Secrets Will Kill You

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We’ve been driving for a few miles now. Brit was still driving because even though I had a big bandage around my ankle to control the pain a little, I told Brit she should drive…that wasn’t like me. I always wanted to drive my truck. I couldn’t take the silence anymore though.

“Ya know…ever since our run in with John…you’ve barely spoken a word to anyone…you okay?” I tried. “I’m fine” she laughed like it was so crazy that I asked her that.

“You and I both know when we say that, it really means no…what’s up?”

“Now you care? You sure you have the time to come out of Melissa World?” she snapped.

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing…never mind

“Fine” I huffed, crossing my arms, facing forward. “Can you just reach back there and get some kind of music. It’s on my side and I cant exactly turn around”

She rolled her eyes and reached back, keeping her eyes on the road. I heard a small splat sound. “Ew, what the hell?” she said and brought her hand back to the front and I laughed a little.

“Hmm looks like shaving cream” I smirked, raising the bottle of shaving cream from under my seat. “I stole it from the guys. You think they’d want it back? I could really do some damage with it…and what do they have to shave anyway? Nothing”

“Mel, cut it out. No pranks” she said as she grabbed a rag from the back and started to wipe her hand.

Things were too…weird lately. I needed some kind of normalcy and amusement. “We’re not kids anymore Mel. No. Pranks.

“Fine, how about no pranks on you” I wiggled my eyebrows and she glanced at me. “Okay…but I want in” she agreed and I laughed. “Deal”

