The Littlest Winchester

Chapter 21

They came and got me, but now I'm angry at them, they left me again... and they always say they won't but they always do.
I was pouting, sitting between them, not saying a single word to them.
Sam said" Dean she's really mad at us this time."
Dean said" I can tell. She wouldn't even take the apology candy."
" What should we do?"
" Maybe hope that she forgives us once we do something stupid."
" We always do something stupid, that's usually when she tells us to stop being stupid or she'll ignore us for a month."
" Well... now we have to make sure she laughs." I felt a hand skim my stomach,
I said" Don't you dare!" Sam started tickling me, I laughed and grabbed his hand," Imma stab you, Sam Winchester!" He continued to tickle me till I was coughing, I slumped against Dean, pouting.
" Well... that worked. She laughed."
" I hate you both."
" No, you don't... or you wouldn't have come with us."
" Give me apology candy." Sam handed me the bag of candy, and smiled at me." Fine, you're both safe for now, till you do something stupid, especially, you, Dean."
" Next time we leave her at Bobby's." Sam shook his head, and smiled at me, ruffling my hair, I ate the candy and closed my eyes.
———
I saw Dean and Sam finally walk out of the police station, I was asleep and woke up a few minutes ago. Dean was going around, Sam was looking at him weirdly. I looked at Sam, then looked at Dean, once they both got into the car, I looked at Dean.

Something's wrong with Dean.

I played with Sam's hair from the backseat, and zoned off as we drove to the victim's neighbor's house.
Once they went in, I waited for them in the impala,

Dean's Nervous.
————
Dean jumped when Sam got into the impala, I looked at him then to Sam. Sam said" Hey. Any luck at the County Clerk's office?"
Dean said" I'm not so sure I'd call it luck. Frank's wife, Jessie, was a manic-depressive. She went off her meds back in '88 and vanished. They found her two weeks later, three towns over, strung up in her motel room... suicide."
" Any chance Frank helped her along to the other side?"
" No, Frank was working the swing shift when she disappeared. Airtight alibi." Dean cranked the engine and drove off," How was frank's dad?"
" Clean. Searched it top to bottom. No EMF, no hex bags, no silver."
" So probably no ghosts, no witches, no demons. 3 down and 97 to go."
" Yeah. Dude, you're going 20."
" And?"
I said" That's the speed limit."
" What? Safety's a crime now?" I looked at Sam, tilting my head, Sam made that weird face when he thinks something's going on.
Once we passed our motel,
Sam said" Dude, where are you going? That was our hotel."
Dean said" Sam, I'm not gonna make a left hand turn into oncoming traffic. I'm not suicidal. Did I just say that? That was kind of weird." I heard the EMF going crazy,
" Do you hear something?"
I said" EMF, pocket." Sam grabbed the EMF from his pocket and it was going crazy, every time it was near Dean."
" Am I haunted? Am I haunted?!" Uh oh, this is trouble, really bad trouble.

Dean was in the impala, listening to Eye of the Tiger, I was leaning against the wall, watching him. I saw Sam, he walked to the impala and knocked on the top, I walked over there as Dean got out.
Dean said" Dude. Look at this." He had scratch marks on his arm,
Sam said" I just talked to Bobby."
" And?"
" Um, well, you're not gonna like it."
" What?"
" It's ghost sickness." Oh, no. No!
" Ghost sickness?"
" Yeah."
" God, no. I don't even know what that is."
" Okay. Hazel, you take over." I looked at Sam as we stared at each other and fought.
I said" Some cultures believe that certain spirits can infect the living with a disease, which is why they stopped displaying bodies in houses and started taking them off to funeral homes."
Dean said" Okay, get to the good stuff." I whined then looked at Sam, he nodded,
" Symptoms are you get anxious..."
" Yeah."
" And scared, then really scared, then your heart gives out. Sound familiar?"
" Yeah, but, Sam Hazel, we haven't seen a ghost in weeks."
Sam said" Well, I doubt you caught it from a ghost. Look, once a spirit infects that first person, ghost sickness can spread like any sickness through a cough, a handshake, whatever. It's like the flu. Now, Frank O'Brien was the first to die, which means he was probably the first infected. Patient zero."
" Our very own outbreak monkey."
" Right. Get this, Frank was in Maumee over the weekend. Softball tournament... which is where he must have infected the other two victims."
" Were they Gamecocks?"
" Cornjerkers."
" So, ghosts infected frank, he passed it on to the other guys, and I got it from his corpse?"
" Right."
" So now, what, I have 48 hours before I go insane and my heart stops?"
Sam and I said" More like 24."
" Super."
" Yeah."
" Well, why me? Why not you? I mean, you got hit with the spleen juice."
Sam said" Yeah, um, you see, Bobby and I have a theory about that, too. Turns out all three victims shared a certain, uh, personality type. Frank was a bully. The other two victims, one was a vice principal, the other was a bouncer."
" Okay."
" Basically, they were all dicks."
" So you're saying I'm a dick?"
" No, no, no. It's not just that. All three victims used fear as a weapon, and now this disease is just returning the favor."
" I don't scare people."
" Dean, all we do is scare people."
" Okay, well, then, you're a dick, too."
" Apparently, I'm not."
" Whatever. How do we stop it?"
" We gank the ghost that started all this. We do that, the disease should clear up."
" You thinking Frank's wife?"
" Who knows why she killed herself, you know? What are you doing waiting out here, anyway?" I covered my mouth to stop the laughter that wanted to bust through.
" Our room's on the fourth floor. It's... it's high."
" I'll see if I can move us down to the first."
" Thanks."
" Sure." I followed Sam, holding onto his hand,
I said" We need our Dean back."
Sam said" I think that is our Dean, but more scared."
" No."
" Okay, we'll get Dean back, don't worry."
———
Sam and I walked into the room and saw the clock on the ground, broken and Dean was drinking a beer.
Sam said" Everything alright?"
Dean said" Oh, yeah. Just peachy. Find anything?"
" Yeah. Jessie O'brien's body was cremated, so I'm pretty sure she is not our ghost." Sam sat down on the chair and I sat next to Dean, pulling my knees up." Quite picking at that." I hit Dean's arm," How you feeling?"
" Awesome. It's nice to have my head on the chopping block again. I almost forgot what that feels like."
" Yeah."
" It's freaking delightful."
" We'll keep looking." Then Dean started choking, he jumped up and ran to the sink, Sam and I following behind quickly. Dean spit out a thing, and rinsed it off," We've been completely ignoring the biggest clue we have. You."
" I don't want to be a clue."
" The abrasions, this... the disease, it's trying to tell us something."
" Tell us what... wood chips?"
" Exactly."
—-
We got to the wood chip factory, and got out, Dean said" I'm not going in there."
Sam said" I need backup, and you're all I've got."
I said" I need a front and backup, because I'm small. You're going in, Dean." Dean took a big gulp of whiskey,
Dean said" Let's do this. It is a little spooky, isn't it?" Sam grabbed a gun and handed me my iron rod, Sam held out a gun for Dean," Oh, I'm not carrying that. It could go off. I'll man the flashlight."
Sam said" You do that." I whined then grabbed the gun from Sam's hand, I smiled at Sam, who shook his head with a smile.

