Al Nightmare Long Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
"Man, you said it was safe! You told us it was over, we could go to sleep!" Jason yelled, his face red with anger.
Alison grabbed his shoulder. "Sit down, Jase. Sit down. We thought it was over"
Sam and Dean looked around at the faces pointed their way as they made a beeline to the table.
"You wanna explain how Amanda died in her bed?" Mark demanded.
Shell was also there, pale, quiet, her eyes wide and frightened.
"We don't know. We took care of all the, um." Sam looked around, but they were no longer the subject of interest for the surrounding people. "We took care of the spirits. We don't know what killed Amanda"
Alison waved the waitress over and ordered coffees for the small group.
"Well, it seems that whatever killed the others also killed her. You guys were on the wrong track"
"It could have been me" Shell spoke so quietly that for a moment no one reacted.
"What?" Dean looked at the terrified child.
"I slept last night. That could have been me. Or Mark. Or Jason. I guess we get one more day. But sooner or later, we're gonna have to sleep, and then it will pick us off, one by one"
Dean placed one hand on the table, palm down. "We will find out what it is. We will. I promise you"
"Do you have any ideas? Any leads?"
Dean frowned. "Well… there's something we could try." He looked over at Sam who nodded back at him. "If one of you could help out"
"Help out? How?" asked Jason.
"Well, you know how we helped Mark the other night?" Sam asked him. "How I drank that special tea, and went inside his dream?"
"Oh God. Oh God. You want one of us to fall asleep, don't you?" Jason wrapped his arms around himself. "Nah. Uh Uh. Not me. I aint doing it"
"I will" Shell spoke softly, and went un-noticed.
"You can't ask us. You can't. That's too much" Mark shook his head, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.
"I'll do it" Shell said again.
"What? Shell, did you say you'd do it?" Alison asked.
Everyone turned to the frightened girl. "Yes. I said I'd do it"
Jason shook his head. "You're mad. You'll die. You're crazy, they can't protect you. They can't save you"
Shell turned her soulful eyes to him. "Then I'll die. If not today, within the next three days. And so will the both of you. At least this way, I have a chance. They saved Mark"
Mark nodded. "Okay. She said she'll do it. Let her do it. Let it be her"
Shell looked up at Sam, her eyes determined now. "You'll protect me?"
Sam nodded. "With all I have"
The room was almost bare. There were a couple of old couches over to one side and a couple of chairs, a Formica topped table was pushed up against one wall, and a discarded fridge against another.
Sam placed the fold up cot in the middle of the room and pushed it open, folding the foam mattress down and locking the frame into place.
Shell looked at it and shrugged. "I guess it will do"
Dean walked over to the table and dragged it to the middle beside the cot while Alison dragged the chairs across. "Couches okay for you two?" she asked Sam.
"Yeah. Fine. It'll do fine"
Dean handed his brother a thermos. "You ready?"
Sam looked at Shell who nodded. "I didn't get much sleep last night. I reckon it'll take less than five minutes for me to drift off"
Sam took the thermos. "As soon as you're asleep, we'll drink the dream root. Okay?"
Shell sat on the bed and kicked off her boots. "No. Not really." She gave a self conscious laugh. "My parents think I'm at the mall. If this doesn't go well…"
"It will" Dean bobbed down in front of her. "It will. I'm gonna mark the floor like I did with Mark. It will work. We promise you"
"Well. I'm just saying. If it doesn't go like we planned, my mom's number is the first speed dial on my cell. And I wanna thank you. I know you're trying. I know you'll do your best"
She leant forward and gave Dean a hug before lying down, Alison covering her with a thick plush coverlet.
"You sure no one will hear us down here?" Dean asked.
Alison sat at the table. "We've let this room out for parties, and they got pretty wild. You couldn't hear them from upstairs at all" She looked around the windowless basement room.
"It's safe, I guess. One of the perks of being a bar manager" She pulled a bottle from her hand bag, and followed with a couple of glasses. "This is another"
Dean smiled at her. "If I'm ever looking for a career change, that might just be the one I'll apply for"
Sam opened the can of salt and made a ring around the bed and table as Dean drew the protective sigils, then Sam salted the only door.
Sam accepted a shot from Alison and looked down at the girl on the cot. "She's asleep" he whispered.
"Show time." Dean looked at Alison. "You know what to do. You gonna be okay?"
She gave him a shaky smile and nodded. "I still don't get how this works."
"Doesn't matter. Just as long as it does" Dean winked at her.
