Dead End Signs and Wasted Land

“Are you serious right now? He’s not our ghost?” I groaned while pacing the floor hastily, after being told that Oliver Duke wasn’t our ghost doing all these murders. Just what I wanted to hear- actually, it was better than hearing them confront me about doing the deed with them behind each others backs. It’ll come out sooner or later and it’s going to knock me flat on my ass. Half of me was relieved while the other half was annoyed, wishing that we could get out of this town. Knowing that Keith was here and apparently stalking me, I wasn’t up for anymore surprises- clearly I haven’t had enough bombshells in one morning. Damn, I think I’m getting chest pains.

Dean, who was sitting on the long dresser with the TV to his left and his brother to his right, declared “Hey, it made sense at the time. I didn’t hear you protest when I said about burning the man’s bones.” Maybe because I was curious on what Sam wanted to tell me- now, I’m quite glad I had found out.

“I thought you knew what you were doing,” I pointed out, flailing my arms out in front of me.

“That’s one thing you did wrong- thought.” Come on, they have been hunting a hell of a lot longer than I have. They were the ones who taught how to hunt, so of course I'm going to believe that they know what they are doing.

I let out an exasperated sigh, rolling my eyes and slouching down on the closest bed behind me. If only the case was over, we would be on our way to somewhere other than Hickory, North Carolina. Even though it would be the same old same old, going out to look for another case but it wouldn’t be here. Like I said, the farther away from Keith that I am the better, but if he is determined to keep stalking me I’m not safe anywhere.

“What about Keith?” I questioned in a calmer tone, rubbing my temples with two fingers to decrease the throbbing pain busting through my skull.

“What about him?” Dean replied obliviously.

I sighed. Really? He nearly tried to seduce me right out front the motel door- yeah; he didn’t do anything that wasn’t obvious.

“We aren’t going to just let him go now are we? He’s clearly stalking me and my every movement.”

“What exactly can we do?” Sam asked sternly, shooting me a weary stare. “It’s not like he’s inhuman. We won’t let him hurt you.”

“He’s an inhuman as he’s gonna be…” I muttered callously, veering my eyes in the direction of the door as images of him and his evil innocent grin across his face. Of all the faces in the world, he was the last one I wanted in my head.

Dean laughed sarcastically.

“I’ll knock the living daylights out of the bastard before he thinks about coming near you again.” I loved hearing those words from a man.

“Yeah, if you don’t end up going to prison for killing a man in the process, along with the rest of the shit we do.” I stated incredulously. “Grave desecration, theft, fraud-”

“Okay,” Dean snapped, visibly not wanting me to continue any further. We all know what we’re liable for. “Look, back to the painting- Sam, hand me that photo copy will ya?”

I didn’t understand who or what this could possibly be. The picture had children playing around a secluded neighborhood, looking as giddy as ever.

“Dean, it’s just a painting- maybe this has nothing to do with the actual painting. I think we’re looking in the wrong direction.” Of course that wasn’t going to stop him. Dean always had to be right about everything, even if he was wrong about Oliver being our killer spirit.

“Wait,” Sam chimed in, his eyes lighting up like a light bulb. “Maybe this doesn’t have to do with the painter himself. Maybe it’s something within the picture.”

“Isn’t that what I said?” This whole case was starting to give me a headache. I can’t even remember what I was saying.

Sam ignored my remark as he continued. “The police reports said about one thing that the victims all had in common and that was what?”

“Gee, I don’t know. You two have the info. Apparently, I’m just the one tagging along for the joy ride and left out on everything.” That wasn’t completely a lie. I was more than just tagging along but sometimes I had to wonder. I wasn’t filled in with all minor details on this case, just the fact that people were being killed every where this painting went. Talking about creepy…

“They were all child molesters, rapists, and abusive parents,” Dean responded firmly.

I noticed Sam nodding as I furrowed my eyebrows. Connection- what kind of connection could this have? That's when something hit me.

“Wait, so are you saying that this could be tied in with the children somehow? Then how could this painting have anything to do with it?” I was so confused that every word that came out of my mouth didn’t seem rational enough. I don’t see how I’m fit for this type of job.

Sam shrugged his shoulders. “It’s a possibility,” he implied, standing up from sitting on the dresser beside his older brother. “We need to get a better look at the painting before we start jumping to conclusions again.”

This could only mean one thing- “Don’t tell me we’re going to break in to the museum.” I retorted blankly, folding my arms over my chest.

“Okay, then we won’t,” Dean replied with a cocky smile, getting up from the dresser as well to put his leather jacket on. Smartass…

“Can’t we just go to the relatives or close friends of the victims before we go breaking and entering?” I questioned, hoping that one of them would join my side and forget about stealing an expensive painting from a historical museum. I was never fond of the whole theft trial, but it comes with working with two productive hunters that gets me in those situations.

“Relax Kay,” Sam declared with a small confident grin, pulling his brown Carhartt jacket over his shoulders. “We’ve done this a million times before. Get dressed and we’ll hit the road.”

Yeah, that may be just dandy to you but why was I having this weird feeling that something was going to go wrong. Like always, that could just be my worrywart side of me. As much as we’ve done illegal stuff in this job, this doesn’t come close to all the other insane things we do.