Author's Note: Hello all. I hope everyone is safe, warm, and healthy. According to the statistics most of the readers of this story are from the United States. Things have been going crazy across a large portion of the county, and I hope none of my readers have been too badly affected by the winter weather or the ongoing pandemic.
This chapter ended up being a bit longer than what I usually write. But there was just so much I wanted to happen, and I couldn't find a logical place to break it up to make it into two chapters. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it.
CHAPTER 13
Krissy followed Sam out of the motel room. She was a little surprised to see Dean and Charlie climbing out of the Impala. Truth be told, she really hadn't given much thought to where they were. Charlie had said something about going to talk to the Winchesters as Krissy was getting into the shower, but she hadn't been paying all that much attention to what had been said.
As they approached, Krissy couldn't help but notice Charlie's reddened eyes and tear stained face. "What's wrong?" Krissy asked, full of concern for her friend. "Are you hurt? Why have you been crying?" She looked from her friend's face to Dean's, not missing the slight grimace that crossed Charlie's features before she schooled them into a more relaxed expression.
Krissy drew in a sharp breath as a thought occurred to her. "Did he spank you? He did, didn't he?" she demanded.
Charlie wasn't sure how she should respond to the teenager's question. She glanced over at Dean before nodding.
Krissy's temper flared. Turning to Dean, she demanded, "You spanked her for what I did?" Dean glared at her in response, and Krissy lost it. "You fucking asshole!" She rushed at Dean and hit him hard enough in the chest with both fists to cause him to take an involuntary step backward.
"What the hell?!" Dean demanded at the same time Sam lifted Krissy off her feet and away from Dean before she could launch a second attack.
"Let's take this inside," the younger Winchester said in a stern tone of voice. "We're drawing too much attention."
Dean nodded his agreement, as if he didn't trust himself to speak at that moment. He stepped in front of the others as he dug the key card to his and Sam's room out of his jeans pocket. "You, too " he said to Charlie when he spotted her stand off to the side with a shocked look on her face.
Krissy struggled to break free of Sam's hold as he easily carried her into the room. Once they were all in and the door had been closed behind them, he set her on her feet. Transferring his hold on her from around her waist to each arm, he leaned over and spoke in her ear. "You will calm down and act in a civilized manner, or I will restrain you again. And I promise you, you won't like the way I do it." Although his voice was soft enough to not be heard by the others, it carried enough steel that Krissy knew Sam Winchester meant business.
"What the hell was that about?" Dean demanded as Sam released Krissy and stepped away from her.
Krissy stood rooted in her spot and crossed her arms over her chest. "You didn't have any right to spank Charlie - especially not for something I did."
"Of all the …." Dean ran his hands over his face in exasperation as he glared at the teenager. In his opinion, someone else was dangerously close to getting their ass tanned that morning, and the thought of it darkened his already sour mood.
Charlie sensed the change in Dean's mood and, hoping to head off any further trouble, she moved to stand beside him. "It wasn't like that, Krissy."
"Then how was it?" Krissy demanded, now a little confused as to why her friend was defending Dean. "'Cause he had no right to do that. Me going and getting that tattoo was all on me. You had nothing to do with it."
"So she does have some sense of responsibility," Dean muttered to himself, earning identical glares from the other two adults in the room.
"Not helping," Sam commented dryly.
Dean shrugged his shoulders in response and gestured for Charlie to continue. "You want to tell her or should I?"
Charlie glared at him as she crossed to where Krissy was standing. She took the teenager by the hand and led her over to one of the beds. Wincing slightly at the pressure on her still sore backside as she sat down, Charlie patted the bed, indicating she wanted Krissy to join her.
"Yes, Dean spanked me," she said as she felt the heat of embarrassment rising in her cheeks. "But it was for something I did, not for what you did." She gave a small smile that she hoped was reassuring. "I'm sure you know how Dean feels about being lied to."
"Yeah." Krissy's voice held a note of suspicion. She knew all too well the consequences Dran handed out for lying. In fact, she knew she was facing them herself when they got back to the bunker.
"Well, I … uh … lied to Dean and Sam about the reason I had for coming here. I didn't have a trusted anonymous source. I … uh … made the whole thing up to convince them to bring you and come with me." Charlie sighed, relieved that she'd gotten that part said. "I felt guilty because my lies led you to do what you did last night. So I confessed to them this morning, and Dean made his displeasure known." She quickly glanced over at Dean before returning her gaze to Krissy.
Krissy just stared at Charlie for a moment as a hundred thoughts raced through her mind. The most prominent of which was that someone she had already come to think of as a friend had lied. It might not have been directly to her, but it had still had a huge impact on her. After all, it was Charlie's lies that put her in the position to make the choices she had the night before. Krissy shook her head in disbelief and, not trusting herself to not say something she'd later regret, she turned on her heel and made her way to the bathroom. She closed the door, giving herself some privacy, just as she heard Charlie calling her name.