Sam poured a large serve of the tea into each of the glasses. "Ah, make sure you wipe them before you take a drink, Alison"
Sam and Dean picked up the glasses and clinked them together. "Salute" Dean winked at his brother.
"See you on the other side" Sam answered, and they downed the bitter liquid in one go.
The sun glinted at an odd angle, making the Impala look dark brown as the sunset colored the late afternoon sky.
The breeze was gentle, the long grass waved like a slowly rolling ocean. Here and there bright butterflies flittered through the grass, stopping on the wildflowers that poked their heads through the sea of green.
Dean and Sam opened the car doors simultaneously and stood, looking around at the landscape.
"Where is she?" Sam asked.
"Dunno. But I'm thinking we're at the lake, coz this is her dream"
They shut the doors and moved off down the only path.
"Um, Dean?"
"Yeah?"
"If this is Shell's dream, how come your car is in it?"
Dean shrugged. "Dunno. But I'm not complaining. Nice to see my baby again, even if it is only a dream"
"There" Sam pointed ahead. "I think I can see her"
Ahead, in the direction Sam had pointed, was an old timber shack. They could clearly see a figure moving, but were still too far away to see who it was.
They moved quickly, their way hindered by the long grass covering most of the path, but were not too worried. If Shell wasn't in the water, she wasn't in any danger of drowning.
Yet.
The shack was up a gentle rise and as they drew closer they could see a manicured garden surrounded it, and long climbing plants covered the side, bright pink and purple flowers scattered amongst the foliage.
The path wound up the rise and as they progressed the boys could see various chickens, ducks and turkeys milling around the garden, off to one side there was a cow tethered to a ramshackle fence.
It looked like a Thomas Kinkade painting.
Rounding a corner was a woman.
She was tall, broad, and middle aged.
Not Shell.
Dean looked at Sam, who shrugged his confusion.
The woman hadn't seen them, and when a small shaggy dog started to bark she looked up, startled.
"Who goes there?" she called.
Dean waved. "Ma'am? Hi, me and my brother here, we've got ourselves a bit lost"
The woman stood with her hands on her hips. "Who are you?"
The boys walked into the yard, closing the small wire gate behind them. "I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean."
She looked them up and down, her face stern.
The boys regarded her just as closely. She was dressed in a long dress and an apron, a cloth hat covering her head.
Her feet were covered in sturdy boots and a woven basket hung from her elbow.
She looked like she was from a bygone era, her costume more at home in pioneer days than in a teenage girl's dream.
"We were looking for our, um, our little sister. We seem to have gotten separated."
She frowned. "Well, you can call me Mrs Deamonn. Look around. There's no little girl here"
Dean nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. But have you seen her? Or anyone?"
She turned her head and looked out over the lake. "There's been no one here. Not for a very long time. Not since…" She turned back to the hunters. "Your sister is not here. Please leave"
Dean looked a Sam, is face confused. "Ma'am?"
She stood square, he hands now by her side. "I told you to leave. Now"
Dean took a step back. Sam tipped his head to one side. "Or what?"
The woman looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, leave now…or what?" Sam put his hands on his hips. "Why do you need us to leave?"
She smiled, but this was no friendly, welcoming lift of her lips.
This was a grimace of anger.
She lifted a hand and the sky darkened. The wind whipped up and the flowers, fowl and cow disappeared. Clouds formed over head, large, thunderous black storm clouds, and the wind grew stronger and stronger.
She faced them and her features changed, no longer that of a woman in her middle years, she now looked like a zombie, her eye sockets dark, her leathered skin drawn close over her bones, her lips pulled back in a rictus snarl.
Her hair had changed to frizzled tendrils of black, whipping this way and that in the cold, fierce wind.
She raised her other arm and both brothers were sent flying backwards, over the fence, crashing hard onto the barren ground, the long soft grass having gone the way of the garden.
Both men lay still for a moment, the crushing blow having winded both of them.
The storm was growing in intensity and the wind howled like a demon around them.
A distant scream startled them and they sat up as one, the wind still whipping around them, debris picked up and flung at them in a stinging rapport.
The scream rang out again and they helped each other up.
"Where was that from? Can you tell?" Dean yelled over the roar of the storm.
Sam pointed, his hair tossing back and forth, his eyes squinted against the dust. "I think that way, behind the shack"
"I think we should go round" Dean looked over at the shack.
The woman was nowhere in sight but the storm was growing in intensity.
Off in the distance there was lightning, and the sky was growing darker by the minute.
The men hurried around the low fence to the other side of the shack and they heard the scream again, this time closer.
