care of her. And he was a great kid. He always made sure that Jane got her medicine, he helped her, cleaned up after her. You know you, you watch someone die slow, waste away to nothing… It does things to a person. Horrible things."

"I didn't know about his mother," said Sam, feeling absolutely horrible for the things he had done and said to Dirk.

Mr. McGregor shook his head.

"He wouldn't ever talk about her. Not even to me, his own father. There was just a lot of anger in that boy."

"I'm sorry," said Alex, looking deeply saddened by this man's pain.

Mr. McGregor nodded at her.

"Well, we would really love to pay our respects, Mr. McGregor. Um, you mind telling us where Dirk is buried?" asked Dean.

"Oh, he wasn't. I had him cremated."

Dean's face visibly fell at this statement.

"All of him?" asked Dean.

Sam and Alex looked at him, completely shocked at his question.

"Well, I kept a lock of his hair."

"Oh. That's… That's nice," remarked Dean, a small smile back on his face again.

"Where might you be keeping that?" continued Dean.

Mr. McGregor looked at Dean like he was crazy.

"On my bus, in my Bible," answered Mr. McGregor.

Dean, Sam, and Alex nodded.

Later that night, Sam, Alex, and Dean waited a few feet in the woods as Mr. McGregor's school bus drove by. The bus drove over the traps Dean and Sam had set up, causing all of the tires to pop. The bus veered over to the left side of the road, right by where the three siblings were waiting. They watched as the doors of the bus opened, the possessed bus driver stepping outside onto the black, deserted road. He looked around, saw nothing, and began walking towards the back of the school bus. Sam suddenly stepped out from the woods, standing behind him now.

"Dirk!" yelled out Sam.

The bus driver stopped directly in his tracks and turned to face Sam now. Sam loaded his sawed-off shotgun and aimed it at the man's chest.

"Winchester. What are you gonna do, shoot me?" ground out Dirk.

"I don't need to," answered Sam.

Suddenly, Dean and Alex ran out from behind the bus. Dean held a large amount of rope in his hands and he threw it around the bus driver, trapping him.

"That rope is soaked in salt water, Dirk, you're not going anywhere," yelled out Sam.

Dean and Alex walked over to join Sam now. Dean walked onto the bus, demanding everyone in the bus to stay calm. He began searching for the lock of Dirk's hair.

"Hey, aren't you the P.E. teacher?" asked the basketball coach, looking curiously at Dean's face.

Dean looked at him as a couple of the students looked up, agreeing with their coach now as they took in Dean's face.

"Not really. I'm kind of like 21 Jump Street. Your bus driver here sells pot. Yeah, I know, it's pretty crazy," said Dean.

He went back to searching for Dirk's lock of hair. He found the Bible quickly, grabbed it, and dumped it out, but no lock of hair came spilling out from it. Dean cursed, sighing under his breath.

"It's not here!" he yelled out to Sam and Alex.

Sam and Alex turned their gazes onto the possessed bus driver standing in front of them. Dean hurried out of the bus to join them.

"Where is it?" asked Alex.

The man smirked, shaking his head mockingly at them.

"Nowhere you'll ever find it," he answered.

Sam rushed forward, grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt and throwing him up against the side of the yellow school bus.

"Where the hell is it?!" yelled Sam, almost spitting in the man's face as he yelled at him.

"Oh, Sam Winchester. Still a bully, I see. You, you jocks and you pretty girls. You popular kids. You always thought you were better than everyone else. To you I was just Dirk the jerk, right? Well now, you evil sons of bitches are gonna get what's coming to you, oh, that's for sure," threatened Dirk.

"I'm not evil, Dirk. I'm not," said Sam, stepping away from him.

"And neither were you. Trust me, I've seen real evil, Dirk. We were all scared and miserable. And we took it out on each other. Us and everyone else. That's just high school, Dirk. But you suffer through that and then it gets better. I'm just really sorry that you didn't get a chance to see that. You or Barry," said Sam.

"Nothing is gonna get better for me. Not ever," said Dirk.

He closed his eyes, flexed his arms, and broke the rope that surrounded him. He lunged for Sam, who shot him twice in the chest. The man fell down to the ground by the side of the bus. Gasps echoed throughout the bus and the boys clambered over one another to see what was happening outside. As the three siblings stared at the man in front of them and walked slowly over to him, a kid from inside the bus scrambled outside, tackling Sam to the ground before they even knew what was happening. The kid began punching Sam in the face as he sat on Sam's chest. Dean grabbed the shotgun and shot the kid's back twice, but he never faltered.

"Alex! Find the hair!" yelled Sam, trying to ward off the kid's punches to his face.

Dean scrambled inside of the bus to look for the hair, Alex following right beside him.

"Hey, isn't that the new cheerleading coach?" asked one kid, looking up at Alex in the front of the bus now.

"Yeah, dude, she's a total babe," said another kid.

Another boy whistled at her, but Alex just ignored them all, intent on finding this lock of hair they needed.

"Where in the hell could it be?" asked Dean, choking it out through gritted teeth.