As she leaned against the closed door she heard Sam say, "give her a few minutes. Why don't you two go and grab us something to eat. It's late, and none of us has had breakfast."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Dean sighed in resignation. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in frustration. He wasn't really up to deal with a moody teenager, and he really hoped Sam intended to talk to her while they were gone. Dean knew Krissy was hurt by what Charlie had done, but he was only going to put up with so much from her - and his limit was quickly approaching.
Meanwhile, Krissy had slid down to sit with her back against the closed door. Her legs were straight out in front of her, and her hands were folded in her lap. Occasionally she reached up to swipe at a tear that was rolling down her face. She felt betrayed by what Charlie had done. True, Charlie hadn't exactly lied to her, but her lies about the potential demon activity at Bobby Mackey's led her, in part, to make the decisions she had the night before. Her shoulder around the area of her new tattoo began itching as if it were reminding her that she still had to face Dean's wrath, and likely Sam's as well over the decisions she'd made. Plus, even though it had only been a short time, she had begun to trust the older woman. There weren't that many people in her life she could do that with, and now she had to wonder if she really could put Charlie in that category.
Krissy was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard the door open and close when Dean and Charlie left the room or Sam's footsteps as he'd approached the bathroom. She jumped when he lightly rapped on the door.
"Come on out, Krissy, so we can talk."
She ignored him and swiped another tear from her cheek. She was getting a headache from crying and hunger, and the last thing she wanted to do was talk about her feelings.
"You can't stay in there forever. You're going to have to come out at some point, and you're going to have to deal with this. Charlie isn't here at the moment, but she's going to be part of our lives. So, the sooner you deal with this, the better off you'll be."
Krissy stood and, taking one last swipe at her tear dampened face with the hem of her t-shirt, opened the door to find Sam leaning against the jam.
"Where'd she go?" she asked as she stepped through the doorway and out into the room.
"She and Dean went to get us some food. I think we'll all feel better once we've eaten." Sam dropped a companionable hand on Krissy's shoulder and led her to the table. "Have a seat," he said as he pulled a chair away from the table and held it for her. When she'd taken a seat, he sat across from her.
As he reached across the table to move a lock of hair that had stuck to her tear-dampened cheek to behind her ear he said, "life sucks, huh?"
Krissy gave a watery grin and a snort of laughter. Leave it to Sam Winchester to break the tension of the moment with a comment like that.
"You know, Charlie had a reason for doing what she did, and it took a lot of guts for her to tell us about it. She knew the way Dean would react, yet she did it anyway. You wanna know why she did that?" Sam's voice was gentle, encouraging the teenager sitting across from him to engage in the conversation.
Krissy shrugged. She had an idea, but she wasn't sure she could put it into words.
"Because she felt guilty. She felt bad that she'd misled us. But, even more importantly, she felt responsible for setting up the situation that caused you to make the decisions you did last night." Sam tucked a finger under Krissy's chin and raised it until his eyes could meet hers. He wanted her to see the sincerity and seriousness with which he was approaching this situation. "The moment we discovered where you had gone, she started blaming herself."
"Well, it was her fault," Krissy said sharply as she tried to pull her chin out of Sam's grip. Having to meet his eyes was making her uncomfortable. He held her gaze for a moment longer before releasing his hold and allowing her to look away.
"Just how is it her fault?" he questioned as he crossed his arms on the table.
"If she hadn't lied to get us here, I wouldn't have had to make the decision to go get the tattoo."
Sam sighed and shook his head. Yep, he thought, that was exactly where he thought she was going to go with this. He knew, though, that wasn't the real reason Krissy was so upset. She was using it as a smoke screen to avoid talking about her true feelings.
"You know better than that," Sam commented, deciding to call her on her subterfuge. "We touched on it earlier, and we'll talk more about it when we get back to the bunker. You made your choices last night. No one forced you into them." He'd studied her face while he spoke and saw her stubbornness start to crack. "No, kiddo, that's not why you're so mad at Charlie." He paused to give Krissy a chance to consider that before he spoke again. "You want to know what I think?"
"Not really, but I'm sure you're going to tell me anyway."
Sam chose to ignore the snide tone in which Krissy had made her comment and carried on with his train of thought. "I think you're hurt because someone you thought you could trust betrayed that trust." He had to suppress a grin as Krissy shifted in her seat. He'd hit the nail on the head. "I know you feel like you haven't been able to trust a lot of people lately. Your dad didn't choose to die, but he still left you on your own after saying he was getting out of the hunting life. You learned that Victor was manipulating you. Your friends decided they didn't want to hunt. Even to some extent you've been suspicious of me and Dean. We've made decisions for you that you didn't particularly want. I get it. It's going to take time before you really learn to trust us - and we're going to earn that trust. But, then Charlie comes along. She's the kind of person you just inherently think you can rely on, and when you find out she's lied to all of us about something major. Well, that's something that's hard to swallow - for anyone."
Krissy had been studying her fingernail during Sam's speech. She looked up to meet his eyes. Hers were, once again, wet with tears. "I really thought I could trust her, Sam."
He nodded as he reached across the table to place a hand over the ones she now had folded on the table. "I know it does. And she will have to rebuild that trust with you. She knows that. Just give her a chance." Sam glanced up as he heard the rumble of the Impala's engine as the muscle car pulled into the parking space in front of their door. "Talk to her about it, okay."