There was a twisted, barren tree on the edge of the steep bank and as the hunters approached they heard the scream again.
Leaning over the edge they saw Shell, desperately clinging to a root as her legs kicked and scrambled for purchase, the dark water many yards below.
"Dean! Grab my legs!"Sam yelled as he lunged on his belly, reaching over to grab the girl.
He felt strong hands grip him tight so he wriggled further, over the cliff edge enough to grab Shell with both hands and lift her back to safe ground.
The girl clung to him, sobbing, as Dean pulled them all back from the edge.
Sam pulled her away from him, his large hands enveloping both sides of her face. "I got you, Shell. You're safe. I got you"
He held her head until her sobbing stopped and she opened her eyes. "You got me?"
"I got you. You're safe"
Sam let her head go and she ran a hand through her hair.
"Shell? What happened here?" Dean asked her, his voice loud over the wind.
"I was walking, it was all sunny and pretty, then suddenly the wind came up, it was so strong it blew me right over the edge!"
Sam stood, one hand firmly clasping the girl's. "What now, Dean?"
Dean looked over at the shack. "Who is the woman? I'm thinking she's the key"
"You wanna go back" Sam looked towards the house.
"No, but I think we have to"
They turned towards the shack, though the going was tough, the wind was stronger now and it was blowing against them.
Sam dragged the petite girl behind him, at times he felt her feet lift with the power of the wind and he was sure if he hadn't held on to her she would have blown back over the cliff.
They came to the small fence, but something stopped them from stepping over it. Some invisible force prevented any breach of the perimeter.
They rounded the corner slowly, the wind pushing them harder, but found once they opened the gate they could enter easily.
"Where's the hag?" yelled Dean.
"Maybe in the shack?" yelled back Sam.
They slowly made their way to the front of the shack and tried the small brass handle. The door was unlocked and they pushed the door open and entered, both men having to duck to avoid striking their heads on the opening.
The contrast inside the small house was amazing. As soon as they shut the door there was total silence.
The house was surprisingly bright and cheerful inside, with heavy tapestries on some walls, an overstuffed, brightly cushioned sofa and rugs covering the floor.
There were no modern appliances, the house was a time capsule of early American life.
"Where's the crone?" hissed Dean.
They walked further into the small room. There were no doors, nowhere else for the woman to hide.
"Well, we don't actually know she's in here"
"What woman?" Shell asked. "Did you see someone here? I thought this was my dream, why would someone else be here?"
"We think she must be a very powerful spirit, someone who can invade your dreams. You didn't dream her, she just made herself a place here" Sam explained.
"She said her name was Deamonn. Like the lake. But you didn't find anything about her on the 'net, did you? There was nothing about any woman, in the book, that may have drowned or been murdered here" Dean moved closer to one of the large tapestries. He poked it and it moved.
"There's a doorway behind this" he whispered.
Sam and Shell moved closer, and Sam gave a nod for Dean to continue.
Dean pulled the tapestry aside to reveal a very large room behind it.
They walked through and let the heavy fabric drop back into place.
The room's dimensions were amazing. It was clearly bigger than the whole shack they had seen from outside, and even though it was at the back of the shack, the full windows that lined one wall looked out over the lake.
The view outside was of a beautiful spring morning, the garden was full of flowers, brightly colored butterflies flittered about. Birds were singing and off in the distance you could see a sail boat on the lake.
The furnishings in the room were different, too, with wicker and cane wear dotted about, while large overstuffed ottomans and highly adorned afghans covered most of the floor.
There were whimsical paintings on the wall, and large bunches of freshly cut flowers in terracotta vases around the place.
Against one wall was a day bed with soft curtains that hung from the ceiling, and large silk cushions scattered over the bright purple cover.
"This room is amazing. I'd live here" Shell whispered.
"You and me both, kiddo" Dean answered her. "But where's mamma bitch?"
"Dean. Look at this" Sam was standing near an ornately carved dresser, looking up at a large painting.
"Well, lookie here. It's the storm witch"
The painting showed a happy family.
There was a tall man, rather stern looking, a full and dark beard covered most of his face.
The woman they met outside was standing beside him and his arm was draped across her shoulders. In her arms was a small baby girl.
In front of them was a boy. His grin was infectious, his nose slightly upturned and covered with freckles. The painting showed his hair as sandy red, the bangs hanging across his bright blue eyes.
"Oh my God. He looks like Daniel" Shell gasped.
