NIGHTMARE PART 4

Sam and Dean waited on the balls of their feet as they watched Alice through the window. She stood out in the motel parking lot, pacing back and forth with her phone to her ear. Max had called her over half an hour ago and was still on the phone, saying god only knows.

The boys were anxious as they waited, wanting to know what was happening, but were too worried to interrupt their call. They can tell by the hard lines on Alice's face that she's calm but heavily worried. If the situation were dire, she would've signaled for them to pack up and start heading to the house that moment.

After maybe five more minutes, Alice pulled her phone away from her ear as the call ended. She returned to the motel room where the boys were waiting, ready for the word.

"We're going to the Miller house," was all she said.

Ms. Miller was the one who came to the door the moment Dean began knocking against the wood. She looked surprised to see them there, but Alice's eyes were immediately pulled behind Ms. Miller's shoulder, where she saw Max.

The boy was red-faced, and his eyes were glassy with adding stress. His posture was strained, and his hands were clenched into fists like he was moments away from snapping into two.

"Ms. Crown. Fathers?" Ms. Miller began. "What are you doing here?"

Alice gestured to Max, standing stiffly behind his mother. "Your son called me." She directed her full attention to the boy. "You wanted to talk, yeah? Well… I'm all ears."

Max lowered his head, working on a swallowed caught in his throat. His body went rigid as Ms. Miller let Alice and the boys inside, walking straight to him. He kept his head down, stiffening as Alice touched his shoulder.

"Dean, go take Ms. Miller upstairs. Sam, you and I are gonna stay down here with Max." Alice said, not taking her eyes off Max.

Ms. Miller's eyes crinkled together. "Why? What… what's going on?"

"Your son if going through some heavy things right now." Alice said through gritted teeth, finally leveling her icy gaze with Ms. Miller. "For everyone's take right now…please go upstairs." The deep tone of her voice left no room for argument.

Ms Miller's voice got caught in her throat, but she didn't say anything. She just let Dean take her by the arm and lead her away.

Max's eyes tracked them until snagging on something silver tucked into the waistband of Dean's jeans. Before anyone could react, Max's eyes flared, and the gun Dean had hidden suddenly ripped away by some unseen force. It floated in the air and aimed at everyone.

"You're not priests!" Max shouted. "You're liars!"

Alice couldn't argue with that, but she kept calm regardless. Since the gun was pointed at Dean, he didn't move, and Sam kept a firm grasp on Alice's shoulder just in case he needed to pull her back.

"Max, what's happening?" Ms. Miller gasped sharply.

"Shut up."

"What are you doing?"

Max physically recoiled, and his mother was suddenly flung backward. Ms. Miller's head smacked against the kitchen counter, and she was unconscious instantly, lying slumped against the floor.

"Max!" Alice raised her voice in a sharp hiss, making Max jump, directing the floating gun at her now. It didn't even look like he was seeing straight anymore, not seeing Dean inching closer to him or Sam ready to pull Alice away if needed. "Listen…you called me saying you want to talk…and that's why we're here."

Max scoffed and indicated to the gun. "Yeah right, that's why you bought this!"

Alice glared at Dean, knowing he snuck that in without her knowing. He just gave her an apologetic look.

Sam cut in. "That was a mistake, all right? So was lying about who we were. But no more lying Max, ok? Just please, just hear us out. We know what happened. We know you were the one who killed your dad and uncle. I saw it before it happened."

Max leveled him with a suspicious stare, but Alice could see an edge of curiosity. "What?"

"I'm having visions Max. About you," Sam insisted desperately.

"You're crazy."

"So what, you weren't gonna launch a knife at your stepmom?"

"Max," Alice spoke up, the harsh and commanding tone now gone. She sounded calmer, softer now. "That's what you wanted to do, right? But you stopped yourself and called me." She took in a breath, thd sounded rough and raw. "Your cracking, I can see that. You want help….which is why you called."

Max's eyes were tear-stained, rolling down his cheek. He couldn't even keep his hands from trembling anymore. The gun was shaking so much. "No one can help me-"

"Then let us try," Alice cut in, taking a hesitant step towards him. "Let us try."

With the gun still pointed at her chest, Alice made the motion for Dean to go. Not needing words, Dean quickly approached Ms. Miller and helped her up, taking her upstairs and away from Max.

"So," Alice began. "Let's take a seat."

Max didn't look at Alice and Sam sitting across from him. His entire focus was on a letter opening that spun recently against the wooden table. Not with hands, but a mind that could control.

Sam eyed him cautiously, occasionally sharing a look with Alice, who remained stoned face and careful. She hadn't spoken yet, and Sam figured she was waiting for him to start.

Sam took a breath, steadying himself. "Look, I can't begin to understand what you went through."

"That's right you can't." Sam said through gritted teeth, not looking away from the spinning letter opener.

Alice sighed. "Max, you have to stop." Her voice sounded more raw and hoarse than before.

"I will, after my stepmother -"

"We both know it's not gonna stop at her," Alice cut in, not showing an ounce of fear or hesitation in her steely eyes.

