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(9.1) ─ Home

𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫:
‧⁺˚*‧☾ 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐞𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚☽‧*˚⁺‧

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"Alright," Dean declared, sitting at the small table with Carmen's laptop in front of him. Carmen was asleep on one of the two beds, while Sam was drawing a picture of a tree on the other bed. "I've been cruisin' some websites. I think I found a few candidates for our next gig." He said before taking a sip from his coffee. "A fishing trawler found off the coast of Cali–its crew vanished. And, uh, we got some cattle mutilations in West Texas." He looked towards his younger brother, who was indulging in his drawing. "Hey!" Sam raised his head up at him. "Am I boring you with this hunting evil stuff?"

"No. I'm listening. Keep going." He insisted, continuing to draw.

"And, here a Sacramento man shot himself in his head. Three times," He said, holding up three fingers. Sam didn't look up at him, Dean waved his hand before continuing. "Any of these things blowin' up your skirt, pal?" Sam stopped and started studying his picture. "Wait. I've seen this," He muttered with frown brows. "Seen what?" His brother questioned. But, Sam didn't answer him, instead getting up off the bed and searching through his duffel bag for something.

Dean took another sip from his coffee, "What are you doing?"

"Neither one of y'all are making this migraine any better." Carmen muttered under piles of blankets and pillows.

Sam had finally found the photo. A picture of his family from when he was a baby. Grabbing it and the drawing comparing the two. "Dean," Sam said looking over at his brother, "I know where we have to go next."

"Where?"

"Back home. Back to Kansas," He replied and walked over to Carmen. "How's your head?"

"Like a jackhammer hitting my head. Noise hurts the most, and yet I can't sleep it off."

"Can you take any more medicine?" Dean asked glancing at the pill bottle next to her coffee that she chugged half of the moment Dean brought it to her. "Two Advils three hours ago." She replied. "Well take two more, the maximum dose is eight, so you're good there."

"Random. Where'd that come from?" Dean asked changing the subject back to Kansa. "Alright, um," Sam stuttered, walking over towards him with the picture in hand, "This photo was taken in front of our old house, right?" Placing the photo in front of Dean, "The house where Mom died?" Dean picked up the photo. "Yeah," He agreed, looking up at his younger brother. "And it didn't burn down, right? I mean, not completely, they rebuilt it, right?"

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

"Okay, look, this is gonna sound crazy but..." Sam trailed off looking down. "The people who live in our house–I think they might be in danger." Sam finished. "Why would you think that?" Dean asked, still very confused.

"Uh...It's just, um..." Sam stuttered. "Look, just trust me on this, okay?" He said walking towards his duffel bag, putting it on the bed.

Carmen gently pushed the pillow and blankets off her, slowly sitting up. Dean looked at Carmen, then towards Sam, then back towards Carmen. She tilted her head over towards her nightstand, taking two more pills and chasing it down the rest of her coffee. Sitting back against the headboard with her eyes shut. The two watched her before continuing on with the conversation, "Wait, whoa, whoa, trust you?" Dean asked, holding up the picture.

"Yeah," He said simply, while starting to pack all his stuff.

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

"I can't really explain it all." He protested. "Well, tough. I'm not goin' anywhere until you do." Dean stated raising his voice, quickly getting shushed by his sister. Sam sighed, "I have these nightmares." Dean nodded his head, as Carmen was rubbing her temples, "We noticed," She whispered. "And sometimes...They come true,"

"Come again?"

"Huh?"

"Look, guys...I dreamt about Jessica's death–for days before it happened."

"Sam, people have weird dreams. I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Dean tried to rationaled, sitting  down at the foot of Carmen's bed. "No, I dreamt about the blood dripping, her on the ceiling, the fire, everything, and I didn't do anything about it cause I didn't believe it." Sam explained while Dean looked at the picture. "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?"

Dean shook his head looking up at Sam, clearly overwhelmed by his brothers rambling. "I don't know."

Sam sat down on the other bed, facing the two, "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!"

"Just slow down a bit, okay?" She said, trying to calm the situation down.

Dean stood up before starting to pace around the small motel 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?" She asked, confused on why it was affecting him so much.

"When I swore to myself that I would never go back there?" Dean exclaimed with hurt and sadness in his tone. "At least you have something to go back to," She muttered, causing Sam to look over towards her before standing up and speaking softly, "Look, Dean, we have to check this out. Just to make sure." The oldest took a second, staring down at the flow before slowly nodding his head finally looking up at the two, "I know we do."

