Tecumseh
By Tidia & MOG, May 2006
SnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsN
Chapter 9/18
A light rain peppered the Impala’s waxed finish, leaving behind dark
spots of water and dust. Sam stood on the sidewalk in front of the
Wheelock Mission and ignored the droplets that spat down on him. The
brick and wood framed structure was boxy and practical in its design,
offering a plain front that blended in naturally with the maple trees
standing in the yard.
Nothing struck Sam as outwardly malevolent, yet he couldn’t shake the
feeling that this was a place where one shouldn’t let down one’s guard.
He glanced back at Dean, who stood at the car’s open trunk. Sam’s brow
creased slightly and his brother knew what he was thinking.
“I’m just getting this,
jeez.” He raised the EMF detector to show Sam, before closing the
trunk. “We’re just checking the place out, the gun is still locked up
back here. It’s not like I’m gonna go busting in like some ‘seventies
cop show.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You gave me that look.”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Are we doing this or what?”
“For 10 grand, hell yes, we’re doing this.”
“Then let’s do it.” Sam pointed toward the thick trunks of the maples.
“You should start scanning here.”
“Why,” teased Dean, “your Spidey-senses tingling?”
Sam didn’t reply and Dean looked at his brother more closely. “Hold up.
Seriously, Sammy, you saying you’re feeling something?”
Sam kept his focus on the house. “It’s nothing, man. Overactive
imagination. Let’s get out of the rain.”
Dean knew that whatever his brother felt, he wasn’t interested in
discussing it. For Sam’s sake, he let the topic drop, brushing it aside
casually. “You always bitch
when my imagination gets
active.”
“That’s not an imagination,” replied Sam, as he walked towards the
mission, “that’s softcore porn.”
Dean stood alone on the sidewalk and called out to his brother’s
retreating figure. “There’s nothing wrong with porn.”
SnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsN
The palpable amount of remodeling dust in the entryway made Dean wonder
how much work would have to be done before Scarlett could open for
business.
Sam verbalized his brother’s thoughts. “Looks like she printed up the
brochures a little early.”
“Hey, man,” retorted Dean with a grin, as he checked the EMF detector
for activity, “weren’t you listening - she’s got quite a mind for
business.”
Sam smiled back and walked deeper into the mission, knowing his brother
would follow. The hardwood stairs creaked as he headed up to the second
floor.
“Scarlett said things started happening after they knocked out walls
for bedrooms, probably means whatever we’re looking for is going to be
up here.”
The wood steps squeaked with each bit of pressure put on them, but they
felt solid despite their turn-of-the-century construction. Evidence of
recent demolition work was scattered throughout the second floor.
The stairs ended in the center of a hallway. Natural light flooded in
from the left end of the passage and Sam walked towards a large, open
room. He twitched slightly as a fat droplet of water smacked him on the
head. He tried to step out of the way but another drop hit the nape of
his neck and slithered down the back of his shirt.
Dean watched his brother do an odd shimmy and smiled when he saw a
fresh water stain on the floorboards. “Guess we should tell Scarlett
she has a leak.”
Sam shot his brother a dirty look. “Are you picking up anything?”
Dean glanced down at the EMF detector and his expression grew serious.
“Yep.”
Sam waited for his brother to elaborate, but an answer came from
elsewhere. The sound of light footsteps echoed up the stairs. The two
men unconsciously took a step away from each other, moving into
defensive positions. The steady scuffing grew louder, nearing the top
of the steps. Sam risked a glance at his brother but Dean’s focus was
fixed wholly in the direction of the possible threat.
The sound of a young girl’s quick breathing reverberated off the walls
of the hallway. Dean heard the light clomp of hard-soled shoes pass
within ten feet of him, moving in Sam’s direction. Sam’s eyes followed
the sound, trying to track the movement. His expression, however,
altered drastically in a fraction of a second.
Dean saw a look of shock hit his brother and he watched as Sam’s body
jerked sharply. Sam’s eyes widened in surprise and he gasped in
reaction to an unseen physical touch. He shuddered and leaned forward,
resting his hands on his knees.
“Whoa.”
Dean was to him in an instant, resting a hand lightly on his back. “You
all right? What the hell was that!”
An involuntary tremor passed through Sam’s body again. “Cold,” he
gasped. He took a couple of breaths before standing upright. “That was
weird.”
“No shit. You should have seen your face. You still cold?”
Sam shook his head. “I’m good.” He looked at Dean. “I think we can
definitely say there’s something to the stories.”
Dean remained close to his brother. “Could you get any kind of bead on
it?”
“Besides really freakin’ cold?” replied Sam with a smile. “Nothing
really, it happened so quick. It’s like it passed right through me. But
definitely not a dark presence. If anything, it felt kinda…I dunno,
scared? Apprehensive, maybe? It’s hard to explain. Like she was trying
to hide from something.”
“ ‘She’?”
“Definitely.”
Dean grinned. “Maybe she wanted to get inside your--”
“Don’t say it.”
Dean let some of his levity drop. “You want to go?”
“No,” Sam answered, “let’s check it out a little more.”
