Chapter 22
I forgot to thank the guests for reviewing! Thank you so much! I am working on trying to bring up more of her past but when you put two closed off people (Samantha and Dean) in the room, not much sharing is going to happen. I'm trying to find a good spot to fit some of it in! Again, please tell me what you want me to do for the second season finale!
Thanks for the follow and favorites and reviews! Let me know what's good and what I could improve on in this chapter!
Samantha's POV
At 6:25 P.M. the next night, I meet my brother's family.
It started with the crunching of gravel in Bobby's salvage yard, the low sounds of popular pop music playing. I looked at Sam with wide eyes across from the table then pushed the chair back so fast it almost fell over. I caught it at the last second.
Then the sound of a car door slamming was heard, following by a second car door opening and closing. Sam stayed sitting, making sure to look around the-cleaner-house and deciding it was the best it was going to get, while I made my way over to the front door and made sure the devil's trap was still intact under the rug. It was. I almost smile at how proud the boys seemed to be when I got it right the first time.
The memory quickly comes to a halt and anxiety takes over as three firm knocks can be heard. I stand up from the rug and wipe my hands on my dirty, dark skinny jeans-making a mental note that I still need to get my boots and new pants soon-before opening the door. My eyes are instantly drawn to the small child on the woman's hip, wide blue eyes staring intently at the chipped blue paint on the house.
Short, dark blonde hair is tied as best as it can in a small ponytail sticking straight up, her lips in a silent 'o'. I feel the anxiety die down slightly at how pretty this little girl is, how observant she is.
Then I glance to the adult, a small smile playing on my face as I recognize one of my brother's high school girlfriends. His current Fiancée.
"Rachel." I all but whisper before shaking my head in realization and opening the door wider so she can come in. She smiles brightly and I smile back, my eyes drawn to the bump on her tummy. My brother's kid; still growing.
"Hello." I finally manage to say louder, a brief explosion of panic overcoming me as she doesn't move from the rug. I relax as she just removes the toddler's winter coat and places it in the baby bag before moving into the living room.
"Hey, Sammie. It's been so long." Her genuine, happy voice says back. All my anxiety dwindles down then. I close the door and turn back to Rachel and her baby to see her looking around the house, her gaze pausing on the crib and small array of baby toys set up in the corner, before smiling back at me and introducing the kid and I.
"Sammie this is Saige. Saige, Sammie. Sammie, your niece. Saige, your aunt." I snort at her introduction, Saige grins with a mouthful of teeth and deep dimples before waving.
"Hi, hi!" Saige shouts in introduction and I wave back.
"Hey, Saige. How are you?" I ask in an enthusiastic over- tone. Rachel smiles and puts Saige on the ground, Saige simply walks over to the toys and distracts herself.
"Oh man. You just disappeared off the face of the Earth. I got your friend's number from your uncle." Rachel says, I look down guilty at just leaving from the hospital.
"Sorry, I just needed to get away. I can give you my number before you leave though. We'll definitely meet up more often." I offer and almost jump as Sam clears his throat from the doorway, Rachel does jump.
"Shit. You scared me." She utters breathlessly, I chuckle as Sam gives her an apologetic look and holds out his hand.
"Sorry." They shake hands. "I'm Sam by the way. My brother and uncle are at the store, you'll meet them later." He speaks as an introduction. Rachel smiles and nods, once again looking around the room.
"Rachel. Though you already know that." Rachel replies. I smile and make my way over to Saige. For the next thirty minutes I play with the toys with Saige and listen into some of Sam's and Rachel's conversation about my brother and where she lives. Until Dean and Bobby show up with each carrying four bags.
"Not it!" I yell.
"Nope!" Sam follows.
"Your turn, idjit." Bobby finishes and Dean groans as Bobby sets his bags on the counters and leaves Dean to put the groceries away. Rachel looks on amused.
"What was that about?" She asks, chuckling slightly. Bobby sits at his desk chair before answering.
