NIGHTMARE PART 2
Alice wasn't sure how to put it, but Max took his grief over his father in a very odd way. He was upset, clearly, but his words were stiff and held traces of venom whenever he spoke about him. It made her frown with apprehension as she stood beside the kid as Sam said gently to him.
"So what was your Dad like?" Sam asked, stealing a glance at Alice. Hoping to see if her facial expression gave anything away that he wasn't aware of.
"Just a normal Dad." Max shrugged, stiffening his lip as her voice corked.
Alice knelt down beside Max and looked up at him. "Do you live at home now?" she asked.
Max nodded, looking at everything else in the room except Sam and Alice. "Yeah. Trying to save up for school but it's hard."
Alice nodded, glancing at Sam since she knew he could relate. "So…when you found your dad…" she began.
"I woke up, I heard the engine running." Max began before coming to a pause. His eyes looked cloudy and distant, like he was recalling a long memory. "I don't know why he did it."
Alice nodded her head again, lifting her hand. She hesitated momentarily, her fingers twitching as she gently touched Max's shoulder. She was startled, though, when she felt him flinch, snapping his attention up at her. Max held his breath as he stared into Alice's icy blue eyes. It was almost like he was peering into her very soul and saw every detail she wished to hide, but as suddenly as he jumped…he relaxed a little under her rough but warm hand.
Alice felt her words briefly get caught in her throat, feeling a sharp sense of emotions rise in her chest. "I know…what it's like to lose a parent. And I know the pain…when you can't explain why it happened," she finished.
Dean worked fast once he was alone upstairs. Checking that the coast was clear, he pulled out an infrared thermal scanner from its pocket. He turned it on, and red lights shone sharply upon the walls. He shinned it into every room he passed until reaching the end of the hall.
"Anything?" a voice chimed from behind him.
Dean jumped and turned around, quickly trying to hide the scanner. He immediately frowned thought when he saw that it was Alice who snuck up on him. A little while later, he saw Sam climb the stairs behind her, too.
"Find anything?" he asked too.
Dean shook his head and followed the two back down the steps.
"Zip."
After searching the Miller house and talking to the family, they returned to the motel room and settled down for a long brainstorming session. Sam was examining the history of the house while Dean cleaned his weapons on the bed, and Alice was leaning against the headboard with her family journal open in her lap.
"Got anything?" Alice asked while flipping the pages in her journal.
Sam shook his head, disappointment on his face. "A whole lotta nothing. Nothing bad has happened in the Miller house since it was built."
"What about the land?" Dean asked.
Sam sat on the bed across from them. "No grave yards, battle fields, tribal lands or any other kind of atrocity on or near the property."
Dean shrugged his shoulders and lowered his shotgun he had been cleaning. "Hey man I told you, I searched that house up and down. No cold spots, sulfur scent. Nada."
"And the family said everything was normal?"
Alice spoke up without taking her eyes off the book. "If it was anything like a demon or a poltergeist, someone would've noticed by now. Dean's already used the infer-red thermal scanner and came out with nothing," she said flatly.
"So what, you think Jim Miller killed himself and my dream was just some sorta freakish coincidence?" Sam stiffened at her dismissive tone, immediately regretting it the next second when she slammed her book shut and looked at him.
"I'm not downgrading what you've seen. I trust what you saw, but…" Alice sat up and patted her journal against her leg. "I'm trying to understand it myself. I'm trying to find a connection that can explain things.
Sam nodded with a pained look on his face. He groaned and rubbed his temples. "Yeah, I get what you're trying to say." He took in a deep breath and began to feel his head pounding. "Maybe it's not the house…but the family…" His thoughts were soon broken up when the pain suddenly intensified.
Dean and Alice noticed this shift immediately and got out of bed. Dean grabbed his arm while Alice knelt before him, holding him up.
"Ahh…my head.=," Sam agonized.
"Hey! What's going on? Talk to me," Dean called out, but his voice faded to the back of Sam's head as his mind began to flash with images. Another vivid vision lacerated his brain and made him seize up.
This time, he saw Roger Miller at his apartment, putting down the groceries. He noticed the window was open and went over to close and lock it. Returning to the kitchen to unpack everything, the lock on the window began to unlatch itself, and the window slid right back up. Roger was confused when he saw it again. He went over to check it out and stuck his head out the window to look around. Suddenly, the window slammed shut over his neck…and blood gushed everywhere.
Sam gasped sharply as he slowly came out of his vision and took a deep breath. His eyes readjusted to his surroundings and saw Alice and Dean staring down at him.
"It's happening again. Something's gonna kill Roger Miller." Sam spoke with urgency.
Sam was sweating as he watched the dark scenery fly by the window. The deep rumble of the Impala's engine did little to soothe him as he held his phone to his ear.