"There's a plaque" Sam leaned forward. "It says that's Simon Deamonn, his wife Hilda, daughter Margaret and their son. Um. His name is Daniel"
"You've got to be kidding me!" Shell turned to the men. "Daniel? Really?"
"It's not really that surprising, Shell. Daniel is a family name. So is Simon. Your Daniel is a direct descendant of this family"
"Probably why the spirit chose him first" Dean muttered. He looked down at the dresser.
A small brass urn stood there with flowers scattered around the base. He picked it up.
"It says Daniel Deamonn" he looked at Sam. "I guess these are his ashes"
"PUT THAT DOWN!" They turned and saw the woman standing there, her face bright red with rage. "You have no right! PUT MY SON DOWN!"
Dean gingerly replaced the urn. "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean anything. Sorry"
The woman pushed passed them and rearranged the flowers surrounding the urn. "You shouldn't touch him. You have no right. No right at all"
She turned to face the three who had stepped away from her. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"
Sam raised his hands, palms up, in a placating gesture. "Mrs Deamonn? What happened to Daniel?"
Her face darkened and she looked the floor. "My Daniel" she whispered.
She slowly walked to the window. "My beautiful boy. My Daniel" She sighed and leaned her forehead against the glass. "He was a wonderful child. A very good boy. He worked hard, he helped his father, he respected his mother. He was so good. So very good. He planted the garden here, you know?" She lifted one hand and placed it on the glass. "But he had a problem. He stuttered. And the children, the other children, they teased him so. He had no friends. He had no one to spend time with. He spent all of his time here, in the garden, or playing with his sister."
She stepped back and sat on the wicker chair nearby."One day he was invited to go swimming with the boys from church. He was so happy! For the first time he was included. He sang about it all day, and he planned what to wear, what to do, and he barely slept the night before for all of his excitement. I couldn't be more happy for him. But it was a trick, you see" She looked back out of the window, though her gaze was introverted.
"They invited him purely for sport. They teased him and taunted him. Then they led him out into the lake, and they drowned him. Oh, they said it was an accident, that they were sorry, but that didn't change anything. My Daniel was gone, forever. Nothing could bring him back. I know. I tried. So I did the next best thing. I got each one of them. All of them. All of the group that were there that day, I went into their sleep, and I did to them what they did to my boy. I drowned them. I drowned them in their own beds"
She looked down at her hands. "It didn't help. My Daniel was still gone" She looked at the urn, her shoulders sagged in the pain of memory. "I managed to raise his spirit, you see. I used him to help me. Help me make an end to those terrible children that had hurt him, that had dragged him into the water and killed him"
Dean and Sam exchanged glances.
"But then, something happened. Some men came into town. They seemed to understand what I had done, what Daniel and I were doing. They took my boy, my wonderful, precious boy, they took him and burned him! They dug up his grave and burned his bones, and stopped him from ever being able to return to me. They made him no more" a sob escaped her.
"I didn't know what to do, then. I was lost. I was here, by myself, and I was lost. I tried to get him back, I tried to find him again, but he lived only in my dreams. I still had him there, I could dream about him whenever I wanted, whenever I went to sleep. So I started on a path, a journey, to find a way to bring him out of my dreams and make him real, whole again"
"And did you?" Sam asked her. She looked at him, her face surprised, as if she had forgotten he was in the room.
Slowly, she shook her head, and looked back down at her hands. "No. I couldn't. I tried everything, more than once, and I tried it again. But still, to no avail. I was lost. I was here, alone, and I was lost"
"Ma'am? What happened to your family? Your husband and daughter?"
She gave a dismissive wave. "He was a coward of a man. A coward. He couldn't cope with my grief so he left. Took Maggie and ran. I don't know where he went, and I don't care. Or I didn't, not for a long time. But then, on the anniversary of my Daniel's death, I felt him again. He was back. My boy had come home"
She sighed and played with a locket that was pinned to her left breast. "It was him. I was sure…but it wasn't. He looked the same, he felt the same. He had red hair, he was thin and short. It was him. And he was swimming. In the lake. In our lake!"
She let the locket drop. "And they were teasing him. Again. As if they did not learn the first time! They teased him, and they pushed him, and they held him under the water until he drowned. Again. They killed my boy again, They took him from me, again. My boy. My beautiful boy. So I got them. I hunted them. I got in their dreams, and I killed them the way they killed my Daniel. I made sure there was no one left, not one of them. And this time, when I tried to bring him back, to take him from my dreams and make him whole, it worked. He returned to me. He stayed with me for an age. But then, he was gone. Just yesterday, I looked for him, and I couldn't find him. Someone had taken him again."