"We didn't want to put away the groceries. So we yelled 'not it'," Rachel laughs and reaches over to shake Bobby's hand.
"I'm Rachel. Samantha's brothers, fiancée. That's my daughter Saige." She introduces herself and Bobby shakes Rachel's hand before resetting his ball cap.
"I'm Bobby. These idjits surrogate uncle." I smile at his label for himself about us. Finally Dean comes out of the kitchen from emptying the bags and glares at me before introducing himself to Rachel. For the rest of the night we talk about what I've been up to (Sam, Dean, and I are on a long roadtrip across the states to get away and heal ourselves after the death of their father and my 'surrogate' father) and we watch a marathon of old movies. At the end of the night I tell Rachel to take the room Bobby set up for guests a week ago and she lets me put Saige to bed in the crib next to the couch I'm sleeping on.
Dean and Sam share a room and Bobby goes up to his room and we all fall asleep before midnight.
-00-
Rachel, Saige, and I share a reluctant goodbye the next morning. Saige gives me a kiss and I smile at her. Rachel gives me a hug. I smile and hug her back. We promise to meet up before Christmas and exchange numbers. I smile and save her number. They get in the car and start driving away back to Kansas. I wave to them and smile.
I go back in the house and close the door behind me. Sam and Dean look at me warily and I smile before telling them I'm going to take a shower. They look at me with…pity? Understanding? I ignore them and climb the stairs. A smile lining my face the whole way. I grab a towel from the hamper and go in the bathroom. A smile on my face. I close the door. I take a deep breath and lean against the door. My smile falls off my face and I feel my chest hurt with pain. Tears well in my eyes and I mentally scorn myself when I look in the mirror and see my red, splotchy face.
Needless to say that my shower was long. And I tried to stifle my sobs but as I hear the brother's leave the house and Bobby making, a very, very loud, lunch in the kitchen, I know they hear me. Weak. Useless. Annoying. Pushy. Failure. Bitch. Weak. Rude. Loveless. Weak. Weak. Weak. Weak. These thoughts rush into my head. I only sob harder. Until the water eventually gets so cold that I feel pins and needles on my back and I summon up the strength to turn the water off, wrap myself up in the towel, make sure there are no marks of my breakdown, and bravely lock myself in the room Rachel slept in last night.
I put on my worn black bra and grey panties before wrapping myself in the comforter on the bed and laying on my side, thankful that I kept the light off earlier so I can sulk in darkness.
-000-
Sam's POV
"What do we do?" Dean looks tiredly over to me and takes a sip from his beer.
"What do you mean? You said I shot an innocent man? We should at least check out the town, see if anything sketchy is going down." Dean replies. I shift my weight, glancing down at the Black exterior of the impala as we're sitting on her.
"Well, yeah. No doubt about that. I just mean about Samantha…." I trail off, not sure about how to approach this conversation that's been on my mind for weeks. Dean looks at me with the same concern in his eyes.
"You've seen it too?" I clear my throat and nod.
"When…when we went to protect the guy from the hellhound. We were in the living room when it came. It was right next to her and I yelled for all of us to run and for a minute I thought she was going to stay there. She just looked straight at where the thing was and I saw the way she looked at it like…like she was accepting it, like she almost wanted it. When I yelled at her she followed…I just don't want to think about what would've happened if I didn't yell at her." An uncontrolled shiver comes up my spine at the thought. It's silent for a few seconds as Dean mauls it over. I almost jump when he leaps off the hood and turns around so he's looking at me.
"Well, she knows we're here for her. She'll be fine." He says with so much conviction I nearly believe him. He throws the beer at the trash bag next to the junk pile.
"Yeah? How do you know that?" I test him. He looks at me with the same look that I saw when he was convincing me to look for dad with him.
"Because she has to be." I don't argue as we make our way back into Bobby's house and Dean starts his way up the stairs.
-000-
Samantha's POV
A knock sounds on the door. I feel a pang in my chest at having to face others.
