Chapter 21

Everybody Hurts

(Season 1, Episode 9 - Home)

The engine roared as the black car zipped down the freeway. Alone on the road, it had no problems carrying its passengers to their destination. In what seemed like no time at all, the Impala passed a sign that read "Lawrence 3." The emotions surrounding that one sign varied on each individual in the car.

The first and probably the most complicated was Dean. He promised himself that he would never set foot in that town, and more specifically that house, again. Twenty-two years ago, his life fell apart in that location. His mother had perished and his father was never able to find peace with that all because of a monster that started a fire. With every turn of his steering wheel, Dean thought about turning that car around and driving as far as he possibly could in the opposite direction, but each time he repressed the thought. Although his memories of that house haunted him every night, he trusted his brother. Sam believed that whatever evil lurked in their closets before could still be around to ruin another family's life and Dean couldn't have that. He didn't want someone else to suffer the same pain he has for twenty-two years.

His brother stared out the window beside him. Sam was only a baby when their mother died and had hardly any recollection of the events that occurred that night. He was only able to piece together what happened by the stories his father and brother had told him time and time again while on their various hunting trips. He knew this wasn't easy for Dean to accept, but his vision was too clear to ignore. Although he also felt uneasy about going back to Lawerence, Kansas, he pushed through it much quicker than Dean. The mission was more important than past harms.

The only one who was confident about the mission was the young woman in the backseat behind the driver. Sarah didn't know what they would be facing, but had a feeling that they would be able to dominate it no matter what popped out at them during the night. She had tagged along on a couple hunts with the Winchester brothers and knew exactly how this one would go. They were going to win, just like always. Even though this wasn't her fight, she wanted to stick around to help finish what caused her friends so much pain. They had risked their lives for her and she planned on returning the favor. When Dean finally told her their story, she reimagined her own traumas. If I can't get revenge on what took everything from me, I'm going to help someone get revenge on what took everything from them. The girl wore a grin on her face the entire car ride to Kansas. She never liked going through an investigation with a cocky attitude, but she just couldn't help it. Her faith was too strong.

Dean turned down the street that held the place he once called home. His eyes found the old structure quickly and he never looked away. That night came flooding back to him as if it were yesterday. His heart pounded as he heard his father's words in his head. Take your brother outside as fast as you can! Don't look back! Now, Dean! Go! That night, although he didn't fully understand what happened to his mother at the time, he knew that Sam was his responsibility. Being back here did not change that. In fact, it rang truer than it ever had.

Sam noticed Dean's distraction. Knowing being in the presence of that house was taking a toll on his big brother, Sam asked, "You gonna be all right, man?"

Finally pealing his eyes away from the residence, Dean answered Sam. "Lemme get back to you on that."

Sarah wiggled her way to the middle of the boys and leaned forward. "What's the plan then?"

Dean's heart pounded faster. He had been so focused on driving to Lawerence, he had forgotten about the girl in the backseat. Although he appreciated Sarah tagging along, he dreaded it as well. After seeing what happened to his mother in that house and witnessing the same thing happen to Jessica, he didn't want Sarah to suffer the same fate. "Maybe you should stay here and let Sammy and I scope out the place. If that woman's home, we don't want to scare her."

A giggle sounded from Sarah's throat. "No offense, Dean, but if she's home alone or if she just has the kids with her, which I'm assuming she does, she's already going to be spooked by two dudes showing up on her porch out of nowhere. Nothing against you guys, but it might ease her mind a bit to see another woman tagging along."

"She's right, Dean," Sam agreed. "If she's in danger, we can't risk her not letting us in."

He sighed, knowing he was outnumbered. "Fine, but stay close. We don't know what's in there."

"Don't worry, Dean." Sarah pushed open the back door. "We got this."

Sarah and Sam hurried quickly to the door, wanting to start this as soon as possible. Dean lagged behind, but not too far. He pushed his personal feelings aside. It was time for business. To show his partners that he was okay with doing this job, Dean knocked on the front door first.

A minute passed before a young, blonde woman opened the white door. "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but we're with the federal-"

Sam cut his brother's regular spiel short. This was the woman he had dreamed about. "I'm Sam Winchester, this is my brother, Dean, and our friend, Sarah. Um... we used to live here. You know, we were just driving by and we were wondering if we could see the old place."

The woman blinked. "That is so funny. You know, I-I think I found some of your photos the other night."

Dean's heart dropped. They only had a handful of family photos from their childhood. They believed that most of them were lost in the fire. Hearing that more might be in existence was unreal to Dean. "You did?"

