Wasting Them

The three hunters went over to the public library to look and see if there actually had been any murders on the highway. Unfortunately there weren’t any murders, but Sam had managed to find out about a suicide. A woman, Constance, had jumped off of a bridge after she had found her two young children had drowned in their bath. Her husband, Joseph Welch, had given his statement that Constance didn’t want to live in a world without her children.

Their next stop was to be the bridge that they were at earlier, since it was the one Constance had jumped from in 1981. Without all the cops around, it would be a lot easier for the three of them to get a look around.

After they arrived, Dean went to the railing of the bridge and looked over it. “So this is here Constance took the swan dive.”

McKenly nodded. “Kinda sad when you think about it. Woman loses her kids and then offs herself.”

“Do you think that Dad would have been here?” Sam asked, looking over at Dean.

Dean nodded. “Well, he is chasing the same story and we’re chasing him.” He took a few steps away from the rail.

“Okay, so now what?” Sam asked, he and McKenly following after Dean.

“We’re going to keep digging until we find him.” McKenly stated as if it were the obvious thing to do.

“Exactly.” Dean agreed. “It might take a while.”

Sam stopped in his spot. “Dean, I told you. I’ve got to get back by - ”

“Monday.” Dean finished, stopping and turning to face his younger brother. “Right. The interview.”

McKenly stood next to Dean, facing Sam but looking at Dean. She could see it in his face that he didn’t want Sam to go back to school. McKenly knew that Sam being around was only temporary which was exactly why she hadn’t made any effort so far to catch up with him.

“Yeah.” Sam said.

“Yeah, I forgot.” Dean insisted. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”

“Dean…” McKenly warned, noticing that it sounded like Dean was trying to instigate an argument.

“You think you’re just gonna become some lawyer, marry your girl?” Dean suggested.

“Maybe. Why not?”

“Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you’ve done?”

Sam took a step towards his brother and McKenly. “No, and she’s not ever going to know.”

“Well, that’s healthy.” McKenly mumbled quietly.

“What?” Sam snapped towards McKenly.

“You can pretend all you want, Sammy, but you’re gonna have to face up to who you really are.” Dean said, turning to walk further down the bridge.

“Who is that?” Sam followed.

“You’re one of us.” Dean said, gesturing between himself and McKenly.

“No, I’m not like you. This is not going to be my life.” Sam hurried to step in front of Dean and McKenly to stop them.

McKenly stepped in front of Dean. “This wasn’t going to be my life either, Sam. It wasn’t going to be any of our lives, but it is. And you have a responsibility to - ”

“To what, McKenly?” Sam asked, “My father? And his crusade?”

Dean stepped closer to McKenly, trying to get in between her and Sam.

“If it weren’t for pictures, I would even know what my mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed them, my mom, your parents…”

“Don’t talk about my parents, Sam!” McKenly shouted, clenching her fist against her side, preparing to let it fly into his face.

“They’re gone. They aren’t coming back!” Sam said, finally.

Dean grabbed Sam by his collar and shoved him up against a metal support of the bridge.

“Dean!” McKenly shouted at him. “Stop it!”

“Don’t talk about our parents like that.” Dean threatened.

McKenly looked down the bridge where they were supposed to be headed to investigate. “Dean.” she tried getting her attention. “Dean, seriously. Stop it.”

“What?” Dean snapped, looking her direction. He followed her gaze, seeing a woman in a white dress standing on the railing. “Sam.” He said, gaining the other boy’s attention. Both approached McKenly, Dean moving to stand in front of her.

The woman looked their way, and then turned back to the water just before taking the step off of the bridge.

Sam bolted towards the woman, Dean and McKenly following. All three peered over the railing, seeing no sign of the woman.

“Where’d she go?” Dean asked.

“I don’t know.” Sam admitted. Behind them, Dean’s car’s engine started and the headlights turned on.

McKenly and the boys moved to the middle of the bridge, staring at the vehicle. “Dean, who’s driving the car?” she asked.

Dean reached into his pocket, pulling out his set of keys and dangling them between his fingers. They watched as the car jerked forward, its tires squealing, and headed straight for them.

“Dean?” McKenly questioned, wondering what was going on.

“Come on. Let’s go!” Sam urged.

Dean grabbed onto McKenly’s hand and pulled her along, running quickly away from the car. Even running as fast as they could, the car was still speeding up faster than they could. Dean looked over the edge of the bridge.

“Are you crazy?!” McKenly shouted at him, knowing exactly what was going through his head.

“Hope you can swim!” he shouted. The three ran to the side and jumped over the railing.