She was smiling now…for the moment…and I wanted to know what was bothering her…what she meant…but not now. We were going to have some fun.

~~~~~

Sam and Dean gave us the lowdown on what was going on. Apparently about a month ago a group of teenagers went looking around a haunted house. The legend says that a spirit takes the girls and hangs them up by their after parts. Police think that the kids were just messing around and they could be right but Sam said they sounded pretty sincere…and he usually knew this kind of stuff when people were being sincere…but then he said the website he found the kids accounts on was called hellhounds lair.com and I became unsure about it but we still decided to check into it. We got to the most popular burger place in town where all the teenagers hung out and we each took a teenager that was there in the haunted house. Once we talked to them, we got back together and we realized that even though they all had different stories to what happened that night, they each had something in common: a kid named Craig. We went to the local record store and we all walked in.

Dean and I immediately scanned the store, looking over the music but then a guy came over to us. “Can I help you four with anything?” he asked.

“Yea, are you Craig Thirston?” I asked

“I am” he replied with a flirtatious smile.

But I ignored it. “Well we’re reporters for the Dallas Morning News. I’m Dean, this is Sam and these are our trainees Melissa and Brittney” he introduced.

“No way, I’m a writer too. I write for my school’s lit magazine”

“Good for you Morston” Dean and I both quipped.

We glanced at each other and then just continued to focus on Craig. "We’re doing a report on a local haunting…” Brit continued. “And rumor has it that you might know about one” Sam finished.

“You mean the Hell House” Craig assumed. “That’s the one” Brit confirmed. “I didn’t think there was anything but a story…” Craig said but it was more to himself.

“Why don’t you tell us the story” I encouraged.

“Well, supposedly, back in the thirties, this farmer, Mordecai Murdoch…he used to live in the house with his six daughters. It was during the Depression. His crops were failing. He didn’t have enough money to even feed his own children. So, I guess that’s when he went off the deep end”

“How?” Dean asked.

“Well, he figured it was best if his girls died quick rather than starve to death. So he attacked them. They screamed…begged for him to stop. But he just strung them up, one after another…and then, when he was all finished, he turned around and hung himself. Now, they say that his spirit is trapped in the house forever, stringin’ up any other girl who goes inside…so I don’t suggest you two go inside there” he eyed Brit and I.

“I think we can handle ourselves” I said, smugly.

“Where did you hear all of this?” Brit asked.

“My cousin, Dana, told me. I don’t know where she heard it from. You have to realize I didn’t believe this for a second…”

“Now you do” Dean assumed.

“I don’t know what the hell to think. I’ll tell you exactly what I told the police. That girl was real and she was dead and this was not a prank. I swear to you I don’t ever want to go near that house ever again”

“Thanks” was all Dean said.

We all walked out and as Brit and I walked over to the truck, I saw Dean and Sam talk secretly. Then Dean came over to me. “Ride with me” he said, nodding his head over to the Impala with his hands in his jacket.

I was uneasy about it but I agreed. I limped over to the car and I was surprised by how he actually opened the door for me. I got in and he shut it and then walked around to get in himself. He started to drive as Brit drove the truck behind us with Sam. We sat in silence for a long time on our way to check out the Hell House…well…it felt like a long time. He had stuff he wanted to say…maybe ask…but he was struggling to get the words out. I had stuff I wanted to say…and I wanted to know what he was thinking…but I wasn’t going to start this conversation.

“How’s your ankle?” he finally spoke.

“It…hurts” I let out an airy laugh.

“Is the bandage on tight enough? Do you need me to get you something? Like pain killers or…something?” he asked, completely concerned.

“No…no I’m fine…Dean you don’t have to…” I started saying but my voice trailed off.

“What?” he asked, glancing at me.

“…pretend like you care” I finished, avoiding his eyes, looking straight at the road in front of us. I could tell his jaw clenched.

“Why…” He paused, thinking about something. “Why do you think I pretend?"

I looked at him again. “I don’t know…you’ve never liked me ever since we teamed up

“Well you’ve never exactly been a big fan of mine either”

“I know…but that’s just me…”

“And that’s just me…”

“Do you know we aren’t getting anywhere with this conversation?” I claimed, laughing a little.

He chuckled, but then stayed silent. Then he opened his mouth again. “I’ve been having dreams too” he said suddenly. “What?” I asked, looking at him incredulously.

“Dreams of…the two of us I guess…when we were little. I didn’t think much of it. I just thought it was Sammy, you know how feminine he can be..."

I laughed lightly. “But then…the night before we caught up with dad…in the dream I had, I kissed you…we couldn’t have been any older than 5 or 6...and…I don’t know what to think of it…I cant talk about this with Sam cause it would just be awkward…it’s awkward right now just talking about it to you…”

“You think…we may have been more than…just friends?” I inquired, looking over at him, smirking.

His face flushed. “Well I uhh…” He cleared his throat.

“It’s okay, I’ve considered it too. You’d love the dream I had the other night” I teased him a little. “Dirty?” he questioned, grinning. “Oh yea” I nodded and we both laughed.

Then it fell silent again. “So…what do you think we should make of the dreams?” I asked. “Ignore them?” he questioned, making a face.

It looked like he was in agony from just saying that. I hesitated. “Okay” I nodded. I looked forward again, puffing up my cheeks and letting all the air out. Ignoring the dreams…shouldn’t be too hard…it was just what I wanted…

“Hey since we’ve actually been best friends all these years…you think you could let me take your bike out for a spin?” he questioned with a pout.

I laughed. “In your dreams maybe” I winked at him and he grinned at me. Yea…shouldn’t be too hard…

~~~~

We got to the clearing and we all got out and started walking through just a little bit of woods. We caught sight of the house and we couldn’t blame the kids for being freaked out…it was not attractive, that was for sure. We reached outside the run down house and Sam took out the EMF meter. It started going crazy.

“You got something?” Dean asked. Sam looked up at the power box attached to the power lines.

“I think that thing’s still got some juice in it. It’s screwing with the readings”

“Yea that’d do it” Brit agreed.

“Well…” I rubbed my hands together. “Lets go” I pursued, heading for the porch steps to head inside as Brit got behind me.

But then Sam and Dean quickly got in front of us and they had uneven looks on their faces. “Maybe…you two should wait out here” Sam said. “What? Yea right” Brit said and we pushed passed them, heading inside. The boys followed quickly in pursuit.

We got inside to what looked like an empty living room with cob webs all over the place, along with marks and symbols painted on the walls. I felt like Dean was hovering over me and I saw Sam was doing the same thing to Brit. I tried to ignore it.

“Looks like old man Murdoch was a bit of a tagger during his time” Dean stated

“And after his time, too. The reversed cross has been used by Satanists for centuries, but this sigil of sulfur didn’t show up in San Francisco until the sixties” Sam informed us.