"Come in." I make a point to stay facing the wall. The door creak opens and just by the way I can feel their gaze on me, I can tell its Dean in the doorway. He just has the air of confidence and cockiness.
"We found a job. You coming along or staying with Bobby?" His voice is gentler than normal. Great. Now you're giving them more trouble. Attention whore. I gulp and scratch my leg as I reply.
"Just give me a minute. I'll meet you outside." I reply as my answer. He sticks around for a few more minutes than eventually nods his head and closes the door before he retreats back downstairs. I eventually gather the energy to get up and dress in my black sweater and dark skinny jeans with the black combat boots (Rachel gave me yesterday when I mentioned my trashed shoes) too. When did I become so goth? Maybe when I decided to match my clothes with the color of my heart.
If I had a drum kit right there, I would do the ba-dum-tss! sound.
I open the door, deciding to leave my bag behind and just take my purse, before nodding a short goodbye to Bobby and meeting the silent boys in the Impala. And just like the day we went to Ellen's, the car ride is silent.
-000-
Until three quarters of the way to RiverGrove.
Dean and Sam share a look. I roll my eyes and promise myself that if they decide to not tell me that I'm jumping out of the car. But today is not that day because then, finally, Sam speaks up.
"I had a vision." I'm not a child. Just fucking tell me what's going on. I instinctively find myself biting my bottom lip in hopes of keeping myself from yelling at him.
"Okay. And?" Dean gives Sam another look. Just tell her. Is what I get from the look. But I'm not Sam so as far as I know it could be a secret message about his mother's spaghetti formula or something.
"And it was of Dean shooting a guy. As far as I know he wasn't a monster." I raise my eyebrows in shock. That's a new one.
"Huh. Alright." I mutter in a high pitched tone. Sam meets Dean's eyes (what the fuck is up with these longing looks?!) with an amused look before pointing Dean in the direction of the town we're going to, a quick explanation of 'there was a picture of Crater Lake. It must be the one in Oregon!' by Sam on how he knows where we're going.
"So we're just going to pop by? Say a little 'Howdy doo. Who are you and why'd Dean shoot you'?" Dean rolls his eyes and I desperately try not to think of how Rachel rolled her eyes at me too. For the rest of the ride I'm quiet, observing our surroundings and occasionally texting Wade about Saige and Rachel. Until my signal dies out. Stupid middle of nowhere towns.
When we get to the town Sam stares at a darker skinned guy messing with a rifle, yikes, before saying that he was in the vision. So Dean and Sam decide to approach him while I go over to a bright gas station and get myself a cup of lemonade. The woman at the cash register smiles brightly. Tells me the total is two dollars even and when I hand over the money I glance at a long cut on her arm. It's red and looks fresh. So like any normal person does I grab my lemonade and run the hell out of that place. Who knows what she's doing behind that counter.
By the time I start to walk over to the brother's, they're meeting me in the middle. I stop next to a phone booth and spin around to walk with them when they reach me. But, I end up running into a pole. I glare at the pole but then pause.
"Wait." Dean and Sam both look towards me then stop, looking at me expectantly. I point to the carving. Sam's mouth looks like it almost drops open and I see his geek brain working a hundred miles a minute.
"Croatoan?" Dean asks. Sam sighs.
"Roanoke? It was…it was the first tried colony I think. Actually it's the lost colony." I explain, Sam looks impressed with my knowledge of it. Only interesting thing in history class.
"Ring a bell?" Sam pauses, perceiving Dean still lost expression. "Dean, did you pay any attention in history class?" Dean almost looks offended.
"Yeah! Shots heard 'round the world, How bills becomes a laws . . ." Sam looks appalled.
"That's not school, that's Schoolhouse Rock." I wince at the memory of having to endure the endless torture of those videos. I didn't even learn anything from them.
"Whatever." Dean grumbles.