Alex suddenly stopped, smacking herself in the forehead at their sheer stupidity.

"Fuck!" she yelled, running outside.

She rushed over to the bus driver's form, beginning to search through his pockets. When she found nothing in there, she grabbed the man's shoes, yanking them from his feet quickly. As she pulled off the man's second shoe, Dirk's lock of hair fell from inside of it. She pulled out her lighter, held the lock of hair up to it, and quickly set it on fire. They all watched as the hair went up in flames and Dirk's ghost flew from the kid's body, erupting in a cloud of black smoke, fire, and ash. The kid fell off of Sam and over to the side of him, unconscious.

"Hey, way to go, Sam."

"Good job, Sam!"

Alex nudged Sam with her shoulder as they walked down the hall together, another person congratulating Sam on beating up Dirk yesterday.

"Looks like someone's a pretty big hero," said Alex.

She winked at Sam and Sam smiled at her as she whirled around to walk back down the hallway.

"Yeah, nice job, Winchester," congratulated another student.

"Sam! Great job with Dirk the jerk!" called out another kid.

Alex saw Dean walking down the hallway and she sighed. She knew that Amanda had just broken up with him after finding him making out with a different girl in the janitor's closet. She speed-walked over to him and he briefly glanced at her. He sighed, but they walked together in silence down the hallway.

"Sam, you're the man!" yelled another student.

"Hey, great job, Sam."

Sam smiled at his admirers as he walked down the hall.

Dean's cell phone rang then and he pressed talk immediately as he held it up to his ear.

"Dad?" he asked.

John Winchester spoke on the other end of the call and Dean sighed with extreme relief.

"Finally," whispered Dean.

He grabbed Alex and they headed outside for the front steps, picking up Sam along the way outside.

Sam and Alex sat on the front steps of the school as Dean paced in front of them, sighing deeply every couple of minutes.

"Man, I can't wait to get out of here, this place sucks," complained Dean.

Sam and Alex said nothing. Suddenly, a horn honked from somewhere down the street. The familiar sounds of the Impala's rumbling engine appeared and Dean sighed in relief as he saw the car and his father behind the wheel. John Winchester pulled up to the curb and idled the car as he waited for all of his kids to climb inside. Dean began walking over before their dad even threw the car into park. He looked back at his siblings. Alex was walking over, but Sam was still sitting on the front steps of the school.

"Come on, Sam," said Dean.

Sam stood up and followed his siblings to the car. As he got to the front bumper, he stopped and looked over to the classroom where his English class would have been meeting. Barry was looking down at them sadly from the second story window. He was leaning his head against the window pane and he waved morosely at Sam. Sam gave him a brief smile and waved back at him before walking around to the passenger side and climbing into his dad's precious car. Barry watched them drive off until he couldn't see any of them anymore.

Sam approached Mr. Wyatt's classroom slowly, not even sure if his old teacher would remember him. He saw Mr. Wyatt sitting at his desk, grading some paper. Sam heard the sounds of students in other classrooms, but Mr. Wyatt didn't have a class this period. Sam took a deep breath as he reached for the door handle. The door creaked as he pulled it open and Sam flinched. He exhaled a short breath as he walked inside the classroom.

"Um, Mr. Wyatt?" he asked.

Mr. Wyatt looked over at Sam, removing his reading glasses from his face as he stared at him.

"Yes?" he asked him.

Sam smiled gently as he walked over to stand in front of Mr. Wyatt's wooden desk.

"You probably don't even remember me, um, but my name's Sam Winchester and, uh, I just wanted to thank you," answered Sam.

"For…?"

"I was a student here and, um, you gave me some very helpful advice once."

Mr. Wyatt's face brightened then and a slow smile spread across his face.

"Winchester. Right, right. Yeah, you, uh… You wrote that horror story," said Mr. Wyatt.

He stood up from his chair and stuck out his hand for Sam to shake. Sam took his hand, shaking it for a few brief seconds.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did. Yeah, it's kind of all been one big long horror story actually," said Sam.

"Oh, well, what do you mean?" asked Mr. Wyatt, putting his hands on his hips now.

Sam shook his head.

"Oh, nothing, sorry."

Mr. Wyatt nodded.

"So what was this advice? I might need to plagiarize myself down the line."

"You told me that I didn't have to go into the family business. You said that I should make my own choices."

"Huh. So you managed to do your own thing then, huh?"

Sam took in a deep breath, sighing as he let it out before answering his former English teacher.

"Yeah, for a while there, yeah. I, um, I think I went to college because of you. But, you know, people grow up."

"Yeah," nodded Mr. Wyatt.

"Responsibilities. But still, um, you took an interest in me when no one else seemed to want to. That matters, so thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you," said Sam.

"Well, you know, the only thing that really matters is, uh, that you're happy. So, are you happy, Sam?" asked Mr. Wyatt.

Sam looked at his former teacher, not really sure how to answer that particular question. Sam finally sighed and stared at his former teacher.

"I don't know if I can answer that question," he finally whispered.