McKenly lost her grip on Dean’s hand and fell into the water on her own. Having not braced herself to land in the water, she didn’t slow down on entering it. McKenly sank quickly to the bottom and hit her forehead on a rock. She was dazed for a moment as her senses tried to regain themselves. McKenly tried to surface herself, taking in a deep breath for the moment that she was over the water.

“Ken!” Dean shouted, seeing her over the water.

McKenly wasn’t able to keep herself up and started to sink again.

“McKenly!” Dean hurried back into the water and swam towards her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to the edge of the water. “Ken, you okay?”

McKenly turned her head and coughed up quite a bit of the nasty water. She nodded and laid down on her back to catch her breath.

Dean joined her, laughing. “I guess you can’t swim.”

McKenly threw her arm over her body to hit him in the chest.

“Dean!” Sam shouted. “McKenly!”

Dean groaned. “What?”

“Hey, you guys alright?”

Dean held up his fingers to show Sam an ‘A-OK’ sign. “Super.”

Sam laughed and pulled himself up from the edge of the bridge.

McKenly stared up at him. “How come you didn’t think to grab onto the bridge like he did?” she asked Dean.

“Shut up.” Dean only said, wishing he had thought of it. He pushed himself off the ground and helped McKenly up. The two climbed their way back to the bridge. Once there, Dean insisted on checking out his engine. While he did that, McKenly got a rag from the trunk to try and clean the cut on her forehead.

“Is everything alright under there?” McKenly asked.

“Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems alright now.” Dean slammed the hood down. “That Constance chick, what a bitch!” Dean shouted.

“Well, she doesn’t want us digging around, that’s for sure.” Sam stated.

Dean sighed, leaning against the Impala.

McKenly joined him, holding the rag.

“So, where’s the trail go from here, genius?” Sam asked.

Dean threw his hands up, not knowing where they needed to go.

Sam stood next to them, sniffing the air. “You guys smell like a toilet.”

!@#$#@!

“One room, please.” Dean said, throwing his credit card down on the front desk of a motel just outside of town.

The old man behind the desk looked to Dean and McKenly strangely for a moment before picking up the car and looking at it. “You guys having a reunion or something?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked.

“That other guy, Bert Aframian. He came in and bought out a room for the whole month.” The old man watched as Dean looked to Sam and McKenly. “Will you be needed that room then?”

“No, thank you. We’re here for our cousin’s wedding.” McKenly said. “We’ll just pop over and see him.”

The man told them his room number and they left the lobby going back out to the car to grab McKenly and Dean’s bags and then over to the room.

McKenly knelt down in front of the door, pulling two bobby pins from her backpack to pick the lock. She quickly did so while Dean and Sam kept watch. Upon getting up, she pulled the two brothers into the room to look around. John had books and papers spread throughout the room in a messy fashion, almost like he had left in a hurry.

Dean went to the side table to turn on a lamp. When he did, he noticed a cheeseburger and picked it up to smell it. He made a disgusted face and quickly put it back down.

McKenly laughed silently. “That thing probably smells as bad as you.”

“And you.” He pointed out. “Makes me think Dad’s not been here for a couple days, at least.”

McKenly groaned, before she realized the room had a shower. “Well, you guys start figuring this out, I’m going to hit the shower.” She said, making her way towards it.

“No, wait!” Dean said, racing her to the bathroom.

McKenly snuck by him, putting her back to the door, facing Dean. She laughed in his face, smiling at him. McKenly opened the door and quickly showered, changing into clean clothes. She could hear the boys talking in the next room, but she didn’t try to listen to the conversation. When she turned the shower off, she quickly dressed. As she pulled on her shirt, there was a knock at the door. “One sec.” When she opened the door, Dean stood on the other side, holding the small first aid kit from the car.

Dean pointed to the toilet. “Sit.”

McKenly obliged and watched as Dean’s washed his hands in the sink.

When he was through, he examined the cut on her forehead, just at the hairline. “Does it hurt?”

“Not anymore.”

“Bleeding’s stopped. You don’t need stitches, but it might scar.” Dean dabbed some antibiotic on it, just to help speed the recovery.

“One of many.” McKenly joked sarcastically, earning a headshake and a smile from Dean. She looked up at him once he was done. “Thanks. I could have done that myself.”

“I know.” Dean muttered. “Now get out, so I can shower.”

McKenly rolled her eyes and left the bathroom. She saw Sam walk towards her to the mirror.

Sam picked up a picture and looked at it.

