—-

Chapter Six

—-

Caro opened the door before we could knock, her face bursting with a million questions, but she thankfully just invited us into the house and led us to the living room where two boys of about eight and ten were focused on a video game on the tv screen. Dean paused in the entryway, face darkening as he observed the bruises on both of them, noting how the older boy deliberately took his finger away from the controls to allow the younger to jump ahead in the race they were playing. He smiled fondly, remembering similar experiences with Sammy, and then as the race drew to a close, the younger boy, Will, shouted with excitement, "I won! Take that Drew!" The older boy, Drew, just clapped his brother gently on the shoulder, then looked up to see who had arrived. We entered and both boys straightened, somehow knowing this was serious business. The younger boy shifted so he was sitting pressed against his brother, looking nervous.

"Will, Drew, this is my best friend Rosalie, and her friend Dean." Caroline introduced us, "Dean would like to ask you a few questions about what happened to you." Both pairs of eyes looked at us appraisingly, both looking uncomfortable. Dean smiled back, and instead of jumping into questions started by saying, "I love playing Mario Kart. My little brother Sam was always trying to show me he was better at it too." Will beamed back at him at that. "I am!" he crowed. Drew rolled his eyes but smiled, exchanging a glance with this tall dark stranger who clearly knew what he had done but wasn't spoiling it for his brother. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Would you tell us what happened?" Dean asked softly.

"You won't believe us." Will stated boldly, "None of the grown-ups did."

"My friend Dean, he's a different type of grown-up." I interjected, smiling at them. "Tell him, I promise he will believe you."

The boys stared for a few minutes, then exchanged looks and shrugged. Looking back at us, Drew began. "We were bored, and Mom was…sleeping." Dean and I exchanged looks of our own, acknowledging that she more likely was passed out. We'd both smelled the alcohol and noticed the house wasn't the neatest. Dean nodded, encouraging him to continue. "We weren't trying to do any damage or anything, but there's all these houses in the next neighborhood over that are empty, so we were playing explorers."

Will jumped in at this point, "We'd found some treasure, but we heard the pirates coming - "

"Someone pulled up to the house in a car." Drew explained, even as his brother continued..

"- so we had to run. We hid in the old creepy house because we figured they wouldn't look for us there." Will paused then, starting to shake a little. Drew put his arm around him and continued the story.

"At first we thought the guy in the car had followed us, but it got really cold, and then this other guy just kinda appeared. He…he was see through, and had a bullet hole in his chest! We tried to leave, but the door wouldn't open. And then things started flying around…Will got knocked into the wall, and all sorts of stuff kept getting flung at me as I tried to get to him…" Drew's voice was shaking at this point.

"It's ok, Drew, take your time." Dean coached, smiling at Will who was peeking at him from where he'd buried his head on his brother's arm. Drew paused and took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Finally he seemed ready to continue.

"I'm not really sure what made it stop. Suddenly it was gone and not cold anymore. I grabbed Will, and we ran as fast as we could to the gas station at the end of the block. We were both pretty banged up, so they called the cops…and I guess you know the rest." He looked down, waiting for the inevitable chiding for trespassing and skepticism at their tale, but he looked back up when it never came. Instead he was surprised at Dean's response. "I believe you Drew." He stared at Dean unbelievingly at first, but eventually concluded he was not patronizing him, and really did believe him. Drew sat up taller, relief coloring his face.

"Can you tell me what the treasure was that you found? And is it still in the house where you were hurt?" Dean questioned carefully.

Will peeked his head out to answer that. "It was just a watch and some cufflinks. We were going to put them back, I didn't mean to take them." He looked anxious, "Are you going to take us to prison?" Dean looked surprised by the question.

"No,' he replied quickly, "You're not in trouble. However, please tell me where you hid them, so I can return them."

"No! You'll get hurt!" Will cried, surprising us both with his concern. I decided it was time to jump in again.

"Will," I started, grabbing both boy's attention and earning a slightly confused look from Dean, "My friend is an expert in dealing with the kind of things you and Drew ran into. He and his brother Sam know how to take care of it and stay safe." I prayed I was right, considering Sam had already been injured. The boys looked over at Dean, who nodded in confirmation of what I had said. Will slipped off the couch and wandered over to whisper in Dean's ear. He nodded, and smiled, then looked completely caught off-guard when he found himself the recipient of a hug. Awkwardly hugging Will back, he rose and indicated to me it was time to go.

"You boys are lucky, and I'm glad you're ok." He said in parting, "I'm certain I don't need to say this, but please stay away from the abandoned houses." He crouched down in front of Drew then and said something that first made him frown, then smile delightedly and laugh. To this day I don't know what was said, but can only imagine it was a big brother to big brother word of encouragement. Meanwhile, I was hugging Caroline, who had been unusually quiet and reserved. I eyed her knowingly, expecting something to come blurting out, but she shook her head seriously and quietly said, "These boys have had a rough time. If your handsome friends can help them, I'm not going to cause any trouble." I hugged her tightly again, almost in tears of gratitude at what a good person and great friend she was. She hugged me back, whispering "be safe, and expect a lo-o-ng chat next time you see me." I stepped back smiling. That was more like the Caro I knew!