1.09

"Mornin' sunshine," says Dean. He kicks my bed.

I roll over to slap him but he's already moved away. "What?"

"It's hammer time."

I groan and roll back over.

"I got a, uh…phone call."

"From who?" I say to the wall.

"Your guidance counsellor."

"I don't have a guidance counsellor. And how'd she get your number?"

"Probably because I changed it on your student profile."

"Rude."

"Get up."

I sigh and sit up in the bed.

"So your…whatever she is, called. Said you were doing very well-"

"Then why do you sound mad?"

"-until a few months ago. She says you've fallen behind."

I roll my eyes.

"Jane…"

"I'll catch up, okay," I say, getting up and going into the bathroom.

When I come back out, Dean is on the laptop and Sam is…drawing. God knows. Dean looks up at me when I go to get a glass of water but says nothing. Thankfully. I sit down across from him at the table.

"All right. I've been cruisin' some websites," Dean says. "I think I found a few candidates for our next gig. A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali –- its crew vanished.

And, uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas. Hey," Dean says. Sam looks up from the bed. "Am I boring you with this hunting evil stuff?"

"No. I'm listening. Keep going," says Sam.

"And, here, a Sacramento man shot himself in the head. Three times."

"That's kind of cool," I say.

Dean's looking at Sam though and waves his hand up and down. "Any of these things blowin' up your skirt, pal?"

"Ugh, Dean. Gross."

"Wait," Sam says, ignoring the both of us. "I've seen this."

"Seen what?" asks Dean.

Sam jumps up and searches a bag.

"What are you doing?" asks Dean.

Sam pulls out Dad's journal and pulls something out. He looks at for a bit with his drawing. "Dean, I know where we have to go next."

"Where?"

"Back home –- back to Kansas."

"What?" I ask.

"Okay, random," says Dean. "Where'd that come from?"

Sam hands over the photo. "All right, um, this photo was taken in front of our old house, right? The house where Mom died?"

Dean looks and shows me. "Yeah," he says.

"And it didn't burn down, right? I mean, not completely, they rebuilt it, right?"

"I guess so, yeah. What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"Okay, look, this is gonna sound crazy but….the people who live in our old house –- I think they might be in danger."

"Why?" I ask.

"Uh…it's just, um….look, just trust me on this, okay?" says Sam and goes to move as if that settles it and we're going.

"Wait, whoa, whoa, trust you?" says Dean, grabbing his arm.

"Yeah."

"Come on, man, that's weak. You gotta give me a little bit more than that."

"I can't really explain it is all."

"Well, tough. We're not goin' anywhere until you do."

Sam sighs.

Dean and I just look at him. I cross my arms.

"I have these nightmares," says Sam.

"We know," I say.

"And sometimes….they come true."

"Come again?" asks Dean.

I can feel my mouth hanging open but nothing comes out.

"Look….I dreamt about Jessica's death –- for days before it happened," says Sam.

"Okay, creepy," I say. Sam nods.

Dean frowns at me, "Sam, people have weird dreams, man. I'm sure it's just a coincidence." He sits down on the bed.

"No, I dreamt about the blood dripping, her on the ceiling, the f*re, everything, and I didn't do anything about it 'cause I didn't believe it. And now I'm dreaming about that tree, about our house, and about some woman inside screaming for help. I mean, that's where it all started, man, this has to mean something, right?"

I shrug, "Maybe."

"I don't know…" says Dean.

Sam sits down across from him. "What do you mean you don't know, Dean? This woman might be in danger. I mean, this might even be the thing that killed Mom and Jessica!"

"All right, just slow down, would ya?" Dean gets up and paces the room. "I mean, first you tell me that you've got the Shining? And then you tell me that I've gotta go back

home? Especially when…."

"When what?"

"When I swore to myself that I would never go back there?"

"Look, Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure."

"I know we do."

We pull up to their old house. Sam looks over to Dean. "You gonna be all right, man?"

"Let me get back to you on that," says Dean.

We get out of the car and go up to the door. Dean knocks on the door. A few moments later a woman answer.

"Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but we're with the Federal—"

Sam interrupts Dean. "I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother, Dean and my sister, Jane. We used to live here. You know, we were just drivin' by, and we were wondering if we could come see the old place."

"Winchester. Yeah, that's so funny. You know, I think I found some of your photos the other night," she says.