"Come in." The woman opened the door wider to allow the three strangers into her home.

Sam didn't think. He followed the woman's instructions immediately and walked into the house. Dean was more hesitant. He didn't want it to look weird, so he followed. Sarah noticed the tension Dean held in his shoulders. She stayed close behind him, wanting to comfort him.

The woman introduced herself as Jenny and led the trio into the kitchen where one child was sitting at the table with her books sprawled in front of her and another was in his playpen begging for juice. "That's Richie. He's kind of a juice junkie. But, hey, at least he won't get scurvy." She opened the child proof lock she had installed on the fridge and grabbed a sippicup for her son. She then walked back to her daughter. "Sari, this is Sam, Dean, and Sarah. They used to live here."

Sari smiled nervously. "Hi."

Dean waved at the girl and Sam spoke. "Hey, Sari."

Sarah was the only one who did not acknowledge the little girl. Instead, she eyed every little detail about the house and wondered what was original to its structure and what was repaired after the fire. Her foot gently skidded across the wood flooring. Was this the floor Dean's feet touched as a child or was that taken away by the fire too? Small thoughts like that kept crossing her mind and her heart became heavy for her companion. If this was starting to weigh on her, she couldn't imagine how Dean was feeling about it. Her confidence and cocky attitude started to fade away, seeing more clearly that this was not a normal job.

Dean tried to shake the memories away. "So, you just moved in?"

"Uh, yeah, from Wichita."

"You got family here?"

She averted her eyes away from Dean. "No, I just, uh... um, needed a fresh start. That's all. So new town, new job - I mean, as soon as I find one - new house."

Sam wanted to be quicker with his questions, sparing his brother from having to ask. "So, how are you liking it so far?"

"Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home - I mean, I'm sure you have lots of happy memories here - but this place has its issues."

Happy memories. That phrase played again and again in Dean's mind as he tried to find some. There weren't any, only that night.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

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

That comment brought both Dean and Sarah more into the conversation. Now, they were starting to get into what they really journeyed there for. Dean put on a fake smile. "Oh, that's too bad. What else?"

"Um... sink's back up. There's rats in the basement." She stopped as she finally looked at Dean. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to complain."

Dean shook his head. "No. Have you seen the rats or just heard scratching?"

"Just the scratching, actually."

Sari finally looked up from her homework. "Mom?" Jenny knelt down beside her daughter. "Ask them if it was here when they lived here."

That set off alarms in all of their heads. Sam was quick on the draw. "What, Sari?"

"The thing in my closet."

"Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets," Jenny assured. "Right?"

Knowing full well that the truth would not only frighten the girl, but would also get them kicked out of the house, Sam decided to lie. "Right, no. No, of course not."

"She had a nightmare the other night."

Frustrated, Sari defended herself. "I wasn't dreaming. It came into my bedroom and it was on fire."

Sarah finally decided to step in, knowing this was the final piece of information they were going to get for the day. She put her hand on Dean's shoulder and moved in between the brothers. She gripped it only slightly and felt Dean repressing his urge to shake. "Sari, honey. I promise there's no monster. Monsters aren't real." She looked at Jenny who had stood up by her daughter's side. "Thank you so much for letting us into your home and letting them see it again. I'm afraid we're running late for something and should really be on our way." She reached out her hand and the woman shook it quickly. "Thank you, really."

After saying a couple more 'thank you's' and their goodbyes, the trio made their way back to the car. Sam nearly burst, knowing he was right about the situation and his dream.

"You hear that? A figure on fire!"

Dean tried to focus on the evidence. "And Jenny was the woman in your dreams?"

"Yeah, and you hear what she was talking about - scratching, flickering lights? Both signs of a malevolent spirit."

"Yeah, well, I'm just freaked out your weirdo visions are coming true."

Visions? I thought Dean said they were just weird dreams. Sarah tried to shake it off. The boys were starting to get louder with every word that came out of their mouthes. Not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves, Sarah suggested, "Guys, we should talk about this in the car."

Sam ignored her. "Forget about that - that thing in the house, do you think it's the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?"

"I don't know," Dean snapped.

"Well, has it come back or has it been there the whole time?"

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

"Those people are in danger, Dean. We have to get them out of that house."

"And we will." Dean turned away from his brother.

Sam wasn't having it. "No, I mean now."

Before reaching his door, Dean looked back at Sam. "And how you gonna do that? You got a story she's gonna believe?"