McKenly looked over his shoulders, seeing that it was a picture of the four of them, probably during the middle of autumn since they were bundled in light jackets and hats. John was sitting on the hood of the Impala, holding Sam on his lap. McKenly sat in the middle of John and Dean, who had his arm around her shoulder. She had to have been twelve or thirteen at the time. “I remember that.” McKenly remarked.

Sam looked back to her and nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

“It was a good day. Probably one of the more normal one’s we had as kids.” She joked, laughing.

“You know, I think you’re right.” Sam paused. “I’m sorry. About what I said on the bridge.” He said, not looking from the picture.

“Don’t worry about it.” McKenly waved it off, turning to sit on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

Sam put the picture in his pocket and faced her sitting just on the edge of it. “It was wrong of me to say. I know it’s a touchy subject for you.”

“Seriously, Sam. I’m not all for these heart-to-hearts. You know that.”

Sam laughed to himself. “Yeah, I do. Are we good?”

“On the parents thing? Yeah. The ‘you abandoning us’ thing? Not so much.”

“I didn’t aban - ”

“Look, Sam. Until you can give me a better explanation for why my best friend left without saying goodbye, other than ‘my dad said so’, I really don’t want to hear it.” McKenly insisted.

“McKenly, that’s not fair.”

“We’ll talk about it later. I really need to get some sleep.” McKenly shifted herself and laid down on her side, closing her eyes. She didn’t realize how tired she was and quickly fell asleep, listening to the sound of her own breathing. When McKenly woke, it was to the sound of her cellphone ringing. She leaned over the bed, pulling it out of her backpack and answered it. “Hello?” she said, groggily.

“Ken, wake up. There are cops out here. Take off.”

McKenly sat up quickly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What about you?” she asked. “I won’t leave you.”

Sam looked to McKenly wondering what was going on.

“I’ll be fine. They already spotted me. Take Sam. Go find my dad.”

“Dean…” McKenly begged.

“Just do it, alright?”

McKenly nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. She was about to agree verbally when the line went dead. McKenly groaned, getting up to look out the window.

“What was that?” Sam asked, watching as McKenly went to look out the window.

McKenly saw Dean was talking to the deputies from the other day and cursed. “Five-oh. We gotta go.”

“What about Dean?” he asked.

“I’ll figure something out.” She grabbed her bag and Dean’s bag, which had the spare key to the Impala in it. Then she pulled Sam off of the bed. “Now, let’s go.” She said, pulling him into the bathroom to climb out the window. The two watched and wait as the cops arrested Dean and emptied out John’s room for evidence. “Hope there wasn’t anything too important in there.” she said, once the cops were gone. McKenly and Sam climbed into the car and drove away from the motel. “So what was all of that? On the walls?” she asked.

“It was the case. Dad figured out that Constance was the woman in white. It’s a spirit that comes back to haunt men who were unfaithful.”

“So, do you think that means that Connie’s husband was unfaithful?”

“Only one way to find out.”

McKenly nodded.

Sam had been able to find out where Joseph Welch lived and that was where they went. It was an old shack close by the bridge.

McKenly knocked on the door. When he opened the door, McKenly greeted him. “Hi, are you Joseph Welch?”

“Yeah.” He answered.

“Do you mind if we take a walk and ask you a few questions?”

“What’s this about?” Joseph stepped outside of his house, starting their short walk.

“We were wondering if you had been visited by a man recently.”

Sam dug in his pocket and handed the picture from earlier to Mr. Welch. “This man.” He clarified, pointing to John in the photo.

“Yeah, he was older, but that’s him.” Joseph said, holding the photo a few seconds before handing it back to Sam. “He came by three or four days ago. Said he was a reporter.

“That’s right. We’re all working on a story together.”

“Well, I don’t know what the hell kind of story you’re working on.” Joseph grumbled, shaking his head. “The questions he asked me.”

“About your late wife? Constance?” McKenly asked, gently.

Joseph nodded. “He asked me where she was buried.”

“And where is that again?” Sam asked.

McKenly shot him a look, telling him to back off and be more sensitive about this subject.

Joseph furrowed his brow. “What? I gotta go through this twice?”

“I apologize for my partner, here, but we’re just fact checking, Mr. Welch. If you don’t mind.” McKenly insisted.

“In a plot behind my old place over on Breckenridge.”

“Can I ask why you moved?”

“I couldn’t live in that house.” Joseph said. “My children died there. Just didn’t seem right.”

“Mr. Welch, did you ever marry again?” McKenly asked.

Joseph shook his head. “No way. Constance, she was the love of my life. Prettiest woman I ever known.”

“So the two of you, you had a happy marriage.” McKenly assumed.

Joseph hesitated slightly, staring a little into the distance. “Definitely.”