Dean just stared at him for a moment and I smirked, just waiting for his comment. “This is exactly why you never get laid” he said and I snickered.

Brit didn’t seem to be paying attention though, as she was analyzing the symbols. I cleared my throat. “What about this one?” I asked as Dean, Sam and I looked at one above the fireplace and Brit got to my other side. “Doesn’t it look familiar…” I started, nudging Dean just slightly.

“Yea…” he agreed.

“Have you seen it before, Sam?” Brit asked.

“No…”

“I have…somewhere…” Dean said and Brit wiped her finger across it.

“It’s paint…and it’s pretty fresh” she said. “I don’t know guys, I’m not one to agree with authority figures of any kind but the cops might be right about this one” Sam said.

“Yea maybe…” Dean said but then we heard some noise coming from the other room.

We started to move stealthily toward the other room as the guys got in front of us in a protective manner. Sam flung the door open but we only saw two guys standing there with some kind of computer equipment.

“Awe cut! It’s just a couple of humans” one said. “And two pretty girls” the other said and Brit and I rolled our eyes. “What are you doing here?” the first one complained.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dean demanded.

“We’re supposed to be here. We’re professionals”

“Professional what?” Brit asked.

“Paranormal investigators…here ya go” he said, handing us all some type of business cards.

I looked down at it. “You gotta be kidding me” I said. “Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spengler…Hell Hounds Laire.com, you wrote that website?” Sam asked, not happy about that fact.

“Yea” Ed replied.

“Oh yea, yea we’re huge fans” Dean rolled his eyes slightly as he moved around to another side of the room

“And uh we know who you four are too”

The four of us gave each other nervous looks. “Oh yea?” Sam questioned.

“Amateurs” he said and I felt us all relax. “Lookin for ghosts in cheep drills”

“So if you guys don’t mind, we’re trying to follow through with our super scientific investigation here” Harry spoke again.

“Yeah? What do you got so far?” Dean asked.

“Uh, Harry, why don’t you tell ‘em about EMF?” Ed said. “EMF?” Sam asked, giving us all looks and then smirking.

“Electromagnetic field. Spectral entities can cause energy fluctuations that can be read with an EMF detector, like this bad boy right here…” Then it started buzzing. “Whoa, whoa that’s 2.8 MG” Harry said excitedly. “2.8” Ed repeated.

We couldn’t help but laugh at these poor, ignorant men. “Wow” Sam said, nodding his head. “So have you guys ever seen a ghost before?” Dean asked.

“Once. We were investigating an old house and we a vase thrown off the table” Ed started. “By itself” Harry added his two cents. “Well we didn’t actually see it but we heard it. Something like that changes you” Ed continued. “Yea” Harry nodded.

“I think we get the picture….guys, we should let the big boys get back to work” I said and looked at all of them, holding back my laughter.

~~~~~~

While Sam and Brit were at the library, Dean and I had just left the police station, walking back to meet up with the two of them. “Why didn’t you tell me about the dreams?” he asked, suddenly.

“Because…there was more to it than just dreams about you and me Dean…”

“Like what?”

“I had dreams about your parents…and my parents…and just all of us…I wasn’t sure how you would react…” He just stared at me. “I have a sketchbook…I draw everything I dream about…you can see for yourself if you want…” I suggested, avoiding his eyes.

He didn’t respond. Sam and Brit came out of the library. “Hey” Sam said. “Hey, what do you guys got?” Dean asked as we all made our way around the corner.

“Well, I couldn’t find a Mordechai, but I did turn up a Martin Murdoch who lived in that house in the thirties” Brit started. “He did have children, but only two of ‘em…both boys. And there was no record he ever killed anybody” Sam finished.

“Huh” I grunted in acknowledgment.

“What about you two?” Sam asked as we reached the Impala and stood outside it.

“Well, those kids didn’t really give us a clear description of that dead girl, but we did hit up the police station” I started.

“But, there was no matching missing persons...it’s like she never existed…Dude, come on, man. We did our digging, this one’s a bust, all right? For all we know, those Hell Hound boys made up the whole thing” Dean said, looking at Sam.

“Yea…all right” Sam agreed reluctantly. “So, I say we find ourselves a bar and some beers, and leave the legend to the locals” Dean declared.

Then all three of us bent our torsos so our legs were straight but we were bent over, looking at Dean through the window. He turned the car on and some Spanish music was blasting through the speakers, the wind shield wipers started to move back and forth and Dean jumped a little as he fumbled with trying to turn it all off. I saw Sam smirking.

“You did that” I assumed.

“Yep” he replied and we all saw Dean’s face…he was furious.

“Uh oh, then he wont be happy with…” Brit started but before she could finish, Dean leaned back and his seat fell completely to the ground and fell backward onto the backseat so he was laying on his back.

He started yelling and we could tell he was cursing but we couldn’t hear him because the windows were up. Sam’s grin grew. “You two did that?” he assumed with a laugh.

“Run, run, run” I said and Brit and I took off for the truck. We got in and I sped off laughing. We just started our own little war.