Krissy nodded. "Okay, but not right now. I'm not ready."
Sam stood and walked around the table to pull her to her feet and into a hug. "That's fine. Just don't wait too long, okay?"
Krissy returned the hug and nodded against his chest. "Thanks, Sam," she said so quietly he almost missed it.
He gave her a squeeze just as the door opened and Dean walked in carrying a bag of food. Dean gave the pair a curious look as Krissy stepped out of Sam's arms and moved to sit on one of the beds. Sam moved to the table and began removing styrofoam boxes from the bags. At the questioning look his brother gave him, Sam nodded - indicating that, at least for the moment, things were handled.
XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX
"Charlie and I found us a job," Dean said around a mouthful of cheeseburger a few minutes later, "a real one this time."
Charlie blushed and looked down at the food held in her lap at the pointed look he had sent her way. There were only two chairs at the small table. Dean had automatically taken one, and Sam had nudged Krissy toward the other. He and Charlie were balancing their meals on their laps as they each sat on the foot of one of the beds.
"Go on," Sam instructed as he took a bite from his salad. Since Dean had mentioned it, he thought the idea of a real hunt might be good for all of them to get back on an even keel - or at least closer to it.
Dean took a moment to finish off his sandwich and wad up the wrapping. "Charlie and I stopped at an old abandoned house to take care of our business. Anyway, after we were finished, we were standing in the yard and I got hit in the back by a pinecone. I didn't think anything of it at first, because the house was surrounded by pine trees. It was a bit windy, so it could have been a coincidence. But it happened about four more times before I was able to get into Baby and shut the door. Baby even got nailed a couple of times."
"But I wasn't hit at all," Charlie said, picking up the narrative. "It was almost as if Dean was being targeted by something."
"And it started after you'd spanked Charlie, and not before?" Sam asked, intrigued by what they were saying.
"Yeah, I'd spanked her and we'd hugged it out. I didn't get hit the first time until we'd stepped away from each other. It's almost like whatever it was didn't want to take a chance on accidentally hitting Charlie, but it wanted to make it known it didn't like what I'd done."
Sam rose from his seat on the bed to stuff his now empty food container into the brown paper bag Dean had used to carry it into the room. He turned to accept Krissy's empty food container and do the same. It was obvious he was using the activity as time to gather his thoughts about what had been said.
"Did you see anything else that might indicate there was a ghost or vengeful spirit there?" he asked as he moved to grab his laptop bag from beside the door.
"No," Charlie responded first. "It just seemed like an old, abandoned house. If I had to guess, it's probably been standing empty for fifteen or twenty years. It was actually in pretty decent shape."
"Yeah," Dean agreed. "It's set back off the road. In fact, you can barely see it for the trees. When I pulled into what's left of the driveway, I honestly thought we were going into a clearing in the woods."
"Did you happen to notice what road you were one?" Krissy was warming up to the idea of a possible job.
"Good question," Sam commented as he opened up his laptop and powered it up. Krissy smiled at his compliment.
"Jones Hill Road," Charlie responded. "What?" she questioned as everyone turned to look at her. "I knew what was going to happen when we stopped, so I was reading street signs as we passed them to distract myself. It was probably half a mile past St. John the Baptist Catholic Church."
Sam pulled up Google Maps on his laptop and plugged in the information about the church. "Hmm," he said almost to himself. "It just shows that area as vacant property. Is it all wooded out through there?" He grunted to himself when he noticed that neither a satellite view nor a street view was available for that area.
"Trees as far as the eye could see," Dean responded.
"It's possible that the house has been vacant long enough that it's not listed in whatever databases that were used to create the maps of the area or that the trees have grown so tall that the canopy hides it from satellite view." Sam was silent for a moment as he typed something else into the machine. "Looks like we might be able to find more information about the property through the Campbell County Property Valuation Administration. It might be worth a trip there to see what we can find. It's up in Newport, and the public library isn't too far from there." Sam looked up from his computer. "Dean and Charlie, why don't you go to the Property Valuation office to see what you can find out about the property, while Krissy and I head to the library to start doing some research?"
XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX
Dean held open the door labeled PVA and gestured for Charlie to precede him into the room. They had left Sam and Krissy at the library and made their way over to the Campbell County Courthouse.
As they approached the counter a woman stood up from her desk and moved to meet them. The name plate on the desk she'd vacated read "Cheryl."
"What can I do for you folks today?"
"We were hoping you could help us track down some information about an old abandoned house out on John's Hill Road." He gave her his most charming smile when he saw suspicion enter her facial features.
"That was Jones Hill Road, just past the church." Charlie shrugged her shoulders as if to say "yes, I know he's an idiot, but what am I supposed to do?" "We're contractors, and we buy old abandoned houses, rehab them and bring them back to life to be enjoyed by a new family."
"We're just passing through on a road trip and decided to stay a day or two and explore the area. We came across that old house earlier, and we wanted to get some more information about it, " Dean picked up the story line. "We're hoping to be able to contact the owner about possibly taking it off their hands. "
"I don't know why I insisted that he turn down that dirt path that led to the house, but I was drawn to it." Charlie smiled and reached for Dean's hand. "It just spoke to me, and I'd love to see it restored so another family can enjoy it."