"You did?" asks Dean.

"Come on in."

We follow her inside and to the kitchen. There's a girl sitting at the table and a jumping toddler in a playpen chanting for juice.

"That's Ritchie. He's kind of a juice junkie," she explains and gets a sippy cup from the fridge. "But, hey, at least he won't get scurvy." She hands him the juice and comes back over to the girl at the table. "Sari, this is Sam, Dean, and Jane. They used to live here."

"Hi," she says.

Dean and I wave. And don't bother explaining that I've never stepped foot in this place in my life.

"Hey, Sari," says Sam.

"So, you just moved in?" asks Dean.

"Yeah, from Wichita," she says.

"You got family here, or….?"

"No. I just, uh….needed a fresh start, that's all. So, new town, new job –- I mean, as soon as I find one. New house."

Dean starts to say something else but I elbow him in the ribs. He glares at me but I make a face.

"So, how you likin' it so far?" Sam says trying to move on.

"Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home –- I mean, I'm sure you had lots of happy memories here," I raise my eyebrows at that but none of us say anything. "But this place has its issues."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just getting old. Like the wiring, you know? We've got flickering lights almost hourly."

"Oh, that's too bad," says Dean. "What else?"

"Um…sink's backed up, there's rats in the basement… I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain."

"No. Have you seen the rats or have you just heard scratching?"

"It's just the scratching, actually."

"Well that's always a good sign," I say. Dean elbows me. I shut up.

"Mom?" asks Sari. "Ask them if it was here when they lived here."

"What, Sari?" asks Sam.

"The thing in my closet."

"Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets," says Jenny. She looks up at us. "Right?"

"Right," says Sam. "No, no, of course not."

"She had a nightmare the other night."

"I wasn't dreaming. It came into my bedroom –- and it was on fire."

"You hear that? A figure on fire," says Sam as we walk back to the car.

"And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?" asks Dean.

"Yeah. And you hear what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of a malevolent spirit."

"Or worse," I say.

"Yeah, well, I'm just freaked out that your weirdo visions are comin' true," says Dean.

"Well, forget about that for a minute," says Sam. "The thing in the house, do you think it's the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, I mean, has it come back or has it been here the whole time?"

"Or maybe it's something else entirely, Sam, we don't know yet."

"Well, those people are in danger, Dean. We have to get 'em out of that house."

"And we will."

"No, I mean now."

"Sam, we can't do that," I say. "She'll think we're crazy."

"You got a story that she's gonna believe?" asks Dean.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" asks Dean.

"We just gotta chill out, that's all. You know, if this was any other kind of job, what would we do?" Dean asks at the gas station.

"We'd try to figure out what we were dealin' with. We'd dig into the history of the house," says Sam.

"Exactly, except this time, we already know what happened."

"Yeah, but how much do we know? I mean, how much do you actually remember?"

"About that night, you mean?"

"I got nothing," I say.

"Ha," Sam says flatly. "Dean?"

"Not much. I remember the fire…the heat…And then I carried you out the front door."

"You did?"

"Yeah, what, you never knew that?"

Sam shakes his head. "No."

"And, well, you know Dad's story as well as I do. Mom was….was on the ceiling. And whatever put her there was long gone by the time Dad found her…"

"And he never had a theory about what did it?"

"If he did, he kept it to himself. God knows we asked him enough times."

I rub my nose awkwardly. I always feel like I'm intruding when they talk about their mom. If she hadn't died…well, I wouldn't be here.

"Okay," says Sam. "So, if we're gonna figure out what's goin' on now…we have to figure out what happened back then. And see if it's the Same thing."

"Yeah. We'll talk to Dad's friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time."

"Does this feel like just another job to you?"

"I'll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom," Dean says and walks away.

Sam and I look at each other.

"You all right?" Sam asks.

"Peachy. Why?"

Sam shrugs. "You always go a bit…weird whenever we talk about Mom."

I shrug. "You guys don't talk about her much so…"

"Jane."

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Sam. Seriously. I'm fine. Let's just save this family, okay?"

We track down one of Dad's old friends at an auto repair shop. The shop Dad used to own. It feels like we're stepping into an alternate reality. The life that could have been. I linger in the doorway, not trying to blow Sam and Dean's cover but neither of them mentioned anything when I got out of the car with them.