"Then what are we supposed to do?!"

"Guys!" Both men stopped to look at Sarah. This job was too close to both of them and neither of them were thinking clearly. She needed to be the outside voice on this one or nothing would be accomplished. "Let's just get in the car. You're causing a scene out here. We can't do anything now, but we will do something. We just need a plan. Right now, we've got jack on what this thing is. We just need to get out of here and think this through. Okay?"

Sam didn't say a word. Although deep down he knew she was right, he still didn't like it. He didn't want those people to stay in that house another night, but didn't know how to convince them to leave. Sam dropped the fight and got into his designated spot in the car. He tried not to let his pout show, but he didn't really succeed.

Sarah crossed her arms and stepped closer to Dean. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." He pulled the handle to his door. "Come on. I need to stop and get some gas."

She recognized the pain he held in his eyes. Although he said he was fine, Sarah knew better, but decided to just join the boys in the car. That was the only way they were going to push forward with the investigation.

The drive to the nearest gas station was silent, but no words needed to be said in that moment. Both Sam and Dean were too heated and confused about being back at the house and what could possibly be waiting in that little girl's closet.

Sarah's leg bounced nervously. She couldn't pinpoint why, but something was really bothering her about this case. I know we need to figure this out. This is a normal case for me. Nothing's changed. We need to investigate more, not just trust our guts here. Be a professional. Don't let it get personal.

Dean pulled up to a small self serve gas station, turned off the car, immediately pulled the keys and opened the door. Sam followed with a heavy face, but Sarah remained in the car. Dean popped open the gas tank and grabbed the pump. Noticing his friend was sitting by herself, he set the hose in the tank, but didn't start pumping. He walked over to the backseat and tapped on the window.

Mildly surprised, Sarah opened the door. "What's up?"

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Why?" She had trouble convincing herself of this answer.

His eyes darted to his brother and back to the girl. "Because you're sitting by yourself."

"Oh." Sarah never even realized they stopped. "Yeah. I was just thinking." Understanding how this situation may have appeared, Sarah promptly excused herself. "You know what, I'm gonna go to the bathroom while we're here. I'll be back in a minute. Don't leave without me." Just like that, she darted out of the vintage vehicle and made her way to the nearest restroom.

Dean glanced at his brother. "Weird," he commented and then started to fill the car with gas.

Sarah hastily blew through the woman's bathroom door and locked it. She practically lived in gas station bathrooms and motels her whole life. The dingy atmosphere and the horrible smell was something she was used to. However, this feeling of hopelessness and dread that had swept across her was new, or at least it felt new.

The mirror hadn't been cleaned in years and the paper towel dispenser was completely empty. Feeling a sudden need to see her face, Sarah took her sleeve and wiped away a section of grime just big enough where she can see her eyes. She stared directly into her own chocolate eyes and spoke. "Sarah, this is another job. That's it. It's not your revenge and you can't let that get to you. Sam and Dean need you. They need you. They do. That woman and kids need you. Pull your crap together right now. It's time to put your big girl face on and get to work." Sarah took one deep breath and exhaled slowly, releasing her nervous energy. This pep talk finally prepared her for the job ahead.

She scanned her eyes one last time before unlocking and exiting the bathroom. To her surprise, Dean was right outside the door with a phone to his ear. She only caught the last bit of the conversation. "I need your help, Dad." He flipped the phone closed. Sarah panicked. Not wanting him to know she heard the call, she tried to go back into the bathroom, but it was too late.

Dean turned around with distraught eyes. He wiped a stray tear away, hoping that she didn't notice.

"I didn't mean- I didn't hear any- I didn't..." Sarah couldn't find the right words and kept rambling. She gave up. "You don't believe me."

He only shook his head.

Biting the bullet, Sarah asked about what she heard. "You talked to your dad?"

"Left him another voicemail. He probably won't even get it." Dean tapped the phone against his palm and stared at the ground.

"Hey." Without thinking, she threw her arms around his waist and pulled him in for a hug. "We're gonna figure this one out, just like always. We got this."

Dean stared down at her, bewildered by her ambition. His arms slowly wrapped around her shoulders, accepting her hug. The two stayed like this for only thirty seconds in real time, but it felt like hours to them.

Sarah was the first to pull away. "Come on. We should get back to Sam before he starts freaking out."

Dean nodded and the two walked in unison back to the Impala, feeling a little bit better about the job and themselves.

A/N: This song was named after Everybody Hurts by Avril Lavigne.