~~~~~~

The next morning we all went back to the hell house and there were ambulances and sheriffs surrounding the house as someone’s body was being carried out of the house in a body bag. We saw it was a girl before they zippered the bag up.

“What happened?” Dean asked a man.

“A couple of cops say that poor girl hung herself in the house"

“Suicide?” Brit asked.

“Yea. But she was a straight-A student, with a full ride to UT, too. It just don’t make sense” he mumbled and then walked away.

“What do you think?” I asked as we watched the body bag get placed into the ambulance on a stretcher. “I think maybe we missed something” Dean said.

When night fell we all hid behind bushes in the woods as we watched cops scoping out the area around the house. They really didn’t want anymore kids in there but we had to get in there…we heard some whispering and looked to see it was the nerd herd.

“I got an idea…who you gonna call?!” Dean hollered and all the cops looked over at Ed and Harry.

We took that advantage to race inside with our guns in hand. Sam quickly shut the door and we ran to the living room. “Man, where have I seen that symbol before, it’s killing me” Dean stopped to look at it.

“I know, but, come on, we don’t have much time” I said, dragging him downstairs by the arm as we followed Sam and Brit. We got to the basement and started looking around.

“Girls, just make sure you stay close…” Sam said.

“We’re fine, Sam” I said in annoyance.

“Hey, Sam, I dare you to take a swig of this” Dean smirked, holding up a jar of a gross-looking, red substance. “Why the hell would I do that for?” Sam said, disgusted.

“I double dare you” he said and I walked over to him to get a better look.

He pushed it in my face, offering me some. I made a face and pushed his hand away. He continued to grin at me as I just smiled up at him. But, then we heard something and raced to the small room next to us. It was coming from a cabinet. The guys got in front of us as we all got our guns ready and Sam flew open the metal door to the cabinet and rats came crawling out as we all relaxed but I made a noise of disgust.

“I hate rats” I commented. “You and me both sister” Dean agreed. “You rather it was a ghost?” Brit asked. “Yes” we both said.

Then we turned around, just to see Mordechai standing there with an ax in hand. Dean pulled me back quickly as it swung at us and we all started to shoot at him. It didn’t seem to be working though as he just vanished into light smoke on his own.

“What the hell kind of spirit is immune to rock salt?” I yelled in frustration and confusion as we rushed back into the other room with the creepy, gross stuff in the jars on the shelves.

“I don’t know…” Dean replied. “Come on, come on, come on” he muttered as we were all on our toes, just waiting.

It kept popping up all over the room as it pleased, swinging at Dean, then Sam…and then, I heard Brit yelp lightly and I turned to see Mordechai swinging at her. He brought his ax down at her but she held up her gun to keep the ax off of her. I shot at him multiple times but he just vanished willingly again. Sam raced to grab Brit’s hand and lead her back upstairs as Dean did the same for me. We all got upstairs and ran outside, falling over each other’s feet. Dean’s foot stepped on mine and we went tumbling down the two steps, off the porch as Sam and Brit were having their own balancing problems. Dean lifted me to my feet like I weighed nothing and Ed and Harry were video taping us as we ran toward them.

“Get that damn thing out of my face” Dean ordered as we all continued to run as fast as we could.