"So you and John Winchester, you used to own this garage together?" Dean asks the guy.

"Yeah, we used to, a long time ago. Matter of fact, it must be, uh…twenty years since John disappeared. So why the cops interested all of a sudden?"

"Oh, we're re-opening some of our unsolved cases, and the Winchester disappearance is one of 'em."

"Oh, well, what do you wanna know about John?"

"Well, whatever you remember, you know, whatever sticks out in your mind."

"Well…he was a stubborn bastard, I remember that," he laughs. "And, uh, whatever the game, he hated to lose, you know? It's that whole Marine thing. But, oh, he sure loved Mary. And he doted on those kids."

I take a deep breath.

"But that was before the fire?" asks Sam.

"That's right."

"He ever talk about that night?"

"No, not at first. I think he was in shock."

"Right. But eventually? What did he say about it?"

"Oh, he wasn't thinkin' straight. He said somethin' caused that fire and killed Mary."

"He ever say what did it?" Dean asks.

"Nothin' did it. It was an accident –- an electrical short in the ceiling or walls or somethin'. I begged him to get some help, but…."

I wonder what would've happened if Dad had listened to him. If he just…accepted Mary's death. I shudder. I still probably wouldn't be here. There'd be no reason for Dad to be in Rochester 13 years later for me to be here…

"But what?"

"Oh, he just got worse and worse."

"How?"

"Oh, he started readin' these strange ol' books. He started goin' to see this palm reader in town."

"Palm reader? Uh, do you have a name?"

He scoffs. "No."

We leave and head out to the car as we're crossing the street Dean wraps an arm around my shoulders. Am I really that obvious? We go to a payphone and Sam looks through the phonebook.

"All right, so there are a few psychics and palm readers in town. There's someone named El Divino. There's, uh," Sam laughs, "there's the Mysterious Mister Fortinsky. Uh, Missouri Moseley—"

"Wait, wait. Missouri Moseley?" asks Dean.

"What?"

"That's a psychic?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so…"

Dean goes into the car and pulls out Dad's journal. "In Dad's journal…here, look at this. First page, first sentence, read that." He hands it to Sam. I go on my tiptoes to read. "I went to Missouri and I learned the truth."

Dean shrugs. "I always thought he meant the state."

We go to Missouri's house? Office? Both? We sit on the couch, me squished in the middle. Waiting. "All right, there," says a woman escorting a man out. "Don't you worry 'bout a thing. Your wife is crazy about you." She closes the door behind him. Whew. Poor bastard. His woman is cold-bangin' the gardener."

"Why didn't you tell him?" asks Dean.

"People don't come here for the truth. They come for good news. Well? Sam, Dean, Jane, come on already, I ain't got all day." She leaves.

We all look at each other but follow her through to the next room.

"Well, lemme look at ya," she says to Sma and Dean. She laughs. "Oh, you boys grew up handsome." [She points a finger at Dean. "And you were one goofy-lookin' kid, too."
Sam and I grin at each other.

"Sam," Missouri says taking his hand. "Oh, honey…I'm sorry about your girlfriend. And your father –- he's missin'?"

"How'd you know all that?" asks Sam.

"Well, you were just thinkin' it just now."

"Well, where is he? Is he okay?" asks Dean.

"I don't know."

"Don't know? Well, you're supposed to be a psychic, right?"

"Boy, you see me sawin' some bony tramp in half? You think I'm a magician? I may be able to read thoughts and sense energies in a room, but I can't just pull facts out of thin air. Sit, please."

I poke my tongue out at Dean and we sit down.

"Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table, I'm 'a whack you with a spoon!" snaps Missouri.

"I didn't do anything."

"But you were thinkin' about it."

I grin. I like this woman.

Missouri grins at me. Like…no. That's impossible. She winks. I freeze. Okay, when it's aimed at you, it's a little creepy.

"Don't worry Jane, there's not much more I can do than what I've already told you all."

"Okay," says Sam. "So, our dad –- when did you first meet him?"

" He came for a reading. A few days after the fire. I just told him what was really out there in the dark. I guess you could say…I drew back the curtains for him."

"What about the fire? Do you know about what killed our mom?"

"A little. Your daddy took me to your house. He was hopin' I could sense the echoes, the fingerprints of this thing."

"And could you?"

