Dean's Angel Chapter 4
Chapter 4
September 1st, 1988
John had dragged Dean with him on a few salt-and-burns so far, though perhaps ‘dragged’ wasn't the right word. The first and the second time, sure, but when the third time came around? Dean had begged John to take him along. He had become a great help for John during research, but Dean really came to life when he was out in the field.
Tonight had been the first time that his talent really saved a life.
Pastor Jim had called John to ask him for help with a hunt. For this particular case, over the past few years, in the first week of September, a kid would disappear from their house and then be found dead in an abandoned playground. The playground itself had been great before the deaths started happening; it had everything a playground could need. Swings, slides, a big wooden castle, monkey bars, a sandbox, and in the middle of the park there had been a beautiful garden for the moms to look at while the kids played.
Now everything was broken and rusted. All the flowers in the garden were long dead.
Pastor Jim had broken his hand on a hunt, therefore he couldn't dig up the grave, but he offered to look out for Sammy so Dean could get some more experience in the field. Everything they found pointed to the 14-year-old Jason Smith being their ghost. He’d been found dead eight years ago on the 3rd of September at the end of the slide with a wound on his head. The police found no proof of foul play, so Jason's death had been classified as an accident. A year later a girl had been found dead under the monkey bars, a gaping wound on her head.
~Supernatural~
September 3rd, 1988
Around midnight on the 3rd of September, Dean and John had dug halfway down into Jason's grave when Dean saw someone out of the corner of his eye. His eyes widened in recognition; she was from the police record, Sarah Taylor, victim number 7, who’d been found on the playground by the sandbox.
"It wasn't him, you know," she said sadly, with tears glittering in her eyes before she started to walk away.
"Wait, what..?" John looked up, confused at Dean’s sudden comment. What do I do, what do I do? "Umm, Dad? Are you sure this is the right one? Because I don't want to torch some kid if…"
"Dean, of course I'm sure. Everything points to him. He's killing kids so we have to--"
"But what if…" Dean trailed off, looking out over the grave and realizing she was gone. Well, he supposed it couldn't hurt to burn him, and there was always the possibility she was lying. There was nothing else he could do now anyway. Dean nodded, avoiding John’s gaze, and continued digging.
Digging up graves was hard enough but having to fill them back in, not even an hour later, was exhausting. On top of that, then they had to carry all their equipment back to the car. Dean knew he was going to fall asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. He snorted to himself as he hoped Sammy didn't snore or kick too much. Having to share a bed with a younger sibling sucked, no matter how you looked at it. It was even worse because Sam would wake him up the moment he woke, which would probably be around six in the freaking morning.
Dean was so tired, his head was ringing... Wait, that isn't my head...
"Dad, your phone is ringing. Who's calling you in the middle of the night?"
Dean looked over, watching as John looked for his phone and snapped it open as soon as he found it. He answered it without even looking at the caller ID.
"What?"
Dean rolled his eyes. Ohh Dad, no wonder people avoid calling you if you answer like that.
Dean hated hearing only half of the conversation sometimes, especially as he watched his Dad get angrier and angrier and had no clue why.
"Jim, what do you mean he just disappeared?" John yelled at the person on the phone. Wait, did he say Jim? If that was Jim… that would mean that Sammy was the one missing. Sammy couldn't be missing!
"We lit it up more than an hour ago!” John yelled and even in the dark, Dean could see his father’s fingers were white where he gripped the phone. “Of course we salted it before we torched it. But if he JUST disappeared... then that means we got the wrong one. Damm it!"
Sarah hadn't been lying... It hadn't been Jason Smith. Dean shoved the door open and ran as fast as he could back to the grave, hoping she would come back. She was the only lead Dean had.
"Please, please, you’ve got to help me! Its got my brother. I have to…" Dean gasped as he ran through the graves and saw Sarah again.
"It's the gardener,” she said, voice just as sad as before. “Jason said that the gardener got angry when he took a flower out of the garden. Now he doesn't want any kids near his ‘life’s work’" Sarah said from where she was standing next to her grave.
Now it all made sense. All the kids that died must have gone to the playground at some point. And John… John had taken Sammy with him when he went to look at the crime scene for the first time. According to the police report, the gardener had committed suicide after the playground was closed when Jason was found.
He must have killed Jason, must have either felt guilty or been afraid he’d be caught and then taken his own life. After he became a ghost, he killed every kid that came near his garden.
Dean swallowed hard. Now he just had to find a way to tell his dad this, without him finding out that it had been Sarah who told him. Speak of the devil... Dean could hear John coming after him, breathing hard, and he could tell already that John wasn't happy.
"Dean, what the hell are you thinking? Your brother is in danger, we have to go!"
"It's the gardener! It has to be. He killed Jason. He has Sammy!"