💾

Lawrence, Kansas

"So, this is the famous Winchester house..." Carmen trailed off holding onto the Impala's back door, her eyes examining every detail of the house. It was so normal. Of course she had heard a few things from Dean before they had gone from a normal life to a hunter's one. But she figured the house was more like Bobby's, out in the middle of nowhere, away from people, away from noise, hell away from light pollution. But no, it was just a normal two-story house with a front and backyard. "It looks so..."

"Normal?"

"It used to be for us..."

"You gonna be alright, man?" Sam asked looking over to see his brother was also staring at the house. But unlike their sister, his face showed dred and uneasiness. "Let me get back to you on that," He muttered with a breath out.

The two followed Sam up to the front door, he knocked earning a blonde woman to open the door, "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, ma'am. But we're with the Federal-"

"I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother, Dean. And our sister, Carmen." Sam quickly cut him off, "Me and my brother used to live here. You know, we were just drivin' by and were wondering if we could see the old place. Plus, she's been dying to see this place." The younger two were smiling at the woman politely, both ignoring the shock expression Dean had on his face. "Winchester. Yeah, that's so funny. You know, I think I found some of your photos the other night." She informed them. "You did?" Dean asked as she nodded, stepping to the side. "Come on in,"

Once inside, the three followed her, Jenny, to the kitchen were her daughter was at the table doing her homework. And her younger son was in his playpen jumping up and down, muttering 'juice' over and over. "That's Ritchie. He's kind of a juice junkie. But, hey, at least he won't get scurvy." She joked taking a sippy cup out of the fridge and handing it to him. Turning and walking over towards her daughter, "Sari, this is Sam, Dean, and Carmen. They used to live here."

"Hi," The little girl said and Carmen gave her a small wave, smiling back.

"Hey Sari,"

"So, you moved in?" Dean asked Jenny, who nodded, "Yeah, from Wichita."

"You got family here, or...?" He asked, trailing off. "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." She explained giving a small smile.

"So, how you likin' it so far?" Sam asked gesturing around the room. "Well, uh, all due respect to your childhood home, I mean, I'm sure you had lots of happy memories here." She started rambling out and Dean gave her a weak fake smile. "But this place has its issues."

"What do you mean?" Carmen asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Well, it's just getting old. Like the wiring, you know? We've got flickering lights almost hourly." She explained, pointing up to said lights. "Oh, that's too bad. What else?" Dean asked with concern in his voice. "Um..sink's back up, there's rats in the basement–" She started listing things off but stopped herself, "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."

"Mom?" Sari asked, softly making Jenny kneel down next to her, "Ask them if it was here when they lived here."

"What do you mean, Sari?" Carmen asked, matching her soft tone. The small girl towards her and her brothers, "The thing in my closet." Sam and her shared a frown. Jenny leaned in towards her daughter with a small smile, "Oh, no, baby, there was nothing in their closets." She turned and looked at them, "Right?"

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

"She had a nightmare the other night," She explained. "I wasn't dreaming. It came into my bedroom! It was on fire!" Sari protested, causing Carmen to turn her head to the side with a shocked expression.

The three quickly made up an excuse to leave, especially hearing the fire part. And once the door shut behind them, Sam started freaking out, "You guys heard that? A figure on fire."

"And that woman, Jenny, that was the woman in your dreams?" Dean asked. "Yeah. And you hear what she was talking about? Scratching, flickering lights, both signs of malevolent spirit." He answered. "Yeah, well, I'm just freaked out that your weirdo visions are comin' true." Dean remarked which only made Sam panic even more, "Well, forget about that for a minute. The thing in the house, do you think it's the thing that killed Mom and Jessica?"

"I don't know!" Dean raised his voice.

"Well, I mean, has it come back or has it been here the whole time?" He asked as they all stopped halfway to the Impala. "Or maybe it's something else entirely, Sam, we don't know yet." Dean suggested

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

"Carmen?" They both said, turning towards her. "We will," She said softly. "No. I mean now," He argued back, as if that answer wasn't enough. "And how you gonna do that, huh? You got a story that she's gonna believe?" Dean yelled. "Then what are we supposed to do?" Sam yelled back. Carmen just shook her head, getting fully overwhelmed by the situation so she walked the rest of the way to the Impala. Opening the back door just as Dean was opening his mouth to say something but she shut it before he could.