She looked up at the three listeners. "What are you doing here? What do you want?"
Sam took a breath then cleared his throat. "Ma'am? Mrs Deamonn? Did you, um. Did you…" he turned to Dean who just shrugged. "Did you drown yourself? Off the cliffs, here?"
She turned to him, her eyes flashing in rage. "How dare you! Do you judge me? You? Who are you to judge me?" She raised her hand and Sam was flung backwards, crashing into the wall and falling in a heap.
Dean started to lunge towards her but she sent him flying as well, then looked at Shell.
"You, girl. You were there. You drowned my Daniel"
Shell shook her head. "No"
"Yes. You were there. I saw you. You were nearly naked, and you helped drown my Daniel!"
"No! Lady, you're crazy! You drowned MY Daniel. My friend. Your Daniel died two hundred years ago. You killed my Daniel a month ago."
The woman smiled. It was not a nice smile. "You were there" she hissed, and raising her hand, she flung the hapless girl through the windows and out over the cliff.
"NO!" roared Sam as he pulled himself to his feet. "Dean, get up!" Sam shouted as he ran and jumped through the shattered glass, out onto the front garden, and dived off the cliff after Shell.
Dean stared wide eyed as his brother sailed over the edge then turned to the woman. "You have to stop this" he growled as he pulled himself to his feet. "She is not the one. She wasn't there. She had nothing to do with your Daniel"
The woman wouldn't look at him. Dean strode right up to her and grabbed her, lifting her to her feet.
"You have to stop this, do you hear me?" She turned her head away, hanging limp in his arms. "Listen to me!" he shook her. "That girl is innocent! She didn't know your boy. She didn't hurt him. But you're gonna hurt her, you're gonna hurt her momma like those kids hurt you. Do you understand?"
The woman shook her head. "They killed my boy. My beautiful boy. They teased him, and they drowned him"
Dean held her up and close to his face. "I know. I know what they did. They broke your heart. Lady, they broke your damn soul, too. I know what that's like, to lose someone you love. Look at me. Look into my eyes. You'll see I'm telling the truth"
She raised her head and looked into his eyes. One tear rolled from her face. "My boy…."
"Yes. Your boy. And it hurt so damned much you couldn't live. But that little girl? The one that you threw over the cliff? That girl is some other lady's baby, and you're gonna take her away. You're gonna kill her little girl, and break her heart. Is that what you want? You want to hurt someone as bad as you were hurt?"
Mrs Deamonn looked into Deans eyes and cried.
She shook her head. "No. She killed my boy. Her, and her friends. They took my Daniel and they drowned him. They drowned him!"
"Believe me, lady, that girl did not kill your boy. She never met your boy. She never knew him. She's just someone's little girl. You hear me? She's somebody's little baby. And you're killing her"
"No"
"Yes, she is. She's just a girl, just a sweet, sad, lonely sixteen year old girl, and you're gonna rip her away from her mother and break her heart"
She shook her head.
"You are going to kill her and her mother will die in sorrow. Just like you. Just like your boy"
Dean felt the hands shaking him, he heard Alison's voice.
Shaking him? How did Alison get into the crone's house?
"DEAN"
He opened his eyes and realized he was cradled in the young woman's lap. Sitting up, he looked around and saw Sam holding Shell, her face red and wet, but very much alive.
"What happened, Dean? How did you stop her?" Sam asked.
"I don't really know. I just kinda begged her not to kill Shell. Told her she was killing someone else's child"
Shell pulled away the wet blanket and stood. "Well, it worked. I thought I was done for when I went over that cliff. No matter how hard Sam pulled, we couldn't make it to the surface."
"So how did you get her out of the water?" Dean asked as Alison gave him a hand to his feet.
"I didn't, Dean. I just woke up here, beside Shell, covered in water"
"So, it's over?" Shell asked. "I can sleep safely now?"
Dean poured himself a large drink. He downed it and grimaced before he could look the teenager in the eye.
"No, it's not. It's only over for now. Me and my brother still have a few things to take care of before you guys are safe" He poured another drink, and handed it to Sam. "But what you did today? It was really brave, and it gave us the clue to finish all this"
Shell nodded. She looked down at her soaked clothes. "I'm glad I brought a change of clothes. Is there some where I can get them on that's not in front of you guys?"
Alison stepped forward. "Of course, honey. Come with me" She led the girl from the room.
"So, salt and burn?" Sam asked as he drained his glass.
"Yep. Salt and burn. But first we gotta find where the old bitch is buried"
[ Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Epilogue]
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