John stared at Dean like he lost his mind. Dean felt his stomach clench, the look his father gave him made him want to scream.
"Dean, you don't know that. The police report said he was cremated, so it can't be him. Now come on!"
~Supernatural~
John drove straight to the playground, since that was the most likely place they would find Sammy. Surprisingly, Sammy wasn't there. There were just some swings, slides, the gar… The garden! That was it! Without thinking, Dean ran to it and started tearing fistfuls of all the dead plants and stomped down on everything he could see.
"Dean what are you do--" John was shaking his head, looking at his son like he was crazy again. Then his eyes widened. "…LOOK OUT!"
Dean spun around and came face to face with the gardener (well, more like face to stomach if he were to be technical). When John raised his gun to shoot the ghost, Dean threw himself to the ground. As soon as his stomach hit the cool earth, a gunshot rang out from above him.
"Dean! We're burning this garden to the ground!” John shouted. “Get the gasoline out of the trunk, I will hold him back."
Dean charged to the Impala as another gunshot rang out and John swore from behind him. It was a flurry of movement, Dean’s heart pounding in his chest. Within a few minutes, he was throwing a book of matches on the ground and watched as the garden and gardener went up in flames.
Mission accomplished.
Kill the ghost? Check.
Save the day? Not checked.
Shit… they still had to find Sammy and as Dean looked towards his Dad he realized they had no idea where he was. He could be anywhere.
Dean was walking under the chain bridge on the castle, on his way back to his dad, when he heard something. It kind of sounded like someone was snoring... No, not someone. He knew those snores! They had been keeping him awake for weeks now. Sammy.
"Dad! I found Sam!" he called as loud as he could. Turning back around to the structure, Dean tried to find a way up the tower of the castle. Christ, this thing is falling apart. Dean didn’t know why it hadn't been torn down ages ago.
Dean couldn’t find any staircase, all possible ways up had either broken down or been ruined a long time ago… He spun around, trying hard to reign in his panic. Time for Plan B. Try to wake up Sam. Try, being the operative word. Sam slept like the dead... A house could fall apart and he would sleep through it, or a rickety old wooden play castle.
"Sam. Sammy!” Dean screamed as loud as he could, picking up handfuls of the wood shavings that covered the park and tossing him into the air so they rained down on the tower. “WAKE UP!”
"Dean?” Dean breathed out slowly as a soft voice reached his ears. “Why am I sleeping outside?" He heard just as their dad reached them.
Sam’s head came out of one of the windows on the tower, blinking sleep from his eyes, and Dean was glad to see that he didn't look hurt.
"I can't get down," Sammy said and they could hear he wasn't far from crying. Large hazel eyes flicked around as he took in how high he was.
"It's fine, Sammy. Dad and I will get you out," Dean called back, trying to calm him down. He glanced up at his dad and saw John was already looking for a way into the tower. Unfortunately, the only safe way out of the tower that they were able to find was the window.
"Dean, I'm going to have to lift you up so you can get up and help Sam out the window. Sammy, you need to step away from the window now so Dean can go through," John said while he gestured for Dean to get up on his shoulders. The window was high, at least six feet from the ground, and Dean just barely got a hold on it to pull himself up. He hauled himself through the small, square opening, and the moment his feet touched the floor he had Sammy all over him. Dean had never been so happy to see his brother before.
Dean swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and hugged Sammy back tight. He didn't know what he would do if something happened to Sammy or Dad. He took a few seconds to catch his breath before helping Sam climb out the window. He clung to his brother’s arms and refused to let go of him until he was 100% sure their dad had a hold of him.
Save the day. Check.
Getting out the window himself was kind of awkward because it was so small; the moment he could, Dean jumped down only to be caught by his dad. Instead of letting go and placing Dean on the ground, John surprised his oldest son even more by hugging him. Soon after, John pulled Sam into the hug as well.
Before he let them go he whispered, "Don't ever put yourself in danger like that again, you hear me?"
~Supernatural~
Sammy fell back to sleep in the Impala on the way back, the hum of the engine a lullaby both of the Winchesters knew well, but sleep was the farthest thing on Dean’s mind. John had been looking back at him in the rearview mirror since they’d all piled into the car.
"Dean, I don't know how you figured out that it was the gardener... or that the garden was what triggered him.” Dean held his breath, waiting for John to ask how Dean had known, press for Dean to explain himself. Dean’s heart was beating wildly in his chest but what came out of his Dad’s mouth was not what he had expected. “But you did good, Son."
Dean gasped softly then smiled as he caught his dad’s eyes. Then he leaned his head back against the seat and relaxed against Sammy, replaying his dad’s words in his head again and again.
‘You did good, Son.’
~Supernatural~
AN: Again, "Thank you" to my wonderful beta lotrspnfangirl. Hope you all like it. Sorry for any mistakes.