💾

Dean pulled up to a pump outside of a gas station, climbing out of the Impala, "We just gotta chill out, that's all. You know, if this was any other kind of job, what would we do?" He said calming himself down. Sam sighed lightly before answering, "We'd try to figure out what we were dealin' with,"

"We'd dig into the history of the house," Carmen finished the sentence sarcastically.

"Exactly, except this time, we already know what happened," He said and Sam sat on the trunk, "Yeah, but how much do we know? I mean, how much do you actually remember?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"About that night, you mean?" Dean asked, getting caught off guard. Sam nodded his head with a small 'yeah'. "Well that'll be hard, he probably blocked that memory." She muttered. "What's your deal? You've been in a mood since we got here?" Dean stated getting fed up with all her little remarks. "Nothing," She said simply. "Bull," He immediately said, knowing his sister too well. She looked down at the ground as she was holding onto the door of the Impala, once again. Sighing lightly, which was more of a huff then a sigh, "You actually have a chance to go back home and you don't like it."

"Carmen that night was-"

"Traumatic, yeah I know," She said, cutting him off.

"Carmen." Sam warned.

"No, I want to know what's her deal," He insisted while crossing his arms, leaning on the gas pump.

"It's nothing, I'm fine. I'm–I'm fine, really."

"I don't remember much. I just remember the fire..the heat," Dea trailed off softly, pausing for a moment before looking at Sam. "And then I carried you out the front door." She looked down at her feet. "You did?" Sam asked in disbelief. "Yeah, what, you never knew that?" Sam just simply shook his head, "No," Dean slowly nodded before continuing, looking between the two, "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."

She bit the inside of her cheek, 'Damn it Carmn, you're such an ass.' She thought to herself. "And he never had a theory about what did it?" She finally spoke up, looking at Dean sadly. "If he did, he kept it to himself." He replied as he turned around before sitting on trunk on the other side of Sam,"God knows we asked him enough times."

"Okay. 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," Sam said, moving back on topic. "Yeah. We'll talk to Dad's friends, neighbors, people who were there at the time." Dean added.

"Does this feel like just another job to you?" Sam asked, lightly putting his arm around his sister. Dean didn't reply after a moment, "I'll be right back. I gotta go to the bathroom." And he quickly walked away before either one could say anything. She looked up, pouting lightly, "I feel like an ass." Sam squeezed her shoulder lightly, "Your not an ass," He assured pulling her closer towards him as she laid her head on his shoulder.

💾

"So, you and John Winchester, you used to own this garage together?" Dean asked the owner of Guenther's Auto Repair. "Yeah, we used to, a long time ago. Matter of fact, it must be, uh...twenty years since John disappeared. So why the cops so interested all of a sudden?" The owner asked as his eyes trailed towards Carmen. "Oh, we're re-opening some of our unsolved cases, and the Winchester disappearance is one of 'em," Dean replied. "Oh, well, what do you wanna know about John?"

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

"Well..." The owner started as he rested his hands on his hips, "He was a stubborn bastard, I remember that." He chuckled lightly, "And, uh, whatever the game, he hated to lose, you know? It's that whole Marine thing." Both brothers nodded their heads, knowing that behavior all too well. "But, oh, he sure loved Mary. And he doted on those kids."

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

"That's right," His smile faded when he said that.

"Did he ever talk about that night?" She spoke up. "No, not at first," The owner replied, "I think he was in shock."

"Right. But eventually? What did he say about it?" Sam asked. "Oh, he wasn't thinkin' straight. He said somethin' caused that fire killed Mary." He answered.

"He ever say what did it?"

"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..." He trailed off. "But?" She asked. "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." He informed the two. "Palm reader? Uh, do you have a name?" Dean asked making the owner scoff, shaking his head, "No."

💾

After parking by a payphone, Sam was flipping through a phonebook while Dean and Carm were leaning against the driver seat door. "I'm sorry," She spoke up. "For what?" Dean asked with his brows frowned. "I didn't realize how much of that night still affected you. I was just jealous, and stubborn."

"Of what?"

"You and Sam both know so much about y'alls mom. And all I got are some shitty fuzzy memories, and a necklace. I mean I lost my black cat." She explained fumbling with her necklace. He pulled her into a side hug, "When we find Dad, when, we'll ask him about your mom, okay?" She nodded her head, "Yeah," She said, hugging him back. "Good to hear you two are back to normal," Sam remarked, causing the two to pull apart, giving him their attention. "Whatcha find, Bigfoot." She shot back.

"Alright, so there are a few psychics and palm readers in town. There's someone named El Divino. There's, uh–" Sam stopped himself, laughing lightly, "There's the Mysterious Mister Fortinsky." Carmen laughs slightly, tilting her head slightly, "I've heard that name before."