McKenly smiled and nodded. “Well, that should do it. Thanks for your time.” She grabbed onto the elbow of Sam’s jacket to pull him back to the Impala, just in case he decided to push the subject any further. The two parted on their separate sides of the car. It was then that McKenly saw the look on his face like he wasn’t done asking the man questions. “Sam, don’t do what I think you’re going to do.” She whispered.

“Mr. Welch?” Sam called.

Joseph turned back around to face the two of them.

“Sam…” McKenly warned.

“Did you ever hear of a woman in white?” Sam asked.

The blonde leaned against the door of the car, crossing her arms of her chest and sighing.

“A what?” the man asked.

“A woman in white. Or sometimes a weeping woman?” Sam continued when Joseph didn’t answer. “It’s a ghost story. Well, it’s more of a phenomenon, really.” Sam took a few steps back towards Joseph. “Um, they’re spirits. They’ve been sighted for hundreds of years. In dozens of places in Hawaii and Mexico. Lately in Arizona and Indiana. All these are different women, you understand.” Sam stopped, standing in front of Mr. Welch. “But they all share the same story.”

“Boy, I don’t care much for nonsense.” Joseph said, before turning back towards his house.

Sam only followed after him. “You see, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them. And these women, basically suffering from temporary insanity, murdered their children.”

Joseph stopped and turned around with an angry look on his face.

“Then, once they realized what they had done, they took their own lives. So now their spirits are cursed, walking back roads, waterways. If they find an unfaithful man, they kill him, and that man is never seen again.”

Joseph’s bottom lip trembled. “You think… You think that has something to do with Constance, you smartass?”

“You tell me.”

“I mean, maybe…” Joseph trailed off. “Maybe I made some mistakes. But no matter what I did, Constance never would have killed her own children. Now, you get the hell out of here! And you don’t come back!” Joseph shook his head, angry and grief-stricken. He stood for a moment, staring angrily, before stalking off.

Sam made his way back to the passenger side of the car.

McKenly and him climbed into the car and she started it, driving off of Mr. Welch’s property. “That was risky, Sammy.”

“I got what we needed to know, didn’t I?”

McKenly nodded. “Yeah, but that guy is still a person. And you just beat the crap outta him emotionally. You coulda been a little nicer to him.”

“If I were nicer, I wouldn’t have found out that he had been unfaithful to Constance. Now we have proof that she was who is killing those men.”

McKenly rolled her eyes. “Salt and burn. I love this part.”

“We need to get Dean. We need him.”

McKenly nodded. “Grab the burner from the glove compartment. “Call in a fake 911. Shooting or something. He’ll get himself outta there.”

“You sure?” Sam questioned.

“You’re willing to emotionally destroy a person, but you can’t prank call the cops?” McKenly joked. “Damn.”

While McKenly drove quickly towards the Welchs’ old house, Sam made the call and threw the phone out the window. It was about ten minutes before McKenly’s cellphone rang.

She smiled to answer it. “Hey, Dean.”

“I am such a bad influence on you. Fake 911 calls are pretty illegal. Even for us.” Dean joked.

McKenly laughed. “It was Sam who made the call. I just came up with the idea. Figured you could find a way out. By the way, we need a new burner phone.”

“You’re smart, Ken. I gotta hand it to ya, but we gotta talk.”

“Alright, well, talk to Sam. I don’t want to crash the car.”

“No, Ken, wait!” Dean tried to say before McKenly handed the phone to Sam.

“Dean.” Sam said, listening to Dean’s answer. “Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a woman in white. She’s buried behind her old house. So that should have been Dad’s next stop.” He paused. “I just can’t figure out why he hasn’t destroyed the corpse yet.” Sam listened to Dean. “What? How do you know?”

“What?” McKenly asked, noticing Sam’s confused tone.

Sam held up a finger telling her to hold on. “He doesn’t go anywhere without that thing.”

“Sam.”

“What’s it say?” Sam asked Dean, listening to his response. “Coordinates. Where to?” Sam waited. “Dean, what the hell is going on?”

“Yeah, I’d like to know, too.” McKenly reminded, averting her eyes from the road to Sam for just a second.

“Ken, look out!” Sam shouted.

McKenly’s head whipped back towards the windshield seeing Constance standing in the middle of the road. She slammed on the brakes, making her and Sam jerk forward. The car drove right through the woman is it came to a half.

Sam had dropped the phone and both, he and McKenly were breathing heavily.

McKenly looked in the rearview mirror to see if Constance was behind them, but she jumped when she saw her in the back seat of the car.

Constance made eye contact with her in the mirror. “Take me home.”