Max darted his fierce stare at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think it means? You can very well answer that question yourself if you're being defensive." Alice leveled him with a kind of regard that made it feel like she was staring into someone's soul. It made Sam almost believe that she actually was. "Did you stepmother even beat you?" she swallowed thickly.

"No, but she never tried to save me. She's a part of it too."

"I won't argue with you there. Growing up in that environment is-"

Max laughed. A hard, humorless one. "Growing up? Try last week." Max stood up and lifted the front of his shirt, showing a mass array of bruises on his chest and sides. Alice's eyes grew wide as a deer when facing headlights. She scanned the blisters and welts that battered his body, angry red scars of fresh and old.

Alice sighed deeply and ran her hand down his face, muttering a curse into her palm. "Son of a bitch...they still did it."

"My Dad still hit me. Just in places people wouldn't see it. Old habits die hard I guess," Max said hatefully.

Sam felt lost for words, much like how Alice felt right now. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

"When I first found out I could move things, it was a gift. My whole life, I was helpless, but now I had this. So last week Dad gets drunk. The first time in a long time. And he beats me to hell, first time in a long time. And then I knew what I had to do," Max explained with a surprising lack of emotion in his voice, like he was describing a story another told him and not one he lived himself.

"Why didn't you just leave?" Sam asked.

"It wasn't about getting away. Just knowing they would still be out there. It was about...not being afraid. When my dad used to look at me, there was hate in his eyes. Do you know what that feels like?"

Sam lowered his head, taking a glance at Alice. She knew she wasn't going to say anything. "No," he answered.

"He blamed me for everyhting. His life, my mother's death."

Alice was startled, looking back up at him with a wary and confused face. "Why would he blame you for your Mom's death?"

"Because she died in my nursery, while I was asleep in my crib. As if that makes it my fault."

"She died in your nursery?" Sam asked, feeling his stomach roil against him.

"There was a fire. And he'd get drunk and babble on like she died in some insane way. He said that she burned up. Pinned to the ceiling!"

At that moment, Sam and Alice felt their blood run cold, flushing the heat from their bodies. Alice didn't say anything but shared Sam's train of thought.

"Of course, everything is connected," Alice growled under her breath. She stood to her feet and patted Sam gently on the shoulder. "I'm gonna go level this with Dean real quick. I'll be back in a minute," she said, leaving the room.

"Ok...ok." Sam would've been frantic if Alice's raw voice hadn't grounded him first. "Listen to me, Max. What your dad said, about what happened to your Mom. It's real."

Max stared at him, thinking but not quite believing. "What?"

"It happened to my Mom too, exactly the same. My nursery, my crib, my dad saw her on the ceiling."

Max laughed and shook his head. "Your Dad must have been as drunk as mine."

"No, no. It's the same thing, Max. The same thing killed our mothers." Sam felt himself being breathless and frantic again. Both fear and anxiety crept under his skin at this revelation, a dread knowing that there was a consistency. Why did this happen? What is the purpose? Those were one of the few questions that ran through his head.

"That's impossible."

"This must be why I'm having visions during the day. Why they're getting more intense. Cause you and I must be connected in some way. Your abilities, they started 6-7 months ago, right? Out of the blue?"

Max's whole body went rigid. "How'd you know that?"

"Because that's when my abilities started, Max. Yours seem to be much further along, but still, this has to mean something, right? I mean, for some reason, you and I...you and I were chosen."

"For what?

"I don't know. But Alice, my brother Dean, and I... we're hunting for your Mom's killer. We can find answers, answers that can help us both. But you gotta let this go, Max. You gotta let your stepmother go.

Max only allowed himself a second to think about it, but the hate, desperation, and despair were too much. "No. What they did to me. I still have nightmares. I'm so scared all the time like I'm just waiting for that next beating. I'm so sick of being scared all the time. I just want this to be over!"

Coming back down the stairs, Alice paused a couple steps from the bottom, listening to Max completely melting down. Like she knew he was going to do. He wanted revenge, yes. But that revenge all came from one feeling. He was scared and desperate. Desperate for some control back in his life.

This was something Alice could relate to. It's what she felt after every death of her family member. She couldn't understand her father's death, and she felt powerless against her mother's cancer and Jenna's demise, and with Aiden's death...she just felt scared when he was ripped away from her.

It was always about control or lack of it.

Sam still tried to appeal to Max's better nature, which he knew was still there, buried under layers of trauma. "It won't. Don't you get it? The nightmares won't end, Max. Not like this. It's just, more pain. And it makes you as bad as them. Max, you don't have to go through all this by yourself."

"I'm sorry." Max tipped his head and sent Sam flying backward into a closet behind him. The doors slammed shut, and with another tilt of his head, a heavy bookshelf slid in front, barricading him inside.

Sam banged on the door, his voice muffled. "No! Max!"

Max stood on shaky feet and gripped the gun in his hand. He whirled around toward the stairs, startled when he came face to face with Alice and those eyes of her. Eyes that were made of chips of ice.