"Wait, wait. Missouri Moseley?" Dean asked with the same tone as Carmen.

"What?" Sam asked, looking between the two catching on the two's tones.

"That's a psychic?"

Sam looked back towards the yellow book, "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so,"

Dean opened the door to the backseat, going through Carmen's backpack and grabbing their Dad's journal, "On Dad's journal.." He trailed off, opening the book and turning the right page. "Here, look at this. First page, first sentence, read that." Turning the book so it was able to read between the two. "I went to Missouri and I learned the truth." Sam read out loud. "Learned the truth?" She repeated, tilting my head to the side. She had read that page about twenty times, hell she had read the whole journal twenty times in the past few months. "I always thought he meant the state."

💾

"All right, there. Don't worry 'bout a thing. Your wife is crazy about you." Missouri smiled walking out of the room with a man. The man thanked her and she closed the door after her. She sighed turning around towards the three Winchester who were sat on the couch. "Whew. Poor bastard. His woman is cold-bangin' the gardener." The three cracked a small smile, "Why didn't you tell him that?"

"People don't come here for the truth. They come for good news," She explained to them as they just stared at her, unsure what to say after that. "Well? Sam, Dean, Carmen, come on already. I ain't got all day." She walked into the other room. The three gave each other a confused look, unsure on how she knew any of their names, but still followed her into the room. "Well, lemme look at ya," She said gleefully looking at each of the brothers smiling widely. "Oh, you boys grew up handsome." She pointer her finger at Dean, "And you were on goofy-lookin' kid, too." He glared at her, while the other held in their laughs, poorly. She then turned towards Carmen, and her smile grew wider, "My, my, my if your mother could see you now! You look so much like her. It's so nice to see you again."

"Again?" She asked with her brows knitted together in confusion.

"Your mother worked here during the summers. When she was pregnant with you, she would visit. Whenever you were born though, she came to visit at least once a month. You were such a cute baby. You even have the same forest green eyes.

Carmen's smile widened with every word Missouri spoke, "You knew my mother?"

"Why of course, everyone knew her. She was always so kind to everyone. And by the looks of it, you're growing up to be exactly like her." She then gently took Carmen's hands into hers, "I see love in your future, but only when you're covered in red." Her head tilted, "Red? Like blood?" She asked as it was the first thing to pop in her head. She shook her head laughing lightly, "No, but you'll see soon."

She looked over towards Sam, with a soft smile, "Sam." She said moving over to know holding his hand. "Oh, honey...I'm sorry about your girlfriend. And your father–he's missing?"

"How'd you know all that?" Sam asked as both brothers were very confused.  "Well, you were just thinkin' it just now." Sam raised his brows, "Well, where is he? Is he okay?" Dean asked.

"I don't know,"

"Don't know? Well, you're supposed to be a psychic, right?" Carmen quickly elbowed him in his side, watching as the woman's brows frowned at him, "Oh no," She muttered. "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." She explained before gesturing to the seats to the side of them. Sam looked over at Carmen seeing they had the same grin on both of their faces before each sitting down. Missouri followed, sitting down across from them, across from Carmen who was sandwiched between both of her brothers. "Boy, you put your foot on my coffee table. I'm 'a whack you with a spoon!" She immediately scolded Dean.

"I didn't do anything," He whined back.

"But you were thinkin' about it," Dean raised his brows, glancing over at his siblings seeing if they were seeing this as well, but quickly seeing both of the smiles dropping.

"Okay. So, our Dad–When did you first meet him?" Sam asked.

"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." She explained. "What about the fire? Do you know about what killed our Mom?" Dean asked scotting up to the edge of his seat. "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..." She trailed off before shaking her head as if she was unsure how to say it.

"What was it?" Carmen spoke as all three were listening to her with every bone in their body.

"I don't know. Oh, but it was evil," She finally spoke after a moment. Her tone was softer as if the evil could hear her. "So, you think somethin' is back in that house?"

"Definitely." Sam answered quickly.

"I don't understand,"

"What?" All three asked at the same time.

"I haven't been back inside, but I've been keepin' an eye on the place, and it's been quite. No sudden deaths, no freak accidents. Why is it actin' up now?" She questioned. "I don't know. But Dad going missing and Jessica dying and now this house is all happening at once–it just feels like something's starting." He explained. "That's a comforting thought." Dean said sarcastically, not liking the situation at hand.