"Alright. Back to the actual concern. As I was saying, Roanoke was one of the first colonies. And to be that it must have been a fuckton-of a long time ago, so like maybe the late 1400' or early 1500's? And when the guys came back on the boat from transporting supplies or something they discovered everyone was gone, everything was gone. Except for-"
"Oh yeah, yeah, I do remember that. The only thing they left behind was a single word carved in a tree. Croatoan." Dean finishes, I smile at all of us being on board of knowing about Roanoke.
"Yeah. And I mean, there were theories — Indian raid, disease, but nobody knows what really happened. They were all just gone. I mean, wiped out overnight." Sam articulates.
"I bet it was something supernatural. I mean, it's not like demons just rose out of the ground one day. These monsters have probably been on the Earth since humans." I shiver at how only a few weeks ago I didn't even know ghosts actually existed. Hell, over half the planet doesn't know monsters exist. Dean glances at me, a half worried expression marring his face. I meet his stare head on, a fake smile covering my face. He shrugs.
"You don't think that's what's going on here, I mean . . ."
"Whatever I saw in my head, it sure wasn't good. But what do you think could do that?" Demons. Shape shifters. Ghost. Vampires. Pretty much any monster that has a little bit of intelligence. Of course I keep my thoughts to myself.
"Well, I mean, like I said, all of your guys' weirdo visions are always tied to the Yellow-Eyed Demon somehow, so…" I shrug helplessly, wondering if this is where we take down Yellow eyes.
"We should get help. Bobby, uh, Ellen maybe?" Sam suggests and Dean and I both agree. Dean frowns as he brings out his phone, saying there's no service. Sam does the same and I do too, we all end up with the same problem. So I go ahead and walk over to the phone booth I ran into earlier. Picking the phone up, I see the brothers following me in the corner of my eyes, I pale as the 'out-of-service- beep meets my ears.
"Line's dead." I say hastily, my skin going numb at the prospect of not having an opportunity to reach anyone. I hang the phone up.
"I'll tell you one thing. If I was gonna massacre a town, that'd be my first step." I wince.
"Yeah, real helpful dude." I mutter.
-000-
"That's tacky as hell. I really just want to burn the stupid thing." I drone, reading the sign proclaiming 'BORN TO FISH; FORCED TO WORK'. Sam nods his understanding. Dean knocks on the cabins door, apparently the home of the guy in Sam's vision, and a few moments later a teenage boy opens the door. Judging by Sam's expression, that's not the vision guy.
"Yeah?" The teenager asks. Dean's flashes his badge to him, I try to not notice how the teenager's eyes linger on me. Hormonal douchebags will go for anything. I roll my eyes at my own thoughts.
"We're looking for Duane Tanner; he lives here, right?" Dean questions. Duane! That's the vision guy's name! I bookmark it for later so I won't have to keep calling him Vision guy.
"Yeah, he's my brother." I ignore the way my skin crawls around this guy. Just nerves from earlier. He's just a teenager. It's fine.
"Can we talk to him?" The brother continues to inform us that Duane is on a fishing trip at Roslyn Lake.
"Okay. Are your parents' home?" Sam asks. The brother looks behind him for a moment. I take the chance to notice how he's only holding the door open so we can't see anything past him.
"Yeah, they're inside." Then a second male voice rings from inside, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
"Jake? Who is it?" We all straighten a little bit more when an older guy appears in the door way, the door moving so we can't see past him now. I try to move to the side unnoticed to see if I can see anything from that angle. I stop when Jake glances at me.
"Hi, U.S. Marshals, sir, we're looking for your son Duane." Dean informs Jake's father.
"Wh-why? He's not in trouble, is he?" I can't help but feel his worry isn't genuine. He seems….weird.
"No, no, no, no. We just need to ask him a couple of routine questions, that's all." Dean looks at me, the look in his eyes agreeing with my internal thoughts….this is just weird.
"When's he due back from his trip?" Sam cuts in, the father looks at him with a barely masked disdain.