"That would probably be the old Sizemore house," Cheryl said as she pulled the information up on the computer. "It's been empty ever since Ed Sizemore passed away. Well, I guess it's been about 20 years ago now." She tapped a few more keys, and they all watched as the nearby printer spit out a piece of paper. She pulled it off the printer and handed it to Dean.
He glanced at the paper and saw it contained a picture of the house, confirming it was the right property. It listed the owner as the Edward Sizemore Heirs with the address being a post office box in nearby Covington, Kentucky. "Do you know who the Edward Sizemore Heirs are," Dean asked Cheryl.
"No, I'm afraid I don't. I don't think anyone does," she said. They easily picked up the note of confusion in her voice. "The taxes are kept current, but nobody seems to know who pays them."
"Who collects the taxes?" Charlie asked. "Would they know who pays them?"
Cheryl shook her head. "The taxes are paid to the sheriff's office, but they only keep track of whether or not they're paid - not who pays them."
"Well, what can you tell us about Edward Sizemore and his family?" This time it was Dean who asked the question.
"He always was pretty much a hermit. Not that it was all that surprising. His wife, Judy, bless her heart, always was a strange one, even when she was younger. She got worse, though, after their daughter, Rebecca, was found dead at the bottom of the stairs with her neck broken. Poor thing was only ten years old." Cheryl glanced around the room, then leaned forward to brace her arms on the counter, giving the impression that she was about to share a major secret. "Then their boy, Frankie, got sent away right after that. They said he was going to some boarding school out of state, but I heard he'd actually gone to Eastern State down in Lexington. I don't think he ever came back to the house again."
"Did they find out how Rebecca died?" Charlie asked, even more intrigued than she had been before.
"Nope," Cheryl responded. "The police never came out and confirmed it, but everyone knows Frankie was responsible for it."
"What do you mean?" This time it was Dean who asked the question.
"His mama was turned strange, but Frankie was down right scary. Something was wrong with that boy, but Judy and Ed just ignored it - until it was too late for Rebecca."
"Wow!" Charlie said in a voice that was a mixture of awe and sympathy. "That poor little girl."
Dean shared a look with Charlie as he folded the sheet of paper in half lengthwise and slipped it into the back pocket of his jeans. "Thanks for all of your help, Cheryl. We really appreciate the information."
He was holding the door open for Charlie to leave the office when a comment from Cheryl stopped them in their tracks.
"I almost forgot to mention it. Folks say that house is haunted by little Rebecca's ghost."
XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX
"Where's Krissy?" Dean asked as he approached a table in the reference area of the library where Sam was sitting alone, studying something on his computer.
Sam glanced up as Dean and Charlie slid into seats at the table where he had Krissy had been doing research on their laptop computers. "She'll be back soon. She went to go get something printed."
A moment or so later, Krissy returned to the table carrying her laptop and a sheaf of papers. She paused in surprise to see Charlie and Dean sitting at the table and then cursed to herself when she realized the only free chair was beside Charlie. Ignoring the older women, Krissy sat and passed the printed papers to Sam. Turning to Dean she said, "I found an old newspaper article about a little girl named Rebecca Sizemore who was found dead at the foot of a flight of stairs in a house on that road. I'm thinking it might be the house you were at. You think maybe that little girl was the ghost who attacked you?"
"Seems like it might be," Dean said as he skimmed the newspaper article Sam had handed to him. "It matches up with what the clerk in the PVA office told us. She liked to talk."
"She liked to gossip," Charlie corrected a little sourly.
"Regardless," Sam interrupted, "this looks like a good place to start." He had previously read the article when Krissy had first found it. "What do we know about her death? The article didn't say whether it was an accident if foul play was involved."
"Well, according to Cheryl's gossip, the family suspected Rebecca's brother, Frankie." Dean leaned back in his seat after sharing a knowing look with Charlie. "Seems he was shipped off somewhere shortly after it happened." Dean paused as he watched Charlie reach for Krissy's computer and pull it in front of her.
Krissy started to object to Charlie's appropriation of her computer, but Sam's head shake warning her against making a fuss caused her to change her mind. She wasn't in the mood to put up with a lecture from him.
"Cheryl told us the family said he had been sent to a boarding school in another state. However, the rumor circulating among the gossip mill was that he was sent to someplace called Eastern State in Lexington," Dean reported.
"Eastern State is and was the state mental hospital located about an hour and a half south of here in Lexington." Charlie looked up briefly from her borrowed computer.
"Well, that sort of fits with what Cheryl was implying," Dean responded.
"Give me a minute."
The others watched as Charlie began typing rapidly. "Got you," she said almost to herself.
"What have you found?" Krissy asked, momentarily letting her curiosity override her anger.
