The Family Business [Supernatural] {1}

2.2 Shadow

I sat on the hood of the car with Sam's laptop, some papers and Dad's journal. Sam and Dean walked out of a bar and I looked up at them. "Hey," Sam called as he and Dean walked over to me. "Did you find something?"

"Um . . . Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found," I informed before opening Dad's journal. 

"Any before that?" Dean asked. 

I pulled out newspaper articles and showed it to my brothers. "Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack," I informed. "And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936."

Sam sat next to me as I used his laptop again. "Every 23 years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here's a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out," I said. Dean stood at my side as I pulled up the video and then went through three frames of the video one at a time; A shadow crossed the screen.

Dean frowned, leaning forward, "Do it again." 

I repeated the frames and looked at Dean, "That's three frames. That's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move," I stated. 

Dean reached his hand from behind me, hitting Sam on the shoulder, causing him to look over at our older brother. "Told you something weird was going on," Dean said. 

"Yeah," Sam mumbled as I closed the laptop.

"I got one more thing," I started and handed Sam another newspaper article. "In 'fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive." I watched Sam and Dean reading the 'The Lost Creek Gazette'. 

"Is there a name?" Dean asked and looked at me. 

I nodded, "Yeah."

...................

After reaching to the house, an old man, Mr. Shaw, lead me, Sam and Dean inside his house. Mr. Shaw had a cigarette in his mouth, "Look, I don't know why you're asking me about this," He said. "It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a --"

"Grizzly?" Sam cut him off and the old man looked at him. "That's what attacked them?"

Mr. Shaw took a puff of his cigarette, he pulled it out, and then nodded. "The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?" Dean asked. He didn't say anything, just kept staring at each of us. "What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Dean continued.

He still didn't spoke and Dean let out a silence sigh. "We knew what we were dealing with . . . we might be able to stop it," Dean said. 

Mr. Shaw let out a small chuckle, "I seriously doubt that," He said. "Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make." He sat down on his chair, shaking his head, "You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did."

"Mr. Shaw . . . what did you see?" I asked softly. 

The old man's eyes shifted to meet mine, "Nothing," He said and then swallowed. "It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar. Like . . . no man or animal I ever heard."