"I'm not sure." Awesome. Just fan-fucking-tastic. I wrestle the urge to tell him he's a shitty parent. Instead I just say,
"Well, maybe your wife knows." He glance at me, more like glares, and retorts in an equally icy voice that I used.
"No, I don't know, she's not here right now." Alarm bells go off in my head. This time I don't ignore it. I cut Dean off before he can talk.
"Your son said she was." Jake glances nervously at his dad.
"Did I?" He asks in a completely confident voice. Which almost throws me off. Almost.
"Yeah, you did." My head turns at an angle, making it look sarcastic, fit with my squinty eyes and pissed off smirk. Sam finally decides that I pushed enough and subtly pushes me out of the way.
"She's getting groceries. So, when Duane gets back, there's a number where he can get a hold of you?" I roll my eyes and silently make the decision to look in a window once they go back inside. I check to make sure my pistol is still tucked into my pants, thankful when it is.
"Oh no, we'll just check in with you later." Dean says then the door is closing and we're walking off the porch.
"That was kind of creepy, right? A little too Stepford?" Dean asks and a mixture of 'Big time' and 'for sure' answers him. That's how we find ourselves watching a father and son bonding. Over cutting the mother. Sam, Dean, and I all get our pistols in our hands and sprint back to the doorway, Dean knocking the door in. I hurry to where the family is.
The guys both look up and the father starts coming at me with a knife, Dean doesn't hesitate to shoot him. I see the brother jump out a window and Sam pointing his gun so I run over to the mother, covering the cut on her arm, and untie her from the chair. I don't let myself think about the dead father on the ground. Instead I think about Roanoke. And the Croatoan carving. What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck?!
Next thing I know, I'm in the back seat with the mother and Sam is in the passenger seat, making sure everyone's alright as Dean peals out of the driveway, presumably going towards the nearest clinic. That father was evil. The son was evil. They were torturing their wife/mother! Why do I feel remorse over their death? I hear a thump from the trunk when we hit a sharp turn. I almost gag. That's the father's body.
But then I look out the window as we get back to the main town. And I pale, my mouth agape, as I don't see anyone. Not a single person, not even the shadow of the cashier in the window where I bought my lemonade from. Wait. Where's my lemonade? FUCK. I dropped it when I ran into the phone! Fuck my life! God Dammi-
"Where is everybody?" I say, biting my tongue to stop myself from cursing the phone booth when we pass by it. Sam and Dean don't even look outside. Dean breaks in front of the doctor's, the urgentness in the brother's movements making me want to panic for some reason, and opens the trunk. He grabs the dead body and Sam helps the mother inside. I stay behind to close the trunk, grab the keys from the ignition, and kick the phone pole with the marking on it before running inside too.
By the time I get in there, everyone is back in the office. Instead of staying with them, I write a quick letter on the doctor's note pad and go back outside to investigate the disappearances.
-000-
Twenty minutes into the search and I've seen no one, heard nothing. Until I hear it. And I feel it. The footsteps rush up to me and I spin around, my fist meeting a cheek. I glance at the person, who barely even flinched, stumbling when I notice it's the cashier from earlier, the cut on her arm even more red. Her movement incredibly fast and her eyes look….vacant.
She grabs me by my neck and any moves I try to get away from her aren't working. Instead, she pushes me against the brick wall and I kick out extra hard when I notice a piece of glass in her hand. She dodges it. I scream out when the glass pierces my skin and cuts along my collarbone. I expect more cuts except I try to get away again when I notice her cutting her own skin.
"No! Stop!" I scream over and over again, blind panic taking over as I realize this isn't all a coincidence. Roanoke is happening. In Oregon. I gag when she places her bloody hand on my cut, our blood mixing. But maybe this is a demon. Didn't I say that demons were out to get me with the clap to Dean when he left me at the motel?
I'm left to cut up my skin even more when she removes her hand from my neck and sprints away and I slide down the brick wall. And I know this is bad. How could it not be? So I lay my head on top of my knees and sob.