Dean let his brother lead the way toward the back of the house. A large
half-circle shaped window high up on the back wall let natural light
in. A leaded, stained-glass pattern sat in the middle of the window.
Dean suspected it was simply a decorative design, but his jaded eye
transformed it into a single upside down droplet of deep red blood,
surrounded by green and amber leaves. With the gray clouds and
raindrops smacking against the old glass, the window did little to
offer brightness.
Sam gauged the recent remodeling work and offered up a guess. “This
seems like it would be the right placement for the original dormitory.”
He pointed to a seam mark along the wall as he walked ahead into the
adjoining room. “Lots of cases of spirit activity are reported after
changes are made to an original structure.”
Dean shook his head. “What did Scarlett say - seven to nine years old.
What sort of sick fuck does something like that? Not man enough to test
himself in a fair fight…”
A faint, urgent whisper made him pause - a little girl’s voice that
seemed to come from behind, yet all around him at the same time. The
pattern of the language made him suspect it was Native American.
“mat-ou-oui-sahelene… mat-ou-oui-sahelene…”
Dean’s heart rate spiked and he looked back down the hall toward the
stairwell, half-expecting to see someone standing there. He didn’t take
his eyes from the hallway, but called softly to his brother. “Sammy?
Sam, I got something here.”
He could hear his brother moving through the adjoining room on the
other side of the dormitory. He looked over his shoulder to call again
and his peripheral vision caught movement high up at the half-moon
window.
The old leaded glass seemed to pulse inward. Dean watched the dark red
centerpiece elongate and stretch for a brief second. He squeezed his
eyes closed, hoping to clear his vision. He stared again and saw only
raindrops hitting a stained glass window.
Running a hand down his face, he breathed deeply. His heart fed off the
‘fight or flight’ adrenaline surge and continued to pound in his chest.
No matter how long he hunted, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to
paranormal activities. He looked back toward the hallway and listened
for the echoing whisper.
The only voice he heard, however, was Sam’s.
“Aw man, how many leaks can one roof have?”
Dean couldn’t prevent a grin as he envisioned Sam being hit again by
random, icy drops of rainwater. He walked towards the archway that
separated the dormitory from the room where his brother was.
Sam wiped a cold droplet from the side of his face just as another one
hit his forehead and trickled down his temple. He turned to see Dean
frozen in the doorway with a strange, tense expression on his face.
“Sammy…walk to me, right now.”
Sam watched his brother’s eyes flick upward for just an instant and he
let his own vision follow. Hundreds of thick, red droplets clung
precariously across the entire ceiling of the room, nearly obscuring
the antiqued white paint.
A sickening feeling rushed through Sam when he looked at his stained
fingertips and realized what he’d actually just wiped from his face.
His stomach tightened and his field of vision narrowed as darkness
loomed in from the periphery. A flashback to Jess’s death threatened to
strip him of consciousness.
“Sammy, now.”
His brother’s firm, quiet voice broke Sam from his static position, but
the first step he took shook the room alive.
A folded sawhorse leaning against one wall vibrated violently, banging
repeatedly like a warning drumbeat. Sam lowered his head and sprinted
towards his brother. Drops of moisture rained down, striking his
exposed skin. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the smears of
blood that he imagined were there.
Dean’s voice demanded his attention. “DUCK!”
Sam felt two hands grab him and push him downward. The air in his lungs
rushed out as Dean’s body landed across his back. Something flew
through the space where they’d just been and crashed against one of the
dormitory walls.
The heavy plastic sawhorse clattered against the floor, then stilled
and silence settled on the room. Sam inhaled deeply as Dean rolled off
him.
“You all right?” Dean asked.
Sam raised himself up to his hands and knees and nodded. “You?”
“Hell of a lot better than if one of us had taken that in the head.”
Sam looked to where the sawhorse rested peacefully on the other side of
the room. The memory of red smears caused him to start. Dean’s voice
reassured him immediately.
“It’s gone, man. It’s like it was never there.”
Their focus moved from Sam’s clothes to the room that rained blood only
seconds earlier. Everything was normal, clean and untouched.
A faint grin tugged up one corner of Dean’s mouth. “So whaddya think,
blood shower makes it a one or two star establishment?”
Sam shook his head but smiled. Since they’d been kids, Dean did two
things consistently – watched out for Sam and took seriously as few
things as possible. Dean stood and reached a hand down, pulling his
brother to his feet.
“Now do you want to go?” asked
Dean.
“I could do that.” Sam brushed off his clothes and cast a glance back
at the room behind them. “I sure didn’t feel any anger like that when
whatever it was passed through me earlier.”
Dean headed for the stairs. “I don’t think that’s what that was.”
Sam’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“There was something behind you back there. A specter, a shadow, I
don’t know – I saw something. I think it’s about time we go talk to
Scarlett’s ghostbusters.”
Dean felt naked without his hunting equipment and a sense of relief
settled on him when they made it to the front porch and Sam locked the
door behind them. They matched a brisk pace for the car. Sam
desperately wished to avoid being rained on for the time being. He
ignored the tingling that brushed a cold sensation across the back of
his neck.
He didn’t need to look at the corner window on the second floor to know
something was watching them.
SnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsN
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