"I…" Missouri shakes her head.

"What was it?"

"I don't know. Oh, but it was evil."

"Well, some creepy stuff's been happening again to the family there," I say.

"So…you think somethin' is back in that house?" asks Missouri.

"Definitely."

"I don't understand."

"What?"

"I haven't been back inside, but I've been keepin' an eye on the place, and it's been quiet. No sudden deaths, no freak accidents. Why is it actin' up now?"

"I don't know. But Dad going missing and Jessica dying and now this house all happening at once –- it just feels like something's starting."

"That's a comforting thought," says Dean.

Missouri says we need to go. Now. So we all pile in the car and head back their old house. Sam knocks on the door and Jenny answers with Ritchie in her arms.

"Sam, Dean…what are you doing here?"

"Hey, Jenny. This is our friend, Missouri," says Sam.

"If it's not too much trouble, we were hoping to show her the old house. You know, for old time's sake," explains Dean.

"You know, this isn't a good time. I'm kind of busy," says Jenny.

"Listen, Jenny, it's important," Dean says and Missouri smacks him on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Give the poor girl a break, can't you see she's upset?" Missouri says. "Forgive this boy, he means well, he's just not the sharpest tool in the shed, but hear me out."

"About what?" asks Jenny.

"About this house."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think you know what I'm talking about. You think there's something in this house, something that wants to hurt your family. Am I mistaken?"

"Who are you?"

"We're people who can help, who can stop this thing. But you're gonna have to trust us, just a little."

Jenny lets us into the house.

"Sari said there's something in her closet," I say.

"Let's start there," says Missouri.

We go upstairs to the room.

"If there's a dark energy around here, this room should be the center of it," says Missouri turning about the room.

"Why?" asks Sam.

"This used to be your nursery, Sam. This is where it all happened….That an EMF?"

"Yeah," answers Dean.

"Amateur," she says but the EMF is beeping tonnes. "I don't know if you boys should be disappointed or relieved, but this ain't the thing that took your mom."

"Wait, are you sure?" asks Sam. Missouri nods. "How do you know?"

"It isn't the Same energy I felt the last time I was here. It's somethin' different."

"What is it?" asks Dean.

"Not it." She opens the closet door. "Them. There's more than one spirit in this place."

"Oh god. I knew it. Too much creepiness for one thing," I say.

"What are they doing here?" asks Dean.

"They're here because of what happened to your family. You see, all those years ago, real evil came to you. It walked this house. That kind of evil leaves wounds. And sometimes, wounds get infected."

"I don't understand." Says Sam.

"This place is a magnet for paranormal energy. It's attracted a poltergeist. A nasty one. And it won't rest until Jenny and her babies are dead."

"You said there was more than one spirit."

"There is. I just can't quite make out the second one."

"Well, one thing's for damn sure –" says Dean. "- nobody's dyin' in this house ever again. So whatever is here, how do we stop it?"

We go back with Missouri to her house and she sits us down to mix…stuff. Magic? Voodoo? Who knows.

"So, what is all this stuff, anyway?" asks Dean.

"Angelica Root, Van Van oil, crossroad dirt, a few other odds and ends," says Missouri.

I pressing a white powder with a mortar and pestle and look down. "Bones?" I ask.

Missouri shrugs.

"Oh, that's just…wrong," I say and put down the pestle.

"Oh, get over it," says Missouri. "Pick that back up."

I roll my eyes but do what I'm told.

"Yeah? What are we supposed to do with it?" asks Dean.

"We're gonna put them inside the walls in the north, south, east, west corners on each floor of the house," says Missouri.

"We'll be punchin' holes in the dry wall. Jenny's gonna love that."

"She'll live."

"And this'll destroy the spirits?" asks Sam.

I pour the white powder into his little bag.

"It should. It should purify the house completely. We'll each take a floor. But we work fast. Once the spirits realize what we're up to, things are gonna get bad."

We've barely begun when it starts. I haven't even cleared the hole in the lounge room wall before I hear something behind me. I look, a glass vase flies at me. I duck and it shatters on the wall. I shove the bag into the half-hole, my hand scraping on the barely broken drywall. Something else smashes next to me.

"Jesus!" I yell.

"Janie?" calls Dean from the kitchen. "You good?"

I take a breath. "Yeah."

He runs upstairs. I follow.