"He was admitted to Eastern State for in-patient treatment when he was fifteen. He was diagnosed as a violent schizophrenic with extreme psychosis." She paused as she scanned the records she had hacked. "This confirms that he killed Rebecca. He told his doctor that he pushed her down the stairs, and her neck was broken as she fell. He never left the hospital. The records actually say that him being kept there was the only thing preventing him from being imprisoned. The doctor's note said he expressed no remorse over it. In fact, he told his doctor that she had it coming because she summoned the monsters who fed on him at night." Charlie reported with a note of disgust in her voice. "He was killed when he was twenty-two in a fight with another patient."
"Wow," Krissy commented, "I want to learn how to hack like that."
"That's what you have to say to what Charlie just said?" Sam asked, aghast at Krissy's apparent lack of reaction to what they had just learned.
"What?" Krissy demanded. She shrugged at the looks on the adults' faces. "Yeah, it's tragic, but it's all in the past. Am I supposed to feel bad about some evil dude snuffing it in a fight in a psycho ward?"
Sam shook his head at her response. Dean just narrowed his eyes at her, like he was trying to decide whether or not he needed to do anything about what she had just said.
Krissy suddenly realized she may have gone a little too far. "Don't get me wrong," She said quickly, trying to soothe the growing ire of her two guardians. "It's horrible what happened to him, but it's even worse what happened to Rebecca. I'd bet when she was alive, she'd been his favorite victim and nobody did anything about it. I just can't feel sorry for the guy. He got what he deserved."
Charlie picked up the thread of Krissy's statement. "You're probably not wrong," she said, drawing everyone's attention to her.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked curiously.
"It's not so much what Cheryl said, but how she said it - and what she didn't say." Charlie paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. "She didn't express any true sympathy for Rebecca. It's like her death wasn't the important part of the story. The important part was the scandal of Frankie being sent away."
Sam sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin with his hand. "The people in town probably took their cues from the family. If Rebecca wasn't that important to the family, she wouldn't be the focus of town gossip. The gossip mill seems to have focused on Frankie, so he must have been more important to the family."
Dean stared at his brother for a moment. "I have no idea where you come up with stuff like that, but it sorta makes sense."
Sam ignored his brother's comment and turned back to Charlie. "Do the records indicate whether the doctor shared Frankie's confession with anyone?"
"Let me look." Charlie returned her attention to her computer screen and tapped a few keys. A few minutes passed in silence before Charlie said, "His notes say that he told Judy and Richard Sizemore, but they ordered him not to tell anyone else. He didn't like that, but since they were the parents of both children involved and there was an issue of doctor patient confidentiality, he couldn't say anything."
"So Rebecca's parents knew, but they still didn't do anything other than have him locked up in a psych ward." Krissy's disgust with the Sizemore parents was more than evident in her voice. "I really feel sorry for Rebecca. Imagine having to grow up with parents like that."
Sam just hummed in response as he began typing something into his computer. The three others at the table watched him as he worked. "Did the clerk in the PVA's office tell you how Judy Sizemore died?"
"No, she didn't," Dean responded. "You think her death might be related?"
"I don't know. I've just got a hunch."
"I think I'm getting the same hunch," Krissy said as she reclaimed her computer from Charlie. She pulled up the library's reference page and accessed the archived newspaper records. While she was running a search for Judy Sizemore, Sam spoke again.
"Judy Sizemore died about six months after her daughter was murdered. Her obituary doesn't give any details about her death."
"That's probably because it was a suicide," Krissy interrupted. She scanned through the news article she'd found. The woman's death, so close on the heels of her daughter's, was sensational enough that the local newspaper had published a full account, including information apparently obtained from the Campbell County Coroner's Office. "She OD'd on sleeping pills and vodka - the coward's way out, if you ask me."
"Where was she found?" Dean asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"In one of the bathrooms on the second floor. Her husband was the one who found her."
"So, Rebecca might not be the only spirit haunting that house," Charlie speculated.
"Maybe, but she's the only one I care about at the moment. If we can do it, I'd like to help her get through the veil to Heaven. We can salt and burn the mother's remains if we have to, but that's not a priority."
"I've just had another thought," Charlie said. This time she reached for Sam's computer and pulled over to her side of the table and began typing, ignoring the hard look he'd given her. "Damn it," she commented a moment later as she sat back in her chair. "I wanted to see if the Sheriff Department's records into the investigation of Rebecca's death have been computerized. But it looks like they haven't been. It's probably so old the record is still in paper form - if they've kept it at all."
Sam reached forward and reclaimed his laptop. "Okay, I think we need to head back to the motel and start planning what we're going to do. It sounds like we need to get Rebecca to manifest, then convince her to cross on over the veil."
"That is if she hasn't lost it and become vengeful - not that I'd blame her if what you all have uncovered is true. We might need to be prepared for a salt and burn of her remains, too," Dean commended as he came to his feet.
Krissy had taken her cues from Sam and had packed her own laptop, along with the copies of the article she'd printed, back into her backpack. A shiver coursed down her spine as she stood to follow the adults out of the room. Suddenly, this hunt they were planning didn't sound quite as exciting as it had just a few hours before. She really felt sorry for the little girl whose remains Dean had so casually mentioned destroying. She really hoped it wouldn't come to that.
XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX
"Okay," Dean said as they entered his and Sam's motel room, followed closely by the others. "Sam will figure out whatever ritual or hoodoo or whatever we need to do to get Rebecca to manifest, then we'll gather what we need." He shared a look with his brother. "We probably have most of it already in the Impala." He turned to pin first Charlie and then Krissy with a stern look. "In the meantime, the two of you have something to work out."
Krissy shifted under his gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do," Dean said, his voice taking on a stern edge.
"Remember what we discussed this morning," Sam interrupted. He had pulled an ancient leather bound book out of his computer bag and was already flipping through it. "You don't go into a hunt when there are issues between yourself and someone else on the hunt that could interfere," he said, completely ignoring the times he and Dean had ignored that rule. "It's a matter of safety."
Krissy huffed and turned toward the motel room door. As much as she didn't want to talk to Charlie, she realized she wasn't going to have much of a choice. Dean glared after her as she stomped toward the door while Sam shrugged.
He waited until she had slammed the door behind her as she exited the room before turning to Charlie. "She feels betrayed. She thought she could trust you. You need to fix that." Sam's voice was harder than Charlie had ever heard it when directed toward her.
Charlie nodded her agreement with her order and glanced over at Dean. The expression on his face clearly told her he agreed with his brother's directive. "I'll see what I can do."
It was Dean's turn to nod. "Come back over here when you get things worked out. We've got plans to make."
Moments later Charlie opened the door to her and Krissy's room and quietly closed it behind her. She leaned against the wooden portal and studied Krissy where she sat against the headboard of her bed, her attention trained on the phone in her hand.
"I'm sorry," she said as she took a tentative step into the room. She sighed heavily as she realized Krissy was going to ignore her. Charlie moved across the room to sit on the side of her bed facing Krissy.
"Krissy, please look at me," she directed. "I'd like to talk to you face to face, not to the top of your head." She waited several moments to see if the teenager could comply. "Please don't make me go all Dean on you and take your phone from you. I'd really like to work things out with you, but I can't do that if you're ignoring me."
"Whatever," Krissy said with a huff as she shut off her phone and tossed it onto the bed beside her leg. She shifted on the bed so that she was facing the older woman. Dean and Sam wanted her to work things out with Charlie. Fine, but she was going to tell Charlie exactly what she thought. "I know we just met, but I really thought I could trust you. But you lied." Krissy paused to swipe a tear from her cheek, and that made her even angrier. "I made the decisions I did, and I'm in serious trouble with Dean and Sam, because you lied. How am I supposed to forgive that?"
Charlie's heart broke. She wanted to move to enfold Krissy into her arms and give her a comforting hug, but she knew the teenager would reject the gesture - at least at the moment. "I said it when I came in, and I'll say it again. I'm sorry. I really and truly am. I've been sick with guilt over the idea that you got in trouble because of what I did. I'll do whatever I need to do to make that up to you."
"Why?"
Charlie didn't need any further explanation for Krissy's question. She knew exactly what was being asked. "It's hard to put my reasons into words. They made sense to me at the time, but now I know better." She paused and tucked her hair behind her ears. It was meant to buy her a few seconds to collect her thoughts.
"The Winchesters and I have a close relationship. They're like brothers to me, and I'm like a sister to them." She didn't say it to brag, but to help explain the decisions she's made, and she hoped it came across that way. "That means we're protective of each other. When they took you in, I was concerned about whether or not they were making a mistake. Dean has this thing where he feels like he has to save people, and he often has a blind spot where they're concerned. I wanted to make sure you weren't using them or taking part in some conspiracy that would cause them harm."
Krissy started to speak, but Charlie shook her head, indicating she'd prefer if Krissy didn't interrupt her. "I know, it's crazy, but given what we all do for a living and some of the people we've dealt with, it wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility - at least to my mind. Anyway, I thought if I came up with a reason to get all of you out of the Bunker, away from your comfort zone, I could see for myself what your motives were."
She sighed again and rubbed her hands over her upper arms, trying to give herself the reassurance she needed to finish her explanation. "I began setting things in motion by forging the documents I brought with me to support my claims of possible demon activity. I didn't think they'd come with me if I didn't give them a good reason, and I didn't want to tell them the truth." She looked up to meet Krissy's eyes. "They still don't know the true reason. I haven't shared this with anyone else but you."
Krissy studied the woman sitting across from her and considered what she had just told her. "But we spent time together. I thought we were friends." Tears began to form in her eyes again. She was beginning to wonder whether Charlie was all that much different than Victor.
"It's not like that, I promise." Charlie had sensed where Krissy's thoughts were going. "Once I met you, I knew you weren't any danger to them. You were just what you were presented to be - a teenager who needed a family and some guidance. But, I had already set things in motion. I'd already talked to Dean and Sam about the job and presented the evidence I'd manufactured. I didn't know how to move away from that."
"You could have told them the truth."
Charlie nodded her agreement. "Yes, I could have, and I should have. But that would have required me to admit to them that I'd lied and the reason for it. I didn't want to do that."
"Even if you didn't tell them, you could have told me about it. I would have kept your secret. You knew how I felt about being excluded from the investigation just because I didn't have the sigil."