We got in, and the EMF was going crazy, but that's probably because of Dean.
Dean said" EMF's not gonna work with me around, is it?"
Sam said" You don't say. Come on." Sam stopped Dean and he jumped, Sam picked up a ring." To Frank. Love, Jessie. Frank O'brien's ring."
" What the hell was Frank doing here?"
" No idea." We moved down the hall, then we heard rattling from a locker, we walked to it. Sam mouthed on three and Dean nodded, a cat screeched and jumped down, Dean was screaming.
Once he stopped," That was scary!" Sam and I walked away from him, moving on.
Sam and Dean checked a room, while I walked around, Sam knew I was safe, I had powers even though they've been dormant for a bit.
I heard a shotgun go off, Sam! I ran back and saw Sam, I sighed,
I said" Let's go." Sam nodded and we walked out, after Sam grabbed an ID card.
Once we got back out to the impala, we went to Dean,
Sam said" Guess we got the right place."

We went back to the motel room, so Sam and Dean could change into their FBI outfits, Dean was drunk.

I was waiting for them to come out of the police station. I fell asleep.

Once I woke up, it was to Dean yelling, I rubbed my eyes and saw him walk off. I got out and looked at Sam,
I said" Want me to take this?"
Sam said" Go after him." I followed Dean, then I saw him running... from a little doggy. I sighed then waited on the curb for Sam, once Sam pulled up, I got in,
" He ran... from a little dog, I couldn't keep up."
" Alright." I laid down and fell asleep again,
———
Sam and I met up with Bobby,
Sam said" Hey, Bobby. Hey, thanks for coming so quick."
Bobby said" Where's Dean?"
" Uh... home sick."
" So, have his hallucinations started yet?"
" Yeah, a few hours ago."
" How we doing on time?"
" We saw the coroner about 8 am Monday morning, so, uh... just under two hours. What about you? You find anything?"
" This, uh, encyclopedia of spirits dates to the Edo Period."
" You can read Japanese?" Then Bobby said something in Japanese, I giggled," Guess so, show off."
" Anyway, this book lists a kind of ghost that could be our guy. It, uh, infects people with fear. It's called a Buruburu."
" It say how to kill it?"
" Same as usual... burn the remains."
" Wonderful. Uh... is there a plan B?"
" Well, the Buruburu is born of fear. Hell, it is fear. And the lore says we can kill it with fear."
" So we have to scare a ghost to death?"
" Pretty much."
" How the hell we gonna do that?"
——
We were at the Mill, Sam has a plan... it's a terrible plan, but Sam just told Dean it was a good plan.
Bobby said" This is a terrible plan."
Sam said" Yeah, tell me about it."
" I know I said scare the ghost to death, but this?"
" You got a better idea, I'm listening."

I was separate from Sam, looking for the ghost,
then I heard Sam yell" Bobby, punch it!"

Dean's in trouble. His heart is beating out of control.

I screamed" Sam! We're running out of time!" I ran to Sam, and looked at him, holding out my hand, he grabbed my hand and I pulled him, then I fell and he lifted me up.
——-
We explained what happened to Dean,
Dean said" So, you guys road hauled a ghost... with a chain?"
Sam said" Iron chain etched with a spell word."
" Hmm. Now, that's a new one."
" It was what he was most afraid of. It was pretty brutal, though."
" On the upside, I'm still alive, so, uh, go, team."
" Yeah. How you feeling, by the way?"
" Fine."
Bobby said" You sure, Dean? 'Cause this line of work can get awful scary."
" I'm fine. You want to go hunting? I'll hunt. I'll kill anything."
Sam said" Aw."
Bobby said" He's adorable. I got to get out of here you boys drive safe."
" You too, bobby. Hey, thanks." Bobby drove off," So, uh... So, what did you see? Near the end, I mean."
Dean said" Oh, besides a cop beating my ass?"
" Seriously."
" Howler monkeys. Whole roomful of them. Those things creep the hell out of me."
" Right."
" No, no, just the usual stuff, Sammy. Nothing I couldn't handle."