"Roger Miller. Ah no no, just the address please. Ok, thanks," he said and hung up a moment later. "450 West Grove, Apartment 1120."
Dean nodded and glanced in his rearview mirror to make sure Alice was still following them on the Thunderace. "You ok?" he asked Sam.
"Yeah."
"If you're gonna hurl I'll pull the car over you know, cause the upholstery..."
"I'm fine. Just drive," Sam insisted. He looked down at his lap and felt himself break out into a cold sweat. He felt the same way he did when he saw visions of Alice's death back at their family home. "It's like Alice all over again. Dean, I'm scared man. These nightmares weren't bad enough, now I'm seeing things when I'm awake? And these, visions, or whatever, they're getting more intense. And painful."
"Come on man, you'll be all right. It'll be fine." Dean tried to assure him.
Sam groaned and rolled his eyes. "What is it about the Millers. Why am I connected to them, why am I watching them die? Why the hell is this happening to me?"
"I don't know Sam but we'll figure it out. We've faced the unexplainable every day. This is just another thing."
"No. It's never been us. It's never been in the family like this. Tell the truth, you can't tell me this doesn't freak you and Alice out."
Dean paused for a long time as he glanced back at Alice. "This doesn't freak me out. And you can bet your ass it doesn't freak Alice out either." He said, looking back to the unfolding road in front of him.
The tires of the Thunderace slid to a halt as the smell of burning rubber filled her senses. She looked to her right and saw the Impala quickly pull up beside her. The boys jumped from the car and looked at the apartment building, seeing Roger approach the entrance with grocery bags in hand.
"Hey Roger." Sam called out in a panic.
Roger looked up and groaned. "What are you guys, missionaries? Leave me alone." He grumbled and walked into the building, locking them outside.
Sam broke out into a sprint, with Dean following close behind. "Hey. Roger. We're trying to help!" He ran up to the front, but Roger had already locked it.
"I don't want your help," Roger shouted at them before turning around and walking up the stairs.
Alice didn't wait for the boys to scramble their brains to think of a way in. She grabbed them both by the back of their jackets and shoved them down the back ally where the fire escape was. They jumped to the first level and ran up the stairs. When they made it to the floor of Roger's home, their hearts sank when they heard a heavy, wet, squelching noise followed by an eerie thump. Sam froze where he stood as Dean and Alice rushed past him. Alice looked over the railing and cringed when she saw Roger's head at the bottom of the apartment building.
"Jesus…" she muttered and stepped away from the railing. She looked over and saw blood splatter all over the kitchen window.
No one moved momentarily as the scene unfolded before their very eyes. Alice and Sam grew pale as Dean quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He passed it over to Sam.
"Start wiping down your fingerprints, we don't want the cops to know we were here. Come on, come on!" he barked, shaking the two from the shock. "Alice, you and I are gonna have a look inside."
Alice swallowed hard and quickly composed herself. "Right." She used the sleeve of her jacket and lifted up the window leading inside Roger's home. She and Dean climbed inside while Sam continued wiping down the metal railing.
Alice sighed deeply and shook her head, following beside the boys out into the parking lot of the apartment. "I don't know what to say, Sam. There was nothing of interest in his apartment."
Dean nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Just like the Miller's house. There weren't any signs."
Sam's tone was urgent as he spoke to the two of them. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself of this fact rather than Dean and Alice. "I saw something, in the vision. Like a dark shape. Something was...something was stalking Roger."
"Whatever it was, are you sure it's not connected to their house?" Dean asked as they walked up to the Impala and Thunderace.
"No, it's connected to the family themselves. So what do you think, like a vengeful spirit?"
Alice shrugged, glancing away for a moment to think of the possibilities. Yet, she was drawing just as much of a blank as the boys were.
"Well yeah, there's a few that have been known to latch onto families, follow them for years," Dean said
Sam named off a few. "Angiak. Banshees."
"Could a curse." Alice thought out loud. "Roger and Jim Miller could've gotten involved with something dark, something that wouldn't caused a curse."
"Makes sense why all the men are being attacked. It could be out for revenge." Sam agreed. He then paused for a moment as anxiety slipped onto his face. He looked back up to Alice. "Hey…you think Max is in danger."
Alice grimaced, sharing Sam's fears. "Don't know, and I wanna find out fast before Max finds out the hard way." She goes over to her motorcycle as Sam and Dean get into the Impala.
"Well, I know one thing I have in common with these people," Sam said as he entered the passenger seat.
"What's that?" Dean asked as he checked up on Alice in the rearview mirror.
"Both our families are cursed."
Dean made a face and looked over to Sam. "Our families not cursed! We just...had our dark spots." He huffed.
"Our dark spots are...pretty dark," Sam reiterated. "And it's funny to think that Alice's family...with all their long history, is the most normal."
Dean scoffed and turned away, muttering under his breath. "Dark spots. Yeah, right. You're…dark."