"Yes, I should have. I feel so, so bad about that. It's the reason I told Dean and Sam the truth this morning. What you did last night was my fault. You wouldn't have had to do that if I hadn't lied and set you up to make those decisions."
Krissy remained silent. She considered telling Charlie that she had made that same argument to Sam earlier that day, but he had already shot it down. No, she thought, she was going to let Charlie continue to think that way. After all, to her mind, the older women deserved the guilt she was feeling.
Although Krissy hadn't said a word, Charlie knew where the teenager's thoughts were going. It was likely the same place hers would have gone. "Again, all I can say is I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"
Krissy thought about it for a moment. In her head, she knew she should forgive Charlie. However, in her heart, she wasn't sure if she was ready to do that yet. "I don't know," she said honestly. "Maybe later, but not right now."
Charlie smiled. "I understand, and I don't blame you. I promise, I'll do what I can to earn your trust back." She studied Krissy for a moment before standing and holding out her arms. "Hug?"
Krissy swiped tears from her cheeks again and moved to her feet. She was almost immediately enclosed in Charlie's embrace. She stood stiffly for a moment before returning the hug. "Okay," was all she said, but the single word held a world of meaning.
XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX
Krissy watched as Sam set up the ritual circle they were planning to use to summon Rebecca's ghost. He had used a can of black spray paint to draw a pentagram on the floor of a room that appeared to have been used as a dining room, but was now mostly empty.
As he finished the pentagram, Sam placed the spray paint can on the floor and dug into the duffle bag as if he were looking for something. A moment later he pulled out a jar of herbs and a stack of small brass bowls. He held them out to Krissy. "Put about a tablespoon of this in each of those bowls," he instructed before he retrieved the spray paint can and began drawing sigils in each of the corners of the five pointed star.
Krissy tried to identify the herbs in the jar, but she didn't recognize any of their scents. "Sam," she said, drawing his attention, "what is this?"
He looked up from painting the last sigil. "It's a mix of amaranth, angelica, arnica, basil, and boneset. It will help with the summoning ritual."
"And you just happened to have all of them with you?"
Sam laughed. "We keep the trunk of the Impala well stocked, since we never know what we might need on any given hunt. If we don't have something, we can usually find some place to get it, or we have to go back to the bunker to get it. That causes a delay that could sometimes be the difference between life or death."
Dean and Charlie entered the room just as Sam pulled candles out of the bag and started placing them in the center of each sigil. "You about ready?" Dean asked.
"I just need a couple more minutes, then I'll be ready. You catch any EVP?"
Dean scowled as Charlie laughed. "Did we catch any EVP?" she repeated. "Take a listen to this." She hit play on the recording device she held in her hand.
"Rebecca we're just here to talk to you," came Dean's voice from the device. "That's all, we just want to talk."
Seconds later they heard a very faint "mean man" said in what sounded like a child's voice.
Krissy burst into laughter at the disgruntled look that crossed Dean's face. "She's got you pegged."
"Yeah, laugh it up, pipsqueak. If you aren't careful, you're going to find out just how mean I can be," Dean responded, choosing not to remind her about their upcoming discussion about her recent behavior. He didn't need to, as the thought immediately occurred to her and her face blanched.
"Okay, let's get this thing moving. Krissy, are you finished with those herbs?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, here you are." Krissy quickly replaced the lid on the jar of herbs and stacked the bowls before holding them out to Sam.
"Put a bowl in front of each candle," he directed. He gave the impression that he wasn't paying any attention to what she was doing while he packed the jar back into the duffle bag, but in reality he was watching her every move. "Good job," he commented as he came to stand at the side of the ritual area.
"Okay, you all move over there," he said as he pointed toward the far interior wall. Once they were in place, Sam opened the lore book to the page he'd marked and began reading a latin incantation, his voice rising and falling with the cadence of the words. As he finished the incantation, he stepped forward and lit each candle and sprinkled the bowls of herbs over each flame.
When the last bowl of herbs had been burned, a pillar of greyish smoke appeared in the center of the pentagram. Sam consulted the book once more and said a few more words in latin. The smoke coalesced into a young girl who appeared to be about ten years old. She was small for her age, and was dressed in tennis shoes, blue jeans, and a Minnie Mouse t-shirt. Her light brown hair was loose and brushed her shoulders.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Sam. Are you Rebecca?"
The girl nodded as she looked around the room. She took a step back when she spotted Dean. "He's mean," she said as she turned back to face Sam. "Why are all of you here in my house?" She seemed to be growing stronger and more aware with each passing second.
"He's really not that mean," Charlie said as she stepped forward. "Do you remember me?"
Rebecca seemed to study her for a moment. "You were here with him. He spanked you."
Charlie blushed. "Yes, that's right. But we aren't here to talk about that."
"Then why are you here?" Rebecca's voice carried a note of suspicion.
"We're here to help you," Sam said as he drew the ghost's attention back to himself. "We want to help you with whatever is keeping you here so you can finish your journey."
Rebecca looked confused for a moment. "Frankie pushed me, and I fell down the stairs. Something happened to my neck, and it hurt. Then I woke up and nobody could see me or hear me. Am I a ghost?" She was starting to cry.