"Sam!" Dean yells.

Sam is on the floor, a cord around his neck. Dean runs for the bag and I go to Sam, but it's too tight. I can't get a grip. Dean punches a hole in the wall.

"Sam…" I say weakly trying feebly to pull the tightening cord off his neck. A blinding white light fills the room. Then fades. The cord loosens. I start unravelling and Dean helps. Sam breathes. Dean and I hug him.
-

"You sure this is over?" Sam asks when we're in kitchen a few hours later.

"I'm sure. Why? Why do you ask?" says Missouri.

"It's nothin', I guess."

"Hello?" calls Jenny. "We're home." She comes into the kitchen which looks…well like a poltergeist attacked it. "What happened?"

"Hi, sorry. Um, we'll pay for all of this," says Sam.

"Don't you worry," says Missouri. "Dean's gonna clean up this mess. Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Get the mop. And don't cuss at me!"

Dean mumbles as he goes to start cleaning up. Jenny just waves and closes the door.

Sam drags out of the motel just before I fall asleep. Dean and I both groan but Sam insists.

"All right, so, tell me again, what are we still doin' here?" Dean asks.

"I don't know. I just…I still have a bad feeling," says Sam.

"Bad feeling? Sam…we did the things…and it worked! You saw." I lean my head on the window and close my eyes.

"Yeah," says Dean. "Missouri did her whole Zelda Rubenstein thing, the house should be clean, it should be over."

"Yeah, well, probably. But I just wanna make sure, that's all," says Sam.

"Yeah, well, problem is I could be sleeping in a bed right now."

"Dean." Sam says after a little. "Look, Dean!"

We run out of the car and to the house.

"You guys grab the kids, I'll get Jenny," says Dean.
-

I go to Ritchie's room and Sam goes to Sari's. I pick Ritchie up out of his cot.

"It's okay," I tell him. "We're going on an adventure." I carry him out and to the hallway. "Sam?"

I go to Sari's door. There's fire in her room. Moving fire. Sam picks her up. "Let's go," he tells me.

We run downstairs. He puts Sari down and takes Ritchie out of my arms.

"All right, Sari, take your brother outside as fast as you can, and don't look back," says Sam.

Sam suddenly falls to the floor. He slides down the hallway into a room. Sari screams.

"Go!" I yell at her. "Sam!" I yell, running towards the kitchen. "SAM!" I run in. Sam is pinned on the wall. The fire figure moves towards him. But then I feel a pressure on my chest and I'm pushed up against the cabinets. I can't move. The fire poltergeist moves closer to Sam.

"Sam!" I yell.

"Sam!" I hear Dean. "Jane!" He comes in, his gun up.

"No, don't! Don't!" Sam screams.

"What?" Dean and I yell.

"Why?!" yells Dean.

"Because I know who it is. I can see her now," says Sam.

The fire burns up. A figure appears…a woman. Oh my god. It's…

"Mom?" says Dean.

She steps close to Dean.

"Dean," she says. She turns to Sam. "Sam."

I take deep breath.

"I'm sorry," Mary says.

"For what?" asks Sam.

But she steps backwards, towards me…my breath catches. She smiles gently at me and then looks up at the ceiling. "You get out of my house. And let go of my son...and Jane."

Well, creepy that she knows my name. But then she bursts into flames again. The fire grows and grows and then disappears into the ceiling. I fall back down to the floor.

Sam and I go to Dean who's standing there, shocked.

"Now it's over," says Sam.

In the morning Jenny gives us the box of photos she found.

"Thanks for these," says Dean.

"Don't thank me, they're yours," Jenny says.

He puts the photos in the trunk.

"No little sister in the photos though?" Jenny questions.

"Ah, she was fun a surprise that came later," Dean says with a grin. He wraps an arm around me makes a stupid noise.

"Get off," I say, pushing him off me.

Jenny laughs.

"Sam, you ready?" Dean calls to Sam who's talking to Missouri.

Sam nods and comes down. Jenny thanks us all.

"Don't you all be strangers," says Missouri.

"We won't," says Dean.

"See you around."

We get in the car and drive off. And I swear I see Dad's car parked on a street. There was no one in it though and by the time I think to check the licence plate, we've driven off. I shake my head. Of course he wouldn't be. Why would he? But I still pick up my phone and send him a message. Miss you Dad x