Krissy had initially been amused at Dean's discomfort at being chastised by a child ghost, but her amusement quickly turned to tears as she listened to what Rebecca said. She stepped forward until she was at the edge of the ritual circle. She started to cross over into the pentagram to get to the little girl, but Sam caught her arm and, with a shake of his head, warned her to stay outside of it.
"Hi, Rebecca. My name is Krissy," she said, feeling the need to introduce herself to the child. "Yes, I'm afraid you are a ghost. You broke your neck when Frankie pushed you, and you died."
Rebecca started to cry. "Nobody believed me when I told them he was hurting me. They all said I was lying."
Krissy swallowed hard and turned to look at Sam, who had come to stand behind her. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and encouraged her to continue.
"We believe you," Krissy said gesturing to everyone in the room. "We know what he did to you."
"You do?"
Sam moved to kneel along the outside edge of the pentagram and gestured for the girl to come closer. He wanted to be at eye level with her to make her feel more comfortable. "Yes, we do, Rebecca. And we wanted to tell you that he didn't get away with it. Do you know what a mental hospital is?"
Rebecca shook her head.
"Well, it's someplace people go when they have something wrong with their mind," Sam gave a very simplistic explanation that he thought would make sense to such a young child.
"Frankie had something wrong with his mind. He liked to hurt me."
"We know, sweetheart. After he pushed you down the stairs he was sent to a mental hospital because there was something wrong with him. He lived there, away from the rest of your family, for the rest of his life." Sam hoped that would satisfy the girl. He didn't know how he was going to explain her brother's mental illness, confession, and death to her.
"He was punished?" she asked in a small voice.
"Yes, he was punished." Sam confirmed.
"And your mom felt really guilty for not believing you when you told her he was hurting you. She was punished, too," Krissy stated as she kneeled by Sam. For some reason, she thought it was important that Rebecca knew that, too.
A sudden movement in the corner of the room caught Dean's attention, and he looked over just as an older woman stepped out of the shadows. She hadn't been there a few minutes before when he'd looked around the room. She looked like a stereotypical grandmother. Her grey hair was curled tightly to frame a deeply wrinkled face. She wore a cotton dress and what appeared to be orthopedic shoes. As she took a few more steps forward, Dean realized she was leaning heavily on a cane. "Who are you?"
"I'm Mildred," she replied in a soft voice that carried hints of a southern accent. "Death sent me to escort the poor little mite home. He sends his regards, by the way."
"Home? As in?" he questioned as he pointed skyward. He didn't have to question whether the woman before him was a reaper. Somehow he'd realized that the moment he'd first set eyes on her. Her comment about Death had only served to confirm his suspicions.
"Yes, dear. You and your friends have brought her some closure, and now it's finally time for her to move on. They have a nice place set up for her with a lovely garden, a creek for her to play in, and a puppy to keep her company. "
Dean had to admit to himself that it did seem like a great way for a kid to spend the after life. He watched as Mildred moved to cross over the pentagram. As she did, Sam and Krissy stepped back to join the others.
"Hello, my dear. My name is Mildred. I'm here to take you home."
"Home?" Rebecca asked confused.
"Yes, dear. Did your parents tell you about Heaven?"
Rebecca nodded, a confused look on her face.
"Well, I've been sent to take you there. It's high time you went, too. They've been waiting for you."
"Are you an angel," Rebecca asked, looking at Mildred like she expected to see wings and a halo emerge.
"No, dear. I'm not an angel. I do work for them, though, to take people to Heaven. The angels are waiting to welcome you." Mildred held out her hand. "All you have to do is hold my hand, and I'll take you there."
Rebecca looked around for Sam and Krissy. When she saw them standing against the wall, she simply asked, "really?"
Sam gave her a reassuring smile and nodded. "Really. You can go with her. You'll like where she's taking you." Dean had quickly whispered what Mildred had told him into his brother's ear.
"Okay," Rebecca said and took Mildred's hand.
There was only enough time for Mildred to say "thank you" before the two disappeared in a pouf of smoke.
The atmosphere in the room changed and was immediately lighter. "Well, I hope she truly is happy where she is going," Krissy said as she moved to help Sam clear up the materials used for the summoning. She had been intrigued by the process of summoning the little girl's ghost, but she wasn't sure it was something she wanted to repeat again any time soon.
XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX XxxxxX
Author's Note: I had an idea of where I wanted this chapter to go, but I found it hard to write parts of it. I hope I didn't portray either Charlie or Krissy too far out of character. Hopefully, my muse will decide things are now back on a more even keel and there won't be too much angst for a while. Although, Krissy is still going to have to face the consequences for her trip to the tattoo parlor.
Once again, I feel the need to say that the locations identified in this chapter are real. However, Cheryl and the Sizemore family are all fictitious. Any resemblance to any real person is coincidental.
The idea for this chapter came from a comment made by Chrissysmiles. Leave a review or make a comment. You never know, it might trigger an idea - especially since I don't have this story planned out. I have things in mind I want to happen, but not how they're going to happen. I'm always open to suggestions.